CVWW August 2015 by CV WorldWide Magazine

AUGUST 2015

THE Lifestyle Magazine for Custom Vehicle & Music Enthusiasts

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Born in LA, the brainchild of Evan Rodaniche, CAGE9 has packed venues across the US, Japan and Central America. Their music has been featured on video games, as a WWE entrance soundtrack, on TV and movie soundtracks, and even on a children's show. CAGE9 touches all genres, their influence everywhere. But don't take our word for it, listen to USA Today: “...the initial impact could cause whiplash, but this Panamanian rock band makes great use of subtlety, too, like the layered guitars and the falsetto that kicks in just when you expect a scream.” p. 6

Contents... Off the Beaten Path: Streaming: the future of Music or its Nightmare

News You Can Use - Cars: How to Get the Best Trade In for Your Car

News You Can Use: How to Lead an Adventurous Life

Jamie Paullus Jamie Paullus continues to WOW our readers with the BEST Spokane has to offer - this month: music greats SLAYER and KING DIAMOND. Page 22

Order in the Chaos: 5 Reasons the Music Biz is in the Toilet HAIR TRIGGER: a Comic from Anthony Hitaffer

20 26 Sherry Keith Mystic Photography continues her up close and personal view into the Vegas music scene with Powerman5000... Page 16

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Streaming: the Future of the Music Industry or its Nightmare If you wonder what the person next to you on the bus or train wearing headphones and looking at their mobile screen is listening to, it is probably the new radio – a streaming service. According to the music business body the British Phonographic Industry (BPI), Britons streamed 14.8bn tracks last year, almost double the 7.5bn of 2013, as internet connectivity improves and becomes pervasive. Compared to buying music downloads, streaming services have a number of advantages. Listeners can range over millions of tracks – the “universal jukebox”, create and share playlists socially, discover new artists effortlessly through “artist radio”, and listen anywhere (even downloading temporarily for times when their smartphone gets no signal). This year Apple is expected to muscle in on the scene using the Beats brand it bought for $3bn (£2bn) in May 2014, as is Google‟s YouTube, which last November launched a paid-for, ad-free music and video streaming service, YouTube Music Key. Snapchat, best known for its self-destructing photos and videos that are a hit with teenagers, is also planning a music feature, according to emails leaked as part of the hack of Sony Pictures. A partnership with the music video service Vevo could be incorporated into future versions – which surely helped the Silicon Valley darling raise another $485m, valuing it at more than $10bn, in the past few weeks. Sometimes it seems as if everyone is planning a music streaming service, just as a decade ago everyone down to HMV and Walmart offered music downloads. But unlike downloads, musicians do not universally love streaming. At the start of November, Taylor Swift removed her new album and back catalogue from Spotify and the other streaming services, having complained in a Wall Street Journal column in Ju-

ly: “Valuable things should be paid for. It‟s my opinion that music should not be free.” Ed Sheeran, Beyoncé and Coldplay have used similar tactics, offering CDs and digital downloads for sale before putting them on streaming services – the opposite of the way radio has been used for promotion for decades. Yet streaming revenues are rising fast, according to the BPI‟s figures: they have zoomed from zero in 2007 to £76.7m in 2013. Data released by the Entertainment Retailers Association and BPI this week suggested wholesale streaming revenues were £125m for 2014. (The ERA reported streaming revenues of £175m, but typically its values show a 40% retail markup over the BPI‟s wholesale figures.) The problem with streaming services, though, is that they seem remarkably ineffective at persuading people to hand over their money. If they are the new radio, well, who pays to listen to the radio? And unlike radio, advertising cannot cover the cost of the service. Spotify, for example, is available to nearly 1.1 billion internet users around the world, yet it can claim only 12.5 million paying users and 50m ad-supported accounts. So only 1% of potential subscribers actually pay. Another service, Deezer, claims to be in 182 countries, giving it about as many potential users (and payers) as Spotify; in mid-2013 it reported 16 million monthly active users, and 5 million subscribers. The US-only Pandora claims 250 million users, but only 3.3 million paying its $5 a month subscription. Mark Mulligan of Midia Consulting who has a long track record watching the music business, reckons there are only about 35 million paying subscribers worldwide for all streaming services, out of more than a billion potential users. Mulligan thinks the problem is the price. Even before the digital revolution, the average person spent less than £5 a month on music, with most spending accounted for by a small number of

