Muse-Wrapped Discussion

What is DRM?

I sent Trent an email regarding the situation.  Text is as follows:

I guess the partnership with Progarchives is doing lots of good...  I
saw the announcement earlier this evening, hopped over to the site,
and proceeded to purchase Steve Walsh's "Shadow Man" track and your
own "Symphony For A Misanthrope" album.  The Shadow Man single is
excellent, and is making me very curious about the full-length (is
there going to be a full-length?  PLEASE tell me there will be!
Glossolalia was my favorite album of 2000).  The new Magellan album is
seriously awesome.  It seems to be a natural progression from
Impossible Figures, an album I adored very much.

I have no complaints about the price.  I purchased Impossible Figures
twice (the second time to get the bonus track), and the music was well
worth the cost of entry...  and those were brick-and-mortar prices!
So to get the new effort for less than $7 was quite a bargain,
especially since the music was transferred to me immediately.

My qualm lies with the DRM.  For each song, I had to input my
information and wait a short length of time.  Not a big deal, but it
was annoying to go to each song and input info for each track before I
could listen to the album consecutively.  However, this is not a big
deal.  I'm grateful that we have the option to burn the audio to CD.
Without that, I would not have purchased.

The thing is, I have an MP3 CD player, and I like to burn multiple
albums to a single disc for travelling.  I'd like to include Symphony
For A Misanthrope in my next compilation, and I'm well aware that I
can do that by burning a CD, then ripping the audio in a traditional
manner, *then* burning the final disc.  The problem with that is in
sonic fidelity.  Recompressing compressed audio data results in
low-quality audio.  Again, not the *worst* possible situation.

I'm all for protecting the copyrights of the artists.  I plan on
demoing the album for friends, and hopefully they'll find it warrants
<>a purchase.  I don't have any plan to distribute it.  But is it
possible that there may be a change in the future that would allow
both the artist's rights to be protected and the end listener to have
more convenience concerning listening to the music how one might wish?

I'm sorry that the majority of this email concerns such a boring and
nitpicky issue.  I enjoy your work greatly, and I'm very happy that
you're doing what you are to make progressive rock available to a
wider audience.  If my solution to get the audio onto MP3 for my
personal use results in a lossier file, I'll simply buy a hard copy
when the proper release date comes, no big deal.  :)

Keep up the good work!  I enjoy any and all output from you; Leonardo,
Age Of Impact, every Magellan album released, and many of your other
collaborations have all spent extended amounts of time in my stereo.

...any chance of a Magellan tour?  ;)

Your dedicated fan,
Aaron Jennings

I would encourage everyone here to first get a full understanding of DRM's purposes. This may vary depending on who is using it. Sometimes even the artist or label gets to "customize the rules". 

There are huge marketing advantages for creators of music to use DRM as a "viral selling tool" and as a method to slow (and now track) piracy. For example, DRM is making it possible for us to ensure Steve Walsh is paid MORE for the track you bought. We can promote his upcoming album in ways not previously possible! We can also provide "pre-delivery of files"  (count down to a specific time and date) or add additional marketing impressions across other systems.

Are you aware that over 600 illegal downloads have already happened with the Magellan album? Well, those downloads were DRMed. We slowed the rate of theft by 98% and at the same time gave people the ability to demo the songs and choice to buy. Perfect balance. By the way, digital sales DO NOT erode physical CD sales, they actually increase them! Look it up. We've already proven this in the real world.

We have given you a very reasonable customer experience and user options, provided you good pricing and special access to music that would otherwise be unavailable. Our company has invested 7 digit money into preserving the future economic stability of this genre. Who else has stepped up in such a way? No one.

We will also bring many new exciting things forward that you are not even aware of yet. How about the benefit of the doubt here?

I too, misunderstood DRM a couple of years ago. It will offer countless more advantages as new digital music markets emerge. Question:

Do you leave your car unlocked or hand out your visa pin# to anyone? Of course not.

Why are you then asking artists like Steve Walsh, Kansas, and others to knowingly give away their music for free JUST so you can have your MP3? Experience shows that while you may be honest, many others are not. Buy his CD and make an mp3...viola you're there!

I am also very disappointed in some of the hypocrisy shown by certain people who claim to be fans of prog, yet they have absolutely no problem in stealing their favorite bands work. Trust me, I've got the proof. Not only are they stealing it, but some of them are the "actual sources" for others to use. How long can this go on? We'll work on a different sort of compression for this problem.

By the way, do you have any idea how "$&#*$ screwed the average "prog artist" really is? I'll bet you don't. How could you? Are you aware that the Magellan music you bought today represents the first time in my career where I benefited directly... not someone else first? 

Do you have the slightest idea what I went thru to make it? No way. It involved a hell of a lot more that writing and recording some music. 

Have you ever looked at the contracts of your fav bands? I've seen a ton of them. Have you asked yourself why a label (Musea) with over two decades of experience in selling this music would choose us as their EXCLUSIVE digital distributor? Again, think about it!

Our technology at http://hipsolve.com makes it possible for artists and labels to be paid directly to their own accounts in real time. Watch the flash presentation.

We have embarked on a long term project that will attempt to improve the future for progressive artists. We are even investing in exclusives.... just give us time.

I think I have little more credibility than most on this subject. Do you think I arrived at my conclusions by ignoring the last 15 years of my music career?

Do you think I've ever had a conversation with any of the worldclass musicians I've worked with over the years? Think about it. Why would we be putting so much behind this if it didn't make sense in the long term? We are in an evolution. Why trash that? Why not take the position of supporting the idea of  "spreading the influence and economy of progressive music" for a brighter future?

