I fell in love with D.A.N.C.E. by Justice the second I heard it! And once I saw the video, I was pretty much floored.

Takes screen-printing to whole new level doesn't it?

Linda

Posted by Linda at 03:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

It's been confirmed that the popular rock band, Radiohead, will release their latest album, In Rainbows, on October 10th. Both loyal Radiohead fans and casual music fans alike are stoked for the release new album, but it's not the band's popularity that is creating all the buzz about their new music. In a ground breaking event in the music industry, Radiohead will be offering their new album without a record label or retail price. In Rainbows will be available only as a digital download from the band's website, Radiohead.com. If you place the album in your checkout bag, the screen will prompt you to enter a price you're willing to pay for it. The price is ultimately up to the customer; it is totally acceptable to pay $0 or any higher amount you desire. This is the first major record to ever give the customer complete control over pricing options.


The whole concept and idea behind this is really fascinating. I have no idea what the outcome of this business strategy will be. On one hand, they will be able to distribute their music and gain exposure from all the people looking for free music. This could indirectly help them with concerts and ticket sales. But on the other hand, I wonder how much revenue they will lose from people who were expecting to pay the market value of $15 for the album. Regardless, I still believe there is a large demographic who are loyal to the artist and will support them with compensation for the CD. And since there is no record label involved in this business model, the band will actually be making all the profits.


That leads me to another interesting question. If this trend catches on and becomes popular, will there be any need for record labels? Generally a band under a major record label only receives about 30% of all sales, so I'm interested to see how much gross profit Radiohead actually receives without a label, compared to what they could have made with them. Anyways, it will be interesting to see how this new "business model" affects the music industry. It surely can't be good for the large record labels, but I'm wondering what kind of affect they will have on such distributors as iTunes, and Amazon's new music project.

Brent

Posted by Brent at 05:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

One day after the highly anticipated release of Kanye West's Graduation, and 50 Cent's Curtis albums, the two rappers are still duking it out to see who will sell the most records in the first week. It was reported a while ago, and mentioned in my previous entry, that if Kanye West outsold 50 Cent on September 11 (the release date), then 50 would retire from writing music and producing solo albums. Well the numbers are in for September 11 album purchases. According to Billboard, Kanye West sold 437,000 copies of his album, Graduation in its first day of sales on Tuesday, which out sold 50 Cent's Curtis album by about 127,000. So, according to 50's statement a month ago, it would seem that is solo career is over.


I wouldn't be so sure though; it appears that Kanye and 50 will wait 1 week to compare album sales. Even though sales and trend lines suggest that Kanye will out sell 50 quite easily, it's really hard for me to imaging someone like Curtis Jackson (50 Cent) actually shallowing his pride and sticking to his word. Wouldn't it be nice though? We'll see.

Anyways, as Kris mentioned, it's a very busy time for us here at Become. There are a lot of cool features we're adding to the site that is going to make become.com awesome. So check back regularly!

Also: Rock Band for xbox 360 and PS3 -- its going to be rad. Check it out!
Brent

Posted by Brent at 04:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Kanye West’s critically acclaimed album, Graduation, his third studio album, which features such chart topping singles as Stronger, Can’t Tell Me Nothing, and Good Life, had a scheduled release date of September 18. 2007. However, Kanye has decided to push his release date up one week to September 11; the same date 50 Cent’s new album, Curtis, is supposed to release. The new release date has led to lot of controversy between the two rapper and their labels (Def Jam and Interscope).

Feuds between rappers are nothing new. Everyday it seems as if some rapper has new beef with someone else in the industry. I really feel rappers do this just so that they’ll have something to rap about in their upcoming album. I mean, it is pretty difficult to express any interest in anything except money, bling, and women (sarcasm for anyone who couldn’t tell). But anyways, as you can probably tell, I’m not a huge fan of all the political controversies within the rap industry and the mind numbing artist who rap about the same things with different hooks. However I do have to admit that I’m am pretty excited for the feedback about both albums released on the same day.

To take things even farther, 50 Cent has now said that if Kanye West’s Graduation outsells his Curtis album, that he will stop releasing solo albums.

“Let's raise the stakes. If Kanye West sells more records than 50 Cent on September 11, I'll no longer write music. I'll write music and work with my other artists, but I won't put out any more solo albums.”

