Still Alive

I just found this video of Jonathan Coulton performing "Still Alive" here, and what the hell...I didn't do a single thing last month about the best whatevers of 2007, so I'm hereby naming "Still Alive" the song that brought me the most momentary joy all year long.

Enjoy.

Stereogum likes OK Computer...a lot.

Stereogum just announced the completion of the previously unannounced OK X: A Tribute to OK Computer. Basically, when Stereogum says "Jump," bands ask "how high?" And when Stereogum says "cover Radiohead to commemorate the 10th anniversary of OK Computer," bands say "OK! (heh.)"

The compilation is, of course, a free download and cool from start to finish. Go to Stereogum for the whole deal, but here are direct links to the covers of my two OK Computer favorites:

The Twilight Sad - Climbing Up The Walls
My Brightest Diamond - Lucky

Wonder if any record label folks are panicking that a blog managed to do such a good job putting something like this together, and is now giving it away for free, no strings attached. Wonder if this makes anyone rethink their business model.

Just saying

You really should go to Good Weather for Airstrikes and download the latest M3 mix. It is with a completely straight face that I tell you I pooped my pants a little bit about halfway through. Ok a lot.

Internet radio goes silent tomorrow...for the day.

Save Net Radio's National Day of Silence, after having been postponed from its original date because of some perceived legislative progress, will happen tomorrow. Your favorite web radio station (if it's participating*) will either shut off access to its stream completely, broadcast ocean sounds or static, or broadcast silence interspersed with PSA's.

"The arbitrary and drastic rate increases set by the Copyright Royalty Board on March 2nd threaten the very livelihood of thousands of webcasters and their millions of listeners throughout the country," said Jake Ward, a spokesperson for the SaveNetRadio Coalition. "The campaign to save Internet radio - a genuine grassroots movement comprised of hundreds of thousands of webcasters, artists and independent labels, and Net radio listeners - has quickly brought this issue to the national forefront and the halls of Congress, but there is still more to be done before the approaching deadline of July 15th. On Tuesday, thousands of webcasters will call on their millions of listeners to join the fight to save Internet radio and contact their Congressional representatives to ask for their support of the Internet Radio Equality Act." (Day of Silence (pdf))

5 years ago on May 1, 2002, Internet Broadcasters staged another Day of Silence when faced with an eerily similar ruling from the Copyright Arbitration Royalty Panel. That protest led (either directly or indirectly) to a last-minute reprieve from the Librarian of Congress and the passage of the Small Webcaster Settlement Act for 1998-2005.


[RAIN: Radio and Internet Newsletter]
[SaveNetRadio]

* Notable non-participants include Last.fm, and a whole bunch of terrestrial stations that simulcast to the web, including Clear Channel owned stations. Cox owned terrestrial stations are participating. For a more complete (but still not complete) list of participating stations, click here.

IFPI board member talks tough

UK academic and music industry thinker Andrew Dubber recently posted a fascinating email exchange on his New Music Strategies blog that's really a fascinating read if you've got the time.

Long story short: an IFPI (International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, the RIAA is a member) board member took issue with Dubber's link to this post at Download Squad, and emailed to complain about it:

Andrew

Looking at your site I do think allowing indiscriminate criticism of the RIAA is inappropriate for a Government funded institution.

Paul

Dubber failed to see the problem with the link and offered blog space for a rebuttal, and eventually it comes down to the IFPI board member threatening a formal complaint to Dubber's university (the aforementioned Government funded institution, which Dubber's blog is not directly affiliated with). The argument, amazingly, is that because of careless posts by the likes of Download Squad, individual representatives of the RIAA member organizations have been subjected to generalized nastiness from the hoi polloi.

A few things I took away from reading the exchange:

• Even when they get nasty, British people are sickeningly polite.
• Paul does his industry no favors, essentially reinforcing everyone who's ever said the RIAA are bullies.
• Man, that gray hair really is sneaking up on me!
  

Engage in music snobbery, free of charge

eMusic and Pitchfork have teamed up to provide a free sampler to the teeming masses in promotion of the 2007 Pitchfork Music Festival, July 13-15 in Chicago's Union Park.

