Word, according to Billboard, is that Guns N' Roses' "Chinese Democracy" will finally see the fluorescent lights of retail outlets on Nov. 23, the Sunday before the big Thanksgiving holiday shopping weekend. Additionally, the album will be a retail exclusive to big box outlet Best Buy.
But those who want to avoid hordes of shoppers clamoring for a Wii Fit need not fear. Certainly the first-week Best Buy price will be cheaper than the major label wholesale cost. The end result, as when the Eagles partnered with a mass merchant, is that other retailers will likely just buy the album from Best Buy and stock it themselves, unless federal agents will be retained to enforce the maximum purchase limit.
The strategically-timed release will undoubtedly pump up first-week sales for the much-ballyhooed record, one that has been so overly hyped and ridiculously guarded that a blogger was actually charged with a felony for leaking many of the songs. It will be interesting to see how fans respond after the initial week of curiosity has passed, and if the story of the album will prove to be more interesting than the actual album, especially after years of on-and-off tours and promises that the record would be coming soon, really!
A recent conversation with a music industry manager had this usually insightful fellow proclaiming that "Chinese Democracy" would sell more than 1 million copies in its first week, but I can't see that happening. Guns N' Roses has hype but hasn't been consistently feeding its fanbase, a la Lil Wanye, and the band did little to show that it didn't have an antagonistic relationship with its fans after "Chinese Democracy" hit the Web this summer.
And that doesn't take into account that Guns N' Roses is essentially a classic rock band these days. Boo and hiss all you want, but the band, after all, is taking a page from Don Henley and Co. to release the album. What's next? A song exclusive "Guitar Hero" or "Rock Band"? Actually, yes, as the album's "Shackler's Revenge" made its debut in "Rock Band 2."
Quick thought: Knowing the film is directed by Madonna, "Filth and Wisdom" unfortunately carries some added weight with it. And it looks to hit a number of the standards that permeate post-Tarantino indie films from rich folk. Strippers? Check. Cross-dressers? Check. Prescription drug addicts? Check. Silly dialogue? ("Who am I, an actress or a prostitute?") Check.
But hey, it's only 80 minutes, and it looks entertaining enough. And after all, its Gogol Bordello's Eugene Hutz that steals the trailer, and is the reason I'll see the film. He looks a bit slimy, a bit crazed, maybe drunk and completely unpredictable, not too unlike his punk rock stage presence.
His band's "Wanderlust King" scores the trailer, melding hard rock and worldly traditionalism with the ferocity of Ireland's favorite alcoholic romantics the Pogues. The loose acoustic melody provides plenty of room for out-of-rhythm foot stomping, and a lovely violin that drifts in and out keeps Hutz from being completely unhinged. (See video below.)
It's that time again. Grammy season officially gets underway this week, as Tuesday is the final day to release an album in time for Grammy consideration.
That means Jennifer Hudson and Robin Thicke, who both release new albums that day, have made the cut. As did Mercury Rev, who are releasing the spacey sonic exploration of "Snowflake Midnight" this week. But new albums from Kanye West and Taylor Swift will have to wait until 2010 to get Grammy consideration. The Grammys of 2009 may, in fact, may look a little like what the Grammys of 2008 could have been
With the Grammy deadline looming, this is a relatively quiet release week, at least in terms of big, Grammy-loving albums. Last year, for instance, had a new Bruce Springsteen effort, as the Boss put out a vinyl edition of his "Magic" to make the Grammy cut. That's not to say that September has been lacking in blockbuster efforts, as the latest from Metallica and Ne-Yo are both receiving positive reviews and will surely rack up some Grammy noms.
Metallica, mind you, already has seven Grammy wins, but they're all confined to the rock field. It might be a long shot to put "Death Magnetic" in contention for album of the year, even though it comes with the magic touch of producer Rick Rubin (six Grammy wins). So though it was composed a little more than two months ago, The Envelope's midyear Grammy preview probably still holds up, give or take a couple albums.
