Weird Al To Release Songs As He Records Them 333
slapout writes "Weird Al has announced that with the Internet he can now release his songs for sale as he records each one rather than waiting for a whole album to be produced."
This discussion has been archived.
No new comments can be posted.
Weird Al To Release Songs As He Records Them
Related Links Top of the: day, week, month.
A morsel of genuine history is a thing so rare as to be always valuable. -- Thomas Jefferson
Probably will be great for him (Score:5, Insightful)
I guess now by doing this he can have a parody in the hands of his fans while the original version of the song is still popular. If you're trying to lampoon popular culture, releasing an album at a time means that you will always be a good deal behind the times.
I'd like to see more move to this trend (Score:2, Insightful)
Re: "physical media" on the way out? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Just because he can... (Score:5, Insightful)
Yes it does mean he should. Through his actions he can demonstrate that an artist doesn't need the corporate engine in order to succeed. He can use the internet to eliminate the waste of the middle man.
Re: "physical media" on the way out? (Score:4, Insightful)
I'm afraid you are completely missing what is happening to the music industry.
DRM was never about catching piracy, it was about extracting more money from those who legally pay for their media. Fortunately, DRM appears to be dying a death but the media companies still want to make more profits from those people who do pay for the stuff.
The fact is that downloadable music, legal or illegal, is turning music into a disposable commodity - i.e. once your iPod fills up, wipe it and start again. And because of that, there will no longer be the *need* to make albums that people are likely to listen to for their entire lives.
Look at modern pop music and you will see endless clone artists, no matter what the genre, that are thrown into the limelight for eighteen months or so just to churn out cheap-to-make music - as soon as these same artists get beligerent and demand more money, they disappear, with a new cheaper "clone" put in place.
For the record labels its great - no arrogant mega-stars to deal with, just churn out plastic dross that's cheap to make but makes loads of profits. This is why a lot of youngsters these days have a perception that albums only have one or two good tracks on them - because that is actually the case for the trash that's forced on them by advertising.
So I actually feel sorry for your kids - because when they get to an age where they can start to appreciate music, there will be no "classic" albums that will come out of their generation, just "pick 'n' mix" music.
Re:Probably will be great for him (Score:5, Insightful)
I guess now by doing this he can have a parody in the hands of his fans while the original version of the song is still popular. If you're trying to lampoon popular culture, releasing an album at a time means that you will always be a good deal behind the times.
That's not as good an idea as you might imagine. I do the same thing -- parody songs. Popular != well known. Older means more people have become familiar with it, particularly those who don't keep current on the genre the song is from. If fewer people recognize it, the act falls flat. I'll bet Weird Al is aware of this since he typically runs years behind a "hit" despite producing things in the interim. Plus, if he seeks permission (he used to sometimes) it'd be easier to get when something's no longer hot. Very new, and they won't want it made fun of. Older, and the parody can bring the original back up the chart.
Re:Just because he can... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Just because he can... (Score:2, Insightful)
You mean, like Jonathan Coulton? [http]
Who?
JoCo For the Win (Score:3, Insightful)
Mainstream recording artists: once again treading a path previously taken by Jonathan Coulton.
Re:Carlos + Yankovic. (Score:4, Insightful)
I think you mean with Walter Carlos, unless you give into that "but I'm really a woman inside!" nonsense.
Well, plenty of studies have shown that transexuals have brain structures more akin to those of the opposite (physical) sex, so in the sense that "inside" means (I assume) who they are psychologically or as a person, it seems perfectly plausible.
But that aside, who gives a toss what Carlos wants to call him/herself? She must have been called Wendy at the time she first worked with Yankovic, so it's not changed since then, and if you're going to whine that she's not using her birth name then I expect to see you complaining the same way about Ringo Starr, Freddie Mercury, Cher, Ne-Yo, whatever... Carlos at least has a "valid" reason for changing her name, so your picking up the guy about using it just sounds like an excuse to whine about transexuals.
Re:Just because he can... (Score:3, Insightful)
I guess my bigger issue is your definition of game size. I know that sizes vary wildly. In the 80's, I had some games that fit on one floppy, and others that spanned at least 4, and you had to swap as you made it to other parts of the game. The same is true today.
However, if you argument is that we don't have an imminent bandwidth crisis, I will agree. However, we do need to invest in more infrastructure. With a soon-to-be $11 Trillion dollar debt in the U.S., I sincerely worry that our infrastructure will not be a priority (and probably hasn't been a priority for some time).
What really... (Score:3, Insightful)
... fucks me off about the way the industry sometimes operates is that they will release a song to be played on the radio, but not allow people to buy the fucking thing for up to 6 weeks later.
Huh?! I cannot count the times that I've heard a song on a radio and thought, hey, I like that, I'll head over to my favourite online story and buy a copy, only to discover I won't be able to until over a month later.
Spontaneous purchases, that's what is going to sell more of Al's records...
Re:Just because he can... (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Just because he can... (Score:3, Insightful)
I think this form of distribution benefits Weird Al far more most other artists. While many nerds here believe he has created music for the ages, his songs work best when they're topical. Amish Paradise is funniest when it is held in comparison to Gangsta's Paradise. Same goes for Eat It and all of his parodies. To appreciate a parody you need to know the original.
This way of distributing his songs allows him to seize on any momentary pop culture phenomenon and have the general public, those who don't read /. or go to math camp, buy them.
Re:Just because he can... (Score:2, Insightful)
Fugazi (& they were doing it 15 years ago), MC Chris, Silversun Pickups, Death Cab for Cutie (until recently), The Decemberists, The Shins, NIRVANA, The Postal Service, Rehab (again until recently), Arcade Fire...
There are quite a few acts that have pulled themselves up by their own bootstraps. Just because you haven't heard of them or you don't like the genre, doesn't mean they don't exist.
Re:1955 called... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:first post (Score:2, Insightful)
Re: "physical media" on the way out? (Score:3, Insightful)
In fact, they can create longer and more varies works using the digital medium then they ever could with an album.
Well, not really, but with CDs you don't have to turn it over and change albums. The Wall will fit on one CD, for instance, instead of two 2 sided albums. You don't have to turn Thick As A Brick over.
That's just a sign that you are old.
It's a sign that the young are clueless. Where are your John Lee Hookers? Your Chuck Berrys? Your Led Zeppelins? Your Pink Floyds? Your Matallicas and Megadeaths and Poisons? Your Nirvanas and Tools and Alice In Chains? There was great rock and roll for half a century, all my life in fact (I was an infant when Alan Freed coined the term), and it got better every decade until this pathetic decade came along and Clear Channel killed it.
You youngsters have the internet and all you can come up with is commercial jingles and Emo. WTF?? You have the greatest tool for making audio art the world has ever seen and you waste it!