I wonder if Julius knows what an interwebs is… cos the interwebs sure knows who he is:
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Tag: Record label
It’s sprayed all over the SA IT media: “MusicDNA will rescue the MP3 from oblivion”, “MusicDNA to succeed MP3“, “MusicDNA predicted to rival MP3“, “MusicDNA: New digital file that is son of MP3 unveiled“. And it’s all a crock of shit.
MusicDNA should be MusicDOA.
Why? Well firstly, (Mail and) Guardian, file formats are female, in the same way that LPs are female. They always have been, and always will be – ask any geek. So, if MusicDOA is the son of MP3, then it’s not a welcome part of the music family.
But issues of gender aside, Apple has already invented MusicDNA – they just called it the “iTunes LP“, a much nicer name. Bundling additional digital content and interweb-link-crud along with the MP3 is not the revolution. It’s not even a warning shot over the bow. It’s more like “a tribute to the zip archive”. Yet some musically challenged business-moron (Stefan Kohlmeyer, the chief executive of Bach Technology, which has developed the file) feels that *this*, a rehash of MP3, will save the record companies?
C’mon, guys, it’s already over. The music label is done. Over. Archaic. Closed. Piracy does and always will prevail. Artists will make money from performing. Additional revenue streams will open up here and there, but the giant middle-man of music has been turned away at the gates, left to wonder (and wander) at how they ended up hat-in-hand, shunned by the masses.
We simply don’t need another audio file format. MP3 / FLAC / AAC is probably good enough, until we have flying cars anyway. And we especially do not need another proprietary format that is riddled with DRM and all kinds of consumer-abusing mechanisms (think tracking cookies, spyware, behaviour profiling). And of course alongside this “MusicDNA archive” will be the potential to literally hack the shit out of the consumer who buys and uses it. No longer will viruses be delivered by email, but by iTunes (or equivalent) instead. If we ever do need another format, it will be open source, patent-free and flexible, such as Ogg Vorbis.
So here’s to MusicDOA and the millions of stupid dollars spent developing an obfuscated zip file. Well fucking done, clowns. When you’re done pissing money away, please build me my flying car.
- Image via Wikipedia
So the hot news on the interwebs is that the world’s largest torrent tracking site is due to be sold to a private Swedish gaming firm, who will attempt to turn the service legit. Shades of Napster‘s demise loom large, but hopefully this time the record companies and the motion picture association have a bit more foresight and don’t attempt to bully their way completely out of the online era. I’ve always maintained I don’t mind paying a few bucks for legit downloads from a decent music download site.
Whether this is a good thing or not remains to be seen. We’ll have to watch closely as it plays out over the coming months, which means that Peter Sunde’s visit to South Africa to keynote at iWeek 2009 should prove to be a hot event.
One does wonder how he’ll skip out of Sweden with a jail sentence hanging over his head. Perhaps he’s got himself one of those easily obtained fake South African passports?
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- Pirate Bay Heading to Davy Jones’ Locker (wired.com)
No streaming in South Africa.
DRM crippled songs do not play on iPods. Er, hello? Are you hearing this? Are you complete and utter morons?
The “Store-front” is not compatible with alternative operating systems and browsers.
You’re almost as bad as than Pick ‘n Play.
You online music stores never learn.
And there’s always the Analog Hole, which cannot be plugged.
Nokia Music Store, congratulations, you too have blown your chance to open up online music in South Africa.
I’ll get my tunes from RhythmRecords, ThePirateBay or even Watkykjy.
Now, Nokia execs (that includes you, Mr Jake Larsen), go read this study. Here’s the gist of it:
“online music bootleggers are much more likely to pay for music online than those who don’t steal music.”
It’s simple: Give us a reasonable record store that gives us the music in a format that works for us, and you’ll make your money. And yes, FUCK the record labels. The record companies don’t know shit about the modern music business.
Jislaaik, why do you guys make me so angry? Bloody hell.
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- Slow start for Nokia’s music plan (news.bbc.co.uk)