A wheel off of the bandwagon?
February 10, 2010 at 8:09 pm | Posted in music | 1 CommentTags: cd sales, far, free music, hard-fi, james blunt, jason mraz, la roux, michael buble, muse, nickelback, piracy, regina spektor, rilo kiley, seaside rendezvous, spotify, the enemy, the resistance, warner
The Spotify backlash has begun (and no, I’m not just talking about the possible ill-effects of having slyly installed Spotify onto my university network profile.)
Okay, so technically it began back when La Roux’s album was removed from the streaming service’s free entry-level accounts. But, at the time, this seemed like a minor blip. Plus, La Roux tracks are so ridiculously radio-shagging that you didn’t even need Spotify to be assaulted from all angles by a horrifically screechy ’80s throwback. Sadly.
Now, though, Warner have announced that they plan to stop their artists’ music from streaming on Spotify, LAST.FM and We7 Thankfully, this is at present only going to affect future deals.
In some ways, it wouldn’t be a terribly great loss: no more free access to James Blunt, Nickelback and Michael Buble wouldn’t cause me to lose any sleep. If I’m being honest, I’d not care about the likes of The Enemy, Hard-Fi or Jason Mraz, either.
Rilo Kiley, Muse and Regina Spektor, though? I’d care about that.
Warner chief executive Edgar Bronfman Jr has defended his decision, saying: “Free streaming services are clearly not net positive for the industry. The ‘get all your music you want for free, and then maybe with a few bells and whistles we can move you to a premium price strategy’, is not the kind of approach to business that we will be supporting in the future.”
Granted, free services such as Spotify aren’t turning over the kinds of profits that record companies have been used to in the past, but they’re certainly better than people downloading music for free. Well done, Warner: you’re basically inviting people to pirate some of your biggest artists’ future releases. Is that bullet hurting your foot?
Muse’s most recent album, The Resistance? I’ve not bought it. Regina Spektor’s Far? Again, no. I’m on a limited budget; I can’t afford to buy every album I want.
Muse’s seafront gigs in Teignmouth? I spent more than £40 on a ticket for that. Regina Spektor’s 2009 tour? Again, nearly £40 (and a trip to London). People are still paying for gig tickets, because they offer an experience which they can’t get anywhere else. CD sales may be falling, but cutting out free legal alternatives to piracy isn’t the answer: we’ve come too far for that.
I might not have paid for them, but that doesn’t mean I don’t adore tracks like these:
A weally gweat loss for music?
January 7, 2010 at 5:22 pm | Posted in music | Leave a commentTags: arctic monkeys, bbc, daily mail, jay-z, jonathan ross, kaiser chiefs, muse, robbie williams, russell brand, television
Jonathan Ross has announced his resignation from the BBC, a move that the Mail has announced as “sensational”. Quite why they didn’t just go the whole hog and label it “BLOODY BRILLIANT!” is quite beyond me, but still, they are the experts in sensation so I’m sure they know far better than I do.
But it’s not just your Friday night fix of American celebrities being bamboozled by British sarcasm that you’ve got to worry of the future for. Oh no, it’s your music, as well.
A ‘leading industry figure’ has voiced concerns over the musical ‘hole’ that this will leave in mainstream television, saying: “Like him or loathe him, its undeniable Jonathan Ross has given artists one of the few platforms to reach a mainstream audience in the UK. His show was one of the few avenues for developing artists to guarantee mass TV exposure.”
However, a quick scan of a list of the bands who appeared on the last series of Ross’s show reveals a repertoire of acts such as Jay-Z, Robbie Williams, Muse and the Arctic Monkeys: not exactly acts who’ll suffer greatly from not being able to perform a single track at 11:30ish on a Friday night on BBC One, I’m guessing.
My personal concern is just that we’ll get no more music contributions like this from Ross now that he’ll no longer be on any of the BBC TV or radio channels:
I think that hearing this in a lecture was pretty much one of the funniest moments of my life.
Besides, who was this leading industry figure? James Sandom, manager of the Kaiser Chiefs. And anything that keeps them off of my television screen is absolutely fine with me.
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