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They Might Be Giants Open Their Own Music Store
slothdog writes "They Might Be Giants have opened their own music store, featuring "highest quality" (256kbps LAME) un-DRM-encumbered mp3's. There are only two CDs currently available (at $0.99/song or $9.99/album), but presumably more will be added as time goes on. Looks like a great way to directly support the artists."
Hey, if I can download particle man, then all is good in the world.
Some huge artist needs to join the bandwagon...
without that, or some pepsi backing, it won't win the 'music store race'
(where's limp bizkit, after their last album they would do something like this for the publicity)
Runnin' On Empty
Just like most of the world, people tend to cater to the majority. Most people do not use Ogg. Most people use MP3. Fact of life.
In fact, I suspect that there are a huge number of MP3 hardware players compared to Ogg. I only know of one or two dedicated hardware players capable of playing Ogg files. A few more that do WMA, and I could list probably twice as many MP3 players. Do the math. You want to sell to the most people, you give them the format that's used most often.
TMBG has been around and "making a living" for literally decades. I doubt you need to worry about Them. They'll be okay.
I don't care if it's 90,000 hectares. That lake was not my doing.
I have to say the one major hurdle that has steered me away from downloading music from the iTunes and others has been the DRM. I'm sure there's few among this crowd that would disagree. I realize, I could still burn my downloaded music to a CD and do what I please with it, but it's really the principal of the fact.
But my complaint comes out at lossy codecs. Maybe I'm just being too picky, but the less compressed the better. A few years ago I put my whole CD collection in MP3 format for my computer/portable listening enjoyment. All at 160K CBR using XING. Of course, with the availability of an ogg player for my handheld PC, I have converted again much of my CD collection to ogg format for my computer/portable listening enjoyment.
If I hadn't had the uncompressed quality of the CD, I'd be stuck with my older MP3 encoded files. I had heard of a project earlier put forth where the company/band was releasing tracks in multiple formats, including FLAC (curious if anyone has a link or knows what I'm talking about?).
I personally wish that others would go this route--more choice.
I'm done complaining though. Seeing artists walk away from DRM is a great thing. Seeing them recognize the importance of the higher bitrate is also very encouraging. I hope this causes more of a rift between the good bands and the strong arm of the RIAA. It can only be a move in the right direction for consumers.
"God is dead!" - Nietzsche
"Nietzsche is dead!" - God
That was another band. And no we're not going to do fucking Stonehenge again!
Don't get me wrong, I love TMBG...
But what makes this newsworthy?
A lot of artists, like Stuart Davis have been selling high quality MP3s à la carte for song time. Most of Stuart's are ripped using LAME --alt-preset extreme, now --preset extreme, for even higher quality than TMBG's CBR rips. And, Stuart even offers free songs.
I like their idea, particularly the part about not assuming their listeners are thieves and locking down the content with draconian DRM schemes. Unfortunately I am not a fan of They Might Giants.
Seriously tho, my immediate reaction to this is of course very positive. I like the idea of cutting out the BS middle man and actually paying the artist directly. The idea that the artist in this case still actually owns their own music (which should just be a given) is rather nice. But it brings up some questions.
I keep going back and forth with this in my head and I still haven't found a complete solution. Given that the "problem" if you will is that artists in the past haven't been able to equip themselves readily with the means to provide their own distribution and sales, they've classically been forced to utilize record companies not only to take care of these needs but also to promote their work, and in the end they get the short end of the stick, even if it has been their best option. (I.E. making pennies on the dollar per cd sale net profit).
I came up with one idea, whether it's feasible or not you decide for yourself. The main reasons I have a hard time paying for a cd is the price, the fact that so little of that is going to the artist, and that in doing so I'm essentially funding the same effort that is trying to lock everything down and take away our basic fair use rights. So it seems the evil that is done outweighs the good when you buy a cd in the store. SO my idea is this: Why not set up a website, where people who have already gone wherever it is that they go, and downloaded their music illegally, where they can go and "make a donation" so to speak based on selecting specific tracks or albums that they have acquired. The website would ring up the "donation" based on what you select, run a paypal transaction and forward the money to the artist. Basically a very professional looking honor system. The artist of course can still be through whatever record label they choose unless accepting donations is specifically prohibited by their contract. The prices could be insanely competitive and still pay the artist alot more than the cut they currently get.
