David C Lowery
@davidclowery
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EDD. Founded Camper Van Beethoven and Cracker. I fight for artists. Liberal not progressive. Pilates not Yoga. Jaguar not Strat. KD4CVB (ex-KF4KRF) 6YDCL.
Athens, GA
Joined April 2008
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Pinned Tweet
Back at UCSC in the 1980s I remember an exercise or class discussion on the hypothetical "would you speak out against the genocidal horrors if you were in Nazi Germany in the 1930s." Everyone agreed they would speak out even if the cost was their lives. Today I'm glad to see
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Try living on $0.0038 a stream and then get back to me.
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Please note: an artist is radically out PR-ing a record label. Apparently, Big Machine's statement earlier today is not true. Get the popcorn folks.
AMAs producer Dick Clark Productions denies involvement in Big Machine's statement: "Any final agreement on this matter needs to be made directly with Taylor Swift's management team"
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In a brief ceremony tonight handed off the Trout Mask Replica to the eldest son.
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Years ago we (
@TheBandCracker
) briefly met Donald Sutherland at Logan Airport. We were eating at Legal Seafood (I think) and Johnny and I figured out he was sitting in the booth directly behind me. At some point there was a lull in his booths conversation and I said loud enough
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So
@taylorswift13
was right. The post performance streaming of AMA performance counted as a “re-record.” And this seems to be where Big Machine was holding it up
Taylor Swift's Ex-Record Label, American Music Awards Reach Deal | Hollywood Reporter
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Mojo was a great person. Some of the best times touring was
@CamperBeethoven
with Mojo and Skid. One time in the 1980s we were touring from the west on I-80 and he was coming from the east. We needed to take a photo together to be used for the cover of a magazine. He came up
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Looks like the fraudulent NFT site HitPiece is now offline. Doesn't matter. I'm still going after them.
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15 years sober. Hanging out with my two boys. Perfect Father’s Day.
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Honestly. What is AI supposed to do for us? I'm open minded but so far the most common uses appear to be:
Ripping off graphic artists
Cheating on homework
Making fake porn and harassing people with it
Bad music
Making fake news clips
Anyone?
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Ladies, would you prefer to marry someone who every day thinks about
1) The Roman Empire, or
2) The Replacements
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People think virality in music is a new thing. Came with the internet. Sure the internet has sped it up. But it's always been there and it's still a mystery how it works. Here's my personal example. In June 1985
@CamperBeethoven
released our first album. It was a limited run of
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I don’t think most Californians appreciate the dread experienced by band business managers when they see California on the tour itinerary. California just sent Camper Van Beethoven a 2023 tax assessment for $800. CVB has been a Virginia LLC since the late 1990s. We haven’t
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In 1987 my band
@CamperBeethoven
was the back up band for Tiny Tim at Stache and Little Brother's in Columbus OH. Here's the proof. I want to note that even then I knew my Goodwill overcoat should go below my knees. It's kind of getting caught up in my guitar strap so it
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In the age of Silicon Valley monopoly pseudo-capitalism, a tell that an organization is up to no good, is the use of the word "open." Take OpenAI. It has slathered itself in a pseudo-academic ooze, presenting papers, hosting "discussions, hoping you don't realize who really owns
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6/x so basically the fed government forced us (songwriters) to license to Spotify at below market rates (See US Copyright Office CRB) essentially subsidizing the companies growth for the last 10 years. And now they've gone public they want to pay songwriters LESS. Fuck you.
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The two twenty something kids working in the local Chicago tavern are listening to an algorithmic 90s rock station on I Heart or Pandora. Playing it quite loud. Singing along to stuff like Audio Slave and Godsmack. They are telling me how much they love 90s rock when “Grounded”
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Me when someone is playing a bass with more than 4 strings.
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If you get this immediately you are on the early edge of Gen-X.
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4/x while performers get $0.0038 a stream.
@Spotify
spends $2.7 million a month on World Trade Center office space. That's just NYC folks.
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I apparently kicked the owner and his friends out of the VIP sections for talking (very loudly) through the quiet songs. The legend continues. Good night Raleigh!
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I told my sons I am having “a Brat Summer.” One put his face in his hands. The other after a long pause said “Promise me you will never say that again. Not even in private. Don’t even think that.”
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All the true promise of AI does not require violating writers, artists, photographers, voice actors etc copyrights and rights of publicity. You know, stuff like reading MRIs and X-rays, developing pharmaceuticals, advanced compounds, new industrial processes, etc.
All the
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The great thing about being a sober musician is you can build the powerpoints for two university lectures between breakfast and van call. In the van you can edit the vocals for a project you are producing and still have time to write the setlist and do band business. It's not so
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Because I live in Athens GA, awesome stuff like this happens in my town. Mayor gives Mickey Dolenz a key to the city.
