Category: Music Industry

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Trent Reznor and the music business revolution

I find the first few minutes of the following video pretty interesting. For a time now, Trent Reznor[wiki] has been calling for fans to steal his music, and here is proof that he’s taking his message to the people and not just the media.

Basically, he’s upset, just as much as you and I are, that prices for buying music, mainly CD albums, has become ridiculously expensive. The cost for buying the latest release by your favorite band is usually in the $15-$25 range, sometimes more. As prices go up, people resort to stealing, making record companies lose money because no one is buying the product from the shelves, and to compensate they drive the CD price higher to fill in the lacking profit margins. Vicious circle? You bet.

Digital downloads are a whole other story, but even the record companies would like to see a better price than $.99 a track on iTunes. In fact, that isn’t the case for all tracks anymore because you can get music at a better bit rate and quality at just over a dollar or so, but the industry doesn’t budge like that for nothing. If they had their way, you’d be paying more than that and tell you the reason being is copyright compensation to the artist.

Every time I think about this topic, I’m constantly reminded by what Steve Albini wrote in his “The Problem With Music“. It was written just ahead of the digital music revolution in the 90’s, but I hesitate to think that the industry has moved past that mode of operation. It’s worth a read if you’ve never seen it before.

I have to say that I’m with Trent Reznor on this. The industry needs to learn a whole new way of thinking. Not sure that I’d run out a grab a ton of CD’s if they were $5-10 a piece, but it would certainly make me consider the notion. If anything, you might just save the youth of the world from missing out on some great artists because a thirteen year old could buy three for the price of today’s one.

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The clever marketing of Nine Inch Nails

Let’s really date myself, ok? I was talking just yesterday with Rebecca that I was one of “those kids” in high school. One of those folks who would sketch the Nine Inch Nails logo in my notebook as study hall would tick along. Was I a social outcast in the midst of a goth phase during my adolescence years? Nope. I just dug the tunes, and that hasn’t changed a whole lot today, minus the notebook doodles.

Nine Inch NailsWhen I think about it now, my mind starts to contemplate the marketing genius that Trent Reznor[wiki] conjured up when he formed this music project, and this is outside of the realms of creating music. He’s not afraid to say that the reason that he created the whole “NIN” branding is because it is just that. Instead of needing a name for recognition, he has garnered a symbol.

Of course he’s not the only guy to do this. Off the top of my head, Prince did the same thing. It was a little later in his career that this happened, but that squiggly, male/female thing will be forever branded with him and his fans. Other bands do this from time to time, mostly as a branding for their album. I’m sure that someone else can chime is with examples of both of these methods.

I have to extend a little more credit to what Trent Reznor is doing right now. Some would call him washed up, but say what you will. Every time I hear something new, I have the thought in my head that I used to listen to that when I was 16 and that seems soooo 1995 now. Then, I find that I actually like it. Am I afraid to admit that? Not really, and there are so many other things that I listen to that would probably throw you for a loop, not to mention if you even heard of them before. So, whatever.

Anyhow, it was this piece of news that prompted me to say anything about our conversation from yesterday.

Nine Inch Nails, who are proving themselves one of the most daring and forward-looking artists on a major label today, have released three tracks from their brand new album, Year Zero via BiTorrent, and more astoundingly, have done so via the controversial giant BitTorrent site, The Pirate Bay.

The Pirate Bay, a wildly popular BitTorrent site, has earned the scorn and more than one lawsuit from law enforcement worldwide, but has proven to be astoundingly successful. The planned leaking of music by a major label artist on a site which exists in – at best – a legal grey area is truly remarkable. In this case, Nine Inch Nails released full multi-track versions of three songs from the album for users to remix or listen to at extremely high sound quality. They are promising that the entire album will be available over the next few weeks. [punknews]

I like forward thinking, plain and simple. This also makes me more than likely to get my hands on a free copy of this new album. You can argue if that’s wrong, but if I tell you where you can download this as well, and then you like it, what’s the chances that you’ll check out more of their stuff or go to a show? Take that concept away from Nine Inch Nails and apply it to someone else that you are a fan of.

This is close to where I would like to see the music industry go, but there has to be some certainty to the formula. Harvey Danger has tried this, but I can’t be sure about it’s success. Their website is still up, so that’s a good sign.

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Celebrating the death of DRM with The Toadies

Truly, there is no connection between the deal that Apple made with EMI and this video that I never knew existed by The Toadies[wiki], but I’m stoked about both. Does this mean the end of DRM as we know it? If I could tell you that, I’d be rich.

