AURAL INTERCOURSE

Thursday, June 26, 2003
Copyright © Las Vegas Mercury

Aural Intercourse: The case for legal downloads

By Mike Prevatt

There isn't a day that goes by that I don't visit Rollingstone.com. As far as music websites go, it's varied and updated frequently enough for anyone passionate about pop music to check out at least a few times a week. This is nearly ironic, as watching the print version of the institution endure its post-Maxim identity crisis has been both saddening and frustrating. On the site, I can see a majority of what's in the magazine with minimal "American Idol" invasion--as well as experience a wealth of supplemental features that includes the best music column found anywhere, "Well Hung at Dawn," and several audio and video clips for downloading or streaming.

The real boon to music-related websites of late has been what bonus features it can provide for the fan unfulfilled by the traditional media (broadcast radio, MTV, magazines) and seeking new musical blood. From VH1.com and Grooveradio.com, to Antimusic.com and the "Morning Becomes Eclectic" page at the website for Santa Monica, Calif.-based KCRW-FM, there is no end to the listening opportunities on the Net, something not lost on the online community and passionate music fan bases craving both hit singles and new discoveries. And it's good for the conscience because it's legal.

Now, I'm not going to badmouth file-sharing and its arguable illegitimacy. It's hard to fault the insatiable music fan who refuses to pay $19 for a CD, or wants more than that product and artist can commercially provide. But we all know one or two or maybe more cheapskates who have now pretty much substituted buying records because they now can obtain anything they could ever want for free through file-sharing. There shall be no crying for overplayed superstars like Shania Twain if she loses sales to this phenomenon, but until the industry undergoes some serious reform, I'll continue to worry about artists like Ed Harcourt and Black Eyed Peas--talented newcomers and slipstream acts that need sales to maintain recording contracts and the exposure their labels can provide, not to mention unsigned and underground acts needing to find an audience outside the local dive bar.

MP3.com, once a trailblazing site for amateur acts the world 'round until Universal bought it and emphasized its more popular artists, still provides an insane catalog of unsigned material. MTV.com has made catching particular videos easy with its numerous multimedia offerings, including the rookie and MTV2 tracks often broadcast after midnight. NME.com, the online home of revered British music weekly New Music Express, gave its devoted a week-long sneak of the entire new Radiohead album, Hail to the Thief, before its June 10 release, and offers newcomer clips, too.

There are smaller, lesser-known sites as well giving away music files, most of which can be saved onto your iTunes or WinAmp desktop players, and transferred to MP3 players like iPod and Rio, for unlimited use. Check out the likes of Epitonic.com, Trancedomain.com and Punkplanet.com--all featuring lesser-known artists--but watch for dead links when going the search engine route. Googling for music is as tricky as finding uncorrupted files on Kazaa.

"Aural" is going to now regularly feature a Legit Download of the Week of some artist bubbling somewhere under breakthrough status as a way of introducing new talent that may be unfamiliar to you. For the inaugural tip, Pitchforkmedia.com--an exceptional indie/CMJ-esque music site--gives us "Ratso Rizzo" by Laptop, an indie-electronic project consisting of one Jesse Hartman. It's a sublime `80s throwback befitting of any any electroclash party or alternative disco. Go to the site's MP3 area, look for the June 17 updates and double-click/right-click the song's link.

Quickies

The Rolling Stones are set to throw their second philanthropic show of the year. The band announced Monday that it will play a free gig July 30 in Toronto to give the city an economic lift after a recent SARS scare kept both artists and tourists away. Location is still TBA, and as many as 15 supporting acts are expected to be named later. The Stones played a free show Feb. 6 in Los Angeles promoting environmental awareness. The show was sponsored by the Natural Resources Defense Council.

Experiencing an odd sort of comeback is A Flock of Seagulls--in particular, the aerodynamically coiffed act's hit 1982 single "I Ran." Power pop quartet Bowling for Soup, which garnered surprise attention for its random Grammy nomination (for its single, "Girls All the Bad Guys Want") earlier this year, is going to re-release its 2002 album Drunk Enough to Dance with a cover of the song. And currently reigning in clubland is a white label (re: unapproved) remix. During last Saturday's "Spundae" party in Los Angeles, English trance/progressive DJ Dave Seaman dropped it among a blitz of recent electronic reworkings of pop hits and earned the loudest reception of the night. It's official: The '80s are back.

Raphael Saadiq--Grammy-winning producer/performer, member of Lucy Pearl and Erykah Badu collaborator--is going the independent route. He has amicably split from Universal Records, which released his much-praised 2001 R&B album Instant Vintage. In October, he will release his first live album on his Pookie Entertainment imprint, featuring material from an upcoming three-date tour--including a July 4 gig at the House of Blues in Las Vegas.

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