Should I keep this going?

This blog doesn't take up too much of my time but I'm not sure that it is really doing anybody any good. If you would like to see me continue this please leave some comments.

Thanks everybody!

The RIAA and Movie Industry Think They Are Above The Law

This should be no surprise, but the RIAA and their cronies in the film industry believe that standard business laws should not apply to them. Both industries are lobbying politicians to receive a special exception to tough pretexting laws that were brought about in response to the HP case where employees were lying to journalists to get information. According to them, they need this right to pretext in order to catch pirates. The biggest problem with this is that the alterations they have for the laws leave such huge loopholes that they would be rendered useless. To some extent I can see why the RIAA could use these changes. At the same time part of me finds it very disturbing that the RIAA is trying to receive legislative support to more or less lie to average American citizens as they attempt to sue them for something that a majority of the population practices. If I was a lawyer for the RIAA I'd try to find a link between illegal downloading and Al-Quaeda. That's how you get legislation passed! Hell, that's how you get wars started!

Nine Inch Nails Works A Genius Marketing Ploy And The RIAA Says No

Nine Inch Nails has a new album coming out on April 17th by the name "Year Zero". Instead of the usual single released to MTV or two songs offered on the official website Reznor and his band have taken a far more interesting method of promotion. Ideas ranging from tour shirts with highlighted letters that revealed cryptic websites, to leaving flashdrives in bathrooms of their shows across Europe containing a single unreleased song from the album per country have created a huge amount of buzz within the community. The concept worked great with major fan sites hosted the songs and forums with hundreds upon hundreds of theories and stories coming up concerning the new album. It was interesting, it was effective, and it was too much for the RIAA. Apparently they are threatening to sue anyone who hosts the released songs despite the fact that it was the band's idea to release these songs. The amazing part is the only songs being circulated are the ones directly chosen by Reznor himself. The album hasn't been leaked in its entirety and it seems like most fans are content since they have enough new music to whet their appetite. I fail to see the difference between this and a band's website putting up a few songs off their new album but I guess the RIAA sees far deeper into the issue than I do... In my opinion, this is one of the most well executed promotions for an album I've ever seen. By coming on multiple fronts/formats and making the die-hard fans into a legion of little hype machines, you are able to get major word of mouth while at the same time stay credible. The RIAA is actually hurting the artist they are supposed to be helping by stopping this word of mouth effort. Let's just hope more bands use this style of promotion and that next time the RIAA doesn't mess everything up. For more information click here.

Apple Takes Steps Towards Being DRM-Free

Apple has released a statement saying that in May all of their content from EMI will be offered in a 256kbps (higher quality), DRM-free (can be played on ANY mp3 player and as many computers as you want) form that costs only $1.29 per song (if you already own the song you can upgrade for 30 cents). These songs will also still be available for download in the original 128kbps, drm-hampered, 99 cent version for those who are too cheap to spot the 30 cents for the gigantic upgrade. This deal has a large impact considering the EMI library contains over five million songs at this time. Jobs claims that by the end of the year almost half of iTunes' content should have a DRM-free option available. This decision is HUGE, as this step towards accessible online music could be the action that sets into motion Apple's complete domination of the music world. If they are able to convince other labels to sell DRM-free music, we could see the transition into a world of easily accessible, easy to listen to music that is both simple AND legal. Good job Apple! Right when things are bad and you're starting to look like any other mega corporation, you go and do something that could possibly be one of the largest steps towards a new music industry reality since iTunes itself. You can read the official release here.

