Doing this doesn't deter people from ripping this audio and illegally downloading the tracks. It actually makes them more likely to go and download the music illegally in full (because it will have already leaked somewhere).

So instead of staying on your website / social profile where they may *actually* listen to the music, fall in love with it and then buy merch, tickets, or music (because you let them listen whilst they browsed) they'll go and download it elsewhere and have no need to come back to your website.

It's not 2001, it's 2011. Get a grip.

**UPDATE**

As @seaneeboy points out, Bandcamp have summed it up perfectly via @dubber!

How do you to do? I mean, you have stuff to do, right? How do you remember to do it? Do you have the brain/memory capacity to remember everything you need to do each day? Or do you forgot lots of things? Maybe you have the ultimate to do list system? And do you worry about forgetting to do things? Or maybe you just don't worry about not doing, to do's?

I've been asking myself all of these question of late. There have been a couple of blog posts that got me thinking about this, one of which is here  (check out my rambling comment!).

The one conclusion that I have come to is that I have relied on technology to remind me to do things for so long now, I'm incapable of doing it myself - my brain can't handle it, most likely because it's out of practice (it hasn't been used in this way, so it's forgotten), and possibly because it hasn't been allowed to adapt to a world where there are literally hundreds of bits of 'mini information' being thrown at it from all directions at the same time, courtesy of the aforementioned technology.

I always have lots of things 'to do' but I suck at doing them. I make to do lists; most are in my email, some are in an online 'to do list manager' (which is embedded in my email), many are saved as reminders in my mobile phone, and very occasionally there'll be one or two in my head. But as my to do list manager (software called Remember The Milk) so often reminds me, my 'overdue' list is always longer than my 'to do' list.

So, how do I fix this? Do I need to adopt a super-strict routine when it comes to 'to do's', or perhaps I need to stop worry about it, and in the words of Nike 'just do it'? Either way I'm not sure, and I'm swimming in a sea of 'to do's'.

How do you make sure you remember to get everything done?

This depresses me:

Today Syco Music (Simon Cowell's label which is part of Sony BMG) are celebrating holding the No.1 spot in three of the UK sales charts. They have the top 3 albums in the artist album chart with Leona Lewis, Shayne Ward and Westlife. They are also numbers 1 and 3 in in the DVD charts with the X Factor DVD and Shayne Ward longform DVD, and they have Leona Lewis now with a six week reign at No.1 in the singles chart in the UK. Leona Lewis' record breaking Spirit album sold a further 164,433 copies last week. Shayne Ward made a fantastic debut at no.2 with sales of 95,801 for the Breathless album, and Westlife had another massive sales week with 83,692 copies sold of Home. In the singles chart Leona Lewis achieved a sixth week at No.1 with Bleeding Love, which has now sold 662,225 copies, continually extending its lead as the year's biggest single. Further to this, SonyBMG had four of the top ten singles last week and in total 17 of the top 40. "This is an historic achievement for Syco and my congratulations go out to Leona, Shayne, Westlife and of course, Simon Cowell, Sonny Takhar and the whole Syco team," says Ged Doherty, Chairman and CEO, SonyBMG Music Entertainment UK & Ireland. "Their drive and ambition have once again delivered a great result for the entire company at the busiest time of the year."

I have nothing against these people personally, but what does it say about the state of the music industry and public at large when this is what's dominating the charts? Simon Cowell should not be single handedly bending over the UK music industry and having his way with it like he is. Where did all the good music go? Surely there's got to be something better than this out there? And if so, why are those artists not ruling the roost in such a way? Maybe the internet has finally created a sub-culture where all the real music will be consumed in a free digital format, whilst the throwaway tosh of 'Pop Rivals The Academy Factor' will continue to be bought in the form of annoying ringtones that are played loudly on the bus? Maybe the Roddy Woomble quote I posted back in October hit the nail on the head:

...it’s not true that people have stopped buying albums, it’s just that they’re still buying the shit ones. People that tend to be into good music tend also to be into downloading it, and therein lies the problem.

Where did all the good music go? My next post will try and answer this question - it's time for the annual 'Albums Of The Year' post!

