I read a great analysis article by Grant Skinner, talking about the different Open Source licenses and how they can affect you and your client. I originally licensed the code library under the Mozilla Public License (MPL) due to its popularity, its freedom to allow developers to build on top of the code base for any purpose (free or for charge) and only requires code modification submission if the developer changed the original code in the library. My goal with VivMedia is to help developers build great applications, and the last thing I wanted to do is limit them, yet I do want to encourage people to submit changes and updates. That is why I went with MPL at first.

The issue with MPL (as Grant points out) is that when you use MPL code there are certain steps you need to take to release your project. In most cases this is not a big deal and it very rarely impacts the project but it may cause some developers or their clients a bit of grief. In all honesty, I just want to create a library that myself and others can use without having to jump through hoops with our clients. This lead me to change all the code license to MIT, which is very permissive of all forms of development. All you need to do is keep the MIT license headers in the source. You don’t have to submit changes (all thought I would be very happy if you did) and you don’t have to jump through any other legal hoops when deploying. So, if you are using the library already, update to the new version and know that the door is now wide open and you don’t have to fret about how you or your clients release the work.

The other addition to this version is the new Queue data structure. The Queue allows you to add and remove items is in a linear fashion. You can define the Queue as either Last in First Out (LIFO) or First in First Out (FIFO). What that means is when you add() item A and item B to the Queue and then call next(), the item returned is dependent if the queue is set to LIFO or FIFO. A LIFO Queue returns item B, since it was the last item added. A FIFO Queue returns item A since it was the first item added. As always, a full tutorial will be posted soon on how to use the Queue in your code.

The Queue is a building block for a lot of new functionality that I am starting to plan out. There will probably be variations of the Queue going forward too. For example a version that is designed to help solve Asynchronous issues in a Synchronous fashion, without you having to write a lot of logic around the actions. Right now, its all about what time permits… and as I said in the last post, vacation is nearly here! So, update/download the library, check out the ASDocs in the source (I always update them for each release) and let me know what you all think.

Recently, one of the fastest spreading Internet memes to hit the web was the brilliant OK Go treadmill video.  The link to the video spread so fast that within a day everyone I knew had seen it and I was not even passing out the link.  People where remixing the video and even did a Lego stop animation video of it.  This was a marketers dream and it was huge, huge exposure for OK Go.

So now that everyone knows about the band you would think that a segment of those exposed would buy the music, right? Well, according to the band and the label its not translating so well and it is actually a huge challenge to tap into the Buzz and turn that over to sales.

This isn’t just in the music space either, the movie industry has the same challenge.  Look at the huge Internet hype "Snakes On A Plane" had.  This had such amazing Internet backing, blog hype and meme-madness.  T-Shirts were being sold out, forums were being dedicated to SoaP, hell the script and title were even driven by the Internet.  But in the end, it only made $15.3 million on the first weekend.

… for a horror film, the $30 million movie performed respectably. But analysts say that the movie’s failure to match its hype may dispel the notion of the Internet as a wellspring of untapped moviegoers. Instead, they say, Snakes‘ performance demonstrates that cyberspace is simply another place to put movie ads.
– ‘Snakes’ rattles Web hype, by Scott Bowles, USA TODAY

These are not the only examples either.  Many bands have reported having thousands of friends and hundreds of thousands of plays but aren’t seeing growth in music sales.  I don’t proclaim to know the root cause but I believe some of the factors rely on the actual user base and how MySpace works.  Anyone can be someone’s friend, in fact spammers are now offering to buy MySpace accounts from people with more that have more the 20,000+ friends. Your MySpace friend list doesn’t necessarily represent a real tangible fan base that is willing to invest money into music.  There is also misconceptions on plays… anytime someone hits your page a song is played.  So popularity of a track can not truly be gleamed from that number.  Another consideration is the actual age demographic of MySpace and their access to financial services to pay for the music (i.e. Credit Cards and PayPal accounts).  If your fans can’t pay for the music online then they won’t buy it.

To make a long story short(er), there is a lot of misconceptions about how Internet buzz translates into sales.  It’s not as simple as building hype and then cashing in.  The first challenge is building the hype, but its even harder to turn that into something that will help you make money doing what you love.

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"The goal is to be one of the biggest digital music stores out there," MySpace co-founder Chris DeWolfe told news agency Reuters.
– "MySpace set to sell music online" BBC News

Initial reports are saying that it will still be a "trial" but with comments like this I have no doubt it will quickly go beyond trial and into full swing.  With the announcement that MySpace will begin offering music sale services they also announced a new partnership with Snocap to provide the service. PaidContent.org has stated that the deal with Snocap is not based around money but "to gain equity in Snocap as it drives distribution."