Streaming: the Future of the Music Industry or its Nightmare big buyers. Cutting subscription prices would entice many more to pay, he thinks, easily making up for lost revenues. “I‟ve been banging the pricing drum for so long the stick has broken,” he said recently. “Unfortunately there was pitifully little progress in 2014, with label fears of cannibalising 9.99” – the price of a standard album, in dollars or euros, on iTunes – “dominating thoughts”. Something needs to change. The figures suggest streaming is eating into digital downloads rather than CD sales: its revenue growth is almost exactly matched by a fall in digital download revenues, now at their lowest level since 2011. In the US, Nielsen SoundScan has confirmed the same pattern</a>, with paid song downloads down 12% in 2014, from 1.26bn to 1.1bn, while song streaming rocketed from 106bn to 164bn. There‟s another difficulty: streaming services tend to lose money. Pandora, the market-listed US streaming service, hasn‟t made an annual profit since it floated in 2011. Spotify still records losses – even though it is expected to seek a flotation this year. The main problem is that for each song streamed, the service has to pay a set amount to the record labels; the more songs streamed, the greater the payment, creating a cost barrier that never shrinks. Spotify says it pays out 70% of its revenues to artists. That could be about to change with the arrival of Apple. Its acquisition of Dr Dre‟s Beats was seen as a defensive move after a dramatic fall in iTunes music downloads and revenues. “Apple had to address streaming,” Syd Schwartz, a former EMI Music executive, told Rolling Stone in May. When Apple introduces Beats Music outside the US, it could galvanise the market. Music industry figures are eager to see what effect it could have because data suggests iPhone owners are typically higher spenders (and so easier to convert to paying subscribers) than the average smartphone buyer.

“We‟ve reached a very interesting point where there are important changes to come,” a BPI spokesman said. “It seems that we‟re moving towards a time of people understanding that streaming is the future.” Apple is understood to be seeking lower persong payments from the music labels, so it can offer lower subscription rates. Google‟s paid-for YouTube Music Key service launched in November with a six-month free trial and a discounted £7.99-a-month cost (down from £9.99). Mulligan expects that discount to continue, and pricing tiers to fall in line. Yet YouTube itself might be a key obstacle to boosting subscriptions, because it is unofficially the world‟s largest ad-supported music streaming service. Teenagers use it to find songs and related artists exactly as they do the normal streaming services. (Snapchat‟s user demographic is a perfect match for that sort of service – which Vevo may seek to capitalise on.) When Swift removed her content from streaming services, it created a media uproar – but all her songs, including new album 1989, could still be found on YouTube. Mulligan thinks artists and labels will have to swallow their pride and accept the world of change – and lower payments. “The whole „changing download dollars into streaming cents‟ issue continues to haunt streaming though,” he said. “With streaming services struggling to see a route to operational profitability the perennial issue of sustainability remains a festering wound. The emerging generation of artists such as Avicii and Ed Sheeran who have never known a life of platinum album sales will learn how to prosper in the streaming era. The rest will have to learn to reinvent themselves, fast – really fast.” Charles Arthur The Guardian.com

<CV WorldWide> Let’s start off with introduc- That's definitely at work on the record we're currently madly in the studio trying to complete. ing the band and their roles. <EVAN> Me / Evan Rodaniche: Lead vocals and guitars, producer, songwriter, mastermind, mad scientist. Brian Sumwalt: drummer Matt Borowski: rhythm guitars Leslie Wyatt: bass and backing vocals

<CV WW> We understand you originally formed the band in Panama City in 1993.Tell us what the catalyst was behind that, how you decided on the name “Cage9”… <EVAN> Ouch - that sure doesn't make me sound old! LOL That is what Wikipedia says because essentially this is the 20th version of my high school band and the name has basically followed me wherever I may have roamed and regardless of who else was in the band. But in reality, Cage9 came into existence around 1999 when it became a more literal version of what it is today. The name means "no cage." Kind of a running joke in which the 9 refers to the German word for no - being nein. The concept being that we're shunning limitations, boxes and confining ideas of who we, and everyone else thinks we should be as a band. Always kind of trying to keep a fresh perspective of what we should do next and aim for musically.