Apple and Record Companies Under Euro-Attack

The European Commission has issues a statement condemning the actions of Apple and record companies for breaking EU rules forbidding "Restrictive" business practices. This is in relation to the different selections available in different countries that are all part of the EU. Official statements like this are usually the first step in an anti-trust case that will be brought against a company. It's not sure how serious this will be for Apple and these record companies in Europe, but in any case it's interesting to see how Apple seems to be getting more and more Microsoft style negative press for questionable business practices. Between the DRM issue and iTunes non-international selections, iTunes could end up being the new Microsoft Windows, in the way that everyone has it and uses it, and yet nobody truly likes it.

iTunes Helping To Save The Album

The online era has created a scary trend within music listeners. Songs are becoming much more important than the albums they come from. This has been a dream come true for the casual listeners who loooooove the song they heard on the radio but don't have time to waste listening to any of the other songs on the album that don't have a platinum-selling-single seal of consumer approval. This trend creates a scary possibilty for the future of music, one where the Album is dead and in its place is fragments of songs that made it up. This trend is already showing up more and more in singles being sought out by listeners after appearing in movies, tv shows, commercials, or the ever so popular MTV and radio. While this theme is perplexing, I'm not very worried because it seems good bands continue to use the concept of the album to convey more complex stories and themes than can be told in just one song (and I'm not just talking about My Chemical Romance concept albums).

Apparently, I'm not the only one that thinks this way as iTunes is changing its policy on buying albums. Using their Complete My Album function you can buy the rest of an album from a single you've already purchase without having to pay for that song twice. In the past, you could buy as many single songs as you wanted off an album but if you wanted the whole thing you had to pay the full price. Now, you only have to pay for the songs you don't already own. While it seems like a small deal, I believe it will have a strong effect on people buying whole albums after liking single songs. This will have a strong effect on how musicians distribute, and in the long run, make music. Hopefully we'll be treated to the musical collection format that has brought some of the most amazing and epic concepts in music history.

Radio UTD Charts for 3/27/07

Sorry for the lapse in charts from the past couple weeks, there have been some problems with the station's CMJ submissions so here are the most played albums of Radio UTD of the last week:

1 TRANS AM Sex Change Thrill Jockey
2 MEW Frengers Columbia
3 OF MONTREAL Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer? Polyvinyl
4 HUXTABLES A Touch Of Wonder Famous Class
5 DO MAKE SAY THINK You, You're A History In Rust Constellation
6 ARCADE FIRE Neon Bible Merge
7 PETER BJORN AND JOHN Writer's Block Almost Gold
8 STOOGES The Weirdness Virgin
9 LOW Drums And Guns Sub Pop
10 JOAKIM Monsters And Silly Songs Versatile
11 ANDREW BIRD Armchair Apochrypha Fat Possum
12 BROTHERS MARTIN The Brothers Martin Tooth And Nail
13 ILLINOIS What The Hell Do I Know? Ace Fu
14 EXPLOSIONS IN THE SKY All Of A Sudden I Miss Everyone Temporary Residence
15 LCD SOUNDSYSTEM Sound Of Silver Capitol
16 EL-P I'll Sleep When You're Dead Definitive Jux
17 YOKO ONO Yes, I'm A Witch Astralwerks
18 PANDA BEAR Person Pitch Paw Tracks
19 MINMAE 835 Greyday
20 YOUTH GROUP Casino Twilight Dogs Anti
21 OOIOO Eye Remix [EP] Thrill Jockey
22 JARVIS COCKER Jarvis Rough Trade
23 AIR Pocket Symphony Astralwerks
24 I'M FROM BARCELONA Let Me Introduce My Friends Mute
25 GRUFF RHYS Candylion Team Love
26 HIGH LLAMAS Can Cladders Drag City
27 MODEST MOUSE We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank Epic
28 ROSIE THOMAS These Friends Of Mine Nettwerk
29 ELVIS PERKINS Ash Wednesday XL
30 MY TEENAGE STRIDE Ears Like Golden Bats Becalmed

Out of all of these I'd like to focus on El-P, who's newest album "I'll Sleep When You're Dead" is arguably the best hip hop album of the year. This album is rich, dark, and explosive. Textures flow through the songs recalling artists as diverse as Air, the Mars Volta (who actually appear on the album), and Run DMC while still having a distincy dirty hip hop vibe. The album is as much Young Jeezy as it is Madlib. This album has a definite epic feel to it, recalling a post-apocalyptic dystopia full of a strange blend of rage and apathy. Click here and filter through the non el-p tracks to check out some of his stuff. I think all fans of hip hop or of interesting music for that matter can really take a lot from this amazing new album.

