Due to circumstances beyond my control, the first quarter podcast of 2008 will likely be held up for a week or two. As an unintended result of this situation, the inclusions and running order will just be that more painstakingly deliberated. But, while we're vaguely on the subject of mix-o-logy, allow me to direct you to the fruit of maybe a half hour's labor on Muxtape, which is currently the cat's pajamas for the crazy music blog shut in types. Here's my first stab at it using mainly stuff we've posted before, because you know, that's the stuff we like.

Tracklist, with links to when we've actually discussed the song (or failing that, artist) previously on MS:

Side A:

1: Atlas Sound - "Activation" (4:06)

Discussed previously in Two.

2: Pavement - "Circa 1762" (John Peel Show) (3:27)

Mentioned previously in Retrohump Day: Two Sans Theme.

3: Love is All - "Motorboat" (2:11)

Discussed previously in MS Picks: A Whisper, A Shout.

4: the Volcano Suns - "Needle in the Camel's Eye" (live, in Boston 1989) (2:31)

Discussed previously in Obscurer Than Thou: Volcano Sunset.

5: Tall Dwarfs - "All My Hollowness to You" (2:20)

Discussed previously in Retrohump Day - Retro Revisited.

6: the Monochrome Set - "The Lighter Side of Dating" (2:45)

Never posted actually, but Monochrome Set was the topic of Works in Progress: the Monochrome Set, and Retrohump Day: Two Sans Theme.

Side B:

1: Ruth - "Polaroid-Roman-Photo" (5:03)

Discussed previously in THE LIST: Mwaahhh, the French Champagne.

2: Malaria! - "Your Turn to Run" (4:10)

Discussed previously in Retrokraut Day and Retrohump Night: Malaria!'s Only One.

3: John Carpenter - "Assault on Precinct 13" (3:31)

Discussed previously in Entrance Music (For Two Films) and Numerology Counterpoint: Triskaidekaphobia.

4: Sunset Rubdown - "We've Got Broken Eyes" (6:58)

Discussed previously in Six Synth Songs.

5: the Kills - "the Search for Cherry Red" (2:58)

Discussed previously in Bleak Girls Club.

6: Serge Gainsbourg - "Requiem Pour Un Con" (2:54)

Discussed previously in Songs Left Off Pitchfork's 60's List (Part 2)

Quickly looking at the list above and then clicking over to the Muxape page will immediately illustrate the biggest drawback of the site as it stands: you can't split up your tape into two distinct sides. This is pretty much sacrilege, and I've rejected it on its face by presenting 12 songs that are pretty clearly split into two six song runs. Another drawback for true obsessives is the lack of any space to jot down a few liner notes for the object of your mix affection. Here we can easily provide links for a little context if desired, but Muxtape won't allow even that.

But these are small gripes for a legitimately neat little time waster of a site. But implement my suggestions, and perhaps add a function where you can search all the mixes made to find others who've included your specific favorite songs and where their own mixes took them from there, and maybe you've got a cultural hub with some staying power.

Posted by Jeff Klingman at 05:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Media vultures will note that the Village Voice laid off eight staffers, including the estimable Robert Christgau. It's disappointing, if not surprising; the writing had been on the VV wall had been there for some time.

Christgau has managed to stay relevant in emerging music criticism despite his age; here's to hoping they gave him some sort of golden parachute. If there's one music critic that can existing as a media island, Christgau is that man. People will read his commentary anywhere, so setting up a blog could attract readership and ads from music labels. That is, if he doesn't want to retire.

Posted by Keith O'Brien at 11:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Those silly record labels and their misguided attempts at giving the people what they want. From the Coolfer tip, more details on what looks to be a dead on arrival download service (DOADS?). This extracted from a KCRW interview with industry consultant Celia Hirschman:

"Have the major labels finally caved to the notion that illegal downloading cannot be stopped? Is this the beginning of the end of the record business as we know it?

