Ooh, I’m slightly annoyed after submitting a few questions for a Q&A session (in Norwegian, if you’re so inclined) on a local site today with Ragnar Bjerkreim, a board member of TONO, the Norwegian Performing Right Society, and leader of NOPA, the Norwegian Society of Composers and Lyricists. Today’s session was about the record industry and file-sharing.

Admittedly, no matter how much you try to avoid it, you look somewhat like a member of the Green Ink Brigade posting questions for these Q&A sessions, forced into asking multiple questions in a slew, unable to format them in a sensible manner on a lousy submit form. Nevertheless, I think his answers were foggy and evasive to the point that I suspect he didn’t even understand my questions. Or maybe he just didn’t have any real answers. I sure don’t — that’s why I asked him.

My questions:

• What do you think the future will look like? Do you think it is possible to agree on international technology laws to effectively put a stop to illegal file-sharing?
• If so, how are we going to avoid affecting the democratic and legal exchange of information […] on the web in a negative way with this kind of legislation?
• Is it alright to sacrifice parts of this democratic and legal exchange of information in order to protect commercial interests, or do you rather consider these aspects to be unrelated? If so, why aren’t they related?
• And finally: Do you think recorded music is permanently devalued, or is it possible to regain the commercial value of recorded music in a reality where — if technology continues to evolve at the pace we’ve seen so far — we will be able to get all music that has ever been recorded onto our iPods in 20 years’ time?

Granted, the general direction of these questions is somewhat colored by my own views. I’m trying to force him into a trap. I’m also taking for granted that introducing new technology legislation implies restricting the use of file-sharing tools, which is totally relevant in regards to the ongoing Pirate Bay trial. But maybe I wasn’t clear enough after all.

Here are Ragnar’s answers that pissed me off a little bit. Not much, but enough to put it on my blog. He probably answered a lot of questions within a limited timeframe, but I say that doesn’t excuse him from actually reading the questions. My comments in parentheses, if you were wondering:

• It’s hard to say what the future will look like (No shit. Stupid me for asking)
• Your questions include several assumptions that I don’t agree with (?)
• It’s allowed to share files that are not copyrighted  (Yes it is, but I didn’t ask)
• It’s not a democratic right to walk into a book store or a music store and take whatever you want and not pay for it (No it isn’t, no one said it was. I asked how we could avoid affecting the democratic and legal exchange of information with new laws)
• As time goes by, I’m sure new and better technical formats will come along, where you can choose whether you want to own or rent your music (?!?)

None the wiser, then. He answered my first question, I’ll give him that.

A little bit about my viewpoint: I’m all for finding viable solutions that will ensure that the artist gets paid for his/her work, but to be honest I’m more worried about the potential implications of new technology laws for me as a regular web user.

I can upload my holiday videos to YouTube. I distribute my music (I’m an amatur musician) to last.fm, iLike or any other service that is willing to host my music. I’m a total publicity whore. I write this blog to express myself, and I upload all of my pictures to Flickr. I don’t use BitTorrent — but I might as well have uploaded my pictures to the web using a BitTorrent-client if that was my preference, it’s still totally legal.

To my knowledge, everything I do on the web is legal. But at the same time I could easily have used either of these services to upload large amounts of illegal content, copyrighted material for which no permission has been obtained. As, indeed, many do.

The way I see it, if you’re ever going to reduce the amount of illegal sharing on the web, you inevitably have to reduce a lot of the perfectly legal sharing that is going on all over the web, because the tools are the same. For every paragraph I publish, for every song I make available to the public, for every video I upload, I could have chosen to do something illegal - I could have copied a large portion of someone else’s book onto my blog, I could have uploaded the latest Britney Spears album to the web using my ftp-software (not really, I don’t have it)… anyway, you get the idea.

It worries me. How are they going to stop all those “pirates” and all those “thieves” without bothering me and my legal web habits? I just don’t think it’s possible, and I don’t think the entertainment industry cares about how their crusade affects me and my internet habits. I am skeptical of the entertainment industry, the right holders and their motives at large. I’m worried about how their endless search for petty cash may ultimately harm the web. Most of all, I’m skeptical because of the way they have treated fans, developers, technological innovation, competition, thieves, bands and musicians in the past.

That being said, I have no sympathy for self-righteous people who assume that it is their God-given right to get things for free either.

Yes! Yes! As some of you may know, I’m a “recording” artist, and some time ago I signed up for last.fm’s royalty program. That means that every time someone streams my music on last.fm, I make a little bit of money. I’m all for transparency and being open towards my fans and all that, so please let me share my revenues with you so far (not share share of course, just share as in… well, you know, show you the numbers… I’m not stupid or anything):

So you see, it’s no joke. I’m actually making money off my music. And I want more! Dear fans, you’re wonderful, you’re beautiful. I love you all. Now off you go, off to my artist page on last.fm to help me make more money. Stream my music as if there was no tomorrow. Support the my art. $ee you soon.

