After 5 months of not updating my Flickr photo page, I finally went ahead and did so last night. I forgot how amazing Flickr is…I find that I don’t take as many pictures as I used to because no matter event I go to, there are already 13 people taking pictures as well. I just have to get a system going so that I can actually get the photos off of my friends.
Perhaps the first step is to go see them. 😉
Listen to the new Sam Roberts Band tune on their myspace page! It’s called Them Kids.
New album out in May. The ultimate summertime album…I can feel it.
Let’s talk music shall we? Or another way of putting it is how I’m enjoying the new method of music distribution.
It started last year with Radiohead offering up their In Rainbows album for any price you want, in a digital format (digital meaning that you can download it from the Internet but if you wanted a physical copy you would have to burn a CD yourself.) Fast forward a few months later and they went ahead and released a CD version anyhow which is great for guys like me who like to have that kind of thing (hi-fidelity and all, yo).
Then we had Saul Williams’s new album (which was produced by Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails fame) come out with two options…$5 for the album, or free. The meaning behind the $5 is to support the artist, whereas the free option is…well…read into that as you will. I would like to think it’s more of a try before you buy option instead of just take it and never compensate the artist. But we all know that’s an optimistic view.
Now we have Trent Reznor releasing a new Nine Inch Nails album within a year of the last release. Crikey. That’s fast. Especially considering NIN’s track record (5 years on average for a new album).
What’s the big push? Maybe creativity? Who knows? All we know is that NIN is no longer with a record label and can do whatever the heck they want. May I also point out that the Smashing Pumpkins are also in the same boat but that’s for another day…
I would like to talk a little about the options that NIN has offered his fans to nab some music.
Free – Well, at least the first 9 tracks from the 36 instrumental track are free. I like this idea. Not giving away your entire album but at least giving people a taste for free.
Full Album (Digital) – $5. Let’s be honest here. $5 for an album is a steal of a deal. Especially if you want to get into the price per track comparison with 36 tracks.
Full Album (Physical) – $10. For $10 you get a double CD in the mail in April. BUT, because they are awesome, they will let you download the album for free so you can listen to it right away. Amazing!
Deluxe Package – $75 – This is where things get interesting. For the super fans out there, you can get the CD, a DVD with a slideshow (tracked to the tracks) and a bunch of other stuff. Let’s be honest here…$75 is quite steep for a CD and a DVD and some photos in some album liner notes. But that’s not the whammy of it all.
Super Ultra Deluxe Edition – $300. For $300 you get everything that is in the deluxe package along with the album on vinyl (4 LPs) as well as it being signed by Trent Reznor himself with the guarantee that it’s limited to 2500 pieces.
I want to talk a little about how I think Nine Inch Nails have covered all their bases on distribution. First off, they have a sampler pack for free and the whole album for $5 if you don’t need a physical copy. When it comes down to it, he’s trying to nail the technologically incompetent folk with this one. If you didn’t really know where to look for ‘pirated albums’, and usually if you buy these things straight off an MP3 store, it’s around $10 an album, then you would probably opt for the $5 choice. Of course, Trent can’t stop the swashbucklers out there and I’m sure there are tons of people downloading the album for free. But he doesn’t care about that…in fact, he’s known to support the downloaders.
Let’s go onto the other path, the ‘let’s make me some money path’. All the way at the top, we have the $300 package of the album. Now, most of you would say “Good lord. Who would spend that kind of money on music that they can buy for $5?”
The answer is, the ultra-fans who want to have everything that the band releases and love the smell of something called ‘limited edition’.
Case in point, merely three days after the album went live to order, all 2500 pieces are sold out. Simple math dictates that 2500x$300 = $750,000. I have no idea how much it costs to produce such a package, so for the sake of not wanting to look into this kind of thing, let’s say it cost $250,000 to produce so he clears $500,000. This is quite the achievement considering we have heard stories over the years of artists making peanuts from album sales…a mere dollar or two for each album sold.
We’re not even starting to count how many regular albums they will sell in the stores, how much money they will get from digital downloads off their website…
If anything, this distribution model puts more money into the artist’s hands, and in the end, isn’t that where we would want our money to go to in the first place? I don’t care if a record company gets my money. I want the artist to get it.
