Blogging From My iPhone!

While I admit its a little slower typing on an iPhone keypad, it
really isn't that bad. Can't beat the convenience. 

Nancy Moran was in town this week to speak with our local writer's chapter. It was great to spend a little time with her afterwards.

Above is a pic of Nancy with Jim Allard and Shelley Asbury, two of our local NSAI coordinators. (taken with the iPhone!)

Sex, Lies, and Advertising Irony

I was driving home last night, listening to a major new network on Satellite radio.

The subject was Elliot Spitzer and his resignation as the Governor of New York for his alleged, long-term involvement with a “high-price” prostitution ring. (I was so relieved to hear he wasn’t involved with a “bargain-basement” prostitution ring.) They

 had “experts” on and former sex addicts talking about the addiction. In addition, there were commentators who were skeptical of the governors comments about seeking help for himself. Another case of going to Rehab to make everything alright?

80,000 dollars for prostitutes. Wire transfer misconduct. It was clear the stations had a hot topic for the rest of the day. Clearly we had a public official who was obsessed with Sex!

Then, it broke for commercial.

What followed was no less than 3 minutes of cheap-grade commercials featuring discreetly mailed brown-paper-wrapped catalogs of “intimate play-things” for couples and sexual play, offering “The things you want, or at least want to know about.” After that, a string of male enhancement creams, and testimonials from those who “never perform” without using it first. After that, a service that allows you to try out all of the BIG 3 E.D. medications on one website... so you can compare.. “Aren’t you curious which one works the best?”.

Now.. lets get back to the public official who’s obsessed with Sex.

What we want from iTunes

(This is a comment I made on another blog, in response to the iTune Music store’s announcement that they are now the #2 retailer of recorded music.)

Itunes is winning because it got there first with a complete solution that includes:

1. Software that works and is easy to understand.
2. Hardware (ipod) that.. ahem.. works and is easy to understand... and plays mp3’s as well as DRM tracks.
3. Content. (and the agreements necessary to do provide it.)

One thing that doesn't seem to make the transitional journey to is the complete package.. the intended project that the artist created.

This is the thing I miss the most.

The songwriter might see a song as a complete package, but I think the artist sees the whole recording project as the package. ( a chunk of their creative life / a phase they were going through ) The album art is part of this, as well.

The current digital sales model doesn't succeed in preserving this part of the artistic process, and as the resulting sales results dictate, the process is forced to change; pragmatically trying to create tracks that will sell individually.

While the single song sale is a necessary element, the calculated 'sure-thing' nature of single selection (and creation) seems to dilute the art. How do you preserve art while clinically removing risk.

I’m at a loss when it comes to ideas that would change this trend, except to say that it is naive to think that you can sell a collection of songs for close to the value of the sum of the individual tracks. The consumer is smarter than that, and has answered with his pocketbook.

Try to imagine another YELLOW BRICK ROAD, or SONGS IN THE KEY OF LIFE in the current digital model. Easy to imagine an artist creating it.. but marketing and selling it? How would that look in an iTunes-only world. Would LOVE LIES BLEEDING sell separately from FUNERAL FOR A FRIEND? Would the songs on those albums.. the ones that ring in our heads, but never got airplay... would they even have been heard?

iTunes will be number one in the new model, but is it because they're delivering what the consumer wants, or is it because they're the closest, so far?

39 Cents Downloads!

Apple announced today that they are the number two retailer of music, second only to Walmart. They could do better..

Something has been bugging me since the iTunes Music store was introduced. Something that just didn’t make sense to me.

Since I bought my first single... Elton John’s YOUR SONG in the early 70s, I’ve been paying a buck for a single. Although, back then it was a buck for two songs.. as I recall.. (although I can’t recall the flip-side of YOUR SONG)

I remember paying under 10 bucks for the LPs. Then the CD comes along... less to manufacture, but they sell it for 150-200% more.. (not to mention you have to re-buy your collection if you want to hear it on CD..) Then comes along Napster and the record companies freak and sue them into oblivion. Then came the ipod, iTunes, and the iTunes music store. The iPod could read and play mp3s which I could create in iTunes from my CDs.

Being a writer, I’ve never been one to advocate pirating music, But the iTunes music store... it never made sense to me. 99 cents. What I always paid... but now without the mess of physical disc... well.. actually without anything that comes along with that physical disk. No glossy sleeve. No K-Mart.. no delivery truck.. no manufacturing.. no lathe-cut master press blank to wear out... (or in the case of cd.. mold cavities or burn cycles)... but still 99 cents. (For about the same price as an album download, I can buy the physical CD, rip it, and have it on my iTunes and iPod and still have the CD as a badge of honor in my collection!)

It doesn’t make sense to me... and I’m not that smart. I think that maybe it doesn’t make sense to a lot of people.

Now, I know that costs have gone up, but frankly, manufacturing costs went down significantly with the CD and so did quality of sound.

