French Films About Trains are playing tonight in Minneapolis at the Fine Line Music Cafe. It's a free show, and some other great bands will be there too, so you'd be silly not to go. Unless you don't live in or anywhere near Minneapolis, then I guess it might be silly if you did go. But you make the call on that. I will be there in spirits. Whiskey, most likely. Unless rum is considered a spirit (if it is, than definitely rum).

Unattainable by FFATsets

The above track is a rough recording / sketch that Aubben sent me of some band practice before the big show. A show which Aubben is a little nervous about, seeing as how that venue is where she usually goes to see bands play. Oh how the tables have turned. It's like that whole 'the student has become the teacher' stuff you'd normally see in a karate movie.

(and if you haven't yet, now would be a good time to check out French Films About Trains 'Boxing Day' EP… which is now available in a beautifully handcrafted physical format)

The powers that be always seem to be looking for their lost revenue in the pockets of the music / movie fan (i.e. me and you). And our pockets are empty. Maybe if they checked the pockets of the people who we all are paying $50-$100 (or more) a month to access the internet at home and on our phones, they might find where all that 'music/movie money' of the past is going to now. By the time we pay for life's necessities (like rent and food), if we have any money left over for spending on entertainment, of course we're going to pay the $50-$100 a month for unlimited access to all forms of entertainment (albeit, not always legal access) instead of 1 DVD, 2 movie tickets and a couple CDs. And internet providers know what we can access on the web, so they charge us at a rate that is more or less equal to what might have been our 'pocket money' of the past. So we end up paying them to access content that they do not create, and not only do they get all of that money (and the content creators get none of it)… but we have no money left to directly support those things that we like (as we've already been tapped dry to have the access to find out about it).

Piracy is happening because we are all broke. And if they keep trying to fight piracy by shaking us upside down and hoping some money falls out, then it is going to go nowhere.

"Nowadays, I don’t have a plan, an exit strategy, or a career arc in mind. So it’s like: keep working on things. Don’t sit and play PlayStation and wait for the phone to ring. Go out and see music, see art, participate. Then you just cross your fingers and hope it will work out OK."

– Craig Finn Talks New Solo Album, New Hold Steady Material | Pitchfork

This is some pretty good advice. Advice that I should follow a bit more than I do. Although, you should replace ‘play Playstation’ with ‘watch TV shows on the computer’ for a more accurate view of my anti-social sloth. This might be hard seeing as I just started getting into Lost (speaking of which… I knew there was something fishy with that Ethan guy).

Since Valentines Day is fast approaching (and it is getting likely that any new physical cards we send out via post will not make it in time), I just wanted to let you know about the special promo we'll be running for the next few days:

*SPECIAL OFFER: From now until the end of the 14th, if someone buys the compilation for £1, not only do they get an immediate download of the compilation, but I will send a digital Valentines Day card + a FREE download of the compilation to the person of their choice (via email). If they spend £2, I will send to 3 people. If they pay £3, I will send to 6 people. £4 and I will send to 10 people. £5 and I will send to 15 people… and if someone spends over £5 I'll see how many they want to send out.

Don't miss out on this great way to not only make someone else's Valentines Day better, but you also get the compilation too. So it is kind of like having your cake and eating it too, while also giving other people the same cake and then them getting to eat it.

Head over to our Bandcamp page and start the love spreading process now.

(Available for purchase exclusively through Bandcamp)

When I think of Valentines Day, my fondest memories of it are when I was a young chap, and didn't really think about things like 'love'. They were innocent times, and you'd give everyone in your class (even the ugly / stikny ones) a cute little card that asked them to be something neither of you were willing to commit to. It was easier to throw around words like 'be mine forever' back when forever meant, at tops, about a month. The older we got, the more complex things got. You either were forever alone or stressing out about another last minute stab at being romantic enough to make it through another year. And the cards stopped coming (except from Grandma).

This year, we hope we can help you recapture some of those warm and fuzzy feeling that Valentines Day once brought. So we've put together a digital box of 15 musical chocolates for you to not only gorge on yourself, but send it to everyone in your class (even the ugly / stinky ones), via a special Valentines Day Card. And here's how it works:

This compilation is a 'pay what you want' download, with the minimum purchase set at £3. When you purchase the compilation, you will receive an immediate download in whatever format you desire AND… we will also send a physical Valentines Day card to the person of your choice (to anywhere in the world). And this is no regular Valentines Day card, it comes with a FREE download of the entire album.

So, for just £3, you get a copy of this lovely 15 track compilation for yourself AND the person of your choice gets it as well, along with a special Valentines Day card. It's the perfect way to say "I love / like / miss / think of / want / etc you".

