If that’s as vague a name as can be, another clue as to the contents of the report is that its being published was reported with glee by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).

Indeed, it’s a list of “locations, physical or online, in which copyright theft is open, pervasive and undermines the respect for the rule of law”.

The report itself warns that counterfeit products bought at these locations “may pose possible health and safety risks to consumers”.

Could it be? Is that Fame Monster counterfeit the cause of your enduring migraine? Did downloading Metallica and Lou Reed’s Lulu album truly bestow grandma with osteoporosis and a nasty bout of shingles?

Ignoring the possibility that acquiring counterfeit music determines, by karma, health around the world, what on earth is the source of the U.S. Trade Representative’s concern.

Okay, I’m being disingenuous. I know very well that the U.S. Trade Representative is more than likely attributing health and safety problems to the sale of counterfeit cigarettes and pharmaceutical products, but it makes for an appealing headline, if only too fanciful to believe.

I suppose you’d very much like to know about some of those who have made the naughty – I mean Notorious – list.

The usual suspects, such as Megaupload, The Pirate Bay, and Demonoid, are included, but there are also some less obvious inclusions, such as China’s Gougou, Sogou, and Taobao.

Below is a pie chart showing the countries where the notorious digital websites are based:

Samuel Agini is the Editor of Andrew Apanov’s Dotted Music.

You’ll see that layering is best for mixing and matching, and signature-style making. That’s the great thing about layers – you can create an outfit that no one else has. That’s something most musicians take pride in, a style that’s unique. But, where do you start? Let’s start at the bottom and layer up.

Pants

Whether you prefer relaxed jeans, hipster skinny pants, a prepster pant, or ragin’ leather bottoms, pants create a good foundation. They can be the focus of your outfit, or fade into the back.

[slim chinos] [slim fit check pant] [light wash jeans] [cords]

Shirts

If we’re talking layers you may want to go with something light, but comfortable. This can obviously be altered as temperatures change. i.e.. go with a light v-neck in early fall and switch to a thermal knit for winter.

[v-neck tee] [tank] [thermal crew] [henley]

Second Layer Shirt

Intense layering calls for more than a tee and jacket. Go for an open button down over your base shirt. Think flannel, plaid, and denim. Here’s a great place to insert your personal taste with pattern and texture.

[sweater] [plaid shirt] [denim shirt] [vest]

Outerwear

Another insertion of patterns, texture, or your signature item, outwear can be anything from a light jacket to a heavy overcoat. For fall it’s best to stick to a light jacket, but a light leather can easily be incorporated.

[military jacket] [leather jacket] [blazer] [hoodie]

Accessories

Layer on funky hats, scarves, sunglasses, belts, rings, necklaces, etc. The more crazy and unique, the better!

[scarf] [aviator sunglasses] [driving cap] [belt] [leather cuff] [fedora] [cap]

About author: When I’m not accessorizing with handbags in my day job, or schooling people on the importance of solid travel accessories, I enjoy discovering new artists and music genres. My current favorites range from Bon Iver, to Katy Perry (yes, really), to Amos Lee.

Whether it’s “exhaustion” or some bigger problem, as suggested via Twitter, the group has gotten some attention as of late for many reasons.

Caleb’s recent marriage to Victoria’s Secret angel, Lily Alderidge, made him recognizeable to a mainstream audience. And there’s no denying this rocker’s style – he pulls in some retro and rocker and melds it together to make a relaxed look.

Wanna steal his look? Pull off his style at a price you can really afford.

• Blue shirt: Forever 21: Elbow Patch Shirt: $27.90
• Jeans: Asos: Lee Macky Slim Jeans: $72.40
• Sunnies: Sunglass Warehouse: Retro Wayfarers: $14.95
• Hat: Nordstrom: Free authority ‘Ramie’ Fedora: $29.50
• Watch: Kohls: Relic Leather Watch: $37.50
• Belt: Asos: Peter Werth Leather Belt: $31.03
• Boots (not pictured): Amazon: Giorgio Brutini Men’s 66014 Boot: $46.20

When I’m not accessorizing with handbags in my day job, or schooling people on the importance of travel luggage scales, I enjoy discovering new artists and music genres. My current favorites range from Mumford and Sons, to John Coltrane, to Beyonce.

The trick to not looking over the top is keeping the rest of your wardrobe pretty basic. Some skinny jeans and a black top will set a blank slate for you to accessorize. Add an edgy handbag for function and glam.