Update:

The archive.org servers appear to be a little unsteady, so I’m sending the links to my last.fm page instead.

- - -

I just had a wonderful experience. Yesterday I was aimlessly surfing on the internet, kind of restless and feeling very unproductive.

Then I came over this project entitled Album-A-Day (applied crap art). It’s been running for years, and to create an "Album-A-Day", you must record a piece of music following these rules (quote):

Good morning, good people. Welcome to the column you never asked for: The Smooth Side - an unforgettable ride through the dubious pleasures of smooth and non-confrontational music in the last 35 years. It may be Mellow Gold, yacht rock or marina rock, it may be soul, jazz-pop or rock (sort of) - it may even be perfectly awful, but it’s always gonna be smooth as silk, I assure you. The song link leads you to a stream on muxtape.com - double-click to listen. Look for a new entry every now and then, but probably not too often.

Prefab Sprout emerged in the UK in the early 1980s in the wake of Steely Dan, soft rock, punk and New Wave. They are often compared to contemporaries such as Simply Red, Aztec Camera and Swingout Sister - in the ghastly dubbed “sophistipop” genre.

Although this comparison is not entirely off base, Prefab Sprout deserves to be judged on their own terms. No one ever sounded quite like them. Front man Paddy McAloon is a brilliant songsmith, a pop perfectionist with grandiose ambitions and the talent to fulfill a lot of them - notably on 1990’s “Jordan: The Comeback”, produced by the equally talented Thomas Dolby.

1997 was the last time Prefab Sprout appeared as a “proper band”, with the album “Andromeda Heights”. 2001’s “The Gunman And Other Stories”, although released as a Sprout album, is often considered as more of a McAloon album. Sadly, he’s been struggling with some health problems in recent years and hasn’t released new material since 2003 apart from a couple of re-recordings for a reissue, I believe.

1997: I’m 25, effortlessly cool, ironic and single. Full-time student playing in a shoe-gazing Britpop-band, reading Pierre Bourdieu, quoting Harold Bloom for kicks and dressing in different shades of grey. The ladies seem to crowd around me, sort of, and it’s a brand new sensation. I’m the king of 1997. But as some mediocre Oasis clone stumble onto the local club scene I secretly hurry on home after class - such an uncool thing to do - hurry - to listen to the first Prefab Sprout album in 7 years. 7 years!

I loved every single thing about it. The lush arrangements, the harmonies, the cheesy synth sounds, the cover art with the star map - and of course the voice and the words.

Paddy McAloon was my hero when I was an awkward teenager in 1986 playing the tuba, sporting a crewcut in the age of the mullet and effectively turning into a deaf-mute every time a girl spoke to me and - much as I’d like to deny it at the time - he still was in 1997, meticulous reinvention of myself notwithstanding.

He still is, and it’s 2008. Some things will never change.

Prefab Sprout - Life’s A Miracle (1997)
(opens in new window, double-click to listen)

“Life’s a Miracle” is totally unapologetic in its embrace of the beauty of life. As far as I can tell, there’s not a hint of sarcasm, and it’s written by a man who’s more than capable of it. It’s corny as hell, but when I’m in the mood, listening to this track can be a truly liberating experience.

Try it - let the purity of the words and the beautiful harmonies wash over your tormented soul and free you from the chains of modern political correctness and the thick layers of ironic distance. Ain’t it wonderful?

Here’s a song I wrote a couple of months ago. It’s a collaboration with my nephew, really. He’s 15, and he asked me to write a song for a school project. They were making a fictional short film about a dysfunctional family, and the song was meant to reflect the teenage daughter contemplating suicide. The lyric ideas are all his - pretty great, I think - a lot of emotion and teenage angst in there.

I put a gazillion effects onto the vocals, and I’m pretty happy with the end result. There’s a chilly ambience to the vocal and the track in general which is exactly what I was aiming for. I’m good!

OK, enough with the self indulgence already. Here is the track:

No Hope (Terje Fjelde / Endre Storli) © 2008 [download link]

I can’t see them lasting very long due to the intricate legal web that entangles the entire music industry, but the guys over at Muxtape (I’m assuming they’re guys here) have set up a cool service where you can create your own mixtape by uploading a maximum of 12 mp3s to their servers for streaming.

It’s a nice concept - people really seem to put some effort into their playlists, and I found more than a few of them to be quite agreeable (the lists, I mean. I don’t know anything about the people.)

