KCRW story on Westerberg's "49:00"

A few new links to share with you today:

» Crawdaddy review of "49:00"
» Rocky Mountain News review of "49:00"
» "49:00" review from The Modern Conservative (if, like me, you're a bleeding heart liberal and the name of the site is giving you the willies, check out the review anyway, it's very good)

KCRW's News Collage of the Week covers the "49:00" story:

Litigation is becoming the modus operandi for rock and rollers. In the old days, problems were discreetly solved with quiet negotiations. But when the internet came along, a band suddenly had direct access to their own fanbase. Now bands have democratic distribution. Anyone can release a record. And in the rough and tumble world of independence, artists are often guided by the "do it now and apologize for it later" rule. This means the threat oflawsuits looms ever present.

The latest victim caught in the crosshairs is cult favorite Paul Westerberg. Westerberg, singer and songwriter and the previous frontman of The Replacements, came up with a novel way to launch his new album. The album, titled "49 Minutes" was sold as a single download on Amazon and Tunecore. It was 49 minutes long and sold at the ridiculously low price of .49 cents.

The story generated headlines from all the major press, first for marketing, then for its unusual sound. Critics loved the album, which sounded more like a sound collage. Included in the music, were a few seconds worth of mash ups from other artist songs. Two weeks after it was originally released, Amazon and Tunecore pulled the "49 Minutes" download off their sites. And in its place, Tunecore began offering a different, exclusive Westerberg track titled, "5:05." The new song sells for .99 cents.

Why did the original album get pulled? The most plausible answer is that digital retailers probably received cease and desist notices for "49 Minutes" due to the mash ups. Once they receive a notice, they simply pull the release until they are convinced they have the rights to sell it. Game over, or prepare to suffer lawsuits. It will be interesting to see what Westerberg does next.

Hello "5:05", Goodbye "49:00"

What a short, strange trip it's been for "49:00". I'm going to do my best to explain what's going on with "49:00" and the new release, "5:05". To put it simply, "49:00" is no longer available for download on either Amazon.com or Tunecore, it was removed from Tunecore last Thursday and from Amazon two days later. Gone, daddy, gone.

No official explanation was given for its disappearance. As one might expect, there's been quite a bit of discussion about possible reasons and you can find some of those discussions on the message board. Since we're not getting an official explanation, speculation is the next best thing!

But wait, there's more. Late last night, a new PW song appeared on Tunecore, "5:05" (yes, it's five minutes and five seconds long). To repeat, this new download is not "49:00", it's an entirely different thing. The cover art is below, to get the hi-res, downloadable version of the art, click on the image.

One more thing: When you go to download "5:05", you can choose how much you want to pay for it. You can pay either $5.05 or you can pay $0.99 - whatever amount you decide to pay, you get the exact same song. The only difference (obviously) is how much money comes out on the other end. For more info on "5:05", check out the initial reactions to it on the message board.