So great to welcome Micky Dolenz to Athens to celebrate the release of his R.E.M. covers e.p. With a key to the city in his back pocket, he’s now welcome back anytime!
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No secret that in the music business it's not uncommon to find a newly divorced mid fifties male executive with a late 20's girlfriend. My wife and I often amuse ourselves speculating on the sort of conversations between the May -September couple. My wife always does this
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The saddest thing is the bystander who was killed. In one of the shots you can see the guys phone on the bench. Who do you think was in the picture in his lock screen? His kids? His wife? His dog? Politics have broken you all.
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Thanks to the VP we're having a long overdue discussion of free markets. Unfortunately somewhere along the way we stopped educating people on market economics. There are two main benefits of free markets:
1) The hive mind of consumers and producers reading price signals is a
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The secret of Mojo’s act was he took the cadence and delivery of a TV /Radio evangelical/charismatic preacher and inserted his own content into the form. Here is a good example.
RIP Mojo Nixon. You were the Cheez Whiz in caviar of life. He was fee, drunk and horny and you couldn’t stop him.
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My wife thinks I’m OCD cause I remove the eggs this way. My defense is I’m keeping center of gravity where someone carrying the carton expects it to be.
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Posting your Spotify wrapped playlist is free advertising for a crony capitalist company that can only exist because the federal government forces songwriters to license songs at below market rates. Merry Christmas everyone.
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here's the photo
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5/x Spotify is currently trying to reduce pay to songwriters even lower by suing the Copyright Royalty Board. They want to reduce songwriter (already meager) royalty rates 30%
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When I was 20 I got in a band so I could play music and hopefully meet girls. I had no idea how much mail order would be involved.
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I’m leaving this hellhole and going back to MySpace. This is my last tweet.
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My mom had a notebook that was a catalog of all the albums she owned. Categorized by record label not artists. Went back to the early 50s.
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This guy hired us to play in his garage for his daughters birthday. It's a surprise so don't tell anybody.
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19/c The entire tech world is dominated by a faux progressive cyber- libertarian ideology. “No property rights (IP/Privacy) for you my friend. No regulation for me.” No taxes either. I’m amazed at how many well educated folks out there refuse to see this.
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The Lotus is an extraordinary car, but it handles best if the trunk is filled with cocaine.
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The “first-in-last-out” team has successfully moved the
@TheBandCracker
and
@CamperBeethoven
archive from Richmond VA to Athens GA.
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I see a number of people wondering why songwriters don't strike since obviously our pay is shit in the digital age. Many implying it's some how our fault we don't. Here's some fun facts I bet most don't know.
1) The DOJ regards songwriters as producers of goods, so we aren't
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Just listened to a recording of the Daryl's house show from last night. I'm not usually this guy, but man you guys got to shut the fuck up during the quiet songs.
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22/x I’m not an anti-capitalist. Quite the opposite. But what Spotify/Google/Amazon represents is new kind of monopoly that is incompatible with liberal democracies. It’s not just amoral, it’s nihilistic and instinctively seeks to destroy anything that does not grease its path...
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Love Washington Post portraying Scooter Braun as the victim. So the message is this: when you’re a powerful male in music industry and private equity (Carlyle group Uber etc) any criticism is over the line, never mind daily harassment of female pop artists
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Nice first edition with Kosher symbol and with C misaligned. Rare!
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It never ends with these greedy assholes. I don’t understand why music consumers continue to use
@Spotify
. Spotify uses the federal compulsory mechanical license to use songwriters songs. While it’s cheap for Spotify it’s also restrictive. For instance it doesn’t allow lyric
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I'm trying to imagine 21 year old punk rock self saying: "Free Speech is bad." Does anyone else feel like their entire generation has lost their minds? Having a full on meltdown about the possible/maybe relaxation of some content moderation policy at twitter is not punk rock.
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@jess_miers
Hi Jess. This is my big sister Sandra. She was born on my grandmothers couch in 1953 in rural Arkansas. She almost died at birth and consequently has been disabled her whole life. Sometime in her 30's she started making her own art. At first with brushes and paint. Later with
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10/x It's really hard to understand why some folks want to excuse the illegal and rapacious behavior of 27 billion dollar company? Imagine if twitter were around in 2001 and folks were cheering on Enron. For those of you too young to remember
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I suppose everyone has seen this now but I’m resharing it. Metal AF.
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I gonna be upfront with you. I'm weird. My bands are weird. On Berkeley to Bakersfield I demanded pistol play it weird. There's nothing wrong with being weird.
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Hey
@spotify
and
@spotifyartists
can you explain how
@roryfelton
got access to your API? he scraped your site (images, songs titles, album covers) to create fraudulent NFTs for virtually every artist on your platform. I can tell from my bands profile on HitPiece it came from u
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$5k reward from me personally for arrest/conviction of the fucking lowlifes who broke into the
@40WattAthens
last night and stole the PA etc
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Hickman still hasn't accepted my friend request from 2008 ish.
