ARTS & FARCES internet

I’ve seen the end of the music industry, and it’s not mp3. Rather, it’s the Shorten (.shn) file format. Unlike formats like mp3, Shorten is lossless and provides an exact copy of the original work. That means recording artists can use the format to distribute their music directly to fans. For established artists, the major labels will be obsolete. They’ll make more money and users will enjoy significantly lowered prices. New artists will be able to take advantage of the file format to garner an audience with lower risk and without need for the typical usury relationship with a record label.

Tastemakers will be real folks—you and me—rather than label accountants and A&R lackeys.

Here’s how the process will work. You’ll download a new release as a set of .shn files. The release will cost, at most US$5.00, but most likely a full 70-minute release will be about US$2.50 with US$2.00 going directly to the artist and US$0.50 going to the site that provided bandwidth and storage space. Of course you’ll have to add the cost of your own bandwidth, CD burner, blank CD, and printer and supplies for jewel case inserts.

Think about this carefully: artists will suddenly see a doubling of their income and consumers will see a halving of what a typical CD costs. Everyone wins. Or at least everyone that should.

Of course it’s not quite that simple. Artists will still have to pay for production and marketing costs, but they already do this in their recording contracts (regardless of whether they’re aware of the fact or not). And Shorten files are enormous—on the order of about 300Mb per CD—and are best downloaded overnight over a broadband connection. But what else are you going to do with your DSL connection while you’re sleeping?

The best .shn resources I’ve found are etree.org and Grateful Dead Live. I’ve yet to find a commercial release in .shn format, but it certainly won’t be long. Of course the usual suspects of taper-friendly bands allow their live shows to be made available in the lossless format, but the best effort I’ve seen so far is by Phil Lesh’s Phil Zone. Lesh recently released three concert recordings, gratis and complete with attractive jewel case inserts, acknowledging the support he received during his liver transplant. The quality of each show’s recording is exceptional and more are promised throughout the end of the year.