Illegal download
As has previously been noted, Virgin Media and the BPI have struck an agreement to start “educating” Virgin Media customers who download music illegal by the BPI passing on the IP addressed of anyone who downloads (even though it has been proven that the IP addresses can be wrong, read paper by University of Washington).
Today reports are coming out that letters have been sent out to 600 Virgin Media customers who have apparently been downloading and I want to point you guys to this BBC blog entry, specifically to the comments section. I have not read all of the comments but I feel that Paul Freeman-Powell makes some very valid points, as does mikearthur.
If you are interested in this subject then this is well worth a read(even though Darren Walters seems to of taken in the propaganda by the lobby companies and decided it is stealing, rather than copyright infringement. Every track downloaded does not equate to a sale!!
EDIT:
I just read a comment by vastariner who makes a very good suggestion of recording live shows and then selling these on a bands website. As a fan who has been to see the show or just wants a live copy of the band I would be very much inclined to do this. I also love this comment by Mark_WE disassembling Darren Walters point regarding why it is stealing.
Finally, I leave you with a quote by Bobsy_26 here.
Lest we forget, the anti-piracy ads shown on DVDs and in the cinema:
* You wouldn’t steal a mobile phone/car/handbag… mp3? Yes, that’s clearly the same issue.
* Piracy feeds terrorism. Oh boy, the image of a cackling Osama Bin Laden sitting on a heap of counterfeit DVDs, working his diabolical masterplan of media piracy against the west, is just too chilling.
* Piracy hurts artists. Yes, I’m sure it does under the current system, but it hurts record labels first, and harder. And that’s something I have limited sympathy for…
I promise to stop linking and referencing comments now :).
Seasick Steve
Everyone should listen to this man, he is an amazing blues player and I have to say I love his music. My dad introduced me to him and I haven’t been able to stop listen to him. I mean, do you not think he is worth listening to just for having such a mighty beard?
For a little taster of his music check out the following YouTube links.
Dog House Boogie (live on Hootenanny)
Cut My Wings (live on Hootenanny)
My Donny (live on Hootenanny)
I have to say I love both of these songs but Cut My Wings in my favourite out of the 3. I currently have his album Cheap and looking to purchase Dog House Music.
Zane Lowe - Masterpieces
I don’t often mention Zane Lowe when I talk about the radio, in fact I only really mention Colin Murray (amazing music, what can I say?). Back to the point….This week marks the return of “Masterpieces”. This is basically where Zane Lowe plays a different album each day (not interruptions) on the radio that is felt to be a “masterpiece”.
More information on this years masterpieces can be found here. But for those who don’t like clicking links the albums are listed below.
Radiohead - ‘OK Computer’ - 31 March
Public Enemy - ‘It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back’ - 1 April
The Libertines - ‘Up The Bracket’ - 2 April
Guns N’ Roses - ‘Appetite For Destruction’ - 3 April
It just got interesting
Play.com has just put a cat amongst the pigeons and announced that they will be offering DRM free, high quality music from just 65p a song. Not only does this under-cut iTunes but they are offering their tracks in MP3 format at 320Kbps compared to iTunes ACC format.
Admittedly we will have to wait to see how many of the songs are charged at 65p but either way I see this as a great improvement for the record industry. Just a shame there are currently only a million tracks available through EMI and independent indie labels; hopefully a few more of the major record labels will get involved soon though.
I personally will be trying out this service, especially since they allow you to redownload a track is something goes wrong when downloading.
Colin Murray
What a radio DJ. Colin Murray is a DJ at Radio 1 who does the 22:00 - 00:00 slot on a weekday, but use to do the 13:00 - 16:00 slot with Edith Bowman. His evening show is really good and tends to play a lot of obscure music, which the average listener has never heard and it all tends to be pretty damn good.
Anyway he does this feature called Mobile Disco where he plays an hours worth of music non-stop (and it is pretty non-stop). This feature is surprisingly good and today he was playing songs that made it to No. 2 in the charts. Pulled out some absolute crackers and would recommend going to the listen again section on the Radio 1 website. Alternatively listen to his evening show, which is again available online.
One final thing, happy new year.
One of the best dance songs of the 90’s?
I’ll let you decide
Stardust - The Music Sounds Better With You
Soulwax is playing in my house, my house
Last night I went to see Soulwax @ Digital (Newcastle, UK). They were the definition of orgasmic. Think of 2 Many Dj’s doing their remixes, but it’s a 4 man band doing it. It was just unbelievable. An hour of Soulwax dropping some awesome tunes, followed by hour and half of 2 Many Dj’s dropping some of the best tunes I’ve ever heard.
One of the best nights I’ve ever been to. Still got Digitalism, Rave in a Cave and Scratch Wars (Scratch Perverts vs. Dj Yoda) to come though so might be out done.
My Top 15 Albums
I don’t like doing these things because I often miss albums out and put albums in them just because I am really into them at the time rather than liking them for a long time. Anyway I made the list and here it is. At some point I will add the page and half I had of albums I had to reduce to this list.
