Usable Interfaces

There’s an interesting story being reported about a Pennsylvania mother called Stephanie Lenz who received a letter from Universal Music because a clip she uploaded to YouTube had a prince song in the background (’Let’s go crazy’).

The clip is 29 seconds long, of very poor quality, and the song in the background is barely audible. However the letter demanded the clip be removed because of copyright infringement.

Lenz has decided to take a stand against the decision and has backing from the Electronic Frontier Foundation. The point she makes is that organisations should think twice before accusing huge numbers of people (the recipients of these ‘take down letters’) of having commited federal crimes.

For Universal, it’s another spectacular own goal likely to lead to clear legal presedence against their current methods of protecting copyright.

Obviously particularly ironic considering Prince now routinely gives his music away for free, it is of course a great little illustration of the deep need for us to reconsider (and relax) copyright laws and to rethink the meaning of ‘fair use’ of purchased or public material.

via George Parker.

If Radiohead’s intention in letting customers choose the price they pay for the band’s new album, In Rainbows, was to light up the blogosphere, then it’s certainly worked: here, here, here and of course, right here.

They were actually beaten to the punch by the Charlatans, who’re not messing around with making customers pay 1p for their content - the next single and album from them will be totally free.

Good, blunt quote from Charlatans manager Alan McGee, “I thought: well nobody buys CDs anyway….[so] I came to the conclusion - ‘why don’t we just give it away for nothing’”.

The funniest write up is Andrew Orlowski’s opinion piece:

Labelless, but hardly penniless, Radiohead are letting their fans set the price for digital downloads of the band’s new CD.

… The new release will also be available in physical form - £40 for a box-set - easily affordable to the well-heeled bourgeois bedwetters who make up the band’s core following.

Then again, this is such a guilt-ridden corpus of record-buyers they may well feel obliged to make more than the minimum donation.”

He also makes the obvious point this sort of thing might be OK for Radiohead, Prince and the Charlatans, but where does it leave the bands at the bottom of label’s rosters, the ones that aren’t millionaires with tens of thousand of rabid fans? Top bands will likely come out with more than the 10% of sales the labels would have given them anyway but the younger groups need more support. 

Possible captions

• “Radiohead delighted with record sales”.
• “Which of you fuckers put our album on the internet for 1p, I needed to buy a new sweater”.
• “Lads, the good news is that we sold a 100 copies. The bad news is everyone paid 1p”

Yesterday’s keynote from Steve Jobs was, as usual, a great show, full of amazing new products and product innovation. The Nano got even smaller and got video, the shuffle got more memory, the standard iPod got a new name (”classic”) and more storage, the iPhone became a lot cheaper, and he launched the new iPod Touch, an iPhone without the phone bit.

Fascinating to watch and I wouldn’t like to be working at a competitor today, as Apple proves it is relentless in staying ahead of the game.

However, the bit at the end of the presentation was equally intriguing.  Steve Jobs gives up the stage to Starbucks’ founder and chairman Howard Shultz to explain in detail the companies’ new partnership.

Walk into a Starbucks (some time in 200 with your iPhone or wifi-enabled iPod Touch and new button will turn up on the screen, a Starbucks button! This is so close to one of those Google April Fool’s jokes that it takes a second to realize that a) they’re serious b) what they’re talking has potentially huge impact.

Click (or rather tap, of course) on your new Starbucks button  and via free connection to the Starbucks network you can see what the currently playing song in the restaurant is (and the last ten tracks), and buy that track (from iTunes of course).

Both Apple and Starbucks have always understood the importance of experience design, and this points the way to a whole new generation of experiences that merge the boundaries between physical and electronic.

Shultz describes Starbucks as “a place to discover music”. So while HMV, Virgin et al are licking their wounds and shutting their stores, Starbucks and Apple marches in and takes what’s left of their market. How?, by making something of the experience.

How long before iTunes is the number one music store in the world (currently number 3 in the US)?

In case anyone missed it, Shultz punches home the point:

To build a great enduring company, you can’t embrace the status quo, you have to keep pushing for re-invention and self renewal, and no one has done that better than Apple.

I’ve talked quite a lot here about the future of music and of record labels’ role in it. Well last night I saw that future in action, and it was in the shape of an iconic Minneapolis superstar jumping around like a mad man on stage at the dome.

Prince has sold out 21 nights at the O2’s 20,000 capacity venue, managing to get a half a million Londoners to see this frankly knock-out show, without needing to resort to the ridiculous prices of the Madonna tours. As you go into the concert, you also get a free copy of his latest album. Before the uber-cool one comes on stage, we see promo videos for all the merchandise which is on sale outside, and then there’s the after show (where he played another 12 songs last night), for those that want to keep on going (and keep on spending).

