Music Monday - Lykke Li

Tonight's Music Monday spotlight shines on Lykke Li (Cheers Will Woods for recommending her). Lykke Li is a Swedish singer who has a unique voice and style. She has been on the verge of stardom for the past two years. She Recorded a cover of the Kings of Leon song "Knocked Up" and one of her songs was played in the film Sorority Row. But with her song "Possibility" on the soundtrack to the next Twilight movie, New Moon, she will surely be thrusted into the mainstream.

My favorite song of hers is "I'm Good, I'm Gone". You can listen to an acoustic recording of the song HERE. You can also hear several of Lykke's songs on her Myspace Page.

BlueBeat CEO Hank Risan discusses the Lawsuit and the "Psychoacoustics" Defense

BlueBeat Chief Executive Hank Risan participated in a Q&A with Pop & Hiss, the L.A. Times Music Blog, and went into further detail of how BlueBeat "transformed" the Beatles' songs using "Psychoacoustics".

If you actually listen to our 320 [Kbps MP3] recordings versus the actual CDs, you’ll hear a remarkable difference. They’re created with the intention of recreating a live musical performance. When you listen to them, they’re done in a virtual soundstage of using psychoacoustic simulation, and the intention is to create a live performance -- as if you are there listening to the actual performers doing the work as opposed to a copy or a phonorecord or CD of the work.

Hank Risan went on to say that "Psychoacoustics" is about "how the brain perceives sound. You can then create new sounds that may very well be similar to the original sounds, but you can control how you create those sounds using parametrics like timbre, loudness, other pitch." It sounds like Mr. Risan is argueing that by tweaking the volume and EQ, you can make a fair use copy of someone's music and even sell it as your own. Talk about a stretch...

Digital Graveyard: Database of RIAA Litigation

Ray Beckerman of the blog "Recording Industry vs. The People" has a database of litigation documents from a large number of copyright infringement cases initiated by the recording music industry. This is a great resource for those interested.

The Battle Over the Beatles: Court Orders Temporary Injunction Against BlueBeat

The Federal Court enjoined BlueBeat today from "selling and streaming tunes by The Beatles and other EMI artists". More over at Copyrights & Campaigns.

Order granting TRO in Capitol v. Bluebeat

The Battle Over the Beatles: Capitol Records v. BlueBeat

Earlier this week BlueBeat began offering 25 cent downloads of the Beatles' catalog of music. Only problem: BlueBeat did not have a licensing right to do so. Further, the Beatles' catelog is not available anywhere legally for digital download. EMI has now filed suit seeking a temporary restraining order. EMI's (Through Capital Records) Complaint, BlueBeat's reply, and EMI's response to the reply are below. Head over to Copyright & Campaigns for analysis of the case.

Capitol Records v. BlueBeat Complaint

Defendants' Opposition to TRO in Capitol v. BlueBeat

Plaintiffs' Reply in support of TRO in Capitol v. Bluebeat

Sued for Filesharing Music: Should You Settle or Allow a Default Judgment

There is no clear answer (is there ever with law?). It often depends on how many songs you are accused of sharing. The statutory minimum is $750 per song; the amount that would be applied in default. So ten songs? $7500. Settling with the RIAA appears to cost around $4000 to $5000.

Ars Technica has an article examining further the two options.

"The Golden Age of Infinite Music"

John Harris writes in an article for BBC News on the ease of obtaining music (by whatever means) and how that has created a generation of musically knowledgeable youth with palettes as well versed as middle aged music lovers. Mr. Harris opines on what a possible and likely future for music will entail:

Empty record shops will be overrun with weeds and old CDs will be used as coasters. Your Madonnas, U2s and Coldplays will prosper, but for anyone further down the hierarchy, the idea of making much of a living will be a non-starter.

While the future looks bleak, Mr. Harris tries to see the positive in the present:

But for now, this is a truly golden age - the era of the teenage expert, albums that will soon have to be full of finely-honed hits and the completely infinite online jukebox.

Music Monday - Cinematic Orchestra

Cinematic Orchestra is a UK group whose style is described as a fusion between jazz improv and electronica. However, the song I enjoy the most, "To Build a Home", features a piano accompanied by a string quartet. "To Build a Home" has been played during a number of TV shows including Grey's Anatomy, Criminal Minds, Ugly Betty, and Without a Trace. The pianist and singer in "To Build a Home" is Canadian Patrick Watson. Pitchfork has a review of the album "Ma Fleur" that contains "To Build a Home".

Click HERE to see a live performance of the song.

