Welcome to the first installment of Tracks, ComputerUser's monthly survey of
the best in downloadable rock and pop music. The objective here is at once simple
and daunting: Find the best downloadable music on the Web--preferably tracks
available there exclusively--and report back to you about them.
What's so hard about that? A couple of things. One, record companies are
still gun-shy about putting exclusive tracks online. The official reason for this
is that they're testing the marketplace to see if the Web is a viable medium for
music distribution. The real reason is that giving away something for nothing
makes the collective flesh of the record industry crawl. There's also the small
matter of the Record Industry Association of America being entangled in miles of
legal disputes with MP3.com and other providers of online music. When space
permits, we'll also try to track the legal wrangling in this department.
The other problem is that music on the Web is a particularly slippery fish.
Tracks are made available for download as an enticement--to get people to visit a
Web site, or to get them excited about a new release. Therefore, tracks seldom
stay posted very long and are seldom archived. If the music we discuss this month
isn't there when you go looking for it, I apologize, but for now that's the
nature of the beast.
One other thing: As you probably know, there's an enormous underground of Web
sites that offer downloadable music, movies, software and other goodies without
bothering with the small hassle of getting permission to do so. While I'm
generally a big fight-the-power type of guy, I need to point out that the people
who run these sites are technically thieves. You'll need to discuss these sites
amongst yourselves.
It's only fitting that we should begin with a vintage rage against the
music-industry machine. First recorded in 1978, Elvis Costello's "Radio, Radio"
showed us a young man quite unafraid to, as he put it, "bite the hand that feeds
me" when it came to soliciting airplay. Ironically, the song has remained one of
his most popular. The version at upload.tunes.com
was recorded live with the Attractions, though the Web site doesn't say where or
when. Doesn't matter; it smokes.
Counting Crows offer not one but two exclusive live tracks at Artist
Direct. Available for download are versions of "Rain King" and "Angels of the
Silences," recorded in concert last summer. Artist Direct has lots of good tracks
available for download, but watch out: You have to agree to an onslaught of
e-mail updates to get them.
Also out there for the taking:
Australian rocker Ben Lee offers a previously unreleased
cover of Kylie Minogue's (!) "Confide in Me" www.ben-lee.com.
Los Angeles radio station KNAC has a
live version of Guns N' Roses' "Coma" that's otherwise available only on the
Japanese pressing of the Gn'R live album "Live Era '87 to '93".
Grunge godfathers Mudhoney have a preview of their upcoming collection of
cover songs with a version of Roxy Music's "Editions of You" at www.subpop.com.
Lo-fi standard-bearers Sebadoh are always good for an online exclusive,
and when last checked, www.sebadoh.com had a
live version of "Tree," among other goodies.
Some of the best spots for finding downloadable music are, to put it mildly,
off the beaten track. If you find a particularly good (and legitimate) source of
exclusive MP3, Liquid Audio, Windows Media, or even streaming audio tracks,
please e-mail me to let me know so I can spread the word dan@computeruser.com.
