9 ms·

Imogen Heap releases single on Ethereum-based Mycelia

100 points by pajop 11y ago

dang 11y ago
Also https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10335389 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10335389.
svarrall 11y ago
How to actually get the song: http://blog.ujomusic.com/2015/09/get-ether/ http://blog.ujomusic.com/2015/09/get-ether/
- yc1010 11y ago
  I use Bitcoin every day, and these steps will rule out 99.999% of users from being able to get any etherium (and hence buy this music) The biggest problem with bitcoin is getting "normal" people to acquire even small amounts without going thru too many hoops, Coinbase and Circle are doing a good job there
  - simondlr 11y ago
    We realise this is a problem and plan to add functionality for both Bitcoin & credit cards in the future.
    - throwaway7767 11y ago
      Another issue, the guide linked says to skip to step 4c if you already have bitcoin, but then step 4c tells you to use the account you created in 4a. I think this would be a lot clearer if you split this up into three guides: "How to buy bitcoin", "How to buy ether" and "How to buy the product". EDIT: Also, the TLS certificate for alpha.ujomusic.com does not validate in firefox for me, as the certificate chain is not correctly installed on the server.
      - simondlr 11y ago
        Thanks for the feedback! We appreciate it.
        throwaway7767 11y ago
        No problem, this is very interesting and I suspect I'll buy the song just as an excuse to play with ethereum. Haven't had a chance to look at it before.
  - warcode 11y ago
    How is coinbase/circle solving the hoops? The only steps I want to go through are 1) Register an account (email/password) 2) Choose amount of bitcoin and destination 3) Pay
    - ISL 11y ago
      Chat with your local legislator. Anti-money-laundering laws exist.
  - pajop 11y ago
    I used shapeshift.io to convert some satoshis to Ether :)
dvh 11y ago
Singer Imogen Heap releases single on Ethereum (blockchain-based) service Mycelia
- PhasmaFelis 11y ago
  Thanks for this. It's a continuing problem with HN that submitters assume everyone knows the same things they do, and leave out vital context.
  - arbitrage 11y ago
    It's been a continuing problem with tech sites since the beginning of tech sites, not just HN. But yeah, this is really frustrating.
ethana 11y ago
Went to alpha.ujomusic.com, greated with: >The UJO MUSIC Prototype is optimized for Chrome on the Desktop. People says that Safari is the new IE, but I have come across too many Chrome-only sites to think otherwise.
- kibibu 11y ago
  I thought that claim was because Safari is not keeping up with web standards in the way the FF, Chrome and even IE/Edge are. Supporting Safari is not quite at the same hell level as supporting IE6 became though (unless you're supporting Safari for Windows)
- simondlr 11y ago
  This was not intentional. We had a very short time to get a prototype out the door & couldn't optimise the best we can.
  - detritus 11y ago
    Oh, come on - getting a site to work across more than one browser isn't 'optimising to the best you can', it's just sloppy from the off. - ed Although it does say 'prototype', to be fair. Still... 'grr!'
    - simondlr 11y ago
      To be honest, we were frustrated that it slipped through. As in exactly as you say: it's sloppy and should've really not let this happen. Completely our fault.
      - detritus 11y ago
        Thanks for the response - I'm just keen to see 'how this all works' having read that Guardian article last month. Will keep an eye out..!
    - deleted 11y ago
      [deleted]
petewailes 11y ago
Long term fan - if you ever get to see her live, it's well worth going along. Her gloves are amazing. Allows her to combine something akin to composing while she's also playing instruments. Fascinating to watch.
- anentropic 11y ago
  musicians do this all the time
  - ddingus 11y ago
    She does it well. Just saying ;)
khawkins 11y ago
This article really buries the lead.
- triplesec 11y ago
  please do be more specific
  - hrnnnnnn 11y ago
    You have to scan through about ten garbage paragraphs describing the current state of the music industry before it starts talking about the story in the headline.
- 1and2equals0 11y ago
  I second that. God awful read.
- scintill76 11y ago
  *buries the lede
- rkangel 11y ago
  On the other hand, it did just enough to get me hooked to read all the way through the background content to get to the meat.
teekert 11y ago
What I don't understand is: Is the music in the blockchain? Is the music on everyone's computer but only accessible for whose with a key? Does this not make a blockchain too big? Can you have subsets of the blockchain locally? When you buy this album can you stream from these subsets of blockchains like with Popcorn time? Its' not really explained in this article...
- knocte 11y ago
  Exactly, good questions, that's what I was wondering as well! After looking around, I think this is complete bullshit. I mean, it's a normal website with a normal HTTP download. The only difference is that the payment method is Ether. So I think calling this "blockchain-based" is sensationalist.
  - Jmiehau 11y ago
    Wait, this is the first iteration. Look forward in the next release.
  - cslarson 11y ago
    This definitely is blockchain-based. Specifically, this project is using an ethereum smart contract to record the release of a piece of creative content along with a list of contributors to the realisation of that content. These contributors will be automatically and transparently paid a portion of the revenue each time someone purchases that content. My understanding is that currently the content is hosted on amazon s3, but future plans would use something like ipfs. Some data on the ethereum contract including stored values and transactions: http://frontier.ether.camp/account/c7696b27830dd8aa4823a1cba8440c27c36adec4 http://frontier.ether.camp/account/c7696b27830dd8aa4823a1cba...
Grue3 11y ago
>When was the last time you bought a CD or a record? August 2015. Is that a trick question?
koloron 11y ago
My favorite song by her: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAKh26bfkpw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAKh26bfkpw Beautiful usage of a vocoder. Yes, I know it's OT…
- filoeleven 11y ago
  Since we're already OT, I'll add that she was actually using something more like a harmonizer than a vocoder[0]. A vocoder takes the formants from a singer/speaker and applies them to a carrier signal which provides the pitch. So you could for example use a piano as the carrier signal, resulting in a sound that is still very recognizably piano-like but "sings" whatever you do, ignoring the pitch of your voice. A harmonizer is really one or more pitch shifters that take the original singing and move the pitch up or down a certain number of steps while retaining (more or less) the timbre or texture of the voice. The altered pitch(es) can track the original or be fixed to certain notes. The altered pitches are mixed with the original signal to create harmonies. (AutoTune is in fact a pitch shifter married to pitch recognition algos that nudge the pitch back to where it should be.) Some harmonizers let you use a MIDI keyboard to determine the pitches that will play. With this kind of setup it's often referred to as a voice synth: you can play chords on a keyboard that result in copies of your own voice re-pitched and played back simultaneously. This is basically what she used to create that song. None of this (hopefully interesting) aside changes the gist of the original statement: Hide and Seek is a beautiful song, and Heap's voice is a perfect match for the instrument because of her range and tonal flexibility. [0]http://duc.avid.com/showthread.php?t=288785 http://duc.avid.com/showthread.php?t=288785 (forum link because the original article 404s)
glitcher 11y ago
This article is begging for a TL;DR summary. 18 paragraphs before they get to the first mention of Ethereum or blockchain.
aaroninsf 11y ago
I got all excited that IH had released some music Eduardo Kac style by encoding it with CRISPR in mycelium or something. From 8-bit to RNA-bit. Silly me, it's some block-chain thing. Drat.
thedaemon 11y ago
"Imogen Heap invents a really complicated way to pay for 1 song." I'll pass.
jeremy7600 11y ago
Doesn't the song being on YouTube defeat the purpose?

