David Emery OnlineSky Larkin on Dopplr
God darn it, why didn’t I think of putting a band on Dopplr? Considering we already generate iCals for most of our bands this should be a doddle…
Visit ➔Record labels pressure Spotify to restrict service
In a blog post yesterday the startup outlined how it will be removing a number of songs from its catalogue and adding country restrictions to some tracks, which may make them unplayable for many users. The changes are being made because record labels have slapped restrictions on Spotify’s service. It’s a bizarre situation to think of in 2009 but it means that a user could share a track with a friend in another country, but that friend wouldn’t be able to play the track.
It irks me somewhat that people don’t seem to grasp how complicated territory rights are for music. Basically, most releases are dealt with by different labels in different territories, so there’s no way to simply use a track or release worldwide – you have to get agreements with all the appropriate labels involved.
It would be great – and solve so many headaches – if most recorded music was licensed for distribution globally, but it’s just not the case.
Visit ➔2009 NME Awards Shortlist
And while it’s nice to see a ‘best website’ award, isn’t the shortlist an indication of the weakness of the category? Bebo versus Facebook? If you’re going to throw it open to such wide consideration, shouldn’t Google at least be in the line-up?
The lack of a best DJ (as in radio) award seems to be a bit of an oversight, as well: who cares if NME readers like the Mighty Boosh; isn’t the person who slips them fresh music into their ears more, you know, significant?
The best website category is pretty laughable – seriously, who cares which is better out of sites like Facebook and MySpace? Of course, it’s not ‘Best Band Website’ as their are hardly any good ones but that’s a post for another day…
Visit ➔Knotty Pine - Dirty Projectors + David Byrne
From the brilliant compilation 'Dark Was The Night' out on 4AD next month.
Knotty Pine - Dirty Projectors + David Byrne
Visit ➔Voice Of The Fans survey
How are fans keeping informed about fave artists? 68% artist websites and 64% artist email updates. 51% MySpace, almost double Facebook’s 28%. 40% use Google to find info about their favourite artists…YouTube is 39%, artist blogs are 10%, ‘via my mobile phone’ is 5% and Bebo is 4%, with Others at 15%.
Lots of interesting stats – also interesting to see a general disinterest with subscription based models (whether they’re an single artist subscription or overall subscription).
Visit ➔Flaming Tips
I’ve been at the old records again. Like your Grandad at Christmas who’s been “at the whiskey” he has stashed in his shed, I crept into the loft to admire the new speakers I got for Christmas and stayed there until the only thing I had left to listen to was an old Kasabian 12 inch I’d never got round to throwing out – and all because I’ve been hiding from writing the Tips For 2009 piece.
I get very grumpy about these things now (even, I hate to admit it, the BBC Sound Of poll makes me want to stuff cotton wool in my ears and sleep for a fortnight). But this year it’s particularly irksome because, actually, no-one really has a clue what’s going to happen in music in 2009.
Steve hits the nail square on the head here – last year, I think everyone had a pretty good idea of what was coming but this year it really seems like grasping at straws. Which is great, quite frankly, as there were very few acts tipped last year that I think really made much of a difference in the grand scheme of things – sure, people like Santogold, Vampire Weekend, Adele et al made good records but there wasn’t much genuine excitement.
Also: you are reading Steve Lamaqs blog, already – right? I have a feeling not many people know about it…
Visit ➔2008 Music Blog Zeitgeist Countdown is ON!
We compiled data from over 700 year-end blog posts, analyzed it, and released it into the wild so everyone can see what bloggers were excited about in 2008. You can listen to full previews of the albums via imeem and browse bite-sized reviews via Musebin. We’ve also shared the data we used to compile this list under a CC license so people can see what we are working with.
The awesome-as-ever Hypemachine music blog countdown has just launched – always a good read and I’m loving their use of all sorts of different services (imeem, Flickr, Musebin) for different aspects of the Best Albums countdown.
Visit ➔