Don’t know how I missed this – Shatter the Hotel, dub versions of The Clash – this one is Dubmatix featuring the ever-excellent Don Letts. CHOON!
And it also links in to the GYBO Weekend Challenge I’m running this week (It is Jez CMP’s idea, I won last week with my Fela Kuti/Hot Chip mashup – the winner selects the tunes to mash for the next weekend) and I chose Rock the Casbah for instrumental as well as Go Your Own Way for acapella. The first one is in, and it’s a cover by LV15 (who not only I didn’t know was doing a track for it – everyone is welcome but I’d not sent him the instrumentals or acapellas – I didn’t know did cover versions) and it’s ace – I think Joe would’ve liked this:
Actually the first track being iTunes-only (the whole Shatter the Hotel CD is on iTunes, apart from a few tracks on YT/Soundcloud) raises an important point that as a new Linux user I’d not thought of before – iTunes is Mac/PC only. Only providing promo-streams and ability to buy on iTunes only shuts out some of your audience – either those who don’t want to or those who can’t install iTunes. Yes I know you can run some old version in WINE (badly I might add) but I can’t as my iTunes library is all iTunes 9, and I know from experience backgrading if possible would cause problems with my dual boot, and probably corrupt/nuke the library.
I want to buy it now but I’d have to quit out of Linux and into Windows specially, which is a mega hassle just for that one purchase. Grr. Apple is going the way of RCA, Logie-Baird and Bell anyway – a company that’s had an early innovation strangehold on a technology or market but eventually lose out because they refuse to innovate, refuse to keep their systems open or play nicely with others and get lazy and just want to rake in the profits. Mark my words – the people who are leaving iPhones for other systems over this silly war with Adobe and technical problems/slowness and the fact there are now better systems out there are quite alarming. I think the Apple-love tide is turning…
So here’s a call for those selling digitally – please use more than one system, pref. one without DRM and open to everyone. I think Joe would like that.
EDIT: Just found it on Amazon as MP3s. Weirdly the Strummerville and other sites don’t mention that, unless I missed it. So I’m a happy (well happier) man!
Oh I spoke too soon – Amazon’s bullshit downloader doesn’t work with Ubuntu 10. And they insist you have to use it when you buy more than one track, which I’ve managed to do, so I’m minus £2.37 and have no tracks. I’m going off to pirate them, sorry Strummerville but really?
Again – please please please people can you use a reputable digital vendor? That supports any OS and doesn’t mean you have to install a program, be it iTunes or stupid downloading applications. Grr.
I mean with terrible buying experiences like these and I WANT TO BUY THESE TRACKS BUT CAN’T can you blame people saying fuck it and downloading illegally? I’m all for supporting the artist and charity, but if you make it hard for people to download, either having DRM or install programs or even not even be able to get the tunes (iTunes for instance, or country restrictions) then can you blame them? It’s why, I have limited sympathy with bleating from record labels and sites about piracy, as if you make it good and cheap or simple to get or listen to – like with Spotify or YouTube people WILL do so. If you make it a nightmare, people will pirate.
SORT IT PEOPLE. Or be consigned to the dustbin of history.
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