100 points by pajop 11y ago

dang 11y ago

Also https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10335389 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10335389.

svarrall 11y ago

How to actually get the song: http://blog.ujomusic.com/2015/09/get-ether/ http://blog.ujomusic.com/2015/09/get-ether/

yc1010 11y ago
I use Bitcoin every day, and these steps will rule out 99.999% of users from being able to get any etherium (and hence buy this music) The biggest problem with bitcoin is getting "normal" people to acquire even small amounts without going thru too many hoops, Coinbase and Circle are doing a good job there
- simondlr 11y ago
  We realise this is a problem and plan to add functionality for both Bitcoin & credit cards in the future.
  - throwaway7767 11y ago
    Another issue, the guide linked says to skip to step 4c if you already have bitcoin, but then step 4c tells you to use the account you created in 4a. I think this would be a lot clearer if you split this up into three guides: "How to buy bitcoin", "How to buy ether" and "How to buy the product". EDIT: Also, the TLS certificate for alpha.ujomusic.com does not validate in firefox for me, as the certificate chain is not correctly installed on the server.
    - simondlr 11y ago
      Thanks for the feedback! We appreciate it.
      - throwaway7767 11y ago
        No problem, this is very interesting and I suspect I'll buy the song just as an excuse to play with ethereum. Haven't had a chance to look at it before.
- warcode 11y ago
  How is coinbase/circle solving the hoops? The only steps I want to go through are 1) Register an account (email/password) 2) Choose amount of bitcoin and destination 3) Pay
  - ISL 11y ago
    Chat with your local legislator. Anti-money-laundering laws exist.
- pajop 11y ago
  I used shapeshift.io to convert some satoshis to Ether :)

dvh 11y ago

Singer Imogen Heap releases single on Ethereum (blockchain-based) service Mycelia

PhasmaFelis 11y ago
Thanks for this. It's a continuing problem with HN that submitters assume everyone knows the same things they do, and leave out vital context.
- arbitrage 11y ago
  It's been a continuing problem with tech sites since the beginning of tech sites, not just HN. But yeah, this is really frustrating.

ethana 11y ago

Went to alpha.ujomusic.com, greated with: >The UJO MUSIC Prototype is optimized for Chrome on the Desktop. People says that Safari is the new IE, but I have come across too many Chrome-only sites to think otherwise.

