The Barenaked Ladies have a new song that's not available on any of their albums, a peppy song called "Michael Brennan." Who is this mysterious Michael Brennan they call "really, really, really cool," who "invented chips and dip,"and is "smarter than Jimmie Carter," you might ask? He's a 48-year-old visual artist from New Jersey who completed eMusic's 100,000,000th download.
And what is eMusic, you might ask? It's the second largest seller of digital music after the iTunes goliath. The website arranged this novel promotion with the Canadian band, who have been vocal opponents of the recording industry's penchant for suing its consumers and proponents of selling music without digital rights management (DRM). The tune is available for free right now to eMusic subscribers, before being bundled with the band's current album Barenaked Ladies are Men.
The song is insanely catchy and, par for the Barenaked Ladies course, silly fun. It also calls attention to a service that isn't attempting to be a replacement for iTunes, but is an even better complementary service. The artists one lacks are likely to be found on the other, and the business model of eMusic is less likely to inspire the kind of Apple arrogance rage that iTunes does.
Part of the reason I prefer eMusic is the pricing structure, which both annoys me because I'm not crazy about the idea of a monthly subscription fee, and makes me smack myself for being annoyed because it is a great way to collect music I love without having to weigh whether each song is really worth 99 cents, or each album 10 bucks. The packages get more cost effective as you go up the ladder, but even the smallest, at 30 songs for $9.99, works out to around 33 cents a song.
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