And if they want to offer a super deluxe edition for $300, more power to them if they can sell out in three days. That’s pretty impressive. Heck, Nine Inch Nails have been around for years and have a killer fanbase so I don’t know how a new band could compete…but even new bands could probably make more money through this distribution model than through a record company. Now, if only we knew how to market these new bands without a record company…let the discussion begin.
I don’t usually talk about TV shows around here because I am one of those people who don’t like to be spoiled but I just watched the most incredible episode of Lost last night….I would say I haven’t been this excited about the show since they opened the Hatch. So please join me in the comments section for a little discussion (which will definitely be full of spoilers!)
This weekend was fairly low-key. After an excellent supper by Vero in which she introduced me to the greatness with is PESTO (PRESTO!), Mike came over with some beer and we waited until Philipp came into town. I picked him up from UofO, headed back to Vero’s had some beers, looked at some pictures from the Dominican Republic, and watched some excellent YouTube videos of guys doing 300+km/h on the autobahn. That was intense.
We then headed back to Orleans, went to Johnny Canuck’s for a nightcap and headed home to start watching the Knight Rider 2008 pilot. All in all, it’s not bad so far. Don’t know if it warrants an entire series though. But we only managed to get half way through it and there’s no David Hasselhoff. What the heck? But Val Kilmer is the voice of KITT which is awesome.
The next day, I was not feeling the greatest but I managed to bring myself to grab a burger at The Works with Jill, Krista and Mike. I got the Richie Butte’ special and if anyone can tell me who Richie Butte is, that would be appreciated. It was an excellent burger, topped with some swiss cheese and Canadian back bacon. Yum! The fries were excellent as always. I would highly recommend the Richie Butte as a not-so-extravagant choice, but one that will leave you with a smile.
We then headed home, meandered around and in the evening ordered some pizza and watched Goldfinger, Talledega Nights and Die Another Day. I was impressed that Vero managed to stay awake for three films, two of which were James Bond flicks!
The next morning, I dropped Philipp off at the bus station, headed home and watched First Blood (the first Rambo film) with Mike. Mike was amazed that he had never seen this film before and how different it was from the other Rambo films. I thoroughly enjoy this film of the series and I also like how the Rambo we all know and love comes out at the end!
A good weekend had by all. A few beers consumed here and there and some good times had by all.
Benoit is trying to make room in his basement to paint so he’s slashing the price on a television of his. If anyone is interested, let me know!
7 year old high-end Projection TV set… great working order. It’s 50 inches big. Would be great for a basement game room to play Guitar Hero or Rock Band. Paid over 4000$ It’s gotta go… we are renovating the small front room and the TV is too big for that room. 400$ gets it.
Hitachi 50SBX78B
Product Description:
Hitachi’s UltraFocus SB lens technology provides 10 percent more brightness and 30 percent more sharpness than the previous Hitachi UX series. Now with a total of six lenses, Hitachi’s UX line has a dramatically improved lens design, 19 percent more lens diameter, new improved red and green lens filters, and a new high contrast lens coating providing 35 percent more contrast. This projection TV also has a built-in UltraShield, Dolby Pro Logic surround sound, and TV Guide+ interactive programming service.
Product Specifications
– Exclusive UltraFocus SB Six Element Lens System.
– Exclusive UltraFocus SB Wide Neck PRTs.
– Resolution 1000 Lines
– UltraBlack Screen with Surface Diffuser.
– UltraSensitive Velocity Scan Modulation.
– First Surface Mirror.
– Dynamic Focus.
– Red & Green Color Purity Lens Filters.
– A.I. Home Theatre Modes.
– Wide Band Video Amplifier.
– MTS Stereo/SAP.
– Bass Reflex Speaker System.
– 181 Channel Tuner w/Auto Programming.
– Picture in Picture option
– Closed Caption Decoder.
– Power Resume.
– Front Panel Menu Controls.
– Sleep Timer.
– 4 Event On/Off Channel Timer.
– Channel ID/Video ID.
– Child Lock Set.
– Channel Skip.
– Special Event Reminder.
– Multi-Color Plug & Play Interactive Set-Up.
– Advanced Auto Link.
– 2 Level Mute.