the dotmatrix project

Big ups to Julian Himes and the editorial staff over at Amie Street. They’re digging the concept of our local project out here — building community through live performances of original music and creating media to document the evening — so they’re keeping their eyes and ears on what we release into the wild.

Their first DMP pimpage — Sorry About Dresden’s Shake Your Fist music video — has landed in their weekly Amie Street TV feature.

Bam!

Right on the heals of Sorry About Dresden, The Radials Live at the dotmatrix project album has been released to Amie Street.

The model is exactly the same: get in early and download the album for free; procrastinate and pay dinero for it down the road. It’ll never be “mucho” dinero, as every Amie Street track maxes out at $.98, but something is infinitely more than nothing.

I learned at least that much in algebra.

We also released their album to Last.fm, so make sure you have your scrobbling software turned on. With it on, every time you play a track by a local artist, Last.fm adds a play to the band’s profile page. It’s like 21st century Nielson ratings for music. In other words, it helps local musicians get discovered while costing you nothing in return.

As of this very moment, you can download Sorry About Dresden Live at the dotmatrix project for free from Amie Street.

The longer you wait to download, the higher the price will go. All proceeds go to the artists. Fun, eh?

We will release the albums for free down the road — once I design that workflow and interface for this spot — but if you want in now, well, here’s your chance.

Enjoy!

[photograph by Michael Dunn]

Above is the working cover for the 14 track live album we recorded last month at The Green Burro for the Greensboro-based, Southern Rock, alt-Americana group, The Radials. Our featured act on opening night, Sorry About Dresden, will have their 10 track live album finished sometime this upcoming week.

Each band we put on receives a live album, professionally recorded, mixed and mastered in downtown Greensboro. We record live on 6 to 8 separate channels — depending on the amount of vocal mics and mic’d instruments needed — through our Mackie Onyx 1620 w/ a Firewire card straight to Tracktion 3 Logic Pro on our MacBook Pro. Dan “Mixmaster” Bayer, our resident sound engineer, has been mixing both live and in the studio for years with outstanding quality.

Once the album is complete, we license it with a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 license. It basically means that anyone can use the music, even remix or sample it, as long as they give proper attribution and don’t use it commercially. Of course individual cases of copyright permission can still be managed individually, so the artists have complete control of their product.

Our distribution plan is where we shift away from the traditional label route — not to say that we consider ourselves or strive towards being a “label” on any decipherable level. Each album will be uploaded to the Internet Archive, where fans can download the tracks for free. We’ll also work with artists to get their albums out to spots such as Last.fm, iLike and AmieStreet while schooling them on how their fans can help them in the internet age by doing simple, free things like scrobbling tracks to their Last.fm account when using iTunes or their iPod, tagging tracks, recommending tracks, etc.

We’ll provide a package of audio tracks to the musicians — along with cover art, a professionally mixed video and professionally shot pictures of the show — but it’ll be up to each band to get their music to online stores such as iTunes and CDBaby or physical retail spots. We’re not interested in managing the machinations of music sales. Our profit margin is much greater designing software.

Once the product has been delivered, we’ll provide a free download of each album, along with links off to corresponding media from the evening back here at HQ. All we ask in return from people downloading the tracks is their email address and an optional PayPal donation to help us recoup our initial costs.

All of this is a designed effort to build community around diverse local artists, with local music fans, while still providing access to people around the world with overlapping tastes of music.

Prego, baby. Prego.

The Radials Live at the dotmatrix project by the dotmatrix project is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

So I ended up on MTV.com earlier today — something that I never do on purpose — after running a search for “Matt White Gauntlet III.”

Yeah, Matt White — the guy who was accosted by Mike Score’s hair stylist.

See, Molly opened for Matt White at The Pour House a few months ago, so when I caught his mug all over MTV in my hotel room last week, I was kind of curious about what crappy pop song “intimate adult alternative pop” he came up with to satisfy those market mavens at MTV central.

That’s how I stumbled across this gem of a description for the “New Artist” page (my emphasis):

With the millions of singer-songwriters, garage bands, rookie rappers, parlor poppers and wannabe stars vying for a spot on your musical radar, how are you supposed to stay in the know? How can you figure out which new artists are actually worth listening to and who’s just aural waste?

