Format Wars (An Idea For Physical Music)

One of my new years resolutions was to stop tone down my illegal music downloading habits, and until Spotify has all the world’s music (I can dream), it means I’ll be acquiring music through legal channels.

The trouble is, I’m not sure any of the current formats music is delivered on really entice me.

CD’s often feel like a wasted purchase.  Andrew Dubber compares the compact disc to a bucket, an analogy that really makes sense to me.

As soon as I get a disc, I rip it to MP3 and listen to the album digitally, with the CD sat gathering dust.  Sometimes the packaging offers some value, with linear notes and artwork to flick through whilst listening, but more often than not, the disc is accompanied by a cheap plastic case, and little else.  At the moment, I buy CD’s as they provide a lossless copy of the music, future proofing me up to 44.1kHz 16-bit.

Vinyl’s appeal to me lies in it’s visual attributes, large artwork, and the feeling of owning a unique product.  However, I’m put off by needing to flip the disc after every three or so songs, preventing me from listening to an album all the way through (I’m a big fan of concept albums and segueing tracks).  Also the fragility of the medium worries me, I don’t like the idea of having to re-buy and album that becomes warped or scratched.

The other current option is digital downloads.  Practically, these suit me best, as I only listen to music on my laptop or MP3 player.  They don’t waste space, or plastic by being delivered on disc, and they’re available instantly.  But the quality isn’t there yet, why should I pay almost the price of a CD for a lesser quality copy?  (Yes, some stores like Bleep and Bandcamp sell lossless digital files, but the format still hasn’t reached the mainstream). Digital downloads also lack the visual attraction of vinyl and CD’s.

I still think physical products are needed, they’re definitely still selling.  Last year saw deluxe editions of albums soaring in popularity, with the likes of Radiohead, Oasis, and Portishead selling high quality box sets for about £50, stuffed with exclusive goodies. Expanded editions of new albums also now quite common, like Tunng’s ‘Good Arrows’ (pictured above), which is packaged beautifully in a hardback book style with a CD at the back.

So what do I want? Lossless digital downloads, as well as large artwork and linear notes etc…

One idea I had would be to sell the artwork, lyrics and other notes as a separate companion product to digital files, like a high quality CD booklet without the CD.

For example, a band could release a hard back book, full of artwork and lyrics, documenting the creation of the album, perhaps with an enclosed coupon to download the album, much like is provided with some vinyl releases.  This would cut out wasteful one-use plastic CDs, but still provide the listener with a tangible product, and visual experience.

This could also work well for back catalogue releases.  Imagine a big book detailing the recording history of say, Pink Floyd, full of photos of the band, and each album’s original artwork and lyrics, bundled with a download of the band’s discography to listen to whilst reading.

I understand many people still listen to the majority of their music on CDs and vinyl, but for those who listen almost exclusively to digital files, would you be interested such a product, or rather just buy a CD or LP to convert and archive?

Drop me a comment below.

Spotify – First Impressions

Today I had my mind blown, whatever the music ‘game’ was, it has now changed.

Okay, Hyperbole over, but man, I’m impressed.

I heard about Spotify browsing about on various blogs, but it’s currently invite only, so I registered my interest and left it at that.  But on the way home from the dentist, I saw that Metro had a promotion going with free invites (grab one while they are still available), rushed home, and got myself an account.

Downloading the client took no time at all, and within seconds I was logged in and had access to the Spotify catalogue.  Which was surprising, quite good.  Obviously it isn’t complete (some artists don’t hve all their releases up, and some are missing altogether), but there is a wide range of independent artists (Amon Tobin discography anyone?) as well as the usual major label acts.

The music loads instantly, and you can skip through tracks without any delay, the cover art shows up, and any albums or playlists play straight through, with the occasional advert playing (I heard no more than one 30 second ad per hour of music).  The ads are unobtrusive and FAR better than on radio and tv. A subscription option is also available to remove adverts (£9.99 for a month).

As well as the speed and catalogue, what really impressed me was the way Spotify deals with playlists.  Like iTunes et al, any songs can be saved to playlists for future reference.  What makes Spotify’s approach interesting was that playlists can be converted to URL’s and sent to friends (the same is true for any artist, album, song, or even a point within a song).  Upon clicking on the link, the client opens and displays the desired material.

It’s also possible to set up collaborative playlists, where multiple users can edit and listen to playlists in real time, dragging and rearranging playlists on the fly.  This flexibility and ease makes services like Muxtape and it’s successors feel quite obsolete.  The client also scrobble to last.fm

That’s not to say things are perfect though.

Of course the catalogue needs improving, but for a beta product, it’s a fantastic start.  I’d love to see social features in Spotify, with much of last.fm’s functionality built in (contact lists, listening history and charts).  Contact lists would also make sharing songs and playlists much easier.  Users could have an inbox of links sent from friends, and collaborative playlists could also notify listeners when thy are updates (perhaps by changing colour?).

Finally, advanced search, gapless playback and PORTABILITY would speed up Spotify’s move into mainstream.  I just hope it proves to be a viable business model, and can stay afloat at the same time as labels and musicians getting a fair deal, because it’s potential is crazy.

So grab an invite, and post your thoughts (and links!)

