Sounds like it's only a matter of time before you get rid of DRM and the idiot who signed off on it. You don't have a choice really. Without a massive worldwide task force to police every single online transmission, and punish offenders, you simply are not going to stop file sharing. Remember when CDs came out and people could make high-quality copies of new releases from CD to cassette tape ? Remember how you cried yourself to sleep thinking of all those lost dollars? What did you NOT learn from that experience?

Remember Buisness 101 Law of Supply and Demand? Until the price of songs comes down to meet the demand, people will simply P2P their music, or pass on it. Its a mixed blessing: the prevalence of instant music accessibility has driven down the price point. Accept it, and bring the prices down enough that your customers will gladly pay to download the song from you than to try and figure out how BitTorrent works. Hell, if songs were a quarter apiece, I'd probably pay you to download it again, instead of walking out to the car to get the CD!

Instead of crying about how the price of music has gone down, rejoice that your distribution costs have reduced exponentially! Rejoice that you can reach markets you never dreamed of, in countries where CDs have to be sent in by carrier pigeon or camel-ed across the desert!

Now that that's all cleared up, where is the next "Hotel California"? Where is the next "Jagged Little Pill"? Where is the next "Nevermind"? The crap you put out now is the 'Reality TV Programming' of music. You are quick to push shitbands like The Fray, but have you even heard of Vampire Hands? Jagged Spiral? Nothing Gained? Betty X? Where is the imagination? Where is the experimentation? Is Trent Reznor the only Visionary you could find? You need to MAKE new genres, not try to copy ones which were designed to poke fun at you. Let the kids have their "Indie", and make something they haven't even dreamed of.

Stop wasting your resources fighting a losing battle AGAINST YOUR OWN CUSTOMERS, and spend them on making it even easier to get music to your customers!

Get in bed with companies no one else could imagine. Fire your marketing staff, and hire some 16-year olds to run the think tank. Give away free mp3 downloads with Happy Meals or Apple Jacks or Little Debbies.

Figure out why people can't buy a song the second they hear it, anywhere, anytime. If there was a "MINE!" button on your radio, and it cost a quarter to push it, and whammo-o! people could own a copy of the song they were listening to... If there was a way to access the song purchase via cell phone... If there was a simple way for people to provide access to your downloads through links on their own website or e-mail signatures...

If you diverted your funding away from lawsuits against your customers and into technology like this......can your tiny minds grasp how much money you would make?

Also, get people to think about music when they are NOT near their computer, because if you read http://lefsetz.com/ he will tell you that radio simply isn't doing it.

One more thing, abolish Dashboard Confessional. In fact, abolish the entire Emo genre. It is the open chancre sore on the the face of music history.

No charge for this advice.

Love,
-CZ

Labels: DRM Sucks, Music Industry, Open Letter

An old issue of Escapist Magazine prompted several strange realizations.

First, being in Edit mode for so long whilst working on the Demonslayer's Handbook, has increased the abilities of my Inner Philosopher to analyze/edit text as I read.

Second, if I'm not making use of my Inner Philosopher to edit or analyze (for instance, when I'm reading for entertainment), then he reads annoyingly over my shoulder, and provides useless analysis and editorials, and sometimes dirty jokes. Often, he does Not analyze what I'm reading, but uses it instead as a seed for a new and often surprising branch of thought into some almost-related area.

Third (and it was this third realization which made me realize the first two) was that while reading about whether video games should be considered 'art' or not, my Inner Philosopher suggested that people who play First Person Shooter Video Games might have a different approach to death and violence than those who prefer Third Person Shooters, such as Diablo, Command and Conquer, and the like.

Personally, I can't get into Video Games that have a "Top Down" view, because the view takes me "out" of the game. Being in first person makes me feel more connected, it removes a level of "suspension of disbelief" and makes the game more entertaining for me. I do wish they would hurry up and get the Holodeck Virtual Reality thing figured out in my lifetime, because that would be better yet...

Also, I much prefer Video Games where you control One character. Not Two, Not Ten, and certainly not tens of thousands. I have to juggle multiple tasks and ever-changing priorities every day at work, it's like juggling cats, and there's not much entertainment in that for me. Give me an objective, and a gun...hell, give me an objective and a crowbar, and I'm happy. But managing and allocating resources? Ick. Why do *I* have to do all the managerial work? And why shoud the 'bots have all the fun?

