We focus on music download sites bringing you reviews, ratings, and tackle some of the frequently asked questions not included in our main site at www.comparemusicdownloadsites.com. You will also see general music posts of things we found interesting enough to write about. Enjoy!
Thursday, March 11, 2010
The Muse in Montreal was amazing!
Hey guys,
So last night, the Muse was in town. Some buddies and I went to go check out the show. I've been looking forward to it for quite some time, especially after seeing their live DVD:
So we go to the show and catch the opener (Silversun Pickup) who rocked it out. They had a few hits going so it was nice to recognize a few songs. Always a plus ...
The Muse gets on stage, each of the three members on their own seperate platform and up maybe 20 feet from teh actual stage with columns of lights above and below them displaying incredible visual effects while in sync to the music of course. If it's not enough, towards the middle of the set, they had what felt like hundreds of laser effects going nuts which really kicked it up a notch. Let's face it, a live show, you have 3 guys on a stage, $500,000 worth of lights and lasers surely makes you seem larger than life. Helium filled balloons with eyeball designs fall from the cieling at another point, 2 encores later finishing off the show with Nights of Sydonia and everyone in the packed Bell Center was on their feet and felt like they had drank a few red bulls.
Overall, I have to say the concert was an easy 9 / 10, probably top 5 in my life. It helps when you know all the songs but these guys are just too good. Vocals are spot on, music incredible, and the lead singer has too much talent for one musician, it's almost sickening.
For any music lover, going to see them perform live is an aboluste must. If they are in your town, go check it out. You won't regret!
Not sure how many caught the closing ceremonies of this year's 2010 Vancouver Olympics but the last 30 minutes or so was a concert with a few major acts. I hope my memory gets them all in the right order ...
- Nickelback - Avril Lavign - Alanis Morissette - Simple Plan - Hedley - Marie Mai - K-Os
There was one big problem with the line up in my opinion and it was that they shoved Nickelback first. Now I know they are the band people love to hate but I will still share my musical taste and personal opinion with you (as always). Nickelback rocks. I'm now an even a bigger fan. Chad can sing like a machine. Every live concert I've seen and television clip has him singing like the record and on pitch at all times, and the band is tight as hell. Tonight was just adding to the list of their practically perfect performances.
Now I know that they had the opening advantage where as the sound was probably set up just right and the following acts had to deal with on the fly adjustments, but still, they are the type of band that even a soundman out of college could make sound good as everything and ever member individually rocks. You'd have to botch your job up pretty good to make them look bad. Plus you had their usual pyro with things blowing up everywhere. What a hell of a kick start.
It was followed by Avril lavign who I think stayed within a 2 foot radious at all times. Come on Avril. Move a little. Now I went to go see her in Montreal a littleo ver a year ago and remember being very dissapointed. Seeing her tonight standing like a pogo stick didn't help. Going after the tightest live band and a solid singer like Chad didn't help her cause either. She did well, but she should have gone earlier in the line up.
Alanis was up next. Great vocals. I'm a big fan of Jagged Little Pill but she sang something newer. Great song but which it was some of the older music.
Simple Plan sounded like they had a bigger french accent than usual and the sound wasn't incredible for them so it kind of hurt their performance a little, but catchy song, still very solid.
Hedley ... I'm also a big fan. Saw these guys at Metropolis in Montreal and I was blown away by the singer from stage performance to vocal performance. The olympic closing ceremonies did not give the band justice to me. I know they can rock a stage. Felt like something was missing but still a very good performance. My second favorite of the evening.
For Marie Mai. I'm a little bias as my band is signed to the same publishing company and we're all very big fans of her music but as usual, she rocked it out. Her latest CD is amazing overall. I'm usually not a big fan of french artists (though I'm from Montreal myself), but she is one of the only ones that I could listen to over and over again, and who I really enjoy watching live. Great energy. Awesome vocals.
K-Os didn't do it for me. I didn't see it as a closing act. It felt like the order was all wrong for the evening. As I said and the post title suggests, Nickelback by far was the tightest and most impressive act of the evening. They should have closed off the ceremonies and it would have all made a little more sense to me. Aside frome that, it was entertaining, kept me wanting to see who was up next, and the artist selection prooved to be interesting and easily enjoyable.
We want to send out our congrats to iTunes, selling it's 10 billionth song download on Wednesday (February 24, 2010). Got to figure, they only started their music download service in 2003.
