Mile Zero
no matter where you go, there you are
Sep 05, 2006
MySpace is Terrible: Shameless Commerce Edition
The news that MySpace will begin allowing bands to sell their .mp3s has gotten people talking. I have a few concerns, though. One is that we should watch very carefully for the license conditions--before a few artists forced them to reconsider, the site's terms and conditions granted them extensive royalty-free rights to any songs posted there. Also, let's face it: MySpace is a mess. It's the programming equivalent of a Ford Pinto, likely to explode at even the slightest provocation. Right now that's just inconvenient, since all you're facing is the technical error message. With e-commerce and customers' credit card numbers involved, it'd be nice if the whole system felt like you could kick it without losing a foot.
This error has been forwarded to MySpace's technical group.
I was always rooting for CD Baby, personally. I've got a bias towards lossless formats.
But just as MySpace is stylistically the Web from a decade back, it's become the resurgence of all those old fears as well. Pedophiles, hacked bank accounts, spammers, and now scammers. I got a message from the Emerganza Festival today. They're a long-standing battle-of-the-bands style promoter, but of course it's a $70 entry fee and you have to sell your own tickets. In return, you get to play at venues like the 9:30 Club and the Velvet Lounge in DC. Not to be too blunt about it, but that's not like being told that the Nissan Pavilion will open its doors to you. I have friends who are playing at both of those venues now. They got there by playing at other clubs and being really dedicated, not by paying a promoter. Never pay to play, kids. If you're any good, you won't have to.
This Axon demo recorded for BassPlayer.tv is incredibly cool: it's a realtime pitch-to-MIDI converter that handles chords. Plus it can apparently detect where on the guitar you're playing, right or left hand, and change patches accordingly. So the top half of the fretboard can be a different instrument from the bottom, and each pickup can be a different instrument. Towards the end, the demo presenter plays a complete MIDI jazz trio with drums, bass, and Fender Rhodes organ, all triggered from what looks like a PRS guitar. They say it'll work almost as well on a bass as on a guitar.
Of course, it also runs $1,200, and it still requires installing a special hex pickup that listens to each string individually. It costs a lot to live this free, Wayne.