A while back (Novemeber 15th 2005 to be exact) MySpace and Interscope launched MySpace Records first volume compellation.  It was their intention to leverage the existing artist base and form a label to sell the artists music via physical distribution. The initial release drew a lot of press attention but in many peoples minds it was a flop and that was pretty much the last we heard of it.

It looks like they are re-approaching the same idea of leveraging the artist base. What is interesting to me is how they use Snocap’s services to do this. At the moment we don’t know how MySpace plans to integrate the services. Will it be an admin panel the artists enable via the site?  Do artists get to set the rate?  What is the percentage fee?  Does anyone get to use it?  How will MySpace monitor pirated material?  What about copyright infringement with samples?  There are a ton of questions for lawyers, but in my mind the biggest question is how easy will it be to use both as an artist and as a consumer?  I guess we just have to wait and see.

So this brings up another point… what is Snocap?  I am sure most of you have heard of it or at least know that it was started by Shawn Fanning (aka the inventor of Napster) but what does Snocap do?  Niki asked me that question yesterday and I honestly didn’t have an answer, so I decided to read up on it.

Snocap is what I like to refer to as a digital distribution service (DDS), they do more then that but this seems to be the best base description.  So what is a DDS?  It is a relatively new service that is actually based on the old distribution model.  In the old world (physical sales) you had this chain of command: artist -> label -> distribution service -> storefront -> customer.  The only way for a label to get their music to a store was through the critical distribution service.

In the new world there are is not any physical services… once the digital file is made it is an infinitely replicate-able product.  In theory, there is no real need for the middle men.  This was one of the goals of Fake Science, to create a store that allows artists and labels to directly sell to their customers and no longer have to deal with all the skimming before it gets back to the creator.

Unfortunately, old models are hard to change, theories don’t always work and companies really don’t want to lose their stake in an industry.  This means that a "new" kind of service has been created, the DDS.  Companies like The Orchard, IODA, and Snocap are coming into existence to help labels get content into the stores.  This is good and bad.  Bad because we once again have a middle man taking a percentage of the sales before it gets to the label and ultimately the artist.  Good, because the label now has only one point of contact to get their material into many different store fronts.  I have a personal aversion to DDS’s but I understand why they are coming into existence…  anyway, that’s a whole other topic.

Back to Snocap.  Snocap is a DDS that works with independent artists, indie labels and major labels.  They provide store licensing, track management, media type (between MP3 and WMA formats) and also optional DRM management (if they choose WMA).  Stores (or even p2p services) who use Snocap now have access to the catalog and can sell the music if they follow the Snocap requirements.  Snocap also provides the ability for an artist to create their own storefront and then make sales through Snocap.

At the core Snocap is a DDS but they also provide a lot of other services for artists and labels that many of the new DDSs are not (yet).  Overall its an interesting model, so much so that a lot of the Majors are providing content to Snocap, so I can see why MySpace has decided to go with them.  I will be interested to see if MySpace allows other DDSs to provide licensing rights directly to MySpace or if you have to go through Snocap.

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The conversation quickly changed direction and started deviling into the future (or potential lack there of) of radio. One of the most interesting quotes from the article is by Tim Westergren, founder of Pandora:

New generations of wireless Internet-connected devices will vault the Web’s customized radio services into places where broadcast radio is still dominant: in cars for example. “All of a sudden the competition for your ear there changes dramatically,” Mr. Westergren said. “The FM station then has to compete with a personalized service that you’ve crafted for yourself. That’s a watershed moment.”
– from "The New Tastmakers" by JEFF LEEDS

I completely agree with Mr. Westergren on this issue.  Here is why it gets interesting, first lets look at the new Sirius device that was just released, the Sirius Stiletto 100. At first glance this another portable MP3 Player with a satellite receiver built into it, but as pointed out in article "Finally, a Sirius iPod Threat" the device has built in Wi-Fi support. Sirius is now offering their SIR (Sirius Internet Radio) service which the device can access via Wi-Fi connection.