NEWS: Only One Fourth of Students Threatened By RIAA Pay

Apparently, of the 400 or so students sued only around 100 of them have responded to the RIAA's threats against them. As seen in the Merchant case, these letters have no legal weight and most students recognize this. It's still to be seen how the RIAA will respond to this non-reaction. If they can identify students to IP addresses and can confirm they are the ones sharing the music, the lawsuits they could create would be disastrous. Only time will tell if the RIAA's bite is as big as its bark.

NEWS: Lawyer Fights Back Against RIAA

In what seems to be the current trend of late, the RIAA is being met with resistance to their pleas for money from supposed perpetrators in the war against music piracy. Barry and Cathy Merchant were recently sent a letter from the RIAA claiming that they had infringed copyright law. They were given the option to settle for $3750 (they don't get the student discount). Instead of complying blindly, their lawyer Merl Ledford has written a counterpoint to the RIAA claiming that not only is the RIAA's threat letter unfounded, it is also illegal in a court of law. According to the RIAA, the Merchants had been downloading and uploading a lot of gangster rap, which according to Ledford is preposterous considering the Merchants are a middle aged, conservative couple with no possession of music anything like that. Beyond that, the letter has about as much validity as an insurance company attempting you to use their services. You can read Ledford's letter here. As expected, the RIAA has dropped their case against the couple.

NEWS: Ringtone Sales Predicted to Decline

According to BMI, one of the most meaningless music markets will be declining in 2007. The sale of ringtones will decrease in the US in the current year according to analysts within BMI. Last year saw record sales, peaking at $600 million. According to their analysts, this year's sales are predicted to drop to a meager $550 million. Supposedly, the decline is a direct response to the increasing amount of real content available on cell phones as opposed to simple ring tones. How this market ever reached millions in revenue, let alone hundreds of millions in revenue is beside me. Don't fret just yet though, cell phone music clip investors, the ringback market is apparently on the rise in 2007. Read more here.

NEWS: Two Schools Fight Back Against RIAA

There has been an interesting turn of events in the RIAA vs college students battle of late. Apparently two of the colleges with students being sued have decided to fight back in their own ways. The University of Wisconsin has said that it refuses to divulge the names of the students being sought. It will only comply if the RIAA gets a subpoena from a judge to divulge the information. Even more interesting is the University of Nebraska who cannot comply because their IP addresses are reset each month leaving no way of identifying the students in question. Apparently that answer isn't good enough for the RIAA considering a spokesperson criticized the university for not keeping this information. Obviously upset with the criticism and the nagging the University of Nebraska has demanded that the RIAA pay them for their wasted time in this case. Hopefully other universities will follow suit in defending their students from the clutches of the RIAA and their cronies.

NEWS: FCC Fixes the Payola Problem (cough)

Yes! They've done it. Those millions of air-hours dedicated to the praise of useless talent like Jessica Simpson and Fergie in part thanks to the vast amounts of bribes given illegaly by labels to radio DJ's will be recompensated. CBS Radio, Clear Channel Communications, Citadel Broadcasting, and Entercom Communications, aka the four biggest names in radio have come up with a solution to repay you, the listeners for having to deal with the amount of crap you've had to listen to recently. Apparently, they will offer up 4,200 hours of local and independent music free of charge to the artists between the four of them. This is not 4,200 per station per year, it is a one time agreement where the four major companies and the hundreds of stations they own will play a combined 4,200 hours in the near future. Problem with that is most stations already have an hour long show or so per week focusing on this type of music, making the damages completely useless since they will be naturally fulfilled. YAY! Radio has been saved from the evil beast that is the major labels and we will soon be on track for a new golden age of radio full of new and exciting bands! With amazing David vs Goliath cases like this one it's only obvious that the powers that be have heard our plight and are more than willing to help. That is if what you want happens to be Bowling for Soup and Blue October for a few weeks until even they get reduced to their average spins per week and Nickelback and Sheryl Crow regair their rightful 93,200,393,920,022 spins per week. Oh by the way that last number isn't confirmed and this article is dripping with sarcasm if you couldn't tell already.

