Universal announces "new" subscription plan

After announcing this week that they ALL their artists will only be allowing to have 90 second song clips on popular internet sites such as MySpace, Universal Music Group (aka the anti-christ) yesterday released that they will be releasing a subscription based music program called Comes With Music in collaboration with Nokia in the new year.

Doesn't sound to shabby at all. Consumers can just buy a Nokia product and get instant access to over 1 million songs while only paying a yearly rate. Hell, I would throw away my iPhone for that offer!

However, doing some more research and getting more opinions on the program, I have to say I actually hate Universal more.

Apparently, all the songs that can be accessed through the program are wrapped in DRM. For people out there who might not know what that is, it's Digital Rights Management. Anyways, this completely restricts anyone from sharing the songs and using them more than a pre-determined amount of times. Okay that's a set back however it gets worse.

Adding fuel to the fire, you can't burn the music onto a CD or listen to it on an iPod just on your PC. WHAT?!?!?! Oh, if you aren't pissed, it get's better.

In order to gain access for another year of the program you HAVE TO BUY A NEW NOKIA DEVICE which of course probably won't come cheap. On top of that, if you want to burn the music onto a CD it will require an upgrade purchase FOR EACH TRACK!

Holy crap, WOW, just, WOW.

This is a great idea and subscription based music is definitely the future however with all these restrictions in place, it's doomed to fail. Not to mention, this is a terrible way to start off on this idea. It will immediately turn people away from the product.

What are everyone else's thoughts on this this?

Riot goes gold

Paramore's (pictured above in disguise) latest effort Riot! has gone gold. Absolutely zero surprise here. When the hell will this band peak? It seems like they keep getting bigger and bigger and it shows no sign in ending anytime soon.

Stolen Transmission seperates from Island Def Jam

This explains the pure chaos I walked into when I went for an interview at Island Def Jam today. Though reported on Absolutepunk.net, Stolen Transmission Records has not folded by Island Def Jam's demands. Instead the label has decided to part from the Universal sub-label and become an independent label.

Very smart move on Stolen Transmission's part especially after UMG CEO Doug Morris' questionable comments he made a few days ago. Stolen Transmission is home to PlayRadioPlay! (pictured above), Monty Are I, The Horrors, The Photo Atlas and more.

Wow...

This is what Universal Music Group's CEO Doug Morris had to say about combating illegal music pirating when it was in it's early stages in the late 1990's and why they didn't come up with alternative legal ideas such as hmm, I don't know, ITUNES!

"There's no one in the record industry that's a technologist," Morris explains. "That's a misconception writers make all the time, that the record industry missed this. They didn't. They just didn't know what to do. It's like if you were suddenly asked to operate on your dog to remove his kidney. What would you do?"

Personally, I would hire a vet. But to Morris, even that wasn't an option. "We didn't know who to hire," he says, becoming more agitated. "I wouldn't be able to recognize a good technology person — anyone with a good bullshit story would have gotten past me."

Source: http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2007/11/universal_music_ceo_doug_morris.html

Basically what Morris is saying here is that contrary to the belief that any smart, common minded corporation would hire someone to at least research this issue, THEY NEVER EVEN DID. ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?!

Folks, I believe this industry can be turned around, that's why I still work in it. However, right now it's looking pretty bleak. All those corporate fucks in their offices upstairs need a simple remedy that I like to call reality. Stick with iTunes, simply believe pirating is inevitable, think of more innovative ways to sell music, and move on with your lives! It's not that hard people.

Bamboozle 2008

Has anyone else realized that ticket prices for Bamboozle 2008 have gone up from around $30 per day last year to $50 per day this year? Wow. So far really only "big" band announced has been Paramore (pictured above) which really isn't a surprise. Anyone have any idea why it's so much more expensive this year? Obviously there they must have something big in the works. Hmm, Blink 182 reunion anyone?