Aram Squalls

Mapping mash-ups + digital music = happy Aram

I love it when rock stars are bigger nerds than me (had dinner with Todd Rundgren once, and all he wanted was to talk about how cool his Mac was).

Trent Reznor from Nine Inch Nails has now risen even higher in my nerdesteem. A month and a half after offering their latest album, The Slip, as a free download on their site (following on the heels of another very successful free download release this spring), the band has created a Google Earth KML file (basically, a link to a spot in GE), showing the volume of downloads from every region on the globe. Pictured above: North America.

Not only is this a fabulously cool thing to do just for the sake of it, but it also provides us with an interesting chunk of data. Apparently, NIN did far more downloads on the coasts than in Middle America, for instance. Maybe this is due to digital divide issues, or maybe industrial music plays better in industrial environments, or maybe it's just plain population density. Who knows? The point is, hooray for NIN. I should have teased my high school girlfriend less for liking them...

LiveNation banner spelling boo boo

One of my favorite pastimes these days is using my cameraphone to snap pictures of poorly worded, poorly spelled, and otherwise absurd signs, then post them to a Flickr set.

I guess my inner copy editor is primed, because I caught a funny boo boo on a banner ad at a major print periodical's web site today (I won't say which one). LiveNation is running ads for a "Jakon Dylan"
show; I guess being the largest concert promoter in the world, with a $1.2 billion market cap, means you can afford to piss off rock stars by misspelling their names (and probably undermining ticket sales).

NYU-area cafe kiboshes charity concert for no reason

Over at the blog for my copyright class at NYU, a musician student of mine posted a horrific story. The managers at Think Coffee, a "socially conscious" cafe catering to the university crowd (it's practically my second office) interrupted her band during a charity show, making the absurd claim that the band was not allowed to play cover songs (never mind that the other bands on the roster had, and that Think plays commercial music over their speakers all day every day).

It's worth reading the whole post, not only for my student's story, but also for her excellent analysis about the chilling effects of copyright ignorance and overcaution.

Jay-Z and I on Reuters TV

I was on Reuters TV a day or two ago, discussing the all-encompassing, $150 million deal that Jay-Z cut with LiveNation. Here's the clip:

Radiohead remix sounds cool, but remixer emptor

Following on the heels of its market-shaking pay-your-own-price scheme for the album In Rainbows, Radiohead's mixing it up again by offering "stems" from its new single, "Nude," via iTunes for fans to download and remix. Remixes can be posted at a dedicated web site, where other fans can vote on their favorites. There's no official prize or competition, but you've got to figure the exposure for having the top remix will be potentially career-changing.

As with In Rainbows, what's interesting here isn't the plan itself -- musicians have been posting their tracks online for fans to remix for a decade. It's that Radiohead, long a major label darling safely ensconced behind EMI's garden walls, is stepping out and proactively pursuing new business and distribution models (the remixes can even be shared via Facebook widgets -- wow, these guys are on top of the Web 2.0 thing).

I do have a few quibbles and reservations, however.

First, what really fascinates me is that Radiohead is charging for the "stems" -- essentially, consumers will be paying six times for a single song -- once for the whole thing, and once for each isolated track. I haven't yet decided whether this is disgusting fan-exploitation and the reprehensible commercialization of the configurable public sphere, or a brilliant natural evolution of the music industry, following consumer demand where it's naturally leading. Maybe both.

My second beef, however, is much more serious. According to the terms and conditions, remixers -- even those who compose and perform their own additional tracks in their remixes -- will have zero stake whatsoever in the resulting song. No ownership of publishing or masters, no credit. Period. This is just plain wrong, and is the antithesis of everything that makes configurable culture great. If you're going to exploit the emerging demand for remixed content, and encourage people to participate in the co-production of cultural material, you need to provide a legal and ethical infrastructure that reflects those decisions. Otherwise, you're just continuing the monopolization of cultural production. Boo on Radiohead.

