A couple of months ago, I got a bit discouraged when I heard a talk radio show centered around the “the state of hip-hop,” and they were talking about the current kings: 50 Cent and Kanye West. Fuckin’ no-talent hacks.
I didn’t even like rap when I was a teenager, and I’ve only built a healthy appreciation for the old-school stuff in maybe the last 5 years, but the fact of the matter is, I’ve become kind of a snob when it comes to hip-hop…I can’t fucking STAND the shit that kids today call “the shit.” I can’t listen to 50 Cent for more than a second or two…he’s got no talent and no depth.
I heard on the radio this morning that Atmosphere is not only releasing a new album this spring, but over the winter they also released a free 13-track downloadable album on their website. They played a track on the radio show, and I was reminded of just how smart their lyrics are, and how infectious the beats are. And I can’t, for the life of me, figure out why acts like this aren’t “the current kings of hip-hop.”
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Also, on the same radio show, the topic of conversation was pre-release “leaks” of albums. For smaller acts, leaks like this can spark interest and generate sales, but for the larger acts, it can have a hugely negative impact on sales.
They spoke with a bunch of people in the industry who are attempting to deal with the problem, including a man whose company’s sole charge is to help record companies battle pre-release leaks to bit-torrent sites.
One strategy they use made me laugh hysterically: upon finding a leak, they actually “flood the market” with further leaked copies, but the ones they contribute are filled with glitches and shitty compression artifacts, making the tracks almost unbearable to listen to from beginning to end. By completely destroying the signal-to-noise ratio and transforming the user-experience to utter dogshit, they achieve their goal of discouraging at least a portion of music pirates from downloading the music, since it’s hell-nigh impossible to find a quality copy.
It’s guerrilla warfare, but it’s fucking brilliant. I’ll admit, it’s worked to discourage me, but I’d always just assumed that the high signal-to-noise ratio was just because jackasses can’t figure out how to rip a track properly.