New New Musical Express - July 2008

July 14th, 2008

On the opening day of the App Store, a number of competing music streaming applications were available, including major brands AOL Radio and Virgin, along with a favorite of mine, Pandora. However, one notable admission on day one was the music social network and ad-supported streaming music service, Last.fm. That all changed today.

Developed by Last.fm’s Sam Steele, the new free app for iPhone and iPod touch brings much of the site’s core functionality to Apple’s mobile platform.

First up, users can start streaming music based on artist or tag, so for example you could create a radio station featuring Bob Dylan and similar music, as determined by the site’s community. From then on in, you’re offered the usual option to rate each track favorably or ban it completely. As with other versions, Last.fm will take your votes to improve its algorithm in order to deliver better music matches. A related feature is the ability to have the app help you discover new artists based on your listening history.

Outside of music streaming and recommendations, the Last.fm iPhone app offers a few additional social features, including the ability to share you favorite tracks with your friends using the iPhone contact list, publish your iPhone Last.fm listening history to your profile on the main website, as well as get concert and event notices and indicate on your profile if you are going to attend. The events functionality also ties in nicely with the iPhone / iPod touch’s Google Maps application.

YouTube Video

There are, however, a number of limitations based on the constraints Apple has placed on its platform.

From the Last.fm blog:

there are no background applications allowed on the iPhone/Touch. There are several implications to this, but what it mostly means is any time you click a link that loads Safari, the music will stop and you’ll have to restart the app. This means event maps, and bio links. We’re looking at alternatives, but for now that’s the breaks.

Additionally, based on the same limitation, Last.fm is unable to “scrobble” (keep track of) the music you listen to on the iPhone / iPod touch’s built-in music player. Therefore, only tracks listened to via the Last.fm app itself will dynamically affect recommendations or show up on your Web-based Last.fm profile. Instead, you’ll need to sync your device with the desktop version of iTunes, presumably you have the Last.fm plug-in installed.

Moving forward, Last.fm says it is talking to Apple to help develop a way round these two limitations. And while you may think that there is more chance of hell freezing over than Steve Jobs helping a competing music service, note that each track displayed on Last.fm’s iPhone and iPod touch app has a direct link to purchase on iTunes.

Source: ZDNet

A long-lost collection of tapes representing the legacy of the musical genius who arranged the Doctor Who theme has been rescued from irreversible decay by a team of academic musicologists.

Delia Derbyshire, who battled with depression and died, aged only 64, a hopeless alcoholic in 2001, was the godmother of modern electronic dance music.

She carried out pioneering work for the BBC Radiophonic Workshop in the early 1960s, producing the familiar Doctor Who signature tune and collaborating with Brian Jones and Jimi Hendrix among others.

Her experimental work fell out of fashion following the advent of the synthesizer but, in recent years, she has enjoyed a revival of interest especially among bands like [The Chemical Brothers and Portishead to whom she is a legendary figure.

After her death the collection, which comprises 267 tapes, correspondence and scores, was entrusted Mark Ayres, the Radiophonic Workshop.

The material had languished unheard for 30 years until it was passed to Manchester University’s School of Art, Histories and Culture to catalogue and preserve. The material, in poor condition, had to be played on a 1960s Studer A80 tape machine lent by the BBC’s Manchester studios before it could be digitised.

Among the tapes is one of the earliest electronic dance music compositions composed by Ms Derbyshire for radio more than two decades before it became a popular cultural phenomenon.

A recording features the actor Nicol Williamson’s famous portrayal of Hamlet at the London Roundhouse complete with the composer’s special sound effects.

Others jewels include a recording of the way she electronically manipulated the sound of her own voice to create her celebrated composition Blue Veils and Golden Sands.

Dr David Butler, in charge of the cataloguing, said: “Delia Derbyshire never really received the recognition she deserved as one of our most influential composers of the past 30 or so years.

“Though brilliant, the Doctor Who theme is just one small example of her genius which was held in high esteem by figures across music, television, theatre and film, including Paul McCartney and John Peel, the disc jockey”.

She studied piano and mathematics at Girton College, Cambridge, and, in 1962, joined the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, a department created in 1958 to supply the corporation with the latest technological sounds. The secondment set for three months lasted ten years.

She had not been there long when she was given the task of translating a melody for a new Saturday early evening series about a mysterious time traveller who lived in a police box. The resulting music was a revelation in 1963, and remains one of the most easily recognised themes of all time.

