Random Precision

Okay, I’m a sucker for musical mash-ups; hearing something familiar — better yet, several somethings familiar — cast into a new context, gives me a kick far out of proportion to the usual quality of the result. Some of them are pretty ragged, and novelty value is the only thing that saves them. The fact that I don’t keep up with popular music like I used to, and that I avoid rap entirely, limits my enjoyment somewhat; most of the time I don’t recognize the source material. But every so often, I find a real gem.

Last night, a link in my Google Reader feed from BoingBoing led me to the nicest, most smooth and elegant mashup I’ve ever come across. Evidently it’s been out for almost a year, so I may be the last one to this party; but in case you haven’t heard it, here’s the link to the MP3: “Every Car You Chase“, by ‘Snow Police’. (Actually, by San Francisco DJ Party Ben.)

Someone even made a lovely video mashup to go with it.

I have fond memories of MP3.com, back when it was cool. Okay. waaay back. Yes, you had to wade through a boatload of bad music to find the few gold nuggets available; but frankly, that’s half the fun. Like a golfer who plays to recapture feeling of that one time he made a hole-in-one, the hunt for good music is all the more rewarding for the challenge.

MP3.com is now an also-ran DRM-infested music rental service (or was the last time I looked, and frankly I’m not going to bother looking again. No linkee love, baybee!). I rooted through GarageBand.com for a while, but somehow it wasn’t the same. (I did make one very nice find, though: “Look At What You Get” by Taxi Doll.)

Something more was needed: specifically, a non-screwball business model. Money for the site owners, money for the artists, and no Web 1.0-style revenue-someday hand-waving. Something that will challenge the RIAA’s reptilian world-view; something that will really shake the pillars of heaven.

For instance: what if you let artists upload music on a non-exclusive, withdraw-at-any-time, no-cost basis; let users download it, in DRM-free MP3 format; make it free at first, then escalate the prices as tracks become more popular, and split the proceeds between the site and the artist with complete transparency? Plus, give users an incentive to evaluate and recommend new artists, let them receive store credit when artists they promote become successful? Throw in some social-networking features for Web 2.0 cred. Wouldn’t that kick ass?

Welcome to Amie Street.

The old MP3.com mojo is back here. No, it’s not free-as-in-beer, unless you limit yourself to new downloads. Though that’s not so bad; sampling free new tracks, I’ve found some very cool acts, like Alexa Ray Joel, populuxe, and Rick Miller. I even struck it rich by recommending one of ARJ’s tracks. (For a very small value of ‘rich’: about $0.60; still, that’s sixty cents more than I paid to download the song.)

Is this the shape of the music industry of the future? I think it’s part of it; just as with Second Life, I place my faith more in the model than the actual company. Amie Street, or someone very much like them, will extend this social-network model to merchandising and promotion of live appearances. The result will look surprisingly similar to the current music industry, with one critical difference: the artists and the audience will be very much in charge, with the middle-men as lean and efficient facilitators, rather than the self-important, overpaid power brokers they are now.