Stream the New Phoenix Album

Allow me to thank the Internet. The demand for content is so overpowering, that we now require things like albums to come out before they come out. It's a good age to be a bottomless pit of a pop culture consumer. And I say that with love, I really do.

This week we get the new Phoenix album Bankrupt! a whole week early courtesy of iTunes. My one-word review two tracks in is: YES.

Anyway, be off with you and go listen.

The New Tale of iTunes

Apple announced recently that things are going to be a little different in iTunes town starting in April. The good: Steve Jobs and co. have added three more major labels (Sony, Universal, and Warner Music) to their arsenal. The better: DRM-free MP3s (digital rights management that prevents easy copying). The "eh": ITunes is getting rid of its flat rate of 99 cents per song and instead basing pricing on popularity and age. 69 cents will get you an older catalogued tune, 99 cents will get you a regular "new" song and a $1.29 will get you the latest single from the Jo. Bros. (that's right, I can't even bear to fully type out the names of this (Mickey) mouse dropping of a band).

So what does that mean for us? There's never been a better time to have obscure taste in indie music and a love for oldies.

As for the DRM-free business, I could care less. What the implications are of making it easier to copy MP3s, I'm sure I don't know fully, but I doubt this will change much. If someone is seriously concerned with copying music, then you've got to wonder if they paid for it in the first place. Just sayin'.

I've been digging around, reading up on the subject. If preventing piracy is so important, then why would seemingly vital protection be compromised in a business deal? Well, some seem to think that DRM was more of a bargaining chip in the first place, something that could be held on to to wrangle price hikes or whatever else. I can buy that theory. Others think it's been a control issue more than a protective measure. Apparently iTunes was "the last major hold out" regarding the protection on its music. Ex. Amazon has been DRM-free over a year now.

Another article I read pointed out that this weakens the link between iPod and iTunes, meaning people could start going for competing products like SanDisk, or iRiver. That's Apple's problem, but I tend to think that there's way too much brand recognition and built-in status in the iPod to seriously worry about potentially plummeting iPod sales. I could see more of an issue in the inverse, like who cares what kind of coffee you put in your Starbucks mug? But, why would you put Starbucks coffee in a regular mug if that's what you're going for? No doubt, there are better products than the iPod, but in many ways they are lesser-known entities and that hurts. On principle, I sell the average consumer short when it comes to technology. And I make no apologies about it.

Taking a step back though, I think iTunes is going to remain king a long time and as long as they don't do something stupid like stop selling music, there's not a whole lot they could do to screw things up.

Enjoy this excellent illustration.

Coldplay Has Vestibular Issues

iTunes is currently offering the music video to "Lovers in Japan" free. That's pretty snazzy. The video is not too bad, the colors are deep and they write in the air like in that really cool Sprint commercial. It looks like they're writing with a neon light bulb. "Viva la Vida" should have been more along those lines. The only problem is all the spinning. The camera does flip after flip and it just fees like someone trapped Chris Martin in the dryer on tumble dry with a billion paper butterflies. It's dizzying. If you can control your stomach, it's worth a watch.

Adventures in Getting Scammed by Interscope Records

It just so happens that I recently celebrated a birthday. It was good, thank you for asking. Anyway, I was given the soundtrack to Across the Universe, a movie which is much loved here at the Musically Inclined. Upon first glance all appeared to be well, I conquered the shrink wrap in record time, only to remark how odd it was that "Hold Me Tight" wasn't included. Okay, 1 song. I was still stoked but all of a sudden the euphoria settled and my wits returned. Also absent from the 16 track disc were "I Want You (She's so Heavy)," "Dear Prudence," "Girl," and "All You Need is Love," which is nothing short of ridiculous given it's the tag line of the movie.

At that point I figured something was rotten. Amazon.com confirmed by suspicions, not to mention a good dozen angry product comments on the site. Here's the deal. Interscope Records released said soundtrack in September of last year when the movie came out. You've got to know that anyone who wants the soundtrack has got to love the movie pretty well and there's a good chance there's a healthy dose of fanaticism thrown in the mix too. Less than a month later, Interscope released the Deluxe Edition-- 2 discs, 29 tracks, and for only $2 more. Unhappiness ensued. Opened cds can't be returned. Either you can spend another $14 for a cd that has 16 songs you already have, or you can suck it up and try to use Garageband to record off Youtube clips.

We got burned, folks. I don't mind that there's a 31 song edition available exclusively from Best Buy and iTunes...it's just 2 songs extra to download from iTunes,if you feel so compelled, but using a ploy like that crosses the line from sneaky marketing antics to dishonesty at the expense of people who found something in this rash of mind-numbing, Will Ferrell- infested, soul-killing movies that was worth owning. Interscope has earned itself a spot on The Musically Inclined S*#% List. Keep your eyes peeled, kids. This shan't happen to TMI again.

Incomparable Cool: Coldplay & iTunes

The Musically Inclined isn't too big on posting video for the sake of maintaining clean aesthetics, but this iTunes commercial for Viva La Vida cannot be denied. Enjoy.

It Happened. Digital is King.

The other day I saw this this fascinating little story from CBS. iTunes has surpassed Wal-Mart in music sales. Not that I didn't see this coming, because you'd pretty much have to be living in your air duct not to get a whiff of this trend, but now that's it's official it's really something to think about. A little while ago I would have ventured that yes, the tangible record industry is doomed, but I would have given it a decade before CDs disappeared. After seeing the entire half isle devoted to pop/rock at an actual Wal-Mart, I'm giving it five years tops. Granted, megastores like Best Buy will probably hang around a little longer, but that's to be expected. Roaches supposedly can survive a nuclear attack. Eventually though, placing hands on an actual plastic disc will be a challenge.

Honestly, I still can't get my head around not having my music physically exist anywhere and I really hate to think about what this will do to album art. What's the point if the cover is only a couple pixels by a couple pixels? Sadness. I'm still getting over the death of vinyl. Stay tuned, kids.

Auditory Roadtrip

Perhaps I am a bit late to realize this but, that "radio" button on iTunes is one nifty little feature. I started messing around with it about a week ago and had the good fortune of stumbling upon one station listed as "alternative." It was WFNX Boston and I have to say, I was quickly hooked. During one run between commercial breaks, they played Sublime, Rogue Wave, Shiny Toy Guns, Spoon, Nirvana, and Modest Mouse, to name a few. It was refreshing to hear this one type of music that appeals to me in one place-- no bouncing around from myspace page to myspace page because I don't have the CD, or having to commit to listening to a whole album by one band when I've got auditory ADD at the moment. Not to say that there's not a station around where I live that doesn't have a similar format-- if there is I haven't been listening, but the idea of tuning into a different city and glimpsing life there is kind of exciting. It even makes the commercials more tolerable. It's like driving through a city on a roadtrip and briefly imagining what it would be to call yourself a resident in that place.

If you haven't made a similar discovery, do some exploring when you get a chance.