• Un, deux, trois: CRTC reviews licence call for Capital region
• Iconic CHUM Radio sign to glow at Richmond at Duncan
• Apple skins price on new OS to sell apps
• Al Gore’s Current TV joint ventures with CBC for fall launch
• Hazelton Hotel set to commemorate The Riverboat
• 45 turns 60 and continues to spin memorable melodies
• Keep content free, American Cable Assoc. argues
• MySpace suffering consequence of faulty biz model
• Barry Diller says free lunch over for internet users
• Telus teams up with UMG Canada for summer contest
• Alofs has a bad taste about Krispy Kreme these days
• CBC Radio 3 listeners vote for ‘all Canadian’ music format
• Michael Cohl’s S2BN announces Blu-ray Stones doc release
• NIN’s Trent Reznor cool on marketing using social media
• RIP: Radio pioneer Arnie Nelson, aged 74
• Regulatory impediments to our digital future
• The long, slow death of the CD
• Brit DJ gang bilked etailers with phony accounts
• Truro, NS festival honours Dutch Mason’s blues roots
• Jay & The Americans re-packaged and revived

CRTC REVIEWS OTTAWA CALL: Like a Monty Python sketch with one step forward to take two steps back, the CRTC has announced it will resume  public hearing with regards to applications for broadcasting licences to carry on radio programming undertakings to serve the National Capital Region. The regulator earlier awarded FM licences to Astral Media and Toronto businessman Frank Torres, then the PMO interfered for what many saw as purely political reasons, suggesting to the CRTC that the francophone community was perhaps being overlooked and that the commission would be wise to review its decision. Troublesome, meddlesome and, ultimately, a huge inconvenience of time and a colossal waste of money for all concerned. Now the circus resumes and insiders suggest the meddlesome PM and an appearance of a  cuckolded regulator will act out the part of nice Canadians and award three licences…to Astral, Torres and the francophones. As to whether the market can handle three new licences in the throes of a new depression, well that is seemingly quite irrelevant, and of course the decision has yet to be rendered.  Show time is tomorrow. No charge for clowns and politicians.

1050 CHUM: Long considered a Toronto landmark, the iconic neon red CHUM Radio sign will be hung at its new home on the corner of Richmond and Duncan Streets on June 16. Following refurbishment, the sign will sit atop the new home of CHUM Radio at 250 Richmond Street. Radio stations 104.5 CHUM FM and CP24 Radio 1050 will move into the premises at a later date.“This sign is a great reminder of CHUM Radio’s irrefutable place in the history of this city,” said Chris Gordon, President of CHUM Radio. “For over six decades, CHUM has been the city’s go-to destination for the hits and this tradition currently lives on with 104.5 CHUM FM.”

IT’S ALL ABOUT THE APPS: Apple announced and demonstrated all kinds of things this past Monday at its developers’ conference: upgraded laptops, a new iPhone, a new iPhone software suite for all iPhone owners, its new Mac OS X 10.6 “Snow Leopard” operating system, and so on. Lots of goodness, for sure. But to me, one of the most mind-blowing revelations was a single statistic: 29. That’s dollars, and it’s how much Apple intends to charge current Leopard owners for the Snow Leopard version when it goes on sale in September. That’s $29, rather than the $130 Apple traditionally charges for new Mac OS X versions. NYT

CURRENT TV: Al Gore’s Current TV has received a green light for launch from the CRTC with the caveat that  the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. holds 80% ownership in the Canadian enterprise. The joint venture has a 35% Cancon minimum in its condition of licence and is expected to launch sometime late this fall. The service provides news and current affairs content submitted by users and professional alike. An affiliated website provides tools to rank online submissions, and the popular stories have a greater chance to be played on-air. The CBC still requires approval from the Treasury Board in order to proceed with the launch.

118 YORKVILLE REMEMBERED: Next week  a small ceremony will be held in front of the Hazelton Hotel at 118, Yorkville Avenue to unveil a Heritage Toronto plaque commemorating the Riverboat Coffeehouse.  The walkdown club seated 120 people in red booths amid pine planked walls with brass portholes.  Every seat was in close proximity to the stage providing an intimate showcase for the top names in popular music. Each Tuesday through Sunday from 1964 until “The Riverboat Wake” in 1978 it served as a major cultural landmark – hosting a who’s who of the folk era. The Hazelton Hotel has already honoured the landmark the real estate once held, naming a private dining room in the rear of the opulent and upscale restaurant One the Neil Young Room.

45 TURNS 60: Happy Birthday and welcome back to an old friend, the 45 rpm record officially turned 60 years old on March 31, 2009. British trade journals are reporting that single song 45rpm records are now outselling their CD counterparts and many American bands are now releasing music via this historic audio medium.

