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Archive for the ‘Music’ Category

Prince provides amusement with bizarre misreading of his business

July 6th, 2010

Cliff Riseborough

Normally, I’m all about simply facts and information. I put something up that I figure people can learn from, and I’m happy with that. But there’s a darker side…a side that enjoys laughing at someone. Luckily, we have people like Prince around to provide that someone.

You remember Prince, right? Used to be king of the music business? Well, it seems that it’s not just the big music labels who seem befuddled by the direction music is moving in.

From an interview with The Mirror :

He explains that he decided the album will be released in CD format only in the Mirror. There’ll be no downloads anywhere in the world because of his ongoing battles against internet abuses.

Unlike most other rock stars, he has banned YouTube and iTunes from using any of his music and has even closed down his own official website.

Yes indeed, while most other artists are fighting their labels for the right to be able to use their own music and videos, Prince is going the other way and restricting access to his stuff all by himself. And why?

He says: "The internet’s completely over. I don’t see why I should give my new music to iTunes or anyone else. They won’t pay me an advance for it and then they get angry when they can’t get it.

"The internet’s like MTV. At one time MTV was hip and suddenly it became outdated. Anyway, all these computers and digital gadgets are no good.

"They just fill your head with numbers and that can’t be good for you."

Yes ladies and gentlemen, we might as well all log off this Internet thing and move on because apparently it’s headed in the same direction that the dinosaurs went.

I mean, there WAS that poll that showed the majority of Brits polled enjoy music digitally…but hey, what do they possibly know about how they should be listening to music? Prince will set them straight. And Youtube is immensely popular, among the most visited websites online…but hey, it’s on that Internet thing that’s choking and dying as I type this, right?

Ah, Prince.

Posted in Music

Tags: Internet, iTunes, Prince, Youtube

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Google preparing music store, possibly for Fall launch

June 14th, 2010

Cliff Riseborough

Seeing the success that Apple and Amazon (amongst others) have had with digital music, Google is apparently prepping a launch in to the same waters this Fall. Their music store will offer both downloaded songs and streaming music, according to Cnet.

While part of the basis behind such a move would obviously be to help convince consumers to buy and use use Android phones with a Google music application, their overall target market seems to be broader than that.

Part of the reason Google feels they can make inroads in the digital music market is the widespread popularity of their search engine. They could easily build in functions that would allow a song title search to bring up results on the music streaming system, with a link to buy the song also on the page. With their purchase of Simplify Media a few months back, Google also has a company on board who helped let computer users stream their iTunes and WinAmp libraries to other web devices, possibly enabling them to beat iTunes to the bunch with a cloud service.

Posted in Music

Tags: Android, Google, Google music store

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Thom Yorke warns of imminent music industry collapse

June 10th, 2010

Cliff Riseborough

Thom Yorke, front man for Radiohead, believes that the major music labels are on a collision course with an iceberg named collapse. Not exactly surprising in itself, except perhaps for his time frame.

He says, "It will be only a matter of time – months rather than years – before the music business establishment completely folds. (It will be) no great loss to the world."

Yorke warns upcoming musical artists against signing traditional recording deals on the dotted line, as doing so would “tie them to a sinking ship”.

Radiohead broke away from their label in 2007, and have been independent ever since. They actually started the ‘pay what you want’ online release model for music with the initial digital release of their In Rainbows album.

I don’t necessarily agree with Mr. Yorke on his ‘doom within a year’ target, but if the music labels don’t change the way they’re doing things in the digital age, their long term existence does seem to be very much in question.

(Thanks to contactmusic)

Posted in Music

Tags: Radiohead, record labels months from collapse, Thom Yorke

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Trent Reznor continues to give music away

May 31st, 2010

Cliff Riseborough

It’s worked for him before, so why not do so again?

Free from any contracts or obligations to record companies, he’s released music as a free download previously, counting on tour ticket sales and fans buying collector’s editions of the free material still seeing him through. And he was right. He’s continued with that model with many of the artists who he produces, such as Saul Williams. From an article on CNet :

"Personally, I would like people to support artists," Reznor said. "After all, we as artists dedicate our lives to producing the best music we can. It’s been a painful process for me personally (to see the changes in the music industry). But should I be angry at the audience that wants to hear music so much, an audience that is so passionate about hearing it they go online to get it two weeks before the music debuts? No, I want them to be that way."

Well, with Nine Inch Nails on hiatus at the moment, we now see the inaugural 6 track EP from Trent’s new band How to Destroy Angels make an appearance. And it’s absolutely free to download from the band’s site.

The download consists of high quality MP3 files. For $2, fans can also purchase an HD version that comes with a music video. Other band oriented swag can also be picked up from the web site. A retail album will be available within a week.

Trusting the fans to pony up enough to make it worth your while…if history repeats itself, that’s just crazy enough to work.

Posted in Music

Tags: free EP, How to Destroy Angels, Trent Reznor

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Apple the focus of an antitrust inquiry

May 26th, 2010

Cliff Riseborough

The US Justice Department is in the early stages of investigating Apple’s business tactics in the digital music market, according to an article in the New York Times.

While the investigation is still very early and general in scope, investigators have apparently asked about a specific allegation that Apple has recently used their dominant position in the marketplace to keep labels from giving exclusive music access to Amazon’s digital music service as part of a promotion (reported by Billboard).

Amazon was asking music labels to give it the exclusive right to sell certain forthcoming songs for one day before they went on sale more widely. In exchange, Amazon promised to include those songs in a promotion called the “MP3 Daily Deal” on its Web site.

The magazine reported that representatives of Apple’s iTunes music service were asking the labels not to participate in Amazon’s promotion, adding that Apple punished those that did by withdrawing marketing support for those songs on iTunes.

