John P. Strohm's Page

My good friends at MFT asked me to write something about where I think the music industry is going over the next ten years. In other words, my good friends at MFT have invited me to set myself up to look like a total idiot in ten years. Regular MFT readers know, however, that I don’t shy a

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Since my work directly involves delivery/distribution of music to listeners, I've given a great deal of thought over the past several years to the way things have changed and are continuing to change. We're quickly moving towards a new reality where all existing recorded music is available to everyone all the time, which has been more or less inevitable since the distribution of music via the Internet became possible. There are many issues that need to be resolved, such as compulsory licensing s… Continue

I was on the phone with a musician client today, a veteran of the So Cal emo/punk scene. I mentioned that I'm from Indiana, and he immediately asked if I knew the band Mock Orange from Evansville. He said they were one of his favorite bands, and that they'd been around since the early '90s!

This did my head in, because I don't recall having ever heard of them. I assume they're an emo band or something like that - does anyone know anything about them? Are they worth checking out (or getting on t… Continue

A client of mine, a band called Dawes from L.A., told me about a fantastic show they played last night at an all ages club called The Firehouse in North Manchester, Indiana. They said they had a great turnout, and the club did a fantastic job of setting up a nice dinner, accommodations, etc. They really just flat-out raved about the whole experience.

Has anyone else heard of the place? Sounds like it should be on everyone's radar if it's not already. I'd never heard of North Manchester, but app… Continue

I was thumbing through a copy of Mansion on the Hill by Fred Goodman and I came across an interesting quote from Peter Wolf, the singer from the J. Geils Band. He said that for the first generation of folk-influenced rock writers post-Dylan, it was unthinkable to be concerned in any way about the business of music. They were artistes, period. For that generation of artists, thinking about royalty rates, publishing ownership, or recoupable tour support would have been ludicrous. As a major indust… Continue