In honor of its 100 millionth download, subscription-based iTunes wannabe eMusic decided to give away a special prize: a song written especially for the lucky legal downloader. The catch? The song would be written by the Barenaked Ladies.
Then, in December, Michael Brennan, a “48-year old visual artist” from Morestown, New Jersey downloaded Mississippi Fred McDowell’s “Diamond Ring,” the nines turned to zeroes, and the Barenaked Ladies went to work. Last week the appropriately named “Michael Brennan” went up on eMusic as a free download. You can listen to it here (via Whit).
So, to recap: the dude who downloaded the 1 billionth song on iTunes (Coldplay??) got $10,000, an iMac and ten iPods. And Mr. Brennan gets a bunch of Canadian nerd-rockers presenting his trivial and meaningless life to the world (or at least the ever-shrinking portion of the world that actually cares about the Barenaked Ladies). Granted, eMusic has neither the hardware nor the PR firepower to do it up like Steve Jobs, but this is closer to a kick to the groin than an iPod. Could this be the worst prize ever? We seem to remember a MasterCard promotion where the winner got to be a roadie for Third Eye Blind or something like that, but even that contest was over in a few weeks. This song, like the Ladies themselves, seems destined to last forever.
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I disagree with your use of the adjectives “trivial” and “meaningless” to describe Michael Brennan’s life. For one thing, what do you know about him? Secondly, what do you define as a life that is both meaningful and consequential? I’d bet you’d be hard pressed to provide a comprehensive definition. Every life have meaning even if that’s only apparent to the individual living it.
I disagree with your use of “iTunes wannabe”. Hmm . . . indie focused, no DRM. Yeah, that’s a bad thing. Especially considering you can use your subscription for Tom Waits, the new Andrew Bird, Grinderman . . . all cheaper than iTunes and open files for you to do with whatever you please.
You’re right. Having a song written about you is a terrible prize. Whether it’s BNL or some dude from the Cure, it all sucks. Right?
Perhaps the BNL (deserved) BNL bashing would carry more weight if they didn’t love Phil Collins so much.
samb, it’s a joke. do you find people saying that to you a lot?
i agree re eMusic- they’re great & cheap, and not really a wannabe so much as an alternative.
Perhaps BNL isn’t uber hipster cool these days, but back when I was in college and Gordon came out, I really dug that album.
Regardless of what you think of their music, BNL is extremely forward thinking when it comes to technology, DRM, and doing right by their fans.
Their last album was released on a USB thumb drive. Buy the drive, transfer the digital music, DRM FREE!! to any device you want. After that, you can use the thumb drive for whatever you want.
BNL also provided fans with tracks from their latest album so they could be used for mash-ups and remixes.
While the major labels are fighting the fans, BNL is doing what we all wish every band we love would do. For that, they should be commended, rather than be made fun of.
Oh! It’s a joke! Comment retracted (along with my incorrect use of “have” instead of “has”)!
I’m not convinced that the author meant to ellicit laughter with that sentence. But even if they did, it’s not really a joke as much as it is typical, lazy blog sarcasm/snark. But I’m not all that bent out of shape about it anyway. I think I hoped to spark a discussion about something other than how laughable a pop band is or how seriously artistic an indie rock band is.
I agree… this entry was of a lazy not-at-all-amusing snark level which Stereogum is generally above. Leave that tired crap for Pitchfork, thanks.
i have to stick up for BNL here… yes, they were relegated to pop novelty act after ‘one week’, but they’ve crafted some amazing music throughout their career… Jane, Alternative Girlfriend, Call and Answer, and even some of their newer stuff like For You come to mind (to be fair, there was that godawful Chimpanzee song in there too)
Also, they’ve churned out some remarkable solo/side project efforts (Steve Page’s Vanity Project, Jim Creeggan’s Brothers Creeggan, and Kevin Hearn’s Thin Buckle) that constitute some of the best music you’ve never heard
Yeah, I’ve got to give you a good thrashing for speaking semi-negatively about eMusic. They’re everything that iTunes should be – DRM-free and even more affordable. They’re (sort of) sticking it to the RIAA and that’s huge.
Also, the Barenaked Ladies? They’re not that bad. Not great, but it’s cheap and lazy to take potshots at them. Very “pretentious hipster” of you. Especially since BNL is more fan-friendly than other, more-indie acts out there who happily suckle the teat of the RIAA. Come on, Stereogum. How about you start learning, instead of pumping out what you THINK the kids want you to say?
Yeah I’ll admit that BNL are sort of lame in many ways, but I like a number of their songs (admittedly maybe just for the nostalgia value) and while they’re not the world’s most original band, come on, they’re not Hinder either.
agree with leff. not sure why stereogum can blow their load over weird al every few weeks, but barenaked ladies are spat all over. yeah it’s popular to hate them at this point, and sure they’ve made their share of goofy and (in the case of the chimpanzee nonsense) bad music. but they’ve also had some very good albums (if you gave “maybe you should drive” to someone and didn’t tell them it was BNL, and they didn’t figure it out and feel obligated to hate it, they’d probably find a lot to love about it). sure there’s crappy novelty-level stuff in their catalog but there’s a lot of great songs, and come on, steven page has a great voice.
So how much did Apple pay for them to write this?