I have a personal distaste for anyone who's able to stretch what should be a 150 word album review into 2000 words, but free music is free music, and some of it is quite good. Here's the sampler tracklist. Might as well grab them all since they're free, but I've bolded my favorites:

1. Dan Deacon - The Crystal Cat
2. Professor Murder - Free Stress Test
3. Voxtrot - Mothers, Sisters, Daughters & Wives
4. Craig Taborn - Junk Magic
5. Cadence Weapon - Sharks
6. Deerhunter - Heatherwood
7. Menomena - Wet and Rusting
8. William Parker - Purple
9. Beach House - Apple Orchard
10. The Twilight Sad - And She Would Darken the Memory of Youth
11. Grizzly Bear - Deep Sea Diver
12. The Ponys - Let's Kill Ourselves
13. Nomo - Nu Tones
14. Sonic Youth - Kill Yr Idols
15. Lightbox Orchestra - #18 (Roby's)
16. Of Montreal - Suffer For Fashion

People search for Lily Allen like crazy

An anecdotal curiosity that I'd like to share:

PulverRadio, as you may know if you're one of my transplanted readers, is no more. But nobody's unplugged the web server yet, so although there's a farewell message in place of the home page, for the time being you can still find all the content that was ever there if you know where to look. Google, as you might have guessed, knows exactly where to look.

Out of curiosity today, I took a look at the site stats since we shut down the streams. Unsurprisingly, they're not as high as they once were. What caught my eye, though, was how many people continue to land on the blog pages that have pictures of, or even mention of, Lily Allen. As a search term, Lily Allen outweighs the next most popular term (Kill Hannah, wtf?) by an order of magnitude.

Personally, I think Lily is good, not great. I've often marveled at the amount of blog bandwidth dedicated to the "news" whenever she posts to her myspace page, but perhaps it's all because I'm not the first to have noticed how many people are searching for her. I never once wrote about Amy Winehouse on the old blog (what?), but I'm willing to bet she's similarly traffic-friendly.

Not a jab at anyone who writes about these ladies. Just interesting, is all.

Ask not for whom the bell tolls, mp3 blogs. It tolls for thee.

There's an interesting flame war debate brewing over at Stereogum about the posting of un-downloadable streams instead of mp3s, if all that a song's "people" will allow is a stream. The gummers want to know: would their readers rather have a stream that they can't download, or nothing at all? Predictably, there are some "teh RIAA sux" comments scattered about in there, but I was pleasantly surprised to see so much reasoned dialog taking place. "Dan" said it best (with the perfect tinge of combativeness and condescension) when he said:

If you said no to streams, you are, plain and simple, not an intelligent person.

Also, if you treated the question as "Streams Vs. MP3s," you're potentially not an intelligent person. Of course it's nicer to have something you can "take" with you.

You're here because you like music. If you won't listen to new music because of some childish irrational preference, don't, but that doesn't mean it shouldn't be posted. It just means you're spoiled and entirely too picky about the way you listen to something for free.

Idolator is concurrently tackling a similar issue:

From now on, we will not host "leaked" pre-release tracks that have not been sanctioned for posting by record labels. However, because a leak is newsworthy, we'll continue to link to sites that carry them when we come across them in our websurfing, and we'll maintain our "Leak Of The Day" feature, albeit in a new format.

When tracks from the new White Stripes record leaked, I was amazed to see how quickly the blogs Hype Machine was linking back to were being shut down -- Not "track removed at label's request"-ed. Shut down. Cool new music blog community Mog allows users to upload songs they blog about for streaming (and embedding anywhere!) via flash player, simultaneously covering their ass and making users question whether it's worth the effort to create a new ^zShare account. Is it too soon to claim that the pendulum is beginning its slow, deliberate swing back towards piracy-as-unfashionable?

Don't get me wrong. Piracy is never going away. Never ever ever. And until the purveyors of the content get their heads on straight, it will remain fairly rampant. But I think we're seeing the beginning of the end for those who unabashedly wave the flag of piracy as a badge of honor. Blogs are a big enough deal now to have to play by the rules. And that's okay.

Arcade Fire stole the internet

Chris H., the purported victim of a heinous crime at the hands of one Win Butler seems to have sparked an Internet Fire (see what I did there) with his blog. Start here, then check out Win's brother Will Butler's response here. There's plenty of meat in the comment sections.