I don’t know about anyone else, but don’t you think rap music would be better without 50 Cent? I mean he is one of the most recognizable figures in the industry, but does his music really warrant his fame? All his songs sound the same and he never has any content or substance; face it, he just can’t compete with Kanye West as a lyricist.

So, September 11 you can make your own decision and be the judge about who is the better artist, and you never know, you might be purchasing the last 50 Cent solo album ever!

Brent

Posted by Brent at 09:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

Congratulations. The people have spoken and at least one member of the heavily maligned RIAA listened. EMI will begin selling music without copy protection during the month of May, with Apple hoping to have half of the store's catalog available in an unprotected format by the end of the year. Unfortunately iTunes customers will be paying a little extra for EMI's DRM-free tracks, as the cost per unrestricted song will be $1.29.

Some may argue that an additional thirty cents is just too costly when the primary benefit is the loss of technically induced restrictions. Those people will be happy to hear that the previously established rate of $.99 will continue to be available, as users will be given a choice between music with or without copy protection, depending on their needs. In addition, EMI album downloads will retain the $9.99 price point while still giving users the benefits of DRM-free music.

As an added incentive to acquire unprotected tracks, each song will be encoded at a much higher rate, resulting in better sound that may or may not be noticeable, depending on your audio equipment and general aural awareness. Sounds like a good deal to me. Apple will still be using the AAC format, so if your mp3 player doesn't natively support AAC, you'll still have to manually convert each song to remain compatible, although I'd imagine that the end result won't be quite as painful, since the boosted bitrate should give you a little more room to hack and slash, so to speak.

Further reading on the EMI/Apple deal: BusinessWeek has a great article on the news and its implications, while Engadget brings us back to earth with their views on the announcement.

Sean

Edit: Moved things around a bit

Posted by Sean at 06:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

Gizmodo is declaring March to be Boycott the RIAA Month and today they posted a very lucid, well-written piece on exactly why you should do that. Worth a read, especially as an intro to the issue. "Why are the record companies kicking my grandmother in the shins and beating orphans with sticks, and what can I do about it?" you ask. Gizmodo has answers.

Aram

Posted by Aram at 11:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Nothing quite says rock and roll like a crunchy slice of toast. That seems to be what the people behind Hottie Amps were thinking when they developed their snazzy line of toaster amplifiers. Yes, you really can plug a guitar into any one of these revived vintage toasters to rock out on a notably delicious whim. In addition, a Hottie toaster can also drive a larger cab should the built in 6" speaker not sufficiently butter your bread (boo, hiss). The one downside is that these amps no longer have the ability to actually toast bread. Maybe next time?

Sean

Posted by Sean at 05:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Last week I described SellaBand's snazzy music service where bands can upload demo songs in the hopes of acquiring a respectable following. However, getting that initial demo recorded can be somewhat tricky. A number of products have been released to help with things like guitars, but one of the more difficult and arguably intimidating aspects of recording a demo is achieving a drum sound that doesn't bring to mind images of garbage cans (ahem...I think we all know who I am talking about). Sure, you can buy a microphone kit tailored toward drums, but that can be costly and you'll still have quite a bit of tweaking to do in an audio editing program. Besides, you have to actually play the drums to go that route. On the digital side of things, programmed drums are fairly popular, but they risk sounding robotic and you're limited by the quality of your samples. What's a budding rock star on a budget to do?!

Well, you could pick up Toontrack's EZDrummer. This plugin makes the process of constructing good sounding drum tracks nice and—wait for it—EZ *hangs head in shame*. If you don't have the slightest clue how to write fills and whatnot, don't worry; it comes preloaded with countless MIDI loops so you'll have a respectable beat behind your guitar riffs in just a few clicks. But most importantly, it sounds good. All 7,000 included samples have already been processed and will generally cut through mixes. In addition, the robotic concern that I previously mentioned is addressed by EZDrummer's humanizer feature.

If the program's mixer is insufficient in tweaking the sound to your liking, you can also pick up a couple expansion packs giving you additional kits.

Now that I've hyped the program to death, let me quickly bring you back to reality. This drum sampler, while very cool and definitely worth the price, is unlikely to replace a professional studio for drums. Sure, you can tweak the sounds, but you're limited in that the samples have already been processed to a certain extent. If you really want a positively frightening level of control, EZDrummer has a big scary brother called DFH Superior. As you'd expect, it's more expensive, requires a more powerful computer, and also has a substantial learning curve. Regardless, I can't recommend EZDrummer enough. Their web site has a number of mp3 samples for your listening pleasure as well as a Flash tutorial. Interested? Be sure to verify that your audio program is indeed compatible with the program!

