Them Crooked Vultures Let It All Hang Out on YouTube

They may not be the first group to put their entire new album on YouTube, but it’s still not something you see every day. New “supergroup” Them Crooked Vultures has confidently made their self-titled new album available free for anyone to listen to on the wildly popular video sharing site YouTube.

This may be an interesting experiment, whether or not the band planned it as such, I do not know. Will the release of the entire album online for free have any impact on album sales? Some fans have commented on YouTube and indicated that they plan to buy the album and applaud the group’s decision to put their music out there.

Other fans indicate that those who download music illegally are mostly kids who cannot afford to buy their music or people who would not buy it even if the downloads were not available. Groups like the RIAA surely do not agree with that assessment, but might this move by the Vultures prove them wrong? Is there any measurement that is used to accurately predict album sales? It would be interesting to know if the YouTube release has any effect on the numbers.

Perhaps the group is just facing up to reality, knowing that their album will be available online whether they put it there or not. I don’t think it takes a seasoned internet veteran to locate free music to download online, and it seems that barely any popular group is immune to having their material shared though various methods, which include download sites, news groups, torrents, P2P Networks, and perhaps others I have never even heard about.

The official release for the new album is set for November 17th.

To check out their new album in its entirety, head on over to Them Crooked Vultures’ YouTube Channel.

Tags: Album, Free, Online, Streaming, Them Crooked Vultures, YouTube

Brian May Not Happy About Mercury-Jackson Recording Leaks

My earlier report regarding the whereabouts of the recordings made by Michael Jackson and Freddie Mercury during the 1980’s may have been a bit premature. It has become apparent that whomever it was that was in possession of them has somehow allowed them to be leaked to the internet. Something that does not sit well with Queen guitarist Brian May.

What’s a little strange is that it appears as if the two songs May makes reference two have been on YouTube for quite some time. I was quickly able to locate both “State of Shock” as well as “There Must Be More To Life Than This” on YouTube, and they have apparently been posted there for three years.

Whether or not May realized that the material was posted that long ago on YouTube or was just venting his frustration during this time when there is so much attention focused on Jackson’s death is not clear. The Queen guitarist was quoted as saying, “The music thieves at work as usual.”

Brian May is also in the news for reasons other than his comments about the Mercury-Jackson material. May was injured during a performance in the U.K. on July 2nd.

May and drummer Roger Taylor were on stage at the Birmingham Hippodrome when the accident occurred. A platform that was used to support Taylor reportedly malfunctioned as it was moving forward and failed to stop before hitting May, resulting in a nasty bruise.

Although May laughed off the incident, it was reported by someone who had seen May’s injury that it was worse than May had admitted. Roger Taylor reports that the accident was no fault of his, but just demonstrates that the show was live and that May is all right.

May and Taylor were on stage as part of a production known as “We Will Rock You,” – a musical that is based on Queen’s greatest hits.

For more on the mishap, visit the Sunday Mercury.

Tags: Accident, Brian May, freddie mercury, Leaked, Michael Jackson, Recordings, Roger Taylor, YouTube

AC/DC’s Black Ice Slid Out The Door To The Delight of 400,000 Fans

I always wonder how these things come about when I hear about a major movie or album showing up on the internet well before its official release date. I guess it’s obvious that some insider is up to no good and has little or no dedication to whomever it is they are working for, but for heavens sake, how many people actually have access to media on which the movies or albums are recorded on? One would assume these kinds of things would be closely guarded, and only certain key individuals would be able to get their hands on them.

It’s obvious from the title of this article that it has happened again. Someone got access to AC/DC’s highly-anticipated new album, Black Ice and released it on the internet. We all know what happens after that – is spreads like wild fire, and once the genie is out of the bottle it’s pretty much impossible to put it back in there.

The album was leaked on October 7, and showed up on YouTube and BitTorrent sites. It was said to have been downloaded approximately 400,000 times, despite being yanked from YouTube. The nature of BitTorrent, as well as some of the  other illegal distribution methods out there pretty much means that the album has found it’s freedom on the internet and is not  likely to be returned to reside solely within the confines of the Sony Music vault.

Just yesterday I briefly mentioned how AC/DC continues to be hugely successful despite their reluctance to allow their music to be distributed via digital outlets like iTunes. I hate to break it to the boys, but their official denials to go digital have little effect on the availability of their music on the internet.

For the heck of it, I decided to check around some of the historically reliable sources on the internet for all things digital, and saw that the following AC/DC albums where listed as being available: Black Ice (as we know), Jailbreak, Hell’s Bells, Flick of The Switch, Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap, Back In Black, Stiff Upper Lip, etc. And by “etc.,” I mean just about any other AC/DC album you can think of – I just got tired of typing them in!

Supposedly Sony Music flooded BitTorrent with bogus copies of Black Ice in an effort to gum up the works a bit, and make it harder for downloaders to get a real copy, but I suspect that was not all that successful. The location I was able to see all those AC/DC albums available had nothing to do with BitTorrent. The internet is simply too large for one entity, in this case, Sony Music, to have any measure of control over. Even if it is their legal right to do so.

The good news for AC/DC, Sony Music as well as the music industry as a whole, is that some studies have shown that fans who illegally download music are more likely to buy a legitimate copy of the album when compared to those who have not sampled it. I rather hope that is true since it’s a sort of win-win situation for the fans and the artists alike.

You can read more at Music Radar.

Tags: AC/DC, BitTorrent, Black Ice, Download, Internet, Leaked, YouTube

Ask The Rolling Stones on YouTube

The Rolling Stones are offering fans a chance to ask them some “burning questions.” The venerable rockers have created a new YouTube channel as part of the video service’s new “Living Legends” feature.

In addition to the ability to ask the Stones a question, the channel also offers a variety of Rolling Stones videos, including some behind-the-scenes footage from the creation of the new Rolling Stones movie, Shine A Light from Martin Scorsese.

According to the information on the channel, the Stones are the first ones to participate in “Living Legends,” which is described by YouTube as “a program that invites luminaries from across the globe to engage in an open dialogue with the YouTube community.”

Tags: Living Legends, Rolling Stones, YouTube