1. Feeder - Echo Park
Amazing album, can’t help but smile and nod my head to the songs - one of the first “rock” bands I listened to
2. John Frusciante - Shadows Collide With People
Another amazing album, experimental work by Frusciante and by far his best solo album and he produces some skills you never head him do when playing with Chili’s
3. Led Zeppelin - How The West Was Won
Live recording of Zeppelin playing - a sort of greatest hits. Had to put this in otherwise my list would of doubled in length putting all my favourite Zeppelin albums instead
4. Red Hot Chili Peppers - Mothers Milk
Great album which a lot of people have not heard of. Got 2 of my favourite Chili songs on as well which is a bit of a bonus and unfortunately one of their last great albums
5. Oasis - Definitely Maybe
Debut album by Oasis and they are yet to better it as it is just so damn good. They’ve had a few good albums but most of them are not good all the way through and only contain a few great songs
6. Fatboy Slim - You’ve Come A Long Way Baby
Just have to listen to it to listen to how great it is. First dance album I ever got and could quite easily just be Fatboy’s greatest hits as so many of the songs are amazing
7. Dr Dre - 2001
When I was younger I couldn’t stop listening to this album as it is truly amazing. I almost put Jurassic 5’s EP on the list instead of this and Scratch Pervert’s FabricLive 22
8. Sublime - Sublime
Sublime’s only official release (released after the lead singer died). Has a lot of tunes on it but unfortunately misses some of their old songs off. Only one of their albums I like all the way through
9. The Datsuns - The Datsuns
Great rock album made recently but still is all about the rocking out and soloing (compared to all the shit rock around at the moment which is all emo-tastic crap to say the least). I would hazard to say the best band to come out of New Zealand
10. The Shins - Chutes Too Narrow
The Shins…what can I say, these guys are one of my favourite bands of all time. It took me a long time to choose between this and Oh Inverted World but Chutes Too Narrow just clinched it. I would recommend people to listen to both albums
That first 10 was quite hard to pick, the following 5 where even harder but this is the sort of thing I came up with
11. Daft Punk - Discovery
If you love Daft Punk then you’ll love this album, also check out Homework which is another great album by them
12. AC/DC - Back In Black
Old school rock and my favourite AC/DC album. Don’t really need to go on about as I assume most of you would of heard at least 1 track off this album
13. Kings Of Leon - Youth and Young Manhood
Best KOL album and is great. Don’t even know why I like it so much. I think that it seems so different to other things and I think his voice is amazing
14. Red Hot Chili Peppers - Blood Sugar Sex Magik
Couldn’t have a list of my favourite albums without having more than 1 Chili album. Probably one of their most famous albums and with the beloved songs “Under The Bridge” and “Give It Away” even though my favourite song on the album is “My Lovely Man” (and is probably my favourite Chili Peppers song full stop)
15. Rage Against The Machine - Rage Against The Machine
Great debut album, raw and just amazing. I love rage and I think you all should to
Unofficial Extras tongue
16. Stereophonics - Performance and Cocktails
This was Battle of Los Angeles by RATM but I suddenly realised that I had missed this amazing album out of my top albums list and that this should not be so here it is. Never heard of the phonics? Get this album, it’ll blow your socks off
17. The Prodigy - Fat Of The Land
Immense album. The Prodigy are great and whenever I am in a club and they put any of the songs on this album on or any other of their songs it’s kind of a standard that I go mental and usually threatened to be kicked out - this is how good the album is
18. Radiohead - Hail To Thief
Favourite Radiohead fan (OK Computer comes a close second). First attracted to the album because the name refers to how Bush stole the Presidential election
As you have probably noticed I actually have 18 albums which I think was a pretty good effort on my part. I managed to cut this down from a page and a half of albums and has taken me about an hour to do, which is rather sad. One of the hardest part was to choose between my two favourite RATM albums.
I feel I should mention a few of the albums which just missed out on being in the list as they’re still amazing but just out of reach of the top 15 *cough* 18. 2 Many Dj’s - As Heard On Radio Soulwax pt2; Eric Clapton - Unplugged; Jurassic 5 EP; Linkin Park - Hybrid Theory; Louis XIV - Louis XIV; Muse - Absolution; N*E*R*D - Fly Or Die; Rage Against the Machine - Battle of Los Angeles; Postal Service - Give Up.
Exam time
I have been a bit busy at the moment as it that time of the year again where exams are around the corner. I have 3 3 hour exams this year which is blatantly going to be really fun…I only have to get 40% on each to pass my first year at university but I currently have an 81% average so would quite like to keep that intact, plus if I decide to take a year out in industry then I need to have good grades to be able to get a good work placement.
This means most of my time is being wasted revising, but it does mean I get to listen to a lot of music (work to it). At the moment I am really into Gym Class Heroes, Fischerspooner and Louis XIV. All 3 are bands/groups I use to listen to but haven’t for quite a while is a nice change.
Leeds Festival 2007
Just a quick update to say that I have my ticket for this years festival and I think it has potential to be better than last year. Not too sure about who I am going to see yet but either way I think I am going to have a wicked time.