Let MTV do it for you! We keep tabs on the best and brightest of all of the new artists, groups and bands out there — from underground rappers and emcees to Brit pop groups, to basement indie rock bands and emerging acts just breaking onto the scene — so you can stay in the know. That means MTV is the place to find out about new artists as they’re emerging from their shells and taking their shot at the big time.

MTV filters out the noise, gives you the good stuff and hooks you up with everything you need to get started on your way to becoming a die-hard fan of the best new artists on the scene. You get videos, song and album previews, video interviews, exclusive live performances, backstage footage, concert info and more. Plus, you get exclusive MTV content like Playlibs, where we sit down with new artists and ask them about their favorite songs, guiltiest pleasures and the music that inspired them, and show you all the videos too. And A.D.D. Bio, an online show where you get the super-speedy story behind brand-new artists.

When the world is just starting to buzz about artists like Amy Winehouse, Mika, Klaxons, Cold War Kids, Madina Lake, MIMS, Mastodon, Gym Class Heroes and Lily Allen, MTV already had the goods on all of ‘em for you, online at MTV.com. So when you’re getting sick of everything on your MP3 player and looking to discover new music, MTV.com gives you all you need to know about the new artists you need to know about.

I don’t know what you heard when you read that verbiage, but I heard MTV telling me that I don’t know shit about music; then explaining basic English to me as if I’m a fucking moron; then reassuring me that if I suck the teet of MTV.com, I’ll know everything I need to know about music.

Cynical?

This is the year 2008. We’re only 11 years away from Replicants servicing off-world colonies, and MTV.com still refuses to get with the times.

Want to see what a new artist page looks like in the world that’s going to murder site/channels like MTV in the very near future?

Amie Street doesn’t perform a bullshit role of “gatekeeper of quality music”; they present new artists from an objective position of “here are the newest artists who have joined our community.”

The only reason to do otherwise is to keep exposure channels walled off in order to drive up the cost of doing promotional business; THAT MEANS MTV is looking backwards, not forwards.

MTV will spin a “new artists” section as if they’re music experts helping you find an artist that speaks to you, but they’re no Rolling Stone circa 1982.

Think I want music recommendations from the people that give me this on-air garbage?

I’m a single, 37 year-old man with a bunch of disposable income who loves music. I’d watch MTV for hours on end if they would give me videos for once underground, forever great music like this:

But serving the desires of a music fan isn’t central to their business model anymore. They should get a fucking moon man award from Madison Avenue.

The days when MTV meant anything to the world of music are long gone.

It’s a pretty drastic move for me to spend a chunk of cash these days on a technology that delivers any type of programmed content, but music in particular.

Ever since human-spun radio soured on me in the mid-nineties — with reports of payola and label deal rotations influencing DJ plays — I’ve evolved to relegate my radio listening patterns to drive time NPR, practically disregarding the very existance of music. The radios I owned slowly began to reflect my reduced appreciation for the medium. Out of my boom boxes, clock radios, my tower stereo tuner, etc., only one working radio remained: my factory issued truck stereo.

I mean, who needs a radio with the internet in play?

Around 2001, I discovered Launch FM (Yahoo Music), which I immediately considered brilliant for its discrete feedback mechanisms to personalize my Launch station. I mean, where else could I state that A Tribe Called Quest was a perfect expression of Hip Hop, while declaring that J-Live falls short of perfection by 8 points out of 100 and issuing a decree that P.M. Dawn was to never be heard from again on my station?

Since then, Pandora, Last.fm and numerous other music services have added various axis’ and dimensions for introducing discovery along side personalization; all have contributed greatly to radio’s potential within this digital age.

Yet with all this progress, something tangible seems to be missing from the equation.

I’ve tried my best to disregard it — “it” being the obvious exclusion of human personality in the mix — by telling myself that the masses know better than any one DJ; that the “wisdom of the crowd” definitely trumps a human editor with the potential for an agenda.

But that distrust of all editors, all human filters, doesn’t match my core take on people or my belief in the need for human creativity, nor is it true to my upbringing.