Here's a list of the terms and conditions, see for yourself:

You (the Entrant) hereby agree, confirm, represent and warrant that:

1. all rights in and to any remixed versions (“Remixes”) of the song “Nude” (“the Song”) created by the Entrant shall be owned by Warner/Chappell Music Ltd (“WCM”) and to the extent necessary the Entrant hereby assigns all rights in the Remixes of the Song to WCM throughout the World for the full life of copyright and any and all extensions and renewals thereof. If requested by WCM, the Entrant shall complete and sign a formal assignment of copyright to give effect to the foregoing;

2. all rights in and to any Remixes of the original sound recording of the Song (“the Master”) created by the Entrant shall be owned by _Xurbia _Xendless Ltd (“Xurbia”) and to the extent necessary the Entrant hereby assigns all rights in the Remixes of the Master to Xurbia throughout the World for the full life of copyright and any and all extensions and renewals there. If requested by Xurbia, the Entrant shall complete and sign a formal assignment of copyright to give effect to the foregoing;

3. Thom Yorke, Jonny Greenwood, Colin Greenwood, Ed O’Brien and Phil Selway will be registered and credited as the sole writers and WCM the publishers of the Remixes of the Song created by the Entrant;

4.    the Entrant will not acquire a copyright interest in the Song by virtue of creating Remixes of the Song;

5. the Entrant will not use any other elements or parts of the Song (“Stems”) otherwise than to create Remixes of the Song for entry into radioheadremix.com;

6. the Remixes of the Song do not incorporate any samples which are subject to third party proprietary rights or otherwise infringe the rights of any third party;

7. the Remixes of the Song are not obscene, defamatory, libelous, threatening, harassing, hateful, racially or ethnically offensive, or encouraging of conduct that would be considered a criminal offense, gives rise to civil liability, or violate any law; and

8. the Entrant will not exploit, or allow others to exploit, the Remixes of the Song created by the Entrant without seeking the prior approval of WCM and Xurbia.

In submitting Remixes to radioheadremix.com the Entrant confirms and warrants that they have full power and authority to enter into this agreement and hereby indemnify WCM and Xurbia from and against any and all costs and damages incurred as a result of any breach of the representations and warranties made by the Entrant herein.

9. by participating in Radiohead Remix, entrants agree to release and hold harmless Apple and its affiliates from and against any claim or cause of action arising out of such participation.

Whoa, oh, oh, oh, on the radio

I was interviewed on KCBS radio twice this week, opining first on the impending satellite radio merger ("creates a monopoly in a doomed industry"), and then on the subject of Elvis Costello's new vinyl+download album release (in which I summon the ghost of Walter Benjamin).

Check 'em out, they were both fun little interviews.

Sweet and sticky remix: Badu's "Honey" video

I'm hardly the first to blog about it, but the video for Erykah Badu's new single, Honey, is worth taking a look at if you haven't seen it. Badu has always worn her aesthetic influences on her sleeve, but in this video, the metaphor is stretched a bit -- she wears them on record sleeves.

The video filters R&B nostalgia through a configurable lens, featuring Badu lip synching to her song on a variety of classic album cover remakes from a broad range of artists -- De La Soul, Chaka Khan, The Beatles, and Nas, to name a few. I don't think I've ever seen a more perfect visual metaphor for her (compelling) schtick -- the sonic fusion of Afrodiasporic musics, old and new, into a forceful and fluid oral cultural history, aided and abetted by configurable technologies.

Lest I sound too much like an academic geek, let me also say that this is a dope track, with a bumpin' bass and a sweet, melismatic melody. Like much of her work, it's equally at home with on the dance floor or in the boudoir. I'm definitely going to be spending some time with this album.

If you're one to trace sources -- Which album cover was that one!?!? -- check out Soulbounce's side-by-side comparisons of the original album covers and the Honey mock-ups.

Also note that, counter to the spirit of creative reappropriation and homage that characterizes the song and video, Universal Music Group has (as usual) disabled embedding of their official YouTube release of the track. What that's supposed to achieve, other than pissing off bloggers, I'm not sure. It was very easy for me to find another version to embed, so they haven't thwarted my piratical intentions. Also, I'm gonna bet that UMG didn't get permission/pay fees to use all the LP artwork -- they'd probably argue (correctly) that it constitutes parody. (shakes head, murmuring 'tsk, tsk!')

Thanks for the link, Marissa!