We're definitely exploring some wild new frontiers and tangents in a very organic but still rocking kind of way. So we continue to give credence to the name…and there's no space because I dislike getting lumped in with the other name-space-number bands. HaHa

<CV WW> What was the reason for deciding to move and base the band out of Los Angeles? <EVAN> I wanted to dedicate my life to music. There's way more opportunities and room to grow in a place like LA or in the US period. So many other musicians to learn from. So many more people who listen to the kind of music we play. So much more land mass! Yeah Panama was just tiny in terms of all that. But I definitely miss the simplicity of life down there. You have to go a little crazy to survive up here. But again, musically speaking, that's a good thing.

<CV WW> What got you into music, and at what age? <EVAN> At 14 my best friend's dad was teaching him to play guitar (following in his footsteps as a band leader). I sat in on the sessions and picked it up quicker - so he became a drummer and we started a band. I think it broke his dad's guitarist heart but he became our number one supporter - his work ethic, passion, motivation and painfully unfaltering dedication to the craft continues to inspire my progress to this day even though he passed away awhile back.

<CV WW> Who would you consider some of your main musical influences? <EVAN> I receive influence from my surrounding musical environment daily. I'm always trying to keep my focus engaged and excited by what is going on in the world and incorporate it into what we do. I was born into music by bands like Guns N' Roses, Metallica and Iron Maiden, Faith No More, Smashing Pumpkins and The Beatles but I'd consider newer artists like Alt-J, Nothing More, (ex) My Chemical Romance, Dredg, Enter Shikari, and so many more a part of what we do.

<CV WW> We hear that Evan produces as well and recently produced MadLife’s album “21st Century Megalomaniac” and provided some background vocals. Tell us about that. We featured them a few months back. They are all great musicians and an amazing band, that album is great. <EVAN> I do a lot of production work where bands will come to me with the basic body of their songs and I'll just dive in and add sounds, harmonies, production and synths and whatever the songs need to push them into a new realm. I'd guess you say that's my day job. I've been friends with the Madlife guys for a good 10 years so it was great to get to work with them finally. I've also done that with the past two Powerman 5000 albums, Boy Hits Car, a new record coming out soon for Lacey Sturm from Flyleaf…recorded vocals with Danny (ex-Asking Alexandria). I stay busy with that as well!…and yes of course Cage9 is my main gig as far as that's concerned. I write, record, produce, mix and master all our material as well.

<CV WW> Between 2007 and 2011 Evan performed with Powerman 5000 under the pseudonym “Evan9” as the guitar player and also produced their album 2009 “Somewhere On The Other Side”. Tell us about that experience. <EVAN> Powerman 5000 was a great experience for me. I'd known their old drummer Adrian for quite a while and he was a Cage9 fan - coming to a lot of our local shows. At some point Terry Corso from Alien Ant Farm, who was playing guitar in Powerman at the time, couldn't do a few shows so they asked me to sit in. It evolved to where Cage9 would open a tour and I'd play in both bands every night and of course eventually I became a song writer and producer for the band as well. It was awesome to get to know the band's fans, travel in a bus, play some of the huge festivals and be part of a top notch live act like that. You can't help but learn. Spider One is a brilliant artist and visionary…but at the end of the day I'm happier doing

Cage9 - I guess I'm a little bit of a control freak and want to write my own rules.

<CV WW> Cage9 has been direct openers for Ozzy Osbourne and Bad Religion, that had to be amazing to open for such great acts. How did that come to be and what did you take away from that? Were you nervous at all? <EVAN> Those openings were in Panama, our hometown, where of course we have a great following. So every now and then we get invited to open something awesome like that. I have pretty healthy pre-show stage fright so yeah, big shows take a lot out of me! But I like to think I do a good job of taking that nervous energy and translating it into a great high energy, inspired and compelling live show.

<CV WW> You have also shared the stage with notable acts Queensrÿche, Candlebox, Seether, Sevendust, Hellyeah, Filter, In This Moment, Tesla, Karnivool, Buckcherry, MxPx, Powerman 5000, Dokken, Quiet Riot, Lynch Mob, Hinder, Boy Hits Car and Smile Empty Soul. You guys have toured with some great great bands. How did that feel to tour and share the stage with them? <EVAN> It's always a bit of an out of body experience and hard to fathom while it's happening. It's It went over great and got us on MTV Latino - the usually more like a year later you‟re like, holy shit, good thing about that market of course, is there's a did I open for Ozzy??! lot less bands in our genre to compete with. We keep talking about doing it again so we very likely <CV WW> Your song "My Doppelgänger (Doble will. Opuesto)," was released in English as well as The Dukes of Hazzard and WWE songs Spanish and received full rotation on MTV Lati- we've done are all kind of a product of just living in LA and networking enough to be on people's rano. Tell us about that, and we also heard Cage9 rec- dars for stuff like that. You never know when orded a version of the theme song to “The Dukes you'll be the right band for something a music supervisor is looking for. But it's extremely random.

