Although I rarely post in this blog on politics, I have always been very interested on politics and general, and more particularly politics in my country for obvious reasons.
A feature of some politicians is that, when subjected to troubles and controversy, the behave as if they were glued to chairs, using all strategies in order to continue working at the same position, independently of critics. This can be good in some cases, when the politician being questioned takes notice of critics and reacts in an appropriate manner, so that issues are solved and his work is improved. In the bad cases, they just stick harder and harder to the chair, forgetting any critics, and behaving like if the raised issues are not concerning them.
In other aspects of life, is also good to question yourself from time to time, and consider whether your work is being helpful for the community, or maybe, due to different events, is no longer helpful, or even it might be creating problems, instead of contributing to solve them. In this situation one has to seriously think about, and decide what to do: is it worth to continue, or maybe it is time to leave, so that other, better skilled, people might come to take your role?
I hope I will be able to analyze objectively if such situation arises, and take the correct decision. As I certainly don't feel glued to any chair.
Thursday, 26 February 2009
Tuesday, 24 February 2009
Penélope Cruz wins an Oscar in 2009
Penélope Cruz won the Oscar for best supporting actress in 2009, and I'm very happy she did.
I have very little respect for the actual meaning of the Oscars: they are basically a promotional tool, and they often don't reflect the actual quality of the awarded people's work.
But in the case of Penélope, I think it is fair: her career in the USA has received a mixed response, in spite of her great quality as actress. Thankfully, she has been lately involved in films from respected directors as Pedro Almodóvar or Woody Allen, who realized about her actual qualities and allowed her to shine in a couple of films. I did not watch yet "Vicky Cristina Barcelona", but her work in "Volver" was astonishing and evidenced that, beyond a most beautiful woman, Penélope is a truly talented actress. I hope this award will further promote her career and push her towards the prominent roles she deserves in upcoming films.
Yawwnnn
I am fan of Prince music since 1988. I have a crazy amount of CDs and DVDs of him. And I have spent a crazy amount of time on him during the last years.
In 2009 Prince will release three new albums, two under his own name and one for his last protegee, Bria Valente. Initial hints from samples and from insiders suggest that at least one of them, Lotus flow3r, is very strong. And last Sunday Prince made a post-Oscars party which is headlining at many sites.
The expectable thing would be that I was, at this time, all hyped, overexcited and anxiously waiting for the release of new music, while very happy after reading news of a show with plenty of new, good songs.
But what happens is this: Prince did a show with loads of versions and very few new songs; I am not hyped at all, and I am not scanning the net for news on either the Oscar bash or new music; and my initial, huge interest on the new albums has almost completely vanished.
This is me, someone who calls himself a hardcore fan of Prince music. I wonder how others with lower interest might feel by now.
In 2009 Prince will release three new albums, two under his own name and one for his last protegee, Bria Valente. Initial hints from samples and from insiders suggest that at least one of them, Lotus flow3r, is very strong. And last Sunday Prince made a post-Oscars party which is headlining at many sites.
The expectable thing would be that I was, at this time, all hyped, overexcited and anxiously waiting for the release of new music, while very happy after reading news of a show with plenty of new, good songs.
But what happens is this: Prince did a show with loads of versions and very few new songs; I am not hyped at all, and I am not scanning the net for news on either the Oscar bash or new music; and my initial, huge interest on the new albums has almost completely vanished.
This is me, someone who calls himself a hardcore fan of Prince music. I wonder how others with lower interest might feel by now.
Monday, 16 February 2009
(very concise) Cateto's Encyclopedia on Modern Music
After receiving countless requests, I decided to write this magnum opus to summarize the Very Main Artists of Modern Music.
So there we go in full detail.
Before the 60s there was nothing. A few people playing stuff here and there, but nothing of importance.
In the 60s there were the Stones and the Beatles. Or maybe the opposite. Some people would say Hendrix, but hey: Stones and Beatles are more than enough.
In the 70s there was Bowie, although given his multiple identities, one would say there were the Bowies.
In the 80s there was Prince and all his purpleness.
In the 90s there was a big hole, maybe to let people enjoy and remember actual music from the past.
(Although honestly speaking, Björk might qualify to be mentioned here)
In the 2000s there are Antony and Sufjan. And still some people pretend a few stars from the past remain existing today. I doubt it.
While others are trying to get muses for a few minutes at their side, Antony and Sufjan are too busy writing masterpieces to let muses distract them.
And this is, ladies & gentlemen, the state of the art as far as modern music is concerned.
So there we go in full detail.
Before the 60s there was nothing. A few people playing stuff here and there, but nothing of importance.
In the 60s there were the Stones and the Beatles. Or maybe the opposite. Some people would say Hendrix, but hey: Stones and Beatles are more than enough.
In the 70s there was Bowie, although given his multiple identities, one would say there were the Bowies.
