“Record labels are digging their own grave. They finally have achieved their dream — which is to make money while doing as little work as possible. But the end result is a world in which they add so little value that no successful musician will want them any longer.”
“My assessment … suggests that the blues has very old roots, originating with performers who found new ways of playing African-inflected music in the New World — but typically in rural areas where they could remain immune to many of the influences linked to commercial trends in American music.”
“The first step — and I can’t emphasize this too much for anyone who might be considering a similar move — was to hire a structural engineer. Putting this many books in an upstairs area is just asking for trouble. Books are heavy.”
“[Edison] pushed aggressively for a standardized way of singing — one that aimed to keep American music under unrealistic constraints. This only made the public all the more enthusiastic when something more expansive and free came along. And he unwittingly provided the tools these radical new musicians needed to advance their agenda.”