How can the record companies get it so wrong?

I love music. I used to subscribe to eMusic, and I've actually written about it before here in this blog (but I'm too lazy to go find the post). I got hundreds of really good songs during my 1+ year with them, and discovered a few good bands I wouldn't have otherwise. I had to cancel my subscription though, when they, all of a sudden, started deciding all my favorite artists (from their catalog) should be US-only. Now, the bands that actually made eMusic worthwhile (Spoon, The White Stripes, The Clientele, etc.) were out of my reach, and they were adding a ton of more "mainstream" stuff that I would love to download (Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Bruce Springsteen, etc.), but couldn't. So, even though for a series of reasons I was actually willing to pay for that music, they literally wouldn't let me. Torrents, their "worst enemy" have no country boundaries, though.
Fast forward a few months to this week. I read about "She and Him", a duo that looks really interesting, and I'm trying to find out more about them. I find their pretty nice website and MySpace page, listen to some of their stuff and decide I'm interested. I then notice there's a link to their record company's site, where they sell FLACs, mp3s, CDs and Vinyls. Since I imagine shipping their vinyl to Brasil isn't the sanest of ideas, I go for the mp3s of their first album: $8.99. Just as a sanity check, I go to iTunes and Amazon to see the prices: they cost $9.99 on iTunes and Amazon, so I naturally say "let's buy it from the source, and cut the middle man". So I create an account at the Merge Records website and start the process, only to then realize that they won't sell me the damn mp3s because I'm outside the freakin' USA. What the hell is the matter with these guys?!?! This is not a huge band with a 20-year-old contract signed in the '80s that they still have to honor. This is a tiny "independent" band that released their first album only last year, so I can only assume their contract is fresh. With an supposed-to-be-modern record company, so why the hell can't they get this right?? Do they really expect me to say "Oh, this isn't available for me yet. I'll wait to buy from these nice people in a few months when they decide to let me give them my money"?? What is so hard about understanding that the only thing not letting me buy the mp3s accomplishes is pushing me towards getting them from some other source?? Are they just plain stupid?!

I miss my blog (and all Lonely Planet books are freely available online)

Weird title? Well, I miss my blog. I've been willing to get back on the horse and start posting again for a while now, but never get around to. So I decided to try a quickie: a couple of days I was browsing around the net, looking for info on traveling to India (because, duh!, I might be flying there soon). Then I remembered how useful Lonely Planet has been in the past, and I googled "lonely planet India", and boom, Google Books gives me the whole freakin' book!! Also, Lonely Planet's website is pretty cool as well, featuring the photo of the guy with some of the creepiest facial hair ever. Now after seeing that photo, I just have to go. So, on to the planning!! :-)

Alanis Morissette in Belo Horizonte

Tomorrow Alanis is playing in Belo... who would've thought? Of course I've had my tickets for a while now, and I'm pretty excited about seeing her live again. Specially because now she's got long hair again! I had to admit I was slightly pissed when she cut her trademark long hair like a week before coming to Brasil last time around.
I saw the setlist form the São Paulo concert and it looks alright, not great...




SET LIST:
1.THE COUCH I
2.UNINVITED
3.VERSIONS OF VIOLENCE
4.ALL I REALLY WANT
5.THE COUCH II
6.NOT THE DOCTOR
7.NOT AS WE
8.HEAD OVER FEET
9.THE COUCH III
10.SYMPATHETIC CHARACTER
11.PERFECT
12.MORATORIUM
13.YOU OUGHTA KNOW
14.TAPES
15.HAND IN MY POKET
16.UNDERNEATH
17.EVERYTHING
18.YOU LEARN
19.IRONIC
20.THANK YOU

There's 5 songs out of 18 (The Couch is just one song split up 3 ways) from the new record; 8 (!!!!!) from Jagged Little Pill (which only had 13 songs, by the way); 3 from Supposed Former Infactuation Junkie; 2 from the rest. That's a little sad... I know there are 3 or 4 must-haves from JLP, but come on!!! It's been 14 years!!! She's done some really good stuff since then (ok, maybe not on this latest album, but still), I wish she would sing some of the better songs from the post-JLP era; where's 21 Things I Want In a Lover? Where's Can't Not? Where's King of Pain? Where's Fear of Bliss, Excuses, etc.? And specially, where's Purgatorying (am I the only one who really likes it)?!?!?!?!


Purgatorying I




Purgatorying II




Purgatorying III