Now, let’s look at where Wi-Fi is going.  A good example is my previous post about AC Transit and Wi-fi. Now, when I am in transit I can access my SIR service without requiring the satellite feed (and the chance it will be blocked by the bridge or tunnel). Another big change for Wi-Fi would be the just announced plan to blanket Silicon Valley with Wi-Fi:

The project will cover 1,500 square miles in 38 cities in San Mateo, Santa Clara, Alameda and Santa Cruz Counties, an area of 2.4 million residents. Its builders, going by the name Silicon Valley Metro Connect, said the service would provide free basic wireless access at speeds up to 1 megabit a second — which is roughly comparable to broadband speeds by telephone — in outdoor areas.
– "Silicon Valley to Receive Free Wi-Fi" By MATT RICHTEL

Let’s take the next jump… what if SIR and Pandora teamed up?  What happens if there is a hack for the Stiletto that allows you to stream other services?  What happens if you can take advantage of the two-way communication Wi-Fi allows?  You could have a Tivo like thumb up/down button on your device to modify your Pandora account.  Now, you have truly interactive portable music anywhere.

As Wi-Fi grows and more municipalities look into providing Wi-Fi as a service, this really changes the future of terrestrial radio.  For many years people have predicted the so called "death of radio" and have been wrong.  I am not going to follow them and announce that radio is dead… but, I feel we are seeing a truly important change in the future of authoritative broadcasting. One where listener input is no longer just a phone call and a request, but a real-time personalized adjustment that plays what you want to hear when you want to hear it.

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Over the last year I have talked about DRM and a few of the issues that I have with it, but most of my writing focus has been on how it impacts digital music. What many people don’t realize is that DRM is more then just a music issue. It is a much bigger issue that involves all forms of media, software and hardware. An example of hardware DRM meets media is Sony’s newest hi-def media device, the Blue-Ray DVD.

Another horrible example of DRM gone wrong is the HDMI image constraint token. The idea of down-rezing an image to protect the high-quality material source from being captured by an unauthorized device and then being able to redistribute without the DRM protection.

The irony of most DRM is that the people that it is trying to stop (i.e. pirates) often work around it within days of its release. A perfect example is the print-screen hack that allows full quality capture if hi-def video. Once again proving if there is a will there is a way.

I fully support what DBD is doing and I am a staunch anti-DRM opponent, albeit I have a bad habit of buying some DRM enabled devices cough iPod cough. Although, I don’t buy from iTunes nor will I because of FairPlay. Still, I am not as pure a anti-DRMer as I could be.

One of these days I will get motivated enough to work out a multi-day post on DRM and my thoughts about how it is impacting the music industry and how in the end it really just hurt’s customers. I will leave you with a quote from DBD’s homepage:

“If consumers even know there’s a DRM, what it is, and how it works, we’ve already failed” – Disney Executive.

Protect your freedom!

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I am really impressed with the quality of the remixes and I know that we all are very happy about how its turning out.  Voting is open to all Fake Science Patrons (no purchase necessary) until Sunday, Sept. 10th 9pm PST so get in and make your vote count!

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Over the last month I have become friends with John and Jan, the founders of Magnatune, and this is where I learned that my initial understanding of their role in music was actually far off.  Magnatune is first and foremost an Internet based label that happens to provide a revolutionary way of selling their music from the site.  But, and this is a big but, they also work other other distributors to make sure their artists music gets out there.

When I found this out I had to step back and try to figure out where I got my original impression.  I realized a lot of it had to do with the press.  Because Magnatune is looking to really support the artists and not screw them they have taken some cool approaches to selling music.  They pioneered the concept of pay what ‘you’ feel it is worth (in a range of $5 – $18) with notes expressing how much you spend translates to how  you feel towards the artists.  Brilliant.

This aspect was so new, and in a lot of ways incomprehensible to the mainstream music world, that the press really latched onto this.  After reading a few articles and quick browsing of the site this is where my initial impression was defined. Somehow, the fact that they license the music, work with other distributors, etc all slipped by me and I just assumed (you know what that means) that they were another digital store and they were our direct competition.

So, when my other friend Jon Phillips decided to introduce us at the CC Salon I was a wee bit freaked out to meet them.  It ends up that Jan is a fan of our store and had bought Carbon Based Lifeforms and loved it!  We had dinner that night and that is when I found out that I had been mistaken all along about their model.

Since then I have had an amazing time getting to know John and his insight into the music industry, that and his technical know how. speaking of which check out his newest project BookMooch.  Its an interesting endeavor into trust networks and books…

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We are taking submissions until July 16th @ 9pm and then Monkey Love and Fake Science will review all the submissions, pick our top 20 and then the public can vote on which of the tracks they liked the best. Once the voting goes for two weeks, the winner will then get the iPod.

