Brave New World?

How are we all? Everyone ok? Good.

I'm the proud owner of an iPhone which has become an intrinsic part of my life in the last few months. Indeed, I'm actually writing this blog on it! Amazing bits of kit. A couple of weeks ago I downloaded the Spotify app for the iPhone and also signed up for a premium account with them. I'm sure you all know about Spotify and if you don't then you should.

Anyways, the app only works if you have a premium account, which costs about £10 a month, and as I'm the adventurous type I thought I'd give it a go. The main feature for me is it's ability to cache up to about 3000 songs for a month, meaning that you can have your playlists available off line if you need it (on the underground, on a plane, up a mountain, etc, etc). For me that is definitely worth £10 a month and more importantly Spotify itself may offer a glimpse of the music industries future. Sure it's not perfect and I know there's some controversy about artist payments but as a starting point it is definitely worth taking seriously.

The thing about it that compelled me to write this blog is the customer review section for the app on iTunes. There are plenty of people singing it's praises but there seems to be just as many who are complaining about the 'rip off' pricing of Spotifys premium account without which the app will not work. The ferocity and venom that some of these reviews have really shocked me.

It seems to be indicating that there are a lot of people out there who believe that they deserve this service for free. Not would like it for free, but rather expect it for free. Are these people a minority? Has the the wonderful inclusive and liberal nature of Web 2.0 backfired and created a mindset where music as a commodity is worth less than ever?

I know this cultural battle is far from over but I do belive that sides are becoming more clear cut than before. I understand the pirate reasoning for doing what they do, but I do not condone it. On the flip side to that I think the mainstream industry has been desperately hanging onto the past when they should be the innovators. Maybe it's too late to turn this round or maybe it's just a cultural shift that will balance out in the end. I don't know what the outcome will be or most importantly what this means for the musicians who are valiantly sending their work into the ether in the hope of some reward, but I do know that when the smoke clears it will definitely be a very different world.

Keep on keeping on.

Hello world,

How are we today?
I've been trucking away in the studio with quite a selection of jobs this last week and a bit. We've had in Darling Bones, Nimmo And The Gauntlets, Jessica Grace and Alex Vald (a.k.a. Lextrical). I've also been getting the scissors out for a radio edit of Wild Palms forthcoming single. The engineering legend that is Tom Morris took the reins for a quick and dirty session with the band Deep Shit (yes that's really their name), and Pinna is currently accomodating producer/engineering team Weller Hill tracking drums for a band whose name I don't know.
Add to that a couple of voice over sessions and a bit of avant garde electronic noise sculpture for Dan Wilsons latest film project and there you have it.
Currently I'm enjoying a couple of rare days off, but no rest for the wicked as you can expect to see a new Pinna website very very soon. How exciting!
Also today I made a stand for common decency. Some 'youngsters' on the bus sitting behind me kept playing bad hip hop from their phone as loud as they could. So annoying. So I played Frank Sinatra on my phone as loud as I could. They stopped their music and I won a small, petty victory. Still tasted sweet though.

Till next time,

Kev.

From the pen of
Kevin James Feazey.