Blanket Licenses as Music's Future

At a SXSW '07 panel Peter Jennings, the manager of The Clash, Pink Floyd, and others as well as Cambridge educated economist stated that the future of music should be a blanket license. If each music listener pays an annual fee of $50, the music industry as a whole would make more money than it currently does while ending the frustrations caused by old world vs new world complications with DRM, licensing, and pricing. Unfortunately, current models and conceptions within the RIAA will probably keep this from being a possibility in the near future. In my opinion the best method for this to happen would be at the hands of pirates. If they can make an illegal but easy option then major labels would have no choice but attempt to capitalize on its success and evetually we may eventually hit this utopian music ideal where everyone gets paid and music is easily heard by everybody. Only time will tell...

UPDATE: Ohio University Students Sued

As promised, the RIAA begun its string of university based lawsuits in the humble state of Ohio. Fifty Ohio University students were served lawsuits based on their university e-mail accounts. All of these can be settled for a "mere" $3,000. This might sound ridiculous but in fact it could be a generous offer when each copyright infringing song offered via p2p can be legally worth $750. For example, one Ohio University student had 787 music files shared illegally making their case worth over $600,000 if settled in court.

Death to the Radio!!!

Music is arguably one of the greatest achievements us as humans have ever created. The ability to manipulate air into desirable frequencies that our ears can decipher and analyze into recognizable patterns is perhaps one of our crowning achievements as homo-sapiens. Our methods of sharing music have changed greatly over the past few millennia. In the beginning everything was shared from person to person. You, or a group, played a song and your audience heard you. Around a hundred years ago that all changed. With Edison’s invention we were able to record our sounds and play them back at our discretion. From there the methods of recording changed, as did the ways of spreading them. Arguably the most critical invention in the sharing of music was the radio. For the first time a nearly unlimited number of people could listen to the exact same thing even if they weren’t in the immediate proximity of you. Radio brought everyone together, and suddenly there was a musical renaissance with new genres being created and expanded almost instantaneously. It wasn’t until the advent of MTV that “video killed the radio star” and brought something that had as much power over the musical landscape. Despite that radio was strong and while that eventually led to a marketing fueled stagnation of the music world, it still was an almost necessary method of distributing music to a mass audience. That’s why it’s kind of sad to say that radio is seeing its last days.

This might sound like a brash statement but unfortunately it is an almost certain one. Once again the technology gods have spoken and from their murmurs a new muse has emerged… the Internet. Well, not exactly the Internet, but the Internet era. Ever since music was digitized to CD and then to hard drive, the radio era has been forced to look in terror to the horizon. What made radio so great was the ability to listen to hundreds of artists with a tying link (even if that was the simple choice of the DJ) that still had some variety to them. Even if you had to pay with your listening time due to commercials, radio has always been a free commodity for those who can afford receivers, something that no other medium could afford. The Internet changed all of that by allowing people to pick and choose their favorites from… well everything. They could create their own radio stations in the form of playlists and create a mix that suits their personal needs for everything from throwing a party to studying. And while steps have been taken to legalize a lot of the downloading necessary (for music that isn’t legally ripped from CDs) for these mixes, most music is still freely exchanged over p2p networks and less than reputable sites. This may sound like common knowledge to anyone under the age of 26 who hasn’t been hiding under a rock, but not good enough reason for the demise of the radio.

