On Hot Press and My Place In The Real Economy

The business between IMRO and music blogs like this one has ramped up a little in time for the weekend. Following the sending out of notices, there's been an article on the Guardian, a hive of discussion over at On The Record, a veritable frenzy on Twitter (including a comment by that great and distressingly tall Irishman Graham Linehan), a petition, a Facebook group, and tonight an article on Hot Press.

IMRO have delayed in answering some of our questions, and have promised to unveil an FAQ shortly which will clear up any confusion to everyone's general satisfaction, I'm sure. In the meantime, they've offered to meet with us next week, with the same aim in mind. This is a good thing.

Before I turn to the Hot Press article, let me dwell on another development from today, one concerning the fine new Dublin band, The Cast of Cheers. That's the cover of their new album you see above, made available as a free download on Bandcamp. It's a very good album, and the band, being the people responsible for it, have been praised accordingly, winning countless new fans and supporters.



The band were due to play an IMRO showcase tomorrow night, but have cancelled. In a way, this is because of another group of Irish music do-gooders, Dublin label The Richter Collective. I have yet to mention them much here, a lamentable oversight on my part, and one I intend to correct. They've helped bring much fine Irish music to many fine Irish ears, and they too deserve the praise they've gotten. So it comes as a surprise that IMRO, who consider themselves "synonymous with helping to showcase emerging talent in Ireland", have informed the label that they don't have the right to upload songs recorded by their artists to their own website - at least not without the same licence they recommend we buy.

This, I'm sure I don't need to tell you, is ridiculous. This is why The Cast of Cheers pulled out of the IMRO show: "in a show of support for us", as the Richter Collective tweeted.

Anyway, let's put an end to the digression and turn to Hot Press and their article.

It's a bad article.

It's unfair and inaccurate. There are a few classic hallmarks of bad journalism in there: the fact that it's written about people who weren't once contacted for comment, the scathing, unfounded and unchallenged remarks from anonymous contributors, the opening assertation that the piece presents both sides of the story.

It opens with the line: "Hot Press has been talking to people on both sides of the online music payment divide." Yet curiously, none of them were the three bloggers contacted by IMRO. Presumably they're referring to Michael Roe of The Richter Collective, who in fairness, is given space to put his point across quite well. But he's not speaking as a blogger.

IMRO CEO Victor Finn is quoted, restating that people need permission to make songs available, but not revealing whether or not he agrees that band's have to the right to give that permission - one of the key issues at the heart of this debate. Musician Declan De Barra makes a fine defence of this right.

There are a few odd comments inserted throughout the piece. They mention that some sites are ad-free, and essentially run on enthusiasm, but they don't mention that two of the three concerned sites fall into this category, preferring instead to list the ads recently seen on Nialler9. Most notably, two anonymous sources are quoted, making rather contentious comments about blogs and advertising. Firstly, a nameless advertising industry insider describes these ads as "a handy little earner," though they go on to note that "[o]ne of the weaknesses of blogs is that they tend to be frequented by a small number of people who create a disproportionate number of page impressions, so for obvious reasons no one is willing to pay much to be on those kind of sites."

Instead of a quote from me, or one of the other concerned bloggers, who were deemed uninteresting and unessential to the task at hand, we are given this conjecture, which adds nothing to the debate, and is not based on any knowledge of any of our sites. I'm not sure what relevance it has, but it certainly sounds bad. I imagine a lot of readers would like to know what our reservations about the licence are, but I guess the anonymous source was more reliable.

The second anonymous contributor is the one with the best lines, though. Named only as an IMRO songwriter, he declares:

Look, it isn’t exactly a popular thing to say, but the fact is that bloggers are part of the real economy. In lots of cases they're looking for and accepting payment for advertising. And to generate the traffic which attracts advertising they're indiscriminately using other people's music – often international music and often by big name artists.

I’m all for people being able to waive any royalties they might be due, if they want to. I might do it myself. But that’s different from someone deciding they’ll take whatever music they want, and do whatever they feel like with it with no permission from anybody.