Many tracks were pulled from the Amazon promotion by labels not willing to risk losing sales due to lowered marketing muscle from Apple, whose hold on the digital music market as a whole is growing rapidly.

Posted in Music

Tags: antitrust investigation, Apple, iTunes, US Justice Department

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Music industry charging Australian gyms $15 per class for their tunes

May 17th, 2010

Cliff Riseborough

In yet another move to show how increasingly out of touch with the real world they truly are (I believe this is indication # 1,054), the Phonographic Performance Company of Australia (PPCA) took legal action to receive a greater fee from gyms across the country to play their music.

They won.

According to news.com.au :

Gyms will have to pay fifteen times more to play music for punters to work out to after a federal magistrate ruled musicians are not being paid enough for the use of their songs.

The decision will increase music copyright fees per class from a modest 96.8 cents to a whopping $15 a class – which could add an extra $1 to the cost of the class for each attendee.

The PPCA represents Sony Music, EMI, Universal and Warner in Australia.

Yet again, we’re shown where the legal entities of these labels are focusing their attention. Yes indeed, charging what is essentially a performance fee to have 80’s hair metal and classic rock blaring in the background while people try to work off a few pounds for summer…THAT’S the ticket to resurrecting the label business method!

Then again, what else can be expected for an organization still using the word Phonograph in their title, as though it’s 1962. I believe that’s the same business plan playbook the entire industry has been running with in the near half century since.

Posted in Music

Tags: Australia, gyms charged more to play music, PPCA

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RIAA still not getting it

May 7th, 2010

Brad McGraw

If you listen to the RIAA, and only the RIAA, one might think that music is dying, that piracy is rampant and that everybody is out to get them. Well…the last may be true, because they are not exactly loved. This might be because they are a heavy handed organization that is aggressive in the pursuit of its profits. Now I don’t think anyone begrudges the RIAA profits, I know I don’t, but I do have issues with an organization that goes around the world bullying people and companies and lobbying governments to do their bidding. It appears as if they’ve watched too much Judge Dredd.

(more…)

Posted in Just my Opinion, Music

Tags: Music Ally, RIAA

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Amazon’s DRM free music

May 4th, 2010

Brad McGraw

If you haven’t heard by now Amazon has a large selection of digital music. Over 8 million songs, and 1 million plus albums. Not too shabby. You can get samples of each track to make sure you’re getting the right song, which is a nice feature. In the song descriptions they’ll also tell you what it is compatible with, iPod, MP3 players, WMP.

What is typically not known is that the majority of the music on Amazon is DRM free. Well some of it is. If you look at Amazon’s ‘Getting Started’ section it says:

The MP3 files you purchase from Amazon.com do not contain any software (frequently referred to as “digital rights management” software) that will restrict your use of the file. When you make a purchase from the Amazon MP3 Music Downloads store, you are accepting and bound by the Amazon MP3 Music Downloads Terms of Use.

So this is pretty good news, if you don’t like DRM in your music it seems that Amazon is a great place to grab it from. However the next paragraph is the one you need to be aware of.

Our ability to offer music to you in MP3 format is limited by the rights granted to us by the record companies. Currently, not all record companies grant us a license to sell their music for download in MP3 format free of digital rights management software.

I took a look around and didn’t find any mention of DRM on a song, I was looking for something like how GamersGate mentions DRM on the games it sells. So I sent off a question about this to their Customer Support people, this was the response I received.

Hello from Amazon.com.

Thank you for asking about use restrictions on MP3 files downloaded from Amazon.com. We do not have any MP3 songs that have DRM. Our MP3 files contain no digital rights management (DRM) restrictions, are provided in an industry standard MP3 format, and should be compatible with most systems capable of reading MP3 audio files.

However, when you make a purchase from the Amazon MP3 Music Downloads store, you are also accepting and bound by the Amazon MP3 Music Downloads Terms of Use available at this URL:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=200154280

The files you purchase from Amazon MP3 Music Downloads are free of any digital rights management software to allow you more freedom with managing your music library; however, we do ask that you respect the licensing agreements outlined by Amazon.com and our content providers. This includes avoiding any use of the MP3 files that is specifically prohibited in the Amazon MP3 Music Downloads Terms of Use.

I hope you found this information helpful. You can also access additional information about our MP3 Music Downloads in our Help pages here:

www.amazon.com/help/amazonmp3

So what to believe? They’ve added the caveat that some songs may have DRM, yet deny that they have any. So for right now I would say that its still buyer beware, however I’d give Amazon the benefit of the doubt that most of the tracks are DRM free. However, if you know a song or CD has DRM from another vendor, it may still have it on Amazon. At least until they can be more clear answer on their DRM policy without caveats.

Now on the plus side, Amazon has over 1,600 FREE songs. Free as in no cost, just download away. So if you’re looking for new bands to listen to and discover free is the way to start.

Posted in Music

Tags: Amazon, DRM, DRM free

1 Comment »

Canada again? Really USTR?

April 30th, 2010

Brad McGraw

Today the United States Trade Representative released its annual ‘Special 301’ report. This is a report that basically says how bad other countries are and how they are being mean to the United States. What makes the whole ‘Special 301’ report pretty meaningless is that for years the USTR has listened only to the industries who are complaining about how mean other countries are to the wholesome US media conglomerates. The USTR has finally opened the doors to allow more access to them, but then they pretty much ignored everybody but the industry anyway. This includes the CCIA, which sent in its own report to the USTR saying how Canada should not be on the list. The CCIA includes such companies as Microsoft, Google, Yahoo, AMD, T-Mobile, ebay.

Canada, again, is on the ‘Priority Watch List’, which means that Canada has been a very bad boy indeed! Rampant piracy, loss of sales, children and dogs running amok! Oh the humanity!