Death and a Cure is a solo act from Perth Western Australia - WAMi award-winning (2005) Ben Blondel. Leave a comment here if you like Death and a Cure’s cover art for his self-titled release!
You can find Death and a Cure on Myspace at http://www.myspace.com/deathandacure! The self-titled release will be live on iTunes, eMusic and AmazonMP3 very soon.
It’s a pretty common assumption in the entertainment industries that piracy is BAD- we’ve all sat through that ad before your DVD starts (Downloading. Pirated. Movies. Is. STEALING!). The introduction of the Internet has meant that anyone now can be a pirate; all it takes is a computer and a click of a button. In the music business in particular, it’s detrimental for artists, distributors, record labels and pretty much everyone involved. And of course, Big Music (namely the big 4 record companies) has taken a decidedly negative stance towards piracy.
Well, there’s going to be none of that negativity today. I’m going to go out on a limb here, and say that piracy can actually have some positive outcomes for the music business. Gasp!
Now I’m not saying everyone should drop what they’re doing, stop buying CD’s (or downloading iTunes albums, whatever floats your boat) and head to The Pirate Bay to grab the latest music, movies or season of Desperate Housewives. After all, we are a digital distribution company…we want to ensure artists are actually rewarded for their art.
What I am saying though, is when you look beyond the crazed record company executive waving about figures of declining sales, there is actually some benefit to piracy in a culture like ours. Many may scoff at this, but bear with me, because to prove my point first we need to take a look at some piracy throughout history…
It’s fairly acceptable to think that music piracy came about with the introduction of the Internet. Suddenly technology made music available for everyone to download from the comfort of their own home. Then came the lawsuits. High profile cases like Napster and Metallica made headlines around the world. But music piracy is not such a recent crime: everyday people were pirates long before.
Sealand: The world's smallest country.
Let’s rewind back to 1960’s Britain. Long before any form of personal computer existed, the main way of broadcasting music was via radio. However, one particular organization had control of what reached the airwaves and eventually the public. Sound familiar? But the public wasn’t satisfied. In retaliation, pirate radio stations began popping up. We’ve all seen The Boat That Rocked. It’s actually based on fact. Radio Essex, a UK based pirate station, went as far as to inhabit an old navy sea-fort re-named ‘The Principality of Sealand’ in order to bypass UK laws on pirate broadcasting. It even had its own postage stamps.
Fast-forward a couple of decades: does anyone remember high-speed dubbing? While certainly not glamorous, it too was a form of piracy. I remember as a child sitting around all day listening to the radio poised by the cassette recorder, so I could record my favourite songs for keepsakes. Scary to think I could have had the lawsuits stacking up against me.
I could go on and on about examples of piracy in history (there’s plenty more). Despite the differences in medium, these so-called ‘pirates’ have all had something in common: they were filling a need that mainstream society could not (or would not) provide. The same thing goes for piracy today. People are illegally downloading music because Big Music hasn’t adapted to consumer’s needs and wants. The public is no longer accepting of the current business models forced upon them by the Big 4 record companies. Piracy in this instance is exactly the same as those in the past: a sign that things need to start changing around here. I can’t speak for everyone, but I don’t want to give my cash to companies that make their revenue from suing everyday people. It’s really no wonder so many people are turning to piracy; surely this cannot be a successful business model.
In this panic about piracy, the dominant voices always seem to be those of ‘Big Music’ companies. But what about the musicians themselves? Surely they too are affected. I’ve known of some entrepreneurial artists actually ‘leak’ their music onto the torrents themselves, in order to gain buzz. Can piracy be used as free publicity? Of course we’ve all heard of what Radiohead did in 2007 for their In Rainbows LP. It made headlines all around the world. More recently, I read an article that interviewed Moby about his up and coming album. He was greatly amused that the lead single ‘Shot in the Back of the Head’, which he released as a free download, was also his highest selling on iTunes. Maybe when artists take matters into their own hands, people are more willing to take the legal high road. I for one would definitely be more willing to pay for a record that I knew would go back to the artist instead of a money-hungry CEO.
Of course leaking albums to the net has negative aspects as well. As soon as an album hits cyberspace, the artist completely loses control. Earlier this year Grizzly Bear’s latest album Veckatimest leaked before its official release, but in sound quality that can only be described as terrible. Obviously in this instance it wasn’t leaked on purpose, but the band had to ramp up marketing measures for higher-quality alternatives to ensure years of hard work making an excellent album weren’t in vain.