To be totally honest “radio” will not die, the transmission of information via radio frequencies will still remain, they will just be digital instead of analog. And I’m not talking about satellite radio or HD radio. There is no reason to ignore the fact that odds are, in a few years, there will be wireless internet access nationwide in America (or at least in major driving/living areas) much like current cellular networks. What’s been keeping radio in business is mainly the car. Most people can’t use their computers with them in their cars and people’s mp3 players often have the music that they are limited to, not the “random” selections presented by radio stations. As wireless networks, on-demand music services, and portable (car installed) mini-computers become more available people could have an almost endless amount of music with them at any given time. With this, there would be no reason to sit through commercials, or even unfavorable songs. The DJ of the future should be intelligent playlisting. Imagine, you turn on your car and put on a song you’ve been in the mood to hear. For the next song you can choose your style of repetition, continue playing that album, that artist, similar era, similar subgenre, genre, mood, or just have it go to another song that you like. You could skip songs that you don’t want to hear or just choose another song from scratch. All of these playlisting options are available through music services like Napster and Rhapsody. These intelligent playlists would allow people to discover new music while not having to venture too far into territory they don’t want to. I actually know a man who has built a system like this in his own car (only it has integrated streaming video as well) using cellular technology. His broad concept only cost around $1400 to make from scratch along with around $140 a month in fees. While some audiophiles are willing to pay that much for a standard car stereo with market production these costs would of course go down dramatically and most people don’t need the streaming video services. Feasibly someone could buy a $300 LCD/HDD receiver and with a reasonable $40 monthly wireless subscription and $30 music library subscription to create this system on current technologies and even more streamlined in near-future technologies. Of course, with all predictions, there is a high possibility that things will not pan out this way but there is no reason for it not to happen considering the easy transition time and marketability. As with many other situations globally, human intervention is becoming less and less necessary or desirable. In the next decade the radio as we know it could be dead, and the DJ of old replaced with the data tags, infrastructure, and you.

NEWS: RIAA steps up lawsuits against students

Business Week reports that the RIAA claims to be sending out around 400 letters to students at thirteen different universities in the next month. These letters offer the opportunity for students who have broken copyright laws to settle at a "discounted" rate. The trade group plans to continue this action every month increasing the number of letters until universities comply in stopping illegal file sharing within their own networks. The RIAA has sued three times as many students this year as they did last year.

Radio UTD Charts for 2/20/07

1 DO MAKE SAY THINK You, You're A History In Rust Constellation
2 OF MONTREAL Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer? Polyvinyl
3 EXPLOSIONS IN THE SKY All Of A Sudden I Miss Everyone Temporary Residence
4 PETER BJORN AND JOHN Writer's Block Almost Gold
5 SHINS Wincing The Night Away Sub Pop
6 DAVID VANDERVELDE The Moonstation House Band Secretly Canadian
7 DR. DOG We All Belong Park The Van
8 PETER AND THE WOLF Lightness Worker's Institute
9 APPLES IN STEREO New Magnetic Wonder Yep Roc
10 SHE, SIR Who Can't Say Yes Self-Released
11 ARCADE FIRE "Black Mirror" [Single] Merge
12 MEW Frengers Columbia
13 STEVE LIEBERMAN Melancholoa Falling Self-Released
14 POSTMARKS The Postmarks Unfiltered
15 RAFTER Music For Total Chickens Asthmatic Kitty
16 DEERHOOF Friend Opportunity Kill Rock Stars
17 ELVIS PERKINS Ash Wednesday XL
18 EARLY YEARS The Early Years Beggars Banquet
19 SIX PARTS SEVEN Casually Smashed To Pieces Suicide Squeeze
20 VARIOUS ARTISTS Imagine The Shapes What's Your Rupture?
21 TEDDYBEARS Soft Machine Atlantic / Big Beat
22 JULIE DOIRON Woke Myself Up Jagjaguwar
23 THIS MOMENT IN BLACK HISTORY It Takes A Nation (Of Assholes To Hold Us Back) Cold Sweat
24 BLOC PARTY A Weekend In The City Vice
25 P.G. SIX Slightly Sorry Drag City
26 MENOMENA Friend And Foe Barsuk
27 GOOD, THE BAD AND THE QUEEN The Good, The Bad And The Queen Virgin
28 CLINIC Visitations Domino
29 SONDRE LERCHE Phantom Punch Astralwerks
30 CLAP YOUR HANDS SAY YEAH Some Loud Thunder Self-Released


Out of these I'd like to focus on Do Make Say Think whose most recent release "You, You're a History in Rust" shows how one of indie rocks greatest musical fusions has continued to improve while introducing new styles. Known for their post-rock with two drummers and jazz influences (especially in the percussion department), they have added the element of vocals to the mix. While only on a few songs (my personal favorite being "A With Living") use this it is an interesting development for this previously only instrumental band. The most popular track being played at the station is "The Universe!" and with good reason since it start stop intensity and ringing reverb gets it stuck in your head very quickly, which is key for a band that is more tailored to people who listen to music through their headphones more than in their cars. For a list of the Hype Machine's collected Do Make Say Think songs click here.