of Hazzard” which was used in the trailer for the 2005 movie. How did that transpire? <CV WW> In 2012, Cage9 toured the U.S. with <EVAN> Growing up in Spanish-speaking Pana- The Sammus Theory, with additional shows in ma, I was still always a fan of American/BritishJapan as part of The Unionway Festival. How made, English speaking rock and roll. However, I was that was totally exposed and appreciated rock en Espanol too so releasing songs in Spanish was always and how did you like playing in Japan? something we were compelled to do every now <EVAN> We LOVE Japan. All our albums since and then. However it wasn't until "El Motivo" that 2005's "El Motivo" have been released there with we endeavored to do an entire release in Spanish. great success so we have a killer fan base and

packed shows with everyone singing the lyrics whenever we go. In fact the label that releases our music over there also has way bigger bands in the US like Asking Alexandria, Devil Wears Prada and more yet they claim that Cage9's "El Motivo" is still their biggest selling album to date. Very proud of that!

<CV WW> Have you played overseas at all? If so, how were you received? The music scene there is so different than the states. Die Hard music fans there with huge festivals, etc. <EVAN> Out of country you can sometimes be a bit of a novelty and that works in your interest as a band. A lot more excitement, like people are seeing something they don't always get to see. You gotta' soak it in!

said, people still love music - and maybe even more than ever. But it's not the classic worship of rock star scenario of the past. People are fans of singles and single sub-genres instead entire genres. So it's hard to land one effective hit or do one thing that really increases your value. Instead you have to work tirelessly, tour and release as much content as possible on top of just being as good as you can at what you do, hoping to reach your audience. In that respect, I think we have as good a shot as anyone. I think the new album we're working on is going really make our existing fans happy and make us many new ones so we're very hopefully and pumped. But we're realistic too. We don't expect to become rich or famous - we just want to give it 150% and do our best to enjoy being in a band.

<CV WW> What are your thoughts on the use & necessity of Social Media?

<CV WW>Tell us about the music industry to- <EVAN> Gotta do it. At least to some extent. Altday, where do you think Cage9 fits in? hough how does that translate to gaining new fans?

<EVAN> Well, as you know it's tougher than ever I'm not totally sure - your existing fans sure want to make money making music today. That being to hear from you but does it inspire new listenersâ&#x20AC;Ś over time maybe but it's not like some silver bullet to gaining fans. It's a symptom of the way things function at the moment.

<CV WW> How do you feel about music download sales, would you prefer a return to CD's and such? <EVAN> Double edged sword. It sucks for making music. But it's great for fans. In the long run we'll see if it was good or bad. But who really knows.

<CV WW> Tell us about your first time on stage, what was going through your head? <EVAN> I suck. I don't belong here. Why is everyone staring at me? Oh god I suck.

<CV WW> Who do you listen to in your down time? <EVAN> Lorde, Slayer, Manu Chau, Periphery, Depeche Mode, Miles Davis, The Mars Voltaâ&#x20AC;Ś etc.

<CV WW> You have toured all over and with

Also, I could go on quite a bit about toursome amazing bands. Is there any one show that end pranks. Our last tour end with our friends sticks out and is memorable for you and why?

Straight Line Stitch was a lot of fun. We somehow got our hands on their intro and started our set with it and then basically turned them into us by the end of their set. Running out on stage and dressing them in our suits, covering their backdrop with a badly handmade Cage9 logo and of course pelting them with air gunsâ&#x20AC;Śetc. Dead Horse Trauma who were also on the bill got it pretty good too. They have a song where the lyric says something about "listen, listen, listen to the sheep" in reference to conformist people who follow all the rules blindly. So naturally during that song we down<CV WW> Any funny stories to tell from tour loaded barnyard animal sounds - mainly sheep life? baying - and cranked them through their onstage <EVAN> On the tour we did 2 years ago with our monitors while they played. Epic. The crowd had friends the Sammus Theory, they photo-shopped a no clue what was going on. face into one of our van pictures and convinced me beyond all reasonable doubt that we had taken a <CV WW> Do you guys have a favorite place to photo of a ghost looking in the window of our van. play and why? Touring does that to the mind. <EVAN> It's a draw between Tokyo, Panama City, Panama and Idaho Falls, Idaho. Because they rock. <EVAN> We played a show in Panama about 2 years ago that was probably the best show I've ever played. We nailed our hour long set flawlessly. We mined every song from our repertoire in a compelling way with lots of room for crowd participation and improvisation. It was late. The crowd of like 1000 people were wasted (it was like a free beer show) and going nuts jumping off the speakers and singing every word back. That was perfect and may be really hard to top.

