Dan Le Sac vs Scroobius Pip – Getting Better

the system might fail you but don’t fail yourself – Dan Le Sac vs Scroobius Pip – Getting Better

Credit – no idea where this is from, uncredited sadly.

Yup already I haz my favourite song of 2010 – it’s the first single ‘Getting Better’ from Dan Le Sac vs Scroobius Pip’s forthcoming album ‘The Logic of Chance’ released in March.

Here’s the album version (Link removed at request of the band’s manager – see comments for my response about how I think this is a little myopic) and the Villa remix of ‘Getting Better’ (ditto) which has leaked out (officially?) last week via Too Many Sebastians; go buy it when it’s released in March 1st on Sunday Best.

I love the lyrics and positive message – ‘there are other choices if you want them, you don’t have to toe the line and float with the flotsam, you can fill your time better when you get a passion, the internet and public services give free education, it really ain’t a case of rich or poor…the system might fail you but don’t fail yourself – get better!’

If this is a good sampler of the new album it’ll be a good follow up to Angles, which I just bought on US import with the free individually sprayed 7″ on Strange Famous (Sage Francis’s label) and as a nice touch they also sent me a copy of Reanimator’s first LP.

Yes I’m a whore and easily bought with freebies!…Nah I love Scroobius Pip vs Dan Le Sac and highly recommend them to everyone – but freebies help 😉 Although I hope that Pip bloke has moved on from the baseball caps – this is why I moved onto top hats and other hats. He stole my style!

And I’m already seeing them at the warmup at the now-sold-out Borderline on the 27th of January…squeee!

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Tim B

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Comments

11 responses to “the system might fail you but don’t fail yourself – Dan Le Sac vs Scroobius Pip – Getting Better”

  1. Michael avatar
    Michael

    No idea who this group is, but the lyric about the “system has failed you” seems to be, err, borrowed from Billy Bragg’s “To Have and Have Not.”

    http://www.rhapsody.com/billy-bragg/must-i-paint-you-a-picture-the-essential-billy-bragg/to-have-and-to-have-not/lyrics.html

    Reply
    1. anon avatar
      anon

      just to say , if you think they stole that line, they do say in the lyrics “as billy says, the system might fail you but don’t fail yourself”
      just to say 😀

      Reply
  2. Rebecca Lewis (Manager) avatar
    Rebecca Lewis (Manager)

    Can you take the link to the download down immediately? The reason dan and pip use a soundcloud player on their blog is so that fans like yourself can embed them into your website without having to give them away. The band really appreciate your support but an action like this can be very damaging to small acts such as dan le sac Vs Scroobius Pip.

    Reply
    1. Tim avatar
      Tim

      I’ve removed the link as requested 🙂

      I do disagree that my actions are damaging though – we are promoting your act for free; tirelessly in fact. Many people don’t like streaming services, and listen to music on their iPods not sitting at their computer – hence MP3 blogs – and I know I’ve been converted to being a fan of an act through hearing ‘unofficial’ MP3s and bought their singles, albums and seen them live as a result.

      As wonderful as Rob is, Sunday Best doesn’t have the marketing clout of say Sony and X-Factor; I doubt the single will sell 100s of thousands but I really wish it would. So us fans are getting the word out and one way is via MP3 – and by the way – anyone can rip that MP3 from your players with something like a simple add-on like DownloadHelper for Firefox, it’s impossible to stop that nor really should you try to police that.

      Embrace that fact, because by sharing the music others will find out about them, and when the single is out or the album they will buy them, or go to the live shows.

      And If you think a low quality 128kbs MP3 is going to stop fans buying the record, then you don’t understand music fans…they’ll buy the record and the album and the tshirt and the special edition (I’ve just bought the Strange Famous US album of Angles with the 7″) and need to see them live – a poor MP3 copy won’t be enough. And those that don’t, actually wouldn’t have bought it anyway. Music fans are fans…just hoping to convert a few more Dan and Pip’s way.