For anyone curious, the actual song downloaded was Johnny Cash's "Guess Things Happen That Way" by 71 year old Louie Sulcer from Woodstock. To mark the event and as a special bonus to Louie for helping crack the 11 digit total download mark, he received a $10,000 gift card. Not so bad though anyone doing the math could get a quick glimpse that at $1 a download (and now up to $1.29), even if the artist gets a good chunk, iTunes probably has very deep pockets and couldn't care less about $10,000 and the publicity over the achievement and gesture sure brought them a heck of a lot of positive press worth many times that.
Got to say, good job to iTunes for keeping legal music downloads alive and well. Just goes to show not everyone is downloading music for free. If you're reading this and still using torrents or another method of stealing music, quit it. Artists need to get paid for their work like you need to get paid for going in to the office or anything else. No one would ask you to work for free or make a product to simply give it away.
If you are interested in legal music downloads, check out our site where we compare only the best music download sites out there, reviewing and rating each. We even have an iTunes Review for those interested.
After being part of America's most popular show, news hit that Simon Cowell has decided to leave American Idol after this season.
Simon Cowell was making a reported $36 million a year to be on American Idol and offered much more to stay but as the reason for leaving is to bring his own show over (The X Factor) which is already popular in Britan, chances are if it becomes a hit here, $36 million would be just a fraction of what he'll earn. Fox has already agreed to take the show on so expect a new talent show to keep track of soon.
The decision comes as a surprise to loads of fans, me included. After all, let's face it. Simon rocked and was the only honest judge who maintained focus, judging the performance and singing of each contestant that stepped on stage honestly, and not deviating his comments to other unecessary compliments to soften the blow. Yes, this is a Paula hit. No one cares about their nice shoes cause no one will pay to go see them walk around and sing off key all night. It's not helping anyone.
That said, the producers of Idol are faced with one heck of a dilemma. Not only did they loose Paula who even I enjoyed watching from time to time to see what would come out of her mouth next or see her slurring words, but now they are loosing the most popular and coolest judge ever. I would not want to be holding too many stocks in Idol after Simon leaves ...
So who would be a good replacement anyways? Personally, I'm finding it hard to think of Idol without him, but American Idol is such a machine. It is the reason behind the careers of some of the most successful artists of our generation. I'm sure they have a good team behind them that have a few candidates in mind, and probably the name and money to get anyone they want ... except for Simon it seems.
Drunk Mariah Carey - Highlights from her acceptance speech:
I had to share this one with you guys for anyone who hasn't seen it yet. What class. I couldn't stop laughing.
These were the highlights of Mariah Carey's acceptance speech for her award as "Breakthrough Actress" for her performance in "Precious" at the Palm Springs International Film Festival. As she's escorted to the stage, even before she could open her mouth, you could see the girl is drunk. It was the first time I was excited to hear what she had to say.
I don't blame her. These things are hours long and get boring. Even the edited versions you watch on TV can sometimes get lengthy. I for one would probably watch many more award shows from start to finish if I could expect a few drunks to give deep and intellectual speeches like Mariah.
Good job Mariah Carey. I wasn't a big fan before but I'm starting to like this one. Bottoms up!
Susan Boyle's Debut Album 'I Dreamed a Dream' Beats UK Sales Record
You might remember Susan Boyle from Britain's Got Talent even if you don't catch the show in your area only as they made such a huge deal about it across global media that you couldn't help but catch a glimpse of her performance which seemed to have knocked the socks off all of the judges. In case you missed it:
Her recently released debut album has gone to break the UK record for most units sold in it's first week with over 410,000 units!
I'm not sure what is more impressive. The number of units sold or how powerful reality TV shows are becoming making such an impact on what consumers are buying. It's far from the first reality TV success story making you wonder what's to come in another 10 years of show winners. Reality talent shows will run the charts and pretty much dictate what we're going to buy and what music we listen to. Come to think about it, I guess the best move for record labels would be to grab their top few potential artists, show them on a reality TV show, pay off whoever they need to and get their guys as far as possible, winning the competition, and then they're guaranteed record sales. It's not like they didn't use to pay off radio stations to get their songs played. Even if no one requested it, it was a sneaky but effective way as hearing the same song a few times will eventually have people singing it back. Same concept here. It's reality TV. People get attached to the characters and anyone on the show for 10 weeks will get a load of attention which will result in album sales afterwards. I think this could all just lead to pay for reality positioning if it hasn't already which is no fun to think about so I'll stop thinking about it.
In any case, back to Boyle. Good for her. She has a great voice and used the opportunity of being in TV to show her talent and in a sense get a huge short cut into the industry and now selling an insane amount of records. Maybe the whole thing makes me jeleous so I'll leave this post at that ... a record breaking contest winner sells a whole lot of records ... now you know.
