International Soundcloud Meet-Up pt. 2

Soundcloud Meetup - Glasgow 2011 [FULL VERSION] from GlasgowMeetup on Vimeo.

Apparently, it's been available for a good wee while now, but due to the impossible-to-locate Voltergeist, I've not yet seen the full thing. So, here's the 20 minute edit of the Glasgow Soundcloud meet-up event, including lots of panel chat from Paul Reset, Muslim Alim and Texture.

Booya.

Moog iPad app.

Finally, something to make me consider buying an iPad. But only just.

David Quantick says:

"The Music Industry Is Killing Music".



Who are we to argue?

Pete Burns will never release another record (digitally).

Icon of 80s excess Pete Burns (of Dead Or Alive fame) has made the following startling announcement through his current record label:

"'BRISTAR' RECORDS ANNOUNCEMENT!

It is with extreme sadness, and absolute anger, that I have to announce that no further releases will be made available via digital download in the future.

This decision has been made due to the illegal posting of Pete Burns record 'Never Marry An Icon' by various individuals on YouTube, and other 'share' sites, less than a week after release. They call themselves 'Fans', but they are really the enemy! A blatant act of piracy, which is as much a product of YouTube's scandalous lack of clearance policy, which should verify ownership of copyright in any item posted on their website, but never is! And is, as far as this record label is concerned, one of the major reasons for the decline of a music industry, dying as a result of YouTube's total lack of ethics, discretion, or morality, both personally and legally.

The promo video release for 'Never Marry An Icon' has now been cancelled.

The 12'' Extended Club Remix of 'ICON' ( due for release 21/09/2010 ) is now cancelled.

All future releases by Pete Burns and Dead or Alive will be in 'physical CD & DVD format', and can only be obtained via pre-order, and pre-payment, through bristarrecords@gmail.com. Full name & postal address, together with an International Money Order, Postal Order, or Certified or Personal Cheque, will be required, at least 30 days in advance of release. Address for remittances will be sent via return email upon receipt of orders.

'THE ART' by The DIRTY DISCO featuring 'PETE BURNS', will be the next release on BRISTAR RECORDS. RELEASE DATE - NOVEMBER 1st. 2010. Formats - 7'', 12'' EXTENDED CLUB MIX, Instrumental Version.Info & Pre-Order at bristarrecords@gmail.com

All future CD/DVD releases will contain copyright management code embedded in the audio signal to prevent copying and sharing via the Internet, and will be numbered and barcoded, in order to prevent copyright breaches, as mentioned above. And to ensure a clear legal pathway to identify and prosecute any copyright theft of our product.

Obviously, the cost of obtaining future recordings and product will be higher for production and distribution of physical CD/DVD Packages, than a simple download. But Piracy is a crime, and we must make a stand against it, and people like, ADDRESSREMOVED@yahoo.gr , and the other people who have posted 'Never Marry An Icon' on 'share' sites, and who seem to think offering another persons work for free, without permission, must be stopped! Please feel free to contact Alice at her email address above, and get her reasons for sabotaging and destroying Pete Burns opportunity for chart placings and T.V exposure for his first solo single! Thanks to all of you for your continued support!

Lotsa Love!
Yours sincerely...,
Steve Coy
BRISTAR Records"

There is so much wrong with this that I should hardly have to point out (and I'm not even talking about the decision to publish the email address of the supposed leaker; we removed it, obviously). I sincerely doubt that any label who has spent money on a 12" mix and a promo video would decide to shelve them because of a leak (onto bloody Youtube of all places) but I do find the idea of Burns' future advances being stumped up by his fans as quite interesting. I hope there's a "satisfaction or your money back" clause - especially after hearing the single itself:

Bye-byespace!

So Myspace has a new layout - well, as Shannon Doherty says in Mallrats: "too little too late". Incredibly, Myspace still seems to see itself as competing for the same market as Facebook and Twitter (both of which do their own job much better thank you), while not playing up the fact that practically everyone in the world of music is on there. I guess Murdoch and co are bricking it at the thought of losing tens of millions of users, which is understandable as Myspace's sole revenue stream is advertising. But you know, this was always going to happen! It will happen to Facebook and Twitter too, when brighter shinier toys come along.

