I saw the NINJA tour (Nine Inch Nails and Jane’s Addiction) when it came to SD on May 16th. As ususal, NIN, was excellent. Jane’s Addiction was good too, but I truly couldn’t appreciate it because I don’t particularly care for their songs with exception, of course, to “Got Caught Stealing.” Anyhow, I took some EXTREMELY horrible pictures with my iPhone and posted them to FuzzyShot. Here’s a link if you dare. If you like NIN, go to this tour and sing your lungs out (I did, along with a little dancing). Rumor is that this may be the last time Trent Reznor goes on tour as NIN (I hope this isn’t true). Whether you stay for JA is up to you (I stayed for about 1-hour of JA). Also, check nin.com for some fund raising activities in conjunction with the NINJA tour.
Tag Archives: Music
Amazon to Make Out of Print CDs Available
Here’s a link to my other blog.
Trent Reznor Experiments with the Music Business Model
Here’s a reprint of a blog entry from CNET. I’m fan of NIN and I personally plan to buy whatever music Trent puts out there that I like. I’ve never had a problem with paying for digital content so long as it’s decently priced and the artist gets most of the money. If people don’t want to pay money for music, believe me, the artists will figure out how to make some money, which means that artists will resort to subjecting fans to advertising subsidies — which may or may not be a good thing for the quality of music. Anyhow, I really see this type of approach as returning control of music back to the artists and the fans, where it should have been all along.
How will this affect music though? Will this get rid of the “album” as we know it now that artists no longer have to come up with 30+ minutes of music at a time? Will this bring back the era of the “single”? Could we possibly get better, more creative music now that artists don’t have to obey the corporate marketing machine? Will the radio stations finally play more than the same 20 songs over and over again?! How fast will this revolution happen? I can’t wait to see how this all plays out.
I’m still buying music CD’s
It’s May and two of my favorite recording artists, Bjork and Nine Inch Nails, released albums this month. I first found out about the new releases when I was sent messages about them from iTunes and when they appeared on my recommendation list on Amazon. I listened to the 30-sec previews of songs on the album on iTunes, but I ended up purchasing the CD’s rather than downloading thme. I purchased Bjork’s from a brick-and-mortar book/music store and NIN from Amazon.
So why didn’t I do what the cool kids do and purchase the albums on iTunes? Because I can’t burn the songs onto a CD so I can listen to them in my car. Ah, iTunes DRM … it completely violates the mantra “my music, my way, anywhere I want it.” Additionally, anybody who frequently uses their computer has experienced the pain of hard disk failure. I’m rather hard on my computers, so I really don’t trust the integrity of my hard drives.
In my purchases, this time, I noticed the albums’ packaging included some features that can’t be enjoyed without buying the CD. The Bjork “Volta” CD has interesting shiny packaging that is like opening a little gift. Inside there is the CD and a little book with pictures and lyrics. I actually felt a little guilty breaking the seal on such a shiny red surface – it’s so pretty. The NIN CD has provocative packing suggesting that listening to their/his CD is anti-Bush. The CD itself is printed with thermal sensitive ink, so after you play it the matte black paint on the CD disappears revealing the title and credits on a creamy background. I found this quite humorous. I imagine a lot of CD’s have similar gimmicks to combat online music stores and downloading.
Anyhow, once I got the CD’s home, I immediately ripped them onto my iPod and then slipped them into the CD changer in my car. Happiness …
I have downloaded some songs from iTunes, but only songs from albums that don’t have enough good songs on them to make them worth buying, songs that I consider poppy throw-aways that, for whatever reason, have caught my attention and but I can’t admit to liking, or, lastly, the album is out of print and the only place I can get the music is through a download.
I’m eagerly awaiting DRM free online music so I can download and do whatever I want to with the music I buy. I imagine I will continue to buy CD’s from my favorite artists or buy CD’s that have special features that enhance the experience of the CD.
More Rambling 