Quickly now, go forth and rock!
Sean

Posted by Sean at 06:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Web sites promoting the next big musical act nowadays are by no means a rare occurrence. With so many services saturating the market, it's always nice when someone successfully executes an original idea. Enter SellaBand.com. This snazzy web site gives bands as well as their fans the opportunity to benefit from each other. Here's the basic process: Your inner rock star gets together with a few of your best buds and you record a simple demo. You then upload a couple songs to the SellaBand service where the general public freely downloads them. As the next big thing, your fans will be blown away to the degree that they'll invest in your music by purchasing "parts" for $10 a piece---they will then receive the title of believer. When and if you hit $50,000, you will be given the opportunity to record your music at a professional studio with professional people. Your believers will then receive shiny new CDs featuring your recently recorded music. (They will, of course, have bragging rights too.)

Your music will next be given away for free through the SellaBand web site and you, the believers, and SellaBand will all receive a share of the resulting ad revenue. Finally, the CD will be sold through various means with 50% of the money heading your way, while the other 50% goes to your faithful few. As you get bigger and bigger, both you and your believers receive more and more money. Since both parties have an incentive to get the word out, the promotional wheels continue to turn and everyone wins.

Sean

Posted by Sean at 06:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (461) | TrackBacks (0)

Two fine things I noticed while perusing The Onion today.

1) Gotchaboxes. Real-looking boxes for absurd products (although a USB toaster is not at all inconceivable--I had to check around to make sure someone wasn't actually making one) that you can put your real Christmas gifts in. I bet if you spring for rush shipping you could still get them in time for Christmas. You're probably pushing it for Hanukkah.

2) I'm so far a big fan of Rhapsody. Normally, I'd be reading the A.V. Club, note that they have something nice to say about the Sam Roberts Band, and dismiss them (noting their Canadian-ness) the next time I'm faking being a music snob. But Rhapsody lets you access a huge catalog of full albums that you can stream as you please. Since I spend most of my day in front of a computer anyway, it's well worth my $10 a month, even if I can't (easily) take any of the music with me on my iPod. (I view it as kind of a try-before-you-buy-elsewhere.) Obviously it's not going to have the most cutting-edge indy stuff, but it's not bad, especially when you need to hear that one Grand Funk Railroad song just to get it out of your damn head already. If you want to download the tracks, they're encrypted and you don't actually own them, but I'd look at it as more radio-plus than music-store-minus.

Thanks to Rhapsody, I can confidently spew out, "Sam Roberts? Yeah, pretty straight ahead jangle-rock sound, kind of confessional songwriting but with more energy than that would normally connote. Good organ; a guitarist who liked prog after it was cool. Flat, gravelly lead vocals with drippy harmonies. Kind of Exile-runs-over-Counting-Crows-by-way-of-Ziggy-Stardust," and probably get punched in the face by someone who hates people who insist on trying to sound like Pitchfork when they talk about music.

Aram

Posted by Aram at 05:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

...Or rather Bonolulu, as we U2 fans like to call it!

For those of you that are not yet in the loop, I wrote a blog entry back in October about a dilemma I had in regards to my lack of a proper digital camera. I was planning to take a trip to Honolulu Hawaii, where U2 and Pearl Jam were due to perform on December 9th.

The concert was amazing! There were actually three acts. The first to perform was Rocko and the Devils. The lead vocalist, Rocko Reedy, is actually U2’s tour manager and has been for the last 15 years. I was not expecting much from these guys, so I was pleasantly surprised with their performance. They had a ton of energy and they did an awesome job! I would love to see them again.

Then it was Pearl Jam’s turn. What we got was everything we expected from a Pearl Jam performance. They certainly did not disappoint, although there were a few Zootopians on the front rail that could have gone without the wine that was being sprayed from Eddie Vedder’s mouth. *eeew*

During the first two acts, I was constantly messing around with my new camera, the Canon PowerShot SD700 IS, because I had just bought it and I was still unfamiliar how to use it in a concert setting. I am so glad I did that, because I had taken a lot of bad pictures of Rocko and Pearl Jam. By the time U2 took the stage, I had it down pretty well.