Not at all. Rather, this is classic Record Business. Read the fine print of the Spira lFrog deal, and the hairs on the back of your neck will stand up. First of all, when consumers download the track, they'll be subjected to a 90 second audio advertisement embedded at the beginning of each track. That's 90 seconds of advertising for every song downloaded. And the downloads will only be available to the listener for six months, where upon the song will be erased from their libraries like a Mission Impossible espionage tape."

Is it time yet for a reality show on "building the next download service," a postmodern satire? The hilarity never ends. In a related note, Norwegian police recovered the stolen Edvard Munch painting, "The Scream."

Previously: SpiralFrog - Free Download Service , eMusic - Scrappiness pays in volume, Sony & DRM - It's All Gonna Break

Tags: SpiralFrog, Digital Music

Posted by Merry Swankster at 02:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This just in (NYT):

A new online music company said today that it would make a huge catalog of songs from the world’s largest record company, the Universal Music Group, available for consumers to download free. The company, called SpiralFrog, said its intention was to wean music fans, especially young people, away from illegal downloads and pirate music sites by offering a legitimate source, supported by advertising instead of download fees.

Free legitimate music..wh..wh..what?!? There must be a catch...

SpiralFrog’s free downloads will come with many more strings attached than Apple’s paid ones do. Users of SpiralFrog will have to sit through advertisements, and will be prevented by special software from making copies of the songs they download or from sharing them with other people.

Why I think it will ultimately fail:

They will have to revisit the SpiralFrog web site regularly to keep access to the music they download. And the songs will be encoded in Microsoft’s WMA format, meaning they will probably not work on Apple iPod portable music players.

IPods dominate the hardware market for digital music market players, if this service caters to only non-iPod users, how earth shattering could it really be? No bold MS.com statement, just an honest question. I'll give them props for trying something new at least.

Universal is the only label for now, but other labels will be courted:

Neville Hobson, a spokesman for SpiralFrog, said the company hopes to pursue licensing deals with the other major record companies — Sony BMG, EMI and Warner Music — to augment its deal with Universal Music, a unit of Vivendi.

When?

Expected to start testing its service in the United States and Canada by the end of the year, and would extend its service to Britain and other European markets next year.

//SpiralFrog - site

Tags: SpiralFrog, Universal, Digital Music

Posted by Merry Swankster at 03:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

BBC: YouTube co-founder Steve Chen told Reuters news agency it was hoped that within 18 months the site would "have every music video ever created."

Posted by Keith O'Brien at 08:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Because you might be able to see this video on Subterranean, but is it really worth suffering through Jim Shearer?

Camera Obscura - Lloyd, I'm Ready To Be Heartbroken

Posted by Keith O'Brien at 07:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Allow me to direct you to my other blog, where I talk about Mog, the newly-launched, automated music social-network Web site. The post is marketing-related, so I apologize in advance if it gets co-opted.

Posted by Keith O'Brien at 07:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Satellite radio day at MS. How serendipitous. Top bloggers and Sirius announce daily ‘Blog Radio’ show on the already awesome Left of Center station.

Press release:

Sirius satellite radio announced today that it will launch a daily music show hosted by some of America's top music bloggers. The innovative new program, Blog Radio, will debut on Monday, May 29 on Left of Center channel 26, the commercial-free SIRIUS music channel that plays the best in college, indie and alternative rock music.

Each weeknight at 10 pm ET, Blog Radio will be hosted by a blogger who will showcase his or her favorite music and provide views and insights into the indie rock music scene.

Holy crap. Just over two hours since this post and my comment about bloggers’ influence gets negated:

”How many satellite radio users have been introduced to new music they otherwise wouldn’t have? As self important as music bloggers may feel, most people do not get their new music from online media blogs. Shocking to some, but at the end of the day MS and its ilk do not light a match to the mega reach of broadcasters, even (arguably) niche media channels like satellite radio.”

