Offmessage

This is fascinating. Apparently “average teenager’s iPod has 842 illegal music tracks“. Nice headline. In the detail, however, comes the fact that on average that iPod has 1770 tracks, meaning that only 48% of the tracks are “illegal”. In the under 18 age group this figure grows to 61%.

When I left home (1990) I took roughly 50 prerecorded purchased albums on cassette with me. In those days there were approximately 10 tracks to an album; none of these 16 track monsters you get today. That means I had roughly 500 legal tracks on cassette. At the same time I had about 100 7″ and 12″ singles, many of which were repeats of album tracks, adding roughly another 200 tracks.

Alongside my “legal” music I had 40 TDK D90 cassettes (I know this because I was sad enough to number them). These had on average 20 tracks each. That’s 800 “illegal” tracks.

So, age 18, I had roughly 1,500 tracks, of which 53% where “illegal”.

This is remarkably close to the current figures. What’s more interesting to me is that I was properly obsessive about music at that age. But, I had less than the current average total number, and less than the current average “legal” number.

So let’s get this straight. Today’s average music consumer has more legal tracks than an obsessive music collector of 20 years ago.

“…this totally dwarfs that, and anything we expected”

Fergal – bite me.

This should open some pretty interesting releases.

The agreement between EMI and BBC Worldwide, the Beeb’s commercial arm, means that each party will have access to release, broadcast and monetise recordings by EMI artists from the BBC archive. These include unheard sessions by the Beach Boys, Kylie Minogue and David Bowie. Other highlights of the BBC treasure trove include a stripped-down version of Coldplay’s Shiver, and live radio sessions by Pink Floyd, recorded around the time of their debut album, Piper at the Gates of Dawn, when Syd Barrett was still a member of the band.

…or…  How to quit a band in the most interesting way possible…

Sometimes Jools Holland throws up some absolute stormers.  Welcome then my new favourite band (at least this week…)  2080 by Yeasayer.

Definitely from the Wolf Parade/Animal Collective/Panda Bear camp, but what makes them stand out for me is the quality of that bass.  I can’t help but think of Talking Heads; David Byrne flapping around stage as Tina Weymouth let rip the funk.

We got the Squeezebox talking to last.fm today.  And in our recommendations stream?

Ozzy Osbourne and Dweezil Zappa doing Stayin’ Alive.  Oh.  Yes.

Was this really 19 years ago?  From one of my favourite albums of all time; the Arch-Drude himself.

Link for those without embedding.

As a comparison to my NetVibes experience I’ve just had the loveliest thing happen with last.fm…  I finally got round to adding pyscrobbler to the list over at build.last.fm, and have just received an email a) thanking me and b) giving me a free subscription.  What lovely people.  And it turns out that I should have been a subscriber anyway – I’m currently on holiday, miles away from my stereo and my recommendations radio is proving a real god send.

Youtube linky for those without embedding.  This is one of those records that changes my mood every single time I hear it, regardless.

This record has been living in my head for the last few weeks. You have to hear it, and you must love it

(Link for those without embedding)

It’s really worth seeking out the entire album – what the youtube above doesn’t get across is the pure, sparse, funkiness that the guitar and bass produce. The basslines are truly awesome.

…and listen to death from above.

Clearly a band called CSS is going to get at a few plays in our office. That and being used in the best scene of the Phoo Action pilot means I can’t get that nagging riff out of my head. Also, same track, live on Later.