Hot on the heels of Muxtape, a new (I think?) service called Mixwit lets you create mixtapes that are a little different.
The tapes are visually more fun
They're sharable on a blog
It's flash-based (so unlike Muxtape, no iPhone compatibility)
You can have multiple tapes per user
But most fundamentally different, Mixwit's pretty well protected from a C&D order by the fact that they don't even host music. All they do is let you search using Skreemr and Seeqpod, two already cool services, and grab the audio from the results.
It's a little lacking in social features, but much like Muxtape, a lot of the fun comes from randomly discovering new mixes and seeing what people have done with it.
Here's a tape I made of old ska, rocksteady, and reggae from the 60s and early 70s.
And should it? Well, I think so, but I'm an independent musician. The money I want to make for my music is largely a result of the money I spent putting out a product. And mp3's cost nearly nothing as a product (BitTorrents would cost even less, but it's too nerdy as a distribution model at this point). So maybe I'm a radical when it comes to these things, but I can't help but be encouraged by some of the recent developments in music.
THE GOOD: Most recently, iTunes decided to drop the price of their "Plus" (Non-DRM'ed, higher quality tracks) to 99 cents. Fan-freaking-tastic. Paying more to make your already-purchased songs into ringtones is rude, but slapping (admittedly fairly easy-breaking) DRM on your poor-quality files is sad from an industry leader.
Why this is great: Well... Apple rule the roost still, at least for the moment. They'll drive things with their power, even as some labels jump ship.
THE GREAT: I'm guessing the whole move is largely in response to Amazon's mp3 store, which is where some labels have bolted to. I recently patronized Amazon just to show them how awesome I think it is. $7.99 got me the Minutemen's first two albums on one "CD" at a high bitrate (yes, VBR, but average 256).
Why this is great: Amazon finally offered something that it shouldn't have taken a sales giant with their own spaceship to do: A web-based download of good quality non-DRM mp3's with no subscription, and both per-album and per-track options. And they got the Big Guy in digital music, Captain Turtleneck, to follow suit.
THE AWESOME: I went to the record store the other day and found something brewing that I think is really neat. Tons of indie labels seem to be including one-time-use download coupons for unprotected mp3's in the packaging of their vinyl records.
Why that's great: You can now take your Bob Pollard records with you, but more importantly there's an inherent acknowledgment that the media is irrelevant to your owning of the music. It's sort of like a cheaper way of including a cassette to dub your record onto so you can play it in your car.
THE HOLY EFF THE MAN, BATMAN: The logical conclusion of this for some artists is probably the most exciting thing of all. You can understand the significance of Radiohead, Trent Reznor, and Madonna all deciding to distribute their own albums within the space of two weeks.
And Radiohead have shocked the world with an optional price tag on their newest record. At first I thought hey, I'll give 'em money because I think they're doing a great thing. Then I decided to support their decision by paying nothing. Is this odd logic? Eh, maybe. But it makes sense in an odd way, and I think they're going to make good. I'll let bigger Radiohead fans (there are plenty) spend £40 on the 2xLP plus bonus CD box set of the album. It will probably sell very well.
Why this is great: Should be obvious. One of the reasons artists "need" the RIAA is because the record labels take piles of money and leave them with the spare change. Once musicians realize they can have their cake and eat it too, it'll be "so long" to that Lars Ulrich mentality. Artists will make more while consumers pay less. For that month before artists get greedy it'll be rad!
As a bonus for reading this overly-long blog post filled with unbridled optimism, here's a video of Weird Al's ode to piracy, "Don't Download This Song."
Sometime yesterday, I started seeing this floating around MySpace:
Ian Mackaye, lead singer of influential hardcore band Minor Threat as well as Fugazi passed away today in a Baltimore hospital room. Outside a Fugazi show in New Jersey last night, the singer was struck by a car passing by the front of the Ventura Theatre. Brunswick police say that the driver allegedly stopped, but then fled the scene. There is now a police investigation underway.
Mackeye was rushed to St. Agnes Hospital in Baltimore, where he was pronounced dead this morning at 6am. This is a tragedy for the underground music as a whole and we need to stand together at this time of loss.
A tragedy indeed: Ian Mackaye is pretty much the originator of both DC hardcore and emo, a constant proponent of DIY, and well-known for continuing to sell his label's records at $10 postage paid (vinyl or CD). It's a true loss.
"I am happy to report that I am not dead," says MacKaye.
Not sure where the hell this came from. It's almost as weird as the MySpace story of Don Bolles from the recently-regrouped Germs arrested on GHB charges for having Dr. Bronner's soap (or the ironic version, "Germ arrested for soap"), from a few months back. Except that turned out to be true. But rest assured, DIY's leading man will continue to be around in order to do swell things like this.
After all, we still need someone other than Rollins to be in every punk documentary ever made.