Guys, don’t think this look doesn’t translate for you! Nix the handbag but keep the color palette, shades, and bling. BAM instant rock star wardrobe achieved.

Look like Fergie!

• Tee: Agent Ninetynine Cropped Box Tee: $40
• Jeans: La Garconne: Knight Skinny Jean: $42.50
• Handbag: Handbag Heaven: Logan Quilted Hobo: $84.95
• Sunglasses: Sunglass Warehouse: Shield Style Sunglasses: $16.95
• Earrings: Max and Chloe: Blu Bijoux Geometric Drop Earrings: $40
• Bracelet: All Saints: Sandyha Bracelet: $30
• Bracelet: G By Guess: Metal and Rubber Chain Link Bracelet: $19.50
• Bracelet: G By Guess: Dotted ID Bracelet: $19.50

When I’m not accessorizing with handbags in my day job, I enjoy discovering new artists and music genres. My current favorites range from Mumford and Sons, to John Coltrane, to Beyonce.

Slash's Arcade Rocker app

The newest game is worth playing at despite anything though (especially at the $.99 price tag). Slash’s Arcade Rocker allows the guitar legend’s die hard fans to play along with three pre-loaded songs from Slash’s solo début album – By The Sword, Watch This and Doctor Alibi – as well as any Slash song in their music library (and not only Slash, just as in the regular AR you can play thousands of songs if they are in your iPod music library).

In addition to the music/rhythm game, the Slash Arcade Rocker app provides access to the latest news, blog, tour dates and other exclusive content from Slash’s official website, which was as well developed and is hosted by Ultimate-Guitar.com as part of its partnership with the guitarist.

“The Arcade Rocker iPhone app is one of the coolest apps I’ve seen yet,” said Slash. “I’m having a blast with it!”

The mobile version of Slash Arcade Rocker is available for iPhone/iPod touch/iPad users from the iTunes Store for $0.99 (a limited time offer). A free online version is available at slash.arcaderocker.com.

Don’t be greedy for a buck :) Share your thoughts in the comments if you buy the app!

Following the hot topic, Ultimate Guitar’s Joe Matera interviewed Anthrax’ Scott Ian last month. The guitar player talked about the latest happenings in the Anthrax world (there are many), and his take on the music industry. An excerpt below, you will be able to read the full interview this week on UG read the full interview right here!

Image credit: revista_offline on Flickr

Did you ever think that some 30 years later along with Metallica, Megadeth and Slayer, you’d still be here doing what you love and influencing a generation of other metal bands?

It is fuckin’ amazing. I started this thing 29 years ago, I co-founded the band with Danny Lilker and its amazing to me. And I’m sure it is not only for Anthrax but for all four of the bands involved in the Big Four as well, they feel the same. It is like about 26 years since our first album came out and the fact that on a worldwide level, so many people still care about what we’re doing and that it means so much to so many people all around the world, that just makes me feel great.

And the fact that after all this time it is the first time that the four of us have ever played together, and that its happening after all this time on such a massive level, it is just incredible. These upcoming shows are probably going to be some of the biggest gigs any of us will ever play.

Aside from your musical endeavors, you have a passion for writing comic books?

Yeah last year I put out my first book for DC Comics. I wrote a two issue series for their character Lobo. A two issue Prestige Format and each book had 64 pages, so it was like 128 pages of Lobo and it was called Lobo: Highway To Hell. It was so much fun for me and was a dream come true. It was something I have always wanted to do. I spent a long time, about a year working on the book with Sam Kieth the artist and it turned out great and I loved the whole experience.

I’m currently working on my second thing for DC Comics right now for another character which I can’t mention at the moment as DC are going to announce it soon so I can’t really jump the gun on it. But it is coming along great and it is even more story intensive and more layered. And obviously the more I do the better I’ll get at it all. I’ve been reading comics my whole life and to be involved in that world is something I never thought I’d get to do.

Finally out of all your years spent in this tough music industry, what’s the most important lesson you’ve learned?

To just do things your own way, the business is a necessary evil obviously, but you just got to have your own vision as an artist. And you have to know what you want and you have to know who you are because if you don’t, somebody is going to mold you into something you’re not and then you are going to suck.

We’ve only ever done things our own way and that is the only way I know how to do it and whether it is right or wrong. That’s the best lesson I’ve ever learned. So you better show up with a good sense of who you are as an artist otherwise, you’re going to get fucked.

So here we go, Slayer just entered the “app age” with the launch of Slayer: Pinball Rocks, a new pinball game app developed in conjunction with American Recordings/Columbia Records, Sony Music Entertainment and Gameprom.