Gorilla vs Bear says:

"Boy are we excited. I've already lined up some great "in-studio" performances with some of my favorite artists, and of course I'll be playing the best music played on any radio station ever. Should be a lot of fun." (Link)

Brooklyn Vegan says:

"It's true. I've joined Howard Stern, Deepak Chopra, Eminem, Little Steven, Mark Cuban, Matt Pinfield, Martha Stewart, and Richard Simmons at Sirius Sattelite Radio." (Link)

Product Shop NYC says:

"One of the sweet parts of this deal is that we get 100% creative control of our programming. I plan on taking full advantage of this part of our agreement and have some killer surprises already lined up." (Link)

See, I told you Sirius was sweet. 'Blog Radio' premieres Monday May 29th on Sirius Left of Center, channel 26. Congratulations to all involved.

Previously: XM Radio sued by RIAA, Radio JACKasses and Hypocrisy | NAB, Diagram of an Indie Rock Show | Crossing over to Satellite Radio

Tags: Blog Radio, Sirius, Satellite Radio, Music Bloggers, Left of Center, Wow,

Posted by Merry Swankster at 03:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The BBC is revamping their website.

The BBC, has announced plans to relaunch its website to incorporate more user-generated content such as blogs and video, as well as developing new broadband portals in areas including sports, music, health and science. -- -- The BBC says it hopes its new site will attract unsigned bands hoping to showcase their music — one of the key successes of MySpace.com.

"We have one of the best Web sites in the world, but it's rooted in the first digital wave," BBC director-general Mark Thompson told staff on Tuesday. "We need to reinvent it, fill it with dynamic audiovisual content, personalize it, open it up to user-friendly material." (Via Wired)

James MacManus, an executive director of News International, accused the BBC of “blatantly commercial ambitions” and of seeking “to create a digital empire”. So let me get this straight, someone from the giant media conglomerate at News Corp. is accusing another company of creating a digital empire?

I don't really have a comment on this. Sound like a complicated public vs. private funding issue. I just enjoy using the "Pot calling the kettle black" phrase. That, and it relates to music.

Tags: BBC Relaunch, News Corporation, MySpace

Posted by Merry Swankster at 04:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) industry conference is under way this week in Las Vegas. The well attended event is a big schmooze fest for the entire boadcasting, television, and radio industries. Proclamations are made, bold plans unveiled, and a few snippy remarks target the competition. The muck is freely tossed when preaching to the choir.

David Rehr, president and CEO of NAB had some unpleasant words for their satellite radio rivals.

"Satellite radio has supposedly 10 million subscribers total. But 260 million people listened to broadcast radio last week alone. Its (satellite radio) business model is bankrupt. And this is even before our own digital HD radio has kicked in," he said.
"Our localism, our connection to the community, is also an advantage, an irreplaceable advantage. Helping the community is obviously a social good. Helping the community is also broadcasting's business plan and, frankly, it is our brand. We must continue to be evangelical about our community service and about our community content."

While the numbers don't lie, the commitment to "localism, connection to the community" is a load of bull. More than ever, "local" radio stations are being distributed from a central location and distributed to affiliates. Call it the Clear Channel approach.

Example from Corpwatch article:

"Since Clear Channel came into our community and consolidated the stations there, [they] eliminated the local news department from those stations. Clear Channel now broadcasts news that originates from Baltimore over 100 miles away, and that centralized news agency has never had a reporter in our community," said Patrick Clawson, a Philadelphia reporter.

"We had a industrial plant accident in our area not long ago, where the plant manager called the stations at about 3 o'clock in the morning because they need to get the word out to tell the community about the accident and also to advise the employees not to come into work, but he was greeted with an employee [of Clear Channel] who said: 'Sorry, all our programs are delivered by satellite, and we can't anything on air until six in the morning.' With the elimination of local programming, how does this method of operation serve the public interest?" added Clawson.

