Figuring Out How to Actually Sell Music

It was only since I started downloading music without paying that I realized I'm not willing to pay the same high price for every album. It's been an admittedly weak way to justify not paying for music, but the conclusion nonetheless is true. I download more music than I could have ever bought, mainly because I'm not a huge fan of everything I download, and there are numerous records I download that I would never pay more than $10 for. I also use downloading as a way to sample music more thoroughly and at my own convenience than if I were to stream a song or two. On the whole, downloading music without paying retail prices has allowed me and I'm sure countless others to be bigger and more dedicated music fans.

So when I learned that Amazon was investing in Amie Street, a music website that sells music at a dynamic price that changes based on measured demand, I knew that at least someone in the music industry was doing something right. Not to get ahead of ourselves, Amazon hasn't even started selling music online yet, even though it has made its intentions well-known and will probably start doing so in the next month or two. After hearing the story on KCRW's "On the Beat" podcast, I made my way over to Amie Street to get a better idea of what their system was like. At the moment, there really is a dearth of music someone can download. Only a very limited number of bands and musicians are listed so far, which will keep Amie Street from being a significant retailing presence until Amazon breathes some much needed life into it. But to give you an idea of pricing, The Barenaked Ladies, one of the few groups that a lot of people may know with more than albums available for sale on the site, have their most recent album for sale at $.98 per song. If you scroll down on the Barenaked Ladies Amie Street page, you'll see some other, cheaper CDs like their Christmas/holiday album, most of whose songs you can buy for only $.18 each.

I don't know how far this dynamically priced online music retailing will go, but as a concept it is definitely something worth pursuing. Check out the "On the Beat" story here for more details on this and how Google may get into online music retailing as well. Plus "On the Beat" is a fantastic way to keep up on the goings on in the music industry.

One for the Ethnomusicologists

Every August, the city where I'm now living (Kiryu, Japan) has their annual Yagibushi Festival which has percussion and solo flute groups performing in these towers placed in the middle of the street. At some of these, people dance around the towers.

Motivated by a sample sharing site, called Freesound, that I came across a few weeks ago, I made a list of sounds and events I want to record. So I decided this year to take my minidisc recorder down to the festival and record some of the music for sharing and for posterity as well. Living in Japan made the idea especially exciting because there are absolutely a lot of interesting (and sometimes just plain stupid) sounds in the Japanese landscape.

This is my first recording out of what I hope soon enough will be many.

Kiryu Yagibushi

The `80s Couldn`t Have Been That Great

For a while now, I`ve been well aware that a lot of music since around 2000 has been in the vein of the 1980s. The Post punk revival - one that`s been huge in indie circles and has also expanded well into the mainstream - is still popular, though I think it`s taken a downturn lately. And elements of `80s new wave has made its way into mainstream singles as well. Even outside of music, it shows up, but for everyone`s sake I`m not going to talk about VH1`s fake documentaries ("I Love the `80s!") or anything else on TV. After seeing a total of five groups at the Summersonic Festival at Makuhari in Chiba, Japan last Saturday (The Pipettes, The Long Blondes, Shitdisco, Interpol, and LCD Soundsystem) whose lifeblood was reviving past styles, I just started to get bored. It was especially redundant when you consider that three of those bands are playing 80s music - LCD Soundsystem belong to the `70s, and The Pipettes belong to the `60s. I really do like a lot of the bands, but I guess I was just hoping for something a bit more stylisticly original. And maybe I asked for it by spending too much of my time at the dance stage.

Now I don`t want to completely dismiss anyone who so much as makes a reference to a past era through his music. I`m not a staunch advocate against using samples, quoting songs, or making references to the past of any sort. I think creativity is as much molding someone else`s ideas as it is cultivating your own. But when so many groups sound like throwbacks from a different era entirely, something must be wrong. Something like people are unable or unwilling to experiment with new ideas, or how people are just craving life from a different era. I can`t put my finger on it just yet, but you can believe that this problem will definitely be bugging me for a while.

Who can steal music and who can't

Isolated a bit from American pop culture by living in a small Japanese city, I only just found out about the big gossip surrounding Avril Lavigne and how she lifted the main hook from her single "Girlfriend" from the Rubinoos 1979 song "Boyfriend". And from listening to Sound Opinions to Sound Opinions this weekend, I learned that she pretty much copied the first 20 seconds of another of her songs from Peaches' "I'm the Kinda". But then later, I started to wonder what makes the kind of copying that Avril Lavigne is doing worse than the copying that great musicians do all the time.

This weekend, I got my hands on M.I.A.'s new record, "Kala", and in the first listen through noticed two songs that copied other bands' hits. First, there's "$20" where the lyrics in the chorus are exactly those from the Pixies' "Where is My Mind?". Here, the melody isn't so much as changed as it is melded into the atmosphere and style of the song. The second one took me a little longer to pinpoint, but the backing tracks for "Paper Planes" takes its chords and rhythm from part of The Clash's "Straight to Hell" with only small instrumental differences so it can all fit in with M.I.A.'s style. And these two examples are from only the first listen. There are probably a few more on "Kala" that I don`t know about.

When I first heard these songs, I thought these were clever references to and interpretations of songs I really liked. I had no reason to be angry or disappointed in the way people have been towards Avril over how she copied the Rubinoos. And I have a feeling no one else will be pissed-off at her for this.

M.I.A. plays music (let`s call it global hip-hop) that has its roots in sampling and borrowing ideas from past songs. Avril`s music can be best termed mall-punk, which has been diluted down from punk, which has it`s roots in 1960s rock. Not only that, but she plays music in a typical rock band context, reinforcing her connection to rock's earlier traditions. Unfortunately for all of us, that makes it possible for people to make rockist interpretations (creativity has to be 100% original or you shouldn't take credit for it) of songwriting.

But the most noticable difference between M.I.A. and Avril Lavigne is how upfront M.I.A is when she uses other people`s creative ideas. "Where is My Mind" and "Straight to Hell" are both well-known songs from well-known bands. Most people who listen to her music will recognize these songs referenced on "Kala". Avril on the other hand tried to take ideas stealthily from lesser-known bands. On top of that, she denies having ever heard of the Rubinoos. And the reason that she`s circling the wagons like this is because of the restrictions placed on her by her chosen genre`s roots and traditions. Again the rockist attitude in all of us says that she`s a fraud if she admits to using other musician`s creative ideas. M.I.A., safe in a hip-hop based genre, can however flaunt whatever outside creative ideas she wants.

I think it was one of my old bandmates who would mention every now and again a quote along the lines of, "Good songwriters copy songs. Great songwriters steal songs." So by that logic, Avril should be considered by all to be an outstanding musician, but somehow she's not. I don`t disagree at all with that saying, but this whole incident shows how great songwriters are great because they contribute new ideas to old songs. The only thing Avril brings to her female counterpart to the Rubinoos' "Boyfriend" is a slick pop production. On the other hand, M.I.A. significantly flattens the melody of "Where is My Mind" so that it fits with her vocal style in "$20", which puts a greater focus on rapping than Black Francis` ever did. Here M.I.A. puts the Pixies in an entirely new context and breathes greater life into an already popular song. The modern pop production that Avril used in "Girlfriend" adds only marginally at best to the creative elements already present in the Rubinoos` "Boyfriend".

The one thing the world can thank Avril Lavigne for is how she introduced a new generation, myself included, to the Rubinoos. The one thing I truly resent about this situation though is how when I introduce music to people, I don`t get paid. When Avril (and let`s not forget her songwriting team and everyone else who profits from her music - they should be villified too) does it, she gets paid obscene amounts of money.