The Toadies were the band that I saw at my first, real rock show, and I totally dig the hockey jersey Lisa is wearing in this video. In fact, she was wearing one when I saw them play in Davenport, Iowa, but it might have been a Blackhawks jersey. Regardless, she was an intense presence on stage. They broke up about two years back, but The Toadies played a show together in Texas over the past St. Patrick’s Day weekend. Reunion? Remains to be seen.

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Bum Rush The Charts follow-up

Bum Rush The ChartsInstead of tacking on an update to my original posts here and here about Bum Rush The Charts, I thought I would throw a few more thoughts into the aftermath that was. After all, I helped promote this event/movement, and you probably assume thoughts that I have on it. Yes, I liked the concept, but the discussion in the spheres of blogging and podcasting urges me to think out loud a little bit more.

GZExpat is a long time, non-supporter of all things iTunes, and The Reverend Don Deeley has presented me with numerous theories of everything that is wrong with DRM[wiki], which is what every single thing you can buy from the iTunes Music Store is laced with. It’s that thing that prevents you from duplicating, copying, or moving the file in which you purchased within certain parameters.

Some people are unaffected by this, but that’s like saying you can drive the car that you bought here and here, but you can’t drive it here, park it there, or you have to give up your car after you drove it for six months. So let me be in agreement, I am all for opening up DRM across the board, just like what Steve Jobs proposed in his little white paper that he lofted at the music industry nearly two months ago.

Bum Rush The Charts resultsIn a slight manner of speaking, that is what BRTC was about, except it goes a little further than this. The ultimate goal was to push an independent artist to the top of the iTunes charts. It fell short, but the results still showed an effect. Will major music executives care? Probably not, but it shows that independent media can push independent music in a user driven capacity.

Don’t think for a minute that Billboard Music Charts[wiki] work this way. The only reason someone sits on top of that chart is because of the millions of dollars that is spent on marketing that artist. It’s a funneling of big music pushing their focused, narrowed down product to big radio networks who only play a certain amount of artists in their regular rotation on the hot hits stations. It’s what they want to sell and make the maximum amount of profit, not necessarily what you should or want to hear. And if you find that hard to believe, remember when ska was hot? Don’t hear that much on the radio these days because some marketing trend guru says the most amount of profit potential lies in some other genre.

Dave Slusher made a post as to why he was abstaining from BRTC, and I completely respect the idea he presented. However, the aspect of getting respect from traditional or mainstream media is not the reason I bought into this. If anything, I saw this as a really great experiment of what is possible through the combination of blogging, podcasting, and combining that with independent music.

In the end, it proved that it has the potential of being very effective. You can argue all you want about the over all method, but science works the same way. You run an experiment, test the results, and then look another way to test the hypothesis in order to validate your data. That’s not to say that this will happen again anytime soon, but no one can say with complete sincerity that this trial produced some results that are worth raising an eyebrow at.

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Bum Rush The Charts

I’m not one to really get into movements like this, but this one involves a couple of things that I’m partial to: podcasting and music.

I’ll try to break it down as simple as possible, but you can get the long end of the story here. On March 22nd, the goal is to get an independent music artist to the top of the iTunes music chart. To do this, podcasters and enthusiasts alike have picked out who that would be and their particular song for this event. On that day only, the intent is to get everyone, that possibly can, to buy that song from the iTunes Music Store.

The band: Black Lab

The song: “Mine Again”

The purpose of this is to “prove the power of new media more than showing corporate media that not only can we exceed their reach and match their purchasing power, but that we can also do it AND make a positive difference in the world. If we can succeed with this small example, then there’s no telling what can do next.” (As quoted from the website)

The curious thing about Black Lab is that they were on a major label, only to get dropped. They have since moved into the independent realm of creating and promoting their music, adapting podcasting into their efforts. Therein lies a lot of the inspiration and consideration for choosing them for this effort.

If you’re interested in more of the details, then find more of the Bum Rush The Charts website. If you have US$.99 to spare on March 22nd, 2007, then you might be interested in joining the mob.

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Truly free music

Steve Jobs[wiki] has posed an open letter that calls for the end of DRM by the music industry. Crazy idea? No. Crazy to be hearing from Steve Jobs? Perhaps a little, but that’s because we’ve been subjected to DRM[wiki] controlled music being sold by Apple since iTunes first came about.