The final day of CityFest on Sunday was ridiculously hot. But we spent a lot of it in the shade of the stage or VIP tent with our backstage passes for the kings of power pop, Cheap Trick. How awesome is that? I don't always care to see bands I like at free festival-type shows because they invariably half-ass it, but I get the feeling that Rick Nielsen always seems to half-ass it in his own special way.
He was chattier than most rock stars on stage though, whipping out joke after (sometimes funny) joke and changing guitars every song –sometimes in the middle of a song. He wore a suit jacket the whole time, while Robin Zander pranced around amiably in leather pants. How these somewhat aging rockers didn't drop dead is beyond me, but it was interesting to note the similarities between the once-pretty-boy Zander's pants and his face. Here's a pic with Nielsen's (arguably) most obnoxious guitar:
Big bummer? We got there late and missed "Big Eyes," but caught "Surrender," "Dream Police" and the second "Hello There." Bigger bummer? It was a "family" show so they were barred from playing "He's A Whore," one of my all-time favorites.
I was browsing through Yottamusic's catalog today when I found, amazingly, that Rhapsody had added the bulk of Dischord Records' roster to their library. This is very exciting to me. I don't always like Dischord music enough to buy it on LP (although Dischord CDs and LPs are always $10 postage paid), and I'm sure I can just borrow it from Alex anyway. I used to grab stuff from Emusic, but I haven't been a member there for a while. So, to Ian Mackaye and his label: DRM might be a great evil of the world and enemy to music, but thanks for making your music available in all formats.
For those who don't know, this includes a glut of great mostly DC hardcore, including some originals (Minor Threat, SOA), those bands that branched out and created emo (Rites of Spring, Embrace, Dag Nasty), those that went zen (the mighty Lungfish), and those that featured the Foo Fighters' Dave Grohl (Scream).
In tribute, here is a great video of Ian Mackaye ripping on the term "emo" some 20 years before its goofy resurgence. (Video description on the Youtube permalink has the transcript if you can't hear him)
Sadly, the more things there are to blog about, the less time there is to do it. I couldn't thing of a theme to tie it together, so Dada it is. What's happening?
I went to see Jello Biafra speak, then snuck my way upstairs to see the end of the always-psychedelic Acid Mothers Temple and Melting Paraiso UFO show. The guitarist was hanging his guitar from the ceiling as they wound up what sounded like a multi-hour heavy metal freakout jam. Unsurprisingly, the Magic Stick smelled like a bong. However, I stood in line to buy pizza behind Kawabata, and he didn't smell like a hippie or a guy who'd been in a van all year.
I watched a friend buy a Skynyrd record with no irony.
Some people came over for Cinco de Mayo to enjoy my grilled/marinated chicken taco stylings and scratch-made margarita recipe. 2 parts tequila, 1 part triple sec, 1 part Rose's lime juice and some more fresh lime juice squeezed in for good measure. Now you know my secret, don't let it fall into the wrong hands.
Aside from a little self-importance on the Washington Post's part, this is a really great article about the tree in the woods, the average person's appreciation for art, Koyaanisqatsi, and the a bunch of people ignoring the crap out of the world's greatest living a violinist. With video. [via Photo Matt]
Update: You ask a question about an important and horrible Illustrator bug on a blog by a web designer, and no one answers. You mention some (apparently asshole) violinist, and the world is in your comments box. I'm re-opening comments, and commenting as an "open letter" to my angry friend who sent me a contact message with an invalid email. I spent some time writing my reply, so I could at least force everyone else to read it if he won't.
The past few Tuesdays have been really light on interesting new releases, and I think I've figured out why. With the exception of the new Arcade Fire two weeks ago, everything came out today. Here's what I want (setting up a webcam and an Amazon wishlist now)
Adult. - Why Bother? From what I hear, my resident hometown weirdos are back to doing electro-revival robot music. That's a welcome thing after their brief and unenjoyable flirtation with dance-punk. This pleases me.
El-P - I'll Sleep When You're Dead Fantastic Damage falls into my top 5 hip-hop albums ever (surely top 3 by white guys), and he's made us wait a really long time for the new one. In that time he did a bunch of remixes and hung out possibly too much with Nine Inch Nails. We'll see...
Ted Leo + Pharmacists - Living With The Living Ted's great, no matter how you slice it. One part Springsteen, one part Ian Mackaye, a little Elvis Costello and maybe even a touch of Billy Bragg. If you don't know Ted Leo, he's sort of a punk version of singer-songwriter music, with plenty of power-pop and a little soul thrown in. Lots of people who read my blog would love the guy.
Low - Drums and Guns Low are another consistent band, but you have to be into slow, sad, mostly acoustic music, because that's what they're consistent at. Not exactly what I expect out of Mormons, but then again, I don't know what I expect out of Mormons.