Click HERE to see a video clip of a very funny and awkward moment on So You Think You Can Dance where contestant Billy Bell dances to "To Build a Home" and one of the judges starts to freak out...

Rappers Lil Wayne and Birdman Sued for Copyright Infringement

According to Billboard.com:

The lawsuit says Cash Money Records had [the plaintiff] record some "Italian-styled" repartee in 2006. The suit says his work was used without pay or permission on "Respect" and other tracks from the rappers' joint 2006 album "Like Father, Like Son" and Birdman's 2007 album "5 Star Stunna."

The irony that the work was used on the track "Respect" has not gone unnoticed.

The People Who Illegally Download Also Purchase the Most Music?

"People who illegally download music from the internet also spend more money on music than anyone else." Believe it? A new poll held in the United Kingdom says it's true.

"The survey, published today, found that those who admit illegally downloading music spent an average of £77 a year on music – £33 more than those who claim that they never download music dishonestly. ... The poll, which surveyed 1,000 16- to 50-year-olds with internet access, found that one in 10 people admit to downloading music illegally." (via The Independent)

But what does the poll really mean? It could be that almost everyone in the UK who enjoys music has downloaded music illegally, leaving only those that are rather disinterested in music in the non-downloading category. It seems reasonable to believe that those who like music the most, and thus most likely to listen to music, are also those that have at some point downloaded illegally. To me, the poll really says nothing that we can accurately analyze.

Does it really matter if, as the poll suggests, people who download music illegally also buy the most music. The fact that they download some music illegally means that they are likely buying LESS than they would if they couldn't download illegally. Sure, people would not pay full price for every song they download illegally, but the fact that they are downloading it means they place SOME value on the music. If the price point in the market met that value, they would arguably pay for it. Because you can download most songs for about a dollar online, it is hard to believe that people would not buy some of the music they download illegally if they were prevented from downloading illegally.

So, the labels and artists may get MORE money from illegal downloaders than non-downloaders, but they are getting less than they would if the pirates stopped downloading. That's the important point often left out of the discussion.

Tuneglue: Music Map

Tuneglue is a great web tool to find other bands and artists that are similar to your favorites. You just type in the name of a band and the band appears on your screen with a circle. Click on the circle and you have the option to view the album releases from that band or "expand" which connects the original band with other bands that are similar, creating a web or map of bands.

For example, when expanding the band Kings of Leon, the following artists are connected:

White Lies (currently opening for Kings of Leon on tour)
The Strokes
The Killers
Arctic Monkeys
Kasabian
Cold War Kids

You can argue how much these other bands are really similar to Kings of Leon, but it is a fun tool to discover music you may enjoy.

Is the Album on the Way Out?

Albums aim to contain three hit singles. The rest of the album is usually filler songs whose purpose is to attempt to justify a hefty album price. With the rise of iTunes and similar digital distributors, people are buying fewer albums and more single songs. That behavior is completely rational: why pay $13 for three songs you enjoy plus filler music when you can buy your favorite songs individually for about $1 each. By empowering the consumer with the ability to purchase single songs (and not just the ones the music labels selected to be put on a "single" CD), and allowing consumers to preview songs before they purchase, the concept of the album might fade away. This would be exacerbated if storefront distributors like Wal-Mart stop selling CDs and instead have Kiosks that allow you to basically browse music and burn a CD (or even plug in your MP3 player and download the files).

If consumers have the choice to stop buying filler music, and exercise that choice, it should follow that the economic incentive for recording labels to force artists to record filler songs will be considerably lower. At the very least, the number of filler songs recorded should diminish. Time will tell.

Google to Enter Music Market

Rumors have spread this week that Google is about to announce a new service in which the company will provide a search service that incorporates Google's search power with other music streaming services like Lala and iLike. If done correctly, Google's music service may provide a great source to search for music content (music streams and video) and find lessor known artists. For further information, check out the PC Magazine blog post HERE.

Update: Google Music has gone live and can be accessed HERE.

Music Monday - Joanna Newsom

Every Monday I will mention an artist and song that I recently came across that I really enjoy.

First up is Joanna Newsom. Joanna is a talented harpist and pianist with a very unique voice. In particular, I really enjoy the song "Sprout and the Bean". If you recently watched the movie The Strangers then you will surely be creeped out when you hear the song. "Sprout and the Bean" was played on a vinyl record in the movie. The song fit perfectly with the scene and greatly added to the suspense of the moment. Click HERE to see the music video for Joanna Newsom's "Sprout and the Bean."