Oh and to get in the Christmas spirit here’s a James Brown christmas album.

Happy holidays!

My Favourite Albums Of 2008

I suppose a good way to kick things off is to give a bit of an idea of the music I’m into (not everyone fancies trawling stats at last.fm like me), and what better way (especially in December) than an obligatory end-of-year album list.

Here’s my favourite albums that came out in 2008, in no order:

Pivot – O Soundtrack My Heart

Thanks to a friend of mine Peter, I discovered Pivot this year.  Newly signed to Warp, the Australian three-piece play a flavour of instrumental rock not too dissimilar to Battles, but with more prominent melodies.  The album ranges from textured synth soundscapes, to abrasive glitching rock, whilst flowing perfectly from track to track and achieving a cohesive feel and atmosphere.

The band were propelled even higher in my estimations when I saw them live in a pub in Birmingham (Rainbow, THE best venue in Brum), for about 7 pounds.  There was only about 30 people in the audience, but that didn’t stop the band (about a metre in front of me) playing a blinding set full of energy.

Oh, and the guy on the laptop looks like Michael Gondry.

Neon Neon – Stainless Style

I’ve been a huge fan of the Super Furry Animals for years, as well as the Back To The Future films, so when I heard that Gruff Rhys (SFA’s front man) was working on a collaborative concept album detailing the rise and fall of John DeLorean, the CEO responsiblele for the creation of the best time travelling car, I was rather excited.

Gruff, along with U.S. producer Boom Bip, Welsh folk singer Cat le Bon and party animal Har Mar Superstar could possibly be the oddest combination of musicians on one album, but it works, superbly.  The album switches from retro 80’s ballads to modern crunk, without ever sounding cheesy or dated, despite it’s reference material (the 80’s) typically sounding so.

I also saw the band in Birmingham, this time at the Glee Club, to a packed house, the band switched instruments for each track, with Gruff introducing each song in his trademark ’so-stoned-I-can-barely-string-a-sentence’ manner, and Har Mar providing DeLorean’s voice from beyond the grave, I just hope the band continue to produce material, possibly moving onto a new concept (the story of Syd Barrett perhaps? maybe not.)

Tv On The Radio – Dear Science

Another album mixing rock music with electronics, I think I can see a pattern emerging…

I knew of TVOTR kind of in passing, I liked ‘Staring at the Sun’, and some of ‘Return to Cookie Mountain’, but had never listened to a whole album.  After hearing a load of buzz around this disc online, I gave it a go. And was blown away.

This album has the perfect mix of my favourite instrumentation, drum machines, guitars, saxophones and hand claps.  The band has dropped a lot of the reverb and darkness found on their previous releases, and brought on the funk, with choppy guitar patterns and big beats.

BIG beats.

Kanye West – 808s And Heartbreaks

This album is a bit of a anomaly for me.  I’m not really a fan of urban R&B, or Auto-tuned vocals, but somehow this album really resonated with me.

I love concept albums, and 808s certainly is one of those.  Following breaking up with his fiancee and his mother dying, Kanye quickly wrote and recorded the album, focusing on heartbreak and loss.   Basing it’s sound on Phil Collin’s debut solo albums, 808s paints a cold, desolate picture of a man alone, using minimal synth lines, tribal 808 drum machines, and distorted vocals.

This album really has a ‘feel’ throughout it, and some brilliant production.  Even better, Londoner/Brummy Ben Hudson (a favourite of mine) features on ‘Paranoid’ and has writing credits on over half the album.

The album isn’t flawless though.  It could benefit with some trimming, losing a couple of tracks (ignoring the live bonus track, which is not needed at all), and tidying up some of the intros/outros.  It’s also mastered horribly, distorting all over the place.  However, this was a quick record, coming from a man in mourning, it’s imperfections almost adding to the album’s concept.

School Of Seven Bells – Alpinisms

My final pick is the debut album from School Of Seven Bells, the new band of Benjamin Curtis (ex-guitarist of Secret Machines, one of my favourite bands).  This band adds confirmation to my theory that Brooklyn produces some of the best music in the world.

The main focus of the band’s sound is the vocals from twin singers Alejandra and Claudia Deheza, often singing in harmony and rhythmic tandem.  Their vocals are backed by a reverb soaked electronics and droning guitar.  This combination results in sound world you can easily get lost in.

They band are touring in the U.K. next year, which should be awesome.

Honourable Mentions:

Vampire Weekend – Vampire Weekend

Animal Collective – Water Curses EP

Foals – Antidotes

The Kills – Midnight Boom

Parts & Labor – Receivers

Mystery Jets – Twenty One

Secret Machines – Secret Machines

Anticipated 2009 Releases:

Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavilion

Bat For Lashes – TBA

Arcade Fire – TBA

Mr Hudson & The Library – TBA

Kings Of Convenience – TBA

What are your favourite records from 2008?

And what are most looking forward to in 2009?

A New Start

So here we are, my first post. I guess it should serve as an introduction.

I’ve done a lot of that on the About page, so I’ll be brief.

I’m a young musician, brought up in the digital age, with a great interest in the music business and how we all consume music.

This blog will consist of my thoughts and ideas on the industry, as well as any developments of my music.

Hope you enjoy.