Looks like the UK is working on reducing the amount of illegal music downloads in the country. The move will involve implementing technology to track illegal music downloaders, warning repeat offenders, and in drastic cases, disconnecting users completely with the help and cooperation of ISPs. Here's the full story:
This is far from being a new concept as this has been discussed in many other countries, and many other times before. The problem lies with invading one's privacy and not respecting human rights since for all of this to work, monitoring of users internet habits and visited web pages would come into play. Is everyone comfortable knowing they are being monitored so closely, down to files they download and share with friends? France for instance has already made internet access a human right so not too sure how they will work around that one, or if this type of move will even be possible?
One number that shocked me in the article was claiming only 1 in 20 music downloads in UK were legal! I think everyone can at least agree something needs to be done about it. If we all enjoy music and our favorite artists, we need to support what they do. If everyone steals their music, how in the hell do you expect people to keep making records, have the money to back big scale touring, pretty much keep the music business going?
I'm not saying monitoring every every household computer's activity is the solution, but it is a solution and unfortunately, too many people are stealing music. If the numbers weren't so drastic, perhaps these types of measures would have never been discussed or brought to the table in the first place.
To sum it up, stop downloading music illegally! It's a point we push very hard at our site where we compare only reliable sites offering legal music downloads so if you want artists to keep creating music and coming to your town, putting on amazing live concerts, if you're still downloading off torrent sites or other illegal manners where artists are not compensated, check out these places to download music instead.
You've played it before maybe at a friends house, or even seen it on your favorite television series at some point. Rock Band, probably one of the most addictive video games ever made, continuously added songs for the platform for the past two years and recently reached a new milestone totaling 1,000 available songs! For the music lovers out there that enjoy the occasional video game, this opens the door to hours upon hours of rocking out to your favorite tunes while getting a chance to discover some great music.
If that wasn't enough, the developers of Rock Band recently put out a 'Beatles' version of the game, letting you play along to all your favorites, and even released an upgraded "Rock Band 2" version.
The music keeps on coming so if you haven't checked out the game yet and are a music fan, this one will keep you glued to the television for some time. Figure if you're spending some time listening to music, might as well play along to it ...
I think stores trying to diversify and 'get with the times' in a sense is great however there are a few negative points to consider with a music download kiosk.
First off, I don't see how they'll ever be able to match per song pricing of music download sites. It just doesn't make sense. The extra expense of having a kiosk in a physical building where you would have to compare renting the space for millions as oppossed to only website hosting costs will force them to jack up prices in comparison to music download services. This is what is expected as well according to the article.
Per song pricing is expecting to be anywhere between $0.80 per song up to $1.69 for the more popular titles and files will have certain DRM encryption, limiting their use and how many computer's they could be shared on at once. These files will also not be compatible with iPhones or iPods where as at Amazon MP3 or iTunes, songs are on a variable pricing model as well but from $0.69 to $1.29 and with little to no restrictions.
Perhaps the conveniance of being in a shopping mall and wanting a particular song on the spot can have some overlook the extra few cents and limitations but it's an overpriced product for now. Very happy they are working towards going digital but will have to find a way to do it and stay competitive with sites offering music downloads at such lower prices and no restrictions.
Alright, so everyone's talking about Adam Lambert's performance at the AMA's last night so I guess you can consider it a successful publicity stunt but I say "what the heck man". Here was an interview with Adam after the performance:
If Adam likes a guy's face in his crotch and another guy's tongue down his throat while he sings, fine. I can't really say much since if it was Britney Spears with another woman on stage, I may have had a smile on my face and consider it entertaining so fair is fair. If male on male is as popular to the general public I'm not convinced but I guess his marketing team figure the publicity he gets for thowing it in his act will pay off in the end.
I have a problem with the performance for completely different reasons. I was a fan of Adam when he was on American Idol. I thought the guy was a machine. He rarely ever sang a wrong note and was the ultimate rockstar. He always looked under control and confident when performing each and every night. Now, we don't hear from him in months, his big TV break and he sings off in loads of places, stumbles on stage, and in my opinion didn't have the same confidence going out there as he did on American Idol.
Either he was having a bad night, is not confident in singing his own material, or is trying to go out there and be someone he's completely not comfortable with (yet) which again comes down to showing a lack of confidence resulting in very poor singing for most, in Adam's case, a few off notes throughout.