I created this fine set of guilty pleasures (damn, I swore I would never use that phrase again) I mean, this fine set of classic pop and r&b [link to playlist here] Click and play, it’s that easy - and it’s just as easy to set up an account.

What the world needs now: A blog post about the voice behind “Theme from The Love Boat”.

My good blogger pal Robert just came up with a rather absurd reference to The Love Boat show in one of his entries, and of course that instantly reminded me of the *groovy* theme song by the distinguished Jack Jones (how couldn’t it?)

The Love Boat - Jack Jones

From my rather rural and definitely non-American perspective I never knew the first thing about mr. Jones until quite recently, when I listened to his 1997 album, New Jack Swing, where he performs swing versions of songs like “Every Breath You Take” and “She’s Leaving Home” - years before Paul Anka did the same on Rock Swings (2005).

I did some investigation and it turns out mr. Jones started his career almost 50 years ago as a kind of ‘1960s Michael Bublé: He won a couple of Grammys early on with his traditional pop records, combining old chestnuts with new material in the same vein. One of his biggest hits was “Wives and Lovers” (1963), something of a pet target for feminists in the 1970s, not without reason, mind you:

Hey, little girl, comb your hair, fix your make-up
Soon he will open the door
Don’t think because there’s a ring on your finger
You needn’t try anymore

Now that’s the way to talk to a lady, all you wimpy singer-songwriters of the 1970s! He still performs it, but always with a humorous approach to the sexist lyrics, he usually delivers a line like “It’s my biggest hit dammit, so I’m gonna sing it”.

After swaggering through the 1960s with his suave James Bond-style, he loosened up a bit post-Summer of Love - let his hair grow long(ish) and in 1973 he rocked out with an entire album of Bread-covers! (incredibly, another reference to Robert’s post)

This enjoyable Jack Jones Special aired around that time.

Jones also has several acting credits to his name. In addition to his guest appearances on “The Love Boat”, he was the star of the minor British horror flick “The Comeback” (1978) and he starred alongside Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon in a British TV comedy, “Cruise of the Gods” in 2002. I’m a bit curious about that one, as I loved the Coogan/Brydon-feature “Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story” (2005), and I’m also a big fan of Coogan’s Alan Partridge character.

At 70, Jack Jones continues to perform in Las Vegas and around the world, apparently to rave reviews, and nowadays he kinda looks like Moses without a beard. The silverfox!

He released his last album in 1998, a tribute to Tony Bennett.

Here he is, performing “The Days of Wine and Roses” with George Shearing live on Larry King:

Dear friends. Here’s another song written, arranged and performed by yours truly.

As the title promises it’s heavily influenced by Prefab Sprout and Paddy McAloon. My beautiful wife plays the part of Wendy Smith and I’m the crooner, McAloon-style.

I’m trying to be a just a little bit clever lyric-wise, but alas, I’m no lyricist… I hope you enjoy this modest tribute to one of my favorite bands anyway.

The Prefab Song (Go Through That) [download]

If you read this, Jason: Sorry ’bout the parentheses, but I had no choice. It’s a good title.

…or not.

Anyways, I’m making a lot of music these days, so here are links for three more songs in mp3 format.

True Love and She Said are upbeat pop-rockers. I sang more or less constantly for 24 hours, and something happened to my voice. I think it’s kind of cool, but I don’t know - too much Bryan Adams? Or Richard Marx??

Left To Cry is a drumless ballad, it’s very simple - only 4 chords repeating themselves, but it kinda works…

The lyrics were assembled - as usual - within 10 minutes and with very little regard to rhyme or reason.

I actually tried to make some money off these tracks just for the fun of it over on amiestreet.com. I got a couple of recommendations and the tracks made a few cents each, but my income stream seems to have dried out by now - I’ve been stuck with a total of $2.84 for weeks - so I think it’s safe to offer them for download here…

And hopefully I’ll come up with something interesting to write about soon… well - I never seem to write about anything interesting - but I’ll be back writing about something, that’s for sure.

My head is about as empty as the void between Ernest Borgnine’s front teeth these days.

Hurry! Head on over to the music site Amie Street this morning. They have a lot of new partners and labels, and you can get a a good deal on some pretty fine music at no cost if you’re fast enough. They’ve rolled out a bunch of really good artists on their site today.

Their model is quite brilliant, I think. All songs start out as free tracks, and then the price starts to rise as the tracks become more popular. All MP3 - no DRM.

At the moment there are free tracks by Barenaked Ladies, Josh Rouse, Griffin House, Melissa McClelland (brilliant), Adrienne Pierce, The Clumsy Lovers, Chantal Kreviazuk, Sarah McLachlan, Guggenheim Grotto - probably many more, but I haven’t got the time - I need to get back there to buy more music - for the price of free!!