Latest Article Out of Singapore
Haven't time for any comments but here is what I have been told is the first of a series of articles coming out on Qtrax. Not Earth shattering but shows they are not even slightly giving up. Have a nice weekend. EO
Business Times
Entertainment
Published July 23, 2010
MUSIC
Riding the waves of digital music
Local artists find a new tool to reach their audience faster with the launch of new music download services, reports CHRISTOPHER LIM
SINGAPORE'S digital music landscape hit some significant milestones recently, with new music services launching and three local artists finding new ways to make technology work for them.
Sounds good: Mei Wong, better known as The Analog Girl (above), has become the first local artist to launch her own iPhone app, AnalogGirl. Qtrax (next) sounds like the most flexible service of all since it offers free downloads without any telco affiliation. But all its tracks are restricted by digital rights management
At the end of last month, Singapore became one of only six countries to get access to Qtrax's free music download service. Early this month, StarHub countered this by offering Singapore's first music download service completely free of digital rights management (DRM) restrictions.
And on Wednesday, SingTel unveiled a major expansion of its AMPed music download service. Sony Music became the second record label to sign up with the service, bringing 150,000 downloadable tracks with it to take the AMPed catalogue past its millionth track.
Although all three services have limitations, they collectively expand the breadth of the digital music distribution market here in terms of catalogue size, free downloads and a la carte stores that are completely DRM-free.
On the surface, Qtrax sounds like the most flexible service of all since it offers free downloads without any telco affiliation - so it's also the first to make people ask what the catch is.
The main catch is that all of its tracks are restricted by DRM. At the moment, you can download music only from a computer's Web browser and you must play it through Microsoft's Windows Media Player software. Your PC has to be connected to the Internet to play your Qtrax songs, although that's due to change within the next three months, says Allan Klepfisz, president and chief executive of Qtrax, which has its Asian headquarters here and has received 60 per cent of its funding from Singapore-based investors.
Mr Klepfisz says that within the next month Qtrax also plans to add the ability to play downloaded Qtrax songs on mobile phones. You still won't be able to download music directly to phones though. While only Windows Mobile phones will be supported at the beginning, Google Android support is on the cards, and Mr Klepfisz says he would even like to add Apple iPhones to the list somewhere down the track.
Telcos' offerings
His explicit goal for Qtrax is to offer more value than illegal music download services, above and beyond merely being legal. Today, Qtrax doesn't quite meet that goal, but that may change later this year.
Of the various telcos' music stores, StarHub's has the fewest restrictions in terms of DRM. You can buy as many of its 200,000 tracks as you want through your PC for $2.13 each, or $17.66 per album. Buying music directly from your phone is more expensive, at $2.68 per track, and the sound quality is poorer. Cheaper bulk-purchase bundles are also available. StarHub's catalogue encompasses Sony Music, EMI and Warner Music.
M1's music store offers roughly the same number of tracks as StarHub overall, but only songs from Sony Music are DRM free. It wins on price though, as each DRM-free track is just 99 cents when downloaded via PC. Purchases via phone, however, are a whopping $3.21 per track. And some DRM-restricted tracks strangely cost more than DRM-free ones. The service is only open to M1 customers.
Unlike StarHub's and M1's offerings, SingTel's isn't a la carte, and AMPed is instead bundled with selected SingTel plans and mobile broadband services. You can download 15 DRM-free tracks per month, and quotas that aren't used up in a particular month can be rolled over. AMPed is DRM-free within that restriction. In addition, you can download an unlimited number of DRM-restricted tracks. There are DRM-free and DRM-restricted versions of the same songs.
AMPed is also still the only local music service that has an iPhone app, which makes it the de facto music download service for iPhones on SingTel lines, since Apple's own iTunes store isn't available here.
Using the tools
Music download services have the potential to eventually become powerful platforms for local musicians to reach fans. But although Qtrax and AMPed are open to adding small local indie labels to their services, indie musicians here aren't holding their breath, and are instead looking for ways to use technology to get their music heard.
Mei Wong, better known as The Analog Girl, has become the first local artist to launch her own iPhone app, AnalogGirl (US$1.99), which features two brand-new tracks on what she calls virtual vinyl. As the songs play, a simulated LP spins on the screen, and you can use your finger on it to simulate DJ scratching effects.
'I have been a fan of the iPhone from the start because of its touchscreen interface and the vast number of music creation apps that are out there for the iPhone,' says Wong. 'I can now write, record and master songs totally on the iPhone and upload them directly onto the Internet on platforms such as SoundCloud for the world to listen.'
Wong also performs live with an Apple iPad, and is open to releasing a version of AnalogGirl optimised for the tablet gadget, although her next album, which she is working on right now and hopes to release within the year, takes precedence.
She's adept at using technological instruments such as laptops to make music, so it's no surprise Wong believes in the potential of technology to raise a musician's profile, although she's also wary of shifting fads. 'Technology helps local artists reach a wider audience, quicker,' she says, adding that she was an early adopter of social networking service MySpace six years ago.
'Most of my fans from that time consisted of music lovers from the US, Europe and Brazil,' she says. 'And in its infancy, most of an artist's MySpace followers were genuinely into their music. Now it's become so widespread that it is difficult to track who are your true fans. So technology goes through trends too.'
Technology and the Internet may help level the playing field, but Wong is surprisingly conservative about their ability to help artists promote themselves without the help of traditional media.
'You still need to make sure that people know what platforms you are on and how they can connect with your music,' she says. 'This will still be achieved through coverage in local papers, well-read blogs and mainstream media like TV and radio.'
Inch Chua is another artist who has been a fan of technology, and so far has been giving away her music free as DRM-free downloads.
For her latest album, Wallflower, however, she and local indie label Aging Youth are trying something new - selling her music on USB thumb drives in the MP3 and FLAC formats, along with bonus material. Putting albums on thumb drives isn't new, but selling them in audiophile FLAC format is a first for a local artist.
Aging Youth will also help promote local rock trio Lunarin's upcoming album, Duae, which will be released on Aug 20. Thanks to the power of modern computers, Lunarin recorded the album entirely in a home studio, according to vocalist and bassist Linda Ong. The only step that was outsourced was the mastering process.
Ong readily admits that this pure DIY approach wouldn't have been as feasible 10 years ago due to the lower capabilities of computers back then. 'Technology is the main reason we were able to go down this path,' she says.
'Today, with the advent of digital technology, any home musician can put out a good sounding record in the comforts of his own home. Every aspect of this album was done on a digital platform. We would not have been able to record the album by ourselves otherwise.'
Technology is just a tool, and musicians still have to hone their craft, but at least the recording process has now been thoroughly democratised.
'With current technology, I believe that any local musician can record an album that would be of a comparable standard to a commercial CD,' says Ong. 'To that degree, we can at least rule out one bugbear that has been plaguing local musicians for a long time.'
AI
