Kate Bush

For those too young to remember Kate Bush, this is the song that started it all. Don't be surprised if you don't like it. Kate doesn't make pop music and thus is not to everyone's taste. For proof of that, she has only had one gold record in the US.

For those who remember Kate, most (if not all) of her videos from her earlier songs are on her YouTube channel, for a convenient walk down memory lane.

What started this nostalgia trip is that Kate is releasing a new album, Director's Cut. Sadly, it is not new material, but updated versions of old songs. Alan Cross from ExploreMusic.com previewed the new album.

I'm not sure that I like the new version of "Deeper Understanding" but it's clear that Kate still has an incredible voice which it has lost little of its power, despite perhaps not have the vocal range she once had.

And yes, I'd be lying if I said her voice was the only thing I liked about her. ^__^

Reznor In The Mainstream

Holy crap! I never thought I'd see the day when Trent Reznor would break into the mainstream. First a Grammy and now an Oscar for his sound track on that, um, er, Facebook movie, you know the one. ^__^ It's taken 20 years but it's great to see him finally getting some recognition beyond his loyal fan base.

And no, I did not watch the Oscars. Are you nuts?

Music Distribution

Myles was lamenting the slow, unrelenting demise of the the traditional record store. Don't hold you breath on this trend reversing. The record store will disappear before CDs do, though, because sites like Amazon can still afford to sell them for a while longer. The CD won't disappear entirely, but it will cease to be the primary means of music distribution in the twenty first century.

CDs (or vinyl records, even) will become a item in the special packages created for serious fans and collectors. Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails already did this a few years ago with the Ghosts album. Primary distribution for Ghosts was on BitTorrent, uploaded to The Pirate Bay by Reznor himself, but the main web site sold collectors packages, some for hundreds of dollars. The site crashed within minutes of it going live and was soon replaced with an apology from Reznor that redirected fans to The Pirate Bay! It was so cool!

The whole business of making music, from production to marketing to distribution, is changing. As this article explains, any musician that expects to get rich make music is seriously deluded. In the future, even just to get noticed, you will need to be damned good. The days of record company manufactured, disposable, banal boy and girl bands are almost over. And I for one, will be very happy to see them disappear.

Warning Signs

Big music is doomed to die a slow, inexorable death. The numbers say it more clearly than any words ever could. The decision to suppress digital distribute by suing Napster, instead of embracing the new distribution opportunies, was the beginning of the end. Suing music fans for file sharing was just another step down the same path.

But will anyone else heed the warning signs of fighting digital distribution? Unfortunately, the answer is, no. The lawyers at the US Copyright Group have convinced the producers of the Hurt locker to sue 14,000 ordinary people for file sharing the movie. No, the lesson has most definitely not been learned.

We can assume that the lawyers who spearhead these sue-'em-all campaigns, always get paid, even as the businesses they supposedly represent, are failing. Once you allow your business decisions to be made by a lawyer, you are so screwed.

New Wave In Toronto

It's a little known fact that Toronto was one of the few places in North America where punk and new wave music took root in the late 1970s. Most of the British new wave bands considered it worthwhile to play gigs here, which was significant because usually the only other place they played was New York City. Here are a few photographs, part of larger exhibit opening in March, that were taken by a couple of talented amateurs between 1979 and 1981. Strangely enough, I've heard the music of every band shown in the pictures.

The Music Universe

See if you can spot what is wrong with this image of "The Music Universe."

Did you get it? There's no customers in the diagram! It just shows how unimportant the people who buy its product, are to the music industry. Thanks to p2pnet.net for pointing that out. The other problem is it assumes that artists need all that middlemen in the digital age.