NINESLASHES*

Today at work we had the usual morning meeting, where all of our staff gathers together. Normally we go through basic stuff about work, but this day was different. Our boss told that three people have to go. It wasn’t about cut-backs or anything like that, more that those people hadn’t put their real effort to the job and this wasn’t good for anyone. So feelings were pretty low first in the morning, but now when I’m writing this, it’s afternoon and laughter echoes in the hallways of our office. The people that left our team, were real good friends for some of us so the loss was great. I still think it’s going to do a lot of good in the long run. Finally, price paid for this returns, I believe.

Tomorrow is easter holiday and a day off. We come to work next Tuesday. I’m now going to finish my day and leave home soon. Sun is shining outside. Great day to walk in city. See you soon.

I went today to buy new shoes (payday!) and got myself a pair completely different shoes that I had in mind. I was on a mission to get those at-the-moment-so-cool Vans Slip-Ons. Mainly reason was the price. They are really cheap and I thought they would be good shoes for spring time.

At the store, I tried the Pumas and that was it. You know the moment when you put something on and you just know it’s almost made for you? That was the feeling I got with these shoes. In addition they felt extremely good comparing to any other shoes at the store and the price was excactly same as the Vans Slip-On shoes.

I walked out of the store with a smile on my face. Good deal.

Was this worth a blog post. Hell yeah!

The New Linkin Park song “What I’ve Done”

Yesterday, April 2, the new Linkin Park single was released. To my know, the song was premiered on a radio station in the States at morning local time. I heard the clip of the song last weekend and got interested. I wanted to hear the full song as soon as possible. Typical reaction of any fan or music maniac, right? So on monday, after work, I searched the video for the song from various places as I read that it was available. I found the video from YouTube soon. I watched it and thought it was a good video and a great song. There was a good compilation with the melodies, lyrics and video this time.

I wanted to spread the word to people, so I put the video to my Myspace page. It was there maybe half on our. I went to see the changes I made with my page, viewed my profile, clicked the video to play and the message said: “This video is no longer available”. What?! I went to YouTube and saw that all the videos for the song had wiped out. There was a copyright claim made by Warner, so YouTube had to delete all the videos which were made contained new Linkin Park material.

I guess this is legally right thing to do, and this is probably what the record company has to do when facing a situation like this. However, I don’t and I don’t have to understand this. Music videos are marketing tools for bands these days, every bigger band has to make one aside released single. Due to heavy rotation in various channels the song is noticed by people. Why spend a fortune in making cool-looking shortfilm with a story if it doesn’t get in the air? In this case, people were willing to promote the band and the new song by them selves. No one had to do this job. It was voluntary work.

Yes, I understand the copyright issues here. As I said this is legally right. Nevertheless, I think that putting the video up would’ve been extremely smart thing to do and efficient marketing by the record company. Think about it. The cd-single release date is April 30. This creates a need to the hear the song until the official release. There would’ve been the video available, so people would’ve searched it. This would have been great marketing until the release and when that day would have come, people would’ve been all fuzzed up about the new single and would’ve ran to the stores to get it.

This is how I believe record companies want things to go now. First they inform the the people about the upcoming release, there will be clips and a video available. A assumed fan hears that song and thinks: “I want to buy the cd and hear the song more”. When the time comes and cd version of the single is released, stores will be filled with people. This isn’t an personal opinion. This isn’t one-man-anarchy. This is basic marketing, which record companies should understand.

I am aware that there is digital release available for the song and the video in the US iTunes store. It’s a good thing. However, I can’t buy the single from there, because I live Finland. This yet another weird thing that I don’t understand. Apple has made this thing where you can’t buy real digital music from a foreign store. Honestly I think it’s pure idiotism. There a lot of people who want to buy foreign music and give the royalties to the artists by using iTunes.

The companies should understand that these kind of things make the music industry even more vulnerable and difficult to understand. Normal people have no idea why this is happening. I agree that the battle against piracy is crucial for music these days and must be fought. I have and I will support that battle.

I think many of us have forgot why music exists in the first place. Music gets twisted by rules and money. People just want to hear good music. That is my final conclusion and an opinion I relate to. Long live music.

All the best,

Karri