U2’s last concert of the Vertigo tour was awesome! I could not properly describe how well they did, without doing some injustice. One amazing moment was when Adam Clayton, U2’s bassist, came over to us and he gave my friend Perla Valencia the guitar pick that he was playing with. Wow! The sign that she was holding up “Adam, You’re the HOTTEST” probably grabbed his attention! Well, that and the bright orange “Poptart” t-shirts I had made for us.

My Canon camera did everything that I wanted it to do. I took so many great pictures that it was very hard to pick one to accompany this blog entry. It was a worthwhile investment, because it captured so many wonderful moments at the concert and the rest of my visit in one of the most beautiful places in the world.

Pictured: The Edge, U2's guitarist. December 9, 2006 — Aloha Stadium, Honolulu, Hawaii

Jennifer

Posted by Jennifer at 11:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

Yes! Radioblogclub.com adds another simple way to sample, recommend, and discover music (thank you , Jill, for pointing it out to me). Their site allows you to search for songs and add to a playlist that you can enjoy online or embed in a blog. I am enthusiastically in favor of any site that lets good music spread like wildfire. They give you tips to customize your blog player on their blog. Blog blog blog blog.

I was going to include the player in this blog but some lawyers tackled me and threatened physical harm to my wife and kids should I ever have a wife and kids. Thanks, RIAA, for ruining everything.

Here's what it would look like (click the image for a link to a playlist that I made):

• Soulive is a jam-funk trio with a virtuosic keyboardist who plays basslines with his left hand. I was pleasantly surprised to find them tearing it up at the Google Dance in Mountain View a couple weeks ago.
• Derek Trucks is one of the greatest slide guitar players on the planet right now. He's only 25.
• Charlie Hunter plays an 8-string jazz guitar, covering bass lines and guitar lines simultaneously.
• Don Ross plays solo acoustic guitar that sounds like 3 guitarists at once.
• Coco Montoya is a great blues player with an outstanding live show.
• The Allman Bros... if you don't know the Allmans, there's nothing I can do for you. Enjoy this Dickey Betts great.

AJ

Posted by AJ at 02:32 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Back in the day, we had these things called records that were listened to on record players. High fidelity meant wiping the vinyl with an anti-magnetism brush and keeping the needle sharp. Now, Simon Elvins (via Make) brings back the glory days of recorded music with (drum roll please) the paper cone fidelity system. BTW, MAKE calls itself the first magazine devoted entirely to do it yourself technology projects but I think it actually follows in the golden footsteps of The Whole Earth Catalog, first published in 1968, which focused on “access to tools” and preached an earth-friendly, do-it-yourself lifestyle. And now, I think I’ll sit back and listen to some great old tunes on my Dixie Cup Sound System, maybe a few tunes like “Paper Moon,” “Paper Roses” and that old Beatles favorite, “Paperback Writer.” iPoddites, you don’t know what you’re missing.

Mimi

Posted by Mimi at 01:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Many people are unaware of an affliction common to rock guitarists called Gear Acquisition Syndrome. The trouble lies in the fact that half of being a guitarist today is to know the ins and outs of amplification, analog and digital processing, impedance matching and much more. Why do you think U2's Bono nicknamed his guitarist "The Scientist"? The Edge has a collection of digital effects that could illuminate the entire city of Tokyo with blinking LEDs. Many people credit Jimi Hendrix and his co-visionary Roger Mayer with pioneering the world of guitar signal experimentation. Today, distortion, delay, and modulation are to the aspiring rock guitarist what oil paint, graphite and charcoal are to the visual artist.

There's a new craze, however, that goes beyond simply going to the nearest music store on pay day and draining your entire food budget for the month. Thanks to lead guitar tone legends such as Trey Anastasio and the revival of textured rhythm guitar sounds a la Jack White and Franz Ferdinand, the guitar effects modification industry is booming. Guys like Analog Man and Robert Keeley will be happy to take your current gear and give your transistors an upgrade (or downgrade, depending on what you're going for) to give your axe sounds so rich that you can almost taste them. A little like buttered toast, yes. But man, the prospect of pimping my current gear adds another layer of infinite possibilities to the pursuit of Tone that makes GAS-sufferers like myself go insaner than insane in a good way.

Here's my current obsession.

AJ

Posted by AJ at 05:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)