Music

Qtrax totally has a music deal now, like for real

Posted on May. 8, ’08, 9:36 AM PT by Dan Moren

Category | Music

I don’t think we’ve mentioned Qtrax before—mainly because there wasn’t really anything to say, other than to laugh uproariously when it turned out that the company, which claimed in January that it had struck deals with all the major labels for free, legal P2P downloads—had, er, kind of neglected to tell any of the labels. However, now that they’ve actually managed to beguile one of the record companies—the increasingly promiscuous Universal—into some sort of “agreement,” I suppose we have to give them their due.

Seems to me that this relationship is destined for a crash and burn, though. Seriously, Qtrax sounds like they are way too into Universal:

“All of UMG’s music available digitally will be available for free, legal downloads on Qtrax,” Qtrax spokeswoman Shamin Abas told The Associated Press.

Meanwhile, Universal is already dodging Qtrax’s repeated insistences on meeting their friends and family, concocting such award-winning excuses as “Unfortunately, they’ve all signed up to be Mars colonists” and “I’m afraid they all died fighting in the Crimean War.”

UMG spokesman Peter Lofrumento confirmed Tuesday that an agreement has been reached but declined to elaborate or to say whether a contract has been signed.

Added Universal, “I mean, it’s not like we’re going steady or anything. We’re still seeing other distribution sites.”

The two said that Universal’s artists and songwriters would be compensated for their music, though under pointed questioning Qtrax admitted that it would be paying them in magical fairy money.

Create a mix — er, Muxtape

Posted on Apr. 24, ’08, 11:21 AM PT by Brian Chen

Category | Internet

Apparently Muxtape has been popular for over a month now, but I just heard about it. Call me an old fogey. Anyhow, it’s probably the most useful social networking site I’ve come across. The idea is simple: upload up to 12 songs, rearrange them to your liking and share your Muxtape URL with your friends. They’ll be able to listen to your Muxtape songs in entirety just by clicking on them!

Check out my Muxtape, and if you like the idea, create your own! Share your music and spread the love (before the RIAA shuts this site down).

Judge says Ramone suit not even Halfway to Sanity

Posted on Apr. 23, ’08, 9:59 AM PT by Dan Moren

Category | Legal

On the musical heels of a Texas district judge dismissing a lawsuit filed by a rap mogul, Apple’s dodged a second bullet. Back in September of last year, punk rocker Richard Reinhardt, better known—or, well, known anyway—as Richie Ramone said that he was owed some serious dough for several songs that he’d written that were being sold online without his authorization.

U.S. District Judge Shira A. Scheindlin (and clear Judge Judy impersonator) apparently wasn’t much of a Ramones fan. The Manhattan-based justice tossed Richie’s case against Apple, Wal-Mart, and Real Networks, saying:

“This argument is without merit. The distinction Reinhardt attempts to draw departs from the most reasonable reading of the contract and he therefore bears the burden of justifying this departure. Reinhardt has failed to meet this burden, particularly because he alleges that the digital recordings were sold, contradicting his own argument that digital recordings are licensed but not sold.”

Or, in layman’s terms, “tough luck, Richie.” Fortunately, he’s still got a second shot at success by litigation; his case against the Ramones’ management, the estate of band co-founder John Cummings, and others continues apace.

[via Listening Post]

Sony and Gracenote to make beautiful music together

Posted on Apr. 23, ’08, 8:08 AM PT by Dan Moren

Category | Music

Sony has long been desperate to get its foot in the door of online media. But, as they say: if it at first you don’t succeed, consider acquisition. Yesterday, Sony shelled out $260 million to buy Gracenote. If that name sounds familiar, it ought to: Gracenote maintains the archive once known as the CDDB, the source for that “Get CD Track Names” you’ll find in iTunes.

According to Sony, Gracenote will remain more or less intact, continuing to provide its services to the many vendors that use them (including Sony itself). You may also recall that as of a couple of years ago, Gracenote also has a deal in place with the record companies that allow it to provide lyrics as well, a feature that has not yet been leveraged in iTunes, despite the existence of a Lyrics metadata field.

