HazardousInk

We’re fucked.

Greg — Tue, 11 May 2010 19:30:47 +0000

The Responsibility of Impartiality

Greg — Sat, 08 May 2010 15:20:39 +0000

Broadcasting regulation prevents TV coverage of the election from being impartial, but it’s a different story for the self-regulating newspaper industry. With regulation being much lighter, do the newspapers have a moral responsibility to hold some sort of impartially during the election campaign? I think they do.

The Sun, Daily Express and Daily Mirror ahead of Thursday’s election.

The terrifying truth is that some people do believe every word that the tabloids print. The effect probably isn’t the same as it was before the internet, but undoubtedly it would still have some sort of impact on those who were still undecided on polling day. Everyone is entitled to their own view, but there is a difference between an opinion and blatant propaganda. I don’t object to newspapers having a political alliance, as long as they keep it off of the front pages.

Not In My Name

Greg — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 19:00:53 +0000

Digital Economy Act

The controversial Digital Economy Bill has now been rushed through the House of Lords and the House of Commons without a fair and proper debate. The Act allows websites to be blocked and internet connections to be turned off at the request of backward-thinking corporate giants.

Here’s a quick guide to what the Digital Economy Act covers from The Guardian.

The complex bill was discussed in just two hours by a handful of MPs. And it seemed that Labour candidate Tom Watson was the only one who had enough technical knowledge to understand the consequence of the flawed bill.

Despite their campaign to ‘save the net’, 47 Lib Dem MPs, including my local MP Vince Cable, didn’t bother to show up.

‘Even if all 63 Lib Dems had voted, it would have made no difference to the result.’ – Lib Dem Representative

If all of the 63 Liberal Democrats had voted then there would have been 94 noes (189 in favour). It would have made no difference to the outcome of the vote, but it would have shown that the Lib Dems are ‘the party that is different.’ Instead, it shows that they are just the same as the others.

By logic, we shouldn’t vote for the Lib Dems next month because it will make no difference to the result. It’s no wonder that 60% of 18-24 year olds aren’t going to bother voting on the 6th of May. No one represents us. Right now, spoiling my ballot paper has a massive appeal to me – at least that way I can’t be disappointed with being let down by talking points from talking heads with automated smiles.

General Stuff

Political rants aside, it’s been a while since I last blogged. I’ve been 18 for two months now, and short of being able to vote in a pseudo-democracy, getting a phone contract and buying alcohol legally, it’s not that different to being a ‘child’ under the eyes of the law.

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Filming for my upcoming documentary ended up just before Easter. The last few interviews included: Tall Ships, Pulled Apart By Horses, Walter Schreifels and Tubelord. As well as that, I went to four gigs in four nights (Frank Turner, Motion City Soundtrack, New Slang and Fun.)

Since the Easter Holidays have started, short of putting off revision for the subject I don’t need to do well in and start coursework that I should have started months ago, I have absolutely nothing to do. Timing is annoying?

HTC Desire

After 3 years with an outdated Sony Erricson phone, I treated myself to a new smartphone.

I heard a few negative things about the Sony Ericsson X10, so I went with the HTC Desire. And in short: it’s probably the best phone on the market at the moment.

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T-Mobile have some really flexible contracts on offer at the moment. My contract is 100 minutes, unlimited texts and unlimited internet for £10 for 24 months, which is perfect for me. On top of this, I had to pay £164 towards the cost of the phone.

The Desire runs on Android 2.1 with HTC’s custom Sense UI. It has GPS, an accelerometer and all sorts of widgets and applications as well as everything else you would expect from a smart phone. Believe the positive reviews, this phone does everything you’d want it to do and more.

Ravensbourne

Since my last blog post, I was invited for an interview at Ravensbourne College for FdA Digital Film Production. I was offered a place on the spot, which I later accepted. The college is currently in the process of relocating next to The O2 in the Greenwich Peninsular.

As part of this move, the university-sector college have changed their name from ‘Ravensbourne College of Design and Communication’ to ‘Ravensbourne’, which is a bold move in itself. What’s even bolder is their new logo, which has led to a massive backlash from both students and staff.