I am not promoting Satellite radio (full disclosure - MS is a happy customer of Sirius Radio), though as I am employed by a large media company I pay attention to this stuff. Traditional radio people may trump their local roots, but they are starving their listeners of quality entertainment with draconian program rules and shitty programming. Is it even possible to listen to the radio these days without throwing up in your mouth a little?

Funny that JACK FM's "shuffle" format is one of the few bright spots in the free radio world. Take a look at the website, I count over 30 markets carrying the station format. The Marion Daily Republican in Marion, Mississippi, ran a story yesterday about their town's new JACK FM station.

The article states that the "station has no disc jockey, no weather reports and no talk shows." It also quotes Chad Elliot, Operations Manager at Mississippi River Radio Group, with what has to be the dumbest most obvious conclusion to a research study. Ever.

"A radio company which did a research project found that people wanted a radio station that played more music."

No shit? In other news, little kids enjoy playing with toys.

Read more about JACK FM at Wikipedia.

Tags: Radio, NAB, JACK FM, Clear Channel, David Rehr

Posted by Merry Swankster at 01:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Borrowing liberally this afternoon from the Modern Age and CYHSY. This post includes the clever and true picture-slash-diagram called "Anatomy of an Indie Rock Concert."

[Click for larger version.]

Its funny for sure. Being the music blogger extraordinaire that I am (cough cough), part of my daily ritual is to peruse the Internets for nuggets such as this. So understand my excitement, surprise and shock to hear Reno, DJ and host on Sirius Radio's "Left of Center" (ch. 26) describe the above picture to a tee without referencing the source!

Am I being a stickler now? Perhaps, but why not give credit where credit is due? Weirdness of hearing blog posts on the radio aside, it struck me very cool that this Reno chick checks the music blogs. Further proves satellite radio's superiority towards terrestrial radio. These people have their fingers on the pulse.

Skeptics may like to know that tonight at 8pm ET Left of Center will be broadcasting a Wolf Parade performance and interview. Clearly, they know their audience.

-- -- --

There is something to be said here about "new media" content (blogs) crossing over into hybrid/traditional media (satellite radio). I'll leave those musings for MS.com contributor, and PRWEEK.com star editor, Keith O'Brien.

It is my pleasure to announce that Keith recently launched his own, long awaited, marketing/PR blog with a heavy focus on youth/alternative culture called Ubiquitous Marketing.

Tags: Sirius, Left of Center, Modern Age, Anatomy of an indie rock concert, Wolf Parade, Music Blogs, Ubiquitous Marketing, Keith O'Brien

Posted by Merry Swankster at 02:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Scaring consumers into drinking a tasty carbonated beverage? Jacky boy I just don't get you anymore.

Best comment: "I love how, in the back there, you can see Jack digitally jumping the shark." (VIA the Modern Age)

Previously (in Coke news): New Flaming Lips - You Gotta Hold On

(The 'douchebaggery' technorati tag is getting a workout today.)

Tags: Coca Cola, Jack White, Douchebaggery

Posted by Merry Swankster at 01:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I miss "120 Minutes."

I guess there's no reason to, as the new media environment makes finding anything you want to watch pretty effortless, but I recognize that it was an invaluable resource for a suburban teen bound to the stocking whims of Border's and Sam Goody in the yearling stage of internet saturation. I bet actually watching old broadcasts would be a painful and shockingly Oasis centric experience, but for nostalgia's sake, and as a potential public service to my young heirs holding court in So-Lame, Bored-Again (Salem, Oregon) and their countrywide counterparts, I give you a version of what the show might look like now if it was on the level. *

Feel free to picture my comments coming from a bitter, gravel voiced, bald fat man. Or, conversely, a fiery latina.

Islands - Rough Gem

Awwwwwwwwwww.

Wolf Parade - Modern World

Appropriately for the 120 Minutes theme of this post, it comes off like a de-icked Tool video.