The 45rpm record was initially introduced in 1949 by RCA Records as a smaller, more durable replacement for the heavy 78 shellac-based records of the time. The 45 was created by RCA as a competitive move against one their rival record companies, Columbia, which had just introduced the new microgroove 33 1/3 rpm LP. The number 45 came from taking 78 and subtracting Columbia’s new 33 to equal the 45. Record companies and consumers alike faced an uncertain future as to which format would survive the 78rpm or the 45rpm; in what was known as the “War of the Speeds.” In 1949 Capitol and Decca started issuing the new LP format and RCA relented and issued its first LP in January 1950. But the 45 rpm was gaining in popularity and Columbia issued its first 45s in February 1951. Soon other record companies saw the mass consumer appeal the new format allowed and by 1954 more than 200 million 45s had been sold. JustPressPlay

KEEP CONTENT FREE: The American Cable Association is targeting Internet content providers who plan to charge ISPs subscription fees for content, saying that their plan to do so could “cripple” the nation’s goal to deliver broadband to every household, Multichannel News reports. According to Matt Polka, President of the organization, which represents small to mid-sized cable operators, the FCC and parties involved in the net neutrality debate “should be concerned that Web-based content and service providers…will drive up the retail cost of broadband access and drive down new adoption rates.” OnlineMediaDaily

PAY TO PLAY: Speaking at an industry conference, IAC/Interactive Corp. CEO Barry Diller declared that solely relying on advertising as a business model is not sustainable. “I absolutely believe that the Internet is passing from its free phase into a paid system,” he said. “Inevitably, I promise you, it will be paid. Not every single thing, but everything of any value. Again, take commodity away from it.” He noted that the wealth of free content on the Web was borne out of fear of piracy. “People were so frightened of not being dinosaurs, and baring their heads, and not having what happened to the music industry happen to them, they just slapped everything up on the Internet for free,” he said. “That’s an accidental historical moment that will absolutely be corrected.” OnlineMediaDaily

MYSPACE LAYOFFS: TechCrunch reports that MySpace is poised for “massive” layoffs that will likely affect between 300 and 500 employees either at MySpace alone or at Fox Interactive Media, the company’s parent. MySpace currently makes up around 1600 of the 2900 employees at FIM. Last summer, the social networking giant let 5% of its staff go and as many as 45 employees were laid off last month, but “these cuts go deeper,” says TC’s Jason Kincaid.
In a statement, MySpace said the following: “Like any company with new leadership, Fox Interactive Media is reviewing every aspect of our operations, performance and structure. It’s no secret that we are looking for ways to improve our products, increase the value of our digital assets, and enhance the overall financial strength of the company.” Apart from the new leadership, which has seen former AOL chief Jonathan Miller take over as News Corp.’s CEO of Digital Media, MySpace is faced with plummeting traffic and the prospect of a lucrative search deal with Google expiring next year.

TELUS  MUSIC: Telus customers have a new contest to take advantage of this summer. Together with Universal Music Canada, Telus is announcing the ‘Summer of Music contest in an effort to promote the newly lowered prices in their music library. Over 1.4 million songs are available to download direct from any TELUS mobile device, for prices as low as $0.69 per song. Albums are typically $9.99.

KRISPY KREME: Paul Alofs, a former director of Krispy Kreme Doughnuts Inc.’s Canadian unit, and the board must pay three investors C$655,000 ($590,000) to compensate them for their losses because they were lied to, a judge has ruled. Peter Griffin, Alofs’s lawyer, said in a phone interview that he is reviewing the judge’s decision and considering an appeal. Prior to Krispy Kreme, Alofs was first president of HMV and then BMG in Canada before heading to Hollywood to join Disney and then helping to launch a hugely successful IPO for MP3.com. Bloomberg

MAPLE MUSIC RADIO: CBC Radio 3 Voters have been casting online ballots in a poll over whether or not to begin including international artists in CBC Radio 3 playlists.

Until now there have been two different versions of Radio 3 going. The Sirius Satellite channel played 85% Canadian and 15% International music and the web radio version played 100% Canadian. Due to budget cuts at the CBC Radio 3 is forced to go to one stream and listeners were asked whether they wanted the 85% or 100% Canadian version.

After four days of voting and discussions that became heated at times the results are in and Radio 3 listeners have voted 77% to 23% in favor of a 100% all Canadian CBC Radio 3. That’s great news for Canadian recording artists who would have seen their time in the playlists cut by 15% had the international option been chosen. It also could have meant some artists not being played at all anymore.

This isn’t a final decision, merely something Radio 3’s management will take into account in their decision.

STONES ON BLU-RAY: Michael Cohl’s S2BN Entertainment has announced a June 16 UMG release of the Rolling Stones’ The Biggest Bang Blu-ray, featuring over 3 hours of high-definition video and uncompressed digital 5.1 surround sound. The package features 32 songs and footage from around the world, including their concert in Austin, Texas – a highlight of the U.S. tour, and an exclusive look at the Salt of The Earth Tour documentary including highlights from Argentina, Japan and their first ever concert in China, and comes with subtitles in  English, French, Spanish, German, Dutch, Italian, Portuguese and Japanese.