In the 80s there was Prince and all his purpleness.
In the 90s there was a big hole, maybe to let people enjoy and remember actual music from the past.
(Although honestly speaking, Björk might qualify to be mentioned here)
In the 2000s there are Antony and Sufjan. And still some people pretend a few stars from the past remain existing today. I doubt it.
While others are trying to get muses for a few minutes at their side, Antony and Sufjan are too busy writing masterpieces to let muses distract them.
And this is, ladies & gentlemen, the state of the art as far as modern music is concerned.
Saturday, 14 February 2009
Spring evening in Córdoba
Even although we are in mid February, today we had a beautiful, sunny day in Córdoba. After several rainy weeks, the begining of the spring is around the corner, and orangers are ready to spread the perfume of azahar in the city.
Sometimes one can't avoid to feel fortunate for living in a place like this.
All pictures taken with my Pentax K10D and standard 18-55 lenses.
Sometimes one can't avoid to feel fortunate for living in a place like this.
All pictures taken with my Pentax K10D and standard 18-55 lenses.
Thursday, 12 February 2009
Using Flock
I am posting this article from Flock, a social browser that got my curiosity. Thus far I am favourably impressed, and it seems an alternative to my standard browser, Safari. I need to check it further so that I get my mind on the actual utility of this app. But from the comments posted by the guys at Arstechnica, it looks rather promising.
In the mean time, if you got interested too, Flock is available here.
In the mean time, if you got interested too, Flock is available here.
Blogged with the Flock Browser
Wednesday, 11 February 2009
Apple neglecting the Mac due to limited resources?
I just found a very interesting article entitled "Apple neglecting the Mac?". Their hypothesis sounds credible, and the chart they show seems to evidence they are right.
Yet in my opinion there is an important element, which the author does not consider: Apple is sitting on top of LOADS OF CASH, waiting to be used in something. So their idea, i.e., that Apple is not updating Macs due to resources limitation which led them to put developers on iPhones and iPods, does not make sense in my book.
If Apple wants, they have more than resources enough to get onboard talented developers and keep a good speed of Macs update. Money was a big problem in Apple say, fifteen years ago. Not now.
So, what is the actual reason behind the comparatively slow development in Macs? I have no idea, but maybe it is more related to the corporate structure being deeply shaken lately than to other reason. But certainly I don't buy the limited resources theory.
Yet in my opinion there is an important element, which the author does not consider: Apple is sitting on top of LOADS OF CASH, waiting to be used in something. So their idea, i.e., that Apple is not updating Macs due to resources limitation which led them to put developers on iPhones and iPods, does not make sense in my book.
If Apple wants, they have more than resources enough to get onboard talented developers and keep a good speed of Macs update. Money was a big problem in Apple say, fifteen years ago. Not now.
So, what is the actual reason behind the comparatively slow development in Macs? I have no idea, but maybe it is more related to the corporate structure being deeply shaken lately than to other reason. But certainly I don't buy the limited resources theory.
Tuesday, 10 February 2009
Cars with soul: Alfa 159, Lancia Delta and Citroen DS INSIDE
I didn't discuss thus far anything in this blog regarding one of my passions: cars. I am very interested in cars, and more particularly, on cars design, since I was a small kid. And today, while browsing the net, I found pictures of a new car which prompted this entry.
There are a few brands of cars for which I have a soft spot. One is Citroën, an old French label with a brilliant tradition of avantgarde automobiles. Another is Lancia, whose history is reaching a certain confusion by now. Another is Alfa Romeo, the chic, sporty Italian brand par excellence. Today I would like to make brief comment about them.
Alfa Romeo had difficult years at the end of the XX century. Their tradition is crowded of beautiful designs, but a somehow troubled financial years and not too focused head led to awful models which could have been done by any other, forgettable brand. Fortunately, some years ago they decided to focus on what made Alfa Romeo an important name, and they released the Alfa 156, an astonishing design evidencing that beauty is sometimes important enough to make concessions on utilities.
This design was so bold that it was directly continued in another beauty, the Alfa 159.
In the case of Lancia, they had a somehow similar, but less sucessful evolution. The Lancia Delta of the 80s was heading the list of winners in many rallies, but for some reason the Lancias became more obscure in later years. Until we saw the current incarnation of Delta, a truly astonishing design which deserves huge acclaim:
Now let me finish with the last prototype of Citroën, called DS INSIDE. The history of this brand is a model on how to get success while doing things differently. Now, Jean Pierre Ploué, the genius driving the design labs of Citroën during the last years, introduced a new line of cars, the Citroën DS, which will deploy a luxury range along the current, standard Citroën. The new images popped up recently and the whole image is nothing short of astonishing. Further information here.
