MJ Style available at iTunes Music Stores

MJ Style is now available at most iTunes Music Stores (appeared 12 hours ago in countries located in ahead timezones, and should since be displayed at European and American stores).

I discovered that when searching for Cjed using the upper-right search field, the displayed page lists songs in the wrong order. The reason seems that is lists all songs from all albums for the artist, and so the numbers don’t correspond to tracks numbers (and have then more to do with the order of songs’s database records). By clicking on the artist’s name/link on the left side (Artists area), the album’s songs list is ordered fine again (the same when clicking on the album’s name).

This is here for access to the Zimbalam player (that also provides a direct link to the iTunes Music Store). On mac, the Flash version used by the plugin seems to produce some artifacts at some samples start (ok on PC), however they play fine at iTunes Music Store.

MJ Style : J-10 and iTunes exclusive

There is now only 10 days left before release of MJ Style at the iTunes Music Store. The decision of being iTunes exclusive was made in order to provide the best audio quality (AAC 256 kbits – MP3 on other stores), the easiest user experience, the safest investment (ITMS has been here since first days) and security for customers, and to avoid sales split over many marketplaces. Moreover I didn’t want to promote subscription-based platforms, that aren’t an artistic way of buying music, nor recent marketplaces that got exclusive agreements from majors (not available to Apple, that was forced to keep DRMs for a long time, and more recently to increase the price of new single releases).

From a full album (9,99$ or euros) I will get 5,40 euros net income : then there will have to be at least 11 full albums sales for me to become profitable (30 euros are required to put a release online, and the same amount for removing it if needed).

MJ Style (September, 30, 2009)

MJ Style album includes 10 exclusive songs (Master 6, 1996) and two remix versions (2004). The release name reflects the main song in the album (in the same manner the next album – master 7, 1997 – will be named EMO. Its cover artwork is still done). Once available, samples will be provided through the Zimbalam player or directly from iTunes if installed (with probably a better sound for the later). The player will indeed display a link to the album page at iTunes Music Store (priced 9,99$). The songs list and player can be found here.

J-34 before MJ Style

Starting September, 30, MJ Style album (1996) will be released on all (worldwide) ITMS (and exclusively).
The registration process through Zimbalam is very comprehensive : producer name besides artist/band name (members can be listed), name of composer(s) and author(s) for each song (instrumental checkbox provided if author not relevant), detailed choice of stores (and areas), special indication/remix available besides song name, choice of pricing policy (Front, back, etc.) and targeted release date. The site (user personnal space) is really great (clear, with Ajax contextual help and verifying, very fast upload with progress bar).

Tron Legacy : first trailer

The first trailer of Tron Legacy is available at Apple site (HD version). It features the original main actor, Jeff Bridge (plays as the main character’s father), and the original volontary minimalist graphic style (however full of abstract power and symbolic). It seems very well done (also for the music), and the movie is expected for 2010. Meanwhile we can play at Tron 2 game, that was released some years ago and still succeeded going farther than the original movie, by providing even more inspiring graphics, music (great) and plot.

MJ Style : 1996-2009

In early 1996 I composed MJ Style, a song inspired by famous MJ feets dance and rhythm.

I now know he will never get a chance to listen to this, not in that land.

The day before I had a significant blood pressure drop that lasted half a week, and two weeks before I realized that he would be the most suited for singing on my songs and that I should probably find a way to contact him (such thing I wouldn’t ever have attempted before).

I also rearranged dozens of its songs in the 90’s, first using the JV880, and later the XV.

The Force Unleashed : soundtrack review

The site tracksounds provides a review of Starwars The Force Unleashed game’s soundtrack. The conclusion (and rating, 9/10) is : Start to finish, THE FORCE UNLEASHED is the most entertaining Star Wars score since RETURN OF THE JEDI. In fact Mark Griskey composer (that had yet worked on StarWars games musics, notably KOTOR2 and Episode III) seems to have succeeded in providing a strong transition between the first 3 episodes and the original trilogy, what transition timeframe corresponds to the game’s plot. Moreover, the in-game music is dynamic, that is it is made mixing instruments parts that have been recorded separately, in order to fit well with the action. Audio samples of the tracks are provided.

Who doesn’t care about music ?

Through a volontary alarming (and misleading) title, Piratage – Apple se fout de la musique, TF1/LCI deals in fact with many subjects, by interviewing the president of french SACEM : new anti-pirating law, interoperability and DRMs, iTunes Music Store, use of music by phone carriers and internet providers as an appealing product, and finally Deezer. The SACEM admitted some facts : the ITMS is the only music vendor site that works and generates money back to companies and artists, whereas Deezer provides thousands of time less incomes than classical radios, and tends to lower the value of music and artistic work (there is however to note that in the meantime the SACEM made agreements with Deezer).
[iTunes], c’est le seul support qui fonctionne, qui rapporte un peu d’argent.
Avec Deezer, on est à sept millièmes d’euros au titre écouté par un internaute. Il faudrait donc qu’un titre ait été écouté des dizaines de milliers de fois pour rapporter quelques euros qui se partagent entre l’éditeur, les compositeurs et les auteurs. A force de vouloir concurrencer la gratuité, le piratage, on arrive à une dévalorisation de la musique.
And what about the radio economic model used by Deezer : La comparaison avec la radio est limitée. Pour gagner avec Deezer l’équivalent sur de ce que rapporte un passage sur RTL, il faudrait q’une chanson soit écoutée des centaines de milliers de fois…

I added some of my thoughts in the full original article (in french).

The Katie Melua Collection CD/DVD bestof released

While Katie Melua is starting a new concerts tour, a CD/DVD best of has been available since October, 27, The Katie Melua Collection. The CD includes 14 previously released songs, plus 3 new songs : Toy Collection (written by Katie Melua for the film Fainheart  at Myspace), Somewhere In The Same Hotel  (ballade, written by Katie Melua and his previous producer Mike) and Two Bare Feet  (also from Katie Melua and her old manager). The DVD features videos from her The Arena Tour 2008, recorded in Rotterdam, and some behind the scenes ones.

On her official site, Katie Melua explains why after the first 3 albums she had to work with new people (composers, etc.) to make something new and refreshing, for her next album, and how it is difficult. In fact the latest (third) album was globally deceiving, and the best of featuring 3 news songs (which the old producer finally worked on) is a common way to make fans wait for the next complete album.
We can listen to some samples at Myspace and see some photos of the Paris Zénith concert (October, 20, 2008).