REZNOR TUNING OUT: NIN identity Trent Reznor is tired of wrestling with social media sites:  “The problem with really getting engaged in a community is getting through the clutter and noise,” Reznor blogged.  But the problem affects broader social media.  “I will be tuning out of the social networking sites because at the end of the day it’s now doing more harm than good in the bigger picture and the experiment seems to have yielded a result.  Idiots rule,” Reznor stated during a recent ramble of a blog. On the issue of privacy, Reznor described the shift in perception that may have followed his tweets.  Instead of a hard-edged or carefully shaped identity, fans were given tweets from a singer-in-love, something Reznor was hardly apologetic for.  “If this has bummed you out or destroyed what you’ve projected on me, fair enough – it’s probably time for you to leave,” Reznor continued.  Moving forward, Reznor will retread his Twitter account into a one-way feed of NIN-related updates. Digital Music News

RIP – BROADCAST PIONEER ARNIE NELSON: Vancouver radio pioneer Arnie Nelson died Sunday, June 7 in St. Paul’s Hospital following a battle with a brain tumor.  He was 74.  He began his career as a guitar and vocal performer at age 10 on CKNW New Westminster in 1944 on programs including The Children’s Hour, Bill Rea’s Roundup, and Ranger’s Cabin.  Arnie stayed with ‘NW in various capacities including all-night DJ and sales until 1964 before moving to CJOR in 1965. He then took the position of manager for the west coast operations of All-Canada Radio and TV from 1965-76.  He retired from broadcasting in 1982.  An extended bio can be found here

TECH CANADA: Despite our early lead in broadband, Canada and the U.S. now lag far behind much of the world in high-speed Internet connectivity. To call your service broadband in much of Europe (including the Scandinavian countries) you have to be offering connections faster than 50 megabits per second. Here, companies advertise “high-speed” of 500 kilobits per second. We have issues pertaining to net neutrality that need to be addressed and even more important are issues pertaining to outdated regulation that make it nearly impossible for government to respond to the ongoing changes in the Internet. Canada still has separate broadcasting and telecommunications legislation, and our copyright legislation has not been updated since 1997. It all needs to be overhauled. Ottawa Citizen

DIGITAL MUSIC: As high as 50% of all music purchases will be digital by the end of 2010, and the value of digital purchases are expected to exceed the value of physical music purchases sometime in 2011, according to a presentation from Nielsen at the National Association of Recording Merchandisers (NARM) conference, Billboard reports.

The percentage of music purchases made from traditional physical record stores has declined from 68% in 2001 to 39% today.Nielsen also found that just 35% of album sales in 2008 were of albums released in that same year — the lowest figure SoundScan has ever recorded.

When looking just at digital sales for 2008, 40% of all songs sold were released in 2007 or 2008; sales of older digital albums were up 37% that year, while sales of current digital albums rose just 27% in comparison. The Nielsen data also shows that nascent formats like the slotMusic song-loaded memory card, and pre-paid digital album cards, have seen a steep drop-off in sales. Since January, slotMusic album sales are off 65%, while digital album card sales have fallen 50%.

DJS SCAM ITUNES: A 10-strong DJ group from London and the Midlands have been arrested in relation to a suspected music scam in which iTunes and Amazon were used fraudulently to claim nearly £200,000 in illegal royalties, NME reports this morning. The unnamed DJs are alleged to have placed their music on the download sites, and then used over 1,500 stolen US and UK credit card details to open new accounts and purchase it themselves.

DUTCH MASON BLUES: Organizers for the 5th annual Dutch Mason Blues Festival in Truro, N.S. have announced this year’s lineup of performers and it’s an eclectic mix that has something for everyone in it. The Aug. 7-9 includes Colin James, Rick Derringer, Jimmie Vaughan, Dr. Hook, Downchild Blues Band, Shemekia Copeland, Tu Tu Jones and Matt Minglewood. Dutch Mason’s son, Garrett, is also on the bill. The festival first began in 2005 to honour Dutch Mason, the Nova Scotia-born blues legend. In that same year, Mason was made an inaugural member of the Canadian Jazz and Blues Hall of Fame and an Officer of the Order of Canada. He died in December 2006 at age 68. The festival will be held at the Truro Raceway and Exhibitions Grounds. A weekend pass will cost $125. Festival link here

JAY & THE AMERICANS DELUXE:Jay & the Americans’ roots were steeped in New York doo-wop, yet they managed to adapt their sound to compete in the British Invasion-steeped ‘60s.The group’s long complex saga (for starters there have been three “Jay”s) is traced on the forthcoming The Complete United Artists Singles collection, a deluxe 3-CD, 66-track package coming from Collectors’ Choice Music on July 21. The package contains all of their UA singles (both “A” and “B” sides) in the original mono mixes, plus two promo-only tracks. All the hits included: “This Magic Moment,” “Come a Little Bit Closer” Cara, Mia”

“Let’s Lock the Door (And Throw Away the Key),” “Sunday and Me,” “She Cried,” “Walking in the Rain” and more. Producer Ed Osborne (who helmed Collectors’ Choice’s recent Jan & Dean, Tommy James & the Shondells and Gary Lewis & the Playboys sets), contributed extensive biographical notes utilizing quotes from members Sandy Deanne, Marty Sanders, Kenny Vance, Howie Kane, and Jay Traynor, and record producers Mike Stoller and Gerry
Granahan.