The problem (other than the obvious honor system pitfalls and possible legal issues) that I see here is that if you eventually cut out the middle man (record labels) entirely, what you are left with is just bands, their music, and their fans. While this model words great for established groups, it doesn't appear to leave much room for new bands.
Maybe in the end it would be enough for the record labels and this honor donation system to coincide, as that would obviously provide competition and motivation for the record industry to reduce its bloated infrastructure, lower overhead and in the end cut prices to compete with the honor donation system.
I don't know, what do you guys think??
You suck dude.
If an artist requests that you don't file share their music, don't. If they support filesharing, then fine, thats where most of the good music is anyway (even though i am a HUGE fan of TMBG).
If they're giving you (trusting you with) good-quality non-DRM mp3s (mp3's yeah yeah ok ogg is better), don't abuse that.
Don't forget that the record label puts up tens if not hundreds of thousands of dollars for studio time and marketing. . .
.which they most of the time lose to artists who make a crappy record or even blow their advance on coke.
.
Don't forget that the artists owe this back to the record company.
. .
They should sign better artists. The recording studio is most often payed directly by the record company, the money for such is rarely in the form of a "cash advance." They know better than that. Unless you're an established artist that recording studio is also likely to be owned by or under contract to the record company. They get the money for every angle possible.
The record is a joint effort, and the label deserves to be rewarded for its speculation.
Certainly, but it is speculation, therefore they should also be prepared to take risks, and lose, just as I should be "rewarded" for speculating on a stock or house. I have to mind my own business, do my research, and take my chances. So do they.
What's a shame is that the standard contracts are "artist gets shit". .
Ah, yes, you see? This is what they call what they deserve for their speculation. The artist speculates too, and such financial speculation is, these days, often stipulated by the terms of the recording contract and any monies advanced to them by the record companies to capitalize such speculation are loans owed back to the record company, taken off the top of record sales, but often still owed by the artists even if the record tanks. You can go bankrupt with a 100k in unit sales and a good tour.
So, you work for hire, don't get payed, but go massively into debt to boot to the people who "hired" you.
Sounds like a fair deal to me.
KFG
What about those who prefer to use a systen other than an Apple Macintosh with MacOS 9 or 10, or an Intel x86 system with Windows or GNU/Linux (not even BSD, and almost certainly not any non-GNU Linux systems)? What about those who prefer to keep their use of closed source software? (Note: MP3 *is* non-free in many parts of the world but MP3 players *can* have source code available.) What about those who prefer to refrain from the use of Flash (with Flash-blocking software, use of Lynx or merely refraining from downloading the plugin in the first place)? What about the blind?
All of these people potentially have the ability to reliably make use of the MP3 files, and are yet arbitrarily denied from being allowed to buy them.
Sounds good to me. If more bands take control of their own output like this, that can only be a good thing. I used to think it might just be me getting older, but modern music really is rubbish: it's pre-chewed baby food and has to be, because there's so much money involved in marketing and packaging and lawyers that it has to be dumbed down for the largest possible audience just to make any kind of profit.
What would work even better is if a band's CD also acts as a passport for added-value services on the website - so if you buy a CD, you can also download MP3s, bonus tracks, wallpapers, ringtones and so on from the website at no additional charge. Real fans buy the CD and get extra goodies. Passing fans just download MP3s cheaply and delete them if they get tired of them. Anyone who just wants to check out the band will pick up some MP3s from their favourite P2P network and either buy more or decide they suck, so it's not like the band loses out.
See? No need for DRM if you DIY. I'm in a band myself... if we ever get round to recording anything, that's the way I want us to go. I'm too old to go selling my soul to a record company.
I find it humorous that Slashdotters go on and on about how terrible mainstream music is and then listen to artists who produce albums full of fart jokes.
Your site uses flash only, and I don't have flash. So no sale from me.
Cheers,
Tels