This blog does not look for payment for advertising. Neither does Asleep on the Compost Heap. That's two of the three concerned blogs. Any regular reader will have surely noticed that I frequently fall behind on posting, conduct ill-suited to a blogger trying to generate traffic - and when it comes to the "international music" (what? Is foreign music especially popular or something?) and Big Name Artists, well, I may as well not be trying at all.

None of the concerned blogs are known for being the kind to "take whatever music [we] want and do whatever [we] feel like with it with no permission from anybody." The quotation is superfluous, and that unrelated assertation should have been challenged.

One thing I will agree with, however. Some of us do have a place in The Real Economy. Not because of the streams of euro flowing from my laptop to my bank account, though that surely helps. Not because of the protection money I beat out of poor Irish musicians while they carry me home from a day's carousing. It's because of the promotion the bands get. It's not everything, and it's not a lot compared to what the likes of Hot Press could do. But it's the difference between The Ambience Affair being heard on U.S. television, and not. It's the difference between The Richter Collective eschewing an advertising budget for free online promotion, and not.

I've already made it clear I'm in favour of artist's getting royalties, and I'm open to getting a licence. But there are problems with the system IMRO are trying to enforce, and we need to talk about them, instead of getting distracted by whether or not blog traffic is disproportionate, or other blogs use Big Name Artists. We need to focus on the important things.

On IMRO and Irish Music Blogs

Some of you will have seen this on The Irish Times, or on Niall's blog, but if not, I'd appreciate if you'd take the time to read it, because it has the potential to affect music blogs everywhere.

IMRO is a group which represents songwriters, composers, music publishers in Ireland in the fields of performing right in copyright. They collect and distribute royalties arising from the public performance of copyright works. Recently they reached an agreement with YouTube on paying royalties for songs streamed on that site in Ireland. This week, they turned their attention to us music bloggers. On Monday, they emailed Nialler9, yesterday they contacted me, and today it was Darragh of Asleep on a Compost Heap. There will be more.

Bypassing for a moment the massive leap in scale in going from YouTube to my site, here's what IMRO are looking for. They want everyone who is offering songs for download or stream to pay for a licence. There are price bands, and there are different options, viewable here.
I'm all for artists getting more money, just as I'm all for them getting more promotion, and I know for a fact that my site has helped both these causes. These licences have a place, and it makes sense that sites with ad revenue, ranging from YouTube to State, should have one. IMRO have differentiated between sites that make less than €7,000 per year and those that make more, and that's good - but shouldn't they differentiate between those that make less than €7 a year, and those who make more?

I make no profit from my blog. I've never done it for money, I've done it out of a love of music, as cliché as that may sound. I must be doing something right, because I receive hundreds of emails a week from bands and PR sites hoping that I will share an mp3 of theirs.

IMRO's claim with regard to music blogs is based on two ideas: first, that bands are not entitled to allow a blogger share a song with their permission without IMRO getting into it looking for royalties, and second, that any site with streaming music or downloads that can be accessed from Ireland must have this licence. I know for a fact that there are IMRO musicians unhappy about this first assertation, and with good reason: it's IMRO deciding they know better than the artist. This after one of the best weeks ever for Irish music online. After an Irish band was featured on a major US television show because their music was available on a blog.

The promotion available in this online community is a real thing, with real benefits for musicians. If we are forced to pay this kind of money, we'll simply have to stop writing about music this way, and that helps no one. The fact is, if a friend in a band wants me to write about their song and share it with my readers, that should be their choice: not mine, not IMRO's, and nobody should be assuming that I have simply conned my friend out of what I owe them.

I repeat: I have no problem with bands earning royalties. But to make no distinction between a profit-driven site and one that, with no financial gain in mind, provides a valued promotional service, is misguided. To assume of bloggers and artists that we haven't worked out any agreement between ourselves is unfair. This kind of action will not improve the lot of Irish musicians: it will lead to sites like this one being unable to continue. And since only Irish blogs are being targeted, it puts Irish bands at a major disadvantage online. IMRO need to reconsider this, and listen to what we're trying to say.

