WFMU's Beware of the Blog

Decorate your Desktop with WFMU Wallpaper

Now you too can decorate your computer desktop the way the Movie Stars do, with our amazing WFMU Wallpaper!  To take advantage of this fabulous offer, simply click the link below for your desired selection, and once it loads, right click over the image and choose "Set as Wallpaper".  Or, if your computer doesn't have that option, you can right click on the image (once it loads) and choose to "Save Image As.." and then set the wallpaper via your computer's control panel settings.  This site has more information on how to set your wallpaper up, or you can drop me a line if you are still stuck. 

These recently added wallpaper designs adorned various Marathon goodies of the past.

Radio Ballet
1024x768, 254k.
800x600, 180k.
Nick Dewar choreographed this beautiful design for the WFMU sticker and postcard set back in 2006.

Where Dead Air Lives
1024x768, 316k.
800x600, 205k.
Marco Almera dug up this festive design for WFMU's 2004 T-shirt.

Sasquatch Drummer
1024x768, 201k.
800x600, 295k.
Andy Ward drummed up this design for a WFMU t-shirt in 2007.

Bumper Sticker Streetscape
1024x768, 172k.
800x600, 120k.
J. D. King took a stroll to Coolsville and brought back this design for the 2007 Bumper Sticker.

Baby Loves WFMU
1024x768, 208k.
800x600, 145k.
As you can tell from this image, babies and kittehs love WFMU, and you can show that you do too!  Dr. Phrankenshop cobbled together this sweet scene for WFMU's 2006 sticker and postcard set.

Eat Flaming Death, Fascist Media Pigs!
1024x768, 174k.
800x600, 120k.
The copiously talented Dr. Frankenshop also manufactured this image, for WFMU's 2006 T-shirt.

Escuche!
1024x768, 257k.
800x600, 290k.
This design for the 2005 WFMU t-shirt can be pinned on Mark Zingarelli.

More fabulousity after the jump...

The Married...With Children Theme Music is Wrong on Hulu

There I was just cruising Hulu to see how my dad's favorite television show holds up 15 years down the line.  Kelly is still hot, Bud is still a dick, Al is still stuck in the shoe store etc etc but THE FUCKING THEME MUSIC IS DIFFERENT!  It's supposed to be the VOCAL VERSION of "LOVE AND MARRIAGE" but now it's some goddamn terrible royalty-free bullshit MIDI instrumental impression of a song that might sound like "Love and Marriage" if you are Tiny James and had been stuck inside a Regular Size Vodka Peach for four days.

What the HELL??

Tenori-on: The New Instrument Marketing

At the risk of sounding like a salesman, I want to tell you about a promotional event that happened Wednesday night at Southpaw in Brooklyn, not because I'm particularly enchanted by what was being sold - I'm more in awe of the way the event was put together.  Yamaha hired a bunch of excellent experimental electronic musicians to sell its blinky handheld version of the future, the Tenori-on.  Robert Lippok of To Rococo Rot, Pole, I Am Robot and Proud, Sutekh, Safety Scissors and Nathan Michel were given one of the instruments a few weeks before the mini tour (NYC and San Francisco) began, and each created a set that was based on Tenori-on to some degree.  Here's what it looks like:

Robert Lippok, Sutekh, and Nathan Michel used the small but functionally expansive unit to create almost every aspect of their performances; the lights glow on both sides of the instrument, so while they programmed beats, melodies, and soundscapes on the fly the audience was able to see from the other side exactly which buttons were being pressed.

I Am Robot and Proud and Safety Scissors used the device sporadically throughout their performances, and Pole, who put on the most entrancing performance of the night, only seemed to be using Tenori-on a little bit, mostly to trigger the internal synthesizer sounds - they sounded kind of limp on top of the rest of his throbbing basslines and expansive reverb.

The middle of the set, though, was the real-deal pitch of the night: the creator, Toshio Iwai, took the stage for about an hour to describe in vivid detail how the Tenori-on evolved from concept to completion.  And it was a pitch straight from the heart, unlike anything I've ever witnessed.

Beamz

U jam out on the beamz ;)

Play with your cat and stoned aunt ;) a little symphony.....a zymphony

Thanks Jake.