NEWS: The RIAA is Dumb

Yes, it's true, the RIAA isn't the smartest group of people out there. In response to Steve Job's essay about record labels dropping their DRM types they issued this statement:

"Apple’s offer to license Fairplay to other technology companies is a welcome breakthrough and would be a real victory for fans, artists and labels. There have been many services seeking a license to the Apple DRM. This would enable the interoperability that we have been urging for a very long time."

The best part about this statement is that Jobs mentions absolutely nothing in his essay about opening up Fairplay. He merely wanted the music industry to be a little bit more mac friendly, Fairplay and all. Maybe we should all do as Bill Gates says and "just buy a cd and rip it."

TECHNOLOGY: Virtual Singing

Computers have been able to process and create music for decades, able to recreate classical instruments and even create new ones. For years people have been making music using only computers and synthesizers with the only human element being the singing. All of that could change in a few years. A company by the name Zero G has created the first human synthesizer in Vocaloid. Using singer fonts created by real vocalists, the program is able to make the virtual performer sing lyrics in a melody and style decided by the user. While the sound is not perfect the effect is still absolutely amazing. Right now the female vocal models sound like variations of various traditional singers and the Leon (male) model sounds like Thom Yorke on a good day. The uses of this, especially for background vocals with the current technology is amazing. Even with the 2004 release the possibilities for this technology is endless. Imagine being able to write a song and then having Bob Dylan sing the lead vocals and then after deciding you don't like what you hear change it out so the singer is no longer Dylan but Paul Simon. All of this at the touch of a button. The companies website can be found here and an amazing sample song created using two of the different synth voices can be heard here. Prima: Vocaloid 2 is scheduled to be released in Spring '07 with improvements all across the board.

Radio UTD Charts for 2/13/07

I've decided to start posting RadioUTD's top 30 most played new albums of the week. It's a pretty useful insight into some good new music that's definitely worth checking out. Also remember to hear these albums and others be sure to check out RadioUTD.

Something to notice, the name of the record label of the artist comes after the album name. I know it's confusing but that's the way we get the charts in. If you have any questions about the album name vs label just leave a comment and I can get you an answer.

For example: OF MONTREAL Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer? Polyvinyl

OF MONTREAL = band name
Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer? = album title
Polyvinyl = record label

Charts for 2/13/07:

1 OF MONTREAL Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer? Polyvinyl
2 SHINS Wincing The Night Away Sub Pop
3 DAVID VANDERVELDE The Moonstation House Band Secretly Canadian
4 DO MAKE SAY THINK You, You're A History In Rust Constellation
5 DEERHOOF Friend Opportunity Kill Rock Stars
6 YOKO ONO Yes, I'm A Witch Astralwerks
7 APPLES IN STEREO New Magnetic Wonder Yep Roc
8 EARLY YEARS The Early Years Beggars Banquet
9 SIX PARTS SEVEN Casually Smashed To Pieces Suicide Squeeze
10 PETER BJORN AND JOHN Writer's Block Almost Gold
11 THIS MOMENT IN BLACK HISTORY It Takes A Nation (Of Assholes To Hold Us Back) Cold Sweat
12 VARIOUS ARTISTS 8-Bit Operators Astralwerks
13 TEDDYBEARS Soft Machine Atlantic / Big Beat
14 ARCADE FIRE "Black Mirror" [Single] Merge
15 RAFTER Music For Total Chickens Asthmatic Kitty
16 VARIOUS ARTISTS Imagine The Shapes What's Your Rupture?
17 JULIE DOIRON Woke Myself Up Jagjaguwar
18 CLAP YOUR HANDS SAY YEAH Some Loud Thunder Self-Released
19 CLINIC Visitations Domino
20 OCTOPUS PROJECT AND BLACK MOTH SUPER RAINBOW The House Of Apples And Eyeballs Graveface
21 CHUMBAWAMBA A Singsong And A Scrape AK Press
22 SUBTLE For Hero: For Fool Lex
23 ISIS In The Abscence Of Truth Ipecac
24 MEW Frengers Columbia
25 SHE, SIR Who Can't Say Yes Self-Released
26 MENOMENA Friend And Foe Barsuk
27 BLOC PARTY A Weekend In The City Vice
28 DR. DOG We All Belong Park The Van
29 LONEY, DEAR Loney, Noir Sub Pop
30 FUJIYA AND MIYAGI Transparent Things Deaf Dumb And Blind