Great CC-licensed sonic library: freesound project

If you haven't checked out the freesound project, it's worth a look and a listen. True to its name, the site hosts countless music and sound samples freely released under the Creative Commons Sampling Plus License. The site, which requires registration, just hit the half-a-million active users mark (that includes uploaders and downloaders).

The stuff they've got is great -- everything from the "Amen break" to ambient city noises. There are also some cool site elements, like geotagged samples and a "remix tree" showing the ways in which various samples have evolved through various reinterpretations and reappropriations. The interface isn't much -- yet -- but they've got some Google money, and seem to be working on version 2.0.

You can also browse through random samples here.

Lessons from Nine Inch Nails: Configurability and artificial scarcity

Mike Linksvayer just posted an interesting analysis of Nine Inch Nails' new Creative Commons-licensed release, Ghosts I-IV. The basic story is, despite having made the music available freely in MP3 format online, they made at least $750,000 in 2 days (!) -- at least as much as they would have made from a blockbuster major label release, and a hell of a lot quicker (for those who don't know -- major label contracts require that the labels recoup all album-related costs before the artists get paid a single dollar in royalties; in 9 out of 10 cases, this threshold is never achieved, and the artist gets paid nothing).

Three quarters of a mil in 2 days, despite having intentionally released the tracks for free. How did they do it? Through the sale of limited-edition, high-priced "deluxe" editions of the album, featuring non-digital media like paper (gasp!) and vinyl (oooh!).

This is a great example of how the death of an artwork's uniqueness -- first noted by Benjamin, but drastically accelerated in recent years by "configurable" technologies such as the Internet -- has paradoxically spurred an increase in the perceived authenticity -- and thus, market value -- of physical artifacts. Put in simpler terms, the idea of paying $300 for a newly-released vinyl album -- no matter how limited the run -- would have seemed ABSURD in the days before MP3.

Interestingly, although many people would explain the increased market value of the vinyl product psychologically, arguing that the physicality of the product is what differentiates it from its ethereal counterparts, my research has shown that artificial scarcity can be just as effective a means of preserving uniqueness value when there's no physical artifact at all. Consider this selection from an interview I conducted with mash-up DJs Adrian and the Mysterious D of Bootie and published in my dissertation:

DJ Adrian: If it’s harder to get ultimately – I mean, because there’s a limited amount, then there’s a more perceived value. And with mash-ups, because they’re illegal, you can’t go through your regular distribution channels. . .

Mysterious D: Yeah, some songs are up for one day. And maybe only, let’s say, ten people downloaded it. Probably more than that. But say a hundred or 200 or 500 out of a billion people. It becomes, then, that song becomes limited and a little bit of piece of artwork because you can’t get it again.

DJ Adrian: And maybe you assign more value to it because of that. You know, like for instance the ‘Dean Gray’ album . . . it got a cease and desist order. . . . So, you know, does the value of it go up because it was harder to get?

Mysterious D: Yeah.

DJ Adrian: Even though it’s free and it’s there’s a million copies of it. Yeah.   

3 Gig Week

In addition to my usual teaching load, and finishing up the annual SEMPO survey for Radar, this is gonna be a busy week. I've got three very different gigs coming up.

First, on Wednesday afternoon, I'll be moderating a panel on tweens at the Digital Music Forum (a few months ago, I moderated a panel on music at a tweens conference -- there seems to be a trend here). Should be interesting -- my luminous panel includes:

• Jim Donio, President, National Association of Recording Merchandisers (NARM)
• Mike Bebel, President & CEO, Ruckus Entertainment, Inc.
• Edith Bellinghausen, SVP, New Media, Razor & Tie / Kidz Bop
•   Matt Mason, Author-The Pirate’s Dilemma: How Youth Culture Reinvented Capitalism

Then, on Friday, I'll be presenting, for the first time, an in-depth talk based on my recently completed doctoral dissertation, Configurable Culture. That'll take place on the 4th Floor of NYU's Pless building, from 2-3:30. I'll try to make an audio/ppt presentation out of it for online consumption.

Then, on Saturday night, my band, Brave New Girl, will be playing at the Knitting Factory (in the Tap Bar), as part of Stubborn Records' Version City night. We lobbied for an early slot (we're all parents!) -- so come at 8 if you want to check it out. Here's the Facebook link.

Let me know if you're planning on coming by any of the above.