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2/x see streaming price bible. Here
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I don't actually know the chords to a lot of my songs. My hands know the chords. They rarely fail. Last night I went to start Seven Days and my hands suddenly drew a blank. An awkward 20 seconds. Bryan Howard has to say "E C G" and then we're off.
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Played the 99x “rebirth” birthday party at Mutations Brewery Metro Atlanta. Me a guitar and 500 people singing Eurotrash Girl. Thanks
@99x
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It is the 34th anniversary of this album. Great art direction by Bruce Licher.
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I don't mind paying California tax on income earned in California and we always do. But the state tax system is becoming a parasitic shakedown operation.
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Hi Jess. This is my big sister Sandra. She was born on my grandmothers couch in 1953 in rural Arkansas. She almost died at birth and consequently has been disabled her whole life. Sometime in her 30's she started making her own art. At first with brushes and paint. Later with
Many of the artists on here have demonstrated their dedication to keeping marginalized folks (including those with disabilities) out of their community and the marketplace.
Gen AI says "fuck that." Those barriers come down now, and I'm here for it.
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Mastering the new
@TheBandCracker
retrospective today and tomorrow. Vinyl and CD. The idea is the retrospective is compiled from alternate takes of songs. Hence the title Alternative History: A Cracker Retrospective. Here is the CD tracklist.
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17. It’s absurd to suggest there is any real competition between these tech companies when it comes to anything. But especially music. Look at this shit. They don’t even try to hide it.
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The youngest son just got admitted to
@universityofga
. Very proud of him. But when I posted this on Facebook a lot of people thought that this was “natural” since I teach there. However I’d like to point out as faculty I can’t have any contact whatsoever with admissions. As a
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I’ve complained about of the streaming rates at Spotify. But that’s a distraction. That’s just pickpocketing. The bank heist is songwriters and artists basically forced into funding a tech startup with below market royalty rates. But didn’t get any of the $60 Billion in stock.
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This is the absolute peak of Cracker’s popularity. Although this was WHFS show, DC101 was playing sweet thistle pie like every 45 minutes. When the full band hit the intro chorus the ground beneath the stage began to shake from the crowd jumping.
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FWIW. You will start seeing a few David Lowery Band shows this summer. It doesn't mean anything other than the fact I'm game to play more shows than Hickman is. He's older than me and is working on being semi retired. Nothing wrong with that. Yes Cracker and CVB songs.
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The very very first run of this album. 1) notice the "C" came off the paste up board and was stuck on one gridline to the left. Also the story with the colors is you had to choose them using a card with columns of color numbers with a check box to the left and right. I checked
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If your politics make it impossible for you to criticize those you voted for you are in a cult.
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Recorded The Golden Age here. The dog is not impressed.
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This is the original promo copy of Telephone Free Landslide Victory
@CamperBeethoven
sent to KSPC Pomona College. To me it’s a reminder of the democratizing force of college radio in the 1990s.
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9/x Oh they also didn't bother to pay big songwriters as well:
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Hah!
@sarahjeong
randomly plays race card on me while I’m testifying on fair use and lyric websites. My testimony is a public record. Check it. Nothing about being a hip hop expert. I only mention hip hop in passing. She’s just a Harvard trained troll.
@sisario
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Probably see you late June early July for an outdoor show or two.
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I have this hilarious long thread going on Facebook, where I explain I'd like to not talk about music or my band if we meet in real life. Cause I feel like I've been doing it for 40 years. And I'm bored with it. Not playing music. Just talking about it. But on twitter I can give
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8/x Remember that even with those shitty rates, Spotify didn't bother to pay a large number of self published songwriters. Hence this:
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@mikedrake178
@MrAndyNgo
@DanCrenshawTX
Clearly Crenshaw is not a fascist. So tired of people overusing that word. Spent part of my youth living under a fascist dictator (Franco). Moral fucking panic.
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I wonder how many bands jump off I-5 at Sleater-Kinney road to just try to figure out what the deal is.
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You know there is something wrong when running your label like a small batch distillery is more profitable than using digital platforms. As much as a hassle this is, this pile generates the same revenue as 100 million YouTube streams
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If you really want to know the deal, we are arguing over merch cuts cause the federal government gave digital platforms safe harbors and mandatory licensing schemes that allow digital platforms to pay obscenely low royalties to artists. Merch cuts is a pickpocket sideshow that
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Was just going over year end numbers. We sold just under 3,000 CDs direct mail order or off the merch table on a limited number of shows. A similar number of shirts+ posters but the CDs were +80% of the net profit. It's still about the music. Not t-shirts.
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14/x The point is, this is a shitty company, that does shitty stuff, and has no problem doing deals with even shittier entities.
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When I say I just want to live someplace that has some culture. I don't mean New York. I mean a place like Duluth.
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