<CV WW> What can fan's expect to see at a Cage9 show? <EVAN> I really can't remember a show in which we gave anything less than some percentage over 120. We really pride ourselves on going all out and delivering our songs as they were meant to be heard and then some.

<CV WW>Tell us about the song and music writing process. It is a group process or does one person write the music. <EVAN> I write all the lyrics and come up with most of the song concepts and arrangements but there are quite a few songs on this new record where Brian (drummer) and I have been just jamming, recording, refining and re-jamming while recording to get a more live feel. The chemistry between band members is a tricky thing. But when you get to the point where you're reading each otherâ&#x20AC;&#x;s minds and developing ideas together you're definitely going to hear it in the mix.

<CV WW> What is the motivation behind the

songs written? Do any of them speak to you on a personal level and why? <EVAN> Every song is always personal. Even if you're role playing and imagining yourself into a made up song writing scenario - you're still occupying the story line. It's your baby. You'll always think of that song as family and you'll be biased to it - whether it was any good or not. You'll still be proud of the fact that you made it. So it goes.

<CV WW> What do you all like to do in your down time or is it all music all the time? <EVAN> This is a 24/7 gig. You never stop being a musician. I'm always thinking about what comes next. What song am I going to work on next? What happens after the 2nd chorus in that one new song? What tour might we set out upon next? How do we improve our live show? Your mind is always in it. I approach music like an athlete approaches the Olympics.

<CV WW> Where do you think you are in the journey of Cage9? <EVAN> Jeez. I don't know. I don't think about a beginning or ending. That would probably drive you mad. How much breathe do I have left? Who knows? The police told me it was best left unsolved. Dusting for vomit and all.

works?

<CV WW> What kind of advice would you offer <EVAN> As of today we have 19 new songs in a to a band starting out? state of completion or close for a new record. <EVAN> If you're not having fun you're probably Probably some of the most intense music we've ever made. We're very excited about it but we don't doing it right. necessarily know what we're going to do with it… <CV WW> What does Cage9 have planned for LOL. We've also got a new video for one of the songs that we directed, shot and produced on our the rest of 2015? Any tours or projects in the own for a song called tentatively "Everything You Love Will Someday Die." We had fans, friends and random acquaintances of all kinds come to our rehearsal spot and filmed them singing the lyrics. It looks crazy. Hopefully we'll be releasing both shortly with national and international tours to follow. We also self-produced and released a video for a song on the record (earlier this year) which also might happen be the album title. Check out "Illuminator" on YouTube:

How to Get the Best Trade-in Value for Your Car One of the great unknowns in buying a used car is what to do with your trade-in. Do you sell it yourself? Trade it in to the dealer? Or possibly donate it to charity? While value is set by strict IRS guidelines for charitable donations, you can control what value you get for your used car when it‟s time to trade it in. Steven Lang is a man who knows the used car industry inside out. In addition to covering the car industry as a journalist, he has been an auto auctioneer and car dealer for nearly 16 years. He has also been in charge of inspecting, appraising and liquidating over 10,000 vehicles a year for Capital One Auto Finance. His latest project is the LongTerm Quality Index. It‟s a study begun in early 2013 that now has tabulated the long-term reliability results of over 748,000 older used cars, SUVs and trucks throughout the United States. It contains trade-in information from across the country. For example, the index shows a Mazda Mazda5 usually is traded in with 97,004 miles, which is below the industry average of 126,654 miles. Trading in a Mazda5 with more miles could decrease its value. Also, you can see via the index that a Mazda5 has better than average reliability in the 2010 model year, which could also help its re-

