Fitehouse News
In order to level the playing field and counter the steady stream of misinformation coming from our official media outlets, Fitehouse has officially entered the main-stream marketplace of ideas by forming its own media conglomerate: FMM (Fitehouse Media Manufacturers). Come here often to get Fitehouse news and to view our latest press conferences direct from our Central Cultural Command Post (CCCP)
[Breaking News] [Press Conferences] [News and Reviews] [Press Releases]
Breaking News! Fitehouse is heading to the Grammy Awards! Ok, I'm not sure we're really even nominated for anything, but we thought we'd head into the belly of the beast for a little corporate espionage (and to see the Police reunion!) We'll be pressing the flesh, drinking heavily and doing our part to represent the Open Source Music movement. Fitehouse finally has a new Album! "Open", our new CD...EP....Digital Release (or whatever you call it these days) is back from the presses. Check out our download page to hear the latest sounds. And do come back to the website in a week or so. We are re-launching a new Fitehouse.com website to coincide with the release of "Open" ...And of course a new post card campaign will follow soon. Send us your mailing address and we'll try to get you on the recipient list. The kids are alright! University students across the country have been embracing our open source music ideas, so we've decided to expand our original Bomb campaign to include an additional 625 university newspapers and 475 college radio stations. Yup, college campus throughout America will be swimming in Fitehouse postcards this summer! And the collegiate media is already championing our cause! Click here to read some of the articles that have appeared in university newspapers across the country. Older News "Ladies and Gentlemen, We've done it" Fitehouse has dropped the bomb. Fitehouse's 8 month assault on the Recording Industry through its innovative postcard campaign has climaxed with unleashing of our secret weapon: open source music. That's right, we're releasing our anti-recording industry anthem "Running Scared" under the terms of a modified GNU public license, and we're providing the song's source code (all the raw tracks) so that others may copy, modify or build upon the song. With the conclusion of our postcard campaign we are also releasing "All These Things," an example of the fine music fare that will be available in the post-RIAA world. To download the songs and to get more information about the "the bomb," click here. The postcards that announced the Bomb were sent to a list of approximately 2,700 media contacts in total, including key national newspapers, college newspapers, alternative papers, magazines, independent radio stations and national public radio programs. The campaign has highlighted the many unbelievable (though completely real) things we have done to promote ourselves and to take on the Recording Industry. Below are thumbnails of the 12 postcards that made up the campaign. To read the text that appeared on the back side of the cards, visit our postal propaganda page.
Supplemental Material: The Marching Band postcard. => To listen to Edward's marching band arrangement of Baltimore, click here. To download a pdf of the full marching band score, click here. Fitehouse ranks number one of more than 4 billion websites searched! We googled the following phrases and were amazed at where Fitehouse ranks:
World's coolest band: #1 And then of course there's the ranking that tipped me off to our rise in the google world: Daily we've been getting several hits to fitehouse.com from people searching on the phrase "the world's coolest car." I couldn't understand this until I tried it on Google only to see my 1973 Dodge Dart come up as number one! If Google says it true, it must be!!! => For more information about my 1973 Dodge Dart, the World's Coolest Car click here.
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Conferences (To view the conferences in Windows Media Format, you will need the Windows Media 9 series video codec. If you do not have it, your player should automatically download it from Microsoft. It will need to install itself before you will be able to watch the conference -- without the codec you will only hear the audio). Otherwise you can download the latest version of media player at microsoft.com.
"Fitehouse's Recording Combat Operations Takes on the RIAA"
Click here for the video in Windows Media 9 format.
=> To view our official press release on the results of the DLI survey, click here. => To see the results of the Discouraged Listener Index Survey, click here => To hear to a commentary on the DLI that was recorded for NPR's "Marketplace" program, click here. The piece was proposed for broadcast before the FCC's June 2nd ruling on media deregulation. Things were looking good, but unfortunately my producer needed to leave town for business and the June date passed. Oh well! Reaching 7 million folks would have been fun, but heck, we must get at least that many hits on our website daily, don't we?!
"Fitehouse
USA Announces the Publication of Common Musical Sense" In
English: Windows
Media Format
click here. In
Spanish: Windows
Media Format
click here.
In
Icelandic: Windows
Media Format click here.
"Fitehouse
North Africa Announces the Publication of Common Musical Sense" In
French: Windows
Media Format click here. In
Arabic: Windows
Media Format click here.
"Fitehouse
Europe Announces the Publication of Common Musical Sense"
"On the Imminent Collapse of the Current Recording Industry
Regime." Windows Media Format click here. Real Format (220Kbps) click here. Real Format (56K) click here.
