| NIN vs Radiohead: One is Innovator other Opportunistic |
Have you heard the latest one about Nine Inch Nails…..
I understand if you might be confused, am I referring to his recent instrumental release Ghosts?
Or is it the singles he has released in the past week?
Well both good points but I am now listening to a brand new - complete album - we’re talking “real” songs here with lyrics that was just released for FREE - in every conceivable format you could want.
And after one listen through - it is solid. [Complete album details at end of post]:
as a thank you to our fans for your continued support, we are giving away the new nine inch nails album one hundred percent free, exclusively via nin.com.
the music is available in a variety of formats including high-quality MP3, FLAC or M4A lossless at CD quality and even higher-than-CD quality 24/96 WAVE. your link will include all options - all free. all downloads include a PDF with artwork and credits.
for those of you interested in physical products, fear not. we plan to make a version of this release available on CD and vinyl in july. details coming soon.
Oh - and beyond that there is the spin on live shows he is trying:
Trent Reznor’s Nine Inch Nails announced on Monday that the band has secured very limited allotments of “the guaranteed best possible seats” to every headlining show on the band’s upcoming tour, and will make them available for sale via NIN.com. Fans must register under their real names for the tickets, which will come personalized with the purchaser’s name that matches a photo ID presented at “designated will calls at separate entrances to be used exclusively by NIN.com pre-sale ticket holders.”
Meanwhile…..
Radiohead, although trying all kinds of online experiments including their own social network and a remix contest fetching over 2200 remixes [one of the highest voted remixes is Holy Fuck - 3/4s of whom hail from the east coast which is nice to see considering the recognition they are getting of late].
However, they are not the innovative leaders they may have appeared to be:
Radiohead’s Thom Yorke: Free Album Offer Was a “One-Off” - Digital Media Wire
Thom Yorke: no more free Radiohead albums - Guardian UK
TechDirt’s Mike Masnick has his own take on it in “Don’t Read Too Much Into Radiohead’s Claim That It Won’t Offer Music For Free Again“:
Reznor expressed his less than favorable opinions on Radiohead’s release:
Trent Reznor: Radiohead’s ‘In Rainbows’ promotion was ‘insincere’ - CNet News
From the same CNet article above:
The truth is that Reznor, who at times is volatile–and is always outspoken–is doing more for music fans and fellow musicians than anybody.
Continue reading for complete details on “The Slip” (more…)
Need new music the moment it is available online, then you probably want to bookmark Did It Leak?
Regular - almost daily - updates of the newest albums available WELL before their official release dates.
Social Media News Release
Outside not even realizing the service was unavailable to Canadians [or forgetting if I did know], the most interesting part of this announcement to me was eMusic’s use of a social media press release format [in addition to a traditional press release]
To me social media focused news releases make so much more sense when posting online I can not understand why all companies have not embraced their use. Evidently there is some resistance from within the industry regarding their use. Check out The Social Press Release: Multimedia, Two-Way, Direct to the Public by Mark Glaser on Mediashift - it is a great primer and contains links to issues related to such releases as well as additional resources for making use of them yourself.
I hope by the end of the summer to have a Social media news release template developed for all future such releases related to the label and any of my other ventures.
If you are interested in finding out more about social media press releases, visit Shift Communications - the company that first introduced the Social Media News Release where you will find plenty of resources:
EDIT: I guess you could access eMusic from Canada already:
Ghostly International and Adult Swim team up to deliver a free electronic focused album [in the past Adult Swim has done more hip-hop focused music projects including work with DangerMouse]
You get 19 free tracks - all for download w/artwork or streaming on the site - including the newest Tycho single. There is also a video for the first song if you look down in the lower right corner.
It is the artwork I really like on this project. When I first saw the site I instantly thought “vinyl” in relation to the album artwork and its size on the site. Developing covers that can work as the foundation for the artist’s website to be built around them might be an idea more designers should try pitching to artists and artists should consider regardless. Oh and I think the artwork itself is beautiful.
From the Ghostly site:
* Love the emphasis of how it is a compilation of new music AND art.
Jonny Stevens, for a young guy, seems like he’s been around forever. His last band the New Breed did their thing from 1997 until 2005. When the New Breed called it a day, Jonny started a solo project and has been performing since with a backing backing band The Racket.
In the decade plus he has been pursing music he has experienced all the highs and lows of being in a band, losing a band, starting fresh and - well losing a band. All that experience made him ideal for his new/current position as education coordinator at Music Nova Scotia.
Not only is he a wealth of knowledge, he truly enjoys sharing what he knows (and thinks) - thus leading him to be a perfect addition to this blog.
For his latest video, Jonny took the idea of free music on his site into the real world, and cameras rolling, went looking for a few good homes for some of his albums.
In addition to the new video, scroll down some and you will find two new tracks as well , I don’t think Jonny will be upset if you share them and pass them around either.
Video: You Can’t Take Me
Jonny Stevens - Two
Two new tracks from Jonny Stevens you won’t find elsewhere - Enjoy!
Jonny Stevens - Footsteps in Sand
Jonny Stevens - Jenny’s Song
With a firm release date yet to be set, Dreamsploitation’s ‘Soft Focus Sound of Today’, will be released by From Here To There Records sometime between now and the summer [May 28 is a good contender though].
In anticipation to that release Chuck has compiled a free 7-track EP to introduce people to his music while we wait for the official release [those in Halifax can also be on the look out for a limited pressing EP with custom covers at upcoming shows that features music not found on either ‘Soft Focus Sound of Today’ or Precursor].