sale value. Lang's top tip for getting the most trade-in value is making sure your car is clean when being presented to a dealer. “A clean car always sells for more money. Make sure the vehicle is perfectly clean. You could add some value if it‟s detailed for a high-end vehicle. Dealers look at how the vehicle is going to look on their lot. That‟s their first and foremost concern. You want to have everything clean,” Lang says. The next advice Lang offers is to document recent work done on your used car. “If you have any added value to the vehicle, such as you‟ve recently done some expensive maintenance to it such as a new timing belt or if for a hybrid you got a new battery for it, that information with receipts will help you get a better value. You can get some level of compensation for that. It‟s not going to be for the entire repair,” he says. Dealers will be able to market the car to customers with the enhancements. There is an added value for a dealer when they don‟t have to do additional work to a used car when it is traded in, Lang adds. Cliff Wood, executive vice president of stores at CarMax, disagrees slightly with Lang‟s suggestions. He says, “You might be tempted to take a spin through the car wash on your way to get your vehicle appraised. Save your time and cash. A car wash or last-minute maintenance will not impact the overall offer they make on the vehicle. What‟s most important is the long-term maintenance and care of your car.” He adds, “To determine an offer on a car, most appraisers will look at mileage, the condition of the vehicle, the vehicle‟s accident history and how well it‟s been maintained, inside and out.” Something that could hurt your resale value is the level of customization your used car has. As Wood says, “Even though you may enjoy personalizing your car, aftermarket modifications like

larger tires or a unique paint color can narrow the market appeal, which in turn can lower the offer.” While you may not want to paint your used car before trading it in, restoring stock equipment like its original wheels could help. Both men also say a mistake car sellers make is not knowing the true value of their used cars when it comes time to trade them in. “Always get a written appraisal from a company you trust. You can use online resources to provide general guidance, but know that these sites are not always accurate in estimating the offer you'll get on a vehicle,” Wood says. Wood's own CarMax offers appraisals, which are good for seven days and don‟t require that you purchase a used car from the chain. Lang says Edmunds.com is the most precise of the online appraisal tools. “Objectively I find Edmunds has the most accurate prices,” he says. Another way to determine the value of your tradein vehicle in your local market is to advertise it for sale on Craigslist. “See how many bites you get for a given price,” he says. “You‟re testing the marketplace.” Finally, the best value for your trade-in continues to be selling it on your own if your used car still runs. Lang says you should trade in a car not in running condition if a dealer allows it and has trade-in allowances that provide exaggerated value to your non-functioning used car. Also, he says cars with major issues like transmission or engine problems should also be traded in because private buyers don‟t want to purchase potential headaches. Otherwise, you are going to see more value by selling it yourself. Lang says the difference could be as high as 20 to 30 percent. “I would say 95 percent of the time you‟re better off retailing it, even with problems,” he says. Make sure the car is running well. “Minor repairs that have a marked improvement in the performance are usually worth it,” he adds.

5 Tips on How to Lead a More Adventurous Life from OpenRoadJourney.com Humans are, by nature, explorers. We like to see stuff. We like to go places. Adventure is in our blood. But, as we get older, our sense of adventure gets muted by jobs, family, and other responsibilities that we all face as adults. Too many things pull us in too many different ways. And, that's a shame. Before you know it, you're looking back over the years of your life and counting your most exciting memories on one hand. Everything else simply blurs into a time span of nothing more than existence. We all started out as the greatest of adventurers - as children. Everything was new, all we wanted to do was explore. It didn't matter if it was the woods in the back, or that cupboard that mom locked up and won't let us into. For those of you with kids, you know what I'm talking about. Remember when they first started to crawl? They went and looked at everything, and everything was exciting. You couldn't get them to sit still no matter what. Then, we got older and we were taught it was necessary to plan. Make sure you have every "I" dotted and "t" crossed. Otherwise, bad things will happen, you won't finish school, you won't get a job... and the flame of adventure got a little weaker. Then, we got even a little older (yes, it does happen), and we were taught it was critical to plan. Plan for retirement, plan for the kids, plan for your next vacation. Otherwise, bad things will happen, you won't retire, your vacation will be boring... and the flame of adventure got a little weaker still. You get the picture. Life isn't about being safe and comfortable it's about living, being adventuresome, getting out of our comfort zones. It's about being a kid again. If you've ever had a bit of wanderlust, or sat

