October 12th, 2007 by erisian

go download some music..
radiohead is one band doing this, Prince will be on his next album, NIN, harvey danger, and many others……

looks to me like the music industry moving in the right direction.. away from corporations.

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From reuters.com

Pay what you like for album, Radiohead tells fans

Mon Oct 1, 2007 9:21pm IST

By Kate Holton

LONDON (Reuters) - Radiohead, one of the world’s most influential rock bands, plans to sell its new album from its Web site as a digital download and let fans choose what they want to pay.

With music sales in decline globally for seven successive years, the industry is engaged in a debate over how best to reverse the trend.

Radiohead said its seventh studio album “In Rainbows” would be available from Radiohead.com from Oct. 10 in MP3 format, meaning it can be played on all digital devices. In the latest twist in the move to digital music, fans can choose how much to pay, or can pay nothing if they prefer.

The band will also offer a special edition boxed set for 40 pounds ($82) which will be available later and will include two vinyl albums, a CD version of the new album and a second CD with additional new songs, artwork and photographs of the band.

Music observers said the British five-piece, which is no longer signed to a record label, is able to sell directly to its fans because it has such an established support base.

“They are the first band to put their money where their mouth is,” Gareth Grundy, deputy editor of Q music magazine, told Reuters. “I think other bands that have been similarly successful will look and, if it is deemed to have worked, will do the same.”

The traditional music business model has been under pressure as piracy and the move to digital sales has cut into album revenues. A strong area of growth, however, is live music and any subsequent tour by Radiohead would be boosted by the interest generated by the album.

“The traditional business model had been ruined by the Internet,” said Grundy. “The industry is still trying to work out what on earth the new model or models should be and this is just one option.”Radiohead’s digital or boxed set versions could be pre-ordered from the group’s Web site from Monday and a spokesman said the box set had so far proved the more popular.

The group is planning a traditional CD release of the album in early 2008.

A decision by U.S. music star artist Prince to give his latest album away free with a British newspaper was met with fury by retailers and the industry who said it undermined the value of recorded music.

October 12th, 2007 by erisian

man o man..

i like seeing the look on suzuki’s face when she gets a well thought out gift. she becomes simply radiant. so back in late june, after two months f back and forth planning, i decided what i was going to get suzuki b for her birthday. A custom made scrabble board with Frida painted on it. Finding someplace to do it was pretty close to impossible though. Luckily, i ran across the website of Kelly over at Sparky Enterprises

Her online gallery blew me away. fantastic paintings. mainly logos and landscapes though. With no one else available for the job, i took a chance. based on what i had seen and her 100% positive attitude and love for her work, she had me sold. She had a few human images, but they wer far and few between. her confidence is really what won me over.

I truely hope that people interested in this style of gift will give kelly a chance. she is well worth your time. normally she states orders take 3-4 weeks. mine was significantly longer due to massive amounts of family and personal changes occuring on her side of the fence. the wait was definitely worth it though. kelly, make sure to add this to your site, and let me know if you need any kind of satisfied customer blurb, i will help you pimp your work anywhere i can :)

THANKS!

So, after 3 months of sidestepping questions from suzuki, three months of carefully hiding correspondence and choosing all words pertaining to birthdays and gifts carefully… well, below are photos of the original image i sent her for review and ideas, as well as suzuki with the final board. after she flipped out recieving it today she pretty much showed it off to anyone who had eyes and ears. i dunno, i guess it was a well thought out and executed idea :) she must like it or something.

the three photos below of suzuki made the whole process worthwhile, let alone all the scurrying and giddiness off camera.

here is to my best friend, happy belated b-day suzuki.

the original image Kelly was given to work with.

hand painted awesomeness!

October 9th, 2007 by erisian

I dont know how much i agree with the text on this. but it caught my eye.

This cracked me up and i was pissed when my batteries died in my camera were dead. had to bust ass to the plaid pantry for some disposables, and then come back.. still made it to work on time that day.. i really do not know how though.

these are resized for formatting purposes, but you can always enlarge them by right clicking and choosing “view image’ or your browsers equivalent.