In Prince’s case, after the huge row over the use of his name in the early 90s, I’m sure he’d like nothing more than the demise of the majors. And, of course, most artists can’t sell out 140,000 seats in 20 minutes (as Prince did with the initial run). But it does go to show: if the music can be almost freely distributed (remember the actual album launch was a cover-mount on The Mail on Sunday), then the artists can make their money by playing great concerts, flogging the hell out of ancillary sales and the odd private appearance at billionaire’s birthday parties.

This weekend marks two endings. One very sad and one very happy.

In this article, Andrew Orlowski sums up the love/hate relationship Manchester had with Anthony H Wilson, who died this weekend. A founder of the legendary Factory records and TV journalist, I remember vividly the first time I saw Anthony Wilson, on Other Side of Midnight, full of pomposity and unnecessary intellectualism, introducing breakthrough bands like Stone Roses in between bizarre folk acts that probably shouldn’t have seen the light of day and certainly not a TV studio. Or on Channel Four’s “After Dark” evoking a spirit of grand elitist debate replete with huge leather chairs, smoke filled rooms and gradually dwindling whisky decanters.

I remember vividly too seeing him in the flesh for the first time backstage at a concert by Durutti Column (whom he supported endlessly), gliding around like Manchester royalty.

Besides his manner and outspoken views, Anthony Wilson was famous for never really managing to make any money (although those around him often did).  In his own words ‘Some people make money, some people make history’.

Well perhaps Universal Music Group is trying to make history. On the weekend when we mourn Anthony Wilson, we hear that UMG will ‘test’ DRM free music. The word ‘test’ is UMG trying to keep their options slightly open as they follow EMI down the path of liberalization, but they’re very unlikely to be able to go back to DRM.

The move is a surprise, although not an unwelcome one. While the DRM debate was looking intractable, wholesale surrender hadn’t seemed very likely. The move signals intent from music companies to make their money elsewhere. UMG in particular has been pushing Apple for a cut of profits from iPod sales (a similar deal is in place with Microsoft for the Zune). Interestingly the DRM tracks will initially not be available on iTunes, meaning that iPod owners will need to experiment with other online shops (HMV and Virgin both operate in this area) for DRM-free tracks, that will now be importable into iTunes.

The result will be good for consumers. In breaking Apple’s monopoly on legal iPod-compatible downloads, there will be virtually no breaks on the price war that will ensue. At last we may be close to “decent product, decent price” digital downloads.

Couple of good quotes / stories I found in a desperate attempt to do some catch-up reading of my Economist stockpile. Strangely enough both items from the same page in the July 7th issue (p. 69).

In A change of tune  (paywalled), we have Warner Music chairman, Edgar Bronfman saying “The music industry is growing, [but]… The record industry is not growing.” In these few short words, he’s surely captured an important truth.

Interest in music and music listening has probably never been more healthy, but the record companies seem unable to find a role for themselves. The economist writer moves on to suggest that artists will replace their lost (record sale) revenues with tours, merchandise and personal appearances, leaving the labels to become glorified managers. The tracks themselves become marketing material for the artists. Seem far-fetched? Look at how Prince took his latest album to market - as a ‘free’ giveaway on the Mail on Sunday.

An interesting piece, although there remains the huge hole in the rights debate about what on earth might happen to great film and TV shows, how do they get paid for? If we want Studio 60 and The Shawshank Redemption, we’re going to have to fund them.

The second piece is an article about the release of the iPhone: Where would Jesus queue? (also paywalled). Having marvelled at the hype, fervour and - perhaps most impressively - lack of disappointment once in consumers’ hands, which surrounded the launch of the “Jesus phone”, the writer recounts a story from outside the store where he was queing.

It seems a passerby who had just arrived from Mars wanted to know what the queue was for. “What are you all standing in line for?” she asked. The response from some wag in the queue was “Zunes!”. That’s a good joke and it goes to really demonstrate the extent to which Apple has captured the public’s imagination with innovation and great, user-centred design.

Apple and Epic staged a contest for fans of Modest Mouse to make the video for the second single from their new album, “Missed the boat”. Entrants were provided with high quality source video of the group and allowed to use as much or as little as they liked.

 The results are amazing and varied. From weird robot sci-fi love story, to high production values stylised treatments, and various pastiches in between. The amazing thing is the overall standard - all created on final cut pro on home computers, many of the submissions are as good as or better than their professional equivalents.

(cartoon from  Gaping Void)

Editor of The Register, Andrew Orlowski (articles) is never short of some ascerbic observations on the state of the music industry in its attempt to deal with the digitisation of its product. And recently there’s been no shortage of other opinion in that area either. With compact disc revenues falling 40% last year in some markets, the pressure for execs to react will only increase (doesn’t 40% sound low?) All signs so far are that they will do so in an inappropriate and old-fashioned way. 