Does the acquisition mean anything for Mac users? Given Apple and Sony’s current relationship (which we’ll call one of frenmityship), we don’t really think so—at present. Then again, if Sony follows its usual game plan, expect it to turn Gracenote into a qualitatively better but ultimately unsuccessful proprietary format.

Rip a band’s un-downloadable MySpace music

Posted on Apr. 21, ’08, 2:00 PM PT by Dan Pourhadi

Category | Music

Bands on the Internet’s social scourge MySpace often post music on their profile pages that isn’t available elsewhere — demo tracks, pre-release singles, covers, etc. And I often desperately want a file of that song to play on my iPod or in my car.

So how do turn some untouchable music on a band’s profile into a tangible audio file for your portable pleasure? I’ve found three ways that, while a little convoluted, get the job done:

• Audio Hijack Pro - This has been my Method of Choice™; use this app from our buds at Rogue Amoeba to record the tune as your play it. Hijack Safari, hit record, and quickly play the song on the band’s page. When the song’s done, stop the recording. Tada.
• This tip from Mac OS X Hints - This method’s a little more complicated, but the ideal free alternative if you’re not willing to fork over $32 for Audio Hijack. It’s tricky, requiring you to create an HTML file, scour the profile page’s source code, and work within some tight time frames. But if you’re into the whole DIY web stuff, this is right up your alley.
• Magic - I haven’t really gotten this method to work, but I have it from reliable sources that magic is actually a great way to download a song from a MySpace page, as well as do a whole bunch of other things normally impossible through conventional means.

There ya go. No more needing to constantly visit the cultural calamity (and website disaster zone) that is MySpace to listen to that otherwise-unatainable half-finished demo track that your favorite band for some reason sees fit to tease you with. This’ll show ‘em.

[Update:] Reader Paul Capewell offers up another solution in the comments:

Or if you’re using Safari you can hit play and then pause on the track you want, go Window>Activity, scroll down to the section for the page you’re on, and you’ll see either file downloading, or a file with a filesize much larger than the average images and files, and this will be your track. Double click it to open on its own, and then save it if you like.

Depending on what the artist has done, the file may even have ID3 tags on it even.

Bear in mind, these files tend to be only 96kbps. But as you say, if there’s an exclusive demo or whatever, it’s definitely worth doing.

Thanks!

Starbucks visitors to get a free pick every week

Posted on Apr. 16, ’08, 11:12 AM PT by Aayush Arya

Category | iTunes Store

If chilling out at Starbucks and shopping at the iTunes Store is your cup of… er… coffee, then you might want to know about Starbucks’ new promotional tactic, the “Pick of the Week”.

Starting this week, with “Washington Square” by Counting Crows (iTunes link), Starbucks visitors will be handed cards, valid for a month, that will allow them to download a hand-picked song (by the “Starbucks Entertainment Team”, not you) from the iTunes Store catalogue for free.

Given the crazy love-triangle between Starbucks, Apple and American Idol, I’m guessing the next product in the pipeline is a green-and-black Starbucks branded iPod full of all American Idol episodes till date. Anyone up for it?

If you get too cold, I’ll tax the heat. If you listen to MP3s, I’ll tax your iPod.

Posted on Apr. 15, ’08, 9:21 AM PT by Dan Moren

Category | Legal

While we here in the US complain about our ability to rip DVDs to our computer, at least we can get by for the most part with ripping our CDs (despite occasional claims to the contrary from the RIAA)—not so for our friends across the pond, where making a copy of something without the permission of the copyright holder is a big no-no.

There has been a movement afoot to change this, with Government officials like the Minister of Intellectual Property Lord Triesman having argued that the practice should be made legal (as a sidenote, I’d like to point out that nobody in the US government has either a name or a title that awesome). However, the Music Business Group (MBG), a trade group, has rejected the proposal, which didn’t require extra compensation for creators and copyright holders. They, in turn, have suggested a tax on MP3 players, the rate for which—in the words of 2 Unlimited, y’all ready for this?—they would determine. I know, I know—shocking!

