Andy Palacio

please hold andy palacio in the light. he is currently fighting for his life. he has been tragically taken ill within the past week. i'll paste the email from his label & manager below.
andy is a musician.
andy is a humanitarian.
andy is a mensch.
andy has made a positive impact on this world.
andy is an inspiration.
andy is a hero.
please pray for him, hold him in the light, carry him with you in your heart, your head, your ears, your mind, your body and your soul.

i have so many words to describe what this man means to me, and who am i? and yet, i have so few words right now. . . just hope.

http://www.myspace.com/andypalacio
http://andypalacio.calabashmusic.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andy_Palacio
http://www.cumbancha.com/welcome.php?_pg=albums/watina

email from friday (jan 18th):
Dear Friends:

We're deeply saddened to report that Andy Palacio has experienced what was apparently a severe heart attack and is in grave condition. He is currently on life support and the prognosis is not good. We are all hoping for a miracle and that Andy will regain consciousness, but at this point this does not seem likely.

Andy started feeling poorly a few days ago and visited a doctor with complaints of dizziness and blurred vision. On Wednesday he began experiencing seizures and was rushed to a hospital in Belmopan, Belize and then on to another hospital in Belize City. The doctors initially though Andy, who was still conscious and communicative at that time, had experienced a stroke, and were even diagnosing multiple sclerosis at one point. At this point, we were all hopeful Andy would recover.

Yesterday, Andy's condition worsened and he began experiencing more seizures. Andy is a national icon in Belize, and the story of his illness has not only been big news there, the Prime Minister has been putting his full support behind Andy's treatment. When Andy's condition started to decline, he was placed on an air ambulance to Chicago where he was expected to get treatment at one of the premier neurological facilities in the country.

En route to Chicago, the plane stopped in Mobile, Alabama to clear immigration. At that point, Andy was unconscious and it was determined that he was too ill to continue on the flight to Chicago. Andy is currently in a hospital in Mobile, Alabama where he is in a coma. His cousin is by his side and Andy's daughters will be arriving shortly .

It is impossible to describe the pain we feel from this unfathomable tragedy. We will notify you if we hear any significant updates on Andy's condition. In the meantime, keep him in your thoughts and prayers.

Sincerely,
Ivan Duran (Stonetree) and Jacob Edgar (Cumbancha)

DRM is Dead!!

today is the day! drm is dead! it was very exciting to turn on today and read these kind of headlines:

* Napster Goes DRM-Free on Downloads, MP3s Ahead
* Sony BMG Confirms Initial DRM-Free Strike, Retail Play Emerges

Amazing stuff. i think that iTunes is going to be the only place to get DRM'ed tracks (except for some SOL little independent sites) within 6 months. and that (DRM on iTunes) only because the majors are pissed at apple/jobs and won't give them their catalogs fully DRM free.
Imagine how much further along we'd be if this had happened 5 years ago?!?
Instead of this rapid downturn of sales, maybe we'd be that much closer to actually developing a working market for artists.
I know people who still haven't downloaded music, think that it is too complicated, haven't opened up to paypal or putting their credit card info in online, don't use itunes, have been scared off by "DRM" talk (either it is too hard to use, or that someone will be tracking them), or any number of other reasons/excuses. Now that they know that their music will play everywhere they want it to, maybe they'll try buying something somewhere. Imagine if the 844 million tracks bought in 2007 is just from the early adopters! wow. that is some power.

good news/bad news

Some interesting facts below highlighting both the opportunity for growth and the sad state of music sales today. Very interesting, but also great. The numbers keep on going up and up, which is a wonderful sign.

• Despite a 45% increase in digital sales, overall U.S. music album sales fell 9.5% in 2007, the Associated Press reported, citing data from Nielsen SoundScan.
• Individual digital track sales totaled 844.2 million in 2007, up from 588.2 million in 2006.
• The holiday week was the best ever for the industry, which saw a record 58.4 million units moved during the last week of 2007.
• On the mobile front, Americans purchased more than 220 million ringtones last year.