Author Archives: Sohrab Saadat Ladjevardi

“MFM Speaks Out” Podcast EP 18 – William Deresiewicz on How Musicians Can Survive in the Digital Age

“Now is the time to organize…[in the face of the pandemic] as inequality and workers issues get put on the table more, artists need to make sure they are not left out of the conversation.” – William Deresiewicz

William DeresiewiczIn this episode of the MFM Speaks Out, Adam Reifsteck interviews William Deresiewicz, a leading critic of the arts and contemporary culture and New York Times bestselling author about his new book, The Death of the Artist: How Creators Are Struggling to Survive in the Age of Billionaires and Big Tech – specifically, what he learned from artists that are managing to make a living today in this digital era, how exploitation and instant gratification have changed our perceptions of art, and the importance of coming together as a community to stop the exploitation of musicians and creatives by Silicon Valley.

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Daniel Ek and “His” Spotify…the Ruin of the Musicians Community

Daniel Ek, Spotify…Daniel Ek, Spotify…Daniel Ek, Spotify?  Ek owns nearly 9% of the Spotify shares, but has 37% of voting control?!

An Editorial by Dawoud Kringle

Daniel EkDaniel Ek was born February 21st, 1983 in Stockholm, Sweden. He graduated high school from IT-Gymnasiet in Sundbyberg in 2002, and subsequently studied engineering at the KTH Royal Institute of Technology before dropping out to focus on his IT career. At age 13 he started a business making websites for clients from his home. This was successful; he went from charging $100 to $5,000 per website. Ek soon recruited students from his class to work on the websites from the school computer lab (he was reputed to have bribed them with video games). His earnings eventually reached $50,000 per month and by age 18 he was managing a team of 25.

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MFM’s 1st Fundraiser Campaign Seeking Your “Priceless” Contribution!

MFM FUNDRAISER SEEKS YOUR PRICELESS CONTRIBUTIONS! 

Musicians For Musicians (MFM) is a non-profit Musicians Rights organization established in 2015 by professional musician Sohrab Saadat Ladjevardi. MFM seeks to elevate the work of all musicians to the level of a true profession, one recognized and appropriately rewarded by society; it’s a 501(c)(6) non-tax-deductible association with the right to lobby, and exists alongside (but separate from) the musicians union.

MFM’s first fundraiser, running from October 20 through November 20, 2020 reaches out to all musicians and music lovers for financial support in helping to realize MFM’s mission.

Please contribute here.

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“MFM Speaks Out” Podcast EP 17 – Sal Cataldi on Surviving and Prospering as an Improvising Musician

“To me, there isn’t a middle zone between creative paths of improvisation and traditional paths… Musicians deserve to be compensated and deserve a decent environment to play their music.”  – Sal Cataldi

Sal Cataldi's Spaghetti Eastern MusicIn this episode of the MFM Speaks Out, Dawoud Kringle interviews Sal Cataldi. Sal is a guitarist, composer, improviser, producer, a contributor to nysmusic.com, MFM member, and founder of Cataldi Public Relations Inc,”

In this episode, Sal discusses his Spaghetti Eastern Music project, His recent release One Act Sonix with the Vapor Vespers project, his other music projects such as the Hari Karaoke Trio of Doom & Frank’s museum, the nature of 21st century music performance, his experience as a music journalist with nysmusic.com, how he founded Cataldi Public Relations, the Hudson Valley Music scene and musician’s community and how the recent COVID-19 pandemic affected it, and his involvement with MFM.