Personally, I think that basing the logo on the Penrose tiling system that covers the new building is lazy. The supporting branding is far superior to the logo and requiring context to make a logo look bearable isn’t ideal. However, I am starting to warm to the logo after the initial… shock.

You can read more about the new Ravensbourne brand here.

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Bring Me Your Love
(City and Colour)

Transmitter Failure
(Jenny Owen Youngs)

My Dinosaur Life
(Motion City Soundtrack)

Why not follow me on Twitter here or take a look at some of my photos here?

It’s scary for Dave

Greg — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 19:43:06 +0000

This article is in response to ‘There are children today who are more likely to see their dad drunk than doing a day’s work‘ by David Cameron from the Mail on Sunday (17/01/10)

Broken Britain: It’s scary for Dave.

The phrase Broken Britain repeats like a broken record. ‘We can’t go on like this’ claimes David Cameron once more in his latest article for the Mail on Sunday.

If society was really broken in Britain, then Sukhwinder Singh would not have tried to stop two muggers from stealing a woman’s handbag; A selfless act which unfortunately resulted in him being stabbed to death. It is tragic that he was killed while doing so, but a change in the government will not stop muggers from mugging, nor will it stop killers from killing. With a growing population, it’s no surprise that there will be more crime. But what should be praised is the fact that the murder rate is actually the lowest it has been in 20 years, this is partly because of the improvements made to the NHS. Another area which Cameron tends to pick apart.

Another point raised was the suggestion that Labour are encouraging families to break up by giving the message: ‘Stay together, and you’ll get less money; split up, and you’ll get more.’ I’m not sure what exactly he intents to change, will he take away money from single parent families to fund the tax breaks for married couples? It is a prime example of how the Conservative party will make life more difficult for those from a ‘broken’ family, and essentially punishing people based on circumstance. Earlier in the article, Cameron points out that ‘one in four women suffers domestic abuse at some point in their life’, but how can he possibly justify offering an monetary incentive to remain in a violent relationship?

If ‘Labour are the party of the state (and the Tories) are the party of society’ then prepare for more meddling than you have experienced under New Labour. Mr Cameron tries to portray the Conservatives as the party who will ‘fix’ every little thing that seems wrong with society. And ultimately, this is what will win the election. But the attempts to return to traditional Conservative values are even less relevant in today’s society than they were during Thatcher’s disastrous reign as Prime Minister.

Good old Dave intents to fix the NHS and society. Both of which aren’t broken. He’s doing a good job as Prime Minister so far isn’t he? I don’t carry a weapon, and I don’t use drugs. People still say thank you if you open a door for someone, people still say sorry if they accidentally bump in to you in a crowded shop. But to be fair, Britain probably looks scarier to a man who has probably never walked the streets alone.

Vital Signs

Greg — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 14:00:45 +0000

Like every year, 2009 was full of ups, downs, extreme highs and extreme lows. 90% of the year was wasted away, complaining about injustices and idiots who probably aren’t really idiots. The remaining 10% of the year was spent doing cool things like being stopped by a police officer who thought I was trying to break in to The Borderline, a venue that really wouldn’t have been worth breaking in to.

“I can tell stories that most can hardly dream.”

Frank Turner – Vital Signs

A few stories from this year:

I played a live set at the Ministry of Sound, then stood in the DJ booth while Hight Contrast and Caspa played their sets to over 1000 people in the main room. I also single handedly organised a foam party attended by 300 paying customers. Then I decided I was silly for thinking I could ever beat companies with budgets ten times mine so I thought I probably should go to university.

I saw Andy Hull (pictured right) play a solo show this year and also saw him with Manchester Orchestra a further three times. I got an access all areas pass for the third Manchester Orchestra gig, not bad considering they are my favourite band. The view from the side of the stage is pretty good!

I somehow managed to get Frank Turner to play a song in my friend’s bedroom at 9am on a rainy Friday morning. It was recorded as part of the music video for The Road in which he played 24 gigs in 24 hours. Impressive stuff! I appeared in his music video, admittedly looking very bored but far from it. I blame tiredness and generally my face.