If you're keeping score, here's a snapshot of the bandwagon thusfar:

• arcadefirestolemybasketballplayer.blogspot.com/
• arcadefirestolemypuppy.blogspot.com
• arcadefirestolemylincolnlogs.blogspot.com/
• brighteyesstolemykickball.blogspot.com/

Ok so honestly, I thought there would be more when I set out to write this. Four isn't that many. I guess the Internet still rests in the diabolical clutches of the lolcats.

David Pakman gets it

David Pakman, CEO of eMusic, recently wrote a piece on 17dots.com (eMusic's own blog) that's part manifesto and part elevator speech, but all awesome. Some highlights:

"According to data we analyzed from the RIAA and Ipsos, last year, more than 30% fewer people bought music than did in 2000. This is an enormous decrease. Many have offered theories to explain it — piracy, music quality, you name it — but informed people will tell you that a very big reason is that consumers, inundated with well-priced entertainment choices, think most music is too expensive."

"Most of you know about price elasticity. It’s the basic economic concept that says, for certain goods, when you raise the price, sales will fall disproportionately, and so the increased revenue doesn’t make up for the lack of sales. And if you lower the price, sales will rise disproportionately. Music is an elastic good, and we have now seen that by raising prices, the industry in fact did not make up the revenue, and, in the end, only slowed sales."

"So, eMusic is all about trying to satisfy two concerns that most former music buyers have: a) they aren’t sure what to buy anymore because they don’t hear anything good on the radio, and b) they think music is relatively expensive compared to DVDs, etc. eMusic makes a splendid bargain with our customers: get a better deal on music from us than what you get at iTunes, and we’ll work really hard at helping you discover great music. But in return, you spend more money on music than you normally would. And that’s good for everyone: artists, labels and customers. And here’s the bottom line: the average customer only spends about $12 per year on iTunes; by contrast, the average eMusic customer spends about $168 per year with us. Imagine how different our industry would look if more retailers could serve their customers so fully."

Forgive the guy's usage of "splendid" and the general pitchiness of the whole post; he gets it. For the time being, the big bad RIAA still doesn't want to play with eMusic, but there is a ton of great stuff on there and you can count me in the group of their customers that spends well over $168 a year there.

Bravo, David. Bravo.

(Please take time and read the whole post, here.)

Neil Haverty on the Toronto music scene

I'd like to reprint for you here something Lefsetz reprinted over the weekend in one of his emails that doesn't seem to have made it into his actual archives. It's an email from Neil Haverty (listen to "The Caged Bird," it's beautiful), who plays also in Bruce Peninsula.

I've often marveled when talking about artists from Toronto at how interwoven and robust the scene there must be that everyone seems to makes guest appearances on everyone else's records. Neil's email is an inside look at exactly how vibrant the Toronto independent music scene really is.

It got me really excited.

I've been meaning to write you for a while but only found some time today. I'm at work and everybody else is in meetings so I'm stealing time to do what I want. I'm a musician living in Toronto, trying to balance a full-time job with an obsession with music. This is pretty common practice for me and a lot of folks I know. We all spend 40 hours a week doing jobs that we don't care too much about, dreaming of the whistle at the end of the day when we can go home and create. Nobody I know considers working a day job to be a hold-over before we get rich and famous (as I'm sure a lot of musicians do); most of us have come to terms with the fact that this is the way its going to be for the rest of our lives. And I think, for the most part, we're all okay with that.

I would never assume that we were the only ones who felt this way but I can say that I feel Toronto has a pretty unique thing going on. Let me give you a little background on what it's like to play music here...

This city has experienced a cultural renaissance over the last few years and, even though I only moved here in 1999 and am by no means an authority, it's generally agreed that Toronto's music scene has never been as healthy as it is now. I'm not talking about Nu-Metal bands playing for a line of teenagers at the Reverb. I'm not talking about shined-up rockers who brag about the A&R reps that were at their Friday night showcase at the Horseshoe. I'm not talking about buzz bands that swing through town for a one-off at the Phoenix. I'm talking about the real homegrown community that exists here, that peculates below the surface, sustained entirely by the people who create, contribute to and take part in it.