But there is more… we have made the compilation 'pay what you want' so that you have the option of sending out more than 1 Valentines Day card / FREE album download. If you pay £5, we will send out 2 Valentines Day cards to the people of your choice. For every £1 over the £5 mark, we will send 1 Valentines Day card on your behalf. So, if you pay £8: you get an immediate download of the album AND we will send a Valentines Day card / FREE download to 5 people.

So send one to your lover. Or send one to your friend. Or to your secretary. Or your mother. Or your whoever you think is special enough to get a little sugar this Valentines. Swing by our Bandcamp page and start the love spreading process right now.

#1 - Que Entire Albums for Uploading on Bandcamp

If you have ever made your music available through Bandcamp (if you haven't, you should), you are well aware of the very slow and painful uploading process. Perhaps I am really feeling it today as, ever since we moved to England, our internet has been a lot slower than what we were used to in Canada. But if my memory serves me correctly, even back then it was painfully slow. So I guess the reason I am really feeling it today is because I am uploading a 15 track compilation that is being released tomorrow. And it is crawling at an overweight and elderly snails pace… and it's kind of delaying some other important things I need to do (but can't until the album is up on Bandcamp).

The reason it goes so slow is that you have to upload WAV files, which are really big. You have to upload WAV files because Bandcamp provides consumers with the choice of downloading your music in the file format of your choise (at a high quality). This is a good thing. I just wish it was possible for me to que all the tracks I need to upload in one step and then go away (or go to sleep) and come back when they are done. Instead, you can only have two tracks uploading at one time, which means every 20-60 minutes you need to check on things and see if you can start uploading the next ones.

I got this compilation ready for Bandcamp in the early hours of last night / this morning and all I can think about today is how nice it would have been to have qued all the tracks right before I went to bed at 5 in the morning, and have woken up to them all being uploaded. Instead I went to bed at 5 in the morning and set my alarm for just a few hours of sleep, so that I would have enough time to upload tracks 2 at a time today and still have enough time to send some press emails out before tomorrow's release. But, for now, I guess I can only place this wish out into the universe and hope it is granted.

This post is a part of a new blog series called 'HI54LOFI RECORDS WISH LIST'. I don't know how frequently I will post in this series. I guess it will be whenever I am doing something and I have thoughts like 'I wish this was like this'.

"The fact of the matter is, not everyone will get to be a professional musician, or an actor, or a writer. No one is entitled to be these things. Many still will. You just have to be talented, and lucky and likable enough for people to want to support you."

– Rawktumblr: Talking to a musician on Twitter about piracy

A little while ago, I wrote a post entitled "Why u no Bandcamp?", where I posed the question "Why u no Bandcamp?". I had become curious as to why so many bands —of the mid to high level of ‘made it or making it’ range — were not using Bandcamp, which was something I especially noticed when putting together a blog post about my favourite non-HI54LOFI RECORDS releases of 2011, but it was also something I've been noticing since I first discovered the awesomeness that is Bandcamp. I thought I would revisit the question, as I recently ran into another reason. And running into that reason got me thinking about the topic again, which made me think of another reason I had overlooked.

But before I jump into those reasons, let me just re-state a statement that I have stated many times: I really love what Bandcamp does and I think the people behind it are some of the good guys. I think all bands should use Bandcamp and I really hope that one day soon, not only will more bands be using Bandcamp, but listeners and music lovers will start using it more (and become as comfortable with purchasing on Bandcamp as they are with letting Apple hold onto their credit cards).

Now, two more reasons why some bands are probably not using Bandcamp:

…

#1 - It is possible to steal from Bandcamp, and you don't even need to be a tech savvy ninja (because tech savvy ninjas have built something for all those opposite of tech savvy ninjas of the world). Being familiar with the idea that the internet is a new version of the wild west, I had never doubted that this was possible. I just never put much thought into how that reality applies to music on my / our / your Bandcamp page. It wasn't something I stressed about. But I was going through Bandcamps FAQ page in search of an answer to an unrelated query and I came across this section:

One of my fans showed me a totally easy way that someone could STEAL my music off of Bandcamp using RealPlayer 14.1 beta 3, or RipTheWeb.com, or by going into Temporary Internet Files and renaming blah blah blah. What are you doing about this grave problem?

Nothing. Since streams on Bandcamp are full-length, rather than 30-second snippets, it's correct that someone could use one of the above methods to access the underlying 128k mp3. And sure, we could throw some technical hurdles in their way, but if they hit one of those hurdles, it's not like they'd slap their forehead and open their wallet. Instead, they'd just move on to some other site where those restrictions aren't in place, and you'll have squandered the chance to make your own site the premier destination for those seemingly cheap, but enthusiastic, word-spreading, and potentially later money-spending fans. In other words, the few people employing the above methods are better thought of as an opportunity, not a lost sale. If you're still skeptical, Andrew Dubber's post on the topic of music piracy is a must-read.