The first weekend of December was surreal. After watching Kevin Devine’s two and a half hour set played a flat in Surbiton, I sat down to watch Manchester Orchestra on Channel 4 while Mr Devine was in the room singing along. Then on the Sunday, I got to interview KDev for my documentary. It was a unique opportunity, one that I’ll never forget.

Music: Most-listened-to in 2009
1: Manchester Orchestra (2,082 plays)
2: Kevin Devine (1,879 plays)
3: Frank Turner (1,769 plays)
4: Tegan and Sara (1,283 plays)
5: Brand New (1,273 plays)

Driven by the fact that I can do amazing things, I think I can do even more great things next year. But I think I need to focus on the smaller things like doing more stuff with my time, I don’t want to have enough time to read everything on ~~Facebook~~ and Twitter. I want to be more honest, a bit more bold, take a couple more risks. Stop being so worried about making myself look like an idiot. Enjoy every second of the summer with my friends before everyone leaves for university.

As for a couple of measurable targets:
• Play at least 4 or 5 gigs with my new iMac and Novation Launchpad. I also want to finish off my experimental album and release it in the next month or so.
• Write for 15-20 minutes each day; maybe try to document every day, even if it’s dull. I’m going to be guest blogging on a few bigger websites.

Next year, I turn 18, grow up, be an adult, be bored and unfulfilled. Turning 18 is something I’m looking forward to, I’m sure a pint down the pub will beat the dilemma of having nowhere to go on a Friday or Saturday night. Towards the end of the year I’ll hopefully be going to university to study TV & film production. Two of my five choices are in central London, which will mean that I probably won’t be moving away from home in the next year. And if that goes wrong, I’ll be taking a gap year every year for the rest of my life…

How has your goddamn year been? Will you be setting any resolutions? Comments below, as always.

Why you should use Twitter

Greg — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 22:04:07 +0000

Anyone who pays any attention to the internet or the media has probably heard of Twitter. Most of whom are utterly confused about its existence. If you update your status on Facebook a few times a day or just hate Facebook altogether, then you might be better suited to the crazy world of Twitter.

So what is Twitter? Limited to 140 characters, each update is called a ‘Tweet’. You’ll be familiar with the limit if you’ve ever texted another human being. You can reply to a Tweet by mentioning their Twitter name in your own tweet, you can do this by inserting an @ symbol before their username. For example: “@hazardousink Yeah, I agree – everyone should use Twitter!”

Everyone uses Twitter for a different reason. Personally, I think it’s great place to vent when you don’t want all of your Facebook friends to see. Most people decide to make their Tweets public, but you can also change your privacy settings to make sure only your followers see what you have to say. There are also thousands of websites adding features to Twitter, so there is something for everyone.

So if you are bored of Facebook being slow, bloated and unoriginal; then sign up to Twitter and follow me here.

Colds and overcoats

Greg — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 14:29:48 +0000

After a strange heat-wave earlier this month, we’re now well and truly in to autumn. It’s now half term, and it’s been a while since I posted a particularly lengthy blog entry; so I thought I probably should. A quick update on life to start off with: I burnt a few bridges, trying to rebuild them now. Oh, Esher still fucking sucks! TV Programmes: FlashForward is simply epic, Grey’s Anatomy is still awesome, and Spooks comes back on the 4th of November. Question Time got people talking didn’t it?

I’m writing this with a heavy cold, so forgive me if it makes little (or no) sense. Oh and before you ask: I don’t have Swine Flu. Has anyone else noticed that whenever people get a sniffle or an ache they post on Facebook announcing they have Swine Flu? Surely if they had any form of flu, they wouldn’t actually be able to use a computer to tell the world. And plus: just because someone on the phone tells you to take Tamiflu, it doesn’t mean you have Swine Flu. You probably don’t.

Talking of Facebook, I deactivated my Facebook account last Monday. It wasn’t planned, I just did it. Spending time away from a site that I’m arguably addicted to made me realise just how much time I waste on Facebook, but I didn’t manage to turn that time in to something constructive.