Back In The Day

My relationship with radio dates back to being an eight year-old latch key kid in North Jersey. As dusk settled in, and after watching my father pass out after one too many Martini’s, I’d head up to my room to stay up late into the night listening to acts like Cliff Richard croon their latest on the AM channel of the day in NYC:

It’s so funny how we don’t talk anymore
It’s so funny why we don’t talk anymore
But I ain’t losing sleep and I ain’t counting sheep
It’s so funny how we don’t talk anymore

But it wasn’t just the song or the act that captured my imagination; it was the flow spit by the DJ of the day, Wolfman Jack. His raspy delivery, cool as the other side of the pillow demeanor and the Wolfman howl transferred coolness to the very tracks he spun.

He was radio.

A few years later, each night after drifting off to side two of Rhythm of Youth (”I Like” in particular), every now and then I’d wake up just to fire up the station and request a song. I don’t know what moved me to roll out of a deep sleep, but it probably had just as much to do with connecting with another human being than it did with my desire to get my song played live.

There was just something real about talking to the DJ, a person with the cool ass job of spinning whatever vinyl they damn well pleased. And when my tune request actually caught a spin on-air!? The feeling was something else, akin to maybe wafting the very scent of Rock n’ Roll itself. It’s arguably a sensation that kids in this DIY-only media generation have completely missed out on experiencing.

It’s all relative, I guess.

When I check Molly’s play stats on Last.fm or Amie Street and see even a slight gain from the previous week, it’s a different type of adrenalin rush from when my request gets spun by a DJ.

Cool for sure, but not that cool.

While all these relevancy algorithms, metadata input fields and recommendations each serve as precise hooks of input leading to greater chances of discovering new artists and the collaborative, yet passive pimpage, is completely relevant in how this decentralized, yet connected age of music is being shaped, the texture of the experience isn’t anywhere near the same as when I catch a DJ infusing one of Molly’s songs into their rotation.

I know that now, because that’s exactly what happened yesterday.

The Hookup

A couple of weeks ago, while taking in Molly’s show at The Blind Tiger, I handed out Girl with Slingshot to folks who seemed like they were digging her set (read: everyone not too drunk to stand). Afterwards, as Molly and I sat on the pool table watching Chuck Folds Five do their thing, I recognized a woman from across the room. We had never met formally, but we had crossed paths a few times at her day job, so I decided to introduce myself… with a free CD in tow.

After introducing each other and chatting for a bit, it turns out that this woman, Kathy Clark, is the very same Kathy Clark who DJ’s the Worker’s Playtime slot on 90.9 WQFS, from 12pm -2pm each Monday afternoon. Before I could begin to grin, Kathy tells me that she’ll check out the album and if she digs it, she’ll start playing it the following week.

Uhm, cue the adrenaline drip.

On The Radio (whoa oh oh)

I missed Worker’s Playtime last week, as I couldn’t find a good enough radio to purchase in such a short period time, so I could only guess how Molly’s music was received on a popular college radio station. Thankfully, Kathy ended my angst by emailing me after her show:

[...] i was only going to play one molly song but ended up playing three. after playing “preachers and thieves” a caller ranted and raved about it and wanted to hear something else by molly. (i love it when that happens! the FIRST time EVER anything gets played on the air and it elicits that kind of response… i take as a good sign for that artist’s success.) so i played “kill devil hills.” and when i was looking for a way to end my show, i impulsively threw on “travel well and safely.” it’s always good to end with ukulele, yes? (it is a ukulele in that song, isn’t it…?) [..]

I’m sorry, but can you say w00t!?

So last weekend I made it a point to remedy the state of my non-existent home radio. Without further ado, I’d like to introduce you to my new living room radio in all its intrinsic retro-glory.

I’ve no idea if I’ll ever use the HD aspect of the box; all that mattered to me was that it had digital tuning, that it sounded great and that it would look nice in my living room.

So yesterday, with the radio perched up on my bookcase, I fired it up and tuned-in to Kathy’s show. No sooner did I sit down to start in on my lunch did I hear the familiar sound of a certain rhythm guitarist… and then her voice:

Slow down, you talk too fast
I can’t hear what you’re saying
And you know how I like to
Hang on every word

Black Paper Silhouette

Yeah, I can admit it… I had a moment.

After leaving a ridiculous voice mail message for Molly, I picked up the phone and called the station’s request line (336-316-2444) to thank Kathy. Before I knew it, she had me requesting Bad Jokes and Blues and pimping Molly’s running 9pm Tuesday night show at M’Coul’s in downtown Greensboro.