The composer, who always kept a book of logarithms in her back pocket, used a combination of musique concrete techniques including the tape manipulation and electronic gadgetry to create her sounds. Her favourite instrument was a green lampshade which she would strike and then manipulate the resulting sound to achieve the desired effect.

Pippa Murphy, who wrote the score for a play about Delia Derbyshire's life, once said: "It was a question of hitting a lampshade, getting a 'ding' sound, recording it, manipulating it, changing the pitch until you had a range of pitches. Then those sounds would be combined with more textured sounds, keys jingling, a cheese grater, a colander. You made a composition by cutting and sticking together bits of tape".

Ms Derbyshire was also a woman of her times, clad in Biba or Mary Quant, her hair in a Vidal Sassoon bob, a fixture at the parties of Swinging London where she was known for her chaotic but exuberant love life. She worked with Brian Jones, the late member of the Rolling Stones, Yoko Ono and Jimi Hendrix and met Paul McCartney to discuss an opportunity to work on Yesterday.

She left the BBC a disillusioned woman. She and struggled with drink and a series of unsuitable jobs, including radio operator. At one time she married an out-of-work miner but eventually settled in the Midlands where she lived in relative obscurity and would rail, between drinks, against her lack of critical recognition.

The transferral of the tapes, all made between 1962 and 1973, into digital form was overseen by Louis Niebur, a visiting professor of musicology from Nevada University.

Dr Butler said: “Many of the tapes have no labels so it is a case of using detective work to find out what they are. We cannot even be certain Delia composed all the music.

“But it has proved to be an Aladdin’s cave and we have just started to scratch the surface. The collection includes her freelance work and really does give us a better sense of her range as a composer.

“It is fitting that we are doing this almost exactly 50 years after the BBC Radiophonic Workshop was launched in 1958”.

Dr Ricardo Climent, from the university’s Novars Research Centre, said: “The tragedy is after leaving the BBC in 1973, she withdrew from composition until 1996. That can be attributed to her struggle for acceptance but also the rise of the synthesizer in electronic music.

“She was not comfortable with that as she felt the off-the-peg sounds removed the creativity of her compositional techniques but at long last her pioneering sounds can be heard again”.

Source: The Times

Remember iLike? Well, iLike is back with new features such as full song playback and a self-serve advertising platform. Similar to Last.fm, iLike has announced full song previews to its users. Currently live only on iLike website, and soon to be made available on Facebook, MySpace, Bebo and Hi5 using iLike applications, users would be able listen full songs instead of 30 second samples.

Along with that, iLike also announced an ad platform for the artists, bands and concert promoters to attract music fans across social networks, based on their music tastes and locations.

Rhapsody stores and iLike struck a deal after Rhapsody's full song previewing technology earlier this month. Now, the iLike members can listen to one entire song 25 times, or 25 different songs entirely, after which they'll get an invitation for Rhapsody subscription.

While the new ad platform is similar to Google AdWords, iLike offers a self-serve advertising program for music concert promoters to place ads so as to attract more fans and users based on their music tastes and locations. The advertiser has full controls and gets comprehensive data including views, clicks and interactions for ticket purchase.

Taking note of Last.fm's popularity, iLike must've pulled up its socks after Last.fm's makeover and iPhone-friendly version launch.

In many ways, this announcement indicates how music will be sold in the future. Fresh and new music would be fed to the social networkaholics through music-streaming services. If the user likes it, they'll be offered subscription from online music stores. With major music labels taking part in this "online digital music sale", many believe it to be the future of music.
Source: Techtree.com

It's a funny thing in my life: people tell me their secrets. I don't know what it is. I used to think it was my open face and winning smile but even on the internet, people tell me things.

I won't tell you who told me but I'll tell you what they said. And if I find I can't log in tomorrow, I've got this article saved...

Let's unravel the mystery, shall we?

Let's start with CBS, one of the largest radio and television networks in the United States with a great portfolio, now including Last.fm. As a business, they need their assets to perform whilst at the same time meet their needs. So it was that at some point last year, a new release was promised by Last.fm, one that would fix all of CBS's problems.