Modest Mouse - We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank So the story is, Modest Mouse got huge, sold songs to Target and shilled for minivans, and apparently used that leverage to just randomly call up 80s superstar guitarist Johnny Marr (The Smiths) one day. Now he's the oldest and most British member of the band. And now for the first time ever in his solo career, he's going to sell a lot more records than Morrissey. I'm listening to this one now. The last traces of the old 90's Modest Mouse -- unnerving, poorly synced, with inventive and crazed drumming -- are almost all gone now, in favor of clear, bright, and tight sounds. Not necessarily a bad thing, but I'm having a hard time hearing anything too memorable so far.
Tila Tequila - Sex Just kidding. I'll bet you any amount of money this isn't even going to be worth making fun of. Tila Tequila is some random girl who got big simply by being on myspace and friending nearly everyone. Apparently this worked because she's supposed to be sort of reasonably close to attractive. I wouldn't know, her profile crashes my browser.
Since I missed blogging it before, I have to mention two things: one, the new Arcade Fire is damn fine. The first album was a phenomenon -- a fluke, something whose circumstances (large amounts of band members' families dying at once) will never be repeated. But they've managed to prove they're not a flash in the pan. Secondly, the newest Of Montreal record is great too. I never cared that much for them. For Elephant 6 bands, give me Olivia Tremor Control any day. But after writing an Outback Steakhouse jingle and breaking up with his girlfriend, Kevin Barnes wrote a dark and crazy disco-electro album with tons of hooks and a weird Prince vibe. I went to see them on Sunday in a super-packed Majestic Theatre, and it was awesome. Complete with projections, costume changes, and a cover of "Raspberry Beret." Highly recommended show for fans of almost any kind of pop music.
Alright, you've seen the list. Now commence to buying! Pick one up for yourself while you're at it.
Words you'd never expect to hear out of my mouth or on my blog, I know. But these good-natured, somewhat annoying Canadians deserve your support.
I remember reading an article a while back in Wired talking about Nettwerk, the record label and management company best known for bringing us such Canadian heavyweights as Skinny Puppy and Sarah McLachlan. Their president has a lot of crazy ideas about how the music industry should be changing in the digital age, and he's right on with most things. And one of the craziest ideas? Give away the next Barenaked Ladies album for free, with no DRM. No catch. And Techcrunch reported that it is indeed happening. Amie St., the social music store hosting it, is down at the moment due no doubt to the popularity of this.
I say go download it regardless of your opinion of the band. This is a pretty crucial time, what with potential changes to the DCMCIA coming down the wire and people like Steve Jobs speaking out loudly against DRM. Downloading the Ladies' stuff sends an important message.
UPDATE: Should have read Arrington's last paragraph:
The songs will only be free through the first few downloads, and will start to rise after that. But even at full price, listeners are getting quality music, DRM-free.
So there you have it. I guess I have to downgrade the "definitely download" status to "even casual fans should buy this."
I'm not sure why I keep going back to the subject of music in commercials, maybe it's just the most infuriating thing I can think of. In the wake of more and more bands refusing to do commercials (see Trans Am throwing away a heap of money to do a Hummer ad), the Texas alt-country band Old 97s have vomited out a jingle for Chili's baby back ribs. It's such a crappy version of an Old 97s song that I thought, wow, what a crap soundalike. Tom Waits should sue. Unfortunately, not the case. A quick Googling gave me the Old 97s' myspace page, and this blog post. Modest Mouse shills for minivans and Target, Matador Records strike a deal with Best Buy, and Of Montreal pimps Outback Steakhouse. Sometimes I feel like I'm living in a bizarro world. Of course, a weekin the Pop Century hotel and anyone might end up feeling that way.
On another note, pertaining to stronger musical ethics than current indie rock, I went to see American Hardcore. The interviews were cool in places, especially seeing what some of the people looked like after 20 years of smashing things up. Most were spaced out or permanently slurry, except of course, Ian MacKaye and publicity whore Henry Rollins. The performance footage was cool as well; nothing on par with Decline of Western Civilization but there was some really great Minor Threat stuff. All in all, it could have been a little more hard-hitting and a little less of a lovefest. After all, it wasn't real pretty: Black Flag's Greg Ginn was a jerk who went through singers like most people change pants, Bad Brains turned into homophobic Rastas who ripped off half the public, and violence was more prevalent than actual music in the scene.
While I was out seeing the movie, my dog somehow got out of her crate and ate a heaping pile of her favorite snack that I won't let her have, chocolate. 24 hours later, she's still alive and eating, so hopefully permanent nerve damage is meaningless to someone so dumb.
I'm Mike Propst, a web designer and developer in the Detroit Metro area. I am the interface developer for Blogsmith, the blogging platform behind Engdaget, TMZ.com, Joystiq, and more. I do not have a mustache.
I also worked on Emurse, the absolute best place on the web to get your resume going.
THE HOLY EFF THE MAN, BATMAN:
Sadly, the more things there are to blog about, the less time there is to do it. I couldn't thing of a theme to tie it together, so Dada it is. What's happening?
