Deadlines!

Well hello there!

I've been posting semi-regularly here recently, and I've managed to attract a returning audience, so thank you very much if you keep coming back for more.

Unfortunately, it's deadline time at uni, and I have rather a lot of work to do, so I'm not going to be posting as regularly any more (boo!).

However, if you promise to keep coming back, I'll give you this weighted companion cube piano cover of a semi-well known piece of music from a certain blockbuster video game.

Still Alive (GLaDOS's Song) by Matt Harrison Covers

My last little bit of procrastination before the real work starts hehe

The Music Business

Recently I wrote an open letter to Spotify, criticising them for their decision to heavily restrict their free service, and it generated a considerable amount of traffic. I had a number of people commenting expressing their agreement, but there were also those who criticised me for wanting something for nothing. What I intend to do here is clarify my position on music streaming, piracy and the music business in general.

An Open Letter to Spotify

Dear Spotify

I have been a frequent Spotify user since 2009; I was one of the lucky few who were able to sign up for a free account before the doors were closed. Spotify was one of the major factors in my decision to stop pirating music, because I could listen to the “good” tracks on albums legally without having to buy the full album. This is a huge bonus, because quite frankly the quality of a lot of today’s albums’ “filler” tracks is questionable. I use the service almost daily, and I have used it to discover some amazing music, some of which has gone on to become some of my favourite artists and bands. For this reason I was greatly saddened and annoyed at your recent announcement that you will be implementing several limitations on the free service.

I hate music technology! – Part 2 – Preset Culture

Okay, that’s not strictly true, but there are elements of it that drive me up the wall. Music tech has made music what it is today; vibrant, varied, high quality and accessible, and for that I am grateful. However, it has lead to several practices within music – especially mainstream pop that make me want to seal up my ears with concrete. Last time we looked at compression, and how music has lost its dynamic range. This time I want to talk about what I call preset culture – the way musicians use the stock sounds of synthesisers, drum machines and plugins to make music, resulting in loads of songs sounding the same.