Slayer: Pinball Rocks

“As a life-size pinball player, this looks so awesome,” said Slayer’s Kerry King. “It looks really fun and entertaining, with a shot of evil, and it could definitely keep me up all night with a few shots for myself…”

Slayer: Pinball Rocks should appeal to both long-time and new Slayer fans, as well as any pinball enthusiast, by giving gamers multi-ball play and tap-along mini-game, as well as cool visual elements like spinning razor blades, guitars, amps, concert lights, and a skull that eats your ball and spits it out through its eyeball. As you might have guessed, this is all accompanied by music courtesy of Slayer.

Slayer: Pinball Rocks is available worldwide for $2.99 from the App Store. The game includes original voiceovers from Slayer members as well as songs from Slayer’s latest American Recordings release, World Painted Blood.

This app has been developed by Gameprom, a company famous for its series of Pinball games for iPhone and iPad.

See a video of Slayer: Pinball Rocks below:

Have you tried this out? Thoughts?

After viewing the “Teutonic Terror” video, a Turkish fan entered “ACCEPT pwns” into his update box on Twitter, only to find out that someone named @pwns was now following him on Twitter. Both the Twitter story and the video spread like wildfire across the internet as the unlikely worlds of metal music and technology blogs including Gizmodo, Mashable, San Francisco Chronicle, New York Times and Blabbermouth picked the story up and spread it faster than a heavy metal guitar riff. Gizmodo and Mashable detailed very simple explanations telling their readers how to exploit the security hole, while Twitter went into panic mode and to fix the “Accept Bug” by resetting everyone’s followers back to zero. Even Ashton Kutcher had as many friends as most of us… for a couple of hours.

Accept

Ashton Kutcher posted at around 1 p.m. EST, “twitter is being hacked by some turkish hacker. haha I have 0 followers.” Stacy Keibler saw the bright side of things, tweeting, “People are freaking out about Twitter followers going to zero. I look at it like this: Right now, I have just as many followers as @aplusk!” Kim Kardashian was one of the many stars who had trouble dealing with the Twitter bug aftermath, writing, “Someone hacked my twitter account and direct messaged me! They have added over 200 new people! Ughhhhh.”

The hacker certainly got an earful from celebs like Justin Bieber who sent a fair warning, “u have now pissed off over 2 million teenage girls. They are more dangerous than Navy Seals.” Elsewhere, Jim Carrey pondered, “Imagine if this hacker put his/her talent 2 some worthy use. They could 1 day have more than a false sense of superiority.”

More celebrity woes from:

@chriscolfer There has been a twitter glitch, also known as a twitch
- Chris Colfer, Actor (“Glee”)

@michellebranch Is this all part of the finale of Lost?
- Michelle Branch, Musician

@sarabareilles Oh my gosh! Twitter’s been Hacked!!!!! CALL IRONMAN.
- Sara Bareilles, Musician

@joejonas Wait.. So this means I have to “talk” to my friends… :^/
- Joe Jonas, Musician

@iamdiddy I feel so lonley!!!!! Lol :) come back soon. I can’t live without yall!!! :( can somebody send me some followers pls lol :). Let’s go!!!,
- Sean “Diddy” Combs, Rapper, Actor (“Get Him To The Greek”)

@jordansblog I semi feel like I’m back in Middle school with no friends…
- Jordan Pruitt, Singer

@markhoppus People freak out more when twitter crashes than the stock market. Next up: Senate Hearings on the Great Crash of 2010.
- Mark Hoppus, Musician (blink182)

If you are curious, Blood Of The Nations, Accept’s twelfth full-length studio album, is scheduled for a September release in Europe & North America.

Josh's mega, mega justification

Ohhhhhh Boy! I can’t wait for it to arrive! It matches my yellow and black Nike’s (courtesy of my mama)

“Doc, is it bad that I bought a guitar to match my shoes?”
“No, son, it’s called having an image.”

I can no longer justify guitars as tax breaks, even though they are. I am writing this one off in my mind as a necessary expense of visibility, which is what I’d like to discuss today.

I learned a lesson the easy way last year when I was playing my first stadium gig. OK, I was one of many local musicians playing at a sub-minor league stadium for a charity event, and only a smattering of people noticed me, but – there were close to three thousand people there, and I did get to say “What’s up, Waldorf? Are you ready to ro000ccck?”