Precursor to the ‘Soft Focus Sound of Today’
Enjoy and please feel free to share.
Dreamsploitation’s MySpace
I think this is important. It may not take off, but the opportunities inherit for USB drives and music is significant in my opinion and certainly worth exploring.
Together they offer a means of tying the digital world to the real world. Tying retail purchases to social networks and fan clubs. They could be used to take fan clubs in new directions - a WillieLive USB bracelet to fan club members could entitle you to free downloads of all future concerts. Or what about VIP access for fans that show up wearing said bracelets?
I should note that all I REALLY care about is the music. I don’t care about the cover art [I have never bought a CD because it had a “cool” cover], I don’t even care so much about the liner notes, although I do miss them at times. But one could easily produce a Digipak like package with an included or even glued in booklet, but instead of a plastic tray to hold a CD in place, there is a tray to hold in a USB drive. And of course the booklet and art would also be included on the drive as high quality PDFs [?] from which the art and liner notes could be synced up with your music player/collection. The ideas/opportunities = endless.
A Few Ideas
While the idea of MP3s and lossless files [and whatever else they wanted to include: videos, websites, pictures etc.] on one format appealed to me initially [USB drives = better MP3/FLAC delivery device vs. CDs IMHO], I was more interested in the potential of USB drives tied to kick start some innovation WITH music.
Many venues/bands/labels have offered USB recordings of live concerts on your way out of the show. That’s a start. But what about coming in? What if having bought a previous live show USB drive, you plug it into a reader on your way in and get a discount on admission [or at the time of ticket purchase] for future shows.
What if when you get home you plug in the drive and it launches a website only accessible to fans with a connected drive in place [almost every idea like this will be hackable – but we are exploring these ideas in a happy-carefree bubble of fake reality]? That site can offer anything the label or artist wants to share.
My biggest plan for USB drives extends that even further and ties it into a fan club, and at the next level an entire social network. What if venues or at least bands with laptops performing at them – have a USB input for members of a shared social network that one ups Facebook’s events – beyond simply stating you intend to be there, show up, plug in briefly and ….well you can get creative here, do they just get (fan) points, some benefits, free music, all the above?
All my potential concerns or fears regarding USB drives and connecting to social networks and fanclubs was erased when I read about a VISA experiment. In Korea, where “digital became dominant years ago” you can now use a USB Credit card. While I certainly do not know the particulars about the set up I am confident that if what they have is good enough for credit card transactions, then a similar set up will handle any security concerns related to any ideas in this post.
I have also seen business proposals for USB based shopping lists: users compile a list using software for such purposes onto a drive, take it to the store and plug it into the shopping cart display unit. Customers then get directions to items in the store they need, are offered coupons, and even recipe suggestions [up selling other products] for items they have on their shopping list. Combine such a service with the VISA USB drive and they can pay with the drive as well at the checkout. What types of related ideas could be used to encourage retail purchases in the music industry?
Delegate Passes/All the Info You Need - for festivals/events – that provide USB drives at registration which you then plug into systems that can update you over the course of the event [and that would of course include music from artists part of the event]. All print materials – focusing on greening aspects important to many festivals/events today, could be regularly updated when plugged into internet connected system w/show/venue changes etc.Take it a step further and develop a weekend command center for festivals into the drive. Twitter control, profile updates, http://sched.org/, maps, all the line-ups and everything else you need. Events could offer deals for fans that use the drives while also saving on costs for some print materials.
NIN used USB drives as a tool in the ARG promotion of Year Zero and I see countless ways to further embrace USB drives in future ARGs and marketing campaigns.
Positives, beyond ongoing use/experiments from bands and labels noted below, for USB drives and music include:
Current Usage
While the format is still mainly in the realm of major level artists, you can find artists, and labels, at all levels exploring their use. Locally the only act I am aware of thus far is Shelter With Thieves.
Some Music USB Drive examples:
RadioheadEMIThe biggest downside of USB drives currently is their cost. Other issues not addressed include do fans want countless drives kicking around? Can’t be any worse than the useless CDs I have now can they? At least I could give the drives to friends and they could use them for other purposes, or you keep them in their nice Digibooks until you need them to get a discount to go to a show or need access to a members only section of a site – for which such perks could help such drives retain some value.
Getting back to costs - there is no guarantee such drives will replace CDs, in the coming months and years we should definitely see more labels and artists experimenting though as costs for drives continue to fall. In the end, consumer response will eventually dictate what role USB drives have in the future of music but if those in the music industry can not offer anything worthwhile or interesting….
Could $5 a month save the music industry? was posted on the Star’s site Feb 20, 2008 at 4:30 AM.
The issue:
We’ll focus on the negatives, the issues they would need to overcome to make it happen.
Not even 12 hours later, Feb 20, 2008 at 11:47 AM, the Star posted a series of responses to the above article. Here are the first 11 - all against it - as are almost all the rest [there has to be an easy 100 posted]:
Word is Songwriters Association of Canada has all but accepted the proposal is dead in the water.
And thanks to Coolfer otherwise, I might have missed the responses from readers on that piece
And in the initial article Trent Reznor is noted as a supporter for the ISP music tax when he is on record stating that quote was incorrect.
Photo from Stock.xchng
Read about it all here at Herohill
Download the entire zip file here.
Great mix of recognized bands [some key omissions were done on purpose, read their post] with acts I have never heard of, which I think is part of what it is all about.
So what should you do? Email them your suggestions!
The complete collection of music from showcasing artists at this year’s SXSW [3.5GB!!]
http://hewgill.com/torrent/SXSW_2008_Showcasing_Artists-Release_1.torrent