Freezepop of the Current Gaming Music Future Future Future Perfect

Freezepop are not just a band. They're the first band in the world to become popular almost entirely because of their appearances not in newspapers, radio, magazines, or the blogosphere, but in video games. As a result, they're a convincing picture of the near future of music, gaming, and the worlds of art and commerce that surround both.

Just a few years ago, Freezepop's songs were sharing the stage with karaoke-style covers of "Smoke on the Water," "Ziggy Stardust," and "Spanish Castle Magic." Now, through a combination of good timing and great songwriting, they're sitting right up there with Bowie, Radiohead, and Blue Öyster Cult. Not karaoke-style Blue Öyster Cult, but the REAL Blue Öyster Cult...in a way. *

The Boston 3-piece has at its core The Duke of Pannekoeken, a programmer of infectious synth-pop and also of music for highly infectious video games like Guitar Hero and Rock Band. Liz Enthusiasm is Freezepop's bouncing, purple-haired frontwoman whose deadpan delivery is every bit as plasticky and cutting as their synth lines. The two were kind enough to answer a bunch of my stupidly detailed questions about music, licensing, the Cardigans, and the concepts of "fun" and "songwriting" in rhythm gaming. If you haven't experienced rhythm gaming or Freezepop, you might want to watch these videos to get an idea of what you're dealing with. The first is Freezepop's official video for "Less Talk More Rokk," and the second is the same song being played to perfection in Guitar Hero II.

Trent Wolbe: How have your audiences and concerts changed and/or grown over the years?

Liz Enthusiasm: Well, when we were in the smaller games (Frequency and Amplitude) it was more hardcore gamers who came to our shows, but Guitar Hero has really opened it up to a lot of people. One thing I really like is that there are all kinds of people there, all ages groups and different scenes. It's pretty cool.

TW: Duke - you work at Harmonix, the company that makes the best Rhythm games in the world. What is Freezepop's relationship to Harmonix, exactly?

The Duke of Pannekeoken: why thank you kindly for the praise... i hope to think that harmonix has worked really hard to try and bring fun, interactive music experiences to people! the relationship is pretty straight-forward... just after freezepop was started back in '99, i joined harmonix as a sound designer and composer and was tasked with writing music for our first game FreQuency, as well as authoring a number of other tracks in the game. after a couple of years doing that, i moved up and became the audio director for the Karaoke Revolution series of games, AntiGrav, and Guitar Hero 1 & 2. Since then, i've transitioned over to being a producer and lead the team that made Phase for the iPod which was released last fall. All of this has opened up a great opportunity for freezepop to include tracks in almost all of those games and reach whole new groups of fans. it's been amazing the reaction we've gotten to our songs in the games and has brought out lots of gamers to our shows.

TW: Do you write Freezepop songs and hope they'll end up in Rock Band, or see a hole in Rock Band, for example, and write to fill it?

LE: We generally use pre-existing songs of ours. There are certain ones that are just more obvious choices as to what would work well in the video game context.

DoP: For the most part, it's just a song we've written, and have gotten an opportunity to include it in a game, and then we've made some changes to the track that will make it play more fun. the only exception to this really was Less Talk More Rokk which was pretty much explicitly written knowing it was going to go into Guitar Hero 2. But it sounds pretty much like our other songs so it wasnt much of a stretch. We have added guitars and beefed up some of the instrumental parts in Brainpower to make sure it's super fun to play in Rock Band.

Why Does Fugazi have a Myspace Page?

The sale of social networking site Bebo.com to AOL last week for $850 million prompted Billy Bragg to write an editorial in the New York Times about how artists are getting shafted out of royalty payments by web 2.0 websites who use their work to build their businesses. Though it's true that every artist that creates a profile on MySpace or any other social networking portal is legally waiving their right to royalty payments, he raises a good point: musicians and record labels using these sites to communicate to their fanbases are underselling their own worth.

