HarsMedia :: April 2002

Those of you into music and mp3 probably are familiar with mp3.com
By far the world's largest e-music site, this former internet music-pioneer, now largely controlled by Universal-Vivendi, has turned into something pretty close to a virtual image of the 'real world' music bizz.

It's a thing to hate.

If you ain't got a fast connection, then don't even try.
The ceaseless popping up of ads for anything imaginable (the US army recruting, just to name one!) will kill you. On cable or ADSL you can click these away fast enough. Or you can choose to PAY them away, for $1.99/month ... that's how things are, at mp3.com's these days.

Next there's the ceaseless shouting, pushing, wheeling and dealing of hundreds, nay thousands, of would-be stars, trying to get noticed, buying their way up the charts. For mp3.com 'allows' you to buy 'slots' on often viewed pages. In what they call their 'promo'-auctions ... highest bidder wins ... acts near kill each other in pursuit of the highest number of plays: they're getting a lousy $0.005 (half a cent) for each 'qualified play', meanwhile pointing accusing fingers at suspected gamers ('gangs and schemes' set up to speed-load as many as possible of your own songs from as many as different IP-adresses as possible, without any real listening or playing of course).
Ah well? Record companies have at times been buying back their own records by the thousands to get some of their acts into the charts. So what's new ...?

But I found that mp3.com is also place to love.

For one: their streaming technology is top class. I put up an "artist's page" for the Sound Chronicles, in order to be able to present a selection of the pieces in high quality streaming format, which from this here server simply is not possible.
If you refuse to PAY for their hosting service (which is what the so called 'Premium Artists' do, $19.99/month) getting started and putting songs up is a SLOW process, and getting other than 'standard' answers to your questions from technical support may take several weeks, maybe months; or your question might be ignored alltogether. But if you can live with that and all goes well... it's pretty good!
And then there's the possibilty to create CD's with your own artwork, which you can put up for sale on your page, can be bought on-line by who ever would want one, at the price you set for it, and which are manufactured by mp3.com at demand.
If you only sell one, only one will be made.
I recently ordered the Big Block 454's "It's a Nice Hat", and, yeah, this is a quality product. A great service.

Then, last but not least, there's also the music.
If you ignore those aiming at quick and fast commercial success (usually meaning: getting signed by a 'real world' major), among the millions of files stored in mp3.com's databases, there remains an awful lot that's more than worth being heard.
If you're interested, try Better More Radio for a selection of more than an hour...
Meet Kendal Zier, a young Canadian, doing his freaky magic mushroom bedroom psychedelic recordings; the Big Block 454, self-proclaimed semi-amorphous post-modern / situationist neo-dada musical compositional construct from Manchester, England; Chris Cutler doing a duet with a freight train; the French heavy jazzy metal band Tercia, and many more.
The playlist changes regularly.

Before you can listen, you have to register with mp3.com, and give them an e-mail address.
If you don't want to receive their mailings, just give any odd address, or put some hotmail-type address you create just for the occassion.

But all of them bangs-bangs of course remain an Amphibious-site exclusive --> go there, give them try: it's 'You & Me' ! (interactive flash and mp3).