iTunes Update
Blogging on the weekend seems almost pointless, traffic drops to just about nothing. So this post is more for my records than anything.
Here, a week into the whole iTunes Prepsi promo (at least, last Saturdy was the first day Diet Pepsi's with the yellow caps made it into town), I've managed to consumer 17 Diet Pepsi's, averaging 2.42 20 oz. Diet Pepsi's a day. This is slightly less than my average three to four cans of Diet Coke a day. I think I can safely say that this decrease in carbonated beverage consumption is due to a number of factors:
1. Diet Pepsi simply does not taste as good as Diet Coke
2. I'm used to drinking out of cans, which have a compact, quick to use, economic feel to them. Diet Pepsi 20 oz' bottles are largely, clumsy, and the time it takes for me to unscrew the cap & take a sip is an inconvenience when compared with a quick drag of Diet Coke out of a can.
3. There is a real pleasure in opening a new, cold Diet Coke. The snap-crack of the tab & the feel of the cold moisture condensing alumni provide an all around visceral experience that Diet Pepsi in a plastic bottle with a plastic cap simply cannot match. Diet Coke really is the cadillac of diet carbonated beverages.
I've also managed to clean out two gas stations and Win-Dixie of their winning iTunes Diet-Pepsi bottles. I haven't touched a Sierra Mist, regular Pepsi, or Vanilla Pepsi.
I'd like to now list the 18 songs I've purchased for free on iTunes in the last week, in order of their purchase:
1. "Move Your Feet" by Junior Senior
2. "I Can't Wait" by Outkast & Sleepy Brown
3. "Ba Ba" by Sigur Ros (off their new EP)
4. "Ti Ki" by Sigur Ros (their new EP again)
5. "Di Do" by Sigur Ros (again, off the new EP)
6. "Long Black Veil" by Johnny Cash (this version is different from his straight acoustic version. It has a hammered dulcimer, mandolin, and harpsicord)
7. "By the Bed" by Phantom Planet (gotta stay up on Cali-Pop)
8. "Blue Eyes" by Uncle Tupelo (this was off the Slaughter Rule soundtrack, which I need to buy)
9. "Photobooth" by Death Cab for Cutie (really just for indie rock credibility)
10. "Seven Days A Week" by The Sounds
11. "Dance With Me" by The Sounds
12. "If I Had No Loot" by Tony! Toni! Tone'! (sentimental value)
13. "Bed of Rosed" by Bon Jovi (its damn funny)
14. "Blue Light" by Mazzy Star (used to be a huge Mazzy Star fan, this was one of my favorites)
15. "Poncho & Lefty" by Townes Van Zandt (have the Willie Nelson version, this one is of course tops, since Van Zandt wrote it)
16. "Pressure Drop" by Toots & The Maytals
17. "Pink Moon" by Nick Drake (gonna eventually get most of his albums, if not all)
18. "Walking on Broken Glass" by Annie Lennox (straight humor/sentimental value from the 7th grade)
That's the wrap up.
Josiah Q. Roe | By Josiah Roe | 02:15 PM
Comments
Nick Drake is one of my favorite artists. I first got into him when you had that Harrod and Funck concert on tape from Wheaton in '96 or something and they covered one of his songs. Great artist through and through. Happen to know where those tapes ever went? I think that they were Speiker's but don't know.
Posted by: crabby at February 28, 2004 04:05 PM
I got a live version of Poncho and Lefty by Gillian if you want it.
Posted by: bobw at February 28, 2004 04:26 PM
I want it, if you don't mind.
Posted by: mesh at February 29, 2004 02:19 AM
courtesy of jake stuart, I've got 5 of their shows from the late 90s on MP3. they've got a liberal show sharing policy (it's nice to own your own label) so I could burn them or let you download if you want. email me: http://www.wiegersfamily.com/contact.asp
Posted by: bobw at February 29, 2004 10:31 PM
The way you talk about Diet Coke is beautiful. You should really consider talking to Coca-Cola's marketing department.
/me loves Coca-Cola.
Posted by: Garrett at February 29, 2004 11:44 PM
1. "Move Your Feet" by Junior Senior
:rock that shit. . .hehehe!!!
6. "Long Black Veil" by Johnny Cash (this version is different from his straight acoustic version. It has a hammered dulcimer, mandolin, and harpsicord)
:god yes. johnny cash....amazing.
7. "By the Bed" by Phantom Planet (gotta stay up on Cali-Pop)
:nice job. i approve. hope you likey.
9. "Photobooth" by Death Cab for Cutie (really just for indie rock credibility)
:im seeing them im seeing them im seeing them
13. "Bed of Rosed" by Bon Jovi (its damn funny)
lol
17. "Pink Moon" by Nick Drake (gonna eventually get most of his albums, if not all)
one of his best songs, even if it is cliche' to say so. incredibly beautiful. . . reminds me of the calfornia coastline.
18. "Walking on Broken Glass" by Annie Lennox (straight humor/sentimental value from the 7th grade)
oh yeah. enough said.
Posted by: bitter at March 2, 2004 12:28 PM
Dangit Josiah, as much as I appreciate your rundown of the free downloads you've been enjoying, I feel a responsibility to remind you that your new hobby suffers from a lack of ideological commitment.
Consider: you are now consuming Pepsi instead of your beloved Coke, both of which are horrible. But Coke's "Hilltop" ad from July 1971 forever gives that soft drink what we call "competitive advantage."
Consider: you've used Pepsico dollars to buy Sigur Ros songs. Sigur Ros does not need any more dollars, from anybody, and besides they suck. They got $10 million just for signing a record deal. But let's suppose that they actually *did* need some money. A generous major-label deal *might* put a dime into the artist's pocket for every song they sell on iTunes. It's probably closer to eight pennies. So when you buy music from a major-label act on iTunes with your winning Pepsi cap, all you're really doing is facilitating money transfers from Pepsico to, say, Time Warner. And Apple, of course.
On the other hand...consider: using your winning Pepsi cap to buy *truly* independent music (Death Cab for Cutie does not qualify, sorry) you're putting Pepsi's money to work for a wholesale shift in music industry processes and priorities. Instead of a $0.08, an independent artist receives $0.59 for each song sold on iTunes. Which means that supporting independents via this great promotion is almost eight times as effective as supporting an equivalent artist with a major-label deal!
Imagine if, of that $99 million that Pepsi is putting into the iTunes store, more than two-thirds was going directly into the pockets of independent artists! $59 million for independents vs. $8 million for acts like Bon Jovi. BMG and Sony gobble up the rest and use it to pay for lawsuits, Lars Ulrich PSAs, and those annoying Britney Spears promotions.
Posted by: marty at March 2, 2004 07:50 PM
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