My introduction to this world came thanks to the Wavelength music series. As a freshly minted Torontonian, the weekly series gave me a window into what was really going on in the city. You could always count on unique and interesting bands on Sunday nights and, as time wore on, I could see what it was doing to help plant the seeds for a vibrant climate for independent music in Toronto. Partly inspired by Jonny Dovercourt and the other folks who helped kick off Wavelength, it seemed that every forward-thinking guitar player or show-goer started to try their hand at putting on shows, putting out records and generally throwing their two cents in the pile. It's continued exponentially since then and now there's almost too much to see or do in the city every week.

Labels like Blocks Recording Club and Fig Records have made it possible to work with like-minded people that live where you live, venues like Sneaky Dee's, the Boat and the Tranzac have opened their doors to the weird and wonderful underbelly, promoters/booking agents like Eric Warner, Keith Hamilton and Steve Himmelfarb have ensured that good bills are happening all the time and new series like the All Caps all-ages shows (booked by Ryan McLaren) and the Poor Pilgrim experimental weekly (booked by Matt Cully) have provided a consistent supply of amazing live music. Surrounding cities like Hamilton and Brantford have come on board too, building strong communities of their own and providing more outlets for people just like us to play.

The masses don't know about this stuff and the weekly papers only just scratch the surface of it but the people who are surrounded by it rarely think of anything else... and I think you'd be surprised how many of us there are. Shows by local bands are constantly sold-out, hand-crafted CDs are flying off the shelves at Soundscapes and Rotate This and people who just live down the street are responsible for the most important pieces in our record collections. Records by Glissandro 70, the Constantines, Rockets Red Glare, Les Mouches and many more are far more important to us then what would normally be considered a "classic" record.

Aspirations for the big-time just don't come into play. Truthfully, the real big-time seems pretty ugly to most of us. In Toronto, we aspire to impress our peers. We set up shows with our favourite local bands and try to out-do one another. Most of the people who show up in the audience are other musicians and the mutual enthusiasm for each other's work is what keeps us coming back. If we do look outside of Toronto, we look to similar communities and people around the world (something like this exists, to varying visibility, in ever city) to latch onto what we're doing and visa versa.

There's been a lot of international attention put on people like Feist, Broken Social Scene, and Final Fantasy lately but I don't think that would have happened if those people didn't get their hands dirty in this community first. Sure, a couple favourable write-ups in Eye can give way to some coverage on CBC, which can give way to a Pitchfork review (and from there, world adoration), but all of those musicians would tell you that it was the local support that truly launched them. And that's why you still see Kevin Drew or Leslie Feist or Owen Pallett at the Boat on a Friday night or watching some new band at Sneaky Dee's on a Wednesday. They know the terrain and, I think, they're just as eager to boost up Toronto as anybody still operating within it. And the cycle will continue... when the world starts talking about Jon-Rae and the River, Oh Bijou, Great Lake Swimmers or any number of local bands poised to take things to that next level, those bands aren't going to forget where they came from. In fact, they're gonna try their hardest to bring their friend's bands along for the ride.

It's this support system and overall good vibration in the city that makes it easier to play music without making tons of money. Nobody really makes any significant dollars around here, a lot of people lose some with every show, but the reaction that we receive from the crowds or the encouragement we get when somebody says "Hey, I want to help you put out a record" is more than enough.

I guess I just wanted to give you a glimpse of what's going on here, if for nothing else than the fact that it's a pretty remarkable model of where I think things could go in the music "industry". We buy locally, we go out and support our friends, we don't wait for somebody else to put things together for us, we just try it out for ourselves...

Without that, I'm sure we'd all be left wondering why we spend 40 hours at our jobs and another 40 at home recording or practicing every week. With it though, there's really no other way to live. I could work a shitty job for the rest of my life, just as long as I got to play for friends and peers in the city every few weeks.

I don't doubt that this phenomenon is happening in cities all over the world - an alternate music industry that never wanted much to do with the old model. The more that this localization and collaboration spreads, the less relevant big time marketing and publicity stunts seem to matter. I could avoid ever listening to a mainstream pop act again if I wanted to and I couldn't be more thrilled about that. I'm interested in seeing what this community and other like-minded people in suburbs and cities elsewhere have to offer and I spend my time scouring the Internet for the chance. I haven't been into an HMV in 4 or 5 years and I haven't paid $50 for a ticket to a show or a t-shirt since I was 15. It's going to stay that way and I know that there are a lot of people who have made a similar vow.

