Mark Owen’s new album is out today and thanks to the postal strike in London I will be waiting for my copy from Amazon! Looking at the stats, I see that Mark is still one of the top related search items for this site. His Man of the Moment page is the most commented page on the the whole site. Mark is clearly back on the PR bandwagon, he told the Mirror on Friday that he “has dumped his girlfriend of two years and is back on his own again” [Mirror]. I was quite interested to read that the new single, Alone Without You, is produced by Gary Clark, once of Scottish popsters Danny Wilson [Source]. When the album arrives, I’ll tell you what I think!

On this day…

2004: Reading The TV News Headlines
2002: Give Us Our Daily Blog

I’ve just been out and bought Erasure’s Hits collection. Now, I own all the original albums so I am not entirely sure why I went and bought it. Still, I now own the CD so it can sit on the shelf alongside all the others and I will pride myself that my Erasure album collection is complete.

Phil Gyford posted an interesting question about CDs and what would happen if they were all stolen. I have ripped a good number of my CDs but I would miss the originals if I didn’t have them. There appears more value in holding an original CD case with the lyrics, photographs and the notes. I would have to try and replace a good number of them because I would miss them. A little like software, it’s good to have all the originals just in case something happens.

On this day…

2004: Billy Connolly
2002: Community of UK Webloggers

It’s twenty years since Culture Club’s Karma Chameleon was the UK’s number one selling single (full list). I really remember the video set in Mississippi (but I don’t imagine it was actually filmed there). I suspect it would be very dated now … all together now, “Every day is like survival, You’re my lover, not my rival …”

On this day…

2005: Italy Is Smoke Free
2002: Selling

Sometimes, I live in a world of hope and today is no exception. BBC News reports that sales of mobile ‘phone ringtones are set to overtake sales of CD singles. Ringtones are worth an astonishing £70million, if the article is to be believed, and are highly profitable for the record industry. I wonder if they will now start to realise that there is money in the digital delivery of music and it’s about time that they embraced it fully? I do hope so. Sadly, I can’t contribute their new revenue source as I find those high-pitched beeps trying to sound like a song all too irritating. I accept that’s an age thing. I wonder when – for I’m sure it will happen – we’ll see the first ringtone only hit?

On this day…

2007: Presentation Porn
2005: Memories Of The Walkman
2004: Digital Download Chart
2003: Silly Pop Stars
2002: When Love Comes To Town

And lo it came to pass that after years and years of waiting, Mark Owen’s new single Four Minute Warning was released this morning. And, as I’ve said elsewhere, I like it. In fact, I like it so much I went and bought the single – which at £1.99 seems to me to be the right price for a single. While I was stood in Tower Records handing over my two pound coins, it struck me that it has been a very, very long time since I bought a single at all and I can’t even remember what it was.

I can, however, remember the first single I bought. I was around eight years old (back in 1978 which just shows what an old duffer I am) and I desperately wanted a copy of the theme tune to Southern Television’s Famous Five TV series. I had saved all my money (I don’t remember how much it was) and raced around the shops of Wigan for it. Eventually, I found it and must have played it 1000 times that night. I can still remember the magic and joy of that moment.

I wonder if an mp3 of that exists? I still have the vinyl but nothing to play it on!

On this day…

2006: Who Will Be Mayor

When I was growing up records (of the vinyl variety) used to come marked with a skull and cross-bones and the legend, “home taping is killing music”. Twenty years on, music is still with us and, without home taping, I would never have discovered many of the artists whose CDs now fill my racks (Tom Robinson, Michael Jackson, The Housemartins, The Smiths … all of whom I originally “borrowed” from well-meaning friends).

Forward to 2001. I hear a track on a TV programme and discover it’s At Seventeen by Janis Ian. Napster is in full swing, so I get an mp3 and listen to it over and over on my office computer. Today, I own several Janis Ian CDs.

Today I was browsing the Janis Ian web site for the first time and came across this article. It’s now about 12 months old but it still stands up. It’s one of the most interesting pieces of writing on the subject of music downloads that I have read – particularly because it comes from a singer/songwriter with an extensive recorded library and a record contract. In fact, it’s written by one of the people the record industry says they are trying to protect when the want online music outlawed. If, like me, you haven’t seen it I urge you to read it.

And I still don’t believe that home taping is killing music!

On this day…

2004: Mayor Of London
2004: What Version Control?

I am currently listening to pop. This is a difficult thing to write. Pop is not considered to be a credible music genre by people who listen to lots of music. Pop is considered the home of the boy band. Pop is the cheap and nasty side of music. People, especially people of my age, should have grown out of pop, but I have not. I enjoy the throw-away nature of it. The three-minute perfect pop song can take you away from your day and, if this week’s other entries are to be believed, away from your fellow commuters.

Actually, I hope, the current music I am listening to is considered the good side of pop (see, I am joining in the criticism of the genre). Not for me the sounds of the Cheeky Girls or S Club Juniors. No, I hope my current selection is a little more discerning.

I own a reasonable amount of music but I don’t purchase CDs weekly like some people. But I am listening to three recent albums which must be the first time that has happened to me in a long while. My current favourite is Justin Timerlake’s Justified. That is followed closely by Erasure’s new release (just last Monday), Other People’s Songs. Finally, I been unable to resist Will Young’s From Now On. Yes, unable to resist!

On this day…

2006: Logo For Our Times
2004: Company Update

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Originally this post started with the line, “I wonder why the music industry does not embrace online music”. Of course, I stopped because the answer’s kind of clear. But is it just greed? Is it just fear? Is it just protectionism?

Well, who knows. They are certainly worried:

In its harshest indictment yet of Internet piracy, a top official of the music industry said Sunday Europe’s 600,000 music professionals risk losing their jobs unless the industry fights back [source].

Of course the sounds from the music industry are often contradictory. Robbie Williams’ comments at the weekend (“music piracy is great“) may have been a publicity stunt but they seem to reflect a certain truth: there is not a great deal the music industry can do about music sharing and there seems little will to try to bring online music into the mainstream.

But why, I wonder, don’t they look to a way to embrace online/digital music? I listen to most of my CDs via my computer or my mp3 player. Randomised, sorted and with the dross removed I get to enjoy the music as I want to. I buy music but the CD is just the transport/delivery mechanism and its use as the medium of choice for people to listen to the material is long gone. I could list my recent purchases that have been bought thanks to the ability to preview the music online. But I won’t.

Our beloved government, with its finger on the pulse of electronic media, seems confused. Kim Howells (Minister for this sort of thing) “has since condemned Williams’ remarks, accusing him of supporting drug and prostitution rackets” [source]. This is, quite clearly, missing the point when reality is that nobody is making a penny from music sharing and it’s this lack of revenue that the music industry is upset about. Quite how Kim Howells can so obviously have missed this suggests he ought to look around for some new advisors. I would have thought digital copyright issues would have been on his agenda (somewhere).

In the light of all this, I was, therefore, somewhat surprised to read about digital download day (BBC News). It seems there is an element of the music industry that is trying to address the issues sensibly and that’s why I’ll be supporting it on 21 March.

On this day…

2005: Hitch Hikers Guide Is Coming
2004: Naked Across Britain
2004: Shop ‘Til You Drop
2003: Lost In La Macha