The only thing I really missed about not having a Facebook account is not being able to share a link or opinion with a large amount of people. For example, whenever I post a blog entry, I always post the link on Facebook and Twitter. Facebook usually sends me about 30% of traffic, making it the largest referring. Twitter, which is used by far fewer people, sends about 21% of traffic to my site. I could probably live without Facebook but it would take a lot of effort. And with some people, you just can’t ask for a phone number within 5 minutes of meeting them. I’m back on Facebook now, but I’ll definitely be deactivating my account whenever I have a coursework deadline approaching.

While I’m on the topic of Facebook: their image application sucks so much! The image compression sucks the feeling out of the photographs. And it’s a bit of a slap in the face when Facebook notifies you when someone make one of your photos their ‘profile picture’ but the application doesn’t give you any credit. It credits you when you upload photos to groups. Flawed logic.

Last Wednesday, I started filming a documentary with Big Scary Monsters, an independent record label based in Oxford. If all goes to plan, it will be released on DVD as part of a package celebrating their 100th release. The project will lead me to meeting and interviewing Kevin Devine, who is probably my favourite singer-songwriter at the moment. So as you can imagine, I’m very excited for that. I’ll be posting some updates as well as video clips as the project progresses, so watch this space!

Mr Devine will be headlining the Big Scary Monsters Christmas tour in the UK. Another great artist, Shoes And Socks Off will be supporting throughout the nine dates. Other bands on the label will provide additional support at selected venues. This is really an unmissable tour, please try to make it to at least one date!

30 Nov 2009 – Deaf Institute, Manchester
01 Dec 2009 – Oxford Academy
02 Dec 2009 – Clwb Ifor Bach, Cardiff
03 Dec 2009 – Hamptons, Southampton
04 Dec 2009 – Academy 3, Birmingham
06 Dec 2009 – The Borderline, London
07 Dec 2009 – The Cockpit, Leeds
08 Dec 2009 – Captain’s Rest, Glasgow
09 Dec 2009 – Arts Centre, Norwich

Griffin: ‘Skin colour is irrelevant.’

And finally on to a topic that has got everyone talking: Nick Griffin’s appearance on Question Time. But before I talk about the actual content of the programme, I’d just like to take the chance to praise the BBC for giving the BNP an opportunity to be humiliated on Question Time. To deny a political party, regardless of how pathetic they are, a place on a programme funded by the tax payers is ridiculous. While there is a degree of bias in all forms of media, I am proud that the show was not censored.

Early figures showed that the programme averaged 7.8 million viewers. On Twitter, close to 55,000 tweets were recorded during the hour that the show was on air. An average of 12.5 tweets per second was recorded towards the end of the show. Equally, outrage over the Nick Griffin’s ignorant ideology was apparent among my friends on Facebook. It got people talking about what really matters: our country. It was refreshing to say the least.

Naturally, Griffin was clearly uncomfortable with the situation, trembling throughout the show. He seemingly avoided most of the questions; his only defence seemed to be his nervous laugh, sinister smile, and pre-rehearsed unrelated answers. One of those responses was: “I cannot explain why I used to say those things… (by) European law.” Despite Jack Straw, the justice minister, offering to bend the rules for the sake of the debate, Griffin refused to answer.

Without a doubt, Bonnie Greer stole the show, giving him a history lesson and offering him a pile of books to read. A lesson which promptly resulted in the BNP quickly replacing the entire website with a static temporary page, because y’know: their selective history was a tiny bit wrong. The site is back up now, if you want to laugh at them some more.

I guess at the end of the day, Nick Griffin can’t be a Nazi because he doesn’t ‘have a conviction for Holocaust denial.’ He also modernised the BNP from being a Nazi party to a… err, far-right racist party, which means that Nazis loathe him. Wait, if the Nazis loathe him and the ultra-leftists do too, then who exactly votes for this monster?

Do you have Swine Flu?
Could you live without Facebook?
You’re coming to see Kevin Devine, right?
Is Nick Griffin a total bastard?
What is a ‘militant homosexual’?

You can probably comment using the form below.

You should also follow me on Twitter here.

Back to real

Greg — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 18:32:21 +0000

Today, I returned to college for my second and final year. I started on two new courses: An AS-Level in History (20th Century) and some sort of strange certificate in Photography, a course which I can’t actually remember picking. It’s too early to form much of an opinion on the courses, but they don’t seem *that* bad!