That aside, I don't find the new song to be very good. It all reaks of fabrication. It's taking away from the art. You have an album saying "For Your Entertainment" so basically a big heads up he's ready to do anything for media coverage and get people talking. They choose to release it as a first single. His first performance has loads of stunts involved knowing the world will talk about it. It's all too fabricated.
A real rockstar doesn't say "hey, watch me, I'm going to do things that will make you guys talk about me". Usually, they do it either cause it's them all along, or at least do it without the big billboard and heads up to the world. He had his chance on American Idol to shock but instead, he was being himself and was amazing. The world loved him. Once the record label got their hands on him, they built a whole story and plan around it. He's not a rockstar, he's a popstar. Hopefully they won't ask him to jump and bark like a dog cause I'd bet he's ready to. After all, it would go with the whole "For Your Entertinament" theme and probably get him in the papers again.
I'm sure the songs will be catchy, he'll sell millions of records and be a big success but still lost a few points in my eyes from yesterday's performance. I would have much rathered an acoustic performance that showed off his insane vocal range and voice than seeing a male version of Britney who's media hungry and ready to do anything for people to talk about it. Looking forward to seeing how this plays out though and still looking forward to checking out the album.
Best of luck Adam. You sing like a freaken rockstar, hands down. Just wished you would have stuck to the rockstar path and not give in to being a male Britney. At least you chose to actually sing live though. I don't think I could have handled another lip sync performance yesterday night ...
It's been a long 9 months without being able to find some of the greatest bands of all time on YouTube including Metallica, Muse, Nine Inch Nails, Marylin Manson, and so many others. This was all due to disputes between YouTube and Warner Music over money of course.
Early 2009, Warner took off their library of music videos from YouTube, unable to come to an agreement on how they would share income. This had YouTube constantly filtering and removing uploads involving the acts under Warner while leaving a lot of fans upset and out looking for other video alternatives to catch the latest releases and classics from their favorite bands.
Announced September 29th, the two seem to have come to an agreement. The videos from Warner Music's library will be returning to YouTube and Warner will be the one finding and selling advertisment on the videos instead of using Google ads like practially everyone else which is an interesting approach. Personally, I'm curious to see if the other major labels will be following in their footsteps in an attempt at having more control over their videos, and obtaining a larger piece of the pie as Warner is trying to do.
Green Day's New Album Not in Wal-Mart Due To Parental Advisory Sticker
So how's about this one. Walmart refuses to put Green Day's new album, 21st Century Breakdown, on their shelves due to the parental advisory sticker. Then you have Green Day sticking to their guns and unlike practically every other music group and artist, refuses to make a special edit for them.
Saying no to the biggest retailer of physical CD's in the US requires a hell of a marketing plan to compensate and seeing as this stunt put them in every newspaper, online magazine, and blog (even our music download sites blog), I guess it was actually a marketing genious who thought it up because they are getting press from avenues who would have never taken notice to the fantastic album.
That aside, opening weekend brought them 215,000 sold copies so it will be interesting to see how the numbers increase after all of this attention. Doesn't feel like they even needed an extra push really.
For Walmart, hard to say if this will hurt or help them since you have all the parents now convinced that they are looking out to keep 'filth' off of the shelves, but any real music lover couldn't possibly want to buy an edited version of an album. Music is created as a form of expression. How can you censor what you're really feeling? The message is no longer the real one. I'd hate to feel like every artist and music group out there is forced into modifying their message in any way after so much work is put into a music album just so it can be sold in it's true, original form.
Music downloads are gaining steam and perhaps stunts like this will push some music lovers into ways to download music instead.
This aside, the album is great and one of the upcoming projects of our music blog will be to have album reviews. Until then, the lowest price on the digital album could be found through Amazon MP3. Here's an album sample. Enjoy!
Last week, we had a post called File Sharing Service Owners Sentenced to Prison which had 4 men prosecuted and sentenced to 1 year in jail along with a fine totalling roughly $3.6 million for starting and operating a Swedish BitTorrent site, The Pirate Bay, which helped users find pirated software and files leading to illegal downloads, and so a copyright infringement towards the entertainment industry. Why people are not yet making the switch to legal music download services, I don't know. Here's the follow up.
The defence for the case is demanding a retrial saying the judge for the trial was bias as he is a participant in the Swedish Association of Copyright, along with a board member of the Swedish Association for the Protection of Copyright, and if that's not enough, a member of .SE which is the Internet Infrastructure Foundation. Talk about a conflict of interest.
Bias or not, illegal music downloads are way out of hand. I understand there needs to be an example made out of someone but it is still the user's fault in my opinion. You don't go suing a sports store because a customer bought a bat and broke into someone's home with it, you should go after the customer who decided to make an illegal action with something the sports store was offering.