in your cubicle and daydreamed of a different life, or experienced mid-life crises, you know what I'm talking about. Those events are just our mind rebelling against the flame of adventure getting weaker in our soul. It's our subconscious telling us that the path of comfort and safety in our life isn't always the best thing. What's this have to do with motorcycles? No matter what reason you think you bought that motorcycle for - I have a theory that the real reason was because your mind was subconsciously trying to rekindle that sense of adventure. Motorcycles are a way to explore. When you bought that motorcycle, you were looking to fuel that flame of adventure in your soul. It doesn't matter if you're in your 20's or 50's, an experienced rider or a brand new rider. But, rekindling that sense of adventure just doesn't happen with the purchase of a motorcycle, much less a purchase of anything. So, here are five tips on how to become a better adventurer: 1) Plan less. I'm not knocking planning, it's usually necessary. But don't try to figure out everything beforehand. Pick one or two destinations, versus a whole weekend of hour by hour activi-

ties. Pick one or two cool roads and routes that you want to try, instead of every mile of the trip. Make sure you have more unplanned time than planned time. The worst that's going to happen? You might get a little bored. The best? Well, the possibilities are endless and damn exciting. Take little steps. An adventure doesn't have to do to living life in general. be a weeklong trip, a weekend trip, or even a day trip. Adventure and time aren't related. I'll leave you with my all-time favorite poRide your bike to work one day. Pick up groceries with your motorcycle (this has the extra ben- em, modified for the adventure seeking, motorcycle riding, explorer in us all: efit of saving money!). The point is you don't need a big span of time. Simply try to change Life should NOT be a journey to the grave your framework of thinking from "I'm going to with the intention of arriving safely have an adventure or explore something new," in an attractive and well preserved motorcycle, to "how I can try something different today verBut rather to skid in sideways, sus what I always do." brake squeezed in one hand, Get Lost. People seem to have an intense fear throttle twisted in the other, of getting lost. I'm not sure why. What's the fear gas tank on empty, based on? That they'll run out of gas? Be embartires worn out and screaming rassed about having to ask how to get home? "WOO HOO what a ride!" That the road will run out? Who knows. But, here's a fact: sometimes the best way to find something is to get lost. So, the next time you find yourself wondering what's down that little road you just passed, turn around and find out. Share it with other people. To me, an important part of my personal life is to make memories. And, the best way to make memories is with others. Not only do you end up having someone that you can laugh about the experience with, but you inspire a sense of adventure in others. Get uncomfortable. I thought about making this one "Don't Worry So Much", but the key is to make yourself uncomfortable, and worrying is part of being uncomfortable. So, actually, I want you to worry, because that's a sign you're getting out of your comfort zone. I don't know why, but our society has become a society of maximizing comfort and minimizing worry. I'm not so sure that's a good thing. If you haven't' bought that motorcycle because you're worried you might get hurt, do it anyway. If you don't like it, you can always sell it.

That's it. Try just one of these and I guarantee you'll feel a little stir in your soul. These tips apply just as equally to riding motorcycles as they

5 REASONS THE MUSIC BUSINESS IS IN THE TOILET by DANIEL NUSSBAUM It doesn‟t take a big-shot music executive or a statistician to see that the music industry is in a major period of upheaval. Sales of recorded music are at or near alltime lows, digital downloads and concert revenues aren‟t doing enough to stop the bleeding, and technology has made recording and sharing music easier than ever, driving up competition in an already traditionally competitive industry. Liam Boluk is a venture capitalist and strategist with a lot to say about the music industry. In a new report for REDEF, Boluk examines how innovation, technology, and industry practices have collided to throw the entire music business into a state of flux and explores how the industry can relaunch itself into the robust, money-making machine it had been just a few decades ago. Here is a list of 5 ways the music industry is in serious trouble and some insight into how it can get itself turned around.

Concert Revenues Don’t Do Enough to Help According to Boluk, the U.S. concert industry has tripled since 1999, largely due to performers earning an average of 35 percent more on perticket prices (adjusted for inflation). But the overwhelming majority of that live music revenue growth, 83 percent, has gone to artists not in the top 100 tour earners. In 2000, the top 100 touring artists took home 90 percent of all concert revenue in the U.S. Now, that number is down to just 44 percent. Taken together with rapidly declining recorded music sales, the “disappointing” concert revenue numbers are a serious blow to the wallets of most popular mainstream artists. The upside is that indie musicians are making more money than ever on rigorous touring schedules, and, according to Boluk, are slowly cannibalizing what little is left of recorded music sales.

