Screened at the Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival, and now scheduled for release in January.

American Music: OFF THE RECORD features theorists Noam Chomsky and Douglas Rushkoff in an interrogation of the American music industry. The film covers a great deal of ground from the authenticity of live music to the circumvention of the corporate machine by indie distribution, to the demise of the privately owned music store.

Many musicians and musical acts are featured including Richard Thompson, James McMurtry, Rodney Crowell, Lizzie West, Sonic Youth, David Lindley, Mission of Burma, Watermelon Slim, David Allen Coe, Johnny Winter, Edgar Winter, Darden Smith, Carolyn Wonderland, The Mavericks, Bob Walkenhorst, The Alloy Orchestra, The Morells, Little Feat, Candy Coburn, Camper Van Beethoven, Cracker, Billy Joe Shaver, Pavlov's Dog, Chubby Carrier, Buckethead, Lee Roy Parnell, The Blasters, Country Joe McDonald, Eddie “DEVILBOY” Turner, Big Bill Morganfield (son of Muddy Waters), Chris Duarte, Eric Lindell, Bugs Henderson, Les Dudek, Rick Derringer, Commander Cody, The Elders, Hothouse Flowers, Room Full of Blues, Webb Wilder, Chris Scruggs, Hank Williams III, John Mooney, The Belairs, Wanda Jackson, Paul Thorn, Rev. Billy Wirtz, Kerry Livgren, Iron Butterfly, It’s a Beautiful Day, Canned Heat, Les Paul, Tommy Castro and The Bottle Rockets, Diunna Greenleaf, WAR, Roger Miller, and Lee Oskar.

Here's what the Arkansas Times had to say:

Come for the discussion on the corporatized world of music production and distribution, stay for the celebrities! Led by Noam Chomsky and Douglas Rushkoff, “American Music: Off the Record” takes viewers on a tour through the paradox of the “music industry” — the industrial production of an art form — and finds some disquieting facts. Along the way, we meet Mission of Burma, David Allan Coe, Sonic Youth and other musicians who have found their own, idiosyncratic ways through the sweatshop stage of the capitalistic arts.

American Music: Off the Record