I just spent a week in Austin, Texas for SXSW and I observed two completely different business cultures at work; first, the "interactive" (internet) dudes held court, then later in the week most left and the town gave way to the music fest folks. The vibe in the conference center spelled out the different trajectories of the two industries. Venture capital is currently pouring cash into every half-baked disemvoweled idea set to a powerpoint deck, so the internet guys are whooping it up. But as the music panels began the central theme congealed fairly swiftly: abject fiscal despair.

This much is clear: the retail market for music is drying up. But that doesn't mean it's time to fold in cards.

Sensory Overload

This is what it must be like to live in Tokyo:
http://oamos.com

Type in any search term (like wfmu or taco), making sure you've swallowed your seizure meds and turned up your speakers before the fun begins.

I think my head just exploded. Either that, or I've become a cyborg.

Thanks Andy (I think). Image by RSMS Kopimi.

Weird World, Part Three: 90 Day Jane Comments

Comments from an entry on 90 Day Jane (note 2: site no longer exists, ), a blog with the tagline "I'm Going to Kill Myself in 90 Days."

You should put out too, because its not going to matter if you get pregnant or get aids.

You will be dead before either really matter anyway.

I was wondering if i could get an interview with you for my college newspaper, it would definitely leave us both annonymous but i would be extremely interested in getting a one on one chat with you.

roses are red violets are blue I want fuck you with a rake

Instead of blowing your brains out with a shotgun, blow your brains out with a Super Soaker loaded with gasoline as you hold a match in your mouth.

I am a cannibal living in the Steglitz region of Berlin. I want to know if you would like to join me on your day of 'no more'.

POST NUMBER 32 WHOOO!

I don't think there's anything seriously wrong with Jane...Who knows - I'm not Frasier Crane.

Why are you wating so long? Just kill yourself now. BTW, halo 3 was eazy EVEN ON LEGENDARY!

Everytime a laundry detergent or toiletpaper commercial comes on TV, I'm moved to transports of rage. Who are THEY to tell US what to do?

I think you should do it by cutting off your ugly head with a chainsaw.

I hope you get hit by a bus tomorrow, you attention seeking whore :)

Superglue your hands to your head (You'll understand later)

I live in Germany (as mentioned) and according to OUR law it is not a crime, nor an offence to give verbal help to someone who want to commmit a suicide if you don't assist the process...However, I need to go for 60 mins but I will be back.

Did you hear about the guy who died on youtube? Everybody's sad about that.

Massive Subculture Reveal: Bemani

Sometimes you like to pat yourself on the back for having a fun idea like "Guitar Hero?  What about Techno Hero!!!!  That would be so much fun, like haha stupid what would you do, sit there and push play.....haha stupid idea."

Then someone from Japan blows your fucking brain away.

That person (female, I think, because of the spotty nail polish) is playing beatmania IIDX 15 DJ:Troopers.  As you might be able to tell from all the postfixes, it's the latest in a very long run of titles Konami's Bemani series.  It's included games like Guitar Freaks, that featured a guitar controller way before Guitar Hero came out, portable (!) rhythm games called Bemani Pocket, and most famously, Dance Dance Revolution.  The IIDX iteration, which has been around since 1999, features two one-octave keyboard pads and a turntable controller (yes, she's using it in the video - check the pinky).  Instead of a meager 50-someodd songs like Guitar Hero and Rock Band come with, they have...500 songs.  Blam!

In December, there was a gigantic "Bemani 10th anniversary Memorial Event" concert in Tokyo called Gitado Live:

How in the goddamn fucking hell had I not heard of this entire world before this morning?  It got me thinking.  Right now, video gaming - in the United States, at least - is a world of extremes.

Weird World pt. 1

NSFW NSFW NSFW NSFW NSFW NSFW NSFW NSFW

There are lots of live childbirth videos on YouTube.  (Must be signed into your YT account.  Thanks, Mike.)

NSFW NSFW NSFW NSFW NSFW NSFW NSFW NSFW

001 Collective: The First Real P2P Scene (mp3s)

Most liberal, enlightened, grown-up Americans have become that way by working hard at it. Some have to slough off the cultural impositions of conservative and religious ideologies; I'm one of those children-of-a-child-of-the-sixties who fights to rid himself of ideas like, "root chakras" and, "meaningful coincidence."