Yesterday's protest march against the proposed closure of Danesmore Park Primary School in Wolverhampton. Visit www.danesmorepark.co.uk/sos for more information. [tags]Danesmore Park, Ashmore Park, Wolverhampton, School, Education, Politics, Save Our School, Labour, School Closures, March, Protest[/tags]

---------------- Now playing: Sheryl Crow - If It Makes You Happy via FoxyTunes    So the government have finally set a date for the UK smoking ban; July 1st 2007! This means no more pubs/gigs full of people smoking. No more choking, and no more stinging eyes. No more going home with clothes and hair stinking of other people's smoke. Hooray! Once it's operational, I shall be adding the 'shop a smoker' hotline number to my phone so I can report smokers / venues breaking the new law. "Respect mah authority!" [tags]Smoking Ban, UK Smoking Ban, Smoking, Smokers, Smoke, No Smoking, UK Law, Politics, Passive Smoking[/tags]

I'm not going to rant about how much I love Pearl Jam, and how they're one of my favourite bands of al time, or how every musician in a band should be aspiring to have a career that mirrors theirs, because I'm sure I've done it before. What I will say though, is if you only know the early Pearl Jam and thought they disappeared when all the Grunge hype did, make sure you DOWNLOAD THEIR NEW SINGLE FOR FREE HERE and listen to it. They are an amazing band, who have stood the test of time (as well as the 'scene' they were associated with dying and a number of other catastrophic events) and they're about to release their 8th studio album. Ask yourself how many other bands do you like who're still going after that many albums? So put your 90's prejudices aside for a minute and check out 'Worldwide Suicide'! www.pearljam.com

I spotted this blatant example of a farmer lying and completely over-reacting, while managing to sound very 'inbred-country-type' in an article about a plane flying too low on it's landing approach to Birmingham airport today: "It looked like it was only 200 to 300 feet up as it nearly hit the straw stack. It happened so quickly it was like a boom," he said. So, you're telling us Mr Farmer that your straw stack is 200 or 300 feet high are you? I think not. In fact I think the pigs aren't the only porkies on your farm - are they? And what the hell does "It happened so quickly it was like a boom" mean exactly? That makes no sense whatsoever to me!? Imagine the scene... Winter Olympics Commentator #1: "Wow! Did you see how quick that Bobsled was?" Winter Olympics Commentator #2: "Yeah! It was like a BOOM!". Whatever you reckon Mr Farmer. Full story here.

My left mouse button has decided it knows best and is double clicking at random, when it feels like it. This is the most annoying thing. In the world. I thought I'd fixed it once by pulling the button up and shaking the mouse about - some crap fell out and it was ok for a few days, but this evening it started again. You may ask why double clicking is a problem - surely that's a major part of computing? This is true. But I have no control whatsoever over WHEN it double clicks, so it's opening windows and launching files and programs at will all over the place. It's starting to really piss me off! In other news I seem to have been neglecting my blog and moblog recently - I've not been posting much although I'm not sure why. It's not a case of me not wanting to, or me doing a lot more/less than usual, I just haven't blogged much recently, but that's ok. Yesterday I found a really shocking blog post about someone who lost their digital camera, only for it to be 'un-lost' but not found. Check out 'Lost Camera' here. The coming weekend should be fun - I'm planning on going out on Saturday to celebrate my 25th birthday which is next Tuesday (28th), providing I can shake off the bird flu I've managed to catch from a certain bird ;-) I think I'm going to be well enough to go ahead with plans, so I need to book the restaurant tomorrow. It will be nice to see some people I don't see enough of these days, eat good food, and drink good drink - that's what birthdays should be about! I'm surprisingly not bitter about getting older, unlike many people I know getting older doesn't really bother me and the whole 'quarter of a century' tag doesn't mean anything in my book. It's the first birthday I've had where I can't think of *anything* I want, so hopefully I'll get a couple of surprises and plenty of cash - the more versatile present! I've been lucky enough to borrow STACKS of new music off friends recently, so I'm currently discovering new bands and albums on a day to day basis. Currently rocking my iTunes playlists are: Wilco, I Am Kloot, Massive Attack, Radiohead, Seth Lakeman, Tom McRae and Rocky Votolato amongst others. I'm really digging Wilco - I've been meaning to check them out for years and I'm kicking myself now! 'Gods & Monsters' the latest album from I Am Kloot is great too. At this very moment in time I'm listening to 'Gold Metal' by The Donnas, which is pretty cool...energetic pop/rock from kick ass girls - you can't really go wrong! I'm going to see my beloved Foo Fighters again in June! They've just announced a MASSIVE show at Hyde Park in London, so we got tickets via the sneaky old pre-sale link. Other acts on the bill include Queens Of The Stone Age, Motorhead, Angles and Airwaves (Tom DeLonge of Blink 182's new band) and The Subways - should be a great day hopefully. I'm not normally a fan of these big type of events (I passed up RHCP tickets) but if there's one band that can rock 80,000 like no one else - it's the Foos! I can't wait! Work is going well, very busy with Imogen...everything is going very well and I've got some cool new projects coming up with the some cool new bands and some other stuff too - all good! Enough. Bed time!

