Dot Product

I love music. Not all music, but that which strikes my fancy, I’m passionate about. My tastes are rather eclectic as well, from mass-market offerings from Garbage, Nelly Furtado, Linkin Park, Sarah Brightman, REM and many others, to Opera, Scottish Pipes & Drums and various international offerings (I have a weakness for Peruvian music…). Now’s a great time to be alive and have such a range of tastes, because the span of what is available to the average consumer has exploded as distribution channels have fragmented or been replaced.

Except if the musician is trapped by a traditional media outlet. Like Fiona Apple. I learned this morning that she has produced a third album for Epic/Sony… actually completed it back in 2003, and since Sony could not find something that matched their vision for what should be playing on the radio, they shelved it. A good overview of the whole story can be found here.

That would basically be the end of the story, except times have changed. A copy of the album has been leaked, and is now available through multiple P2P protocols. Great news for Fiona Apple fans, and it highlights the idiocy of Sony/Epics decision. Fans such as myself would gladly spend the $10 to get the songs legally from iTunes Music Store. It would cost Sony *nothing* to use that distribution channel, and Sony could get paid, and by extension, Fiona Apple could too. As it is, many fans are enjoying the sweet fruit of her labor, but not to the benefit of the artist.

Idiocy. I hope that Sony/Epic gets a clue. Makes you wonder how many other projects like this one lie moldering in some dark warehouse…