In a way I'm hoping someone is made an example of to a certain extent perhaps with a warning to monitor operations and illegal music downloads going on with a file sharing software or BitTorrent site and being obliged to report such users who are taking advantage of these services in an illegal way, but I wouldn't be ready to send these guys to jail as even file sharing sites could have great use in legal ways to transfer free material without any copyright on it. Maybe start up bands look to put out free music for everyone to download. These sites can help them promote their material which they are giving out for free so why take them completely off the net?
It's a touchy subject, always was, but either way, to anyone who wants to download music, forget about file sharing and BitTorrent sites as the actions you are doing to get free copyrighted materials off of these sites is illegal. Find yourself a solid music download services and stick to it.
iTunes is now offering a new music product - iTunes Pass. Think of it as a fan club membership you would be able to get for your favorite music group.
When they announced it late February, Depeche Mode was the only band available. For $18.99, you would get everything the band puts out on iTunes until June 16, 2009 which includes the new single, some promo materials (ex. remixes, videos, etc ...), and the Sounds of the Universe album when it's made available.
iTunes says the cost of the pass would always be less expensive than what you would get for it, but lately with their new pricing model that increased per-song prices by %30, I find it hard to believe any product they put out is in the best interest of the customer. Someone has done the math on this and you can bet it's going to bring iTunes another great source of revenue. Hopefully they will at least follow through and the pass will be a positive addition for all true fans out there that can't get enough of their favourite music group since, as a concept, I can see it as very attractive to both music groups and fans.
I think it's awesome another artist speaks up on piracy. When it comes down to it, though he still delivers it in a funny way, the message is right on. Artists work hard to create movies, music, and other forms of art. You wouldn't steal a CD from a store or movie from the shelves and using a file sharing site or program to pass on copyrighted material without compensating the artist is stealing. How are these artists going to get paid for their work if everyone takes what they want for free?
I read some comments about this that rock stars don't need the extra little bit of money they are loosing out on music downloads. Already, because someone has money doesn't make it any more justifiable to steal from them, but leaving the rich rock stars out of the equation, think of all the bands and artists starting out. They spend all their money to record an album and CD sales have dropped a huge amount due to illegal downloads. How can any new artists start a career if people steel from the little they could be making, and how can you expect these guys to go on and record a second album? How do they even measure if it was worth recording it in the first place? Where's the money come from to start touring, or promoting the album?
Quit stealing, use one of the legal music download sites mentioned on our main page. Read through the reviews and you'll see how reasonable being part of one of these services really is. I'm also speaking as a musician trying to get a career started as well so even if you don't listen to a guy like me, if you are one of those people using illegal means to get copyrighted material like movies and music, check out the video and at least admit to yourself your actions are illegal and you are stealing when you could maybe buy that same song for $0.69 or listen to as much legal music as you want for the cost of an album a month with one of the music subscription services we review.
First Sweden passes a new music download law requiring ISP's to turn in user's IP address if they are suspected to download music illegally, now they are shutting down one of the biggest file sharing services. Another point for the good guys.
For those new the topic, file sharing services allow users to share any file they want across the net. This is a huge problem with music downloads as it makes copyrighted material accessible to anyone for free, by-passing compensation to the artist and bands working to record them, and ultimately making it easier to steal music online. Unfortunately, there was little to do against these sites but now Sweden courts have taken a huge step.
One of the biggest file sharing services, The Pirate Bay, went to court. The 4 men who started the site were prosecuted and were sentenced to 1 year in prison and fined a total of roughly $3.6 million in damages that they will have to pay to the entertainment companies. Here's the story:
It's touchy as the ones who started the site were not really hosting any of the files, but did provide a service making it very easy for users to get their hands on stolen copyrighted material by making links to these files available.
Personally, I'm happy about the ruling as it's a nice wake up call if nothing else to users that what they are doing is wrong and if you want a song or album, you need to go the right way and use one of the legal music download sites out there, but at the same time, I feel it's really the users who should be to blame and not the site owners. As an example, sports stores sell baseball bats. If a customer buys one and smashes a car window, the store shouldn't go to court for selling the bat. The action the customer decided to take using the bat was illegal and is where the problem lies, in the same way if people use a service in an illegal way, then they are to blame.
This will be another one to keep an eye on and see if it changes anything but really, if people were using a file sharing site before, chances are they'll flock to another one but at least there's a chance it'll convert a few along the way to give a try to legal music download services instead.