But sometimes I can't prevent myself from making superstitious connections: the 001 Collective, a contemporary collective of musicians who are distributing their music for free using powerful peer-to-peer technology, were meant to cross my path. And yours too, I reckon.

It happened the day after New Year's. Google alerted that my name had made a new appearance on the web and after investigating the link I was left completely mystified. My name was nowhere to be found on the entire website But "secret download society?" How could I (I who am professionally charged with the task of discovering and licensing free music) not click through?

What I found on the other side of that link is the 001 Collective and I think it's a combination of a few social forces that haven't stood in the same room together. It's a music blog / BitTorrent index / record label / authentic freak folk / new twee / 8 bit scene. Unlike a lot of other interesting music sites on the web involving experimental distribution, this is a group whose first orienting principle is aesthetic and cultural alignment. No one's looking for an ad-driven revenue stream or seeking VC funding. They're just getting their art out there the most hyper-efficient way they know how.

You don't really need very much money to start a label-esque collective these days: It just takes one computer geek. This one's name is Secret Owl. (Or no, Luke Morris. But he makes wonderful music under the name Secret Owl and for all I know, he writes PHP under the name Secret Owl too.)

Stone Oakvalley's Authentic SID Collection

Stone Oakvalley's Authentic SID Collection is a project to convert every Commodore 64 song of the High Voltage Sid Collection into MP3 format (145449 of them!) using the actual machine rather than PC emulators.  The sound difference between the analog chip and digital emulation is startling- the analog being much warmer, deep and possessing various natural inconsistencies. Each song was recorded from the three different versions of the Sid chip that was used in the Commodore 64. This sometimes results in diverse playings of the same composition as the three chips process information differently.

I have been sifting through the HVSC for a couple years, converting choice bits to MP3, so it is nice to have this massive library online where I can grab the authentic sounding version. Here are a few of the best ones I found recently:

Trygve Gundersen - Eat Maniac
ZZap 69 - Green Tomato
Kjell Nordbo - Differ
Tim Follin - Bionic Commando

Cleaning Out My Gifbox, New Years 2008 Edition

Having gone through a New Year's Day cleaning of my gifbox, here is my biggest, most mind-blowing collection of animated gifs ever. Beware! By clicking on the jump link, you'll be downloading 11 megs of ram-sucking giffy goodness. Computers without much memory may fall over and die.

Coming soon at a WFMU Gifbox near you:

The Animated Recursion Film Festival, and (if I dare):

The Disturbing Cleavage Animation Film Festival.

That said, let the frames begin...

WFMU Homepage Redesigned

Nobody loved neon green, pink and orange more than me (probably true, actually), but all things good and gaudy must come to an end, and WFMU has redesigned its homepage for the first time in ten years. You can see the results here. Let us know what you think in the comments. (Actually, the homepage was re-designed briefly for four days in 2000 but let's not discuss that.)

Among the new features on wfmu.org: links to the most recent blog articles, expandable news items, better layout and organization overall, plus, a vomit-inducing background color which is completely Doron's fault. Also to blame: Kenzo, Marcus, Liz and Listener Scott Emmer. We all had a much nicer background color chosen, but Doron said: "No, something more... vomity."

Next on the redesign agenda: this very blog. And by "next," I mean: after the marathon (Feb 25 to March 9). Although you may notice a critical addition to this blog: at the bottom of the main page, there is now a link  that says: "Older Posts." What a concept, eh? Thanks to typepad for adding this feature five years too late!

You might notice a brand new array of WFMU homepage pictures on wfmu.org as well. We just retired about 400 of the images that once graced our homepage, but you can always keep up with every image we've ever had (past, present and future) at the top of wfmu.org with our WFMU Homepage Image Gallery.

Serious thanks to Doron, Kenzo, Marcus. Liz, and Scott E.

Happy holidays everybody. Put the Krampus back into Christmas.

Software on Wax

The keeper of Kempa.com wrote a wonderful article detailing the history of 70s and 80s era computer games distributed on vinyl as super-precious bonus track. The programs were recorded to isolated locked grooves as messy noise blasts meant to be recorded to tape and played back to a personal computer. Read on for details on what must be the geekiest promotional exploit ever, pioneered by Pete Shelley of the Buzzcocks, The Thompson Twins, The Stranglers, and more.