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For more info, I recommend the FAQ Nialler has put together from the answers IMRO have given us so far. I am waiting to get more answers, there are still many things that need to be cleared up.
You can contact IMRO, if you like, and let them know that you don't like this. Irish music blogs have been around for five years now, and I know that this has done good things for Irish bands.

wait outside

Handsome Furs - Radio Kaliningrad

Have you ever had a day when nothing really worked out? When your expectations of life have been so dramatically lowered that just listening to one good song and then getting a few hours sleep is a relief? I have. Today was a day when fate stumbled out of bed after me, burning my toast, straining the flavour out of my tea, making me run for the bus in a very undignified fashion. But tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow will be better.

{Buy}

songs of the decade: part four

76. Passion Pit - Sleepyhead

Crash! Bang! This is ten minutes of fun packed into three.

75. JJ72 - Algeria


An Irish song, straightforward and powerful. There was a reason people expected great things from JJ72 - they could assemble perfect power pop songs packed with verve and feeling, and crown them with a chorus as frantic and glorious as the one here.

74. Modest Mouse - Float On



Overplayed, overrated, and ever so slightly unoriginal? Undoubtedly. But I bet you anything your head still bops when that dream drum beat kicks in, and I bet you still sing along at the end.

73. Animal Collective - My Girls



There is a moment here - 1.27 in - when the song starts up like someone has lit a fuse. After that it becomes something incredible, the sound of beautiful melodies battling in space, and even though that's paired with a simple declaration of a father's love for his family, it seems to fit perfectly. To the moon and back.

72. Mountain Goats - Get Lonely

How can a song that starts so easily, and with such a normal and familiar set of sounds, get so intensely sad? I feel bereaved just listening to it.

71. Thao Nguyen - Bag of Hammers

Well, this is a fine song. This is a song with guitars like scissors, drums like paper, and vocals like glue! Or like a big shiny cocktail with ice-cubes that you have to drink for a straw, and the ice is knocking of the glass in a weird rhythm while melting. And yes, the whole thing sounds a little drunk, but drunk with the weight of the world, and the joys of it, and possibly whiskey too.

70. Blur - Out of Time



I've never been a huge fan of Blur, but I do love how they manage to make a song so perfectly happy and sad at the same time. I can't imagine ever tiring of this one.

69. Laura Barrett - Robot Ponies

This is an amazing song - the lyrics depict a future Christmas, with bizarre gifts and creeping authoritarianism. The music adds to this, the eerie melodies, and the beautiful weightless sound of the kalimba (an African instrument like a xylophone played with the thumbs) producing a feeling akin to being locked out of your family home on Christmas Eve, and staring in the window. You'll love it.

68. Franz Ferdinand - Take Me Out

I still remember the first time I heard this, on the radio, on the bus. I remember buying the album, bringing it home and playing it to an emptying bottle of whiskey, and I remember reaching over as soon as this track was over, and putting it on repeat, just to hear that tempo change again. And again.

67. The Cay - Don't Go Out Tonight

My heart breaks to this song, and I can't understand why. There's no big moment, no emotional finale, no lyrics of loss. There's just a steady expression of joy at the little things, the little things that love makes so important and worthy: I just want to sleep for a while / till the morning comes when we will rise. That's all, and that's enough.

66. Stars - Ageless Beauty



This is the kind of song that would never marry you, so you'd have to elope.

65. Swan Lake - All Fires

Even aside from the compelling instrumentation here, my adoration for this piece of music boils down to the lyrics, describing perfectly the tragedy of a flooded town:

One thousand people did what they could /
They found the steeple and tore up the wood

Five hundred pieces means five hundred float /
One thousand people means five hundred don't.

It's both astonishing and devastating in its subtlety.