One of my buddies said he showed up, and saw my rig set up from across the stadium. He wasn’t sure it was mine, but then saw the Plutonium orange Ibanez RG and said “oh yeah, that’s Josh’s setup.”

Visibility, be it literally, such as highway safety colored guitars, or from a multitude of positive interactions with people, is something worth boosting. Get out there and shake hands (and don’t give ‘em the dead fish grip), look people in the eye, and say “Hi, I’m here to rock your face off. Hope you enjoy!”

What can you start doing right now to boost your image in the industry and the scene?

Here’s what I’m doing – maybe you’ll get some ideas (remember, I have an over-the-top persona, blending close to a musical comedian). I know they’re specific, and may only work for me. Take it with a grain of NaCl2 (salt).

• Zany colored guitars. I’ve got the M-16 (photos coming soon; friend me on Facebook in the meantime to see it there), and the Tiger is on the way. I plan on spray painting a strat, and that’ll be my AK-47. Add that orange Ibanez, and I’m literally visible from space, bro!
• Shoes. Talk about a great conversation starter, and something for people to remember you by. My current favorites are a pair of Nike’s that match the Tiger guitar (yellow, with a black swoosh). I’ve gotten money playing street music because people liked my lime green wrestling shoes. Ironically, they walked away when I started playing, which was discouraging, but hey, I got the buck!
• Positive, professional interactions. Be polite, be on time, smell nice, thank people after the gig, and be that consummate pro that you’re striving to be.
• Talking to the crowd. It’s just fun! People seem to like it, too. Hey, it makes me feel like a million bucks. For all my cynical comments, I genuinely like people, and connecting with them from the stage, including them in the music, lifts the whole room to a better place. Are you ready to ROCK?!
• Stupid props. I’ve got a cordless drill a la Paul Gilbert (check it out on YouTube) that alternate picks really fast, and makes a cool sound with the pickups! Now that’s 9.6 volts of pure memories.
• Of course, playing good! I’m working so hard on writing, playing, and putting on the best show that I can. For me, time onstage has helped me a lot. Practice does indeed make perfect, or at least a good rock show. Well, I’m gettin’ there. I’ve come far enough to see how far I’d like to go!
• Free stuff. I’m working on my marketing strategy right now… OK, just pondering it. But it seems that an investment into free stuff like stickers, CDs, etc, is probably the best advertising budget. I’m not sure yet, and I’ll report back to you when I figure it out.

Hopefully these actions gave you a few ideas of your own. The point is – take action! All the World’s a stage… Own it!

Hey, maybe visibility can be my mega, mega justification of my new guitar on the way. Can you see me now? World, are you ready to ROCK?!

This is a guest blog post by Josh Urban. Josh is a musician with a unique perspective on music. Always a thinker, he gains insight wherever he can find it, be it in the clubs as a working musician, busking on the city streets, or teaching in the classroom. A naturally enthusiastic fellow, he is always fired up about bringing the lessons he’s learned to his readers. Maintaining a website, a blog, and a monthly newsletter, he aims to make musicians stop, think, and play with a little more intensity, integrity, and inspiration. You never know who’s listening.

The rules are dead simple. You have two options to enter the giveaway:

• “Like” the Dotted Music page on Facebook.
• Share the message about the sweepstakes on Twitter (and don’t forget to follow me).

Or do both ;)

The winner will be announced later in June (the end date has been pushed back).

1,2,3

Confetti 7" Cover

A little background on 1,2,3, signed to almost as much young Ooh La La Records, a boutique artist development company and record label from Brooklyn, founded by producer Theo Aronson.

The outfit consists of Nic Snyder (vocals, guitar & keys) and his long-time pal Josh Sickels (drums). 1,2,3 hail from Pittsburgh and are late of the well-known power punk outfit, The Takeover UK.

“I’m really excited about this new band,” Nic proclaims, “It’s what I’ve always wanted a band to be.”

1,2,3 is the platform for some very smart songwriting, for example, “Confetti,” a tune about death that quite happily sounds like the orgasmic collision of latter day Beatles (definitely a Lennon tune), Gram Parsons and Big Star, and “Can’t Bribe God,” a kind of slow, Gospel shuffle that finds Snyder displaying simply the most viciously visceral vox work this side of Prince Rogers Nelson with a middle eight that feels curiously like ELO… in a good way.

Both songs were recorded last Fall at Aronson’s Brooklyn recording studio. Inquiring minds can expect to hear them very soon, followed by a full album in early 2010. Check out the band’s MySpace page for a sneak peak. “Confetti” is available in the Ooh La La Records online store.