It wouldn't be shocking to see a host of 2007 releases in the album of the year field for 2009, as releases from Alica Keys, Radiohead, Robert Plant & Alison Krauss, Jay-Z and the Eagles all missed the 2008 deadline of Sept. 30, 2007, and all hold appeal to Grammy voters. But having just two (or even one?) of the aforementioned artists in the running for an album of the year would be damaging to the Grammys. At a time when an album is out the moment it leaks, the Grammys wouldn't be doing anything to change their behind-the-times image.
It would be nice to see Grammy voters truly surprise everyone and nominate albums from the likes of veteran rocker Nick Cave and folksy upstarts the Fleet Foxes, as there's plenty of good music to go around, but one step at a time. In this increasing volatile market, the music biz is relying on fourth-quarter holiday-timed releases more than ever.
Therefore, the Grammys will not only miss aforementioned releases from West and Swift, but albums from Fall Out Boy, Beyonce, Pink, David Cook, the Killers, Nickelback and Lucinda Williams are all due after the Sept. 30 deadline. Additionally, one of the biggest music stories of the year may be a new, Best Buy-approved Guns 'n' Roses album, but the Grammys will miss it.
Granted, not all of the artists in the above paragraph are Grammy-worthy, but it's time the Recording Academy extended the deadline from Oct. 1 to Dec. 31. Increasingly, the music that's being discussed as the year comes to an end is the music that the Grammys have to wait another 12 months to honor.
Photo: Taylor Swift at the 2008 Grammy Awards. Credit: Liz O. Baylen / Los Angeles Times
Many an independent music retailer has put forth the following argument in defense of CDs. For one, the physical existence of a CD means it's not privy to such nuisances as a faulty hard drive. Second, the CD will surely last longer than any potential format changes in the digital world, say a company deciding to change or no longer support the copy protection it embeds in a file.
This morning, Boing Boing got hold of an e-mail from Wal-Mart that said the company was no longer going to support files with digital rights management (DRM), meaning any DRM-encoded files purchased from the Wal-Mart digital store would no longer be supported by the company. According to the e-mail obtained by Boing Boing, Wal-Mart states that it had been offering DRM-free music since February of this year. Any recent purchases are thereby safe (David Cook fans just let out a sigh of relief).
But from August of 2008 to early this year, Wal-Mart's files came with DRM-encoding to limit copying. Those files will need to be backed up -- burned onto a CD --to ensure that that they will continue to be playable after Oct. 9, when Wal-Mart will no longer support its DRM software. After that date, music and videos will only work on the original authorized computer, but should you reinstall your operating system or should the computer crash, the files will be worthless.
Quotes Boing Boing of the Wal-Mart release:
If you have purchased protected WMA music files from our site prior to Feb 2008, we strongly recommend that you back up your songs by burning them to a recordable audio CD. By backing up your songs, you will be able to access them from any personal computer. This change does not impact songs or albums purchased after Feb 2008, as those are DRM-free.
Beginning October 9, we will no longer be able to assist with digital rights management issues for protected WMA files purchased from Walmart.com. If you do not back up your files before this date, you will no longer be able to transfer your songs to other computers or access your songs after changing or reinstalling your operating system or in the event of a system crash. Your music and video collections will still play on the originally authorized computer.
Quick thought: Moving to DRM-free MP3 files is a good thing, all for the very reasons outlined in this post. Music files encoded with DRM is subject to the whims of the company selling the music, or the music industry itself, and that's not fair to the consumer.
However, if a company offered DRM-encoded music in the first place, it should continue to provide support for the files, at least for a longer period than the two-week notice Wal-Mart is giving. Rather than put the onus on the consumer to burn all his Wal-Mart-purchased music to a CD, I would argue the corporation should in good faith replace the DRM music with good ol' fashioned MP3 files.
