US Music Industry Takes Another Giant Leap Back

We don’t really know how to bring you this news from anywhere but our big soap box, so just imagine us standing tall, screaming and crying a little bit. Since hearing this news we’ve literally been scratching our heads in amazement. So, we’ll just cut to the chase, and give you the Cliff notes…

Seeing your favourite international acts on American soil is about to get A LOT HARDER.

Reading between the lines, the mighty intellects that make up the US music industry (yep… the bright, young sparks who’ve been systematically degrading the business over the last decade, while suing school children for ‘their’ missing millions) have got some pretty powerful friends over at the U.S. Citizens and Immigration Service (USCIS). Having realised that the Billboard chart is increasingly made-up of international performers (and we just can’t have the rest of the world doing that in our fine country now, can we?) they have decided that the best way to stop us hearing music from outside the US is, well… to literally stop us hearing music from outside the US!

Clearly these young movers and shakers aren’t particularly knowledgeable about this internet thing, but that’s a whole other story that we won’t get into now. Understandably, we know that physical touring is one of the last remaining ways to make money as an artist (1 point to the bad guys!), but as the far more pragmatic article over at the Music Globalization blog suggests, there could also be some pretty disgruntled individuals at the big event powerhouses like AEG, LiveNation and Ticketmaser, who might be a little peeved about the dwindling endorsement opportunities available to them.

So who wins? Nobody of course! The US gets more… well… more of the shit they like to spoon feed you, courtesy of ‘Idol’ or ‘Disney’ tours. While performers from outside the US can forget about those cool summer tours to Coachella, SXSW, Lollapalooza etc.

Read more over at the superb Music Globalization blog here.

Anyone got a spare Glastonbury ticket?