There are a few brands of cars for which I have a soft spot. One is Citroën, an old French label with a brilliant tradition of avantgarde automobiles. Another is Lancia, whose history is reaching a certain confusion by now. Another is Alfa Romeo, the chic, sporty Italian brand par excellence. Today I would like to make brief comment about them.
Alfa Romeo had difficult years at the end of the XX century. Their tradition is crowded of beautiful designs, but a somehow troubled financial years and not too focused head led to awful models which could have been done by any other, forgettable brand. Fortunately, some years ago they decided to focus on what made Alfa Romeo an important name, and they released the Alfa 156, an astonishing design evidencing that beauty is sometimes important enough to make concessions on utilities.
This design was so bold that it was directly continued in another beauty, the Alfa 159.
In the case of Lancia, they had a somehow similar, but less sucessful evolution. The Lancia Delta of the 80s was heading the list of winners in many rallies, but for some reason the Lancias became more obscure in later years. Until we saw the current incarnation of Delta, a truly astonishing design which deserves huge acclaim:
Now let me finish with the last prototype of Citroën, called DS INSIDE. The history of this brand is a model on how to get success while doing things differently. Now, Jean Pierre Ploué, the genius driving the design labs of Citroën during the last years, introduced a new line of cars, the Citroën DS, which will deploy a luxury range along the current, standard Citroën. The new images popped up recently and the whole image is nothing short of astonishing. Further information here.
Waiting for the new iMac
The venerable QuickSilver G4 PowerMac I use at work is crying out loud for its retirement, after many years of loyal services. Thus I have been waiting for a few months to see the new iMacs which were rumoured before Christmas, but never came.
And in spite of recurrent rumours, fact is that no official announcements or communications on this topic have been done by
Apple. At the same time, we are well past the average time for iMac updates: according to the buying guide available in Macrumors, the last update was done 288 days ago, when the average between updates is 211 days.
The reasons for this delay are unknown, although there has been recent speculation on Apple considering to use the most recent consumer level, dual core processors from Intel, or else starting a dual range of iMacs: the low level based on dual core processors, and the high end using 4 core processors. Whether this holds true or not, we will see in a few weeks, hopefully. Nothing has been disclosed on the possibilities of a significant change in design, given the current one has somehow reached the classic status. But I for one would certainly appreciate the wizard hands of Jony Ive doing their tricks on the new models. Crossing fingers!
In the mean time, I discussed with a few friends how amazing is the fact that you can use the very last version of Mac OS X in computers as old as mine: my QuickSilver uses a 867 Mhz G4 processor which was top of the line when we purchased it. By now it works but nowhere near any modern processor, and still OS X 10.5.6 runs fine on top of it. But if you consider this computer was purchased on 2001, and that there have been at least three generations of processors in between (the IBM G5 came and went, then the initial Intels, then the dual cores), and moreso if you compare the situation with similarly specced computers running Windows, then you have to admit that the lifespan of Macs makes big circles around the competition.
Now coming back to the new iMacs, I already preordered a couple of them at my favourite Apple dealer, and I hope to say soon a warm, thankful goodbye to my old QuickSilver.
And in spite of recurrent rumours, fact is that no official announcements or communications on this topic have been done by
Apple. At the same time, we are well past the average time for iMac updates: according to the buying guide available in Macrumors, the last update was done 288 days ago, when the average between updates is 211 days.
The reasons for this delay are unknown, although there has been recent speculation on Apple considering to use the most recent consumer level, dual core processors from Intel, or else starting a dual range of iMacs: the low level based on dual core processors, and the high end using 4 core processors. Whether this holds true or not, we will see in a few weeks, hopefully. Nothing has been disclosed on the possibilities of a significant change in design, given the current one has somehow reached the classic status. But I for one would certainly appreciate the wizard hands of Jony Ive doing their tricks on the new models. Crossing fingers!
In the mean time, I discussed with a few friends how amazing is the fact that you can use the very last version of Mac OS X in computers as old as mine: my QuickSilver uses a 867 Mhz G4 processor which was top of the line when we purchased it. By now it works but nowhere near any modern processor, and still OS X 10.5.6 runs fine on top of it. But if you consider this computer was purchased on 2001, and that there have been at least three generations of processors in between (the IBM G5 came and went, then the initial Intels, then the dual cores), and moreso if you compare the situation with similarly specced computers running Windows, then you have to admit that the lifespan of Macs makes big circles around the competition.
Now coming back to the new iMacs, I already preordered a couple of them at my favourite Apple dealer, and I hope to say soon a warm, thankful goodbye to my old QuickSilver.
Thursday, 5 February 2009
Open letter to Prince (originally posted in Housequake.com)
On April 16th, 2007, I posted this open letter to Prince in Housequake.com.
At this time it is sadly obvious that the good intentions of the letter had no effect whatsoever. Yet I think the points stated there remain fully valid, so I am posting it again here. Although I guess they will continue without any effect.
