David Fagin and Keith Girard

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The Day the Music Died: How Greed Is Killing the Cover Band Scene

If you want proof that music is dying, just watch the Super Bowl halftime show. Or, God forbid, turn on your radio. Aside from paying $100 or more to see a huge arena show, there’s very few places to go these days to hear live music. Especially for free, or close to it. That’s because ASCAP and BMI, the performing rights organizations that pay performance royalties to artists, have been actively targeting the local bars and restaurants that still feature cover bands playing live music....
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Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame Voting Process Needs Extreme Makeover

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is becoming known as much for its snubs as it is for it’s latest inductees, raising questions again about its decades-long string of baffling decisions by its quasi-secret voting members. The long list of snubs is infamous. How does Joan Jett get chosen over artists like The Pixies, The Cars, Depeche Mode, The Smiths, The Sex Pistols and Sonic Youth — to name but a few. Let’s face it, The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has about as much credibility at the moment as Kim Jong Un. If it were a person, The Rock Hall’s credit score would probably be in the low 600s (ng!). At this point, it might be a good idea to include a $100 Walmart gift card with each induction. At least then it would be worth something....

David Fagin and Keith Girard

David Fagin is a New York writer, producer and musician. His resume boasts an incredibly diverse range of contributions, from top news sites such as Salon, TheImproper, AOL News, Yahoo and The Huffington Post to a wide-range of humorous entities such as The Onion, The Muppets, Comedy Central, Dennis Miller, and Howard Stern. He is fascinated by technology and social media and the seemingly love/hate relationship we have with the changing world. He is also a food snob.