64. Bell - Chunk

For solid weeks and weeks this song echoed around my head like a piano in a lonely locked room. It sounds and feels like looking out of a window over your cold city, and you can almost feel your fingers pressing the dark and white keys like they have some answer in them.
The main melody here, that's the great bit. It's got a countless number of emotions tied in there, like someone starting to cry, and it could be joy or happiness. The last note sticks out, a thorn on a rose, a hand waving goodbye from a train - the f against the E major. It works on you, and I don't know what it does to you, but it makes me feel like the oldest 24-year old in the world.

63. Sunset Rubdown - We Got Broken Eyes {demo}

This song isn't on any of Sunset Rubdown's albums. I had difficulty deciding between this and 'Stadiums and Shrines II', but this just took it in the end, by virtue of the tremendous push forward evident when those drums crash in, and the slight, and patient dismantling of the song at the end, while he's still singing it. It's worth hearing over and over and over.

by all accounts

This song affects me, but I can't really say why. I mean, I love the aimless wander of it, it's kinda gorgeous, but that's not it. I love the melody of the chorus and how it grows on me, but that doesn't explain it. I love how the reedy guitars sound like white summer sunlight, but that's not it either. I think it's the way three minutes in, the different strands of the song seem to come together all at once, of their own accord, and all turn at once to face you, hitting the same notes, saying the same thing. It's jaunty, moody, and somewhat cerebral, but above all, it's an excellent song.

Inlets' new record Inter Arbiter is due April 20th via twosyllable Records - you can currently stream it online here. It's very, very good.

don't be afraid

Sufjan Stevens - The Sleeping Red Wolves

This song is all daylight, colours streaming through the air, a citywide celebration. It's the death of something, and all the fear and hope that comes with turning to the future. The chord changes are corner-sharp, they turn quicker than Sufjan's previous work, they have a metallic tinge to them, something burning on the air. There are great cars flying through the landscape here, with no one in them. It's a little like folk music for machines. And it's really good.

This is taken from the very fine BQE, which you can buy here - or at your local record store, given the day that's in it. Happy Record Store Day everyone!

sleeping state

This song grows on you like creeper, unnoticed, irresistible. After one listen, the chorus has found its way inside your head, even if you don't notice it at first, not until you wake up a few days later, and you find that your inner monologue has a new favourite saying, one that you don't remember coining: "I was a dreamer..." And after this it's a short step to this song soundtracking your sleeplessness, like a patient lover waiting outside your window to be let in. I'm listening to it every day now, and the way it builds, from the slow opening, to the final refrain, it draws me in every time. Just this week I missed my stop on the train because of that last minute.

This acoustic version too, somehow manages to wind the whole single down to one voice and guitar, without losing any of its presence and forcefulness. It's spectacular, and shows why there's so much being said about Mr. Conor J. O'Brien. It might be a little early to say, but all signs point to it being the summer of Villagers.

{Buy + Previously}

come home

Arcade Fire - William Pierce (demo)

If every song works best in a particular setting, this is one for sitting on a train, watching others walk home through unsheltered streets and deciding you want to walk home that way too. It's for seeing the same faces wander past you day by day like absentee housemates, and picturing their lives and loves. It's for figuring out the best way back to your bed, or the person waiting for you, and watching it get closer as the sun passes through the sky.

shooting stars

Peter Broderick - And It's Alright

Well. That was a great week.

{Buy}

Sing for your Supper

On Tuesday night, a small crowd convened in our sitting room, and listened to two of my favourite musicians, DM Stith and Cathy Davey, as they quietly took their seats and played beautiful music.



There was wine and gingerbread, and Cathy's dog Rex, and his ridiculously cute ways. The atmosphere was that of the friendliest little birthday party you could imagine.



The response to this little concert has been great; it really seems like everyone had an amazing time. There were some definite highlights. For me, the best songs were David's 'Thanksgiving Moon', and Cathy's 'Sing for your Supper', both of which seemed to grow and grow and fill the whole room, and make a home out of our house for everyone in it.