"Open letter to Prince
Dear Prince,
I am writing you this open letter because I think it deals with a topic of interest for some of your fans. And I post it in housequake.com, a website that is very appreciated by many of your fans, although apparently you don't appreciate it too much. I am writing as a longtime, hardcore fan of your music, not as someone who, besides, is moderator of this website. So these are my opinions only.
I want to address the topic of your relationships with your most devoted fans: those who edit magazines or those who run websites. Those people who are spending resources, time, attention, care and money too, in order to make places available to document and/or discuss your work and your career. And interestingly, in particular cases like housequake.com, all that hardwork is done for free: no money is gained.
I discovered your music in the mid 80s and got hooked up when SOTT was released: No further evidence was needed to convince me that you are a genius musician, the most talented one in modern music, besides being the very best live performer I have ever seen. I state this right now just to make clear what I think from your work. No confusion here: I am a big fan of your work, because in my opinion (and with the exception of some songs/albums) it is truly outstanding and deserves all kind of praise.
Yet, a few years ago, I started reading of some troubles you had with a few magazines, and got particularly interested in your problems with Uptown, because I have been subscriber of that magazine. I won't describe the whole story (it's well documented, and interested readers just need to google a bit to learn further about it). But what was truly impossible for me to understand (back at that time, when I was much less involved than I currently am in Prince fan websites), is the fact of seeing my favourite musician, fighting against possibly the best ever fanzine devoted to discuss his music. The Uptown magazines were the reference in the world of fan publications, and the whole team, lead by Per Nilsen, have done a truly terrific work to research, document, discuss and give informed opinion about your whole career, from the very begining to the latest albums & tours, including excellent, balanced reviews of all your albums; besides, they were extremely well written, and the overall tone was that of serious writing, nothing to do with the crappy, nonsense, childish stuff published in big magazines of other major artists. In short, the Uptown publications looked like a dream fanzine to me, one that any good musician would die for, and one which deserved all kinds of official support from your management and your music labels.
And yet, for unknown reasons to me, you decided to address a lawsuit against Uptown trying to close down the magazine, as happened before in other cases. This is something that makes no sense: It was impossible for me to understand, and it remains impossible thus far. But the important point, the one I want to address, and the one that bases my lack of understanding, is that Uptown magazines were written by people who LOVE your music. People who spent loads of hours of their personal time researching, conducting interviews, looking for small pieces of information to document stories, and finally, who took the time and effort of publicating a serious magazine about your music and career. They did articles, reviews, and interviews that were, in many cases, the best available, way ahead any serious music magazine edited then (or now, for that matter). And what kind of acknowledgement did they get from you?
A lawsuit.
Fast forward to the 2000's. Housequake, which started in 1997, is going to celebrate the 10th anniversary the day of your birthday, next June. Aaron has managed, along all these years, to create a community which is growing bigger and bigger. It has become, in my opinion, the de facto reference in the world of Prince fansites, giving everything a fan of your music could dream about : real time information about your career moves, in depth discussion about your music, outstanding live show reviews provided by fans, an extensive database of quality pictures, and finally, two excellent resources that are apparently causing concern to you: the video forum and the bootlegs forum.
Before commenting on that, let me state that I perfectly understand that you feel unhappy about bootlegs being used for commercial purposes. If I was you, I would most probably think the same, and would not like other people making profit on my work. But fact is that the bootlegs exist, and discussing about their content and quality (music, artwork, etc) is absolutely legal, everywhere. Of course, we don't allow to use hq in any way to distribute bootlegs.
Many of us dream of one day when you could decide (as other bands are already doing) to release live recordings just after a show, so that your hardcore fans would have the legal possibility of buy those records for their enjoyment. Further: some bands are encouraging their fans to do good live recordings, since they are aware that live shows can contribute to promote their work, thus helping in a bigger amount of people paying to see their shows. The reasons that prevent you from following any of those approaches, are unknown to me, but obviously there exist a huge interest in listening all your live performances in a significant number of hardcore fans. And it is obvious that, if you don't provide or authorize a legal way of listening to them, other pathways exist, and they are certainly used by your hardcore fans.
Does that detract from your economic income? Well, maybe in a very small part, it is the case. But on the other hand, the very same hardcore fans that, in some cases, buy bootlegs, are the same people who buy each and every single official record you release; the same people who often pay to see different gigs from the same tour, because they love all your performances; and the same people who are spreading the word of your outstanding live performances, thus contributing to make you a big profit, such as happened in the Musicology tour.
Much in the same way, a forum which specifically is dedicated to discuss about bootlegs serves, in my opinion, to further promote your work. I remember being blown away when, back in 1988, I watched the live broadcast of the Lovesexy Dortmund show. And certainly many, many fans are hooked even further after listening to any of the countless stunning performances you have done all over your career. So I think that, beyond the small economic loss that you could have due to the bootlegs, discussing about them has contributed in a big manner to your legendary status as a live performer.