So I was intrigued to see how easy it would be to steal music off of Bandcamp. And it was pretty easy. Googling the topic led me to a Youtube page (although that process seemed a bit too involved) and one of the comments on that Youtube page led me to a site that allows you to just paste in the url of a Bandcamp page and download that track. I thought about not sharing the links, but really, it is the internet, and if you really want to steal music you'll always find a way (it just took me one google search). It should be noted that this site (or any site or technique like it) does not just apply to stealing music from a Bandcamp page. They can be used on Soundcloud, or Youtube, or Myspace or etc. You can even find videos on how to take music off of Spotify. Basically, if you put something of yours on the internet, someone can probably get it if they want to.

Does any of this deter me from using Bandcamp? Of course not. I've basically just experienced something I already knew was possible. And like a lot of small labels and DIY artists (i.e. the major percentage of people who love and use Bandcamp) the idea of someone stealing our music doesn't scare us as much as it does the bands of the mid to high level of 'made it or making it range' (and more importantly, the people who represent them). What scares us is the old way of doing things. The thoguht of a middle man making a dime for doing nothing but holding a key to a door that shouldn't even be there is a lot more scary to us then the idea of someone liking your music enough to want to steal it. True, some people steal music because they're stealers and that's what they do. They steal things and maybe even use that stolen item for more than their own personal use. But some people 'steal music' because they are a little too skint (which is something I think a lot of us smaller guys can relate to quite well). Or maybe they are not quite sold on being a true fan of yours, and them stealing your music is the first step in their conversion. Whatever the case may be, don't develop a pirate hernia. 

If you haven't already checked out that Andrew Dubber post, perhaps now would be a good time to do so. It really hits a lot of nails on the head and says things better than me going on more about it. But in a nutshell, someone stealing music your music is rarely the same as you losing a sale.

I do not run a major label. My brain hasn't been wired to worry endlessly about a possible lost dollar, but I know some people do. So I can definitely see this as a major reason why there is a lack of major names using Bandcamp.

#2 - A lot of big names are using Topspin. And as the Bob Lefsetz post 'Bandcamp vs Topspin' from last year makes obvious in post title alone, if you're using one service you're probably not using the other. Now, I have never used Topspin, but it was something that I definitely checked out. I don't doubt for a second that what they do, they do good. They even offer more / different services than Bandcamp. But everything about them — and not just the cost of using their services — screams "little guys need not apply". As the unamed emailer in the Lefsetz post explained, "Bandcamp is great technology. Topspin is great marketing. So Topspin is winning." (to be fair, there is great technology behind Topspin as well). I don't have any strong negative opinions about Topspin, as my investigation in using them for HI54LOFI RECORDS stopped at the pricing page, but I will say that the image in my head of who the people behind Bandcamp are is not the same image I have when picturing the people behind Topspin (i.e. in my head, Bandcamp = created on a laptop, Topspin = created in a boardroom). Perhaps I listened to Bill Hicks too much and my brain has been warped in a way that is not financially viable, but it just feels that Topspin is run by and made for 'the bigger boys'. They seem more 'industry insider' than Bandcamp. And probably because of that, Topspin seems to have bedded more of the bigger names.

…

So, there you have it. Two more reasons on why big name bands might not be using Bandcamp. When added to the previous three, that makes five (although one reason is just an all of the above). Hopefully nobody has confused these "Why u no Bandcamp?" posts as me listing points as to why people shouldn't be using Bandcamp, because that is not what is happening here. I've just been wrapping my brain, trying to figure out why there are any bands out there not using Bandcamp, because that made no sense to me. So I just tried to walk in the shoes of those people not using Bandcamp, and now that I have, I am going to put my slippers back on cause my feet hurt.

"We have a greater capacity to change the world today than the kings and presidents of just 50 years ago…Have you found the intersection of your passion and the potential for world-shaping positive impact? If you don’t have a great idea of your own, there are plenty of great teams that need you — unknown startups and established teams in giant companies alike…In companies large and small, great minds are devoting their lives to endeavors that, even if wildly successful, fail to do great things…Don’t lose the fire you started with. If you’re going to devote the best years of your life to your work, have enough love for yourself and the world around you to work on something that matters to you deeply. Something that’s beating out of your chest and compels you to throw yourself at it completely. No one knows whether you and your teammates will realize your audacious visions, but in order to do great things, we must attempt great things."

Do Great Things | TechCrunch via Shelley Armstrong 

L Magazine just put up a great list of advice for DIY musicians (and just musicians in general). It's split up into three categories: From Us | From The Experts | Labels Speak

They're all worth a read.

(this post is really just a reblog of what Rollo & Grady posted on their website, which is a great email that Bob Lefsetz sent out earlier today… so I'll just add a 'ditto' to what Bob is saying below)

You don’t mess with the Web. Isn’t that what the battle between Napster and the music industry taught us? That despite having the law on your side you just can’t win?