MySpace has now flipped the switch on its revamped music store, promising more freedom and sharing, with user playlists and easier access to purchasing songs, thanks to a pairing with Amazon.com. But after I spent the better part of the morning playing with the service, MySpace's new music offerings seem to cause more frustration than ease.
First impression is a revamped store that may fuel some quick, spur-of-the-moment purchases, but nothing that will really distract users from going to iTunes or even jumping over to Amazon's MP3 store. Perhaps it's not fair to fully judge the store only hours after launch, but the feel is clunky, and a little cheap -- kind of like the online equivalent of CD or DVD racks near the check-out lanes in big box retailers.
Here's a quick rundown of some of the new features, paired with what some others around the Web are saying.
While others seem to viewing this with skepticism, I find the absurdity of it all is amusingly appealing, at least in a 70-second clip. Kanye doesn't interact much with the puppets, but it's nice to hear Rhymefest get a starring role, even if its doll form.
David Cook's debut album is still months away, but his first single, "Light On," is out now and sure to be inescapable this holiday season, or at least until the next Daughtry song comes out. Cook's "Light On," in fact, is firmly in the Daughtry mode, albeit there's a little bit more stubble and gruffness in his voice.
It's full-on, cellphone-waving arena rock schmaltz, with husky, slow-moving guitars and a wallop of meaninglessly earnest vocals. Cook is undoubtedly straining his face red as he oh-so-desperately wails that the object of his affection "try to leave a light on when I’m gone / something I rely on to get home."
It begins with a slow-dance piano, but Cook soon obliterates it, over-singing as if he's bearing the weight of every bad love letter written in the past eight years upon his back. Or like an "American Idol" winner trying to prove he's rock 'n' roll, if your first point of reference is Nickelback. But it's easily ignorable, and relatively inoffensively sensitive hard rock, and as Idolator predicted -- without even hearing it -- it'll be a soundtrack for shopping malls and drugstores all winter long.
The song has a bevy of star power behind it, and hits iTunes this week, making the single eligible for Grammy voting, meaning it will get nominated. Some grungy, Soundgarden-like guitars are definitely present in the cut, and co-writing credits go to Soundgarden/Audioslave's Chris Cornell, who picks up right where Audioslave's "Revelations" left off. But the more telling credit goes to Brian Howes, who has written for Daughtry, Puddle of Mudd and Hinder, and Cook is aiming for somewhere in the middle of all of that.
Pop star Janet Jackson has joined the ranks of big-name artists who have split from their major-label homes.
Although Jackson's freedom looks as though it's being framed as a desire by the artist to strike out on some Radiohead or Nine Inch Nails-like business maneuvering, the breakup between Jackson and Island Def Jam comes just months after her recent effort, "Discipline," failed to connect in the marketplace.
Jackson linked with Island Def Jam for the release of "Discipline," which Billboard reports has sold a total of 415,000 copies in the U.S. since its release last February, or 75,000 less than Metallica shifted in one week for "Death Magnetic."
Billboard also has a statement from Jackson's camp, which notes that the artist "will [now] have autonomy over her career, without the restrictions of a label system," implying that the star intends to go it alone, or at least pair with someone outside a traditional label, a la Madonna and touring behemoth Live Nation (yet note that the New York Post's Brian Garrity recently reported that such new-model deals may actually look quite a bit like traditional label deals, in which the tour promoter would look to a major to offer back-end functions).
The rest of Jackson's statement to the trade touches on vague new-media corporate-speak, citing Jackson as an artist who sets trends and declaring her "one of the first superstar artists to have the individual freedom" to turn to "iTunes, mobile carriers and other diverse and innovative channels," which is already standard operating procedure for major, indie and non-label-affiliated artists the world over.