Anybody that thinks they need marketing dollars and radio plays to feel successful is missing the point entirely. To really feel like you made it, all you need is some supportive people around you and a local community that cherishes its own.

Best regards,
Neil Haverty (of Bruce Peninsula, www.bruce-peninsula.com)

PS - if I've piqued your interest about Toronto, check out these links...

Wavelength Toronto - http://www.wavelengthtoronto.com - weekly music series still going strong

Stillepost.ca - http://www.stillepost.ca - local message board, responsible for a lot of community bonding/bickering

Poor Pilgrim - http://www.myspace.com/poorpilgrim - local avant-garde music series

All Caps - http://www.allcaps.ca - all-ages show promoter Ryan McLaren

Aperture Enzyme - http://www.apertureenzyme.com - local photo galleries

Over the Top - http://www.overthetopfest.com - Eric Warner's annual music festival

Fig Records - http://www.figrecords.com - new label with lots of local releases coming up

Blocks Recording Club - http://www.blocksblocksblocks.com - well-known Toronto-loving label

The Ford Plant - http://www.thefp.ca - amazing all-ages venue in Brantford, ON

Oh Bijou - http://www.ohbijou.ca

Great Lake Swimmers - http://www.greatlakeswimmers.com

Jon-Rae and the River - http://www.theriversings.com

When I lived in Providence I witnessed something like this almost happen. For whatever reason, the critical mass required to sustain a self-supporting scene never quite materialized when I was around. But I'm liking what I saw when I went back the other week. Band Stand Live (not actually in Providence, but close enough) provides an impressive performance venue in addition to rehearsal space, and could really be the Petri Dish that finally brings the scene to life. And AS220, a non-profit community arts center located right downtown that was in danger of closing its doors when I left town seems to really be surging.

The guys in The Beagle Club get a glimmer in their eye when they talk about vocalyouth.org, which has, in various incarnations, been an online home for the Johnstown, PA scene since before every scene had a message board. Incidentally, these lyrics from Endless Mike and The Beagle Club's "Nobody Listens to the Last Song on a Compilation" ran through my head as I read Neil's letter:

I'm playing a show at home tonight
I'm friends with all the bands
The PA's too quiet to hear the words
But we all understand
We sing about what we came here for
And why we'll come here again
So pick the perfect song to end your set with...

mog.com

More about this song

Share

Not everyone is doing it as well as Toronto yet, but you can be sure Neil's right when he suggests that small cities all across North America are experiencing similar musical renaissances. Your future favorite band is playing tonight at the KOC. With three other bands they're friends with. None of them have dollar signs in their eyes, and none of them will ever sign with a major label. You will be able to believe in them always. You will feel compelled to give them $5 for a burned CD. And you will want to tell all your friends.

Responsibility, free speech, and Bill & Ted

I'm tired of hearing Imus sympathizers invoke the First Ammendment in his defense. It's not an issue of whether or not Mr. Imus had the right to say what he did. Nobody hauled him off to jail. He's been pilloried metaphorically, but physically nobody's laid a hand on him and he'll be licking his wounds (back to metaphors again) very comfortably in the privacy of one of his own lavishly furnished dwellings until such time as he sees fit to announce his triumphant comeback. He had and he has and he will have the right to say what he did.

I think the debate should be about whether he should have said it and I think the reason that's not what most people are talking about is that for the most part, reasonable human beings can agree that he shouldn't have.

I think what we should be focusing on is RESPONSIBILITY. As this media storm continues to gain strength and the frying pans cast eyes on larger and larger fish, I sincerely hope the organizations that truly profit from those who would do hurtful things in the name of ratings continue to feel the heat. And I hope Imus isn't the only casualty.

Imus, Limbaugh, Coulter, the KKK, etc. all have the right to say what they want to say. But none of them have the right to a nationally syndicated radio program. None of them have the right to step on whomever else they please (verbally) as they claw their way ever upwards to the top of the dung pile. They have every right to stand on the street corner and rant and rave. They are not entitled to a paycheck in return, and they are not entitled to a nation-wide public address system. Always remember that the airwaves are licensed to the employers of these blustery windbags by the federal government and by extension, the American people.