What might those problems be? Let's make some intelligent guesses and arrive at some assumptions:

* improved advertising
* new business, ie attract more users, ie target mainstream audiences
* better incorporation of CBS data, ie their back catalogue
* better promotion of artists (CBS artists?)
* a more up-to-date look
* room for future growth
* CBS and Last.fm senior managment probably signed off a vague paper which wasn't more than a list of ticked boxes. The 'creatives' would do the rest.

What came next was a year's worth of mismanagement and ignoring of 'creatives' on the shop floor. Writing code which wasn't going to be released for 8 months was a recipe for disaster and a disaster it was. The silver bullet promised by Last.fm senior management didn't work. Understandably, after waiting a year, CBS wanted to see results. What was taking so long? Get it done! And so it was an unfinished beta was released to over 21 million users worldwide.

It's the old story, isn't it? You have senior management who make all the decisions; middle-management who are effectively the go-betweens; and the shop floor who do all the work. It's people on the shop floor who always have the closest relationship with a company. And it's senior management who are the most disconnected. The go-betweens can work for good or evil, depending on the point they want to make. We all have our stories...

The new look Last.fm went live on Thursday 17 July 2008 at 4.45pm, British Summer Time. There was no announcement or forewarning but that's not unusual, I have never known them to make a big announcement prior to a new release in all the years I have been here. There was an immediate backlash and staff on the shop floor were left to cope on their own, without any guidance or support. I noticed throughout beta testing, whenever they put a foot wrong or revealed a little too much to us, they were punished, yet the vague directions they had to go on weren't fleshed out. If communication between Last.fm and users was lacking, it was even worse back at base. If you think we impassioned users don't like it, imagine how heartbreaking it is for those staff who have been there for years.

Where do we go from here?

Effectively, what we have right now is an open beta, which means the site is being built and tested whilst in use. We are testing the new site as we go along and it is up to us to report bugs as we find them; remember to mention which operating system and which browser you're using, and don't forget to mention if you have a disability and are using any additional systems. We can request new features for consideration in the final version. Staff are going through all our feedback. It's exciting to see them go through. Recommendations on the Music landing page? Mine. Claimed! (at least, I think it's mine...) With only one site to look after and with any luck, it should be a much smoother process than when trying to maintain two.

To find out known issues and what Last.fm teams are working on, go to the Forums (at the bottom of the page), and in particular this thread: Site Update: KNOWN ISSUES (Updated 21 July). Frequently asked questions are answered here: Site Update FAQ. To find out what will definitely be added in the future, go here: Previously Suggested Ideas 3 (!). To leave your feedback and suggestions, go to the Feedback and Ideas forums. To report bugs, go to Website Support.

Some users are working on 'survival guides'. I will add those journals to this one as and when I find them. If you are writing one and want me to add it, please give me a shout.

Well, I feel much better. I have been sitting on this information for a little while and I look forward to sleeping soundly and not dreaming about beta bugs or drowning in my Library.

Hope I can log in tomorrow...


Babs _{My Gang}

Related:

* Journal: 4.45 - beta goes live
* Journal: I can't believe it's not beta...!
* News stories bookmarked by me: StumbleUpon
* The thread to read: this one

Satellite broadcast giant Sky is launching a song download service to take on Apple's iTunes music store.

Universal Music Group is the first of the "big four" record labels to sign up to the scheme, and brings hundreds of thousands of songs to the service from artists as diverse as Amy Winehouse, Kanye West and Pavarotti.

The as yet unnamed music download service will be a subscription-based model, which means users will pay a flat fee each month to get access to unlimited song downloads. Apple's iTunes music store, by contrast, is based on track-by-track purchasing.

There will be a variety of subscription tariffs available, and most songs will be offered both for download and for ‘streaming', which allows users to listen to the song over the internet without having to physically download it first.

Music will be downloaded in the universal MP3 format, and will be free from digital rights-management encryption. This means subscribers to the service will be able to transfer their purchased songs onto a variety of devices, including mobile phones and Apple's range of iPod music players.

"It's clear that there's huge demand for online music services, and companies like Sky and Universal Music are well-placed to work together to meet consumers' needs," said Mike Darcey, chief operating officer of BSkyB. "We are offering an easy and affordable service for all UK music fans, while ensuring that artists are properly rewarded for their creativity."

The new music download service will be run by a new joint-venture company, in which Sky will be the majority shareholder, and Universal Music will be a shareholder. Sky said that "other key partners", thought to include the other major record labels Sony BMG, Warner and EMI, will be invited to "take a stake" in the new service in the future.

