Burgernoodle

According to Yahoo News the artist formerly known as “the artist formerly known as Prince” - who I guess we can just call ”Prince” - is threatening the very people that help keep him famous.  Fan sites devoted to the singer have been served with legal notices ordering them to remove all Prince pictures, photos, and “anything linked to Prince’s likeness.”  Shot through the heart!  Ouch!  Is this Prince’s way of saying ‘thanks for promoting me on the world wide web’?  We’re not talking about the illegal downloading of his songs here, we’re talking pictures and lyrics, and of course anything related to his heiness, i mean likeness.  Here’s a clip from the article: 

“The move was a shock to many of his followers and came two months after Prince threatened to sue YouTube and other major Internet sites for unauthorized use of his music and image.

But by targeting fan sites directly, Prince risks a backlash, and the sites have vowed to unite under the banner “Prince Fans United” and take the matter to court if necessary.”

 Why are they even willing to remain devoted fans?  I guess you can’t just turn off your musical taste and I do admit “Purple Rain” was pretty stellar.  But perhaps a more effective united group title would be something like ”The people formerly known as Prince Fans…United.”  Yes, that does have a certain ring to it.

According to Mac Daily News those glossy plastic album cards that you see at the Starbucks counter (you know the ones, you’re wondering who KT Tunstall is so you pick it up, inspect the shiny little copy of her album cover, then put it back the second the cashier hands you your change) are actually doing quite well.  These cards have debuted with great success at Starbucks retailers and Safeways around the country.  So instead of giving someone an iTunes gift card, you’re essentially giving them a gift card that will buy them that specific album from iTunes.  You know, it’s kind of like giving someone a cd without the physical jewel case, liner notes, and album pictures.  The cards cost the exact same as the album price on iTunes itself, so why this is any better than the generic gift card, which gives someone the liberty to buy what they please, is beyond me.  Maybe it’s just Apple’s way of coming up with yet another random product, like the square nano. And surprise, surprise they’re masters at marketing said products.

Billboard’s Ed Christman reports, “iTunes Vice President Eddie Cue said that Apple views the cards as ‘a way to leverage digital in the physical space.’ Conventional music merchants are open to the concept as well. ‘We would carry both the CD album and the card,’ one retail executive at a traditional chain said.”

Currently, KT Tunstall’s Drastic Fantastic and Eddie Vedder’s soundtrack to Into the Wild are available at 1,000 of the 1,600 Starbucks stores.  You can also find album cards for popular artists such as Maroon 5, Nora Jones, and Kelly Clarkson at Safeway, a grocery chain that is apparently no longer satisfied with just selling groceries.

Earlier this week, the founder of OiNK, the world’s largest “peer-to-peer” music download site, was arrested after a 2-yr criminal investigation.  Well now that the young lad has posted bail and is temporarily out of the slammer, he speaks up about the site.  24 yr old Alan Ellis, who set up the site 3 1/2 years ago told the British tabloid The Daily Telegraph that he hasn’t done anything wrong.  According to him, OiNK is no different than Google:

“If Google directed someone to a site they can illegally download music they are doing the same as what I have been accused of. I am not making any Oink users break the law. People don’t pay to use the site…My site is no different to something like Google.”

  I’m not sure I agree with that, but in any event he goes on to say: 

“People who download music also buy CDs as well. A lot of people download music on the internet to get a taste of it and then later buy the CD.”

  Ehhh. Wrong again.  How redundant is that?  Why would you download a song, then go buy the cd, and then upload it to iTunes?  Who needs two digital files for one song?  There are two schools of music-listeners: the freeloaders and the cd purchasers (iTunes shoppers can be included in the latter). If you download and then buy, check your dusty dictionary for the phrase “big fat waste of time.”

To share or not to share - that is the question that only idiodic fools ask themselves these days.  In a world where a single mother living paycheck to paycheck is forced to pay $222K for downloading and sharing 24 songs, no one is safe.  If you’ve got a Kazaa account, you might as well get a second job now, start saving, and then count how many of those pennies are lucky.  What a risky business this has become.  Mtv News reports that UK-run music file-sharing site, OiNK.cd  has been shut down as a result of a criminal investigation into suspected illegal music distribution. 

According to police, OiNK was an “extremely lucrative” site that provided illegal downloads of pre-release music and media to its members, who’d joined the site on an invite-only basis and were asked to contribute donations via debit or credit card. That money, believed to be in the region of hundreds of thousands of pounds, is being tracked down by the IFPI and the BPI.

Now, the estimated 180,000 paid members are being investigated and identified.  Call me old fashioned, but this is yet another reason why I love my cds.

Reuters.com reports that British rock music legend Led Zeppelin is one of the last major pop acts to offer their music in digital format.  I would make fun of the band for just now recognizing that this is the year 2007 if they weren’t the greatest rock band that ever lived.  If it was anyone else, perhaps the Eagles, I would say something like “well done boys! and did you also know that you can buy little portable telephonic devices that fit into the pocket of those skin tight jeans?”  But of course I wouldn’t because, again…greatest rock band of all time.