Why Wilco is the Future of Music

Lessig summarizes Wilco’s unique role in the online music wars:

The band Wilco and its quiet, haunted leader, Jeff Tweedy, is something different. After its Warner label, Reprise, decided that the group’s fourth album, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, was no good, Wilco dumped them and released the tracks on the Internet. The label was wrong. The album was extraordinary, and a sold-out 30-city tour followed. This success convinced Nonesuch Records, another Warner label, to buy the rights back – reportedly at three times the original price. The Net thus helped make Wilco the success it has become. But once back in Warner’s favor, many wondered: Would Wilco forget the Net?

Saturday Snow Storm: Music to Shovel…. or a Snowstorm Playlist :)


A few selections from the music my ipod shuffled to while shoveling earlier today (Madison received about 8″ of snow).

Ironically, I received an email this morning from Tony Novak-Clifford, host of Manao Radio’s Sunday Mornings “Sunday Solstice” program as well as Monday & Tuesday morning’s “Academy of Errors”. Tony’s email mentioned a rainy Maui Saturday morning.

UPDATE:
Dave sends a link from Boston, which will soon have quite a bit of snow. More Madison Photos: Gala & James Gardner catch snowplow stuck in a snowbank. Ann Althouse posts two early morning photos. More later

Sony admits their attempt to lock us in a box failed: DRM

Sony’s non mp3 support in it’s portable audio devices was a mistake, they now admit. Yuri Kageyama:

Ken Kutaragi, president of Sony Computer Entertainment, said he and other Sony employees had been frustrated for years with management’s reluctance to introduce products like Apple’s iPod, mainly because the Sony had music and movie units that were worried about content rights.

But Sony’s divisions were finally beginning to work together and share a common agenda, Mr Kutaragi said at the Foreign Correspondents Club in Tokyo.

Well, duh. Most of these DRM (Digital Restrictions Management) schemes will fail. Slashdot discussion.

Great Music Radio Does Exist, on the Internet

Tired of too many commercials and the same old, same old, same old music? Point your itunes or other mp3 streaming audio software to these internet “radio” stations:

  • Madison’s own WSUM
  • The University of Pennsylvania’s WXPN is simply excellent.
  • Another must is Fordham’s WFUV
  • Finally, and I think, most interestingly, I spend most of my listening time tuned in to Maui’s Manao Radio, a low power FM and internet radio station. Excellent and eclectic.

iPod photo


I’m giving the latest iPod photo a try. This mp3 player also includes the ability to store and display photos (including the optional storage of the large, original image files – which makes it a handy backup device). It also will playback slideshows through your TV, along with music.
I also have the first iPod (5GB). It’s rather amazing to think that the latest ipod is a bit smaller, yet holds 12X the music and/or photos. So far, I’ve been quite impressed with it (I’ve dropped it a few times, including on a tradmill). It just works 🙂

Overture Hall, Madison Symphony, James Trotter are all “Up to Date…”

James Oestreich on last weekend’s Symphony & organ performance:

The organ sounded splendid in Mr. Trotter’s performance of the Jongen work, though this is not quite so blatant a showpiece as, say, Saint-Sa?ns’s “Organ” Symphony (which the orchestra played in an earlier, prededication concert). The tonal qualities are rich and varied, and the sonic heft seems well suited to the space.
But it is crucial for a concert organ, as opposed to a church instrument, Mr. Trotter noted in conversation, to be able to blend with a symphony orchestra as well as stand up to it. And the blend here was uncanny, sometimes tricking the ear into confusing reed pipes with woodwind instruments.
But as good as all this news was, the crowning touch for an old Madison hand who arrived hopeful but not optimistic was the condition and quality of the Madison Symphony. At a time of orchestral retrenchment nationwide, this part-time group seems to be flourishing, with an annual surplus of $50,000 to $100,000 on its $2.8 million budget, and an endowment climbing toward $15 million. It added a third concert for 7 of its 9 subscription programs this season, and subscriptions and attendance are strong and rising steeply (partly, no doubt, because of the new hall).

It was indeed, an enjoyable evening. I agree with the writer that Madison is fortunate to have such a wonderful symphony.