Anyway, my Inner Philosopher was pointing out a major difference between "Top Down" and "First Person" viewpoints: Those playing from Top Down will see their character(s) die, and those in First Person will experience their character's death Pseudo-Firsthand. Likewise, those watching from Top Down will watch their characters performing horrific deeds, but those in First Person will perform the deeds themselves. It is a subtle but significant difference, like programming a robot to perform a task instead of doing it yourself. There is an added level of abstraction to the Top Down view, while the First Person view is more immediate.

Strangely enough my preference in stories is the exact opposite from my preference for video games. I like stories told from the "Top View" or "God View", or more correctly, "Omniscient Narrator" point of view. There have been very few stories told from the first person that pull me into the story; 'The Metamorphosis' by Franz Kafka does - "The Divine Comedy" Trilogy by Dante Alighieri is another. In these few cases, I was able to identify with the storyteller, and feel what they feel.

But I notice many of the current Monster-Hunter genre stories are written from a first-person perspective, and they just don't do it for me. When I see them on the shelf, I open the book to some random page, and read some text. If the story is written from First Person Perspective, I generally pass. Although, I recently read Lilith Saintcrow's book 'Dead Man Rising' which was in First Person, and it was a big part of the reason I didn't care for the book.

The First Person Perspective is difficult to pull off, sometimes writers get stuck and have to cheat by shifting out of First Person, which completely wrecks my faith in them as a writer. If you choose to write from the hero's point of view throughout the story, you need to make it work.

Anyway, it seems to me that the University of Minnesota Psychology Department should be looking into this.

Blog on,
-CZ

Labels: Inner Philosopher, Video Games, Writing

Required reading for those who think I dote on too much about my personal hero, Trent Reznor:


Here is the take from Bob Ezrin, an industry insider whose opinion is far more worthy than my own.

Blog on,
-CZ

Labels: Music Industry, NIN

The new NIN album: Year Zero arrived in stores yesterday. But that's nothing. Just a minor step in the existing enigma surrounding the most amazing viral marketing campaign the world has never seen.

Thermal-sensitive printing on the CD reveals binary code. Decode it to reveal the next website...

Another phone number revealed on the CD packaging: 1-866-455-6580 Give it a call. The message is short, from the US Bureau of Morality.

Clues leading to clues leading to clues. Ammo boxes to fuel the Open Source Resistance were handed out from men in a van, given to anyone who knew where to be at the appointed time. Some of the ammo boxes contained cell phones. On Apr 13th, the phones rang, inviting whoever answered to a secret location in Los Angles on April 18th.

Fucking Fucking Brilliant.

The beginning of the end.

[UPDATE 19 Apr 07 - Those who received cell phones were called again, and invited to more than just a show: http://crowdctrl.com/2007/04/19/resistance-meeting-turns-into-free-nin-show This is performance art! ]


Blog on,
-CZ

Labels: NIN, Viral Marketing

Local Fashion Maven*, Anna Lee, pulled out the stops again, for another top-notch production of Voltage: Fashion Amplified 2007, and showed the rest of the world what flyover land had to offer in terms of fashion and music.

This year's show was all the sweeter due to its absence last year, and now popular enough to pull the lead story in all the local press, and pack First Ave to the hilt. I mean, I've Never seen it that full up before.

One goal of Voltage is to not just 'present' bands and designers, but to connect them to the audience. To that extent, a well-designed "Look Book" was distributed at the show. People could pull the book out later and visually identify the designer and their designs. There were also short video interviews with the designers and bands, which aired before each segment of the show, and this helped the audience get a glimpse of their personalities. The "look book" and the videos really helped to connect the audience to the artists.

Voltage also helps the artist community in other ways. Proceeds from Voltage go to the Springboad for the Arts which helps artists gain access to healthcare, and Voltage has also birthed MNFashion.org which seeks to help designers access "professional development and resources so designers can establish a sustainable livelihood"

There are a lot of factors that make the Voltage show pretty fucking amazing, not the least of which is that Anna Lee is behind it. While she is quick to point out that it takes many people to make the show happen, it takes someone with the moxie that Anna has to pull it off.