So how much did Apple pay Stereogum to write this?
Glad to hear there are so many BNL fans out there, even though I don’t happen to be one of them. Personally, I think they’re terrible. But even if I loved them, I’m not sure I’d want them writing a song about my life. In fact, I can’t think of any band I’d like writing a song about my life. Spoon, maybe. Sounds like a non-prize prize to me, especially compared to the hardware the itunes guy got. I mean, which would you rather have? The song isn’t very good, even by BNL standards. I think it was one of those promotions that probably looked much better on paper.
Love eMusic, as they run a much more sensible (subscription, non-DRM) model. “Competitor” might have been a better word, but isn’t every company that’s not itunes a wannabe itunes? I think eMusic would kill to have the breadth and leverage (and profits) of the Jobs juggernaut.
My (several) cents.
I subscribe to eMusic. BAD joke. Sorry Ladies.
How on earth can anyone say something free is not a prize at all, even if it is a song written about you! I think it was a fun way to award someone with something that no one else will have. Yes a stereo may have been nice but hey , everyone could have one of those, and I’m sorry but I would be honoured to have a band that have been entertaining their fans now for almost 20 years, write a song about me. Barenaked Ladies have always been fun loving, carefree guys that just want to do what they love most, play music and share it with their fans. They might not be U2 but they still entertain there a$$e$ off!
I love emusic. Also, their mp3s are not encrypted, which is great.
i agree with most of the above. i like stereogum, but this is a lame post.
a song written just for you by actual musicians? that’s pretty sweet. BNL are pretty lame – though i’m not entirely sure why, as they’re great musicians and are capable of writing really sophisticated pop music – but that’s not really the point. further your dig at this brennan guy is pretty mean-spirited. i don’t doubt you were joking, it’s just a lame joke.
I still love the hell out of “Old Apartment” and any band that sings a song about Brian Wilson (and his sandbox) is 8,000x better than Clap Your Hands Say Wha? can ever be!
I am only partially kidding. But that Brian Wilson song is awesome.
all of you eMusic fans and BNL fans have missed the point. does eMusic make money? yes. granted, nowhere near what Apple makes, but a milestone download was given a song written by BNL to commemorate the person. although a great idea, no monetary possession was awarded the lucky person. give him some free downloads!
What a stupid piece – first off eMusic is no itunes wannabe, secondly get the spelling of Moorestown right and lastly I’d say anyone can give money or an ipod… but to be immortalized in a song? No comparison idiot!
Words like “trivial” and “insignificant” and “nerd” seem better served when used to describe your article. Are you a music LOVER?? To write for a music site, I’d venture to say you would consider yourself a passionate audiophile. Then, perhaps you could see music, music listeners, music providers and maybe even life in more different strokes for different folks kind of way. You come across an asshole man. And even assholes are entitled to their opinions, but spewing those opinions in a mean way just for your own ego-boosting narcissim kind of just seems like you’re the one lacking some real meaning in your life. Rock on BNL, Rock on Micheal Brennan.
Serious question: does Scott actually write any posts anymore? The quality of writing just isn’t the same anymore.
As a BNL fan (I refuse to embrace shame) and an emusic fan, dude, silvergiraffe, he got something for nothing.
Once, across the street from the Metro, a guy said if we gave him any two words he would write a song about it. My buddy said “canker sores” and sure enough, the guy came up with a hilarious song about canker sores. And we gave him a few bucks. Seems like an entire band writing and recording a song about you for free is worth a little bit more than that. Especially when it’s something for nothing.
It’s been much longer than one DAY since I hated YOU.
The new Andrew Bird is on emusic?
last week I witnessed a fight regarding the barenaked ladies; the love on one side, the indifference on the other… it was legendary. The fight was between my grandparents. I’m 28 so these aren’t like baby boomer grandparents these are 75+ers feelin’ the jam. anyway that fight was above the belt, this post, not so much.
“iTunes wannabe” my ass. but then, everyone who’s commented here already realizes what bullshit this is.
keep on paying your $1 per track penance, suckas.
yeah, i don’t see why you’re so sarcastic about this, ‘gum. if it were Creed doing the song, then i think you’d be justified. BNL may not be cool, but they’re not half bad. i still have some of their stuff on my itunes, and i don’t always skip it. They Might Be Giants however, skipped like crazy.
can’t even follow what this story is about. who cares!
The only way you can compare eMusic and iTunes is that they sell music.
eMusic is not a wannabe, it sets it’s own standards.
As far as how worthy the prize of a renowned band writing a song about you, I think it holds a high value. As eMusic cares about it’s community, having a band write a song about one of the users goes extremely far to show it.
The author of this post is a self-important jackass who’s uncomfortable in his own shoes.
I was gonna complain about the unqualified diss-ing of BNL when I realized something, you write for stereogum! hahahaha!
’nuff said
Wow, what a mean article. I didn’t even know this blog was here — I liked the song about Michael Brennan so much (that I downloaded for free off of eMusic) that I Googled “Michael Brennan” “Barenaked Ladies” to see what it was all about. And what I got was this. Man, you are so off base about (1) The Barenaked Ladies, (2) The song, (3) eMusic, (4) The prize, and (5) Michael Brennan. And I don’t even know the guy. Are you just “all that” or something?