Franz Ferdinand - L. Wells

Kinks-ish full name using non-album single from the Archduke. Meant to be sweet, but a full video of young girl ogling with 30+ Kapranos singing over the top can't help but be a bit creepy.

the Pipettes - Your Kisses are Wasted on Me

A surprisingly strong argument that a Pipettes concert might be pretty great. Reminds me of the movie set in Mulholland Drive. These, are the girls.

Liars - It Fit When I Was a Kid

Hilariously literal interpretation of Angus' weirdo lyrics in bandmate Julian's version of the video from the Drum's Not Dead DVD.

* Yes, I realize that my longing is also problematic, because as a New Yorker I have (public) access to two pretty choice video shows in New York Noise and Cliktrax, but I didn't want to rub it in or anything.

Tags: Islands, Wolf Parade, the Pipettes, Franz Ferdinand, Liars, Music Videos, Matt Pinfield

Posted by Jeff Klingman at 01:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

The rain in NYC is keeping us from enjoying another freakish winter 60 degree day so I thought I'd give everybody some choice viewing material as long as we're cooped up. Maybe its not raining where you are, but with all of us "killing time at our day jobs by trolling indie rock blogs" types, I'm certain that it's raining in your hearts.

Wolf Parade - "Shine a Light"

Finally a prominent artist touches on multi-head discrimination.

Jens Lekman - "You are the Light"

In which Jens gets arrested ODB style for illegal body armor. Skunk!

Giant Drag - Kevin is Gay"

I still think it's hilariously smart/stupid for Annie Hardy to rip off a My Bloody Valentine guitar lick in a song with a title questioning Kevin Shields' sexuality. Plus meowing.

Xiu Xiu - "Pox"

1000 miles over the top, as you might expect. Also has the honor of being MS's first not safe for work link, which is doubly impressive because it features entirely children's dolls.

Serge Gainsbourg - "Couleur Cafe"

We finish up with a classic from the dirtiest Frenchman in history.

While we're talking about Serge, I just couldn't help putting up this clip of him wasted on a 1984 French talk show w/ Whitney Houston. As awesome as that sounds.

Tags: Wolf Parade, Jens Lekman, Giant Drag, Xiu Xiu, Serge Gainsbourg

Posted by Jeff Klingman at 09:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Below are excerpts of eMusic CEO David Pakman's interview with mp3.com. Full interview here.

David Pakman on:

customers:

They're a much more pleasant consumer to deal with because they are far less fickle. They are are interested in value but they're not starving for dollars. They have credit cards that are valid and don't max out all the time and they can afford to buy both a $400 hardware device and spend, you know, 100 bucks a year on music. So, we like that consumer a lot better.

DRM:

We'll continue to be no-DRM, not for philosophical reasons but only for practical, compatibility reasons. And if that whole practical, compatibility thing got sorted out, if you could sell DRM-protected music that was interoperable everywhere and that wasn't sort of penalizing customers for buying music digitally, we would do that.
- - -
We certainly do believe that the lack of interoperability is holding the digital music market back. There's no question that Napster and Yahoo and AOL's MusicNow would all sell more music if they worked on the iPod. So definitely DRM as it relates to lack of interoperability is a problem for the industry. In terms of DRM's limitations on consumer behavior, I think you can strike a balance with the consumer that says, "You can still do some things with this, but not everything that you might be expecting to do." You just have to disclose that up front to them.

eMusic's business model:

It's the same way that health clubs exist. If 1,000 people sign up on January 1st with their New Year's resolution and all 1,000 people went every day, the gym would be way too crowded and you would quit.

But, of course 1,000 people don't go every day and some people go for the first couple of months and then don't ever go again for the rest of the year. That's the same model for us and Napster and Rhapsody, where a label might get less on a per-song basis but the consumption tends to go up.

The iTunes customer buys about three or four songs per customer per month on average. The eMusic customer buys 20 songs per month on average. So, the consumption is much higher when a user prepays for music. They want to get their money's worth. That also means that a highly casual user probably won't subscribe to a service because it's too much of a commitment. So, the difference between the models is that labels might get less on a per-song basis in a subscription service but will sell more of their music.