Ad Supported Music Download Site Spiral Frog Shuts Down
We got a lot of emails asking why we never reviewed the 'free' ad-supported music download site Spiral Frog. Our response was always that it seemed like a fragile approach and was lining itself up to making users unhappy. That's besides the fact that they went for deals with the major labels and only 2 of the 4 agreed. Never the less, they went on with a very aggressive marketing strategy for the music download service but in the end, they had to close up shop. The full story:
I have a lot of respect for the guys at Spiral Frog who dove in and gave it a real shot. You don't know unless you try. The only way we'll evolve and get this music industry back on its feet is by people trying sometimes risky approaches that could pay off so hopefully we will see other legal music download sites in the near future with different creative approaches. Till then, I suggest we stick to the legal music services that have been there for years and who we can trust.
Be sure to check out our reviews on all the top legal music download services at our main site:
Band Uses Twitter as a Close to Real-Time Broadcast of a Show
A band is making use of Twitter in a new way. They are setting up their CD release to be recorded, quickly mastered, and right away put up on the net and sharing links to the music downloads for each song as close to real-time as possible. Though there will be a delay between the time the song was played and is available, this is a good attempt at using Twitter as a close to live broadcast of a band's show. Here's the full story:
With so many platforms available for bands to promote their music, it's hard to find one to stick to and stay active with but Twitter has definitely created a buzz in the past weeks and months and is prooving once again that it is a fun networking site with many possibilities, now sharing music downloads and making them available practically in real-time.
On that note, you can visit our Twitter page at www.twitter.com/TopMusicSites if you are already part of the networking community. If not, what are you waiting for!
Good news for iTunes users. After a long wait, Apple is following through with their promise and working to remove DRM (Digital Rights Managed) restrictions on their entire catalogue. 8 million tunes done for the music download service, just 2 million to go. Catch the full story:
Coming at the same time as the new iTunes Variable Pricing model, this is a move in the positive direction answering to the customer's demands as before, with DRM restrictions, when people would download music with them, the files would have limitations to how many computers the song could be on at once, or how many times it could be burned to disk. These restrictions would also limit the type of devices you could use to listen back to the music purchased. For iTunes, this is all a thing of the past.
Check out our iTunes Review for a look at what our reviewers think.
A friendly tip, if you download more than an album's worth of music a month, it is much more cost efficient to go with one of the music subscription services reviewed on our site. Only legal sites are reviewed and we take a look at everything from music selection to customer service. Take a look at some of our top sites:
If you haven't checked them out yet and are still convinced on the pay-per-song model, read the following review and compare it to our iTunes Review. We might just convert you:
The iPRED law was put into place to help stop illegal file transfers, music being one of the major culprits, which infringe on copyright law. It requires internet service providers to give user's IP if they suspect illegal files are being transferred. Within a week, legal music downloads have increased an astonishing 100%!
It will be interesting to see if this is only due to people trying out the legal route to see what it's all about so very possibly a temporary boost of interest in the legal music download world. Ways around the bill like pirated software is already making its way available to counter this effort.
We'll have to wait and see how this pans out but one thing is for sure, it's an eye opener if nothing else to some of the legal music download sites out there for the people in the area who may have never looked into it if not for the new law. A step in the right direction I think ...
Perhaps not the first 2 companies that would come to mind in a joint venture such as this but seems like Universal Music Group will be partnering up with YouTube to start a new music download service called VEVO. Read the scoop:
It will be interesting to see how this pans out. We'll keep you posted and who knows, maybe in the near future, you'll be seeing VEVO reviewed at our main music download site.
iTune's Variable Pricing Model More Costly than Amazon
This Tuesday, iTunes introduced a new 'variable pricing' model where, in brief, according to the popularity of the digital track, prices would range from $0.69 to $1.29 for the bigger sellers. Here's an article from LA Times to get you up to speed:
The interesting part is that Amazon, iTune's biggest competition, still has the popular tracks at the good old $0.99. Perhaps it's simply a delay and the 2nd most used music download site Amazon will soon follow as did Wal-Mart, but if not, this could be the kick Amazon needs to take an even bigger piece of the pie from the online music download world which right now is split roughly 87% iTunes, 16% Amazon. Let's see how this plays out.
Visit our main site comparing the top legal music download sites and read through the reviews for both services, along with the other large players in the game:
I read an article at billboard showing that music festivals aren't being drastically affected by the recession. With all the negative news around, I wanted to share something a little more positive for a change:
This is great news for the music world and it makes sense. Think about where you turn to when things are rough? A break up maybe, a loved one that passes away, ... Music is a therapy and the right song can sometimes be the perfect remedy so in a rough time like any other, it seems fitting for us to turn to art and not give up entertainment so easily.