A surprising amount of people came to wish happy birthday: the only thing nicer than the terribly apt GI Joe 5th birthday card I received was the bottle of champagne, which really helped us bring the night to a close. Finding our kitchen packed with people chatting and making themselves tea was nice; as was seeing John Kelly wandering in from a local pub. And it was fun seeing everyone's reaction to our secret special guest: including the two young latecomers who knocked on the door in the middle of her set, setting Rex off in a little protective barking frenzy, much to their shock and embarrassment.

It was a great night, and it's definitely an experience we'd all like to repeat. Thanks to everyone who came and made it great - thanks especially to David and Cathy (and David C!) for playing, Ian for the gear, Paddy for the photos, Karl for manning the door, and Sue for the gingerbread and hostessing. We'll do this again sometime, and we've got no intention of waiting for the blog's next birthday. Stay tuned!

DM Stith - Be My Baby
Cathy Davey - Little Red (demo)

You can see more pictures here.

songs of the decade: part three

91. Tapes 'n Tapes - Insistor

Ohne zu ahnen, ohne lange nachzudenken - einfach hart, und gut so.

90. Bikini Atoll - Desolation Highway

The start is here is homely and simple, like watching someone paint a landscape, a nice way of filling up a great empty weekend. It grows from this into something unexpected, simultaneously like a friendship that blooms out of nothing, and the way you head out on a warm day and find yourself happy to see everyone, almost surprised they're there. You're reminded of how hard it is to ever be far away from people you don't know - even in your bedroom, or your kitchen, strangers are only a shout away. And here they are, and you all head into sunset together.
When the song stops, three minutes in, it's something strange, as if the sun goes down - but immediately rises again, by popular demand, like God's encore. Everything everywhere continues, tinged in heavenly red, and everyone gets Utopian. I don't really know how people can create this much joy with only three or four chords, but I'm glad they can. (Also - that drum beat is fucking legendary.)

89. The Streets - Weak Become Heroes



This song is on the list because of one moment, when Mike Skinner, having built up the scene in details and glimpses for the whole song, breaks the illusion and acknowledges the looping piano as being the heart of the whole thing. It's like a conversion.

88. Ash - Shining Light



Ash and their effortless knack for singles is almost enough to make me want to stop listening to albums, and start worshipping at the altar of the chorus.

87. The Rosebirds - Blue Bird

This song is all warm things: scarves, firesides, bare skin.

86. The Killers - Mr. Brightside

If you forget some of their other lyrical transgressions, and pretend you're a little tipsy, you'll remember what it was like when you first heard this song: all the insistence and forcefulness of the melody, the way it seemed kind of astonishing, in the original sense of the word.

85. Snowden - Anti-Anti

This song brings something else to the party. Fuzzy feelings, and a strong desire to shake it, but not quite... That riff!

84. Gemma Hayes - Back of My Hand



I don't know if anyone else feels the same way about this song, but to me it sounds absolutely like driving through little Irish country roads late at night, eyes out the window, headlights bouncing across ditches and fields, little gated-off boreens. Slowly, streetlights emerge, then footpaths, then people, and then you're there, you're in town, you're in the city.

83. Jens Lekman - The Opposite of Hallelujah

Ah, love. Come here and put down that knife. You don't mean it, I know. We'll be fine.

82. Explosions in the Sky - The Only Moment We Were Alone

With this song in the background, you can imagine things you'd never really think up otherwise. Being stuck in a bathysphere with someone after a nuclear attack, steadily sinking to the sea bed, living off supplies for weeks until the worst of the fallout passes, and eventually realising that you're both in love, bittersweet and heavy. These are the places your mind goes when you listen to music like this.

81. Weezer - Island in the Sun

Hey, hey. I hope you don't mind if I go ahead and label this as maybe the best and easiest blueprint for pop musicians to follow.

