For Pete's Sake

Music Anyone?

To start this post off I’ve got to given credit for the inspiration to Drowned in Sound who produce a Spotify playlist every Friday. I doubt I’d follow the same schedule but it’s inspired me to share my musical favourites in a less than regular feature. Now I appreciate not everyone can get a hold of this playlist as Spotify isn’t available everywhere so I’ve created a mirror on last.fm. So without further ado I present to you, playlist #1:

#1 The Chemical Brothers – Where Do I Begin

If there’s one thing I’m a fan of when it comes to this genre of music is a tune where I can just sit back and just chill out. This is one of my favourite such tracks. It’s not completely mellow and it’s mostly down to the intro but despite the big beats that come into the track I really relax when listening to it.

#2 Orbital – Halcyon And On And On

Carrying on the chill out theme this is, in my opinion, one of the best tunes ever. I first heard it while watching the title sequence of Hackers which featured music of the time and once the movie was over watched all the credits to find the name. The intro is epic and it just gets better and better.

#3 Röyksopp – So Easy

One of the many songs I’ve discovered by Googling TV advert music this one was used for T-Mobile here in the UK. It’s a very recognizable tune now and it’s easy to listen to.

#4 Super Furry Animals – Ice Hockey Hair

Apparently ice hockey hair is another name for a mullet hairstyle but in this instance it’s the name of a song with a beautiful guitar intro.

#5 Fun Lovin’ Criminals – Running for Cover

The Fun Lovin’ Criminals are the unfortunate victims of their own success. After the release of the iconic song Scooby Snacks and début album the FLC suffered a perpetual 2nd album syndrome. I don’t buy into this and would say Welcome to Poppy’s is up there with Come Find Yourself

#6 Jack Johnson – Breakdown

Has to be my favourite track from his excellent Inbetween Dreams album.

#7 Chemical Brothers – The Private Psychedelic Reel

Another track from the Chemical Brothers album Dig Your Own Hole which made an appearance on Sony’s Gran Turismo.

#8 Feist – 1234

Another advert song but this time for Apple and their iPod but don’t let that detract you from a wonderfully simple song and an impressive album The Reminder.

#9 Nils Frahm – Ambre

Well as I mentioned above this playlist thing was inspired by Drowned in Sound and one playlist had this beautiful piano piece by Nils Frahm. Rest assured I’ll be listening to more of his music if this is anything to go by.

#10 Crowded House – Distant Sun

While I’m not a massive fan of Crowded House I do like this track a lot and would probably say it’s my favourite Crowded House track.

#11 Bob Marley – Three Little Birds

For the longest time I believed this track was title Don’t Worry, anyway, it’s a cheer up tune that I never tire of listening to.

#12 Feist – My Moon My Man

Feist’s second appearance and mostly because this track is one that just stays in your head a while once you’ve listened to it because it’s that catchy. Again it’s a simple tune with nothing overly complicated; probably why I like it so much.

#13 Counting Crows – Colorblind

Another song I first heard on a movie (Cruel Intentions) and got a hold of it as soon as I knew what it was. Simple lyrics that to me convey rather vivid scenes.

#14 Seasick Steve – Fallen Off a Rock

I first saw Seasick Steve perform on Jools Holland’s Hootenanny and instantly bought his album Dog House Music the next day. He’s one of the best guitarists I’ve heard and just love a bit of blues.

F*** you Simon Cowell I won't do what you tell me!

So, unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last week or so you’ll have missed the current Internet storm which is the campaign to get Rage Against the Machine’s track, “Killing in the Name” to #1 for Christmas in the UK. Now I’ll be up front and say that I’ve done my part, I bought the track on iTunes the other night. Now I already have the track but from my own personal perspective the fact that the winner of the X-Factor has been Christmas #1 since 2005 is, well ludicrous.

First of all not all of them have been that great. I’ve not watched every season but I’ve heard the tracks and I can’t say I’d buy them myself but then again I’ve been disillusioned by chart music for a good few years now. However my problem is it’s engineered so that it’s almost a dead cert that they’ll be number 1 at Christmas. I fondly remember in my childhood the prestige that went with being Christmas #1. It was a big deal and the uncertainty of who would be there come Sunday just added to the whole thing. However for the last 4 years you knew who’d be there as soon as the X-Factor winner was crowned.

Now I’ve read the counters to this whole campaign. I know Simon Cowell’s label is owned by Sony and that financially this won’t make a dent but at the same time its fantastic to see people make the choice to stand up and be counted. NME in one blog post points out the apparent futility and irony of the track chosen. However the counter blog post makes the point that, well, that isn’t the point. In the end the reason for the track is for the lyric and it’s not hypocritical because no-one is forced to buy it, it’s your choice, and very much about uniting in a cause against the system.