Furthermore: as you probably know, there is recently a large number of free fan releses of bootleg recordings, either brand new or tweaked old recordings, that are making the rounds. They are strictly from fans, for fans, and no money is involved. As I repeated over and over in housequake, they are done purely out of love for your music, and they have a trackrecord of awesome work, carried out for fans with the only goal of sharing beautiful music with other fans. In this particular case, it is obvious that no money is lost by you or your labels. Besides, I have read in many cases comments from fans stating that they would buy, on first day, official releases of any of those shows.
A similar situation occurs when analyzing the (currently unavailable) video forum at hq. There are people spending their time to provide low resolution, streaming versions of your live performances, just to show how terrific your live shows can be, thus contributing big time to your promotion. Due to the poor resolution of these streaming videos, they were obviously not worth for commercial purposes, and it is obvious that you are losing no money: they were shown only as a way of documenting your work, and never intended to prevent your profit. On the contrary, many fans have expressed their willingness to buy any of those if they are properly released in a DVD.
In short: it is clear to me (and although I am a moderator of housequake.com, I am quite new at the site, so let me speak from an outer point of view) that housequake, with all of their resources, has never intended to hurt you or your interests in the lesser manner. Although we feel proud for being an independent website, thus enabled to provide all kind of opinions, I think the general opinion is that housequake.com keeps an objective profile. And I particularly see some kind of tradition among the serious, hardcore, independent fans who have been following your career since the very begining. In my opinion, hq belongs (and with reason) to this tradition.
From my point of view, you and your managers and the labels managing your rights should realize about the tremendous contribution made by housequake and other similar fansites in order to promote your work FOR FREE, and thus it seems just logical to expect your full support to housequake.com and other similar websites. And this seems even more logical, when we have repeatedly stated that we intend to keep a collaborative attitude, certainly complying with the law in all kind of topics related with rights of author and intelectual property. If other major artists show this kind of nice, kind, supportive behaviour towards their fansites, I see no reason why the best musician on Earth should not do the same.
I hope you will understand the sincere feeling backing this open letter. Please consider the above reflections as just some food for thinking. Maybe this whole story can swift the direction, hopefully leading to better ways of collaboration between you and your fans.
Respectfully,
Cateto"
At this time it is sadly obvious that the good intentions of the letter had no effect whatsoever. Yet I think the points stated there remain fully valid, so I am posting it again here. Although I guess they will continue without any effect.
"Open letter to Prince
Dear Prince,
I am writing you this open letter because I think it deals with a topic of interest for some of your fans. And I post it in housequake.com, a website that is very appreciated by many of your fans, although apparently you don't appreciate it too much. I am writing as a longtime, hardcore fan of your music, not as someone who, besides, is moderator of this website. So these are my opinions only.
I want to address the topic of your relationships with your most devoted fans: those who edit magazines or those who run websites. Those people who are spending resources, time, attention, care and money too, in order to make places available to document and/or discuss your work and your career. And interestingly, in particular cases like housequake.com, all that hardwork is done for free: no money is gained.
I discovered your music in the mid 80s and got hooked up when SOTT was released: No further evidence was needed to convince me that you are a genius musician, the most talented one in modern music, besides being the very best live performer I have ever seen. I state this right now just to make clear what I think from your work. No confusion here: I am a big fan of your work, because in my opinion (and with the exception of some songs/albums) it is truly outstanding and deserves all kind of praise.
Yet, a few years ago, I started reading of some troubles you had with a few magazines, and got particularly interested in your problems with Uptown, because I have been subscriber of that magazine. I won't describe the whole story (it's well documented, and interested readers just need to google a bit to learn further about it). But what was truly impossible for me to understand (back at that time, when I was much less involved than I currently am in Prince fan websites), is the fact of seeing my favourite musician, fighting against possibly the best ever fanzine devoted to discuss his music. The Uptown magazines were the reference in the world of fan publications, and the whole team, lead by Per Nilsen, have done a truly terrific work to research, document, discuss and give informed opinion about your whole career, from the very begining to the latest albums & tours, including excellent, balanced reviews of all your albums; besides, they were extremely well written, and the overall tone was that of serious writing, nothing to do with the crappy, nonsense, childish stuff published in big magazines of other major artists. In short, the Uptown publications looked like a dream fanzine to me, one that any good musician would die for, and one which deserved all kinds of official support from your management and your music labels.