NEWS: Steve Jobs condemns DRM use by record labels

In one of the more hilarious stories of late, Apple's Steve Jobs openly condemned major record labels' use of DRM protection on certain CD releases. According to him there is no reason for them to "protect" 10% of their albums at the risk of stifling usability by the users. This is extremely funny considering Jobs' company is notorious for their FairPlay DRM which keeps all iTunes songs exclusive to Apple brand products. It is so notorious that Norways consumer board has taken up talks with Apple threating legal action if they refuse to allow their media to be used on other mp3 players beyond the iPod series. This seems fairly typical of Apple's hypocritical approach towards digital media.

In another release Apple recommended that users avoid upgrading to Microsoft's new operating system Vista. This seems like an obvious statement but their reason for users to delay this upgrade is because iTunes has several critical conflicts with Vista keeping it from functioning properly. All of this after Apple made quite a few jokes at Microsoft's expense due to the time it took Microsoft to finish developing their OS. With five years since XP's release it seems that Apple had more than enough time to get their software functioning on the new operating system.

NEWS: Woman successfully countersues RIAA

Debbie Foster has been successful in her counter suit against the RIAA for their actions taken against her last summer when it was decided that actions taken on her isp account are not necessarily her responsibility. She will receive $50,000 for legal fees along with time away from work. This case is extremely important since it sets precedent for future cases where the RIAA might be less likely to sue since they will be forced to pay all legal fees in case of a loss. More can be read here.

WEB: The Hype Machine takes mp3 blogs to a new level

Wow... I have found what can easily be described as one of the most amazing music websites ever. Channeling the collective research abilities of hundreds of music blogs along with their tendency to disregard copyright laws, The Hype Machine has created a new and highly efficient way of discovering new music. Most everyone by now knows that music blogs love to post songs, whether they are unreleased, soon to be released, or just the new single. This is very nice but can be extremely frustrating as you attempt to find certain songs while going through old archives and utilizing not so friendly search abilities. The Hype Machine takes all of the guess work out of the process. Simply type in the song or artist you are looking for and they bring up direct links to all of the blogs that have posted mp3s of the requested artist or song. Not only does it make a list of links and quick snippets of information on where the source is, it also has extremely functional play options, allowing you to stream all listed songs from that page in Winamp, Windows Media Player, iTunes, or their own flash music player. And since bloggers love to be elitists you will find some amazing songs that you never knew existed. The site stays legal considering the fact that they are hosting none of the content, although I can see this site being an easy way for labels to find blogs that have been illegally distributing their music. This website capitalizes on all of the benefits of exploring music through music blogs while eliminating all of the hassles involved with searching for them in a traditional manner. A definite must see for any music fan.

NEWS: Teenager Sues Record Industry

Sixteen year old Robert Santangelo is counter-suing the Record Companies that are currently in the process of suing him. His lawyer claims that the actions of the labels were "damaging the boy's reputation, distracting him from school and costing him legal fees." He might be able to pull it off considering his mother successfully challenged the lawsuit placed against her for his actions earlier on refusing to settle like most people attacked. More information can be found here.

NEWS: EMI merges Virgin and Capitol

The World EMI Group has fused Capitol Records with Virgin Records to form yet another super-label under the name Capitol Music Group. EMI has owned both of these labels for a while but they have both worked independently in the past. The group will keep both label names but the entire management group will be reworked by EMI promoting Virgin CEO Jason Flom to chief CEO over the group and releasing Andy Slater along with other executives. The merging is due to the state of concern over dropping sales in the digital era. More can be read at Variety about the change. I'm unsure how this will help solve the problem but at the same time there are few foreseeable ways to stem the problems large labels are facing considering DRM techniques are alienating more than they are unifying and physical sales constantly dropping.

