DRM is doomed to fail. Unfortunately, the majority of the movie companies and record labels still think it’s the best way to “protect” their media.
Anti-DRM T-Shirt Design Contest
Category: music
music – Weird Al Yankovic getting screwed?
Lets say you love Weird Al Yankovic and want to make sure he gets as much money as possible from your legal purchase of his music.
How best to do that?
From Weird Al’s website:
Tim Sloane of Ijamsville, MD asks:
Al, which of these purchasing methods should I use in order to make sure the most profit gets to you: Buying one of your albums on CD, or buying one of your albums on iTunes?
Weird Al:
I am extremely grateful for your support, no matter which format you choose to legally obtain my music in, so you should do whatever makes the most sense for you personally. But since you ASKED… I actually do get significantly more money from CD sales, as opposed to downloads.
This is the one thing about my renegotiated record contract that never made much sense to me. It costs the label NOTHING for somebody to download an album (no manufacturing costs, shipping, or really any overhead of any kind) and yet the artist (me) winds up making less from it. Go figure.
So, buy a CD if you want to put your cash in Weird Al’s pocket. Or, better, buy directly from his website.
BUT … What percentage of your CD purchase does Al and his band actually bank?
That’s a convoluted and confusing topic. I believe Al’s cut to be 15% or less of suggested retail on CDs.
My complaint is the oligopoly of music companies that keep (possibly) 85% of the dollar I want to pay Al.
To me it’s almost worth downloading illegally, ripping off Al (who deserves the money) in order to stiff Volcano (Sony BMG), who I hate. (Why I hate Sony BMG.)
Obviously in future the artist needs to sell directly to the consumer, cutting out Sony BMG and that ilk as much as possible. Illegal downloads will hopefully speed that evolution.
But if you, like Weird Al, want to continue shoveling money into Sony BMG — buy Al’s most recent great album — Straight Outta Lynwood — through Amazon and I’ll take a 4% cut, as well. (Out of Al’s percentage, I imagine.)
(via Weird Al and a Messed Up iTunes Deal » Another Blogger and the digital music blog)
the future of advertising …
Might well be worse than what we have now.
Unavoidable.
For example, here’s a mashup of Prince’s new single “Guitar” with a Verizon Wireless ad.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
How soon will this get old?
I already miss good old product placement.
Trent Reznor – US$29 CD ripoff
Trent is the much respected lead of the alt band Nine Inch Nails.
He is exasperated with the pricing of his new CD Year Zero by distributor Universal Music Group, the largest in the recording industry.
UMG is one company I want to have far less revenue in future.
From Trent’s blog:
As the climate grows more and more desperate for record labels, their answer to their mostly self-inflicted wounds seems to be to screw the consumer over even more. …
* The ABSURD retail pricing of Year Zero in Australia. Shame on you, UMG. Year Zero is selling for $34.99 Australian dollars ($29.10 US). No wonder people steal music. Avril Lavigne’s record in the same store was $21.99 ($18.21 US).
By the way, when I asked a label rep about this his response was: “It’s because we know you have a real core audience that will pay whatever it costs when you put something out – you know, true fans. It’s the pop stuff we have to discount to get people to buy.”
So… I guess as a reward for being a “true fan” you get ripped off.
His new album Year Zero is only US$7.25 on Amazon.
music video – Alberta Bound
Why isn’t this my Provincial song?
Click PLAY or watch the Gordon Lightfoot classic on YouTube.
Younguns no doubt prefer the Paul Brandt song of the same name. (It’s not a remake, actually.) He’s actually Albertan.
DANG IT, Brandt’s commercial video is not yet on YouTube. Someone correct that omission.
video – best YouTuber of 2006
Still think YouTube is a black hole of time-wasting crap?
This video confirms it.
Click PLAY or watch Message to the YouTube Editors: Lazydork is Still the Best on YouTube.
Beyoncé – part of the solution?
I never thought much of Beyoncé until lately.
Just another pretty … face, … well m(ass) marketed by the mostly dirty-old-male recording industry. Everything wrong with the status quo. Right?
Maybe I’m wrong.
She could be part of the solution.
Certainly she was great in Dream Girls.
Her song Crazy in Love is one of my favourites of all time.
Now she’s putting together an all-girl band for her upcoming B’Day World Tour. (Doesn’t sound like a bimbo boy toy of Jay-Z to me.)
Older women, with few exceptions, get no respect in commercial pop music. Why doesn’t Joni Mitchell have the same profile today as Bob Dylan or Neil Young? Joni’s just as talented and a lot easier on the eyes.
Rock videos today are almost all soft porn. This can’t last forever. Where do they go next?
I like what Beyoncé is doing. She’s sending up her sexy image in videos like Green Light. (I love the high, high heels.)
Click PLAY or watch the video on YouTube.
Not the greatest song, I admit. But Robert Palmer is grinning from the great beyond.
Come to think of it, Robert Palmer’s classic Simply Irresistible is hard to take seriously any more.
Click Play or …
Watch Robert Palmer’s Addicted to Love, as well.
music – Rhythms Del Mundo – Buena Vista Social Club
No great fan of World Music, I do recommend this recording.
Rhythms Del Mundo is an electrifying album that fuses music of different cultures and comes up with a melting pot of rare sounds.
While the majority of the original artists’ vocals remain the same, The Buena Vista Social Club musicians took the original orchestration from each song and created something utterly unique, casting their trademark mastery over each track.
Their noted and exceptional musicianship seduced even the notoriously protective Arctic Monkeys into handing over their track. As well as The Arctic Monkeys‘ track `Dancing Shoes’, Rhythms Del Mundo included reworked tracks such as `Clocks’ by Coldplay, `Better Together’ by Jack Johnson, `She Will be Loved’ by Maroon 5, `High and Dry by Radiohead‘ and others.
The album is in aid of Artists Project Earth (APE), which lends support for natural disaster relief and climate change awareness.
If you’re an Arctic Monkey’s fan (all so absurd) you have to see this mash-up. So weird, I like it.
Click PLAY or watch the Monkeys in old Havana on YouTube.
Hear short sample clips of the other songs: – Rhythms del Mundo Cuba – official website
music = rap and hip hop dying?
An NPR audiocast alerted me to this surprising fact:
According to Billboard, rap and hip-hop album sales are down by more than 40 percent compared with the year 2000. It’s hard to know why the genre is suffering a bigger blow than rock or pop.
Some industry experts say young people are fed up with the violence, degrading imagery and lyrics. Others say the music is just as popular as it ever was, but that fans have found other means to consume the music.
Latino Leadership Circle: Is Hip-Hop Dying or Going Underground?
Patti Smith to Rock n Roll Hall of Fame
Rockin’ let me know that one of the great heroes of our youth was to be inducted.
Would she snub the event as did the Sex Pistols?
Patti wrote in the NY Times:
On the eve of this event I asked myself many questions. Should an artist working within the revolutionary landscape of rock accept laurels from an institution? Should laurels be offered? Am I a worthy recipient? …
Rock ’n’ roll drew me from my mother’s hand and led me to experience. In the end it was my neighbors who put everything in perspective. An approving nod from the old Italian woman who sells me pasta. A high five from the postman. An embrace from the notary and his wife. And a shout from the sanitation man driving down my street: “Hey, Patti, Hall of Fame. One for us.”
I just smiled, and I noticed I was proud. One for the neighborhood. My parents. My band. One for Fred. And anybody else who wants to come along.
Congratulations Patti. Your music meant a lot to me. And still does.
Patti Smith – Wikipedia