The MBG claims that the transfer of music from physical to digital medium implies value; a Government-sponsored consultation, on the other hand, concluded that in the case of a one-time shift for personal use, “there is no significant harm to the right holder which would need to be compensated.”

Like DVD-ripping, however, I imagine CD-ripping will pretty much continue unabated in the UK. But knowing the record companies, I somehow doubt we’ve heard the last of this.

Make sure your songs rate, with Funes

Posted on Apr. 11, ’08, 8:18 AM PT by Dan Moren

Category | Software

What is with our obsession with rating things? Movies, books, blog posts, songs, Olympic figure skating routines—can’t we just give them a slap on the back and a hearty handshake for a job well done? I mean, at least give ‘em credit for trying their best, even if it’s not a five-star, two thumbs up, perfect ten effort, right?

If you’re a compulsive rater, but hate digging into iTunes to assign a star rating for all your songs, here’s a quick, easy, and free way of doing just that. Funes is a little app that sits in your menu bar; when you want to rate the song that’s currently playing, just hit the menu and choose the requisite number of stars. The rating will instantly be reflected in your iTunes library. That’s all there is to it.

…I feel kind of like this blog post is kind of short, but there’s really nothing else in Funes to discuss. Oh, I think the guy who makes it flies planes, according to his about page. And likes to get drunk. Hopefully not at the same time.

[via Lifehacker]

Clear Channel plays tag with iTunes

Posted on Apr. 8, ’08, 8:34 AM PT by Dan Moren

Category | Music

Ever heard a song on the radio and wanted to buy it? Well, the record companies have surely wished you would. And now, thanks to a deal between the megalithic Clear Channel radio conglomerate and iTunes, you’ll be able to do just that. Clear Channel has rolled out a new tagging feature to more than 340 of its digital radio stations, letting listeners identify songs and easily purchase them from iTunes.

It’s not entirely clear to me from Clear Channel’s press release how this magical process works, but here’s what they say:

“Radio continues to be the number one way that people discover new music, and the HD Radio iTunes tagging capability lets listeners add songs to their iPod playlists with just a push of the button,” said John Hogan, president and CEO of Clear Channel Radio.

Well, thanks Clear Channel, how crazy altruistic of you. Now we’ll at last be able to figure out what those three annoying pop songs are—you know, the ones that you play over and over again until we want to put our eyes out. Oh, and I bet the fact that you’re getting a revenue cut for those songs doesn’t hurt either, neh?

I believe you’ll need some special equipment to take advantage of this feature, specifically radio receivers from the likes of iBiquity, JBL, JVC, Sony, and others. Not sure it’s quite worth it for me, as I rarely listen to music on the radio.

[via Bloomberg]

MySpace to do (more) Music

Posted on Apr. 3, ’08, 11:52 AM PT by Dan Pourhadi

Category | Music

MySpace is everywhere. 99.999999% of people under 30 have an account. Movies use it. Musicians use it. It’s in ur headz eating ur brainz.

It dominates the social networking community, and, for many, is often the number-one go-to site for finding info on bands (and the number-one go-to site for employers looking for disqualifying dirt on potential employees, but that’s another story). And now, it’s looking to cash in on its popularity in the music scene by opening it’s own DRM-free digital music store called — drumroll please — MySpace Music.

Peter Cohen at the Mothership dissects the news:

MySpace Music is being launched in partnership with Sony BMG Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group, and will offer digital music downloads, ad-supported audio and video streaming, a mobile storefront and sponsorship opportunities, according to a statement released by the companies on Thursday. The companies plan to launch MySpace Music’s new features iteratively in the coming months.

So what does this mean? No idea. Nostradmous probably predicted MySpace’s grey goo-like grasp on the web as a precursor to the end of the world. It remains to be seen whether the MySpace community — largely 13-year-old girls who like to take pictures of themselves at random times and in random poses — will adjust to actually purchasing music if they haven’t already done so through iTunes. Ad-supported audio, though, may prove to be a winner.

Check the Mothership article and the press release for all the grimy details on MySpace Music.