Free by Itself Is Not Enough

In a recent article entitled Too Much Free, marketing guru Seth Godin suggests that “free by itself is no longer enough to guarantee much of anything”. Godin distinguishes between “breakthrough free”, which is interesting precisely because it hasn’t been done before, and “sample-this free”, which leads to diminishing returns for content providers as people are increasingly inundated with free…

In Defense of the Free Music Model

The future of the music industry is a hotly debated subject, as just about anyone knows. Fingertips weighs in with a critical commentary of some of the more popular alternatives regularly lauded in the blogosphere, taking the time to skewer the “free music” model (not having to pay for recorded music), the “access” model (free or paid…

Rethinking Conventional Promo Strategies

Andrew Dubber has an interesting new post on who to send promos to, an issue that many labels and artists struggle with these days. Dubber likens the traditional model to a lottery, whereby promos are sent out to prominent gatekeepers of taste (reviewers, radio hosts, and so on) in the hopes that someone will actually crack the cellophane and…

No Culture so Far Discovered Lacks Music

No culture so far discovered lacks music. Making music appears to be one of the fundamental activities of mankind; as characteristically human as drawing and painting. The survival of Paleolithic cave-paintings bears witness to the antiquity of this form of art; and some of these paintings depict people dancing. Flutes made of bone found in these caves suggest…

chi-ad-stamper-plates

Memories of a Dying Medium

Recently I retrieved the metal stamper plates used to press the first and likely the only vinyl record I will ever have a hand in making: the Liquid Neon Sky EP. Until recently, these stamper plates were stored in a warehouse somewhere in Toronto, set aside after the production run in November of 2002. For whatever reason the plant held…

A Free Culture Supports and Protects Creators and Innovators

A free culture supports and protects creators and innovators. It does this directly by granting intellectual property rights. But it does so indirectly by limiting the reach of those rights, to guarantee that follow-on creators and innovators remain as free as possible from the control of the past. A free culture is not a culture without property,…

DONT

Dark Psytrance Chart: 2009/02

Here I have collected a list of thirteen killer tunes from the dark side of psychedelic trance. Most of these were purchased on CD from Saikosounds, my main physical media supplier these days. In alphabetical order by artist name: Atriohm – Pagan Anesthetic (Encephalopaticys Remix) [Noise Poison Records] Baal – Rite Of Passage [Underground Sound Promotions] Derango – Via [Parvati…

Artists With Printing Presses

The fact that digital content can be distributed for no additional cost does not explain the huge number of creative people who make their work available for free. After all, they are still investing their time without being paid back. Why? The answer is simple: creators are not publishers, and putting the power to publish directly into their…

Perfect Stranger 2009/03/28

Progressive Chart: 2009/02

Here is another list of twenty progressive tunes that have been rocking the speakers here at Ektoplazm in recent months. Most can be purchased at the regular digital download shops but some were released exclusively on CD. Ace Ventura – Sao Paulo (Astronivo Remix) [Iboga Records] Astronivo – Bonanza (SQL Remix) [Tribal Vision Records] Astronivo – Nature of Destiny (Brisker…

Tsunami

Tsunami

Tsunami is a one-off compilation assembled by Opher AKA India Drop for Kinetic Records, New York City. Although technically one of the first major psytrance releases from a North American label, the music is entirely European and Israeli, with a mix of exclusive and licensed tracks. The release was made primarily to advertise the Tsunami organization, then a major event…