 

Sony sues DRM authors (CD malware fiasco update)

Just throwing out a follow-up to my 2005 articles on Sony's malware CD's (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4):

Two months ago, Sony-BMG filed suit against one of the two companies it paid to make this nasty software.  There are some rather amusing details in Ed Felton's article and comments.

National Day of Silence for Webcasters

Across the U.S. today, thousands of internet radio stations are observing a national Day of Silence to protest new webcasting rates set by the U.S. Copyright Royalty Board. These new rates, which will go into effect on July 15 (and are retroactive to January 1, 2006), will drastically increase the royalties webcasters must pay to SoundExchange, an offshoot of the RIAA responsible for distributing this money to artists.

WFMU believes in compensating artists. We currently pay webcasting royalties to SoundExchange and will continue to do so, but we are protesting the new rate scheme for a number of reasons:

1. Under the new rates, non-commercial webcasters only get a break on the commercial royalty rate if they maintain small listenership numbers. In order to afford the astronomical new rates, WFMU may have to cap online listenership on our streams, limiting the exposure we give to independent artists by blocking our accessibility to music fans.

2. SoundExchange has not been dutifully distributing webcasting royalties to musicians, claiming on their website that they are unable to locate thousands of artists including Kraftwerk, The Replacements, Pizzicato Five, The Muffs, and even Warren G!

Instead of webcasting silence today, WFMU has decided to boycott all music that is registered with the RIAA and/or SoundExchange. Today, you will hear songs from live performances on WFMU, material from the public domain, orphaned works, music from bands and record labels that have signed a waiver releasing WFMU from SoundExchange's unreasonable royalty scheme, and music from artists that SoundExchange has neglected to pay.

We hope that this sends the message that WFMU is fully capable of airing great music that falls outside of the RIAA and SoundExchange's control.

If you would like to protest the new webcasting royalty rates, please call or write to your Representatives and Senators before July 15, and tell them to support the Internet Radio Equality Act (S. 1353 and HR. 2060). Visit SaveNetRadio.org for more information, including a quick way to look up contact info for your elected officials.

Radio News You Can't Use

Court Calls FCC Indecency Regulation 'Arbitrary and Capricious'
This week, the 2nd Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals called out the FCC for their ever-morphing indecency standards. For the past few years, the FCC has flip-flopped on whether broadcasting accidental profanities on TV and radio should be deemed indecent. Historically, fleeting expletives had not been subject to federal fines, but in 2003 the FCC changed its mind, reversing their earlier decision on Bono's comments during a live awards ceremony, and sending broadcasters into a state of utter confusion. Fox took the FCC to Federal Appeals Court back in January, and thankfully, 2 out of 3 judges view the FCC's inconsistent indecency rules in danger of violating the First Amendment. The FCC can either reconsider its rulings on Bono, Cher, and Nicole Richie, or they can appeal the 2nd Circuit's decision to the Supreme Court. If the FCC opts for taking it to the Supremes, this case will shed a lot of light on whether the highest court in our country is populated by reasonable individuals committed to protecting the constitution, or politically-influenced pawns.

UPDATE (6/6/07): FCC Chairman Kevin Martin responds to the court ruling with an expletive-laden statement! Stick that on your public record! O, sweet justice, viva la First Amendment!

SoundExchange's Dirty Dealings
The battle between webcasters and SoundExchange (webcasting royalty collectors) is still raging over royalties. Earlier this year, the Copyright Royalty Board approved a hike in webcasting royalty fees so large that the increase would put many online stations out of business. An enormous backlash erupted from webcasters large and small, commercial and non-commercial, backed by the Save Net Radio campaign. NPR asked the CRB to provide an exception to the rates for non-commercial stations with large online audiences, but this was denied. Congress eventually caught wind of the storm, and wrote up a few bills to nix the CRB's rates, but no further progress has been made. In a surprise move, the CRB pushed the inception of their new rate scheme forward a few months, but as July 15 creeps up, few negotiations have taken place between webcasters and SoundExchange.