Another amazing fact is that the show was Packed. I'm pretty sure it was sold out, and that really says something. People want to see this, and hopefully, the success (and continued success) of Voltage, Art-A-Whirl and such will pave the way for more showings of art and fashion. Hopefully they can learn from Voltage to set up symbiotic relationships with the community, instead of consumeristic nonsense like the Uptown Art Fair.

Congrats to Anna Lee, her team and all the designers and artists who made Voltage a big success in 2007. Click over to http://www.voltagefashionamplified.com/ and check out the bands and designers, go to their websites, go to their myspace pages and add them as friends, go see their live shows or designer studios, buy their music if you like it, and most importantly, Spread The Word, and support local art like this. It's something we are fortunate to have, and something people on the other two coasts take for granted.

Blog on,
-CZ

*It was in fact, I who first bequeathed Anna Lee the title of Fashion Maven...

...back in Feb of 2007 when Voltage 2007 was first announced...

...and originally way way back in 2005.

Labels: Culture, Fashion, Minneapolis Event, Ubercool

Fantastic.

http://www.joke-pages.com/jokes/images/org-calc.swf

To quote Marillion, "Thank God For the Internet"

Blog on,
-CZ

Labels: Funny, Web Tools

This sad investigative story was devised and reported by the Washington Post.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/04/AR2007040401721.html?hpid=topnews

I don't tend to hand money out to people simply begging for change, but I do tend to tip street musicians and performers, even if they aren't so good. Hey, at least they are Doing Something.

Blog on,
-CZ

Labels: americans, Culture

It was a moral and ethical struggle to build up the motivation to see the latest double-feature movie from Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez Grindhouse.

On the one hand, I've enjoyed Robert Rodriguez' previous work, and the trailer looked like a preposterous zombie/comedy that I might actually enjoy. On the other hand, I've wanted my money back from every Quentin Tarantino movie I've ever seen. In the end, I decided to go because my friends were going, and to gather some good material for the blog. I tried not to let the machine-gun prosthesis keep me from changing my mind.

For the most part, the movies were made up to look like poor quality film reel movies, and the only notable CGI effects were aged-film effects like scratches and hair on the film. Between the two 'features' were several trailers for movies that were really funny. "Machete", "Don't!" and "Thanksgiving" had the audience rolling with laughter, and the trailer for "Werewolf Women of the SS" (By Rob Zombie) was probably the funniest part of the entire movie. Rob Zombie's feature films are completely awful tasteless shit, but for ridiculous movie previews, his was top-notch. Looks like he found his calling.

Planet Terror - The first part of the double-feature was Robert Rodriguez' Planet Terror, a blood-soaked zombie rampage of gross fun. Rodriguez made great use of the aged-film-effects throughout the movie, and introduced a film burn and jump to the next reel at a perfect spot that was very funny.

The music (Mostly done by Rodriguez himself) was great, lots of grungy low-strung guitars.

The writing was good, although it didn't have to be. The story kept moving with good pacing and almost nonstop action. The machine-gun prosthesis was preposterous, but so was everything else about the movie.

Death Proof - The second part of the double-feature was Quentin Tarantino's "Death Proof", a boring homage to old-school road movies like Vanishing Point. The best way to describe it was to take all the things that made Planet Terror good, and remove them.

Tarantino really should be creating Radio Plays, because he doesn't understand what the video is for. Very much like "From Dusk Till Dawn" Tarantino's writing is Overdone Unnecessary Dialog followed by a bloody crescendo of ultra-violence, at which point you realize that all the dialog and character development throughout the movie was pointless. Throughout the dialog, he points the camera at smokin-hot babes who jabber on endlessly until the audience is screaming "We Got The Fucking Point Already! Move On, Please!"

While Planet Terror and Death Proof were about the same length, around 90 min, Planet Terror FELT like an hour long, and Death Proof FELT like three hours by itself. Many people were yawning and taking bathroom breaks during Death Proof, and they didn't miss anything.

Tarantino wasn't able to incorporate the aged-film effects into his movie very well. He put them in at first, and during some transitions, but they seemed to get lost or forgotten a few minutes later. One 'missing reel' during one of the few 'action' scenes of the movie only moved the plot from Unnecessary Dialog to More Unnecessary Dialog. The trailer for Grindhouse showed Action/Adventure/Excitement, but it looks like the only parts of the trailer were cut from Planet Terror, because there was very little Action/Adventure/Excitement in Death proof; its a Chick-Flick with a car-chase ending. Look, if I wanted clever dialog, I would have rented one of Kevin Smith's movies.