Bear in mind that this is an industry which has systematically simultaneously shafted both users and artists for years. When things start going wrong for them, they lash out at both - criticsing and threatening their customers and treating their artists like ungrateful children.

This is also an industry whose current strategy is widely understood to be to try and get its consumers to re-buy their existing collections in a new format. And yet there is suprise when the customers are “revolting” and downloading and sharing music for free from Bit Torrent. What’s the alternative they’ve been given? Steal it or get overpriced, DRM-infected music? You can pay us for it now but we reserve the right to charge you for it again in the future.

In this country at least, we have taught a whole generation to see music as something which is best stolen.

One anonymous comment posted on Orlowski’s most recent entry would seem to provide some optimism that a reasonable middle ground could be found.

On behalf of the public, I want:

1. DECENT quality recordings out for me to download when I want. That’s high quality, so when I listen to the product I have just purchased I actually hear it properly on my new expensive sound system.

2. Freedom. Fuck subscriptions, I don’t care about them. Charge me 50p or something for the song, and as long as I don’t make it easily accessible for everyone to copy from me (putting it on BitTorrent etc.) you should ensure that I can put it onto a CD, or my phone, or my Creative MP3 player, or even onto another computer. DRM free please - When I pay for my music i’m paying for the right to listen to it when and where I want, using whatever technology I decide I want to use. i’ve paid for it, let me listen to it on what device I want when I chose.

3. Reasonable prices. Stop feeding us this crap. It’s still costing around £8 for an album on iTunes - nearly the same as what Play.com charge. If they can charge £9, and you charge £8 - then what the hell is all that crap about distribution and media costs for? An artist is in a studio, send it electronically to the distributors (Napster, iTunes etc), job done. There’s no comparision to the CD or cassette market, so stop pricing it like there is.

So in summary:

If I can get, for 50p a track (or £4.50 for an album) 320kbps quality tracks with no DRM then i’ll stop borrowing mates CD’s and ripping them, and I’ll stop using BitTorrent.

Then, and only then will I be prepared to part my hard earn’t cash - e.g. when the product and service is worth it.

Would people actually pay in this way? I don’t know. I do know that the only customers that suffer from DRM now are the ones that obey the rules. That’s got to change. And prices presumably must fall too. Why shouldn’t the consumer benefit from the reduction or removal of distribution costs? Will it take the fall of the major labels before a reasonable deal can be struck? That will depend on what they do in the next 12 months.

New gadget I’ve just downloaded: The Filter from Exabra is excellent. It mood filters your own record collection (as well as pointing you in the direction of tracks to buy should you wish). I tell it I like Concrete Sky by Beth Orten and it creates a playlist including “Only Love Can Break Your Heart” by St Etienne and “And She Was” by Talking Heads. Brilliant.

(I promise I’ve only just noticed in writing this that my new company Conchango is part of this. Even better!)

Incidentally, and it really is a very small grumble for such a good product, why do people say things like this - taken from the download page - “The Filter makes listening to music easy and enjoyable”. This is the language of hype which is simply unnecessary. They’ve got the tone on the first page: “those playlists you never get round to making… this gizmo does them for you”.

I was listening to Out of Time by Blur tonight and it made me realise an implication to the Long Tail that I don’t think has really been discussed.

Out of time from Think Tank bucked the trend of where Blur and Albarn were going. Unlike the band’s ealier records (like girls and boys), pretty much all of that album is uncommercial. It’s pretty difficult listening like the album 13 before it. As Blur matures they’ve become more challenging and, frankly better. The good, the bad and the queen are better still.

But Out of Time isn’t like that, Despite being more challenging and weird than alot of the charts, it’s really catchy and has simple pop motif. So it’s radio friendly and it did pretty well in the charts, reaching No 5 in 2003.

I don’t think the current Albarn records will chart, cool as they are. Partly because they’re a little too complex and partly because, nowadays (!) the charts going to be full of the Beatles! Long-tail reasons of course. But, and here’s where I started with all this, I suspect that Albarn (and the rest of artists affected by this phenomenon) are probably delighted that there music gets judged over the long-term - and very happy to see the back of Top of the Pops and the tyrany of the labels and radio stations.

Clearly consumers benefit from the extension of choice, but I’m interested too to see that it potentially benefits the artists themselves. I think the same could be true for the previously hit-obsessed worlds of film, modelling and (obscurely) politics. 

Couple of other bizarre points I noticed working this piece out: Both records mentioned about are now selling on Amazon for under £6. When did the price of records really collapse? This was the band’s first video where none of them appear. Finally (and this is the most weird) this song has it’s own Wikipedia entry.