February 2007 Archives

Launch of The Tighten Up Report successful; inaugural post here. I am glad to say I will be a contributor, so we'll see what crops up and see which institutions will take this as a hint to function at acceptable levels.

In a letter posted on Apple's website, CEO Steve Jobs calls for the music industry's "Big 4" -- Universal, Sony, BMG, Warner and EMI -- to consider stripping digital rights management (DRM) restrictions industry-wide from music sold digitally through online music services like iTunes Store. While this development isn't necessarily surprising -- RealNetworks' Rob Glasser says it's “an idea in ascendance and whose time has come.” [via NYTimes] -- it, like any other industry shift, raises some questions. In his letter, Jobs explores 3 possible solutions to the DRM problem: keeping things as they are, licensing Apple's FairPlay DRM technology to current and future competitors, or, the complete removal of DRM restrictions. He asserts the third option:

If such [DRM] requirements were removed, the music industry might experience an influx of new companies willing to invest in innovative new stores and players. This can only be seen as a positive by the music companies. . . . Convincing them to license their music to Apple and others DRM-free will create a truly interoperable music marketplace. Apple will embrace this wholeheartedly.

Will they? My friend Calin speculates that perhaps Jobs' motivation stems from the idea that a substantial portion of folks who choose *not* to buy from iTunes are doing so because of DRM restrictions. While that might be why Calin doesn't use the iTunes Store, he says removing restrictions wouldn't change his mind. Hmm. I support lifting DRM restrictions 100%, but would it change my mind? In his letter, Jobs reports that only about 3% of anyone's music library is in a protected format. That's certainly true of my library. If restrictions were lifted, however, would I start buying? More importantly, would this act of goodwill on the part of the music companies, Apple and other online (legal) music sources suddenly garner an influx of consumer activity? Or would piracy just run rampant? I find it interesting that the next potential shift in the portable music revolution (and I think it's safe to describe it as such) that started with iPods and iT[M]S hangs on the exact thing that propelled it forward in the first place: the only reason music companies reluctantly placed their music in iTunes' digital storefront was the stipulation that each musical bit be wrapped in a layer of encryption. Jobs waited long enough to prove his point with the Big 4 -- that the iTunes Music Store would be successful -- and is now pushing forward. This makes me wonder if this is where he wanted to take iTunes all along. But wait, if all these files suddenly become unlocked -- if I can buy music from any other music source and port them to my 'pod, why the heck would I only use iTS? Because it's cheap? No, prices are pretty much comparable. Because they have an extensive library? Well, sorta, but most of the stuff I'm after I will probably need to find elsewhere; will probably need to buy as a CD. A lot of folks feel that way. What's the gimmick? What's Jobs after?! And of course, I haven't even mentioned the other forms of media with ties to iPods/iTS and proprietary what-have-you: movies, TV shows, games. Large media distribution companies are none too pleased with the idea that this could lead to well, unencrypted everything. From the NYTimes article, Ted Cohen, managing partner of TAG Strategic and former senior vice president for digital development and distribution for EMI Music said, "If anything can play on anything, it’s a clear win for the consumer electronics device world, but a potential disaster for the content companies." Yeah. Will the music industry ever support the removal of DRM restrictions? And if they do, will the digital music distribution industry be able to survive?

I just got back from an almost week long trip to New York City. But more about that later. This past Saturday (3 February) evening was spent in Carnegie Hall watching David Byrne's newest project "Here Lies Love" with my pals Jen and Caroline. Jen is a self-described obsessed Byrne fan, I am at least a pre-solo-Byrne fan (I'm just honestly not that familiar with anything sans 'talking' or 'heads') and Caroline seemed happy to be enjoying all of it. I had no idea what we were in for, but what unfolded was a fantastic song-cycle, which David explained as the evolution of the story of Imelda Marcos and the family servant who had raised her, Estralla Campos. (Okay; I lied: I knew that much going into it, but I had no idea what it would sound like.) The concert was the last of a four-day series, the other three shows I will not speak to as I know next to nothing of what they were about. There is more information on the rest of the series presented by Mr. Byrne here. David Byrne.com offers great detail on the work and series, including explanations of songs David relayed to us in shy, humble banter that was hard not to resist either through laughter, giggles or sighs audible throughout the audience. I successfully recorded three terrible videos with my trusty digital camera during the show as follows; click to load in your browser or "save link/target as" to view later: "A Perfect Hand" (with banter), "When She Passed By" and "Walk Like a Woman" (with banter -- [Update] Thanks for the correction, Graham!) and a snippet of "Solano Avenue", the last being from the final act including strings and brass. These are large files so be patient (73.5MB, 213.0MB and 43.6MB, respectively). Listen through a good pair of speakers to pick out detail, otherwise you might regard all of us who fell in love with the performance as crazy. The two women who accompanied Byrne on vocals, Joan Almedilla and Guanda Suthivarakom as "Imelda" and "Estella", respectively, have two of the most angelic -- and forceful -- voices I have ever heard. Worthy of Wendy's Peter Pan lullabies and Aretha's "Respect". Again, this won't be so clear through my recordings, but unlike Levar Burton, I hope you take my word for it. And I would like to state for the record that percussionist Mauro Refosco blew me away. He kept varying rhythm with each limb of his body at times.

Oh, and no shoes.

David felt the need to point out that he had not mentioned Imelda's shoes at any point of this narrative until he had finished his storytelling. We all laughed at being let in on the joke. (Thanks, Harry.)

I just hope that this performance will be released either as live recordings or that Byrne and his band of merry men and women will find time to invoke Imelda in a studio.