Some of you might remember PoBoyNation mentioning the film The Whole Gritty City back at the other place. The independent filmmakers are trying to finish their documentary on the experiences of three New Orleans marching bands and the kids band leaders are trying to keep off the streets in the wake of Katrina, but have run short of funds. Watch the trailer and donate here to help them out if you are as moved as I was.
So this article is from a South African publication, but its statistics were compiled by PricewaterhouseCoopers and the attitudes expressed in it are indicative of those opposed to piracy. It also exemplifies the contradictory arguments made by those who champion big labels’ rights to continue overcharging for obsolete media formats.
The piece shows its hand in the first line: “Digital piracy is inhibiting the growth in the legitimate digital market in SA.” You’d expect that the article would attempt to prove this thesis with corroborative facts and figures, right?
PWC also points out that, while the digital market is still very young, growth is expected to continue over the same forecast period.
“Digital has been increasing and spending will more than triple from R130 million in 2009 to R425 million in 2014, with an average compound annual growth of 26.7%,” PWC says.
Ah yes, piracy is killing the “legitimate” digital music market so much that the market is expected to “more than triple” over the next five years. The article then goes on to mention that sales of physical CDs will continue to decline, and it doesn’t event attempt to pin this on piracy. In fact, it ends with a quote from an industry executive who admits that “prices for digital formats are significantly lower than that for physical formats and this will result in a shift in the consumption between the two.”
Meanwhile, CrunchGear reports that the Hot New Rumor is that “music piracy has all but disappeared.” It’s true that music is no longer the most pirated file type–that distinction goes to movies and porn–but then the author ends his post with a bit of editorializing:
Not that this means anything, but I genuinely don’t know anybody who still downloads anything from public BitTorrent trackers. You’d be a fool to do so in 2011. That’s not to say that private BitTorrent sites aren’t still popular—they are, and they’re generally of a very high quality—but the days of the public BitTorrent tracker being the “go-to” place to grab your “stuff” surely has fallen out of favor within my sphere of influence.
And this seems to be the source of recent confidence in music piracy’s demise. But, um, I only use BitTorrent trackers for live audio rips, out-of-print releases, and hi-fidelity versions of music I already own. Where do the kids get most of their music these days?
They get it from Google. All they have to do is Google the name of the album they want and follow it with “Mediafire” or “Rapidshare” or even just “zip” or “rar.” The RIAA and MPAA have been catching on as of late–the MPAA recently sued Hotfile, for example–but this is a losing battle, because file hosting services themselves aren’t illegal. It’s the proliferation of “pirated” files on these services that rankles the industry. Any attempt to shut down a service like Mediafire will probably fail, for one of several reasons:
What can we learn from all this? Well, for one thing, industry leaders seem to be oblivious to the changing realities of online file sharing. Also, music piracy isn’t killing the industry as much as lawmakers and industry lobbyists would have you believe; according to Nielsen, digital album sales in the United States went up 13% in 2010.
So far there seems to be some consensus that all of our glitches are caused by DJ Lance Rock. Our banhammer will be named after our first ban-victim. (Watch out Tony Kaye, your insider status puts you in immediate jeopardy! Plus the irony would be kind of awesome.) There is currently some movement to make the Honey Badger the Official Mascot.
But what about our Anthem?
There have been at least two proposals put forward, but we need more.
1) From slackjawed yoda, the following, which had me tearing up this morning.
2) A worthy counter-proposal, from BaldwinP
Both are appropriately overly-dramatic and ironic while actually capturing exactly how I sincerely feel!
What do you all think?
Hey guys! So I’ve climbed aboard this rusty, noble vessel of a blog as we sail into uncharted waters. It’s been a hectic week, so we could all probably use an audio chill pill, right?
Accordingly, I made a lil’ playlist that just scrapes the surface of the vast, soothing, tropical, haunted world of ambient, electronic, and “h-pop” (hypnagogic pop) music. All sorts of moods, seasons, and eras are used as inspiration, but they all share a submerged, Dad’s-old-VHS quality. The magic of these songs lies not so much in their ability to recapture a specific moment in time (i.e. mom’s old workout tapes, early software infomercials, TV theme song intro music) but rather in the ways they evoke our spiritual nostalgia of the half-remembered past–and the ones who do it best make music that’s never boring and clear of schlock (unless they’re incorporating kitsch into their overall sound, but I’d like to think it’s done artfully). In fact, unless you’re predisposed to disliking this sort of abstraction, I’d say it’s pretty damn beautiful.
Anyway, here’s where you download. Some of these tracks are weirder than others. Playlist below, if you’re curious ahead of time.
It’s not like I’m am “ambient music expert” or anything–there’s just so much out there that few people have heard. So go on, give it a whirl. Who knows, maybe there’s a musical secret waiting to be discovered by you in this playlist! I’ll make more if there’s any interest, and please please please make recommendations if you have. Sharing is caring, etc.
ETA: If you want a preview of general aesthetic at work here:
JAMES FERRARO – LAST AMERICAN HERO, Pt. 3 from OLDE ENGLISH SPELLING BEE on Vimeo.
Does anyone else remember when Jay-Z wasn’t a sandal-wearing Coldplay fan?