I guess when concert tickets plunge, we'll know we're in real trouble. Until then, I don't know about you but I'm looking forward to another rocking concert season!
Reminder as always, don't steal music. Be sure to check out our main site filled with helpful info and reviews on the best music download sites on the net. If you are to download any digital music, please do it legally.
IFPI vs Major ISP in Ireland to Stop Music Download Piracy
Looks like the 4 major labels (EMI, Sony, Universal, and Warner) in Ireland, along side the IFPI are in legal proceedings against Eircom, Ireland's largest internet service provider in an attempt to have the ISP step in using filtering technology to block it's users from music download piracy. I'll sum it up here but check out the full story:
The IFPI wants to hold Eircom liable for it's user's actions as they make it easy for them to infringe on copyright law and aren't stepping in, while Eircom's position is that as a carrier, it is not obligated to monitor the content of traffic throughout it's network.
I don't blame Eircom for fighting this hard since legal music downloads are practically an unknown term to so many. If they stop users from downloading music illegally which so many got used to, the user simply has to switch to another ISP without this technology implanted so they are lining themselves up to loosing a lot of customers.
Some of the arguments going around are if Eircom should even be considering this tactic? A great comment left by josh.f13 on the original story was:
So if I make a phone call to a friend and agree to make him a copy of a DVD that week, is the phone company part of the problem? And when I drive to meet him at his house, is the car company I bought the car from and the government whose roads I drove on responsible?
I agree something needs to be done to regulate music download piracy and I lean towards the ISP's stepping in personally since if we were talking about much more controversial subjects like the distribution of 'child pictures' and knowledge was out of technology that could filter these users from transferring and sharing these images with a flick of a switch, I don't even think it would be a debate.
Sticking to my point, stealing music is illegal so if we can stop it, what are we waiting for? It's way overdue for people to start using legal music download sites.
In brief, a report was put together by the IFPI stating that 95% of music downloads have been downloaded in an illegal manner which accounts for roughly 40 billion song downloads!
There were polls conducted to see what would shake people up more and have them stop downloading illegaly. One poll asked if internet service providers stepped in and disconnected accounts found to download music illegaly, or have a 3 strike rule which got a high response of people saying it would drastically change their downloading habits.
One of the points the writer made was that perhaps if companies would dismiss the DRM model (digital rights managed - music downloads with limitations as to how many copies could be burned, or how many computers the song can be on at once, ...) and lower their prices, there would be less piracy. I strongly disagree.
I think the ones who have been downloading music illegaly are in a comfort zone and are used to getting any music they want for free without running into any legal trouble (yet) so why even spend $1 for an album you can get for free?
I guess for a lot of people, morals are out the window for some reason when it comes to music downloads which I can't understand. It's really not that hard to grasp.
Downloading music illegaly is stealing any way you want to look at it. If you haven't yet, check out our main site with loads of info on music download along with reviews of the best music download sites on the net. Only 100% legal sites reviewed and included.
Songwriter Kara DioGuardi will be the fourth judge in Amercian Idol's 8th season. Finally they are planning to spice things up a little in the reality show that's providing songwriters like her with plenty of work. Way to have an in and maybe a favored first dibs on working and writing for the winners. Not that she needs it but in any case.
You might not know her yet, but I guarantee you've heard some of the songs and music this 38 year old songwriter has composed or had a part in composing within the last few years. Here's just a sample of the artists she's writen music for:
- Celine Dion - Kelly Clarkson - Pink - Christina Aguilera - Enrique Iglesias - Marc Anthony - Taylor Hicks - Carrie Underwood - Hillary Duff - Paris Hilton - Bo Bice - Diana DeGarno
What else. She worked for Billboard, was a judge on 'The One' (short lived reality series similar to Idol, canned after 4 episodes but what can you do), and currently senior vice president of A&R at Warner Brother's Records which she will still be doing during Idol. You figure someone who makes a living finding new music, new bands and artists to sign to Warner must have a strong opinion about music and performance.
Fun fact, she and Paula Abdul previously lived and wrote together for a few weeks. One of the co-written songs was 'Spinning Around' which became a #1 hit in Britain for artist Kylie Minogue.
I'm looking forward to seeing how things go this season of Idol with Kara DioGuardi added to the mix. Should be very interesting and at the least, distracting from the mostly predictable comments of the others.