Yes sir! Pragmatic straight shooter, I like this dude. eMusic is a sweet service, check them out here.

Tags: eMusic, David Pakman, DRM, Digital Distribution

Posted by Merry Swankster at 08:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Joy Division: “Here are the Young Men” DVD-R Bootleg

While record companies struggle to find their footing in the DVD market, the unending surge of technology threatens to undermine their status as exclusive gatekeepers of content. Rather than suffer the whims of audience and funding driven re-issue schedules as our fore fathers, the paleo-hipsters, might have, the technology surge of the last five years has put the means of production in the pasty hands of any kid who stumbles upon something cool and wants to get it out there. It was this convergence of DVD-R burner, cord, VCR, and love that delivered unto me, the much sought after 1982 concert film Joy Division: Here are the Young Men. By that, I mean I bought it at Jackpot Records in Portland.

<em>Here are the Young Men is the most complete visual document of Joy Division’s short performing career. Culled from four club shows around Europe in late 1979 and early 1980, the collection documents the wake of debut album Unknown Pleasures. Five of the disc’s fourteen featured songs come from that album, rounded out by monumental singles “Transmission” and “Love Will Tear Us Apart,” a smattering of non-album tracks, and an embryonic version of “Decades” from JD’s second record, Closer. As lead singer Ian Curtis took drastic steps to ensure the band would not drop off in quality as the years progressed, this is all the footage available/ not available to the sobbing Joy Division enthusiast.

Continue reading "The Rock DVD: Type 3: DVD as Self-Distributed Archive" »

Posted by Merry Swankster at 01:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

On Monday PRWEEK ran a story speculating on the aftermath of Sony’s controversial inclusion of hidden spyware software on CD releases. The software attached to users’ computers once they ripped the tainted CDs onto their hard drives. Far from me to tell a record company how to do their evil business as I know little about running a mega record factory. But I do know that slipping malicious spyware embedded into CDs purchased legitimately is not a good way to generate happy, returning customers. Didn’t file sharing sites become annoying to use because of the spyware? Isn’t that part of the selling point of for iTunes, Rhapsody and other legal avenues for digital music? Sony claims that they did not know about the code.

Sony BMG spokesman, John McKay explains:

When the company became aware, it offered a software update, addressed the issue of potential virus, announced that it was ceasing manufacture, and embarked on an ambitious exchange campaign. We’re doing whatever it will take to make it right.”

Continue reading "Sony & DRM - It's All Gonna Break" »

Posted by Merry Swankster at 08:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Take some time off from demonstrating how thankful you are today by momentarily pausing the binging and gorging and sit back, unbutton your pants and let yourself spread.

Presenting Part 2 of Jeff Klingman’s continuing analysis of The Rock DVD. A terrific match for the pumpkin pie cheesecake.

The Rock DVD: Variations on a Theme :: Type 2: DVD as Independent Product

Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Tell Me What Rockers to Swallow DVD

For all the marketing muscle dedicated to alerting the wayward music connoisseur of upcoming releases, most of the effort is firmly directed towards the album. Albums generate the most pre-release buzz and the most tortured post-release dissection, and any other product a band might put out is treated as a marginal supplement lucky to get any discussion at all. So it was that late last year I stumbled across the Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ DVD "Tell Me What Rockers to Swallow” with, get this, no idea that such a thing even existed!

Somewhere an Interscope PR suit’s blood just ran cold.