Music Sales are in the Toilet Sales of recorded music have declined by 70 percent since 1999, even while adjusting for inflation, according to Boluk. After years of sustained growth, digital music downloads from online outlets like iTunes have also begun to decline. What‟s disheartening is that music is seemingly consumed more today than at any time in history, with people popping in earbuds almost everywhere, from the gym to the subway. Physical retail sales have perhaps taken the biggest hit; last year, Walmart, which sells the most physical albums in the country by a long shot (one out of every four CDs sold in the U.S.), cut its stock of CDs and its associated retail space in stores by 40 percent. That means only the hottest titles get carried in Walmart stores, which, after iTunes, is the second-largest music retailer in the country.

Music is Less ‘Rare’ Than It’s Ever Been The shift in music distribution from physical to digital has made music more readily available than at any time in history. Hop over to YouTube or SoundCloud and there are literally millions of hours of unheard music stashed online, albeit with greatly varying degrees of quality. The point is, when major labels controlled every aspect of making a record, including recording, distribution, marketing and so on, they also controlled the level of output in the music industry. With the proliferation of user-uploaded content sites like YouTube (not to mention streaming services like Spotify), the artificial “scarcity” of good music has been exposed. Spotify boasts a collection of 30 million songs in its library, available for anytime-anywhere consumption. And, according to Boluk, the average Spotify user streams 1,300 tracks per month. With a library and a listen-

ing habit that large, the “value” of each track necessarily goes down. While musicians like to think their albums are “valuable” (and they are, in the sentimental sense of the term), the saturation of the market has proven the exact opposite to be true.

more frustrating by the changing way in which artists get paid. While artists with big, mainstream physical releases usually collect a majority of their revenue just a few months after the album goes on sale, streaming revenues come every month and, in many cases, in significantly smaller amounts. AdStreaming Services Can’t Save the Industry (Yet) ditionally, artists and their management teams The music world held its collective breath in may not know if an album is a hit for a significantNovember when Taylor Swift, arguably the biggest ly longer period of time. superstar on the planet, pulled all of her music from Spotify. Record Labels Continue to Stiff Artists The move was a sharp rebuke to SpotiMusic distribution channels can only take so fy over the seemingly skimpy royalty payments the much of the blame for the industry‟s current dyscompany makes to artists for streams of their mu- function. According to Boluk, contracts between sic; according to Boluk, Spotify pays artists any- record labels and their artists have changed little in where between $0.006 and $0.0084, just fractions the last decade despite the major overhaul the inof a penny, per stream. dustry has gone through as a whole. And it‟s not just Spotify; personalized radio To illustrate the point, Boluk pointed to an service Pandora has also come under fire for the eye-opening statistic from a recent Ernst & Young royalties it pays out to artists per stream. report: record labels took home 73 cents out of eveOf course, this results in songs streamed tens ry dollar paid out by Spotify and competitor of millions of times generating just a few thousand Deezer, while songwriters got 16 cents and artists dollars for their artists. Once royalties to songwrit- got 11. ers and publishers are factored in that number With the importance of record labels dimindrops even lower. ishing as barriers of entry into the industry are lowThe economic performance of Spotify is also ered, this hardly seems fair. far from rock-solid. While the company boasts of As Boluk himself put it, at the conclusion of having 75 million active users, 76 percent of those the report: “Most importantly, however, artists users accessed the service for free in 2014, contrib- must recognize that without new label agreements, uting only nine percent of the company‟s total rev- their tide will never turn.” enue. According to Billboard, Spotify‟s operating For more on the state of the music business losses have doubled since 2013, even while reve- and what the industry can do to survive, check out nue grew 45 percent to $1.22 billion. the rest of Boluk‟s REDEF report here. Another potentially frustrating aspect of streaming services lies in the way the companies set the value, and the subsequent payout, for each track. Boluk demonstrated the complex system with an example using rapper Drake:  If Spotify users stream more music in August than July, but the same amount of Drake, Drake would see a smaller cheque for the same play count. This could even happen despite an increase in Spotify‟s Monthly Revenue  If Spotify‟s Monthly Revenue is flat, but Drake‟s stream count grows faster than total track volume, he could be paid less per stream but generate more revenue  If revenues increase, Drake could see greater royalties even if stream counts drop This confusing payout structure is made

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