[Changing Times, Changing Tunes]
Remember this campaign?
With the announcement recently that in Australia JB Hi-Fi will no longer be selling CD singles, no one can deny that the digital revolution is well and truly in full swing. More people than ever (particularly for single tracks) are downloading- whether it be illegally or through legal means like iTunes. Despite Big Music’s best efforts, piracy is still a major contention between industry big wigs, musicians themselves and the greater listening public. I’m not so naive to say that there is one simple solution to the problem of music piracy. But it will continue to be an issue until people start changing their tune. It is up to Big Music to begin acting, instead of simply reacting, to these changes in the industry.
I must stress again that I’m not actually encouraging piracy. I still believe it can be detrimental to artists. But when most of the money from bought music goes to big record companies anyway, my sympathy levels start dropping dramatically. It would be impossible to get every side of this argument in a blog of this size, but there’s a whole lot of literature out there that inspired this post and is great further reading. I encourage everyone to go and download ‘The Pirate’s Dilemma’ by Matt Mason, it’s a great read. And like Radiohead, you can choose how much to pay for it. Fitting, really.
What do you think? For the musicians out there, do you think piracy is the devil-spawn? Or is there some credit to this argument?
We are all massive fans of Only The Sea Slugs here in the Musicadium office - we received their EP and instantly fell in love with this odd, but fascinating creature on the front cover.
We recommend that you check out their MySpace - definitely ones to watch! They are doing well in the Toohey’s Extra Dry UncharTED competition and have been featured on MySpace. Stay tuned.
What do you think? Is it attention grabbing? Cute? Gross? Weird? Interesting?
Leave your comments here.
Last year, Musicadium sponsored the New Music/Experimental Award - this year, we are sponsoring both the New Music and Experimental award AND the Pop Award! We are proud to be associated with the premier Song Awards in Queensland.
FROM QMUSIC’S FORTNIGHTLY MAILOUT: Queensland’s annual search for the state’s finest songwriters closed last Friday with a record number of entries. More than 2140 songs from across Queensland have been entered this year in 14 categories.
Q Music Executive Officer Denise Foley said “This is by far the most outstanding response we have ever had from Q Song. It’s truly a year to celebrate Queensland creativity with the number of exceptional songwriters we have in our state.”
Entries are currently being featured on www.qsong.com.au and each week 612 ABC Brisbane features Q Song artists on Thursdays at 1.30pm with Richard Fidler. Listeners can tune into local radio Queensland to hear outstanding entries.
Entrants in Q Song 09 will have the opportunity to not just showcase their songs, but also to share in $25,000 worth of cash and prizes aimed at building their careers.
Past Q Song winners include Kate Miller-Heidke, The Boatpeople, The Grates, The John Steel Singers, Robert Foster, Kev Carmody, Bernard Fanning, Ben Salter (The Gin Club), Kate Bradley, Jackie Marshall, Tim Steward, James Grehan, 8 Ball Aitken, Emma- louise, Shari Williams and many more.
While Q Song principally targets emerging and unpublished songwriters, those with established songwriting careers will also be eligible for the Published Song of the Year Award.
Finalists will be announced on June 29, 2009 with the Q Song Awards event to be staged at Fortitude Valley venue, The Tivoli on August 11.
Also announced on the night will be the Grant McLennan Lifetime Achievement Award, and The Courier-Mail Peoples Choice Award.
For more information about Q Song 2009 visit: www.qsong.com.au
Army Ant are a 3-piece rock act from Sydney who are described as post-apocalyptic, more than post-modern.
Army Ant’s debut release, is available at shows or online through emails. Receiving rave reviews at every turn, this EP was especially embraced by Sydney’s flagship street press Drum Media who praised its “mix of simple-but-effective three-piece rock, laced with dry humour and great tunes” and named it as one of the best 12 EPs released in 2007, alongside records by major international and local acts.
They can be found at http://www.myspace.com/armyantband and you can purchase their music at 
This week, Falling in Autumn’s cover art for their EP ‘Tree’ is our favourite cover art.
From their MySpace:
Falling in Autumn is a Sydney-based group which revolves around the cathartic folk songs of Carissa Lehmann and Simon Williams.