This remix contest is actually what is often referred to as a “rinse” because we are providing a mixed track. Many remixers get their first start doing illegal rinses by taking tracks off full releases, and then slicing out sections, laying in their own beats and samples and changing the song completely (think Grey Album by Danger Mouse).

With new tools like Ableton Live, you can now take these slices from the track and pitch shift them to a different key, slow them down or even speed them up to make tempo changes. We want to see what today’s “rinsers” can do so if you what to take a stab at remixing, or know someone that does you have about two months to get in there!

A little background… AllOfMP3 is a website based in Russia that provides a huge (like iTunes huge) selection of downloadable music that can be provided in a selection of custom encodings (OGG, MP3, FLAC) that the end-user can choose from.

Now, here is where it gets really interesting, customers do not pay per song, they pay per megabyte. When you buy into AllOfMP3 you buy bandwidth and then you can download as many songs as you can with that bandwidth you purchased. Current reports claim that the average song rate would come to about $0.08 a song. This is the reason AllOfMP3 is so popular, you just can’t beat that price.

When most people find AllOfMP3, they think to themselves that it’s too good to be true and there has to be a catch. Is it a fake site? Is it just a scam to get my credit card number? People tried it out, it worked and they loved it. The problem is there is a catch and here is where the company’s legal ability to exist becomes a little grey.

According to AllOfMP3, they are a legal service because Russian copyright law states that since AllOfMP3 is not distributing physical materials, they are providing a service that is considered a musical performance. Because it is a performance, AllOfMP3 just has to pay the Russian Organization for Multimedia and Digital Systems (ROMS) for every performance/transaction. ROMS is the Russian equivalent of ASCAP/BMI and ROMS tracks the performances and then pays the artists according to the number of plays (more or less).

Now, the IFPI, labels, artists, and RIAA really, really disagree with this. In the US and the EU, copyright law states that to sell copyrighted material you need to have a license from the 3 owners (songwriter, recording owner, and artist). AllOfMP3 does not have a license to sell this music and this is where the debate kicks in.

Which law applies? The WTO is putting pressure on Russia to comply with, what is now considered by many to be, standard copyright law and to close down AllOfMP3. AllOfMP3 is saying they are following their countries laws and it is really on the consumers end to follow their countries laws. What this means, is that if you live in the US or the EU you are breaking the law by using AllOfMP3. Interesting.

So, as of today AllOfMP3 is semi-down. The site was 100% down a few days ago and has slowly been coming back online. People are debating if the site is finally being closed or are they just having server problems, as AllOfMP3 claims.

Either way, this is a really interesting topic because it gets deep into the issues we have playing in a global market and how the internet is accelerating these challenges as countries’ borders are removed in this virtual environment.

Sources: Museekster.com – “AllOfMP3 FAQ” Museekster.com – “AllOfMP3 Interview” Wikipedia – Article on AllOfMP3.com moskalyuk.com – “AllofMP3.com escapes criminal lawsuit, for now” Reurters UK – “WTO entry must be in Russia’s interest – Putin”

When they were speaking I agreed with most of what they had to say, such as how large labels use artists, almost all artists do not make money from their albums, the typical “the system is broken” statements. I disagreed with how they felt we should throw this all out, not charge for music, give their recorded content away and focus on making money from touring.

I agree the system needs to be changed, but to say that artists are getting screwed on recorded music so we should just give it away isn’t necessary the right response to this issue. I feel this works for some artists, free music is good, but if an artist wishes to spend time in a studio using specialized equipment to get the sound they are looking for then they should have the ability to look for compensation.

Where I feel the change is needed is in how we compensate the artist. Yes, the current model in the record industry is fucked. Artists are getting screwed and used by major labels. This is an industry were we run at a 98% failure rate and the majors feel this is acceptable. What I believe is that we need to look into the old belief of becoming a patron to these artists.

The people that truly love the music, the people that want to see more of the music made are willing to contribute to producing more. For this to happen, the patrons need to know their money is going to the artist. At the moment, the old system does not do this but this is what we are trying so hard to do with Fake Science. Create a place that allows fans to purchase music knowing that most of the money is going to the people that made it.

Unfortunately, I don’t know if my message was really portrayed correctly when I spoke. Being the first presenter, I went more with the typical rundown and to be frank, I am used to being the black sheep, bring-the-system-down kind of presenter. But by the time the night was over I felt that I was the corporate shill trying to sell out. This definitely opened my eyes and it helped me build a firmer stance on what we are trying to achieve at FS.

Note: I posted this at the FS forums and already Christopher has given some great input.