Sure, Last.fm gives me an event page to describe her show, but man, nothing is better than hearing a person that digs the music pass on the info in earnest.

Nothing.

To Kathy and Josh (of J’s Indie/Rock Mayhem, from 6pm - 8pm on Wednesday nights), I look forward to hitting you up at least once a week.

I swear I’ll vary my requests.

We’re only six months into our grass roots pimping of Molly’s debut solo album, Girl with Slingshot, and I have to say that we’ve received nothing but wonderful feedback and support from music lovers, both online and off. One tidbit of coolness that I’d like to share is Molly’s album being named the #30 Best Album of the Year at Amie Street.

That happened in only five months since it was made available on Amie Street, so a big thanks goes out to those of you that not only bought her album, but recommended it to others.

You guys are the ones that make indie music possible.

Molly will be performing some cool, jazzy, collaborative sets locally in the new year, so to her Greensboro peeps: Tuesday nights at 9pm in the upstairs bar at M’Coul’s Pub. It’s on.

Thanks again and have a great 2008.

Jermaine Dupri’s recent Huffington Post article is a classic spin job; a call for revolution by “artists, producers and label executives” to halt the sale of individual tracks on iTunes in order to get back to the good old days of albums being sold as product — all under the cover of defending artist’s integrity.

Here are a few choice quotes (with my emphasis and commentary):

[...] He’s not the first. He’s not the lone cowboy in all of this. Radiohead and AC/DC have turned their backs on iTunes for the same reason. Doug Morris, the CEO of Universal Group, has been fighting Steve Jobs on this for a minute now. But Jay is at a level people are going to pay attention to. He’s had 10 number one albums. He may run Def Jam but he’s also an artist who put his heart and soul into something that he wants people to hear all the way through. As the creator and investor, he has every right to demand this. [...]

In what world can anyone demand that someone experiences product exactly the way the producers want them to, particularly music? This isn’t the 1970’s; we have options nowadays.

Hey Jermaine, ever hear of the iPod Shuffle? Do you even have a clue as to why Apple was successful in turning a feature of the iPod into a product of it’s own? It’s because they have a finger on the pulse of how people listen to their music.

Don’t get me wrong; I’m not an active paying customer of iTunes because I won’t pay for a DRM product and a $.99 digital track is too expensive, IMO.

But when people have a library of music at their disposal, they want the option to add to that collection in a way that matches their listening experience — as if they’re chilling in their favorite pub with a killer jukebox rotating through tracks in the background.

Similarly, when I jog, I don’t want to end my run on the same verse of the same song each time I lace up my sneakers (I have a watch for that experience); I want a brand spanking new jogging soundtrack to occupy my thoughts instead of feeling the deja vu that occurs when I step off a particular curb while Chi Ali drops the same line from Pass The 40.

Why? Because monotony sucks, even when it’s a dope track or album.

The same desire for playback diversity is applicable to the experiences that Pandora, Musicovery, Last.fm and any number of free internet radio stations provide in this information age. Shit, CD shuffle has been a cheap replacement option for a live DJ since 1988.

Dupri doesn’t support the modern-day CD shuffle sales equivalent because a CD (album) isn’t always being sold.

Talk about throwing out the baby with the bath water!

In this day and age, only dedicated fans of artists (teenagers and hardcore listeners) buy albums, rush home, read the lyrics and listen to an album from front to back. That context scenario hasn’t represented a large demographic of music listeners / buyers for a long time now. And because most albums are often rushed to release by a label demanding that bottom-line deadlines are met, many people have lost faith in the album as a commodity.

Illmatic was dope and I’m still listening to it over and over again as an album. Now, name another Nas album that has even come close as a holistic experience.

Not every album is worth full market value. People are simply fed up of being duped and are now enabled by technology to do something about it.

Good for people!

The premise of this article is bullshit to begin with; iTunes allows people to purchase both the entire album and individual tracks. So don’t try to jive us with this move by Jay-Z as being something about “protecting artistic integrity” when it’s all about a price point disagreement.

No matter how much Doug Morris wants this age to retro-fit his business model, it just isn’t happening. People want what they want; either give (sell) it to them or they’ll take it (P2P download).