And yet, for unknown reasons to me, you decided to address a lawsuit against Uptown trying to close down the magazine, as happened before in other cases. This is something that makes no sense: It was impossible for me to understand, and it remains impossible thus far. But the important point, the one I want to address, and the one that bases my lack of understanding, is that Uptown magazines were written by people who LOVE your music. People who spent loads of hours of their personal time researching, conducting interviews, looking for small pieces of information to document stories, and finally, who took the time and effort of publicating a serious magazine about your music and career. They did articles, reviews, and interviews that were, in many cases, the best available, way ahead any serious music magazine edited then (or now, for that matter). And what kind of acknowledgement did they get from you?
A lawsuit.
Fast forward to the 2000's. Housequake, which started in 1997, is going to celebrate the 10th anniversary the day of your birthday, next June. Aaron has managed, along all these years, to create a community which is growing bigger and bigger. It has become, in my opinion, the de facto reference in the world of Prince fansites, giving everything a fan of your music could dream about : real time information about your career moves, in depth discussion about your music, outstanding live show reviews provided by fans, an extensive database of quality pictures, and finally, two excellent resources that are apparently causing concern to you: the video forum and the bootlegs forum.
Before commenting on that, let me state that I perfectly understand that you feel unhappy about bootlegs being used for commercial purposes. If I was you, I would most probably think the same, and would not like other people making profit on my work. But fact is that the bootlegs exist, and discussing about their content and quality (music, artwork, etc) is absolutely legal, everywhere. Of course, we don't allow to use hq in any way to distribute bootlegs.
Many of us dream of one day when you could decide (as other bands are already doing) to release live recordings just after a show, so that your hardcore fans would have the legal possibility of buy those records for their enjoyment. Further: some bands are encouraging their fans to do good live recordings, since they are aware that live shows can contribute to promote their work, thus helping in a bigger amount of people paying to see their shows. The reasons that prevent you from following any of those approaches, are unknown to me, but obviously there exist a huge interest in listening all your live performances in a significant number of hardcore fans. And it is obvious that, if you don't provide or authorize a legal way of listening to them, other pathways exist, and they are certainly used by your hardcore fans.
Does that detract from your economic income? Well, maybe in a very small part, it is the case. But on the other hand, the very same hardcore fans that, in some cases, buy bootlegs, are the same people who buy each and every single official record you release; the same people who often pay to see different gigs from the same tour, because they love all your performances; and the same people who are spreading the word of your outstanding live performances, thus contributing to make you a big profit, such as happened in the Musicology tour.
Much in the same way, a forum which specifically is dedicated to discuss about bootlegs serves, in my opinion, to further promote your work. I remember being blown away when, back in 1988, I watched the live broadcast of the Lovesexy Dortmund show. And certainly many, many fans are hooked even further after listening to any of the countless stunning performances you have done all over your career. So I think that, beyond the small economic loss that you could have due to the bootlegs, discussing about them has contributed in a big manner to your legendary status as a live performer.
Furthermore: as you probably know, there is recently a large number of free fan releses of bootleg recordings, either brand new or tweaked old recordings, that are making the rounds. They are strictly from fans, for fans, and no money is involved. As I repeated over and over in housequake, they are done purely out of love for your music, and they have a trackrecord of awesome work, carried out for fans with the only goal of sharing beautiful music with other fans. In this particular case, it is obvious that no money is lost by you or your labels. Besides, I have read in many cases comments from fans stating that they would buy, on first day, official releases of any of those shows.
A similar situation occurs when analyzing the (currently unavailable) video forum at hq. There are people spending their time to provide low resolution, streaming versions of your live performances, just to show how terrific your live shows can be, thus contributing big time to your promotion. Due to the poor resolution of these streaming videos, they were obviously not worth for commercial purposes, and it is obvious that you are losing no money: they were shown only as a way of documenting your work, and never intended to prevent your profit. On the contrary, many fans have expressed their willingness to buy any of those if they are properly released in a DVD.
In short: it is clear to me (and although I am a moderator of housequake.com, I am quite new at the site, so let me speak from an outer point of view) that housequake, with all of their resources, has never intended to hurt you or your interests in the lesser manner. Although we feel proud for being an independent website, thus enabled to provide all kind of opinions, I think the general opinion is that housequake.com keeps an objective profile. And I particularly see some kind of tradition among the serious, hardcore, independent fans who have been following your career since the very begining. In my opinion, hq belongs (and with reason) to this tradition.
From my point of view, you and your managers and the labels managing your rights should realize about the tremendous contribution made by housequake and other similar fansites in order to promote your work FOR FREE, and thus it seems just logical to expect your full support to housequake.com and other similar websites. And this seems even more logical, when we have repeatedly stated that we intend to keep a collaborative attitude, certainly complying with the law in all kind of topics related with rights of author and intelectual property. If other major artists show this kind of nice, kind, supportive behaviour towards their fansites, I see no reason why the best musician on Earth should not do the same.
I hope you will understand the sincere feeling backing this open letter. Please consider the above reflections as just some food for thinking. Maybe this whole story can swift the direction, hopefully leading to better ways of collaboration between you and your fans.
