I just got this press release. ARSC member Barry Mazor will be giving a
Paper at the ARSC Conference - his first!.
 
I do not have a smart phone or ereader and may have to get one for this.
Anyone have suggestion of cheapest decent one with a decent screen -
 
Steve Ramm
 

 


LANDMARK ENHANCED E-BOOK ABOUT MUSIC MAN
RALPH PEER WILL DEBUT APRIL 15
FEATURING 49 FULL-LENGTH SONGS

Full Songs From Multiple Publishers Are Not the Norm; Rights Issues
Usually
Seen as Impeding Such Licensing

April 15, 2015 (New York, NY)— An enhanced e-book featuring 49 full-length
songs whose rights are held by a variety of recording and publishing
companies will be released by Chicago Review Press on April 15, 2015. The book,
RALPH PEER AND THE MAKING OF POPULAR ROOTS MUSIC by Barry Mazor, was
released as a hardcover and standard e-book in November 2014.
The enhanced e-book version of the book will include 49 songs that figured
prominently in the career of Peer, who was one of the most influential
music company executives in the 20th century. Songs packaged with e-books have
generally been restricted to less than a minute in duration due to
historical format limitations, and the range of material has been generally
limited, due to the novelty of the rights issues. In the case of this book, rates
appropriate to the project were negotiated with the labels that hold the
rights to the recordings and music publishers who hold the rights to the
songs. The enhanced e-book will retail for $34.99.
“We felt it was important to have the full-length songs as part of the
enhanced e-book because they give the complete sense of Ralph Peer’s career,
and his wide-ranging influence in the music industry,” said Cynthia Sherry,
publisher of Chicago Review Press. “We are delighted to be able to offer
readers—and listeners—such an immersive experience. We also hope that this
will set a precedent for the book industry when it comes to publishing
books that have a rich audio component.”
RALPH PEER AND THE MAKING OF POPULAR ROOTS MUSIC describes the life and
musical significance of Ralph Peer, who worked with some of the biggest
names in the industry in the early 20th century, including the Carter family,
Jimmie Rodgers, and Louis Armstrong. The book received rave reviews from
national outlets such as The New York Times Book Review (“[A] beautifully
written portrait of an utterly fascinating man… [F]or any fan of original
American music, Mazor’s biography is must reading, a tribute to a pioneer who is
now finally receiving the appreciation he deserves.”) and The Wall Street
Journal (“Peer’s remarkable career merits an in-depth, comprehensive
biography, and a masterly one has just been published… Barry Mazor has done an
excellent job of telling Peer’s story.”)
“In a book about music, recordings are the photographs that illustrate the
 text”,
“In a book about music, recordings are the photographs that illustrate the
text,” said Ralph Peer II, now CEO of peermusic, the music rights firm
founded by the subject of the biography. “This marriage of media will surely
enhance the readers’ experience. We, and our musical content partners,
worked to craft licenses that fit this particular project. Licensing music to
a third-party enhanced e-book is a novel experience. If the format is
eventually successful this pairing of the literary and music sectors could
bring enhanced income for the authors, artists and composers the publishers
and labels represent.”
“I’m delighted to see this format, which both music chroniclers like
myself and our readers have long wished for, made real in this book. It seems
particularly appropriate given Ralph Peer’s continuing practical response to
 the changing media of his day,” said Barry Mazor, the book’s author. “
Hearing the music that I’ve discussed in the text playback on e-reading
devices as it comes up certainly adds to the richness and clarity of the story
being told, however familiar the reader may be with the varied early
recordings involved."
An audio version of the book will be released by Lyric Audio Book, LLC
later this year and a 4-CD box set encompassing Peer’s life work and his
legacy, is in the works with Sony Music. Peer is also the subject of _an
exhibit_
(http://www.grammymuseum.org/on-display/special-exhibits/ralph-s-peer-revolutionizing-recorded-music) that opened earlier this year at the Grammy
Museum in Los Angeles titled “Ralph S. Peer: Revolutionizing Recorded Music”
. A seminar about Peer’s legacy will take place at the museum on the
evening of May 13th.