"But that's censorship!" you cry. Well, no. But even if it were the FCC already applies archaic censorship rules to the public airwaves. Hefty fines await those who would dare utter a fuckword or two during afternoon drive (children might be listening!) but Jerry Del Colliano compiled today a pretty stomach-turning sampler of what passes for decent broadcasting these days.

No, I advocate not censorship but responsibility. I ask why advertisers have to pull spots before companies hurry out press releases about doing the right thing and excising a tumor. I wonder when decency will be more than a euphemism for PR expediency. I wonder when the major purveyors of this bile will heed the advice of Bill & Ted, who told us to "Be excellent to each other." And really, I don't think it's ever going to happen on the airwaves at all.

Which is why, as I commented on Mr. Del Colliano's blog and as you might have already guessed if you read this blog often, I've turned my back on broadcast radio almost entirely. With a few notable exceptions, radio has become a vile, wretched tar pit, and I could care less that these dinosaurs are sinking into it. Let them shriek and howl all they want on their way down.

I'll be on the Web, where the voices that resonate with me can be heard (and read) loud and clear.

Talkin' 'bout their generation

I guess I'm a little late to the party here, but this is too good not to post just because I'm not the first one to post it. The lead singer in this band, The Zimmers, is 90 years old. Some of the folks in the chorus are 100.

You're never too old to rock. Remember that next time you go see a band and you're the oldest person in the crowd even though you're in your mid-20's.

myspace.com/thezimmersband

Q: How many indie rock kids does it take to screw in a light bulb?

This is the funniest thing you'll see all day.

A: You don't KNOW!?!?

Save Internet Radio

This is a brain-dump. Please excuse its untidiness.

Perhaps by now you've read in one place or another about the recent decision [pdf] by the US Copyright Office to hike Internet Radio fees. If you have, you surely already know that if this decision is allowed to stand, it puts the kibosh on the ability of any small-time webcaster (like PulverRadio) to remain viable going forward, AND it levels an absurd and crippling retroactive fee for all performances dating back to January 1, 2006. Put bluntly: Internet Radio as you know and love it is F'd.

Here's a quote from SaveOurInternetRadio.com that illustrates with some simple numbers what we're dealing with here:

Under this royalty structure, an Internet radio station with an average listenership of 1000 people would owe $134,000 in royalties during 2007 - plus $98,000 in back payments for 2006. In 2008 they would owe $171,000, and $220,000 in 2009.

I bet if you've ever thought about this you already have a hunch, but the miniscule revenues the banner ads and affiliate links you see on this site don't amount to very much. Certainly not enough to stay afloat with that kind of burden.

In theory, the Copyright Office heard arguments from all sides, and made its decision after carefully considering all the facts. But the decision they made is to comply fully with the proposed solution from SoundExchange, an organization originally spawned from the dank, cavernous belly of everyone's favorite malicious overlord, the RIAA. To be completely accurate, SoundExchange is not officially affiliated with the RIAA any longer, though I hear they still share some villianous personnel high up the food chain. But, as Walter Sobchak once famously said: "Oh, come on Donny, they were threatening castration! Are we gonna split hairs here?"

There's an important distinction to be made between the copyright for the song and the copyright for the recording of the song. The songwriter owns the copyright of the song. The record company usually owns the copyright of the recording. When read about huge artists scoring record deals in which they get to "keep their masters," that's what's being referred to. The reason this is important is that both Internet and terrestrial radio stations pay royalties to the songwriter. But Big Terrestrial Radio doesn't pay a dime to record labels for broadcasting the copyrighted recordings. That's right, the new fees being imposed on Internet radio (and the fees we've already been paying to SoundExchange don't have a counterpart in the terrestrial world. Huge stations owned by huge corporations like ClearChannel don't have to pay the record companies. This can all be traced back to a decision by Congress in the 90's to distinguish between analog and digital broadcasts at the behest of the RIAA.

