According to the Guardian online Glen Merrill the recently hired executive (formerly with Google) to help move EMI into the digital age has acknowledged that research into file sharing is not the evil thing the industry has been saying that it is. Merrill suggests that part of the problem is that P2P users are buying music but through channels that they can’t or aren’t currently measuring.  Merrill also stands up against the RIAA strategy of suing its customers. The full article can be found at – File sharing ‘may be good’, says EMI executive – The Guardian.

From a personal perspective, the assumption that a download equates to a lost sale is flawed.  When release patterns between different parts of the world are staggered people (particularly enthusiastic fans) may well download the album for the part of the world where an album has been released and then purchase it locally once the album becomes available.  A situation that is of the industry’s own making as evidenced by the fuss over CD-Wow’s CD sourcing which means it is legally only allowed to source CDs from within Europe.

The worrying thing is that others within EMI seem not to have a good handle on the record business, and as a result artists are leaving or looking to leave EMI like a sinking ship.  Meaning that EMIs profits will slip and the easy scape goat new digital sales strategies destroying an forward progress in the record industry’s mentality to P2P and online music.  Call me a doom monger, but the record industry does have a history of going for the easy blame.

MySpace has joined the online selling of DRM free music having announced it has signed three of the majors (Sony BMG, Universal and Warners) so far.  This is a natural step given that MySpace managed establish itself as a natural place for musicians and groups to establish a web presence (particularly for smaller artists).  However as Read Write Web point out it is surprising that there is no mention of signing agreements with the labels and organisations which probably attract more traffic to MySpace (after all the major artists can and do have their own significant web presence).

It will be interesting to see if MySpace and other social networking sites as they start to sell MP3s make any impression on iTunes currently dominant position.

 Stereogum have coordinated several free tribute albums to major artists by compiling covers of significant albums such as REM’s Automatic For the People.  Now Stereogum have pulled together a tribute to Bjork’s post called Enjoyed: A Tribute to Björk’s Post (go here for more information). Post included the hits ‘”IT’s Oh So Quiet” and “Hyperballard”.

Following on from my blog earlier in the week about sound quality and different media (blog entry here)  Sound Opinions are talking with Butch Vig (successful producer and sometime member of Garbage) about this very subject.  The show can be listened to online, through US radio syndication or as a podcast which will be made available next week.

News is starting to filter out from PaulWeller.com about  Paul’s activities recently. Apparently part of the problem was a result of V2 being purchased by Universal.  But the big news is:

• UK tour in May
• 22 Dreams out in June as a double album (track listing has been announced) and will be streamed in its entirety from the website in due course.
• Single on May 26th which includes collaboration with Noel Gallagher
• Web redesign

Following last year’s brilliant EP, Love Made Visible (see my review here) as previously blogged (here) the Delays have a new album coming out.  The preparations for its release are well underway for their new album Everything’s the Rush with new videos on their You Tube Channel (YouTube – DelaysWorld’s Channel ) and a new site for the album http://www.jointherush.com/, plus another UK tour which I’m sure will be top notch (checkout my photos on Flickr from a previous tour) – and yes I’ve got tickets.

Links:

• The Delays’ new album website www.jointherush.com
• The Delay’s normal site www.thedelays.co.uk
• The Delay’s on MySpace (http://www.myspace.com/delays) and Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Delays/7229659782)
• The Delays at Amazon.co.uk

There seems to be a lot of news coming from the remaining original members of Led Zeppelin at the moment with Jimmy Page suggesting that last years O2 gig performed to commemorate Ahmet Ertghun could see a DVD release. John Paul Jones has reportedly suggested that the band may even return to the studio to record a new album. Robert Plant has su8ggested that they may perform live again, although there has been a lot of speculation and rumour about this for some months now.  If we’re lucky then perhaps all three suggestions may come to occur in 2008.

The never ending debate over whether vinyl is better than CD or digital encoding is covered bi Idolator in their article Format Wars: Why Buy Digitally Recorded Albums On Vinyl?.  To be honest I think this is a debate that will never end.  But in the arguments that rage I’ve never heard any consideration that when listening to vinyl it requires a lot more effort and commitment from the listener (got to care for vinyl and handle it with care compared to CD, then you have to swap sides after twenty or so minutes) and as result it is less likely to be just slapped on in the background which is so easy with CD and mp3 etc.  When you invest more effort to playing the music you’re probably going to listen more carefully and therefore pick up the nuances more easily.

The other consideration in the debate is the fact that vinyl has gone through faces of production quality changes. Back in the time when CD started coming in the vinyl was lighter (therefore more susceptible to warping and distortion) had more grooves crammed onto a surface.  Now with the re-emergence of vinyl the discs are a lot better quality – to the point you’ll see the vinyl weight included in the advertising.  With it is also the willingness to split albums across more surfaces meaning that the grooves aren’t jammed together tightly.

Regardless of what is done to settle the argument scientific analysis, blind tests the entire subject will continue to be seen in a incredibly subjective light and never be settled one way or another.

Crawdaddy! has managed to release another interesting article about the quirks of internet radio and the application of the Music Genome Project – check out the article here.  The article does close with a statement I’d like to quote:

I’ll take one David Gilmour note over 38 Malmsteem notes played over the same number of beats.