Say what you will, but I will defend musicians IP relentlessly. Did I mention that after we encode all the worlds progressive music, we will also promote it via a new music search engine that will be marketed to consumers outside the niche ? DRM is critical for the long term success of that project as well. Remember transactional efficiencies are vital. The more we streamline and offer micropayments solutions, the more the artist gets....get it? Inspired artists mean more music long term. I like music.

I think the point here is to promote progressive music to the world, right? How about becoming an evangelist instead of "one more road block for us to go around"? Don't get too committed to any one format. First, the music....the formats will come and go. If you rechannel your gripes you might even make a bigger difference to prog artists across the world than you realize!

By the way I've seen the soundscan reports for bands like DT, Tull and others. Don't steal their music...support them and buy it!

I am proud to be associated with Progarchives as we begin our evolution together.

Trent Gardner

General Manager

Muse-Wrapped Records,LLC

 

 

 

Edited by TrentGardner

I'll go one or two steps further than Cert...I don't really care for the attitude expressed in TG's post, and I won't be spending a cent on Muse-Wrapped, due solely to that one post. In fact, if my favorite band had an exclusive track on their site, I would go out of my way to obtain it through other means, just out of spite, and send a check to the band directly instead.

Is Magellan even any good? It's hard to believe someone who thinks like that could be responsible for music of any quality.

 

James Lee wrote: I'll go one or two steps further than Cert...I don't really care for the attitude expressed in TG's post, and I won't be spending a cent on Muse-Wrapped, due solely to that one post. In fact, if my favorite band had an exclusive track on their site, I would go out of my way to obtain it through other means, just out of spite, and send a check to the band directly instead. Is Magellan even any good? It's hard to believe someone who thinks like that could be responsible for music of any quality.

 

I don't mean to sound like a shill for Muse-Wrapped or even Magellan, but the article I read in Billboard about Hipsolve and Muse-Wrapped made it clear they'll be targeting all types of music in the future, not just prog. I don't think they'll lose any sleep or money just because James Lee dissaproves.

 

 

Man Overboard wrote: 45-second-samples for prog?  Hah!

 

Good point!    I suppose the reality of server space kicked in. But 45 seconds is pretty good all things considered.

If I'm not mistaken, the Fair Use act should allow me to make MP3s...  the DMCA says you can't break copyprotection in the act of making your backup, but since the option to burn a CD is there, it's not circumventing it, I think.

Am I wrong in this?  I just made my MP3 copy.

Following the Fair Use act, I've made a CD compilation of the following albums for my MP3 CD player:

Abydos - Abydos
Pain Of Salvation - Be
Cynic - Focus (remastered and expanded)
HIM - Love Metal
Magellan - Symphony For A Misanthrope
Arena - Pepper's Ghost
Winds - The Imaginary Direction Of Time
Pat Mastelotto - XtracKcts & ArtifaKcts

All albums I have purchased and not pirated.  This CD will keep me entertained on the dreadful 8 hour bus ride I'm taking tomorrow.  It's very convenient that I can take a 25-cent CDr containing high-bitrate MP3 copies of albums I'd rather not risk losing, and it's nice that I can fit them onto a single disc.

Long live the Fair Use Act!  Let us continue to enjoy our freedoms responsibly.

...I just read that there will be a bonus track for Magellan's SFaM's store release...  looks like I'll be buying a second copy again...    I'm not the person that artists should be upset with.  I'm the big prog dork who pre-orders albums, blind-buys several CDs every time I go to the store (I try to keep this down to once a week or so...), often purchases second copies to get bonus tracks or other goodies, supports bands even when they falter (I own every Kansas album ever made!  That of course includes Drastic Measures ), does what he can to get other people into prog, buys the concert DVDs, goes to the shows, buys the merchandise...

...rather than targeting me for my 'misanthropy' towards DRM, I dunno.  If you saw my room, you'd laugh.  On my desk right now are 3 King Crimson DVDs, a Spiral Architect CD, two King Crimson CDs, a softcore male porn DVD (whoops!), a pack of cigarettes, some beer bottles, a woefully-thin wallet, drained by my love for prog...  errr, maybe I should've just stuck to my music-related items. 

Edit:  I reread Trent's post.  Is he seriously accusing me of piracy?  That's f**king ridiculous.  I AM the one evangelizing prog music, and even though I've got misgivings with DRM itself, I've pointed many people towards the site.  *sighs*  It's not every day one gets chewed out by one of his heroes.


Edited by Man Overboard

That would more than do the trick.  But you saw what happened when I suggested considering an alternative to DRM WMA files.  

The DRM topic regarding Muse-Wrapped is one of the few debates that can actually be resolved by anyone interested in doing so. Just go to the site and check it out for yourselves. Give it a twirl, if you don't like it, great. If you do like, great. Everyone gets to decide for themselves and everyone will be right. At least this isn't one of those endless "Best 5 prog singers" type of topics.

 

garrett wrote: Man Overboard wrote: 45-second-samples for prog?  Hah!     Good point!    I suppose the reality of server space kicked in. But 45 seconds is pretty good all things considered.

Actually, 45 seconds doesn't give you a clue where a reasonable piece of prog is concerned.

It's not like pop music, where once you've heard the verse and chorus then that's it.

 

 

I'd like to go back to that deeply flawed analogy of giving everyone your PIN number, my point in which I thought might be contested:

Once I have a piece of music in recorded format, I can then record it to mp3 very easily - through analogue means if necessary - and circumvent any DRM with ease, then distribute said mp3 among my friends.

DRM is a pain in the arse - nothing more, nothing less. It makes the process of copying more of a chore, (except on Linux-enabled computers ), but cannot prevent it. In fact, it will more likely encourage it, as someone who has circumvented it will pass unDRM'ed copies among their friends, who don't want the bother either.

In short, it will stop people copying music in the same way the audio cassette did.

 

 

Edited by Certif1ed