The Decemberists T-Shirt Contest
December 13th, 2006
The Decemberists obviously think that they’re pretty big stuff now after the Colbert Report challenge, because they launched another online contest. This new t-shirt contest is being put on by nifty online clothing store threadless.com.
The theme for contest entries is the Decemberists’ song “The Island.” (You can listen to it below)…Straight from the official rules:
The purpose of this competition is to create a stand-alone design inspired by the theme, not a brand tee. Your design is not required to have the theme text or brand logo on it… in fact, we prefer it does not.
The contest has lots of prizes that you should check out. The deadline for submissions is January 1, and participants can submit up to three unique designs. Cool stuff.
Stream the 12 minute song by The Decemberists “The Island” @ 100kbps (Windows Media Player Required, sorry..)
Technorati Tags: Decemberists
Grammy Nominees
December 10th, 2006
Grammy Nominees are out. Just like the American Music Awards, I will probably not watch them. But it is somewhat interesting, nonetheless, to see what our follow the leader type of society prefers in this era of major label music.
So, the 49th Annual Grammy Nominees are available here at their website. I’ll list most of the nominees here too… Read the rest of this entry »
The Flaming Lips Street Named
December 6th, 2006
Oklahoma City has just announced a new street named after their beloved local band The Flaming Lips. According to the Washington Post, Oklahoma City voted Tuesday to name an alley after the band in a vibrant shopping and entertainment portion of the city.
The Flaming Lips weren’t the only Oklahoma City hometown band being honored. Vince Gill and Jazzmaster Charlie Christian also were also given their own streets.
Interesting quote from the Flaming Lips’ lead singer Wayne Coyne from the Washington Post article:
“I could see people sneaking in during the middle of the night doing graffiti art,” he said of the alley. “I can see all kinds of strange things going on there.”
So open season for all you graffiti loving Flaming Lips fans in the Durty South. Get to work.
Technorati Tags: Flaming Lips, Oklahoma
Colbert challenges the Decemberists
December 1st, 2006
In a recent episode of Stephen Colbert’s The Colbert Report, Colbert expresses his disgust with The Decemberists for copying his green screen challenge.Colbert originally made a “green screen challenge,” challenging people to edit him fighting with a lightsaber into other video backgrounds. The Decemberists, after Colbert’s green screen challenge, made their own green screen challenge called “Re-animate the Decemberists” from MTV U, which consisted of fans editing their music video to their liking.So after Colbert found out about this plagiarism, he challenged The Decemberists to the “Green Screen Challenge 2,” in hopes of having his loyal fans edit Colbert into a scene where he is fighting, and defeating, the Decemberists band.
The Green Screen Challenge 2 can be entered at ColbertNation.com, and the Colbert Report episode in which he challenges the Decemberists can me viewed here at Comedy Central. (at the 1:20 remaining mark)
So for all you video editing, indie music loving junkies, I have found something for you to do this weekend. Thank me later.
Technorati Tags: Decemberists, Colbert Report
The Shins news update
November 28th, 2006
The Shins have been making a little news lately. A little while ago they released Phantom Limb online, their single from their new album Wincing The Night Away, which is set for release on January 23, 2007. Phantom Limb is online for stream from Subpop.
Their album Wincing the Night Away is now up for Pre-order at Subpop. You can also check out their new Wincing t-shirt.
Additionally, The Shins announced a quick new West Coast US tour. Dates are as follow:
- December 7 at the Key Arena Seattle, Washington
- December 8 at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco, Cali
- December 9 at the RIMAC Arena in La Jolla, Cali
- December 13 at the Crystal Ballroom in Portland, Oregon
The December 7th date will be the one to watch, as the Shins play in the Deck The Hall Ball with a bunch of other, mostly awesome artists. Sweet.
Technorati Tags: the shins
Peter Jenner DRM alternative by Music Tax in Europe
November 20th, 2006
Brought to my attention by TechCrunch, in an interview with Peter Jenner (former Pink Floyd manager), the most idiotic DRM alternavtive was given. Peter Jenner thinks a mandatory tax of €4/month in Europe on computers and other music electronic devices is a good alternative to large record labels struggling with DRM. In return for the monthly tax, listeners can then download all the music they want online.
Revenue on market share
This tax would then be distributed among the record labels based on their market share.
Iin theory, it really isn’t too bad. The ability to pay $5/month for all the music I can handle is very tempting. But then when I think about what it would do to the industry, I think buying CDs is a much better alternative.
This system would make labels worry only about market share, thus, not promoting music they may actually like. All labels would promote would be the catchy, generic, mainstream music. Small, independent labels would really suffer. And since I’m all for indie music, this idea sucks.
Along with my support for independent music, I also support freedom. Some people may not like music. That’s fine. But why should the government be allowed to tax computer owners (basically everyone) for music that they don’t like, don’t enjoy, and don’t use? It’s terrible.
Ok, he didn’t actually say that. But Jenner’s propsition is terrible, and I didn’t even get into the economic side of things. We live in a capitalistic society. Who would distribute the music? Would the EU create its own distribution channel? What would happen to iTunes, record stores, and other music distributors? I suppose they would just go out of business…?
Please stop Jenner
So even though Peter Jenner was a successful manager in his day, he should not be getting involved with the new DRM issues that plague the industry today. It may be time for him to keep his ideas of the modern day music industry to himself.
So until a practical DRM alternative is proposed, I suppose we’ll be stuck in the slump we’re in right now. I do think that something needs to change, but what that is, I do not know.