      Reply
      1. gfss avatar
        gfss

        Dude you are still getting the word out without giving away the mp3! From what I understand the band haven’t exactly made money, obviously it isn’t all about the money but for small bands like dan le sac Vs Scroobius Pip they do need to sell to survive.

        It is good the manager asked directly, i had to shut down my old blog as i kept getting cease & desist orders from Web Sheriff / Majors, some labels are way more aggressive than this! Just looking at their sales figures for Angles & some of the torrent trackers, you can understand why their manager is sensitive to dl’s as they’ve sold just of 20,000 but had closer to 70,000 illegally downloaded.

        Reply
        1. Tim avatar
          Tim

          Yes but other labels understand the single/MP3 is there to promote the album and give it away free or let it be shared. The days of the single actually selling are LONG gone. It’s there to promote the album – and all the blogs are doing jus that cos we like the band. Big difference between that and downloading the whole album though. And yes I am one of those who tends not to stream music and prefer to hear a MP3, then go and buy it later if I like it….a lot of my CD collection is stuff I originally downloaded illegally. Happy to give the bands the money (preferably direct) if their stuff is worth it. Downloading low-res MP3 is more akin to streaming and previewing for a music-fan or someone who likes higher quality to be available (DJs like me).

          Sharing is here to stay – best to use it. Angles may have only sold 20k (in this country, it’s just been released in the US) but their warm up show sold out in no time at all and I expect the tour to do same…I wonder how many of those people downloaded the album? Not all 20,000 people would do the tour, and they are known in the States even though I think the album wasn’t out there…how was that? Magic? But the album might have also sold more if there hadn’t been a LONG wait for it’s release – ditto this single.

          And yes I’ve had my share of C&Ds from the likes of EMI. I appreciate being asked nicely.

          Reply
        2. Tim avatar
          Tim

          Also the logic is ‘giving it away free (or others doing so) hurts sales’ – actually the opposite seems to be true – check out Cory Doctorow and others experiences giving away free eBooks…I think music is not that much different.

          Also I doubt that all the 70k who downloaded it would have bought it, but I’m willing to bet that the sales would’ve been lower if there was no torrent. Also I’d bet the sales of the next LP will be higher, not necessarily cos it’s better (I hope it is) but some of those who downloaded the first LP will buy the 2nd. That’s what they found with eBooks et al – the exposure of ‘free’ books and getting it for free means people who like it buy that and/or future ones. Sales rose for that book and the future ones.

          I think albums are the same – people who don’t want to buy, won’t buy. The people who do will buy and the next one too.

          What I’m saying is don’t treat fans like criminals, nor assume they want to rip off the band, nor that the new technology is bad. People have always shared music, from tapes to CDRs, but it’s just more visible now…don’t see it as a bad thing automatically. The bands and artists that have used it (Doctorow, Lessig, NIN, Saul Williams, Radiohead et al) have benefitted greatly. But all artists have probably benefited from this sharing in some way.

          Reply
          1. Hank morrgan avatar
            Hank morrgan

            you completly right. I ripped the first aldum from a mate, loved it. Saw them and then bought their second aldum. THe first CD i have bought in about a decade cos after hearing them for free i wanted to support them.

            Reply
      2. BenY avatar
        BenY

        I never would have bought their first album if I hadn’t heard “Look For The Woman” multiple times, which I wouldn’t have done if it was streaming. It was on iTunes as part of a podcast and the first time it didn’t sink in. After about the third time I couldn’t believe how great it was, but I never would have clicked a streaming link three times to listen. I did go to YouTube after hearing the song a bunch to find out more, and streaming was fine once I was hungry for it. But without it being on my machine I never would have given it a second listen, which would be sad.

        I’m totally psyched for the new album! In the US the only way I hear about them is Radio Clash.

        Reply
  3. gfss avatar
    gfss

    Michael,
    The line before “the system might fail you but don’t fail yourself” is “As Billy said”, so yes it is a Billy Bragg line but Scroobius Pip references that fact in the song.

    Reply

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