As I mentioned last week in the News Roundup, Universal Music Group is planning on trying out DRM-free music on a limited number of services. This trial is to last 6 months and it has been recently reported that the muisc files will contain unique digital watermarks within the file itself. Ars Technica has a great article breaking down why Universal is doing this but most importatly, why this won’t prove a thing.

Universal’s plan appears to be rather simple: sell watermarked tunes to users, then sit back and scan the P2P networks for music files with Universal watermarks. While the data won’t lead them back to pirates, they will be able to detect the presence of watermarked music online. Doing so would confirm for them which tracks have been purchased and then shared online.

So why would Universal do this? One possible goal, if you take the pessimistic approach to large labels, is to “prove” that DRM-free music doesn’t work. Another is that they are legitimately are interested in seeing how fast digital music leaks on the internet and then at what rate it proliferates. Ars mentions the illogical angle to either of these thoughts but it will be interesting to see what the mothership does with all there newly found data.

I had fun writing the last news round up because I could talk about a couple of different topics briefly and not have to find a specific article to editorialize. Aka, I am lazy… but want to keep posting on a regular basis. If you like the format let me know!

• The Universal Music group (who happens to be the largest label in the world) is going to try out DRM-Free music for a bit and see what the market thinks. It sounds like they finally see the potential of DRM-free music but are still very doubtful of the success. This may have been driven by EMI’s success or market pressures. Interesting side note is that iTunes does not appear on the list of trial sites, which in a way makes a little sense because if this is a trial then you want to start with smaller market shares, especially if you are fearful of rampant piracy.
  Music DRM in critical condition: Universal tests DRM free music sales
• AT&T (or their middle men) decided to edit out Pearl Jam’s anti-Bush statements during the live stream of Lollapalooza. AT&T claim it was a mistake due to an over aggressive media firm that was responsible for editing out inappropriate language which was required due to the unrestricted age limit. That’s a pretty weak argument but lets say it was a mistake, it still points out that when you have one main source (especially for the internet) the chance of censorship, even accidental, becomes a major factor. Net freedom is very, very important…
  AT&T Cuts Anti-Bush Lyrics From Pearl Jam Webcast
  update: AT&T May Have Censored Bands’ Political Speech in the Past
• Portability vs. Quality. This is a big debate going on with consumers and producers and how audio quality is being thrown out the window with MP3s. The SF Chronicle has a great article talking about why we are where we are and what we are missing.
  MP3 music - it’s better than it sounds

This show, we sit down with Evan Marc aka Bluetech to talk about his new dub techo/tech house release Emotional Ecology out on PsyBooty Records, other recent projects, and the pitfalls of becoming a ubiquitous force in the underground music scene.  (Okay, we made that last part up…)

The interview is presented in three parts interspersed with songs from the new album: Centigrade, Divide By Zero and Ekoshok.

Download the show or listen now:

Show links:

Emotional Ecology @ Fake Science

PsyBooty Records
Native State Records

So I have been a little obsessed, um… correction ALOT obsessed with St. Vincent (Annie Clark) since I first heard “Now, Now” on Gorilla Vs. Bear. One benefit of working with Fake Science and being a dj is that I hear a lot of new music all the time; sometimes its uninspiring other times it is quickly added to my collection. Rarely will a piece of music grab me and force me to listen to it over and over and then hunger for more by that artist. This is exactly what happened to me with St. Vincent.

“Now, Now” was the first track made public, back in April or so, and it was such a tease. I wanted to hear more, I wanted the album NOW, damnit. The last time I was this obsessed with a new artist was when I heard Alanis Morissette’s first single back on the 94.5 the Edge, freaking eons ago. It was haunting, I wanted more and the wost part you couldn’t get it yet because the album wasn’t released.

While waiting for the album, I read that St. Vincent was going on tour with John Vanderslice. One of the benefits of living in the Bay Area is that everyone comes through here… but not this time. The closest she was coming was San Diego; that’s not fucking FAIR! So I moped and whined and then Xina recommended we fly out to see one of her shows. It was tempting, so tempting and then I by chance read that she was playing Cafe Du Nord solo. Perfect. Not only that, but Ferraby Lionheart was coming up from LA to open. Even Better.

Xina and I got to the venue around 9pm to make sure that we would catch Ferraby play. I saw him in Austin for the SXSW show and was pleasantly surprised by his performance there. At Du Nord, he was by himself with a guitar and a keyboard and he played a wonderful solo set to the early crowd. It was interesting to see him open, when I felt he really should have been the second act before St. Vincent.

The second Act was Death Vessel, another solo acoustic act, but the presentation was very different. The singer looks like your typical metal/rocker with long hair, black clothes… but his voice is this near falsetto tenor with a bluesgrass-southern feel. I honestly don’t know if I liked him or not, I had such a hard time putting the look with the voice that it distracted from everything else.

Finally, at nearly Midnight, St. Vincent took the stage with a full band. Previously, her shows have been solo and only recently has she put a whole band together. The band was made up of a drummer on a click track (for fills/backing vocals), a bassist / keyboard player player, and a violin player. After seeing the DUMBO Sessions I had an inkling into what to expect from her but seriously, being two people back from the front row watching the band work the set, truly let you see how talented Annie really is. Her ability to stay focused on her singing while playing some incredibly complex patterns on the guitar was memorizing. The backing band was tight & talented and Annie had a great interplay between the violin and her guitar parts.

The track selection was mainly from her album but she did have a few tracks that I had never heard before. She did a solo song half way through the set… I don’t know the name but the refrain was “Bang, Bang” and it was about a how a women had to kill her old lover. The great thing about all the tracks she picked was that even though I knew most of them from the album, each were changed either by pacing or style to give each a unique twist. At the end of the set the crowd went nuts and Annie came back for two encores before she announced that she was out of songs. I think Xina’s quote kind of sums up the night: “I knew she was going to be good, but not that good.” (more…)