The few settlement offers that SoundExchange did offer up to webcasters are, unfortunately, useless to the vast majority of stations that will be affected by the rate hike. I imagine that Congress pressured SoundExchange to work something out, and in return SE wrote up a few PR-driven "deals" to get the Reps and Senators off their asses. Here are the details of SE's bum deals:

1. Small webcasters running on less than $250k/yr will pay 10% of their revenue to SoundExchange, and those with revenue up to $1.25 million will have to pay 12%. Any station with a budget over $1.25 million will be charged as per the CRB's new rate scheme. This sounds like a good deal, until you consider the fact that satellite radio companies XM and Sirius pay the highest royalties out of anybody, and their rate is only 7.5% of annual revenue. And 12% is supposed to be a "deal" for fledgling businesses? Here's the story.

2. SoundExchange offered a "private agreement" to a few NPR-affiliated non-commercial webcasters. They'll be charged a low royalty rate, provided that they don't have a large listenership. If they have more than 200 simultaneous listeners on their stream, the fees increase significantly. Trouble is, if your station wasn't part of the "private agreement", this "deal" doesn't apply.

In the meantime, NPR has filed a court request for an emergency stay on the CRB's new rates. Let's hope that SE comes up with a reasonable compromise for small webcasters and non-commercial stations soon...

Digital Techonology and IP Policy

Ok, now that 90% of you have tuned out of this post based on the title alone, I would now like to let the radio, webcasting, tech, and copyright geeks in on the dirt from a conference I attended in Washington, D.C. on May 2.

The Future of Music Coalition magically planned a meeting of the minds at exactly the right time in history, setting aside a day for webcasters, musicians, copyright lawyers, legislators, and performance rights organizations to engage in a civil discussion about contentious topics like net neutrality and the Copyright Royalty Board's webcasting rate hike. I observed some meaningful conversations between groups who have been at odds with each other, but I also witnessed the old guard struggling to come to terms with technologies that are at least a decade old. I came away from the meeting half hopeful about open lines of comminication between previously warring parties, and half convinced that current attempts to create meaningful laws for music technology and intellectual property are futile and doomed to failure in our rapidly morphing media environment.

But you can form your own conclusions. FMC has generously posted streaming video of their entire Technology and IP Policy Day, broken down into individual talks (click here for the schedule and video links). Below I've reposted direct video links to each talk:

Intro and Welcome by FMC's Kristin Thompson        
  Video: Windows Media  |  Real

Congressman Mike Doyle's (D-PA) Keynote
Refreshingly well-informed speech touching on net neutrality, webcasting royalties, and artist compensation.   Video: Windows Media  |  Real

Radio Waves
Webcasting royalties discussed by a panel including the CEO of Pandora, the Executive Director of Sound Exchange, an independent musician, and others, expertly moderated by FMC's Brian Zisk. This was the hot button session for me: the VP of XM shoots down Sound Exchange for claiming that airplay has no promotional value, the indie musician says that Pandora helps him sell music, and the CEO of Live 365 begs Sound Exchange to return his calls... How much sexier can it get?   Video: Windows Media  |  Real

CEO of the Consumer Electronics Association's Address
The CEA sticks it to the RIAA for alienating customers and independent musicians.   Video: Windows Media  |  Real

Jenny Toomey Explains FMC's Rock the Net Campaign
   Video: Windows Media  |  Real

The Net Effect
Panel on net neutrality and how a tiered internet would hurt independent musicians.   Video: Windows Media  |  Real

David Carson of the U.S. Copyright Office
Learn what a digital phonorecord delivery is, and where downloads and audio streams fall under this definition. Kind of. Maybe. Ok, so I was kidding. But it is amusing (and sad) to know that the copyright office is well aware of the blunders and logistical roadblocks built into the DMCA.   Video: Windows Media  |  Real

Stocking the Celestial Jukebox
Licensing and artist compensation in the digital world, the effects of new tech products on musicians, and the need for copyright reform.   Video: Windows Media  |  Real

More Pop Up Ads, Please

Screencap of WABC-TV's site courtesy of Stay Free.