I've not blogged much recently. I've been pretty busy with work and play and I guess not having the time to blog because I'm busy doing other stuff is good, right? Last week I went to London for a record company meeting, which meant a 10 hour round trip for a 2 hour meeting. Gotta love public transport! The meeting was successful and lots was discussed, I also gained some inside Foo Fighters knowledge randomly, which was also good! I'm going back down tomorrow for a meeting and for Imogen's gig at The Scala, which I'm really looking forward to - I have fond memories of the two Dum Dums shows at The Scala, and I don't think I've been back there since the Dum Dums played there in 2000, so I look forward to returning! Turns out Steve is working for Immi at the show, so he'll be there too which is cool. Looks like we'll be driving back late tomorrow night, so we might miss the aftershow party, but such is life! I spent most of the weekend on Steph's sofa, both awake and asleep. We ate good food (she's a proper little master-chef-ette), watched a total of...6 films in 48 hours (although Steph slept through a couple of them!)...we watched A Mighty Wind, Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back, Empire Records, Team Amercia, Jack Dee Live and Dogma...and generally hung out while being entertained by the whirlwind of energy that is Jordan. I cried my eyes out with laughter at some of his antics, especially his dance routine to 'Big Butts' by Sir Mixalot - it was possibly the funniest thing I've ever seen! All this while I tried not to die from the bastard cold of got. I watched Batman Begins again last night - such a great film....I think it's my favourite Batman film, although I now plan to re-watch them all. It seems that the world has gone a bit crazy this week, all kinds of mad stuff going on - I sometimes wonder why people can't just chill the fuck out and not lose the plot the instance someone says or does something they don't like? Everyone should be more laid back, like me. Or maybe not quite as laid back a me...but more laid back than they are. Just let people do their own thing and stop trying to force your opinions or beliefs on them, and general get on with each other better. And if Sky try and show me one more advert for season five of 24 there's going to be big trouble! I had to cover my ears, shut my eyes and scream 'lalalalala' the other day so I couldn't see/hear the advert. The cat was NOT impressed by this. I seem to have been abusing my moblog in the last week too, no posts for 6 days. I did lose a couple of days due to illness so I guess it's ok. Hopefully tomorrow will bring some good moblogging opportunities. Oh and finally - I see the British music buying public are as fucking stupid as the Ordinary Boys think they are. The band/label re-release a shit song because Preston went on Celebrity Big Brother, and all those dumb fucks who watch BB and read The Sun go and lap it up, putting the song in the top 5 on the chart. Whatever England, Whatever! At least Kerrang radio are taking the piss out of this re-release. End of transmission.

Need to fuck off and die! They are the single most annoying thing on the planet. ever. Why? Why can no one advertise something on the radio with being cheesy annoying bastards! I have listening to the radio because about 2% of the music played on UK radio is music I like - the rest is crap, but occasionally I like to flick the radio on while I'm making lunch. Unfortunately the only stations worth listening to are Kerrang! and Planet Rock - both of which play good music, but both of which have loads of those bloody annoying adverts! As if they weren't bad enough 11 months of the year the Christmas ones are fucking awful. Coca Cola can get fucked! As well as all those shitty local companies trying to make funny Christmas jingle - get out of my ears! Once again I have been forced to bring out the 'Frustrated Japanese Student' photo I found on Google for a PREVIOUS POST about frustration. This little Japanese man has served me well. In other advertising news - the new Honda TV ad is class, keep your eyes peeled for it!