Today we’re talking DC go-go. That’s go-go, a type of funk music from Washington, D.C. No, it has nothing really to do with go-go dancers. It’s a type of funk that has a distinctive syncopated rhythm due to the use of congas, bongos, timbales and cow bells. There’s also a lot of call and response vocals that get the crowd involved. This is a very live concert-oriented genre of music. It started off as as sort of funky, disco-y style and has evolved into D.C.’s local hardcore alternative to rap.
From what I hear, people get buck wild at go-go shows. I don’t claim to be a go-go music but I did go to the University of Murrrland and lived in PG County (what what) for a while. So enough of me trying to describe it all here. Enjoy the choons:
“Bustin’ Loose” by Chuck Brown
Chuck Brown is the godfather of the go-go and “Bustin’ Loose” is probably its seminal hit. This song is such a guaranteed dance floor jam. If you wear that jacket, people will LISTEN TO YOU. Also, last I heard Chuck B. still plays a lot of concerts so if you live in D.C., you should go see him.
“Drop the Bomb” by Trouble Funk
Trouble Funk is go-go’s first brief flirtation with mainstream pop success.
“Pump Me Up” by Trouble Funk
This tune has been sampled a bunch of times.
“Da Butt” by Experience Unlimited
This song was a pretty big hit in the 80s. This is the pinnacle of pop-friendly go-go music.
“Sardines” by Junkyard Band
Sardines used to be considered poor people food, but now you can just claim that you’re into sustainable aquaculture.
“20 Minute Workout” by DJ Kool
DJ Kool is also the guy that made “Let Me Clear My Throat” back in like 96, but I think this track is way more go-go-y.
“Overnight Scenario” by Rare Essence
OK. Now we’re listening to the new school down-and-dirty go-go music that gets played on the radio in D.C. Everything good happens at 3 in the morning at the pancake house. Also, go-go began absolutely terrifying white people sometime around the late 80s and to this day has a reputation for people getting shot up at shows.
“Thug Passion” by Backyard Band
BYB was really popular back in the late 90s when I lived there. I remember all the cooks at the restaurant I worked at (Phillips, holla) playing this stuff.
“Welcome to D.C.” by Mambo Sauce
Here’s a more pop-oriented go-go track from about three years ago.
To know me is to know that I’m a big fan of Pete Yorn.
While flipping through a music magazine, I discovered the then-new artist thanks to an advertisement for his album, musicforthemorningafter
After listening to the album, my shallowness was set aside because I fell in love with the music and lyrics. From start to finish, songs such as “Life on a Chain,” “Lose You, ” and “For Nancy (‘Cos It Already Is)” are so good that even my friends who aren’t huge PY fans will admit. To think this album was his debut effort is somewhat unreal when looking back.
Over the past 10 years, I’ve seen PY perform all over the U.S. in small bookstores to large venues. He started out with a small group of very loyal fans and that base has grown significantly over the years. Fortunately, he’s still a great friend to his fans via Facebook and Twitter. Plus, he’s a really nice guy and you have to root for the nice guys in the music industry. He also puts his albums out on vinyl for people like me who still own a turntable and actually use it.
In March, as part of the 10th anniversary of MFTMA, PY will be performing the album in its entirety as part of his setlist during his spring tour. Thankfully, the shows I’m attending are part of the stops where the album will be played.
Hearing the album in its entirety means I get to relive some of the fun live moments I’ve had over the years. There are some songs that aren’t regularly performed during his shows that will once again see the light of day.
Still, what I’m most excited about is the ability to return to that time 10 years ago when I was just listening to the album for the first time and slowly, but surely becoming a PY fan for life.
With all the attention paid to Girl Talk lately, I feel like we should get to know another big name in the mashup game: The Hood Internet. The Hood Internet is made up two deejays from Chicago. (They actually released a mixtape of songs entirely by Chicago bands/rappers, which is pretty neat.) Their style is much different from Girl Talk’s, though. Whereas GT likes to skip from popular song to popular song, Hood Internet’s trademark is mixing indie rock and electro with hip-hop. And instead of quickly fading from one song to another, they tend to let the beat ride a bit more, which isn’t necessarily bad.
Continue reading
Time for another music post. Today I’m going to hit you with a bunch of stuff from two artists who may or may not wear striped shirts and berets and smoke Gauloises. Here’s a small taste of two dope French musicians, Sebastien Tellier and Martin Solveig.
Alors…. ecoutez a la musique!
First there’s Sebastien Tellier. He’s this skeevy-looking crazy man who kind of sounds like a lounge-singing version of Giorgio Moroder and Simon Le Bon.
“Kilometer”
“L’Amour et La Violence”
“Roche”
“Divine”
“Sexual Sportswear”
And here’s some stuff from Martin Solveig. He’s more of a producer god than a singer. At one point there was a Facebook petition calling on Solveing to produce Michael Jackson’s next album. Silly euros. Despite making REALLY pop-friendly music (in English, even!), Solveig is criminally overlooked over here. C’mon people! Pay attention!
“Everybody”
“Rejection”
“Linda”
“Something Better”
“Something About You”
“Madan”
“Jealousy” by Martin Solveig