After a summer full of ups and downs, I’m actually glad I’m back at college. A two month break is far too long; I would rather have a shorter break with the rest of the holiday distributed throughout the rest of the year.

Of course, there are a couple of downsides to returning. Apart from the obvious, there is a new problem in the fact that the college is now overcrowded. Apparently there are over 900 new students, over 100 more than last year. And we have a tiny campus.

Also, some interesting news: I am about to start work on a documentary with an independent record label, which I’m sure will take over my life for the next five months. I’m sure I’ll meet some great people along the way. And if all goes to plan, not only will I be entering it as my media coursework, but it will also be released on DVD, which I am extremely excited about. I’ll be posting more details once production begins.

But for now dear readers, Adios.

Climate Camp 2009

Greg — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 23:00:11 +0000

As you may or may not know, last week I went to Climate Camp 2009, a temporary camp set in a secret location for environmental protesters. The camp offered various workshops on issues relating to climate change and taught practical skills in building and creating a green society.

On Wednesday 26th August, I got to Hounslow Station, ready for the swoop, at about 12:15 to meet Stephen and Patrick. The text message detailing the location of the camp had not yet arrived, and after fiddling about on Twitter, I found out that the text message could arrive at any time that afternoon. So we took the tube to Hyde Park, a predictable central location, or so we thought. Eventually at about 14:30, the news of the location arrived almost simultaneously via text message and Twitter: Hare and Billet Road, Blackheath.

After briefly working out where we were going, we set off. We arrived about an hour later after a ride on the London Underground, our first ever trip on the unique Docklands Light Railway and a walk though Greenwich Park.

After briefly getting used to our new surroundings, we were joined by Paddy, Layth and Tallulah in the evening, with Amelia, Cherie, Emily, Laura and Sian arriving the next day.

Image: kristianbuus.com

There was a good community spirit, something that I feel society lacks. People from a mixture of different backgrounds were there, all with different reasons for being there. It was amazing to see a group of people come together to build a such a big camp with running water, toilets, kitchens, a unique compost drainage system, a number of marquees, wind turbines, solar panels. And all within a couple of days. Health and Safety provisions were being put in to place. And all from a leaderless-group, it’s pretty damn impressive.

Vegan food was the only food on offer, which was probably for the best really. But apparently eating meat while on site was frowned upon. The food was far from bland or uninteresting; some cheese would have been nice though! I even helped cook for two hundred people, but the food left me with little energy, and… hungry. But that’s a story for another blog entry.

Events such as Climate Camp 2009 do help raise awareness and demonstrate what can be done if people work together without the need to go to extremes. However the group will be attempting to “shut down” a power station in October. Clashes will happen. Both the protestors and the police will get negative press. And change won’t happen.

And at one point, a crazy woman shouted “together we can bring down Canary Wharf” to a mass set of applause. Some businesses are corrupt, others involved in carbon and arms trading, however such a generalised threat just seems a bit scary to me. I’m no eco-warror, but it still gives us all a bad reputation, which will make any form of change harder to achieve.

I did enjoy my stay at Climate Camp, and I would go again providing the group weren’t trying to shut down a power station, which achieves nothing but anger authorities. But let’s face it: anything that angers the police is a good thing, especially as a fair few of them are heartless bastards.

Thankfully, the police stayed off site during our stay; and disappeared completely after we left however they did seem to pounce upon a guy with a camera for no real reason on the first day. Old habits die hard, I guess.

Press Coverage
Guardian: Climate Camp

BBC News: Activists gather at climate camp

Climate Campers Clean Up The Commons

Most of my future blog entries will be posted in a magazine style, as demonstrated above. I’ll be using experimental techniques in some of the articles, so you’ll need the latest version of your browser. And if you STILL for whatever reason use Internet Explorer, please take back the web.

A crutch is a crutch.

Greg — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 01:34:17 +0000

A crutch is a crutch.

“I don’t know much, but a crutch is a crutch if it’s holding you from moving on.” Manchester Orchestra – Everything to Nothing

I listen to music more than I don’t. But I admit: I’m a crap fan. I own a grand total of 1 CD, and download all my music from a friend’s Napster account. I go to some gigs, but don’t ever buy merch. Why? Because I’m 17, I’m still in full time education, I don’t have a rich family and I don’t have a job.