Sky did not announce any pricing details for its new music service, but said it hoped to launch the download store later this year.

Apple's iTunes music store currently accounts for more than 70 per cent of the UK music download market. Other key players in this sector include 7digital and HMV, and it is believed that Amazon will be bringing its successful US music store to the UK in the coming months.

It is unclear whether the new Sky-backed music-download service will be an online-only store, or whether users will also be able to access music tracks through their televisions if they also subscribe to Sky. Some industry analysts believe Sky, which also operates a broadband internet service, might tie this new venture into their broadband package.

Source: The Telegraph

Suspected file-sharers of copyrighted material are to receive warning letters from their internet service providers after the six largest ISPs in the UK signed a government-brokered memorandum of understanding with the country's record label association, the BPI.

BT, Virgin Media, Carphone Warehouse, Tiscali, Sky and Orange have jointly agreed to send, through the next year, "hundreds of thousands of informative letters… to customers whose accounts have been identified by BPI as being used illegally", according to a BPI statement issued on Thursday. The BPI works out who it thinks is illegally file-sharing by trawling file-sharing websites and tracing back the IP addresses of users.

At the same time as the BPI statement was issued, the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR), which brokered the deal, launched a consultation on the legislative possibilities for cracking down on illegal file-sharing.

Major ISPs that have not signed the memorandum of understanding (MOU) include O2/Be and Thus/Demon. Asked by ZDNet.co.uk why O2 had not signed the MOU, a spokesperson for the provider said O2 will "read [BERR's] consultation paper with interest before deciding how we respond".

"This MOU represents a significant step forward, in that all ISPs now recognise their responsibility to help deal with illegal file-sharing," said BPI chief executive Geoff Taylor on Thursday. ZDNet.co.uk asked a BPI spokesperson to explain the discrepancy between this statement and the fact that only six ISPs have signed up, and was told the reference to "all ISPs" was a "genuine mistake".

Taylor also said the music industry was "constantly innovating to offer new, safe and legal ways to enjoy music online, and to create a future for digital music where creativity and copyright are respected", and suggested that the MOU would help pave the way for such models.

As things stand, nothing further will happen to those users who persist in using P2P services for illegal file-sharing after receiving a warning letter. This issue is still to be worked out "under the auspices of [the regulator] Ofcom", the BPI's statement said. The BPI's preferred course of action is the so-called "three strikes" procedure, under which the initial "educational letter" would be followed by suspension of the user's account, then cancellation. The European Union has rejected this approach, but it is likely to be adopted in some countries, notably France.

BERR's consultation will close on 30 October. Noting the "complex legislative environment already in place here including privacy, e-commerce and copyright laws", the consultation paper sets out the government's preferred course of action: a "voluntary industry agreement that is effective in dealing with the issue while being fair to consumers". However, while the paper says the government would be prepared to abandon the formulation of new legislation, it also says it is unlikely that all ISPs would sign up to a voluntary agreement.

The BERR paper also notes some of the difficulties that are inherent in identifying or proving exactly who has been illegally file-sharing. These include unsecured wireless networks, houseshares and the use of proxy servers.

The BPI's spokesperson acknowledged that the infringer and the account holder "may not be one and the same", but said the letters would give the account holder "the opportunity to take responsibility for their account" along with information on "how to rectify the problem".

The spokesperson refused to say whether the BPI would be pushing for the disconnection of repeat offenders, claiming the organisation did not want to "prejudge" the results of BERR's consultation.

Source: ZDNet News

Musicians have welcomed moves to combat the boom in illegal file-sharing by charging internet users an annual fee to download music. The plan – revealed by The Independent yesterday – is being championed by ministers as a way of tacking the boom in internet piracy.

Internet service providers (ISPs) and the music industry are to write to thousands of prolific downloaders warning them they are breaking the law. Andy Burnham, the Culture Secretary, wants them to follow the move by drawing up joint plans to make music fans pay for downloads. Sections of the music industry are suggesting the yearly levy would be between £20 and £30, with the cash raised channelled back to artists and composers.

British Music Rights, which represents musicians, said such a move would throw a lifeline to British songwriters, as 95 per cent of them receive less than £5,000 a year in royalties.