It’s unfortunate, and a tad ironic, that a band who gets attacked for the amount of press they receive should release such a well produced DVD with such little fanfare. To the surprise of no one, Lance Bangs is the man behind the disc. As opposed to the somewhat sloppy assembly of the Sleater-Kinney disc I discussed in my last post, Tell me What Rockers to Swallow looks great and is bursting with more content than one would think such a young band could muster. In addition to a full concert at San Francisco’s Fillmore Theater, the DVD is fleshed out with six songs from a separate live performance, all the band’s uniformly neat videos, two behind the scenes type featurettes, and a MTV performance. There’s even funny menu art by Liars drummer Julian Gross depicting Karen O as a pizza loving mummy and a cameo appearance by a nonsensical vampire piece of toast.

Continue reading "The Rock DVD: Type 2: DVD as Independent Product" »

Posted by Merry Swankster at 09:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Via Web Vomit, a new Flaming Lips video for the song You Gotta Hold On, off the forthcoming At War With the Mystics - currently slated for release in early 2006.

NME has Lips frontman Wayne Coyne commenting on the new album's sound:

"We've been using more computers and gadgets, but trying to make them sound more organic and less electronic."

So, "more computers and gadgets" in order to sound "more organic and less electronic." Reminds me of a college friend who would spend 8 hours a day reformatting his computer and writing programs so his life would be more manageable.

No strangers to corporate advertising, the Lips new song is already part of a unique marketing effort by Coca Cola. This website, as the No Rock & Roll Fun blog describes, is part of the promotion for a "new metal Coke bottle (designed for overpriced clubs, apparently) called M5." Brazilian animation team Lobo describe the inspiration for their Coca Cola M5 video:

"For M5, Lobo depicts the need for ingenuity, patience and fortitude as some very determined robots make their own destiny to the tune of "You Gotta Hold On," by The Flaming Lips."

Great cross promotion for both the Lips and Coca Cola. Before you call bullshit, did you check out the M5 link? I thought so. Look for more examples of the changing New Media Landscape and tactics the music industry is using for survival.

Cool Hunting has more on the Coca Cola M5 campaign.

Tags: The Flaming Lips, You Gotta Hold On, Coca Cola, M5, Lobo

Posted by Merry Swankster at 12:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Fighting the struggles of Joe Everyman, once again Jeff Klingman.

The explosion of the DVD as the dominant video medium has been swift and ruthless. They’re cheaper to make, smaller, and of higher sound and picture quality than their lame older brother the video cassette. Record companies in their altruistic search for the next $18.99 price tag have woken up to the milk capacity of this cash cow. With outlets for rock performance on television weirdly dwindling as the number of places for them to be potentially shown grows, DVD’s are a nice treat for us nerds. Their uses are varied and growing, so over the next few days I thought I’d spotlight a few of the predominant types with a representative example. How’d that be? Great.

Type #1: DVD as incentive to buy

Sleater-Kinney: The Woods – Bonus DVD (inserted in first pressing of The Woods CD)

You know why record companies have such a problem with people downloading their artist’s new albums instead of buying them? Well, disregarding the enduring truth of the Slavic proverb “People like free shit,” it’s their own damn faults. It’s the constant IV drip of information that’s fed to the press by record company flacks. “Band working on new album!” “Band’s new album gets name!” “New album track list revealed!” “New album artwork revealed!” “New album almost here!” “Three days until new album!” Ahhhhh! It’s too much.

I just want to hear the record, man. I know it’s done. Can’t we figure out a way to get it out sooner? You’ve been punching me in the face about this album for six months, so you know what? I’m going to go check Soulseek. If you would sell it to me, I’d buy it, but you won’t, so screw you. Of course from the record company perspective, this is wrong. But really, I don’t feel that bad. Maybe they could do something crazy like making the album available for paid download as soon as the band has completed it and then if trotting out the physical album takes longer, so be it. Make too much sense?

Since there are no signs of pre-record hype being cut back any time soon, the question of “How do we get people to buy something that we’ve already driven them to steal?” remains a pressing concern. Increasingly, the answer to that question has become, “Uhhh, stick a DVD in there?”

Continue reading "The Rock DVD: Variations on a Theme" »

Posted by Merry Swankster at 06:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)