Respectfully,
Cateto"
Wednesday, 4 February 2009
Thanks Aaron!
The purpose of this is only to express the gratitude of we, who called ourselves "quakers" in homage of a great website called Housequake.com.
Since unfortunately we can not post at that website anymore, I thought it could be a good time to post in acknowledgement and gratitude to Aaron, the founder and owner of Housequake. He has made a labour of love during almost 12 years which led to a world class website, as someone called it; a place for interaction, friendship and intelligent discussion. A place where you could speak about your favourite music, and about any other thing, within the respect, and with a quality in the content rarely seen in forums. And also a place with loads of reference information regarding a certain musician and his music.
And all this work was done purely for the love of the music of a certain musician.
Housequake is already being greatly missed. May this humble blog serve to say a huge
THANK YOU AARON!
Since unfortunately we can not post at that website anymore, I thought it could be a good time to post in acknowledgement and gratitude to Aaron, the founder and owner of Housequake. He has made a labour of love during almost 12 years which led to a world class website, as someone called it; a place for interaction, friendship and intelligent discussion. A place where you could speak about your favourite music, and about any other thing, within the respect, and with a quality in the content rarely seen in forums. And also a place with loads of reference information regarding a certain musician and his music.
And all this work was done purely for the love of the music of a certain musician.
Housequake is already being greatly missed. May this humble blog serve to say a huge
THANK YOU AARON!
You are the blood, new song from Sufjan Stevens
Sufjan Stevens is one of those current musicians who evidence that, contrary to some opinions, there is still hope for modern music in the begining of the XXI century. He's released a few albums, most notably Michigan and Illinoise, which deserve to be heard with great attention.
I could write many good things about Sufjan, but in music, there is nothing better the listening to realize whether you like it or not. No description or review will ever tell you if you are going to enjoy, or not, a song.
So, to put it short: Go now to this page and listen a new song from Sufjan Stevens, You are the blood, released in a compilation. This is what I call making music without fears or boundaries.
I could write many good things about Sufjan, but in music, there is nothing better the listening to realize whether you like it or not. No description or review will ever tell you if you are going to enjoy, or not, a song.
So, to put it short: Go now to this page and listen a new song from Sufjan Stevens, You are the blood, released in a compilation. This is what I call making music without fears or boundaries.
Real innovation, again from Fuji: FinePix F200 EXR
I have been using for years a wonder called FinePix F30, from Fuji. It's a compact digital camera, of "only" 6 megapixels, whose image quality (specially at low light) blows away pretty much any other compact camera I have ever used.
It was released three years ago, and in the mean time, Fuji joined the wagon of "more megapixels is always better", something which any average photography lover knows is false. But it seemed hard to scape that market law.
Yet today, I have read that Fuji announced the release of the all-new F200 EXR, introducing the first EXR sensor (12 megapixels).
In very short, this is an adaptable light sensor, whose way of working can be modified in order to get very high light sensibility and very low noise (by coupling two adjacent pixels, working like an old 6 megapixels SuperCCD), or to get a very large dynamic range, or to get a very large resolution (12 megapixels). Further information from Fuji is available here.
So we have, in my opinion, the first digital compact camera who deserves the honour of being a worthy sucessor of the longtime missed FinePix F30/F31.
This, and the Micro 4/3 system, are in my book the two REAL innovations we have seen recently in the world of photography:
It was released three years ago, and in the mean time, Fuji joined the wagon of "more megapixels is always better", something which any average photography lover knows is false. But it seemed hard to scape that market law.
Yet today, I have read that Fuji announced the release of the all-new F200 EXR, introducing the first EXR sensor (12 megapixels).
In very short, this is an adaptable light sensor, whose way of working can be modified in order to get very high light sensibility and very low noise (by coupling two adjacent pixels, working like an old 6 megapixels SuperCCD), or to get a very large dynamic range, or to get a very large resolution (12 megapixels). Further information from Fuji is available here.
So we have, in my opinion, the first digital compact camera who deserves the honour of being a worthy sucessor of the longtime missed FinePix F30/F31.
This, and the Micro 4/3 system, are in my book the two REAL innovations we have seen recently in the world of photography:
Don't work for assholes
I visit often a site, made by John Gruber, Daringfireball, which displays different kind of stuff. Sometimes I find very interesting content there.
Today, I saw a link to a blog comment that got my attention big time.
It is entitled "Don't work for assholes". I couldn't agree more.
In my life, I have worked for two big assholes.
One was in my job; fortunately I left working for her quickly, many years ago, and jumped on a team that proved to be a dream team, where I remain working until now.
The other was in a hobby, and I also stopped working for him, not so long ago.
But the advice remains extremely valid: DO NOT work for assholes. It is never worth the hassle.