80. The War On Drugs - Taking the Farm

If you want a song that seems to plant the band in front of you, stuttering away, stammering out their notes, a song that grabs you and swings you around like a child, this is it. If you want a band that sound like your best friends almost immediately, that's The War on Drugs, and their album, Wagonwheel Blues, has been rushing through my head for some time now. It's full of songs like this that sound like you've been listening to them since you were little, that make you want to stamp and shout and dance and be an adult at the same time. It makes you want acting like a child to be taken seriously. It's a lot of fun.

79. Spokane - Proud Graduates

A long time ago I wrote about a song, and said life was made for two, a bed too big to keep warm by yourself. But this song, this one is what happens when it gets cold, and it's just some of the softest and saddest noise ever to be made with guitars, and violins, and two sets of throats with lumps in them, and everything is only barely touched and played and whispered for fear of disturbing the delicate loneliness that reigns over the whole thing, like a layer of dust.

78. Department of Eagles - No One Does It Like You

Like wandering through golden rooms, filled with wonder, amazed by every little beat your heart takes, every little glistening detail, everything hidden underground, like some rich dead maniac's tomb. This might be the best thing this band ever does, and I don't think anyone could be disappointed if it was.

77. Kocani Orkestar - Siki Siki Baba

The language barrier shouldn't be a real problem in music, but it often is. It takes a little effort to get through to the Other, especially when the music is almost as foreign as the lyrics - but this song is so undeniable that by the time it ends you'll be converted.

songs of the decade: part two

{Part one is here.}

98. The Decemberists - Engine Driver

Missing someone is the easiest way to feel the seconds of your life tick past, unused and unfulfilled, spent trying to find comfort in the doughy seats of a train, instead of in the sweet-skinned arms of the girl you love.

97. Bell x1 - Eve, The Apple Of My Eye



I have a weird relationship with this song, and this band. I can never properly decide how I feel about them. I find much of what they do uninspiring. I saw them live once, and immediately regretted it. And nevertheless, every now and again they get things so right that I immediately forget any previous disappointment.
'Eve' is like that. At first I loved it, then I grew tired of it. And then one night, one of those nights full of held hands and long gazes, we wandered past a busker singing the chorus, sad and sweet, and I don't think I'll change how I feel about this song again, after that.

96. Kings of Leon - King of the Rodeo



I don't really like this band, but I have to admit, when they get it right, and put a song together just so, it's undeniable.

95. Turin Brakes - Mind Over Money

It's some achievement, this chorus. It seems so big and so world-conquering, it's like a little miracle that they only use it twice.

94. Beach House - Master of None

Christmas lights all year round. Having fun in the dark. Your first drink since you stopped counting. I don't know what the song is really about, but any of the above will do for me.

93. The Innocence Mission - Brotherhood of Man

This song always starts playing in my head whenever I'm in an airport. I think this is because airports make my head all funny. My mind moves onto some other level, and starts thinking thoughts that usually seem too heavy for it. It's the waiting, and being surrounded by people you're not talking too, inventing their pasts and futures, wondering who is leaving a loved one, and who is returning to someone else's arms. I sit back and think about how things have changed since I last wandered from country to country. I wonder what all the old incarnations of myself would be thinking, and I wonder what will be happening the next time I sit on the floor at the gate, watching people queue for a fixed-seating flight. And despite all this introspection, which usually does no favours for my mental state, I always enjoy the experience. The gap hours between flights, in a total limbo, as far out of your real life you can possibly get without fucking it up. It feels like pressing pause and saving, sometimes.

92. St. Vincent - Now. Now.

If those noises at the start are anything, they are bright colours which have come unstuck from whatever they covered, hanging now from tight guitar plucks, or whatever the hell that is that sounds so good. This whole song, the drums that are close enough to what you've heard before and yet unreal and unhinged enough to be a pure product of your mind. This song has ingredients, and side-effects, and they're wonderful. Synths that feel like floating, enough of a chorus to make this song epic though it really shouldn't be - listen!