January 23, 2008

Free the Music

Filed under: music,rock,tacoma — sparkrobot @ 1:00 pm

Last.fm is setting music free. As of today, you can play full-length tracks and entire albums for free on the Last.fm website.

Something we’ve wanted for years—for people who visit Last.fm to be able to play any track for free—is now possible. With the support of the folks behind EMI, Sony BMG, Universal and Warner—and the artists they work with—plus thousands of independent artists and labels, we’ve made the biggest legal collection of music available to play online for free, the way we believe it should be.

Of course, the major labels are all name-dropped, but the real big deal here is:

We will be paying artists directly… If you make music, you can sign up to participate for free.

Stated simply, they’re employing a shared advertising revenue model to pay contributors; both the label type and the artist type.

Today we’re redesigning the music economy.

For reals.

Here’s a link to my profile on Last.fm, if you see some stuff you like, participate.

Read the original post:
Last.fm – the Blog · Free the Music

January 18, 2008

Want Fries With That?

Filed under: food,tacoma — sparkrobot @ 2:01 pm

We are done for as a species. It's time to move on and let the cockroaches become our dictyopterian overlords.I found this in a convenience store this morning and I just wanted to let you know that as a result, I’ve concluded that we are done for as a species. It’s time to move on and let the cockroaches become our dictyopterian overlords.

You might think I’m joking. I assure you, I am not.

January 17, 2008

Photos from The Library of Congress

Filed under: photography,tacoma — sparkrobot @ 10:21 am

The Library of Congress has begun to post photos from the national archive to Flickr. Some of these photographs are incredible… See Flickr: Photos from The Library of Congress