Meeting through a mutual friend, the group’s dual songwriters found in each other a musical partner in whom to confide their acoustic confessions.
The pair have spent the past year quietly writing on a backbone of ‘love, loss and the unknown’, honing their sound and the songs which would become their recently self-released Tree EP.
Along their journey, they attracted the amazingly talented Jo Brooke - a beautiful, articulate cellist and vocalist; and Aussie pro bodyboarder Ewan Donnachie on percussion.
Falling in Autumn have crafted a lush, ambient sound; spawned from both a love of classic folk artists as well as their respective surroundings in the Blue Mountains and Northern Beaches. They have drawn comparisons with acts such as George and Angus & Julia Stone and continue to convert new fans with their warm, honest songwriting.
2009 is set to be a big year for the group as they expand their horizons interstate and plan to write and record their next release.
For management or booking enquiries, please email fallinginautumn@hotmail.com
If you like Falling in Autumn’s music, check them out on
This week, it’s Angels are Architects’ Cover Art that we love!
Angels are Architects formed in mid 2004 with the premise of creating music that would help a hurting heart get to sleep at night. The band always look forward to delivering their melodies and their message to anyone anywhere who wants to listen.
Guitarist Phil Whitman and drummer Andrew Mitchell met in primary school and forged a lasting friendship through a mutual love of music. Under the guise of “The German Happy Club” they duo busked around the streets of Canberra. Their desire to get in out of the cold and play their original music led them to add Andrei Lena on bass and Amber Mitchell on vocals, and they became “The Fallen”. The Fallen only ever played a handful of gigs until mid 2005 when they entered the Jim Beam National Campus band comp and, to their very great surprise, took out the ACT State final. The national final turned out to be a little more than their limited outings had prepared them for but they took a lot from the experience and started a solid gigging schedule around Canberra, their home town.
2007 saw the band record their debut EP. This turned turned out to be Andrei’s final outing with the band as his life was taking him in another direction. The parting was sweet and he still writes for and spends time with the band. Melanie Wundke was then recruited on bass and group changed their name to Angels are Architects. The group has since toured in South-East Asia stopping over to play a series of shows at the Mosaic Music Festival in Singapore. The band has also appeared on MTV, played live to radio and had a whole lot of fun along the way. Angels are Architects find it a constant struggle to pinpoint their genre as all members draw from completely unique tastes. The music has been described as atmospheric rock meets electronica/dance. At gigs they have been compared to artists ranging from Lamb to Muse.
Angels are Architects launched the long-awaited self-titled ep in November 2008 to a sell-out crowd at the Serbian Club.
If you love Angels are Architects’ cover art, leave a comment here.
If you want to check out their music, check out their MySpace or hit up
This week, it’s The Holy Rose’s Bats and Birds Cover Art that we love!
The Holy Rose is Gareth Edwards, Brisbane-based singer/songwriter and guitarist. Originally from Perth, Western Australia, Gareth played guitar in art/pet food act Thou Gideon before forming hardcore/breakdance/thrash act Manic Pizza with Cameron Potts (Baseball) and Laura Macfarlane (ninetynine). He moved to Melbourne and formed Sandro (with Cameron and Nick Carroll) after Manic Pizza broke up. After recording a hand full of albums and EP’s, released through various labels and independently, playing around the east coast, doing a brief U.S. tour and swapping drummers (Michael Noga - now of The Drones - replaced Cameron in 2000), Sandro kicked the bucket.
Check out The Holy Rose on MySpace. Leave a comment on our blog about The Holy Rose’s Cover art.
The Holy Rose is now live on
This week’s best Musicadium album covers is a contrasting mirror-image of an alleyway, as seen in the light of day and the dark of night. We like the duality of the image!
This is the Album Cover Art for Mr Ben’s release, “Day and Night.”
We love the design here in the office - do you agree?
If you like Mr Ben’s songs, buy them on
If you think you should be in the running for the hottest album cover, shoot us an email with your details including the cover art and why you think it is hot.
Leave a comment below about Mr Ben’s cover art!
Check it out! Musicadium is now showcasing the best Musicadium album covers.
This week’s is one of our favourites from awesome Adelaide boys, THE SHINY BRIGHTS!. This is the Album Cover Art for their release, “Let’s not but say we did.”
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