Feargal Sharkey, former lead singer of The Undertones, who is now chief executive of British Music Rights, said the music industry needed to find a way of providing "a huge range of services competitively priced to suit all the demands the customer possibly has".

He said: "I could envisage at one end of the scale, for nothing more than a couple of pounds a month, being allowed to download X amount of tracks. And possibly at the other end of the scale, for a slightly larger sum of money, there is the entire catalogue of the music industry and you can have of it as much as you want as frequently as you want, and any number of variations in between."

Mr Burnham said it was not the Government's job to negotiate deals over the prices internet users would pay to access music. But he added: "What we are saying is we do have to have a solution to this problem. And I don't think it's a controversial statement to say people should indeed pay for music. We've had a music industry that has led the world for decades – people feel very proud of that and if we are to carry on having that kind of industry we have to have a sustainable solution for them."

The Music Managers Forum gave a cautious welcome to the concept of an annual charge, calling for extra work on the idea with a view to presenting detailed proposals to the industry.

Tim Clark, who manages Robbie Williams, said: "We believe the idea needs to be evaluated. It needs the buy-in of the industry at large, but it's an idea worth exploring." He said the attraction of an annual charge was its simplicity, but difficult questions of how the cash would be shared out had to be addressed.

Mr Clark added: "The threat the industry faces from file-sharing is huge. Albums made three or four years ago which you might confidently think would sell seven or eight million now only sell three million. That is a massive drop and it's continuing to drop. Digital sales aren't going up nearly enough to be replacement revenue."

Source: The Independent

This is a great issue, babs. Wonderful.

Last.fm

Robert Pollard's latest album, Robert Pollard Is Off to Business, is enormous fun. Beginning to end, pure classic punk pop, borrowing from the 60s and 70s but not in an obvious way. It's not long enough is my only complaint.

Wild Beasts - The Devil's Crayon

You'll be undecided too.

Video

An enjoyable two hours on BBC Radio 3 where you can hear music from the Doctor Who series by Murray Gold as well as related music by composers such as Gustav Holst and Prokofiev. It was broadcast this morning and is available to listen again for the next 7 days.

The Programme:

* Murray Gold Concert Prologue* (3 mins)
* Copland Fanfare for the Common Man (3 mins)
* Murray Gold All the strange strange creatures* (4 mins)
* Mark-Anthony Turnage The Torino Scale (UK premiere) (4 mins)
* Holst The Planets - Jupiter (8 mins)
* Murray Gold The Doctor Forever* (4.30 mins)
* Murray Gold Rose* (1.30 mins)
* Murray Gold Martha vs The Master* (4.30 mins)

Interval

* Murray Gold Music of the Spheres (including theme original)* (7.30 mins)
* Wagner Die Walküre - The Ride Of The Valkyries (5 mins)
* Murray Gold The Daleks & Davros* (8 mins)
* Murray Gold Donna, The Girl in Fireplace, Astrid* (4 mins)
* Prokofiev 'Montagues and Capulets' from Romeo and Juliet (5 mins)
* Murray Gold This is Gallifrey* (3.30 mins)
* Murray Gold Doctor's Theme / Song for Freedom * (5.30 mins)
* Murray Gold Doomsday* (5 mins)
* Murray Gold Song for Ten* (4 mins)
* Murray Gold Doctor Who Theme* (1.30 mins)

Freema Agyeman presenter
with Daleks and Cybermen

London Philharmonic Choir
BBC Philharmonic
Ben Foster* conductor
Stephen Bell conductor

There are two ways you can listen, either via a pop up or the BBC's iPlayer. Links to both can be found here.

There was a special 7min short film made for the Proms featuring David Tennant. It was available on the Doctor Who website during the performance but due to rights restrictions, it could not stay for long.

However, I found it on YouTube. I hope everyone can see it.

Doctor Who - The Music of the Spheres, 7:03 mins

Last.fm

I notice this release from Murray Perahia, Bach: Partitas Nos. 2, 3 & 4, is received 5/5 rated reviews. There are only 30sec previews at the time of writing so I have yet to hear it properly myself, but going by those previews, it sounds good to me. Something I look for in piano works is a smooth flow. I don't like it when performers sound staccato, stiff, mathematical or technical. They kill the music for me. This sounds like there's very little human intervention or personal interpretation; I am not hearing Perahia's personality at every opportunity. I look forward to hearing more.

Beck - Orphans

YouTube