It’s that stuff that prevents you from copying a purchased song file a certain amount of times. For those who download their music illegally, this isn’t a problem, and that’s why they do it. You can copy and move that MP3 where you damn well please. If you are going to be restricted by buying the copyrighted version of what you can already get for free, you’re not going back once you’ve tasted the sweet, sweet candy.

On top of that news today, I find it incredibly fascinating that Ozzfest has made the following announcement.

That’s right, OZZY and SHARON OSBOURNE and tour producer LIVE NATION broke the news today at the Concert Industry Consortium in Los Angeles that their 12th annual hard rock spectacular–a 25-date extravaganza launching July 7 in Los Angeles–is pulling the plug on ticket prices and giving the power back to the fans calling this summer’s OZZFEST “FreeFest.” The other OZZFEST cities as of now are San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, Denver, Albuquerque, Phoenix, Dallas, San Antonio, Kansas City, St Louis, Chicago, Indianapolis, Columbus, Pittsburgh, New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Hartford, Charlotte, Atlanta, West Palm Beach, Nashville. Note: a final confirmed list of cities and dates is forthcoming. [ozzfest]

That’s right, this sucker is going to be free. I’m not a huge fan of the Ozzfest, but this is pretty substantial. If you can get there, you get in for nothing. Actually, I see this being like one huge commercial all over the place with music intertwined, not to mention a ton of metal-heads. The food, water, booze, and merchandise will probably still be overpriced, but if you can survive without it, you get in for free? Great concept, but I feel like there is a catch in there somewhere. Very forward thinking though.

I like the idea of a trend starting. DRM-free music and free concert festivals. It’s not the light at the end of the tunnel just yet, but something is stirring.

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The battle of who could care less

The Killers pointing fingers at Green Day? Say it isn’t so!

The Killers ‘offended’ by Green Day

Brandon Flowers doesn’t want to be an ‘American Idiot’

Brandon Flowers has criticised Green Day for what he sees as their calculated anti-Americanism.

In particular, Flowers singled out the track ‘American Idiot’ and the fact they filmed their DVD ‘Bullet In A Bible’, which features the song, in the UK.

“You have Green Day and ‘American Idiot’. Where do they film their DVD? In England,” The Killers‘ frontman told The Word. “A bunch of kids screaming ‘I don’t want to be an American idiot’ I saw it as a very negative thing towards Americans. It really lit a fire in me.”

Explaining he was offended by the set-up, Flowers added: “You have the right to say what you want to say and what you want to write about, and I’m sure they meant it in the same way that Bruce Springsteen meant ‘Born In The USA’ and it was taken wrongly, but I was really offended when I saw them do that.”

The singer added he felt the DVD was a bit of a a stunt.

“I just thought it was really cheap,” he explained. “To go to a place like England or Germany and sing that song – those kids aren’t taking it the same way that he meant it. And he [Billie Joe Armstrong] knew it.”

The Killers‘ frontman said he believed that his band’s new album ‘Sam’s Town’ is a much better representation of America.

“People need to see that, really, there are the nicest people in the world here!” he declared. “I don’t know if our album makes you realise that. But I hope it’s from a more positive place.” [nme]

It seems like I hear the latest by The Killers every morning when the alarm goes off and the radio in the bathroom gets turned on. Mind you that we don’t own a car, but seems like everytime we are in one, “He doesn’t look a thing like Jesus…”

Someone told me something not too long ago that makes a lot of sense and is completely applicable to this situation. The industry does as much as it can to milk every last drop out of an artist that it possibly can.

Even artists with one album can have their own DVD pushed onto the store shelves. You don’t need a long track record to have that live, special edition to hit your local Wal-Mart or Zellers. Two or three albums later, the “best of” whoever and whatever start showing up.

Politics or truly representing what Americans are, it’s all rock and roll. The record execs want to push more of the product as they possibly can. Brew a feud, create a buzz, and launch more ways to increase revenue. Even if there is truth to what is being said, I doubt anything was that well thought out and planned. The thing that probably bothers people more is the fact that they had to pay $40-$60, per ticket, just to get in and see any of these guys.

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Never let the spirit of CBGB’s die

It’s been off and on for a while now, but it is official. CBGB[wiki] is closed and gone for good.

NEW YORK (AP) – CBGB hosted its final concert Sunday night after a 33-year residence in downtown New York as the iconic, grungy bastion of punk.