In the end though I’d settle for anyone but an X-Factor #1. Yes it’s harsh on the kid who’s won it however, fans of the X-Factor, there’s all of next year to give him a number 1. It’s just we want to free the Christmas #1 from the grapple of Mr Cowell and his X-Factor machine. Even if it’s just for one year that’s something and a wonderful show of people power.

Update: Well I still can’t quite believe it but we did it! Rage Against the Machine’s track “Killing in the Name” beat Joe McElderry’s “The Climb” by 50,000 sales. It’s also the UK’s first Christmas #1 by downloads only and for the fastest selling download single ever which just adds to the sheer amazing achievement that this was. You can be cynical all you want about the Sony/SyCo thing and that it’ll be X-Factor next year. However I’m looking on the flip side; Shelter will be on the receiving end of a nice windfall as most who backed the campaign donated money to the charity (current figures put the amount raised at £60,000+) but also I believe many will feel that change can happen if you work for it. Politics has suffered in the UK with turnouts for elections being very, very low with many citing the feeling that their vote won’t count as the reason to not vote. I know this is a small issue but it showed that if you have a choice and you choose and work with like-minded people you can change a foregone-conclusion into an upset.

Future of online music?

So this past week Spotify launched it’s iPhone & Android application to allow it’s premium members the ability to tap into it’s music library on the go. Almost immediately people were complaining on the iTunes store about the fact that you have to pay to use it. The root cause being that the desktop version of Spotify is free to use. Do they have a point and is Spotify the way forward for online music?

Before the iPhone app I happily used the Spotify desktop application and put up with the ads as really I didn’t see the point in the premium account. At the time the bonus of the premium account was higher bit-rate tracks, no ads and a few other things besides. However once the iPhone application was released I took the plunge. For the price of the premium account (£10/mnth) I now have the ability to stream music on 3G and sync music for offline play. When you consider the cost benefit in terms of what you get it’s a pretty good deal. Consider that in the short time I’ve been a premium member I’ve synced four Kings of Leon albums, one album by Prodigy and another by Kimya Dawson. The cost of this through iTunes, where I buy most of my music, would be £47.85 so I’ve already made a saving. Now I appreciate I don’t “own” these albums. If I don’t renew my subscription come month end I will lose the ability to use the application and those offline playlists. Those who are against paying for Spotify point out that a years subscription costs £120 which is a lot of money for a service whereby in the end, you don’t own any of that music.

However I’ve chosen to look at the flipside. There are many times where I’ve heard a song that I like and thought of downloading an album to listen to more of their stuff or a friend has recommended at artist they think I might like but decided against it in case I don’t like it. Spotify allows me to check these artists out with out paying for that album. Now I appreciate the free desktop version of Spotify allowed me to do this but now if I do like it I don’t have to buy that album straight away. I can listen to it a few times, decide if I want to add it to my collection. On the cost side, if I sync more that 12 songs in a given month then, going by the average cost of a song in iTunes, again I’ve already made a saving. As far as the negative reviews on the iTunes store it’s been no secret that it was going to be a premium member only application. It’s also not the only company to employ this strategy when it comes to iPhone access. Remember the Milk, the online task management website, only allows its Pro members the ability to use its iPhone application.

So is Spotify the way forward for online music? I’d say it was complimentary rather than the way to follow. Spotify frees music lovers from having to buy a CD and wonder whether they’ve made a good choice and if not, live with an album they’ll never listen to again. It allows you, the listener, to be discerning in your choice of what you will actually purchase from your music provider be it iTunes or your local music store. Yes there are limitations to the service for a start there is nowhere near the same amount of music and artists on there as you would find in iTunes. A very good friend of mine has told me that one artist he listens to used to have 5 albums on Spotify but now just has the one. There could be licensing reasons for this decline but it is a bit of a concern.

However at the end of the day this is an amazing piece of software. The quality over 3G in my limited amount of testing is superb and the offline synching when on wi-fi was a breeze. It’s implemented well and is a real alternative for music listeners, the free offline application being a fantastic start point and the iPhone/Android app being there for those who wish to step up to premium. Yes it’s a little costly but when you do some of the math you find out it’s pretty good deal and Spotify isn’t forcing anyone to pay for premium. In some ways though the naysayers do have a point and they could create a free iPhone application to use but then if it wants to grow and increase it’s music library the money has got to come from somewhere and that somewhere I feel is the iPhone application. With it being locked to premium members only I would imagine more and more people will sign up to that service.