As in all his other films, Tarantino tries to impress us with his eclectic knowledge of music, giving entire songs cameos in "Death Proof". I'm sure he is very impressed by his own music selection. I'm also sure the audience could do without ten minutes of actors headbanging and singing along to his selection of Quentin's Kewl Tunez, which do nothing to advance the plot or the characters. Again, I suggest he work on Radio Plays instead of wasting the entire visual element of the media he is working with.

I'm glad I saw Grindhouse, it did help me solidify what I don't like about Tarantino's films by putting his movie right alongside a movie from a good writer/director.

Blog on,
-CZ

Labels: anti, movie reviews

The interesting news is NOT that the R.I.A.A. doesn't know it's A.S.S. from a H.I.T.G., we knew that already.

The interesting news is NOT that Trent Reznor tips some info about the ongoing NIN Year Zero marketing campaign:

...The same source told Billboard that NINE INCH NAILS frontman Trent Reznor views the campaign as a "new entertainment form." The source added that the campaign will continue for the next 18 months.

"Year Zero" is reportedly the first of two concept albums, the second of which Reznor hopes to finish next year...

-From http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=69841

Of course, "The Campaign" mentioned is well documented at ninwiki.com, so I won't cover it here.

No, the potential news is a lovely theory I just concocted, which the tools on Digg.com nearly figured out.

Fact: Roadrunner Records, as pointed out on Digg, is a member of the RIAA.

Fact: A member of the RIAA is pointing out that the RIAA sued website owners for posting intentionally leaked copies of the new NIN album.

Sounds stupid right? Why tell everyone that you did something so stupid?

Until you add this:

Fact: Trent Reznor is a marketing genius.

If the tools on Digg.com weren't so busy posting "The RIAA SUX!!!!", "NIN RULEZ!!!" and providing links to download copies of songs which are already easily streamed from the yearzero.nin.com website, they might have figured it out.

My theory, of course, is that the lawsuit and press release were expected, and possibly planned. I would not put it past anyone to take advantage of the free publicity offered by the RIAA's timely lawsuit, not to mention how fast the word spreads on the RIAA's foolish decisions.

Make the RIAA look bad AND get free publicity for your new album release...which JUST SO HAPPENS to be this month....

*What* a coincidence!

I'm telling you, folks: Marketing Genius.

Blog on,
-CZ

Labels: music, Music Industry, new release, NIN, Viral Marketing

As if we needed further proof that Nine Inch Nails kicks every manifestation of Ass conceivable, you can go to this link, and listen to the new album Year Zero in it's Entirety. For Free.

Click on "Listen to Year Zero" and enter your e-mail, Bam. Stream The Entire Album For Free.

This should tide me over until April 17th when the CD comes out, and the conspiracy should rise to new heights. The CD Packaging hides a secret which only heat will reveal...

Blog on,
-CZ

Labels: music, new release, NIN, Ubercool

Die You Zombie Bastards! is...um...

strange.

But I liked it.

But I'm strange, so that makes a strange sort of sense.

But you might not be strange, so you might not like it.

I can tell you that the movie is preposterous, and the hero is a serial killer / cannibalist who wears a cape made of human flesh.

But that's not really selling it, is it?

I can tell you that it contains naked hottie scientist cheerleaders with green breasts.

It's a tough call. I guess I won't recommend it to you, but I won't NOT recommend it to you either (neither?).


Blog on,
-CZ

Labels: indie movies, movie reviews

Wouldn't it be cool if someone were to mix the Karaoke Revolution and Guitar Hero games together, maybe add bass and drums and keys and have an entire virtual band game? Everyone in the group would contribute to the group score, attempting to play along with some classics. Maybe even have a couple Dance-Dance-Revolution Cage Dancers, and a Sound Board Operator to mix it and a Lighting Director... Maybe square off against other virtual bands over the internet...

A cool twist would be to make it into a game show like those lame-ass "Model" or "American Idol" shows that everyone watches. I wouldn't watch it myself, but hey: instant ratings.

Well, the first part of this grand scheme is coming to fruition: since EA released this announcement of the upcoming Rock Band Game.

Blog on,
-CZ

Labels: Million Dollar Idea, Video Games