Bookmarks: Some stuff to read on the internet

Dave Haslam shows the LA Times around Manchester:

Because of its head start in the Industrial Revolution, its access to Lancashire farmland and its train lines and canals to Liverpool's port, Manchester long ago became an indie city.

"Within the first decades of the nineteenth century," Haslam writes, "the city's merchants had worldwide contacts, with no dependency on the largesse of London. They had created their own wealth, become economically self-sufficient....

"In the era of rock & roll this would be just as crucial as in the days of cotton and coal."

The closure of Fopp sees Scottish musicians delivering eulogies in The Sunday Herald:

"It was great for vinyl," said Aidan Moffat, formerly of Arab Strap. "I remember I bought the first Belle And Sebastian album in there before I'd even moved to Glasgow.

"If I was bored during the day I'd have a wander in. And every time I would come out £30 poorer."

Famous for no-nonsense rounded prices, Fopp was "a bit of an anomaly", according to Moffat. "They started out as this indie shop where you could get bargains, but as they expanded they became something else, because they had to compete with the HMVs of this world.

"I think there's still a place for wee independent record shops, but in the end, that wasn't what Fopp was."

The Future Of Music shares Gerd Leonhard’s Open Letter to the Independent Music Industry:

Today, we have the paradox situation that any startup that wants to use music will not even try to go legal right from the beginning, since there is no reasonable way of doing so. Look at the biggest exits in this turf, during the past 2 years: myspace, youtube, last.fm – either they did not bother with proper music licenses, or it was unclear if and where and when they would even need one. Non-compliance succeeded and was handsomely rewarded.

The music industry must admit that it has failed to act. Their leaders’ clueless-ness, incomprehension and general lack of willingness to embrace true change allowed the paying for music to become voluntary. Congrats.

Don Tapscott points at the year 2006: the losers built digital music stores, and the winners built vibrant communities based on music. The losers built walled gardens while the winners built public squares. The losers were busy guarding their intellectual property while the winners were busy getting everyone’s attention. Warner Music Group’s stock nose-dived from $30 to $14 in less than one year; Google rose from $323 to $526, Apple went from $50 to $127.