The RIAA. The myopic, heel-dragging, deep-pocketed, well-lawyered RIAA. Who deem it appropriate to insulate themselves from competition via legislation rather than meet it on a level playing field. Who extort monies from their own customers via bogus lawsuits, since they have so completely lost touch with reality that they're unable to provide a product the consumer wants in a form its willing to pay for. Who are now lashing out at legitimate Internet-based music services in a short-sighted money-grab that might kill one of the last remaining bastions of LEGAL music discovery left on the Web, driving consumers further and further down the rabbit hole of illegitimate file acquisition.

Who benefits from this?

Terrestrial radio? They're already done-for. They're pushing HD Radio, for God's sake. A more expensive product with inferior programming and an imperceivably higher aural definition. Yeah, that's going to make people listen to the radio again.

The Big Four who comprise the RIAA? Nobody could be more clueless. They've abused their customers (and now, their allies) for so long that they will NEVER rebound. And this is another step that will make less of their music available to the law-abiding public (if there even exists such a thing anymore). Sure, there will always be people buying old catalog. Pink Floyd will sell forever. But the major labels slipping further and further into irrelevancy, and everybody knows it but them. The argument that people may be waiting for their favorite song to come on PulverRadio so they can digitally record it, edit it to eliminate station ID's, ID3 tag it, and add it to their music collection is asenine. Your favorite song is only a few clicks away at The Pirate Bay. There, I said it. Go nuts.

The Consumer? If I need to explain to you how this is detrimental to the consumer, I question how you found yourself on this site.

Please, if you have a few minutes, sign a petition, write your congressperson, mailpoop the RIAA, or simply get more informed on this issue (a few links below). It's important.

**UPDATE** Commenter Chris suggested wisely that I include this list of RIAA labels: Sony, Universal, Warner Brothers, EMI (Capitol, Virgin etc). Don't give them your money.

Mikey McClenathan
Program Director
PulverRadio.com


[Save Our Internet Radio]
[Radio and Internet Newsletter (RAIN)]
[Save Net Radio]

It's 10 PM. Do you know if your children are emo?

Sorry I've been so absent lately. I was going to make up some story about how I was on vacation one week and then when I got back I had a really wicked sore throat so I've been staying off the air even though I've been working. But the truth is, I'm just emo. I've been spending my days collecting emo points for bragging rights to use on my friends and on my weblog.

Life is so hard, guys. I just need to be left alone. Thx.

(saw this on idolator.)

SanDisk CEO Eli Harari replies to Steve Jobs

In an open letter (that reads kinda like a sales pitch) on the SanDisk website, Chairman and CEO Eli Harari responds to Steve Jobs, although he never mentions Jobs, iTunes, or iPods by name:

As a loud debate continues over how digital music is sold and used by consumers, SanDisk believes there is another way to address this issue—an approach less confrontational than that voiced by others in the industry.

The answer is to protect the interests of everyone involved, not to chastise rights holders for trying to safeguard the entertainment they create and support.

As a leader in the digital music industry, SanDisk has always supported freedom of choice for consumers. At the same time, we believe that entertainment companies and artists must be compensated.

Consumers deserve fair use of the digital entertainment they purchase, with the freedom to enjoy content on any device they own. SanDisk’s approach is to let consumers decide how and where they acquire and play back their music.

Proprietary systems, in short, aren’t acceptable to consumers. In recent months, there has been a rising chorus of complaints in Europe about the anti-competitive nature of closed formats that tie music purchased from one company to that company’s devices, and tie that company’s devices to its music service.

SanDisk is already offering an alternative with its Sansa line of MP3 players, which connect to many major online music stores, including Rhapsody, Napster, URGE, Yahoo! Music, emusic and Best Buy Digital Music Store. Users purchasing songs from those services can also play them on many non-SanDisk devices. SanDisk and our partners have full support from the four major music companies, and we believe our offering is no less secure than closed systems.

What’s more, the decision on using digital rights management (DRM) should rest with the music industry, not with device makers.

Time and again, we have seen that open choice prevails. The “walled garden” approach may offer a smoother user experience in the short run, but ultimately restricts user choice. Protecting music doesn’t require confining consumers to a single company’s service or devices. It’s time to tear down the walls.

SanDisk is looking at the big picture, by creating solutions rather than conflict. Building an infrastructure to give consumers fair access to digital content while protecting content creators is vital for the long-term health of the music industry, as well as to our business and to our competitors. SanDisk stands committed to making this happen.

