NS Newsletter 006: 4 October 1998

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      n a m e s u p p r e s s e d   n e w s l e t t e r   0 0 6

                            october 4th 1998
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[this issue]  

         *  where's my mp3s?
         *  why i didn't sign with mp3.com
         *  redesign (kinda) and hits
         *  winamp 2.02 rocks!
         *  questionnaire results
         *  listener's comments
         *  ordering stuff



[where's my mp3s?]

finally i've got a simple answer to this question - on the music page
of the namesuppressed website!  i've had a *lot* of interest from you
guys for mp3s of the songs, and i've finally got around to uploading
the mp3s to the site.  there have been a lot of issues that had to be
resolved before i uploaded them, including some concerns with mp3.com 
(read the next section for more info on that), some concerns with the
new version of winamp, and a distinct lack of server space.

anyway, if you're desperate to hear the mp3s then point your browser
to http://bounce.to/namesuppressed/ and click on "the music" link.



[why i didn't sign with mp3.com]

the main hassle with making the mp3s available to everyone has been
finding server space for the files.  for those of you not familiar
with the mp3 format, basically it is a way of making near-cd quality
files available over the internet.  mp3 files are small in comparison
with the audio file on a cd, but they are still quite large files,
approximately 3 or 4mb per song.

there are a few websites out there offering "hosting space" for mp3s
(this means that they will store the mp3 files on their computers for
you).  one of these sites is mp3.com, which regularly receives more
visitors daily than other well known sites such as Sony Online.  when
i first started looking for hosting space, mp3.com was my first
choice, and i very nearly signed up with them.  however, at the last
minute the mp3.com guys started asking new users to sign a contract
before letting them upload their mp3s.  this is where things started
to go horribly wrong.

most people just sign online contracts without even bothering to read
them (in fact, it was only shown about two weeks ago that online
contracts are legally binding).  because my songs are important to
me, i read through the contract on this occasion, and i was totally
horrified by it.  it would have given mp3.com all the rights to my
songs, allowing them to do what they liked with them.  this included
making cds of my songs and selling them, without them having to give
me any profits or money in return.

with that contract, mp3.com was milking new independent artists of
their songs without giving them anything in return.  i took the
matter up with the president of mp3.com, and made him aware of what i
felt about the contract.  things have subsequently changed since then
(mp3.com now makes cds for artists and gives them 50 percent of all
revenue generated by the cd), but at the time when i was looking for
hosting space this was not the case.

the lesson to be learnt from this is: read all contracts before you
sign them, whether ones on paper or electronic.  otherwise you could
find that you've ripped yourself off.


NB: mp3.com have changed their contract and policies recently, so
this article does not necessarily refer to their current dealings with
independent artists.  be sure to make up your own mind on this matter.



[redesign (kinda) and hits]

the namesuppressed site really seems to have become more successful
lately, but a lot of people seem to be missing out on other features
of the site due to the frames not working properly for some people.
i've spent the last two weeks "redesigning" the site so it no longer
uses frames - this will hopefully help you to navigate the site much
more easily.  any comments you have would be appreciated, as i will
hopefully be working on a much bigger redesign of the site over the
summer holidays.  any comments you make i can add to the new design.

i'd just like to take this opportunity to thank all of you guys for
helping to make the namesuppressed site more successful - at one
point the site was receiving 3 visitors every day, which is quite
respectable considering how little it has been promoted.  for those
of you who don't know, the site has had at least 176 visitors, and
"the music" pages have had over 206 visitors!

so folks, don't forget to spread the word about namesuppressed!



[winamp 2.02 rocks!]

i thought i would just give my favourite mp3 player a quick plug.
winamp is in my opinion the best mp3 player for the windows 95/98/NT
platform.  Justin Frankel has been developing it for over a year now,
to the point where it now is able to play mp3s at almost full quality
on even a lowly 486 class machine.

the new version 2.02 includes loads of new features.  the first thing
you notice is the cool new interface - it almost looks futuristic,
and has improved playlist and graphic equaliser functions that also
look way cool.  the new winamp also supports input and output plug
ins, meaning that you are able to play mod, s3m and it files (amongst
others), cd audio, line-in and even midi files.  output plug ins let
you apply effects to the music, such as voice removal and reverb.
probably the most famous winamp feature is "skins", which lets you
update the way the program looks.  yes, there will hopefully be a
special namesuppressed winamp skin coming soon...

the program is just over 500kb and only runs on windows 95/98/NT
machines - download it from http://www.winamp.com/

there is also a macintosh version with many of the same features at
http://www.macamp.com/ and a dos version available from nullsoft at
http://www.nullsoft.com/



[questionnaire results]

about 2 months ago i mailed out a questionnaire to a selected few of
the members of the namesuppressed mailing list.  the questions were
quite short and simple, asking people to select the genre they feel
best describes namesuppressed's music.  the result was a dead heat
between "alternative" and "experimental".

there was also a question asking which popular artists namesuppressed
sounds most like.  there were some strange answers (rolf harris was
one suggestion, another person said iggy pop) but there were a lot of
people who said prodigy, and a couple of people who said nirvana.



[listener's comments]

recently i received an unexpected email from a listener who hasn't
subscribed to this mailing list (ie someone totally unbiased).  they
had listened to endless green and wake in a fit of nanga tourette's
and "enjoyed them quite a lot".  they went on to say:

   "Endless Green I think I enjoyed the most.  The retro,
    post-modern grunge was refreshing in itself but also because
    few artists have attempted to combat this field of the art
    before.  The transition in `Endless Green' from almost
    gentle post-modern classical to thrash/grunge was smooth and
    seemless.  I LIKE IT!"

don't forget to send me your feedback on the songs for the next
newsletter, (preferably by email so that i don't go "forgetting what
whatsisname said to me on #thingy on that irc server"...)  remember,
the weirder the comments the better.  send 'em in to
kohanikin@geocities.com.



[ordering stuff]

don't forget that there's still a few copies of the first
namesuppressed album "rubicon" available on cassette.  rubicon
features some of namesuppressed's most popular songs, including
endless green, hockey mad and wake in a fit of nanga tourette's.
prices are $8 per cassette for australian customers, and between
$11-$14 for overseas customers (approx $7 - $9 in US dollars),
depending on where you live and whether you want your cassette shipped
by sea mail or air mail.  there are discounts for buying in bulk.

if you're interested in a copy, send an email to me at
kohanikin@geocities.com, and i'll send you further details (please
tell me the country where you live in your email).



[you actually read this far?]

as a way of saying thank you for reading this month's newsletter i
thought i'd let you in on a secret - my "alter ego" syneryder has just
completed his first track in over a year, and i will be releasing it
on the syneryder/namesuppressed websites in just over a month's time.
if you want, you can get your hands on a copy of the original impulse
tracker version before then by sending me an email at
kohanikin@geocities.com.  i can then arrange to send you the file by
email or give you the address of a "secret" ftp site where you will be
able to download it from.  thank you for supporting namesuppressed!!



                     .never was a cornflake girl.



------------------------------------------------------  namesuppressed

   the namesuppressed newsletter is the official newsletter of the
namesuppressed fanclub (surprisingly enough).  it is released whenever
  it is ready - approx bi-monthly.  to unsubscribe to the newsletter,
simply send email to kohanikin@geocities.com with the body containing
 the words "unsubscribe namesuppressed newsletter".  you will then be
    removed from the list.  for any further information to do with
 namesuppressed, simply contact kohanikin@geocities.com and i'll get
                   back to you as soon as possible.

                   http://bounce.to/namesuppressed/
      http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Hills/3573/nsindex.html
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