kibibu 11y ago
I thought that claim was because Safari is not keeping up with web standards in the way the FF, Chrome and even IE/Edge are. Supporting Safari is not quite at the same hell level as supporting IE6 became though (unless you're supporting Safari for Windows)
simondlr 11y ago
This was not intentional. We had a very short time to get a prototype out the door & couldn't optimise the best we can.
- detritus 11y ago
  Oh, come on - getting a site to work across more than one browser isn't 'optimising to the best you can', it's just sloppy from the off. - ed Although it does say 'prototype', to be fair. Still... 'grr!'
  - simondlr 11y ago
    To be honest, we were frustrated that it slipped through. As in exactly as you say: it's sloppy and should've really not let this happen. Completely our fault.
    - detritus 11y ago
      Thanks for the response - I'm just keen to see 'how this all works' having read that Guardian article last month. Will keep an eye out..!
  - deleted 11y ago
    [deleted]

petewailes 11y ago

Long term fan - if you ever get to see her live, it's well worth going along. Her gloves are amazing. Allows her to combine something akin to composing while she's also playing instruments. Fascinating to watch.

anentropic 11y ago
musicians do this all the time
- ddingus 11y ago
  She does it well. Just saying ;)

khawkins 11y ago

This article really buries the lead.

triplesec 11y ago
please do be more specific
- hrnnnnnn 11y ago
  You have to scan through about ten garbage paragraphs describing the current state of the music industry before it starts talking about the story in the headline.
1and2equals0 11y ago
I second that. God awful read.
scintill76 11y ago
*buries the lede
rkangel 11y ago
On the other hand, it did just enough to get me hooked to read all the way through the background content to get to the meat.

teekert 11y ago

What I don't understand is: Is the music in the blockchain? Is the music on everyone's computer but only accessible for whose with a key? Does this not make a blockchain too big? Can you have subsets of the blockchain locally? When you buy this album can you stream from these subsets of blockchains like with Popcorn time? Its' not really explained in this article...

knocte 11y ago
Exactly, good questions, that's what I was wondering as well! After looking around, I think this is complete bullshit. I mean, it's a normal website with a normal HTTP download. The only difference is that the payment method is Ether. So I think calling this "blockchain-based" is sensationalist.
- Jmiehau 11y ago
  Wait, this is the first iteration. Look forward in the next release.
- cslarson 11y ago
  This definitely is blockchain-based. Specifically, this project is using an ethereum smart contract to record the release of a piece of creative content along with a list of contributors to the realisation of that content. These contributors will be automatically and transparently paid a portion of the revenue each time someone purchases that content. My understanding is that currently the content is hosted on amazon s3, but future plans would use something like ipfs. Some data on the ethereum contract including stored values and transactions: http://frontier.ether.camp/account/c7696b27830dd8aa4823a1cba8440c27c36adec4 http://frontier.ether.camp/account/c7696b27830dd8aa4823a1cba...

Grue3 11y ago

>When was the last time you bought a CD or a record? August 2015. Is that a trick question?

koloron 11y ago

My favorite song by her: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAKh26bfkpw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAKh26bfkpw Beautiful usage of a vocoder. Yes, I know it's OT…

filoeleven 11y ago
Since we're already OT, I'll add that she was actually using something more like a harmonizer than a vocoder[0]. A vocoder takes the formants from a singer/speaker and applies them to a carrier signal which provides the pitch. So you could for example use a piano as the carrier signal, resulting in a sound that is still very recognizably piano-like but "sings" whatever you do, ignoring the pitch of your voice. A harmonizer is really one or more pitch shifters that take the original singing and move the pitch up or down a certain number of steps while retaining (more or less) the timbre or texture of the voice. The altered pitch(es) can track the original or be fixed to certain notes. The altered pitches are mixed with the original signal to create harmonies. (AutoTune is in fact a pitch shifter married to pitch recognition algos that nudge the pitch back to where it should be.) Some harmonizers let you use a MIDI keyboard to determine the pitches that will play. With this kind of setup it's often referred to as a voice synth: you can play chords on a keyboard that result in copies of your own voice re-pitched and played back simultaneously. This is basically what she used to create that song. None of this (hopefully interesting) aside changes the gist of the original statement: Hide and Seek is a beautiful song, and Heap's voice is a perfect match for the instrument because of her range and tonal flexibility. [0]http://duc.avid.com/showthread.php?t=288785 http://duc.avid.com/showthread.php?t=288785 (forum link because the original article 404s)

glitcher 11y ago

This article is begging for a TL;DR summary. 18 paragraphs before they get to the first mention of Ethereum or blockchain.

aaroninsf 11y ago

I got all excited that IH had released some music Eduardo Kac style by encoding it with CRISPR in mycelium or something. From 8-bit to RNA-bit. Silly me, it's some block-chain thing. Drat.

thedaemon 11y ago

"Imogen Heap invents a really complicated way to pay for 1 song." I'll pass.

jeremy7600 11y ago

Doesn't the song being on YouTube defeat the purpose?