Loquacious Music

In this week’s New Yorker, brilliant staff writer John Colapinto writes a profile of Paul McCartney that may indeed be one of the best profiles ever to appear in the magazine. I’ve always been a fan of Colapinto’s writing, but this piece made me cry.

Unfortunately, thanks to Condé Nast, the article itself isn’t available online. But you can listen to an audio interview with John Colapinto about what it was like to interview Macca. Good stuff.

The music industry is being crushed under the weight of its own lawsuits, negligence, stupidity, incompetence, arrogance, and insanely unfair contracts with singers and songwriters. Karma’s great, ain’t it?

This piece, from today’s New York Times, finally paints the dire picture that those of us who have railed for years against DRM have been expecting. Money quote:

Some music executives say that dropping copy-restriction software, also known as digital-rights management, would stoke business at iTunes’ competitors and generate a surge in sales. Others predict it would have little impact, though they add that the labels squandered years on failed attempts to restrict digital music instead of converting more fans into paying consumers.

“They were so slow to react, and let things get totally out of hand,” said Russ Crupnick, a senior entertainment industry analyst at NPD, the research company. “They just missed the boat.”

Missed the boat, my foot. Negligence, stupidity, incompetence, and arrogance. These corporations are finally getting what they deserve.

UPDATE: See the exciting conclusion to this story by clicking here!

Earlier tonight, I was in a bit of a bind.

I really, really, really wanted to find the extended, single version of George Michael’s 1987 hit “Monkey.” What a perfect, perfect pop song. You can hate him all you want for his personal habits, but he’s a pop singer of the highest order. That’s an inarguable fact.

Unfortunately, it seems as if everyone else is looking for a copy of “Monkey,” too. I found the CD single online FOR ONE HUNDRED TWENTY-FIVE FREAKIN’ DOLLARS! Seriously. I like George, but for his drum and synth programming — that’s it. It seems as if George Michael fans are as rabid a bunch as any other fans out there. I’m not paying $125 for any musical item, unless it’s an original copy of XTC’s “Wrapped in Grey,” in which case it would be a damn steal.

So I continued to scour the internet, where I found posts like this one. It looks like some other folks out there very much want their very own version of this song. I even checked esnips.com…with no luck.

Finally, and frustratedly, I ordered the damn 12″ single off eBay. Yeah, it was $6. And, yeah, I had to order a new belt for my turntable (which I should’ve done months ago; everything is playing too slowly). But, now, I’ll be able to import “Monkey” into my computer and STOP THIS NONSENSE. Because c’mon. This is insane.

For all of you Google searchers out there:

George Michael Monkey 12″ extended single remix 1987

Booyah!

Thank you, Chandler’s brother-in-law. Thank you so much. Now, with iTunes and Amazon.com on board, we’ll just have to get Uni to wake up and smell the DRM-free coffee, and we’ll be all set! When “rights management” falls in the woods, and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?

Amazon to Sell Music Without Copy Protection

By BRAD STONE
Published: May 17, 2007

After years of industry speculation, Amazon.com is getting into the digital music business.

Amazon, the Internet’s most successful seller of physical CDs, today announced plans to introduce a music download store later this year, selling songs and albums in the MP3 format without the anti-copying protection used by most online music retailers.

Selling songs as MP3 files means that customers can transfer their music without limits to any computer, cellphone or music playing device, including Apple’s iPod and Microsoft’s Zune.

The music will be from a major label, EMI, and 12,000 independent music companies that have chosen not to use the copy-restricting software known as digital rights management, or D.R.M.“We are offering a great selection of music that our customers love in a way they clearly desire, which is D.R.M.-free, so they can play it on any device they own today or in the future,” said Bill Carr, Amazon’s vice president for digital media.

David Card, an analyst at JupiterResearch, said Amazon’s store would immediately position Amazon as a serious rival to Apple and its popular iTunes service. “We’ve been waiting for Amazon to be a serious player in digital music for some time,” he said. “They know how to sell music and this is a powerful endorsement of the MP3 strategy.”

The move comes more than a month after Apple announced a similar initiative with EMI to sell music in the unprotected format on iTunes. Apple plans to start selling EMI’s songs as MP3 format later this month.

The other major music labels, like Universal Music Group, Sony BMG Music Entertainment and Warner Music Group, appear reluctant to forgo copy protection. Universal Music, the world’s largest music label, recently conducted limited experiments with D.R.M.-free music sales in France, but also has not committed to selling unprotected music.

That will limit Amazon’s music selection in the short term, although Mr. Carr of Amazon.com said he hoped that today’s announcement would persuade other music labels to take part.

Amazon did not announce many details of the new service. It would not comment on the planned pricing for songs and albums.

As for whether EMI would make the Beatles catalog available for digital downloads on Amazon.com, the music label said it had not yet reached a deal with Apple Corps, the Beatles’ music company, to sell the band’s songs digitally.

But Paul McCartney’s solo work, including a coming album, will be available as MP3s for download on the new Amazon service and on Apple’s iTunes Store.

I’ve been listening to Prefab Sprout’s song about Marvin Gaye’s murder almost exclusively for the past few days. You should be, too.

“When the Angels”

When the angels take the angel voice away
Some lower their eyes, some of us shout “Cheats!”
Or cheating on the deal, pulling off the sting,
tuning up the harps, dishing out the wings

If they can dance on the head of a pin
Don’t that tell you something about their skin
Hard faced little bastards…

When the angels take the angel voice away
Jealously they see, the sometimes man you’d be
Must get so blasé, knowing you’ll never die,
Lounging on a cloud; polishing the sky
The memories are blue, but borrowed for the day
They sit around ignored, ’till someone goes away

If they can dance on, on the head of a pin
Don’t that tell you something about their skin
Hard faced little bastards…

When the angels take the angel voice away
Jealously they see the sometimes man you’d be

The memories are blue, but borrowed for the day
They sit around ignored, till someone goes away
For cheating on the deal, pulling off the sting,
Tuning up the harps, dishing out the wings

If they can dance…bastards…
When the angels take the angel voice away
Jealously they see the sometimes man you’d be…

I had tried to post a list of songs that I’ve purchased from iTunes, but I couldn’t get the list to export. Too bad.

So, instead, I’m going to link to the story of Mingering Mike. I can’t explain it; you should just read it and listen. To whet your appetite, here’s a picture:

This story makes me happy.