"Confronting Charges by the Hartford Advocate that Fitehouse Plays
Superannuated Frat-Boy Soul Rock" Windows Media Format click here. Real Format (220 Kbps) click here. Real Format (56K) click here.
For the benefit of the large hispanic population in Connecticut, the conferece was also held in Spanish: "Enfrentando los Cargos que Fitehouse toca Músic Rock-Soul Anticuada del Estilo Frat-Boy" En
Formato Windows Media
pulse
aquí.
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(In English)News and Reviews * Far out man! Jon Peters of Alarm magazine has reviewed one of Fitehouse postcards. Peters is way out there, but hey, there's no such thing as bad press! Check it out and tell us what you think of his analysis * Go West young music lover! Marissa Juarez in her piece "Band kicks in industry door" has done a superb job of explaining the Fitehouse General Public Music License to the student body at the University of New Mexico. Fitehouse's industry assault is headin' West! * Hurray for the future of journalism! In her article "Rock Rebellion: Fitehouse" Michelle Larabee of the PVCC Spectrum has done a superb job of getting at the substance of the Fitehouse Movement. Having subjected us to a three page barrage of questions, I'd guess Larabee is probably the premier expert on all things Fitehouse! * Take 'em all on! "Fitehouse fights radio, music labels" is a fine piece by Luke Hackney of the Grand Valley Longhorn that explores the intellectual links between the band's Baltimore Rock Anthem to its current struggle with the whole music industry! * Gee whiz! Even my alma mater is getting on board! Brown Alumni Magazine has done a piece on yours truly, entitled "The Minister of Propaganda". With a circulation of 77,000 movers and shakers, I'm curious if the piece will move or shake anyone over to the Fitehouse way of seeing things. * The collegiate bomb campaign is taking hold! Michael J. Puglisi, Editor-in-Chief of Georgetown College's Georgetonian has done a great job informing the student body of the facts of Fitehouse's battle with the RIAA. Read Puglisi's piece "Fitehouse wants a music industry revolution" * Everything, including Fitehouse, is big in Texas! Camron Rushin, Managing Editor of the Wichitan, in Wichita Falls, Texas has done the Fitehouse movement justice in his fine piece "You say you Want a Revolution" * One of the best summary of the Fitehouse movement to date! Ryan Nyburg of the Oregon Daily Emerald has done a wonderful job of analyzing Fitehouse's media strategy and explaining the significance of our open source movement. If you only have time for one article, read this one: "Fitehouse promotes music with ingenuity, not industry" * Finally someone in in New Mexico likes us! Lucas Herndon informs the students of New Mexico State University on the Fitehouse colonial connection. Read his piece "Fitehouse Fights for Musical Freedom." * A great explanation of open source music! Kyle Ford of the Seattle Spectator has done a great piece exploring exactly what open source music is. Ford talks with professors and students about the process of sampling and takes a critical look at the RIAA's legal strategy. Get his article "Fitehouse fights RIAA; says open source music is the way to go" * Aaah, someone who gets the big picture! Geoff Harkness of the Kansas City Pitch as penned an excellent article on Fitehouse's push to topple the current Recording Industry regime and our campaign to help forge a new musical order. This is the article that broke the Fitehouse story in the mainstream media: "Fite Back. Fitehouse tries to get the music industry to use Common Sense!" * Fitehouse goes collegiate! Courtney Rice of the Johns Hopkins University Newsletter has done an in depth review of the CD "Fitehouse Released" in her article: "Fitehouse goes national in the first self-organized launch" * Jeremy Buckley of the Daily Nebraskan is definitely one of us, postulating that this year may be the beginning of the end of the "Big Five." Check out his article "Fitehouse rebels agains major record labels" * A brilliant expose on the Fitehouse open source movement (too bad the author has since been caught up in a plagerism scandle) Mike Riegel of the Central Florida Future during his brief career in journalism did the Fitehouse nation justice. He sees Fitehouse's open source music licensing as nothing short of a revolution and believes that University students are ready to get on board! Check out his article "Music industry ready for Fite?" * The University of Oregon's Daily Emerald understands that the music industry is heading for a major change. In their piece "A clash in music technology" the paper analyzes Fitehouse's unique efforts to push us towards a new organic musical future. * Folks are recognizing the academic merits of Fitehouse's work! Joe Nickell of the Missoulian has done a great job informing the folks in Montana of the results of our Discouraged Listener Index survey. Read "Better music would increase sales" the article the RIAA doesn't want you to see. * Why finally...someone has attempted to explain our sound! Matt Greenwald of the Urban Tulsa weekly has stepped up to the challenge of trying to classify our music. And he did a darn fine job at that! Read his review of our debut album, Fitehouse Released. * They like us in Georgia! Well three of us at least. Click here to read "Fitehouse rocks the