But would the label have mattered? Would a better working of "iTunes, mobile carries and other diverse and innovative channels" really made made a difference in "Discipline", whatever any of that means? After all, first single "Feedback" was released to plenty of hype, but it turned Jackson into an anonymous pop star, with heavily-affected vocals and techno-funk that failed to sound as new or different as, say, anything from Rihanna. And is it IDJ's fault the public is less interested in Janet than a Chris Brown?
Another week, another Kanye West headline. The Hollywood Reporter had the news this morning that West is developing a show described as "hip-hop meets the Muppets" for Comedy Central. This isn't completely new territory for the uptown rapper, as Stereogrum reminds us that Kanye has already gotten the puppet treatment via his video for "Champion," for which a screenshot is below.
Whether the news that West has shot a half-hour pilot interests you will likely depend on A) your interest in Kanye (he's good), or B) your thoughts on Jackhole Productions, the Jimmy Kimmel-associated company that was behind Comedy Central's "Crank Yankers" (a show that was bad). But credit West for looking for fresh ways to expand his own brand, and thankfully avoiding the bad action-movie route that befell fellow Chi-Town rapper Common.
But beyond seeing a puppet-tized version of Kanye, perhaps the real reason to tune in will be one of West's collaborators in the series, yet another Midwest-bred rapper in Rhymefest. Billed as an exec producer on the show, the working-class musician released one of the stronger albums of 2008, and it doesn't cost a dime. His collaboration with celeb producer Mark Ronson (Amy Winehouse) for the Michael Jackson tribute "Man in the Mirror" is a free download away, and humanizes Jackson while struggling to manage one's own aspirations in a fame-obsessed culture. Any more exposure for Rhymefest is welcome.
Tentatively titled "Alligator Boots," the project is reported to be under consideration for airing in 2009.
The good: It brings a bit of rock 'n' roll bite to the Bond theme and is instantly more memorable than the song Chris Cornell recorded for "Casino Royale."
The bad: Any hooks by the song are provided by riffing on the instantly recognizable Bond theme, not by anything new offered in the song. And Keys, usually a relatively bold, in-your-face R&B singer, seems oddly tamed here, her voice not meshing well with White's yelled warble. In her defense, it's hard to not sound silly when you sing, "Suit 'em up, bang bang!" And there's some odd, out-of-place sudden electronic textures here and there, resulting in an overly-crowded song.
Final thoughts: One of the highest-profile film-related songs of the year, "Another Way to Die" is too firmly entrenched in Bond-lore to have any sort of life outside of the upcoming film, "Quantum of Solace." The first mistake was mimicking an iconic film score with some electric guitars and modern effects, which is always, always, always, alwaysa bad idea (see Larry Mullen and Adam Clayton in "Mission Impossible"). But don't fault White and Keys too much, as tackling a Bond theme has proved to be an insurmountable task for a bevy of pop stars of late. Everyone from Cornell to Madonna to Garbage has seemed to drown under the pressure of having to craft a tune for the franchise, trying too hard to sound modern (see Madonna's "Die Another Day," the music equivalent of soulless CGI effect after CGI effect), or burdening songs with overwrought string arrangements (see Garbage's "The World Is Not Enough").
The promise of White roughing-up the Bond song was intriguing, but by the 15th second of the tune, "Another Way to Die" reveals itself to be little more than hard-rock updating of the James Bond fanfare. It's passable, certainly, and for a brief second it even sounds as if the song might veer into harder, Black Sabbath-like territory. But it soon slinks away into jam-packed busy verses, where orchestral flourishes and trash-can rhythms battle for airtime under the anonymously shouted vocals of Keys and White.
As ignorable action-movie background music, "Another Way to Die" probably works just fine; its bombastic drums are a more than workable sound to some seven-figure, crash-and-bang effects. Yet about halfway through the song, the piece dissolves into a bit of a mess, with out-of-place "whoa-whoas" and a cheesy squiggles of a guitar solo. It's probably easier to stomach in the midst of a fight scene and works just fine in a brief television commercial.
