E-Dribble

What’s the difference between Prince and I?

I mean besides the facts that he’s got incredible musical talent I don’t, he can pull off dressing like a fruit while I can’t and he’s a Jehovah’s Witness while I won’t even let them into the house?

Well, he can say things like “the internet is over”, and nobody blinks an eye.  The interview continues without any snickers.

That’s power.

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Charging users that embed Youtube videos with music in it although they’re already charging Youtube for the same videos? No sweat.  Have the gall to consider a cellular phone ringtone a public performance?  These guys do.

Man, it seems like these guys have hit the bottom of the barrel.

Hehe, just kidding. Now they want to get paid for the 30 second previews used to sell their music.

Although the purchasing public continue to fund them, the recording industry doesn’t let appreciation get in the way of suing the very same people that line their pockets.  This though, surprised even me and I’m not shocked by much that they do.  Charging people to listen to a thirty second clip so you can sell them an overpriced album?

Fantastic!

The Smashing Pumpkins have decided to release their next effort free of charge, with a limited edition set you can buy, if you’d rather.  I think it’s pretty fantastic, but I’m going to be honest, the approach is a little confusing.

Beginning around Halloween, they’re going to release 44 songs, again all will be available for free.  For those that wish to support the band, they will package them in 4 song EP’s, totalling(if my math can be trusted) 11 albums you can buy.

I really hope they consider a boxed set, as Paypal is likely to freeze my account for suspicious behavior if they make me buy each EP separately.

I totally support them and don’t want to be the one to cast derision towards any group that steps away from abusing their fans but I have to admit that I’m more than intrigued to see how they decide to market a 44 song release spanning months.  It’s what I would consider at the very least an eclectic method of music marketing.

A couple of months ago, I purchased a used copy of Chris Cornell’s latest solo album. After listening to it, I threw it away. Don’t worry, UMG. I didn’t make a copy of it prior to throwing it away. I didn’t want it in the house.

I forgot about it until reading Wired’s “Top 5 Audio Atrocities to Throw Down a Sonic Black Hole”, in which Chris Cornell came in at number 1.

I know our tastes are supposed to mature over time, but I’m pretty sure there will never come a time that I can tolerate the music he released on that album. With music by Timbaland and produced backing vocals(see comments) by Justin Timberlake, it’s almost as if he systematically and methodically did everything he could think of to disgust and ostracize his fans.

There’s hope though. I hear we’re going to hear something amazing from him and Lady GaGa.

New Hotness: Paying to not have any rights to the song at all.

Werner Music Group is in a pickle.  They want you to start buying their music again but they also think that DRM isn’t quite restrictive enough. Sure, they already tell you what players you can listen to your music on, they tell you how many times you can listen to it and on how many different devices.  They even have the ability to take away those rights at any time with a simple shutting down of a DRM server when they don’t feel like honoring the license agreement any more.

As I’m sure you’d agree, WMG feels that you have too much freedom with your purchased music.  To help curtail the rampant piracy allowed by previous draconian measures, they’ve come up with LaLa.  What is LaLa?  It’s simple. With LaLa, you can pay ten cents per song.  You then get absolutely nothing.

Seriously.  You pay them ten cents and they will allow you to listen to the song from a browser tab on their site.  Much like you listen to a song on M-TV or the radio, only that’s free.  This allows you to pay for that privilege.  You do feel privileged, don’t you?

While Michael Roberts is more diplomatic than I am about the whole affair, he doubts it will fly.

Imagine that.

During one of my light reading sessions in the bathroom yesterday(what, I know I’m not the only one.), I was reading this month’s WIRED magazine. During my reading, I actively try to ignore the ads in the page, just to spite the company that so shamelessly packs more ads than content into their magazine, but one ad slipped by. It was for the Microsoft Zune.

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You’ll probably remember Sony/BMG’s recent antics.  They’ve been busted on installing malware, rootkits and more all in attempts to keep their customers from making backups of the music they purchased. They knew that there are thieving bastages out there that will take something that is not theirs and use it, all the while refusing to compensate the company that provided it.

Well, hi there pot! it’s me, kettle!

That’s right folks.  Sony/BMG got busted for installing pirated software on their servers.  The same company that installed rootkits on user’s computers, not to stop pirating, but to stop legitimate copying of owned music are a bunch of thieves themselves.

I guess it takes one to know one.

That is a quote from one Richard L. Gabriel, lead national counsel for the RIAA and a partner at the Denver law firm Holme, Roberts, & Owen.

What’s he referencing? One of those dastardly, crooked cap wearing, pants-drooping music thieves with thousands of downloads under their belt, I bet.

Almost.

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Well, when it comes to lawsuits against their fans.  When it comes to providing their music in new and innovative ways, they’ll wait until it’s been proven economically feasible before they’ll try it.

You’ll remember that Metallica was one of the main proponents in the initial lawsuits that brought down Napster. Now, they’d like you to know that it was never about downloading music.  They just, you know…. didn’t want you to do it then.  Now it’s ok of course, because Trent Reznor made an assload of cash doing it.

What really happened is this:  Metallica got caught hugging an antiquated music distribution system.  When the fear of sales dropping touched their wallets, they lashed out.  Over the years, they’ve held their stance, because nobody else broke the mold.  Now that bands like Radiohead, Trent Reznor and others have proven that you can sell a lot of music this way, they’re willing to try it.  Oh, and hey, let’s just forget about that whole “attack our fans” phase we went through.

Hey, who am I to judge?  I’ll download their new album…. If they offer it for free.

Hey, I’m no pirate.

DRM only hurts pirates.

Oh, and everyone that legally purchased music from the now defunct MSN Music, who has decided to shut down the DRM servers, thus locking you into the same 5 computers for the life of your music. Upgrade your OS or change computers, and kiss your music goodbye.

Don’t misunderstand me. I don’t feel an iota of pity for those that bought into this payment scheme for music they can never own.

I just like this story because any time DRM fails, an angel gets his wings.