Today, I saw a link to a blog comment that got my attention big time.
It is entitled "Don't work for assholes". I couldn't agree more.
In my life, I have worked for two big assholes.
One was in my job; fortunately I left working for her quickly, many years ago, and jumped on a team that proved to be a dream team, where I remain working until now.
The other was in a hobby, and I also stopped working for him, not so long ago.
But the advice remains extremely valid: DO NOT work for assholes. It is never worth the hassle.
Monday, 2 February 2009
"The Crying Light", from Antony and the Johnsons, is number 1 in Europe
And Antony posted this comment to thank the people who supported him along the years:
"I am plainly shocked that the record has been number one in Europe this week, and I want to pause and thank all the people around the world that made that happen, and who have supported me with so much heart over the last few years, and come to my shows, and collected up all the press from around the world on the justonestar website, and wished me well, and shared some time with me at live shows. Thank you for urging me forward through a glorious dream, the likes of which is more your creation than mine. Antony x"
Is is worth noting that Antony thanks the website Justonestar, a forum devoted to his music.
Needless to say: it's refreshing to see someone with such an immense music talent, thanking the people who supported him along the years. An example for others, in my book.
It might well be the time to support those who enjoy being supported, and stop supporting those who respond with despise to support from fans.
"I am plainly shocked that the record has been number one in Europe this week, and I want to pause and thank all the people around the world that made that happen, and who have supported me with so much heart over the last few years, and come to my shows, and collected up all the press from around the world on the justonestar website, and wished me well, and shared some time with me at live shows. Thank you for urging me forward through a glorious dream, the likes of which is more your creation than mine. Antony x"
Is is worth noting that Antony thanks the website Justonestar, a forum devoted to his music.
Needless to say: it's refreshing to see someone with such an immense music talent, thanking the people who supported him along the years. An example for others, in my book.
It might well be the time to support those who enjoy being supported, and stop supporting those who respond with despise to support from fans.
Sunday, 1 February 2009
One day
One day, in the not so distant future, you will loss your status of superstar musician.
One day people won't make trips of thousands of kilometres to watch your shows, while paying crazy amounts of money for them.
One day there won't be websites devoted to your music, that you can slam.
One day there won't be crowds of music lovers discussing neverendingly about your songs.
One day media won't give a shit about your new music.
One day you might become a cheap musician playing at some minor Las Vegas hotel.
One day people will speak loudly with friends while ignoring your music live.
One day, young people won't know there existed an anthem called Purple Rain.
One day the word "purple" won't bring your name to people interested in music.
THAT DAY you will miss the support of fans.
THAT DAY you will regret the disappearance of places like Housequake.com
In the mean time, time is flowing, making its job.
Time is not a trick; you also depend on time.
And one day, time will make you learn some lessons, the hard way.
One day.
One day people won't make trips of thousands of kilometres to watch your shows, while paying crazy amounts of money for them.
One day there won't be websites devoted to your music, that you can slam.
One day there won't be crowds of music lovers discussing neverendingly about your songs.
One day media won't give a shit about your new music.
One day you might become a cheap musician playing at some minor Las Vegas hotel.
One day people will speak loudly with friends while ignoring your music live.
One day, young people won't know there existed an anthem called Purple Rain.
One day the word "purple" won't bring your name to people interested in music.
THAT DAY you will miss the support of fans.
THAT DAY you will regret the disappearance of places like Housequake.com
In the mean time, time is flowing, making its job.
Time is not a trick; you also depend on time.
And one day, time will make you learn some lessons, the hard way.
One day.
Housequake.com: 1997-2009
The last message from Aaron in the homepage of Housequake leaves no doubts: Housequake.com is gone for good.
I was lucky enough to discover the site in 2004. I had a great time since then, and made friends, learned a lot, and enjoyed very much the ride.
But it's time to move on.
I want to say a huge THANKS! to Aaron for being responsible of such an exceptional community during almost 12 years. Housequake.com was a class in itself, and it will be missed big time by many of us. And Aaron's work, commitment, patience, and love for Prince music made it, I said it many times, THE reference website for fans of Prince.
Congrats also to Prince for, using his own words, "showing his love". Now he must be happy, as definitely, there won't be any picture of Prince in the header of Housequake.com.
I was lucky enough to discover the site in 2004. I had a great time since then, and made friends, learned a lot, and enjoyed very much the ride.
But it's time to move on.
I want to say a huge THANKS! to Aaron for being responsible of such an exceptional community during almost 12 years. Housequake.com was a class in itself, and it will be missed big time by many of us. And Aaron's work, commitment, patience, and love for Prince music made it, I said it many times, THE reference website for fans of Prince.
Congrats also to Prince for, using his own words, "showing his love". Now he must be happy, as definitely, there won't be any picture of Prince in the header of Housequake.com.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)