What's most annoying is that all this "pimping up" only addresses surface level factors, and major fundamental flaws (such as the search engines) have not been touched. Also, the user's homepage is now actually more confusing than before, as there is nothing to distinguish adverts from actual functions. I would like to know who exactly team Myspace consulted about these so-called improvements. I certainly don't think it was anyone in the world of music.

It's a real shame - I have been a Myspace user for a good 5 years now, and made some great connections out of it, and I still feel that if streamlined correctly it would be the best site for the music business. But alas, when has Murdoch ever done anything that was in the public interest? I'm with Andrew Dubber on this one. They've truly jumped the shark.

Fuc51

I've just had a guest article published on the Manchester blog Fuc51, about the differences between the music scenes in Manchester and Glasgow (as I see them).

Fuc is a great blog, ruthlessly taking the piss out of the current "The Hacienda was amazing!"/"Aren't The Stone Roses brilliant?"/"We love Joy Division we do!"-type revivalism prevalent in the city, and in particular the London-based media. Suffice to say that Peter Hook is NOT a fan.

The article is here: http://fuc51.blogspot.com/2010/07/manchester-versus-glasgow.html and you gotta love that pic they've put with it!

NME Relaunch

If you've ever read the New Musical Express, then you might be interested in reading this interview with the new editor Krissi Murrison about the magazine's relaunch and new look.

Then again, you might not. Have we gone beyond caring about the "indie Heat"? Has the NME shaped void in our lives been filled many times over by the wealth of great music blogs out there?

"Happy Quit Myspace Day"

Here's an excellent blog post from Andrew Dubber about the major failings of Myspace. In a nutshell he thinks everyone should quit their profiles there, en masse, by October of 2010. There are plenty of suggestions in the comments section about where to go next - Soundcloud, Bandcamp, Muxtape and Reverbnation seem to be the favourites.

Friends from Berlin, Pt. 4: Dr. Nojoke

Another one tagged as "good people, good tunes."

Dr. NoJoke, aka Bogdan has been due a write-up for quite some time. The guy's great chat, very wise about the politics and economics of music, the music industry, and business in general. As well as helping to organise the festival, he's been involved in converting an old squat in the Friedrichshain area of Berlin into a functioning housing project, supported by a real give-a-fuck attitude. It's given people the responsibility for their own home, freed from all the hoops we're forced to jump through by market laws, and it actually works. We stayed there two nights. We would return.

Unsurprisingly, late night blether lead onto music - he likes Monolake, and Pole, and has pretty much the entire ~scape back catalogue. You can see why I clicked with him. A nice man named Proeff has made a mix entirely of his tunes, and you can check it out here;
All Dr Nojoke, all the time - think Vladislav Delay, Monolake, Marcel Dettman...

He also collaborates with J-Lab and Servando Bareirro under the guise TRIoon; an entirely improvised soundscape act. We've mention them before. Awesome.
TRIoon jam sun041009-I by Dr.Nojoke

He put together an instillation for Berlin Net Audio called Berlin Wall of Sound, which was a digital map of the city, with triggerable field recordings from across former wall locations. High art, casual entertainment, and pretty damn cool. A lot of it appears in TRIoon.

Liam

Dying Behemoths

“We must not let these dying behemoths take away someone’s internet access – and connection to the world – for some accusatory, unprovable ‘piracy’ claim, ever.”

Alice Taylor, Commissioning Editor for Education, Channel 4

Alice, you just made my 'thank fuck for some people' list.
(Found via Sizemore's twitter.)

Mandy; Pawn of Satan

Mandelson was in the news a while back, after his oh-so innocuous holiday at the Rothschild's with Gaddafi Jr. and David Geffen. The decision to release Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi came after this meeting, so it's safe to assume this was more than a sunbathe and a blether. Mendacious Mandy also came home spouting copyright related nonsense, seemingly as the mouthpiece for Big Music. What a coincidence.
Michael Masnick of Techdirt doesn't think he got away with it, and has held some of his cack up for examination:
Peter Mandelson Defends His Sudden Conversion To Kicking People Off The Internet

We are living in a time when we can, and will, change these industries. Arm yourself with information, and never take the word of the majors or their spokesman.


(I realise this is a couple of weeks old but life has been on pause while I deal with Berlin related things. Anyway! the internet is a library as well as a newspaper, so it's fine.)