Truth be told, I've been incredibly happy with my ARCHOS since I retired my old iPod a while back. I agree with Harari here about walled gardens. But I think he misses the big picture that Steve Jobs was painting: that DRM simply doesn't work ANYWAY, and that clinging to it is hurting all the content owners, stores, and hardware in this space.

Come on. Really?

Every time Steve Jobs opens his mouth (or types something, I guess) it's awesome for bloggers. And his latest missive about DRM apparently has ruffled some feathers over at Warner Music:

Warner Music chief executive Edgar Bronfman Jr. said in a call with analysts that the argument to drop copy protection also known as digital rights management (DRM) is "without logic and merit. We will not abandon DRM."

Oh Edgar, perhaps you should take a look at Warner Music's SEVENTY-FOUR PERCENT DROP IN PROFIT LAST YEAR and re-think your logic and merit.

This reeks of arrogance and myopia. The walls are CRUMBLING AROUND YOU. These majors are laying off their staffs, placing all their eggs in the baskets of a few huge-selling acts (EMI on Coldplay ring a bell?), and fiddling as the city burns. Get with the program, Edgar. The old ways aren't working any more.

A f***ed-to-death pile of burning caca (NSFW?)

"Professor Brothers - Bible History #1"

This has almost nothing to do with music other than the fact that Brad Neely, the magnificent mind behind the video above is also the creator of everyone's favorite song about our nation's first president. But it's funny as hell, and well, that's good enough for me.

Please don't get fired for watching this with your boss listening.

Brad Neely is also the guy who made Wizard People, Dear Readers, the funniest alternate soundtrack for a Harry Potter movie that I've come across in my exhaustive searches for such things. This comes HIGHLY recommended.

You can file this one under WTF as well...

Ever hear of Timbaland? How about Nelly Furtado? How about Janne Suni (aka Tempest)? Hmm...funny that. Because it would appear that poor Mr. Tempest got JACKED.

Please, if you want to get angry, go here (works much better in IE, unfortunately).

I sorta doubt many of you listen to Nelly Furtado, but Timbaland is working with EVERYONE these days. He makes LOTS of MONEY. And, it would appear that, in at least this case, he's a straight-up thief.

There is no justice in this world. None.

Thanks, Joystiq. (Click through to Joystiq for a downloadable mp3 of the original and a much better and less hastily written summary of the story.)

Well, that sucked

tickets.com is on my shit-list.

If you're in the vicinity of New York City and a beating heart resides inside your chest, you probably know that Arcade Fire tickets went on sale at 9am this morning for their 5 consecutive shows at Judson Memorial Church. As can be expected, there were many more losers than winners. I know only one person personally who got tickets.

Me? I got past the "virtual waiting room" (really just an automatic refresh page that saves neither your place in line, nor your dignity) but then found that, to my dismay, the number verification image wouldn't load. And then, even though I was under the impression that once you've selected tickets for yourself and finally gotten past the verification that you are not a robot your tickets are guaranteed for a certain timeframe, it's not the case. Because when I finally managed to load that image, the tickets that I thought were set aside for me were, in fact, not.

Now, I'm no genius when it comes to the internet, but I have to think that for all the incredible money that I imagine is in ticket retail sites, they should be able to afford a programming staff with some chops. I'm not the only one who's beside myself about this. The comments over at brooklynvegan do wonders to make me feel less alone.

There has to be a better way to do this. Of course, with shows of this magnitude people are always going to be disappointed and there're are always going to be voices crying "foul." But can we request at least not to be jerked around like rag-dolls on the road to disgruntlement*?

As for me, I'm just pointing out a problem. No solutions here. Just because I won the Nobel Prize for Lovemaking doesn't mean I have all the answers.



*It's a word, look it up.

Internet Radio in your car?

Holy crap I want to believe it'll work. Hypebot reports that an in-car hotspot solution will be announced at CES next week. The awesomeness of this cannot be questioned, if it works.

Whether it'll be seamless enough to stream internet radio at 60 mph on the BQE (hah...like anyone ever gets above 20 mph on the BQE...) remains to be seen. And in my opinion, $50 a month is too high for the average this guy to pay for vehicular connectivity. But it's sure a step in a cool direction.