More Dupri:

[...] More artists and producers are gonna take back control of how their art is sold because his strategy has paid off. Maybe Hova coulda sold another 100,000 to 200,000 units by playing it iTunes’ way, but he still had the number one album last week. He STILL sold 425,000 units. Even more, he’s proven you can still sell an album without those guys. [...]

The music industry (read: many labels and tons of artists) are hemorrhaging sales revenue and Jermaine Dupri is pointing to an example of Jay-Z missing out on on a 23% - 47% increase in sales as a good thing? All for the greater good of controlling how a musician’s voice is heard?

What the fuck is Dupri smoking, ’cause I want to make certain that I never put that shit to my lips.

How fucking elitist are these guys? Indie artists and small label acts need all the support they can get nowadays to expose their sounds:

• MySpace or Facebook profile song adds by people serves as viral marketing
• Song or album purchases helps spread the word while putting money in the pockets of artists
• Tagging up artists or their songs greatly increases the chance of exposure in this 2.0 world

That’s not even getting into post-event media creation and online sharing necessary to draw people to shows.

I know for a fact that Molly cherishes and appreciates every bit of positive feedback and support she receives. To present Jay-Z’s decision to stiff arm iTunes as a revolutionary move for the industry — to lead artists in controlling how people listen to music — is not only a fucking smokescreen to Dupri and Jay-Z serving their boss’ business interests, but it’s offensive to musicians who aren’t living in the clouds.

Dupri continues:

[...] Jay made everyone realize that iTunes taking what we give them and doing what they want with it isn’t the way it has to be. He put the light on and made other people realize, “Oh these guys are just selling our music, they ain’t making it.” If anything, WE made iTunes. It’s like how we spent $300,000 to $500,000 each on our videos and MTV and BET went ahead and built an entire video television industry off of our backs. We can’t let that happen again. These businesses exist solely because of our music. So if we as artists, producers and label executives stand up, those guys at Apple can either cooperate, or have nothing for people to buy and download on their iPods.

Apple thinks that’s never gonna happen. They think that we as the record industry will never stick together. But Universal sells one out of every three records. All it’ll take is for Warner Music to say, “You know what, I’m with you,” for us to shut ‘em down. No more iPods! They won’t have nothin’ to play on their players! We can take back the power if we’re willing to sacrifice some sales to make our point. [...]

And there, my dear reader, is the nut of this posturing; Dupri and Co. want to ratchet up the war against their own market.

The classic part of this bravado is Jermaine Dupri’s call for executives to support his burial of the music industry — keep paying him mad dollars while he sacrifices — to allow him to participate in this revolution to disenfranchise both real and potential customers.

These guys are boycotting iTunes for no other reason than their belief that they’re not getting enough control or money. And who can blame them, because if you really think about it, Jermaine Dupri and Jay-Z created the most popular music service (iTunes) — from the most popular brand in America (Apple) — by getting paid for rapping about bling, booze, broads and bucks for the past 10 years.

Right.

If Universal and Warner both pulled out of iTunes tomorrow, Jobs could shift his focus to the relatively untapped, global long tail market of unsigned and small label acts in the wild. If he made it easier for such acts to upload music to his arena, he could pocket the cut (53%) that once went to labels like Universal and Warner, turn off DRM (the only reason he’s using it is because the big labels insist upon using it) and start a price war that even four gas stations at an intersection haven’t seen before.

You think labels are struggling now? That kind of a move would truly revolutionize the industry. And Jobs wouldn’t have too much to lose as it’s the iPod — not iTunes music sales — that is Apple’s revenue darling.

Who needs whom?

Dupri:

[...] These days people just assume that you need a number one single to have a number one album. But look at what’s really happening. Soulja Boy sold almost 4 million singles and only 300,000 albums! We let the consumer have too much of what they want, too soon, and we hurt ourselves. Back in the day when people were excited about a record coming out we’d put out a single to get the ball going and if we sold a lot of singles that was an indication we’d sell a lot of albums. But we’d cut the single off a few weeks before the album came out to get people to wait and let the excitement build. When I put out Kris Kross we did that. We sold two million singles, then we stopped. Eventually we sold eight million albums! [...]