The concert, headlined by rock poet Patti Smith, was to be the final note sounded in a drawn-out battle to preserve the legendary club. A homeless advocacy group that owns the property, the Bowery Residents Committee, is not renewing CBGB’s lease, which expired in August 2005. The club will close Oct. 31. [myway]

It’s a mecca for rock and roll. There’s not much more to say about it than that. I consider myself thankful for taking in at least one night there. I missed a solo performance by Britt Daniel[wiki] by a few minutes, but I did catch Dressy Bessy[wiki] and I Am The World Trade Center[wiki] in a back to back perfmance. Absolutely amazing and totally my type of venue.

On a bit of a side note, it was completely stupid that I Am The World Trade Center was performing under the name “I Am The World…” when I saw then. The 9/11 paranoia was in full force at that time, claiming that they were trying to capitalize on the tragedy. Truth was that I was spinning them at KRUI long before anything happened. Thankfully, they went back to their roots shortly after I saw them.

Back to CBGB, it’s small, dark, and kinda dirty. At least it was. The layout, as I try to recall, wasn’t at all what I expected. The stage was more accessible to the audience than I thought it would have been. The sound was really good, and the atmosphere was something I just wanted to drink in, figuratively and literally. The group of people I was with didn’t quite grasp the awesomeness of this place, but I didn’t want to leave when they did. Maybe they’ll get it now

The spirit will go on, but it’ll never be the same as it once was. Incredible venues like this seem to be a dying breed in this wham-bam-make-a-superstar-today-gone-tomorrow formula of the music business. The big boys of the industry are constantly trying to harvest the indie scene, where the art is truly free to mold itself into something unique, and scoop it up so they can lay claim to the next, big thing.

If it weren’t for CBGB, a lot of the rock and roll I have come to love would never had the chance to become what it is today. For that, I thank them, and so does The Reverend.

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My imagination is confirmation

Mat Kearney at the Media Club

Rebecca already blogged about this show on Metroblogging Vancouver[post], so I’m late to the party on this one. She’s also the one getting the photo credit on this post. And actually, I never made my post about seeing Snow Patrol not too long ago. Maybe I’ll get to that, but I’ve been a little busy lately. I’ll add that to the list.

Anyway, about this show. Both acts were really good. Griffin House was a great opening act and was far more stripped down in terms of their sound. The lyrics were often political and witty. Mat Kearney, on the other hand, seems to be a master of bringing the quality of a CD recording on stage. He’s got a great voice and song writing ability, but I often felt like I was listening to an American version of Coldplay. Keep in mind, I had not heard of this guy before stepping foot into the Media Club.

We ended up at the show when one of Rebecca’s co-workers, who is a music nut like myself, wanted to see the show but couldn’t track anyone down to tag along. I’m always up for some live music, so we were happy to go.

The thing about this show was that it was an “industry event”. In fact, the name “Sony BMG” was mentioned numerous times, outside and inside the place. I’m not one to ditch a show or an artist for the only reason being that they are on a major label, but you better believe that there are people out there who do shun such folks. So for me, it wasn’t the fact that Kearney is one of these artists as much as it was those folks who were a part of this “industry”… “thing”.

The whole night, in this tiny club, there was constant talking. Not just chattering or murmurs. Full out conversations, ignoring the fact that there was anything happening on stage. That might be a bit of an exageration, but for anyone there who was there for the love of Kearney’s music, which there were more than just a few, this was less than perfect for them.

For the people in the back, who were most likely on guest list at the door, this is just another thing they do with their day job. Music is a business, not an art. The love they brought into that place was for money, rubbing elbows, making connections, and keeping your face in the industry that makes up Vancouver. It hurt to see this become a reality opposed to a thought that has been in the back of my head.

All the pointless, over played “hits” that populates radio and TV made sense in that moment. Mat Kearney is a victim of these people who profit from his artistic abilities, all the while they pay little attention as to what he is doing on stage. This is not saying anything about him as an artist.

I just feel bad for him. He’s a great singer, has an incredible talent at freestyling, and seems like a nice guy. I guess his stuff was featured in some TV show recently, and that’s outstanding. Good for him. I’m betting that the folks in back(and what was with the guy who introduced him at the beginning?) were more focused on working on the the next guy, gal, or group that they can get onto the next The O.C., Grey’s Anatomy, or whatever series soundtrack that’s “hot” out there.

I know this isn’t complete doom and gloom. This isn’t the truth for the whole industry, but among the big labels out there, this is heartbreaking to experience first hand. You have a picture in your head that this might be what it’s like, but the reality is something that ends up completely surprising you. There would be some happiness in knowing that you’re making this up, but I’m not.