nation!", Mike Miller's review of our debut album as it appeared in the Valdosta Spectator. Personally, I think Gabe's voice is the strongest element to our music, but heck, let's give the ol' college cheer to Mike for being honest and telling us what he thinks! * Johns Hopkins University is following our political career! You've seen the postcard. Now read more about our testimony to the Baltimore City Council as covered by JHU News-letter. * The Hartford Advocate ran a piece about the Baltimore Rock Anthem. Too bad they didn't check their facts. The rock anthem was inspired by Journey, not Extreme! Oh well...Click here to see their story. And for our official response to the Advocate, click here. And for our letter as they printed it in the Advocate, click here. Notice any differences? Is there some reason why the Advocate is trying to hide its corporate identity?! They have may have the hearts and minds of a few co-opted folks in Connecticut, but Fitehouse has the ears of the nation! |
Press Releases => Fitehouse has dropped the Bomb! Click here to see the press release that went out with our Bomb EP, heralding in the era of open source music. => Fitehouse undertook a campaign to encourage the media to debunk the myths of the music industry. A letter containing a bullet point list of some the more egregious myths has been sent to nearly 800 journalists. We also included out some evidenciary proof that Fitehouse is going ahead to implement the ideas contained in Common Musical Sense! To see the letter click here. => Fitehouse has finished its manifesto "Common Musical Sense: An Intellectual Call to Arms against the Recording Industry, Radio Deregulation, and Media Consolidation and their Threat to our National Culture and Democracy" We have sent it out to 1,200 newspapers and prominent citizens across the country. You can view a PDF Version by clicking here, or go to the essays section of our site and read it online. To see the letter that went out with the pamphlet, click here.
=> Fitehouse is undertaking the first totally self-organized and self-executed nationwide first-album launch of a CD recorded and mixed entirely on a home PC (gee that's a mouthful)! We've realized that the record industry has become totally irrelevant and we are going out alone. Here's how that launch started: * We sent our CD to all major alternative newspapers and magazines throughout the US! That's 125 papers, covering all 50 states. Click here to see the letter. * In response to the record industry's attack on university students, we then decided to radicalize our campaign. We sent a mailing and our CD to more than 150 U.S. university and college newspapers, asking for their help to take the record industry on. Click here to see the letter. |
"A revolution is a difficult thing to start. It's hard enough for most college students to start their homework, much less an uprising. But that hasn't stopped Joshua Cohen and his band Fitehouse from storming the gates of the music industry - and asking the college demographic to come with them."
- Mike Riegel, Senior Staff Writer, Central Florida Future, UCF, Orlando, FL
"There are revolutionary geniuses stirring up trouble for the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) with their message that music will be the people’s music once again. Who are these outspoken men? Non other than the members of the band Fitehouse.
- Michelle Larabee, Features Editor, PVCC Spectrum, Kansas City, MO
"The Baltimore-based band has not only
refused to create music within the constraining parameters of a record
label, but has helped pioneer innovative ways to distribute over the
Internet."
- Marissa Juarez, Staff Writer, The Daily Lobo, Albuquerque, NM
"Are you tired of hearing news about the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA, hereafter) suing 12-year-old children for downloading music? If so, there is a band that you should check out. Fitehouse"
- Michael J. Puglisi,
Editor-in-Chief, The Georgetonian
Georgetown College,
Georgetown, KY
"I think they [Fitehouse] have an inspiring approach. What they recognize is that for bands that aren't well known, the record labels don't offer many options. They're finding a new way to be noticed."
- Fred von Lohmann, Senior Staff Attorney, Electronic Frontier Foundation (www.eff.org) San Francisco, CA
"You gotta hand it to the members of Fitehouse - they certainly know how to get people talking."
- Geoff Harkness, Writer, The Pitch, Kansas City, MO
"...the band is all about musical freedom, from beginning to end."
- Lucas Herndon, Writer, The Roundup, Las Cruces, NM
"[Fitehouse] is a group that is anything but average."
- Luke Hackney, Writer, Grand Valley Lanthorn, Allendale, MI
"Fitehouse is in the trenches fighting the record industry while creating some catchy music. ...I'm not sure if the GPML is the future of music, but it's nice to see a band challenging the accepted industry norms and being creative. Long live Fitehouse!"
- Greg Yost, Columnist, Music Monthly, Baltimore, MD
"The Discouraged Listener Index is one of the most incendiary and revolutionary concepts to come down the pike in a long time. I guess I shouldn't be surprised that no one in the Industry thought of it before."
- Bob Burke, Director of Social Sciences and History, Enoch Pratt Free Library, Baltimore, MD
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