He’s so fucking out of touch with reality, that he referenced Kris Kross — a pre-internet act — as a business case example and Soulja Boy (who?) as someone who lost sales, instead of someone who should be thankful that he ever sold 100 albums, period.

Anyone who wants to crash and burn in the age of the internet, Mr. Jermaine Dupri — husband of the former artist Janet Jackson, who allowed herself to be exploited on national TV in a desperate move to give her name media attention — is speaking loud and clear. Follow at your own peril.

More:

[...] Did consumers complain? Maybe so. But at what point does any business care when a consumer complains about the money? Why do people not care how we - the people who make music - eat? If they just want the single, they gotta get the album. That was how life was. Today we should at least have that option. Yeah, it’s about the money, but it’s also about quality. Creating each album as a body of work that means something gives the consumer something better to listen to, It’s that simple. Otherwise all anyone would care about is making a bunch of ringtones. [...]

That “eating” line has me doubled over in laughter. When was the last time Jay-Z or Jumaine Dupree missed a meal? Who elected Jermaine fucking Dupri to be the national spokesperson for starving artists and musicians?

I’d bet my bank that an indie artist would jump at the opportunity to have their album/tracks available in as prime of a spot as iTunes with a $.29 price point per song. If I have $10 to spend on music, I have $10 to spend on music. Set a market-friendly price and watch sales jump through the roof while illegal downloads decrease, overnight.

Of course, the majors will never back that move because illegal downloads are only a threat to the perceived market valuation of individual tracks. These greedy bastards are holding so tight to their price point, that they’re willing to sacrifice the future of the industry.

So be it. Music industry 2.0 will be dope for artists, producers, venues and fans. Fuck the middleman.

I do love how Dupri reminds himself midstream that this conversation is also about quality, which of course leads into his whining about how fucking brilliant he is as a producer:

None of this is new. Every record is in some way a concept album. The whole always strives to be better than its parts. I dedicate a whole chapter in my book to this process. Every thing I produce is a product of me spending time with the artist and getting to know where his or her head is at. Usher’s Confessions album was all about where he was at that point in his life. Same with Mariah’s Emancipation of Mimi.

So now I’m supposed to feel guilty for all the morons who disrupted the genius flow of Mariah Carey’s last album by buying an individual track? Dupri is essentially saying that anything thrown together is a “concept album” because, well, they conceived an entire album, therefore selling individual songs “ruins the experience” which naturally stems from the overall creative processes.

To quote my fellow ‘Cuse alumni, Derrick Coleman: “Whoop-de-damn-do!”

Would somebody please introduce the concept of postmodernism to Jermaine Dupri? Being that the internet is not a modern construct, I think he might need to understand the basics of our current reality in a connected world before trying to speak for an entire industry.

[...] Apple, why are you helping the consumer destroy our canvas? We don’t tell you to break up your computers into bits and pieces and sell off each thing. When you go to the Apple store you may only need one thing, but you have to buy all their plug ins and stuff. You have to buy their whole package, even if you don’t necessarily want it, or your equipment won’t work. We’re just saying, if you have the audacity to sell your products like that, don’t treat our products as something less than yours. [...]

Forget the fact that Jermaine Dupri is still insisting that the music industry can control how people listen to music… he just compared selling individual tracks, which are designed to function as an independent object on a CD — allowing for next track fast-forwarding and rewinding, shuffling, individual play, copying, etc. — to Apple not allowing partial sales or the tweaking of Macs with other equipment?

Because it’s impossible to install more RAM from another reseller to a new or old Mac. Or are you referring to how Apple doesn’t “allow” people to install hard drives into their products, Jermaine? And Apple themselves don’t sell individual parts of their computers either, right?

Apple can be a controlling company and will design themselves into a corner at times, but this comparison is ridiculous.

I’d rather not be so harsh, Jermaine — if you guys want to limit your distribution options and cause grief for the people looking to buy your product, so be it — but there are artists out there whose careers might never see the light of day because of these types of ill-informed perspectives.

That said, sometimes you gotta keep it real and call a spade a spade.

Holla!