Music downloads are doing much better but I still thought these numbers would have been more impressive. You be the judge. Here's a list of the top selling digital songs of 2008 according to the Nielson SoundScan:
Top Selling Digital Albums of 2008
#
Artist
Album
Albums Sold
1
Coldplay
Viva la Vida
617,000
2
Jack Johnson
Sleep Through The Static
325,000
3
Juno
Soundtrack
280,000
4
Lil Wayne
The Carter III
267,000
5
Taylor Swift
Fearless
225,000
6
Twilight
Soundtrack
214,000
7
Jason Mraz
We Sing We Dance
184,000
8
Kanye West
808'S & Heartbreak
183,000
9
Britney Spears
Circus
172,000
10
Metallica
Death Magnetic
158,000
There were a few surprises for me. I wasn't expecting 2 soundtracks in the top 10, nor seeing Metallica; the band that got Napster into a whole lot of trouble when they used to be a file sharing program. If you don't know the story, Metallica was the one that stepped up to the media going against file sharing programs, using Napster as the example, since artists weren't getting compensated for their work. People used to download the music for free illegaly and share it with everyone. It's nice to see a lot has changed since then and music download sites and services are getting more and more popular.
Since the incident and after loads of media attention, Napster built itself up to being one of the top legal music download services around now compensating the artists for music being downloaded and heard through their service.
People are finally purchasing legal online music downloads instead of stealing them by downloading them illegaly. The numbers aren't fantastic but you asked for them so here's a list of the top selling digital songs of 2008 according to the Nielson SoundScan:
Top Selling Digital Songs of 2008
#
Artist
Song
Units Sold
1
Leona Lewis
Bleeding Love
3,420,000
2
Lil Wayne feat. Static Major
Lollipop
3,161,000
3
Flow Rider feat. T-Pain
Low
2,979,000
4
Katy Perry
I Kissed a Girl
2,977,000
5
Coldplay
Viva la Vida
2,914,000
6
Rihanna
Disturbia
2,776,000
7
T.I.
Whatever You Like
2,682,000
8
Jason Mraz
I'm Yours
2,655,000
9
Jordan Sparks duet w/ Chris Brown
No Air
2,612,000
10
Pink
So What
2,590,000
These numbers combine all versions of the songs.
We still have a long hill to climb before everyone purchases the music they download but things are looking up. Music download sites and services are very affordable, conveniant, and awareness of these sites is growing.
With online music downloads up, album sales took a massive hit in 2008 but some artists are still managing to bring in some numbers. Here's a quick list of the top selling albums of 2008 according to the Nielson SoundScan:
To give you an idea of how low these numbers are, just take into consideration the #1 selling album of 2000 was N Sync's 'No Strings Attached' with 9.94 million copies followed by "The Marshall Mathers LP" by Eminem with 7.92 million copies sold. Back in 2000, there were 18 albums that sold more than 3 million copies which would all beat out 2008's top seller.
People are becoming more aware of the legal music download sites out there and so digital sales have skyrocketed in the past few years. Successful artists are the ones who are adapting to the changes and have a team that is on top of technology and moving with the consumer's new needs. Might be a scary time for a lot of people in the industry, but you have to admit, they are interesting times none the less.
Digital Sales beats out CD sales at Atlantic Records
Big news for the music downloading world, digital sales accounted for more than half of Atlantic Record's revenue beating out physical CD's!
Don't think you know Atlantic Records?
- Simple Plan - Billy Talent - Kid Rock - Bloc Party - Led Zepplin - and the list goes on ...
This is big news since this is the first time a major company like Atlantic that physical CD's were bumped down to second place. These guys have to be doing something right as their parent company, Warner Music Group, has digital music sales representing only 27% of revenue.
A few years back, the bigger music labels and majors had the formula down of how to sell albums and promote their artists to make their millions. Ever since the original Napster got in the picture and people became more aware of digital music downloads, things were shaken up. Now you have so many new promotional avenues that are available for all scale of artists (MySpace, Facebook, YouTube ...) that the playing field for getting music and artists noticed is so much larger and available to everyone.
While a lot of the major labels and other large music labels are cracking their heads trying to get figure out a new formula that works with all the new avenues introduced, looks like Atlantic is way ahead of the pack.
You might want to check out this article from the New York Times which goes into additonal details about Atlantic and their success with music downloads and digital products:
You will find complete updated reviews of the top legal music download sites on the net, answers to some of the most frequently asked questions about music downloads, and questions to ask yourself to help you decide on the perfect service according to your music needs and downloading habits.
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