| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| bishk99 |
Posted - 12/15/2005 : 01:29:26
From the ThrowingMusic website -
Enjoy
-Bish
quote:
50FOOTWAVE is proud to announce "Free Music!" -- a 5 song Ep of new studio recordings to be given away via the band's website www.50footwave.com/freemusic or www.throwingmusic.com/freemusic as well as several partner sites including Archive.org and the sometimes controversial BitTorrent tracker DimeADozen.org.
The band will be offering FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec) files as well as hi-resolution mp3 files. The band is also encouraging fans to seed BitTorrents and set up CD burning trees to ensure that people without time or technology may also receive the free music.
The tracks will include Creative Commons "Some Rights Reserved" licenses (for more info on Creative Commons, see www.creativecommons.org)
The band states its goal as simply to circumvent the 'money cycle' and get high quality (free) recordings into the hands of a maximum number of people for evaluation at their leisure.
The band's manager, Billy O'Connell, says, "The capacity for reaching new ears with unknown music has become so diminished that we felt we had to try a new approach. It has become prohibitively expensive to reach people via traditional marketing means (radio, press, retail promotion) - lately, CD distribution costs and even touring costs have gone through the roof.
"This project is simply attempting to tap the power of the network -- we're asking individuals for their enthusiasm rather than their money. It's an experiment we're eager to see play out."
The band's founder, Kristin Hersh, explains, "Money has so polluted the music world that my overwhelming urge right now is to divorce money from recorded music. Over the last 2 years we've been relying on standard 'industry' channels to help us educate listeners about 50 Foot Wave and we've met resistance every step of the way -- caused by little other than money -- and to an extent I've never seen before.
"So we're sending free recordings off into the world to do their work. If people enjoy these songs and are excited by them, we ask that they share them with others. The music business is about fame and huge profits -- egos and greed -- music itself, is not."
"Mine's a pint of the black stuff"
..."ha, You can't drink a pint of Bovril!" |
| 15 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Broken Face |
Posted - 12/29/2005 : 13:27:53
well put. i concur
-Brian
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| jediroller |
Posted - 12/28/2005 : 00:56:50
It's good isn't it? Are they the most overlooked band of 2005 or what?
I think it's hard for artists to have a clear view of the "filesharing" issue, as they don't really have any relevant data to base their opinion on. Record companies tell them "We're not selling any records anymore because of that, people have stopped buying CDs" and advertise this myth of the evil "pirate" ripping them off. Then you discover that a lot of these "pirates" are actually music lovers who buy a lot of CDs. And that the most downloaded artists are the one who sell the most - and can't seriously argue that their livelihood is threatened. In fact, big sellers don't have much to fear, and small struggling bands have everything to gain from being more widely heard - what's better, put your 5 songs out on the net (and seize every opportunity you can get to perform them live) or quietly wait for them to be on display in Virgin Megastores worldiwde... easy choice.
But at the end of the day it's all opinion. "Evil pirates" vs. "sharing music lovers"? The truth must be somewhere in between, but I don't think we're about to have a reliable head count ("Here are the official figures: 13% evil pirates, 56% music lovers, 8% music loving evil pirates, 9% record company execs, 7% RIAA bots, 6% "It wasn't me, someone must've used my computer while I was away" and 1% "I only download lesbian porn anyway" - this one apparently located on an island near Spain....").
Also, the media and their love of polarized issues make it compulsory for everyone to "choose sides". You have to be either "for" or "against". One sentence and Kristin Hersh was enrolled among the RIAA troopers! I guess she felt she had to take a clear stance rather than make smart-ass remarks.
But the main idea is to create a buzz around 50FOOTWAVE. This band deserves a large audience, but does not succeed in making itself heard by the people who might enjoy the music. They tried to play by the rules and released a full-length CD, which wasn't their original plan (i.e. tour extensively and release a 5 or 6 song mini-album every 6 or 9 months, and maybe Net-only stuff in between. The result was that many stores refused to take their first mini-album, saying "we're waiting for the actual album". Duh) but it didn't work out. They just don't fit. I guess if they were twentysomethings from Liverpool or Birmingham, with a name like The Buzz Cuts and a flair for street fashion, everybody would be at their feet.
But hey, who's complaining. They *are* here and putting out great music, let's enjoy it while it lasts.
Oh, and Sasquatch, I think we actually agree.
--> FREE MUSIC <-- |
| Carl |
Posted - 12/27/2005 : 19:02:06
So the music is available at last, nice!
 "Yo! Ho Ho! Merry Christmas!" |
| Visiting Sasquatch |
Posted - 12/27/2005 : 13:50:17
Wait a minute, people downloading music for free, legal, or illegal, the result is the same, more "earballs"...I think the quote is TOTALLY relevant. She flipped/flopped on her stance of free music on the net...I'm not saying there's anything wrong with it. If I am saying anything, it's that the RIAA and all the artists it "supports" just MAY have had it wrong all along...so there! |
| benji |
Posted - 12/27/2005 : 03:41:52
i think it's a fabulous idea, however, it saddens me that they feel they need to do this since they can't make a living doing it the regular way - especially for a band who're so good, and released the album of '05 in my opinion...
 Join the Cult of Fat! |
| jediroller |
Posted - 12/26/2005 : 00:35:05
Kristin isn't happy with the RIAA using that quote. There was a discussion about that on the old message board. I think 50FOOTWAVE's stance on filesharing speaks for itself.
Still, the quote is hardly irrelevant, is it? Putting out Free Music is not going to make the band "lots of money" - and that's not the point anyway.
--> FREE MUSIC <-- |
| Visiting Sasquatch |
Posted - 12/25/2005 : 14:28:01
That's funny.
The RIAA quotes Kristen Hersh as saying, "Nobody wants to look the artist in the eye and say, 'Giving your music away for free is going to make you lots of money' - not while keeping a straight face, anyway."-- Kristin Hersh, Throwing Muses
Salon
March 25, 2000
http://www.riaa.com/news/newsletter/press2000/041100_2.asp
http://www.riaa.com/about/artists/quotes.asp
Taken from this article
http://www.salon.com/ent/feature/2000/03/24/napster_artists/print.html |
| jediroller |
Posted - 12/16/2005 : 10:09:09
And the music is great.
"Quit shouting those rerun songs at me! I'm doing what I want to do, and I don't care what you think you need!
—Play that song 'Jesus is the Answer'!
—Come up here on stage and play with my balls."
--Wesley Willis Vs. a Fan |
| billgoodman |
Posted - 12/16/2005 : 08:35:21
and original!
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God save the Noisies |
| Broken Face |
Posted - 12/16/2005 : 08:08:24
i'm really digging the whole concept/attitude of 50 Ft. Wave. Very inspiring.
-Brian
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| cassandra is |
Posted - 12/16/2005 : 06:37:47
great idea, I'm gonna listen to it
pas de bras pas de chocolat |
| Cheeseman1000 |
Posted - 12/16/2005 : 05:45:10
This is getting good coverage: http://www.londonist.com/archives/2005/12/freeloader.php
I like the Londonist, tis a fine website, English.
 I have joined the Cult Of Frank/And I have dearly paid |
| billgoodman |
Posted - 12/15/2005 : 04:54:18
lovely people of fb.net, give this EP (and the other one and the record) a try
it's magnificient
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God save the Noisies |
| Llamadance |
Posted - 12/15/2005 : 02:20:34
It is fantastic, isn't it? Hopefully many people who are not fans will give it a try.
That which does not kill me postpones the inevitable.
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| billgoodman |
Posted - 12/15/2005 : 01:36:30
I think this is brilliant! Both the music and the idea
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God save the Noisies |
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