Other opinions:

• Jermaine Dupri On The Huffington Post
• Music producer is right to defend bad business
• Jermaine Dupri Takes A Stand Against Apple
• David Brooks almost gets it; Jermaine Dupri doesn’t
• cash. money. records.
• Quote of the Day: Jermaine Dupri
• Jermaine Dupri’s Message To Music Fans
• Jermaine Dupri is a Corporate Tool
• Helping massa build a new house
• Jermaine Dupri, rapper, hates iTunes and thinks consumers are dumb

Following in the “label darlings gone independent” heals of Radiohead, Trent Reznor is releasing his latest project — the production of Saul Williams’ album, The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of NiggyTardust!, straight to the internet tonight, sans the middlemen label people clogging up the mix and taking their cut.

To that particular end, here’s Saul Williams message to the people:

My Dearest Friends and Fans,

It is my greatest honor to present to you The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of NiggyTardust!, my new album produced by Trent Reznor and mixed by Alan Moulder.

The wall of sound that we’ve created is tagged with such graffiti that a passerby would seek out doors and ways to ENTER. Once inside a world defined by dreams come true they’d find aligned with the simplest act of sharing what we treasure. Most people aren’t aware of the world of art and commerce where exploitation strips each artist down to nigger. Each label, like apartheid, multiplies us by our divide and whips us ’til we conform to lesser figures. What falls between the cracks is a pile of records stacked to the heights of talents hidden from the sun. Yet the energy they put into popularizing smut makes a star of a shiny polished gun. The ballot or the bullet for Mohawk or the mullet is a choice between new times and dying days. And the only way to choose is to jump ship from old truths and trust dolphins as we swim through changing ways.

The ways of middlemen proves to be just a passing trend. We need no priests to talk to God. No phone to call her. And when you click the link below, i think it fair that you should know that your purchase will make middlemen much poorer…

NiggyTardust!

love,
Saul

No doubt a creative and eloquent way to pitch the download of an album while riding the wave of the anti-label froth that has developed in the mouths of music lovers everywhere. The last line is a bit overstated at this point in time — middlemen will continue to find their nut to squirrel away — but the optimism is fresh and well taken.

Here’s the jist of the release approach:

• Download the album for free and receive it in 192Kbps MP3 format
• Download the album for a $5 donation and receive it in one of multiple formats — 192Kbps MP3, 320Kbps MP3, FLAC lossless audio
• All versions include a PDF with artwork and lyrics
• All files are 100% DRM free, and can be played on any device. MP3s are encoded with LAME v3.97

I heard Saul Williams first drop his style in a track called Ohm on Lyricist Lounge, Vol. 1 in 1998 and his Buddhist / kung-fu inspired cut stuck with me for years. I rediscovered him in my iTunes catalog this past week, so I was already planning on supporting this release before Reznor “leaked” three tracks from the NiggyTardust album.

Check them out for yourself:

Ohm (Lyricist Lounge Vol 1)

Tr(n)igger (NiggyTardust)

Break (NiggyTardust)

Banged And Blown Through (NiggyTardust)

While I’m psyched to see artists use the guts of the internet to promote and distribute their craft, this model isn’t necessarily the savior for indie artists everywhere. I mean, it wouldn’t hurt for any artist to develop a site like the NiggyTardust site — chock full of free and donation driven download options, embedded widgets for viral promotion, etc. — but Trent Reznor is already Trent Reznor.

Would this work for him (and Saul Williams) if Reznor hadn’t gone the label route first?

As I see it, the future of independent music isn’t relying on massive shifts in the online distribution model. If Amazon.com and iTunes were as lax as Amie Street regarding entry into their catalog, distribution success would then be simply a question of the right price point — and that’ll work itself out through competition over time as the average kid’s perception of a music track moves farther and farther away from something one pays money to own.

The RIAA is doing their best to fight that losing battle.

So the question that’s popping off in my noggin’ is: What exactly is the draw for an artist or band to sign their lives away with a traditional label?

• Their hold on distribution has slipped away
• Online promotion is open to all with a clue
• Radio is no longer a huge draw to potential fans
• Music videos are probably watched more on YouTube than the reality show driven MTV

What’s the “sell your soul” pitch from a big label in 2007? Seriously, what angles of distribution and promotion do they still have a death grasp on? Big media connections?

How are successful smaller labels working with artists and differentiating themselves from the machine?

What are successful independent bands doing (aside from making great music) that can be replicated by other independents?

Will services like Facebook Music be the answer? Or can a walled garden truly provide that degree of change?

Anyone?