I Feel Fantastic!

Thanks to 95th anniversary celebrations at the church that TWaK attend, I’m home alone tonight. With no one to interupt or complain, I decided to take some time to sift through AmieStreet, looking for rare gems. Well let me tell you, gentlereader, I’ve found them, as written and performed by Jonathon Coulton.

Sportsracers may remember Mr. Coulton from his lovely adaptations of zefranks songs from theshow. Other internet junkies may know him from his Thing a Week series of tunes. However you knew of him in the past, it turns out that you should know him from Popular Science.

It seems that in 2005, PopSci hired him to produce an album of songs addressing The Future of the Body. The album is entitled “Our Bodies, Ourselves, Our Cybernetic Arms”, and it kicks ass. My favorite of the five songs on this mini album is “I Feel Fanatastic” (linked in the title of this post), which looks at the inevitable result of skilled pharmaceutical manipulation of our moods and reactions. ("driving on drugs feels better when they're prescription")Best of all, the songs can be downloaded for free from Popular Science! Or if that disappears, buy them on amiestreet, like I did. (40 cents apiece or less than $2 for the whole album, at the time of writing).

The Weepies

My latest obsession from AmieStreet - the Weepies. I keep thinking they sound like Regina Spektor if she was part of a folk-country duo. Even if I'm way off base on that, they're defnitely worth a listen. So...check out Nobody Known Me At All, or Painting by Chagall. They make me think of sitting in the garage, watching the rain.

Barenaked Ladies's on Amiestreet

Well what do you know? Barenaked Ladies's is on AmieStreet! Looks like it's their latest album. Must've gone up in the past day or two. Excellent! This should bring even more people to the DRM-free joy that is AmieStreet.

Be aware that it would probably be unwise to buy the entire album on AmieStreet, as it is going for $15.68, or somesuch (all tracks have already shot up to 98 cents a track). But if you just want a track ot two or three, this is the place.

You will actually own the music you pay for, instead of paying somebody for the right to borrow it for a while. C'mon people, start buying! I'm going to pick out a track or two to buy as an offering to the gods of DRM-free. Join me!

PS: It looks like nettwerk (bnl's label) is going to be putting their entire catalog on amiestreet. Since they've got Avril Lavigne and Sarah Maclachlan, this is excellent news!

Amie Street

Over Christmas, my parents bought me my first MP3 player - a 2 GB Zen V from Creative Labs. It's a great little player and, in addition to advancing me one phase further in the music playback game, it has provoked a brand new obsession. I've been spending hour after hour on AmieStreet.com

Amie Street is an mp3 store with an interesting business model. All tracks start out free to download. As the number of downloads increases, the price creeps up, eventualy topping out at 98cents. Customers can throw as little as $5 onto their account. Then, it's click to buy! The artist gets 70% of the sale price (after paying for a $5 listing fee). [Percentage corrected, thanks, commenter!]


But customers can profit, as well. For each dollar spent, the customer is granted a 'Recommendation' or 'Rec'. I've been tossed a few freebie Recs along the way, as well. When you Rec a song, and the price later goes up (due to additional downloads), you get a cut. It's just a few cents store credit, more of a thank you to the fans, and an acknowledgement that the fans are the really important part of the promotional scheme. I don't know if it will last, but it's just the kind of innovative thinking we need to save the recording industry from devolving into a theft-based free-for-all.

I think it's pure genius. Cheap songs attract customers. Free customer-driven marketting attracts the acts.