Andy Lykens

Innovating and operating through growth

Spotify and Google Music leave me searching…

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In my opinion, there still isn’t a good solution. Granted, in a 2.0 world, these are 1.0’s. They’re the first music services of their kind, they probably won’t be the last, but I expected a lot more (and still do from Google).

Let’s start with Spotify: great idea, amazing implications, lack-luster executions. The best part about Spotify is that I could find an amazing array of music any time I wanted. The downfall is that after 2 months, I found myself barely using the app on my iPhone, and having never downloaded the desktop version. In fact, when I paid for premium service and found it wasn’t just a web app, I actually got mad. Not a good sign.

The iPhone app worked, but it left a lot to be desired. The interface isn’t terrible smooth, the playlists aren’t terribly well organized, and there just generally seems to be a lot missing from it.

So, when my credit card expired and Spotified notified me to update it, I just didn’t bother. I suppose I don’t find myself desperately needing to listen to music I don’t already own terribly often.

Google Music is different. The first and best thing I like about it is that it is an online interface, and the second is that the interface is nice and makes sense. Sure, I had to spend about two weeks uploading my music, and that really, really, really, really….really, really…really blows. But once it was up, it worked well.

The other big bummer is there is no iOS app for it.

I suppose you could say the verdict is still out for google, and sure, they’re probably just trying to avoid getting sued by basically everyone, but at the end of the day it just isn’t really doing it for me.

iTunes, you’re up next. Can’t wait to see what Apple brings to the table in the realm of hosted music services!

Too big of a ship or too big of a head?

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This week HP announced that they will no longer be competing in the PC industry, instead they will be focusing on cloud computing. Hold on. What? You mean the largest PC manufacturer in the world is going to just stop. And they’re going to stop making tablets and smart phones too? Yes, it’s true. In fact, if you’d like to read a great article about what this means to their industry, check out this one.

So why am I writing about this in a blog typically geared towards the music industry? Well, as usual it’s to point out the failings of the music industry. Let’s think: when the music industry was faced with a competitor that absolutely, 100% got something right, what did it do? What was the RIAA’s reaction to Napster? And what’s more, what does the industry continue to do?

The solution probably wouldn’t have been to resign the administration of all copyrights to Napster, but in the late 90’s and early 00’s, the industry was in pretty good fiscal shape and it’s my contention that they could have bought Napster, or at least made some sort of deal. But no. What did they do? Lawsuit.

And now the industry sits atop their recent “accomplishment” of having earned money instead of lost it for the first time in years. Wow. Way to set the bar high for yourselves. I’m not sure if you knew this music industry, but you’re actually supposed to make money in ever-increasing amounts EVERY year. Not fail miserably for 10 years and then trumpet your prestige when you finally earn a few pennies. Anyway, I digress.

What is really interesting and even quite cool about this HP thing is that they’re turning an awful big ship. Everyone uses the excuse in the music industry “well it’s just too big of a ship to turn quickly!” Really? Bigger than HP? Nope. Now what’s the excuse? Oops.

Now the only thing left to blame is the ‘vision’ (or blindness) of the leadership of the major music companies.

The tipping point.

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Check this out. It’s an article about the beginning of the end of an obnoxious, intractable and downright foolish “business” mentality.

This is the first evidence that the labels are no longer going to be able to sue their way to generating income. They have been a huge pain to deal with, they have refused to adapt, and now they’re “Hoping Apple Can Force Amazon and Google Into Cloud Licensing.” Nope.

Apple doesn’t care about licensing or playing fair with the music industry they just have a better relationship with the labels and more clout in negotiations. Apple deals with the majors because it’s easy for them, not because they think they need licenses and to appease them. Why would Apple’s deal force anyone to do anything?

Now we’ll see the majors start to scramble for income. They’ll start sacrificing rights, prices will drop. I mean REALLY scramble.

Mark my words folks, this is the beginning of the end. It took a long time but the labels are officially no longer in control. They’re down to a 49% say in digital licensing. The tipping point has been reached. Big change is coming in music licensing. Big change is coming in copyright valuation. It won’t be too much longer – maybe a few years max.

The snowball is rolling down the hill.

Rock Drumming

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Australia is a country not entirely dissimilar to the US. The gentry there have grasped a cafe culture of coffee conossieurism, spoon fed themselves organic food and green initiatives, and put their ear to the ground for great music.

This Australia Day the Ozzies continued a tradition of tuning into their public radio station triple-J and counting down the top 100 songs of 2010. Very cool.

But this article isn’t about any Ozzie tradition or US-Australian influences, it’s about drumming. It struck me when I heard the number 1 song of their top 100. Rock drummers there do the same thing as most rock drummers in the states…ignore dynamics.

Check out the track that set me off and listen critically:

Big Jet Plane – Angus and Julia Stone

It’s a pretty beautiful track with a great build over the first 30 seconds or so, the kind of build that makes it great for synching to picture. In fact, they nailed the build.

Then the drums come in…gross.

Typical of rock drumming today is this idea of standing out – kick starting the loudest part of the song. Why on earth would you the loudest part of your song in the first 30″? Unless of course you only wanted to write 30″ of music. But this song is longer than that so we can assume otherwise.

What would you like to hear? Or do you like the drumming in this track?

Personally I need someone a bit sneakier – maybe ride some cymbals a bit at first, maybe brush the snare, but a dynamic build of some sort. One which both adds to the overall build, but also builds independently.

Do any drummers want to weigh in? What would you change? What do you hear when you listen critically?