RECORDING: Audio Recording Software Comparison

I just found this page from the Digital Music Doctor that has a shootout review of the seven most popular music recording programs. It gives an excellent and easy to see comparison of the programs along with ratings and can be found here. This information is critical for anyone considering a home or even professional studio. If you just want a quick answer, the best overall program was Cubase 4 and the best value program was Sonar 6 Studio.

The Muser's Thoughts on Downloading

I think it is interesting that more and more the idea of Us vs. Them has become the norm when thinking about the record industry and everyone else. Have we really become a world of pirates and thieves? We can cite the corruption of the industry and justify our actions as "getting the word out" but in the end isn't it still really just stealing? When even the RIAA President's son is guilty of illegal downloads it is easy to think of music downloading as more of a way of life than an illegal action. Buying a T-shirt at the concert doesn't change the fact that you've deprived a band of the few dollars they get per CD/online sale and with all the legal free downloads sponsored by the artists wanting to "hear the band before buying the cd" is not a valid excuse. In the end though it doesn't how much it's costing the bands or how illegal it is, the idea that we can get away with something that could save us hundreds of dollars and have almost no chance of getting caught is too enticing to convince people to stop. The cliche analogy of "stealing a cd from a real store vs online" might sound stupid but in the end it is true test of what we as humans really do consider moral. I bet if there were little to no chance of getting caught most people would steal from record stores too if given the opportunity (maybe an unlocked door late at night with the employee in the back room and no cameras?) Almost every independent artist out there who you can't find in stores would be ecstatic to make even a single sale online and probably at a really cheap price; and that's if they aren't giving away their music legally anyways. I can't think of a single situation with the exception of unreleased material, where illegal downloading isn't wrong. I figure it's up to the lawmakers to decide whether or not to make it easier for the industry to pursue people who illegally download music, because as long as it's this easy to steal, why would people pay?

NEWS: Music Industry Threatens to Sue ISPs

The IFPI (International Federation of the Phonographic Industry) is threatening to sue ISPs directly if they don't disconnect music pirates. The move comes after the IFPI had much success in 2006 with major wins in court against file sharing programs like Kazaa and thousand of individuals. A Spokesman from the Internet Service Providers Association claimed that there was no way to monitor all the packets being sent over their networks and claimed that it is not their responsibility to monitor their customers. For more information read The Independent's story here.

NEWS: RIAA arrests mix-taper

According to the New York Times the RIAA raided the Atlanta office of famous hip-hop executive DJ Drama, whose real name is Tyree Simmons on accounts that he had been illegally distributing unlicensed materials. DJ Drama is famous in the hip-hop world for his "Gangsta Grillz" mix-tapes that have set the tone for the highly popular "Dirty South" rap movement which is the top selling of all hip-hop genres. These mix-tapes (actually on cd-r) were distributed featuring rare tracks, alternate versions, free-styles and other songs not easy to hear otherwise. The artists themselves love the opportunity to be featured and the labels that present them have taken a blind eye, if not even being supportive of the practice for the free publicity and credibility they provide. These mixes are sold for cheap at credible record stores, including online music stores like iTunes (who carry several of Drama's mixes.) Bail for him and his assistant has been set for $100,000 and while this isn't the first mix-tape arrest by the RIAA it is the most large profile one to date. Once again the RIAA has decided to play god "representing" artists and the labels they are on despite the true wishes of these groups. For more information you can read the Times article here.

Welcome

Welcome to Post Radio. This is a collection of news and information to keep dedicated music fans informed of relevant new music and the technologies that propel the industry itself. Experience as the current Station Manager for an internet based college radio station (radioUTD) along with a lifelong passion for music and technology give me an interesting perspective on these issues. Where is music heading? Is there anything being made that hasn't been done before? How is it being made? How is it being distributed the masses and how will this change in the near future? It's near impossible to truly answer all of these questions but by keeping a finger on the pulse of the scene the answers might be closer than they seem.