Meanwhile, the pirating of music is in its sunset years. People will pay for streaming services just like they used to pay for push button phones and now pay for mobile handsets. It’s inevitable, it’s about convenience, but just don’t ask anyone in the content industries to see the future, they’re afraid of the past.

If it weren’t for the Web, Lana Del Rey never would have been on SNL. And you might think this is a good thing, but it’s Interscope’s worst nightmare. The dirty little secret is these media companies employ the Web to build buzz. And sure, they might trade this ability for a complete Internet shut down, but that ain’t gonna happen.

If you want to enter the future you don’t put on the brakes, you press down on the accelerator. But the only people doing this are computer-savvy youngsters, who are running circles around the old guard. Hell, hackers brought down Sony, Howard Stringer is gonna lose his job, do the members of Congress truly believe they’re impervious?

In a land where Congressmen are beholden to monied interests, swaying whichever way the Benjamins are blowing, and have better health care insurance than most Americans, the injustice is palpable. And people know. And are continuing to spread the word.

I used to say we’d have a revolution in America the day abortion was outlawed, god forbid. But if you want to see people revolt, take away their cell phones. And now it’s all about smart phones, with Net access, but in some misguided attempt to turn our country into China, the government wants censorship. But it’s worse that that. Innocent until proven guilty? That’s history. And now they want to spread that concept far beyond war criminals to you, the general public.

Oh, that’s not what they’re saying, they say it’s all about those damn foreigners. But did you ever notice the Web has no bounds, and you’re used to getting information from overseas, and once censorship begins, where does it stop?

Yup, you’ve got the dreaded law of unintended consequences.

I don’t think content should be free, but I refuse to put my head in the ground and believe the Internet does not exist, and that I can change it with laws.

This is a seminal moment in America. This is when the public gets power. Used to be, he with a broadcast license had power. That’s the essence of television and radio. But now, everyone’s got a license to broadcast, online. And this is what they’re afraid of, this is their worst nightmare. Gun nuts might think they need firearms to protect their rights, but rifles are no match for the Internet, where armies of people all over the world can band together to bring down governments and change policy.

Soon, it’s gonna be a government for and by the people. Sure, Citizens United is heresy, but the real story isn’t that money so much as the power of people to organize using modern communication methods to get their message out. Those Middle East despots were wealthy, but that didn’t keep their regimes from tumbling down.

A politician is no match for Google. Obama was smart enough to question SOPA. People love their Google, their Wikipedia. Make the Internet go dark and everybody knows. It’s like your cable going out, but worse. You can’t get a date, can’t expose your music, can’t discuss your favorite topic, can’t get the news…

That’s what everybody now uses the Net for.

It’s undeniable.

And it’s the best organizational tool known to man.

You’ve got to play nice with the people. Erect a wall and they’ll tear it down. Both old media and new is rife with stories of corporations who felt they didn’t have to listen to their customers. Those days are through. You’re in bed with the people, you’ve got to respect them, they’ve got the power.

And the ruling class doesn’t like this, to the degree it even understands this.

I’d say the times are a-changin’, but they’ve already changed.

It them versus us.

And we’re us.

The individuals banding together online and saying WE’RE MAD AS HELL AND WE’RE NOT GONNA TAKE IT ANYMORE!

– Bob Lefsetz

Join the strike against internet censorship.

Last night, Patrick Porter had a dream about a guitar…

Last night I dream’t there was a guitar that you unrolled like an elastic web and clamped taut floor-to-ceiling across the room. The strings were a tangle of tightly matted, crackling lattice pressed flat in entirely arbitrary designs. They were black and white until you touched them and then the entire vein would blaze up in color and steam and shimmer. You played the guitar with all ten fingers at once. Sometimes two people stood on either side of the guitar and played it at the same time, twenty-style. Some of the strings wept and some of them bled and some of them tried to bite you. I heard the music in my dream but now I can’t hear it anymore, or describe it. Someone hurry up and invent this guitar.

The lovely folks over at Folk Radio UK have a knack for putting together brilliant mixes. In fact, I couldn't really recommend one more than the other. But since you've put me on the spot, I guess I would have to recommend their most recent mix, Spider Silk and Whispers. Besides having a great name, and besides featuring two tracks off of our Little Notes EP, it is a start to finish musical back rub. The perfect fit for these increasingly cold nights.

Go listen to this mix on Mixcloud now. Then check out the rest of FRUK mixes. Then check out FRUK's website, as it should be a place that you visit often.

And then, if you are still here and haven't already, go listen to Tiny Ruins and A Singer of Songs timeless EP, 'Little Notes'.

(OK, if you are still here and want to click on one more thing, may I also suggest you peruse the HI54LOFI Mixcloud page? There be mix tapes there.)