AURAL INTERCOURSE

Thursday, December 25, 2003
Copyright © Las Vegas Mercury

Aural Intercourse: The year Apple saved music

By Mike Prevatt

So, here I am, pecking at the computer, and I'm on the fence on these two songs I want to buy. Song One: I just saw the Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, and the closing credits track, "Into the West," is probably the best thing Annie Lennox has ever done. Song Two: Ryan Adams did this song called "So Alive" for his new lloR N kcoR album, and while I absolutely loathe the way he sings the track--he doesn't have enough muscle in his chords to complement the chorus, so he reverts to a pussified falsetto--the U2-like composition packs a stadium-sized wallop.

I'm on the fence about the mostly score LOTR: ROTK soundtrack, and I'm decidedly not buying lloR N kcoR, after sampling every one of its songs. But I might buy the aforementioned downloadable singles, because that's where I'm at right now. You might be, too.

Once again, the year in music was defined not by groundbreaking works or specific trends per se, but distribution and consumption. Being a music fan in 2003 meant reconsidering the idea of owning physical album collections, stocking up on blank CD-Rs for burning nu-school "mixtapes," pondering the legal ramifications of using the convenient file-sharing services like Kazaa and Grokster, getting to the local "big box" retailers on New Release Tuesday to score $6-$10 albums, and coughing up $400 to get that ubiquitous little white device that can store not only your entire record collection, but a 100-megabyte audio file of the new Harry Potter book, too.

If there's one dominant "person" or "artist" of the year, it belongs to Apple. Building upon the first-generation versions of iTunes, the hyper-organized MP3 listening/storage program, and iPod, the most successful and culturally significant music device since the debut of Sony's cassette Walkman, the underdog, Bay Area-based company made more attempts than anyone--even the Big Five labels--to lure music listeners into the future. And it did handily, thanks to the unprecedented success of the iTunes Music Store and the upgraded iPod, both perfected to make the transition from physical albums and illegally traded MP3s to legit digital files and portable music collections as easy and cost-efficient as possible.

By now, the Apple Music Store--for both Mac and PC users--has sold more than 20 million songs; more phenomenal is that 45 percent of those songs were part of a complete album purchase, which lets worried holdouts like Linkin Park and Radiohead know that people are still buying full-record downloads. Its success also overshadowed the return of Napster, now a pay-only service. IPod, meanwhile, has sold more than a million devices, and with Christmas around the corner, that number ought to jump considerably. Just ask anyone to name another MP3 player--my money says they can't.

Not all the headlines were tech-related. Here are some names and institutions that, for better or worse, were some of the more significant music stories of 2003:

Coldplay--With its last album selling 3 million copies in the States alone, multiple Grammy and MTV award wins, hit singles in "Clocks" and "The Scientist," and a triumphant U.S. tour that resulted in arena-sized sellouts, no rock band accomplished more than this earnest British crossover act.

Outkast--With one sonically audacious double album, Outkast gave hip hop a long-overdue bitchslap. As of press time, their singles "Hey Ya" and "The Way You Move" are number one and two on the Billboard singles chart.

Dixie Chicks--Who would have thought a female country trio would be the most strident spokespeople for civil rights in America? Conservative pundits and country radio programmers assailed singer Natalie Maines for bashing President Bush, but the Chicks stuck to their guns and boasted one of the biggest tours of the year.

Justin Timberlake--Even more surprising than the Dixie Chicks' rising credibility is that of N'SYNC heartthrob Justin Timberlake, who enjoyed praise for his single, "Rock Your Body" and for his charismatic turns on the MTV Video Music Awards and "Punk'd."

Clear Channel--The most noteworthy part of this year's Shortlist Music Prize ceremony wasn't Irish folkster Damien Rice's win, but Bright Eyes singer and nominee Conor Oberst's tirade against this strong-arming media conglomerate, also owner of the show's venue, the Wiltern. With the government now investigating its business practices, the Clear Channel backlash keeps growing.

Legit download

of the week

While Britain is making superstars out of our underground musicians, you can check out that country's own indie scene at Peoplesound.com, reminiscent of the original MP3.com, but on a smaller scale. After registering with your e-mail address, check out drum 'n' bass artist Xen's "End of Line," a spacey ambient jungle track not dissimilar to the sound associated with LTJ Bukem's Good Looking label.

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