And before anyone thinks I’m blaming Apple (or the other online distributors), I’m not. Apple had to fight hard to get the labels on board. Labels were so worried that their physical sales would drop as a result that they forced the price higher. 99 cents was a sweet deal for the labels and one Apple had to do to get enough labels onboard. But based on that price, the volume of sales were forever going to be dwarfed. Now with the CD on the verge of extinction, the original price structure is no longer tenable.

It was short-sighted. Because of the original premise, however, everything rotates around that 99 cent price... including the digital retailers cut.. Its not a percentage in most cases.. its a fixed amount per track.

For instance, I don’t, as an artist, even have the choice to sell my music (in any significant circles) for less. Sure, I can list my music for less on some sites. ( although iTunes requires the 99 cent price)

But why or how could I? With a fixed distribution fee, (not a percentage) If I were to sell my tracks for 40 cents, those sites keep 35 cents and give me a nickel. Like I said, I’m not that smart, but even I can see the disadvantages of such a deal.

So... what do I propose? Downloads should cost 39 Cents.

If iTunes were to drop their price to $0.39, their sales would triple. I know I’d buy 3 times as much... I always have this much in my pocket.. That would raise their revenue by almost 20%. If their cut was a percentage, the labels sales would triple overnight, and increase by 20% as well. Bandwidth isn’t a problem.. A single song is a sliver of the size of a movie or TV show and they make money at $1.99 per show.

If everyone was paid on a percentage of revenue, everyone’s income would also increase by 20%. (of course, this is based on the assumption that “everyone” has music people want.)

While 20% might not seem like a lot.. the real benefit would be the 200% more legal ownership of their music. 3 times the people buying digital music. 3 times the people on the righteous train.. It’d probably be more. Think about it. My iPod can hold 10,000 songs. How much would that cost to fill, legally?

39 cents. It makes... well... sense.

Tell me what you think.

T

Chi-kopa-chi-kopita-kopita-kopita-kop!

Those who know me know that I have this one practical hobby / eccentricity / quirk. More the latter than the formers. Its a habit thats sorta loud, occasionally irritating, and although dependable, not always posh. I drive a diesel. More specifically I drive old mercedes diesels that I buy cheap and squeeze every last life and breath out of them. I love it. Does my wife love it.. well.. not so much.

I’ve always said that its a practical hobby. I get great fuel mileage. I buy my cars pretty reasonable and sell them after years and tens of thousands of miles for not much less than I buy them.

Lately, though, buying diesel fuel has not been so practical. For some reason, although its the most basic of fuels and take way less to process than gasoline, it’s selling for much more than gasoline. What is up with that? (It seems to me that a rogue oil company could capture the market if they just process and supply diesel at a decent price..) oh... ok... that’s not where I wanted to go with this blog...

Expectations. That’s what I wanted to write about. Actually, not expectations themselves but rather the way they can change so quickly. How we can suddenly acclimate to whole other levels in such a short time.

I was driving home yesterday when I saw a diesel station selling it for $3.64 / Gallon. For those outside the US you may be saying, WOW! Cheap!”. Not me. I’m saying wait! NO WAY! I paid $2.89/G for my last tank. Less than 3 weeks ago! That’s outrageous! Great Ceasar’s Ghost! (what show was that from?... ah yes... Superman!) GREAT CEASAR’S GHOST!

20 minutes later, though, and a few miles down the highway, I was snickering and looking slyly from side to side, as I pumped the frothy liquid gold into my 1990 300D 2.5 Turbo at its young age of 203,000 miles (car). So Happy was I!

Why so pleased?

I had beaten the system! I had struck pay-dirt. I had found a Walmart who was selling diesel for a mere $3.39 a gallon!

I was excited and satisfied to be paying a 1/2 buck more per gallon than the last time I filled up.

Holiday by the sea or a Mud Pie.. hmmm.. let me think on that and get back with you...

Lowered Expectations... we are such a fickle bunch.

Political Apathy

Why am I so apathetic when it comes to the election in November?

I think it has something to do with the fact that the real leaders who share my views, optimism, and who actually inspire me are not running. They are either too smart, do not crave the power, or do not want the attention and scrutiny that would be required to seek the position.

Don’t ask me who they are. I don’t know. All I know is that they are not running.

::shrug::

3:10 To Yuma

I Watched this film last night. I really enjoyed it, albeit quite violent. It was a cool study on honor and heroism, however. (Cyndi was like, “Ok. That was uplifiting... not.”) It was a western.. she was pretty much sure she wasn’t going to like to begin with. God bless her for watching the movies I want to watch even when she doesn’t.

What does it mean to stand for something? When is it not ok to walk away when people don’t really seem to care, anyways.

I like stories that make you think; Make you compare principals to life. 3:10 to Yuma is that kind of movie.

T