I will start collecting physical releases sometime in the near future, probably in the form of Vinyl records. But to bridge the gap between awkwardly downloading using Napster and starting to collect music properly, I have began to use the free version of Spotify. It has its annoyances, which I will mention a little bit later on in this entry.

And after my MP3 player died after just a year of use (Psst.. Creative: I’d like a free replacement please?) and my mobile phone is outdated, my next mobile phone will be one of these new-fangled-Android-smart-phones. And the second that Spotify roll out an app for the Android OS, I will upgrade to a premium account. The option of an all-you-can-eat mobile music application for £9.99 a month screams more economical to me for the time being.

Spotify is a step in the right direction. Despite honourable objections by independent record label owner Kev from BSM, I don’t think that Spotify will harm record labels. There is nothing to stop people from going out and buying the music afterwards. It’s more of an incentive to not download albums illegally. But I know once Spotify launches in America later this year, that record labels will flex their muscles and decide to increase the amount of royalties that are required. And thus, probably killing Spotify and damaging the music industry once again.

And in its current form, the music industry is pretty much dead already. Major labels are ruthless bastards who didn’t get the memo about the internet. You will not be able to stop piracy, no matter what you do. So suing is not the right thing to do.

Where exactly did it all go wrong? Personally, I believe that the same companies who have been bringing us music for decades didn’t react quick enough to growth of the internet. I think one of the best examples is in the form of albums still managing to leak two months before their release date is. While some labels release digitally as soon as their material has leaked, most labels don’t do the same. Which is stupidity at it’s finest. Legal alternatives NEED to be in place as soon as the album leaks, weather it’s legal streaming or a full release.

At the moment, singles are being favoured to the traditional album, which is a great shame considering the efforts some bands take to make an album. It’s an art to arrange songs in such a way, and it’s wasted when people just download one or two tracks. There needs to be a focus on buying albums again. If this means increasing the price of a single while keeping the price of the album the same, or even cheaper, then so be it. Record labels need to be unique, offer something different. Printing lyrics in a booklet doesn’t cut it anymore. I would be more likely to start collecting music if the packaging was unique or if there was exclusive content, or if the focus was on ownership.

To me: I would happily buy vinyl records as collectables, as long as you could download either a copy of the album in MP3 or more importantly high quality FLAC format.

I think, to some extent, downloading music is perfectly acceptable. Some music, such as most of the Kevin Devine discography isn’t actually available in the UK. Likewise, I’ve also downloaded unreleased albums from Manchester Orchestra as well as the demo versions of three entire Jimmy Eat World albums. These aren’t available in shops so this is one hell of a website.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. How do we help artists then?

Go to as many gigs as possible, especially if they are fairly unknown. Most of my friends have only been to a couple of gigs if any, and I must admit: the first time I went to a gig was this year. But I have been to four now, and each was incredible. I recently went to see Kevin Devine at the Barfly in Camden. I went in to the gig not caring too much about him, and came out amazed. Sometimes the atmosphere of performance is lost on even the best CD.

Don’t buy CDs from HMV or other major chains but instead: If the artist is on an independent record label, buy their album from their website or at a gig. If not, then go to an independent record store like Banquet Records. And if the artist is on a major record label, buy directly from their merch table at a gig. And unless it is a digital-only release, then there is NO POINT IN BUYING MP3s! It’s normally cheaper to buy the whole album on CD.

Alternatively, if you don’t want to spend money: tell people about new bands and artists. Without this, your new favourite band may not be able to make music anymore. Word of mouth is vital. I have successfully managed to get people listening to the likes of Manchester Orchestra, Kevin Devine, Frank Turner and apparently The Spill Canvas too.

You could even volunteer to help out a small band or independent record label. There are plenty of things you could do. For example, if a small band is touring, then you could always lend a floor for the night so they can catch up on some sleep. It doesn’t hurt to ask if they need any help. If all goes to plan, I will be producing a couple of interviews and live videos for the independent label Big Scary Monsters from September onwards. There’s a chance to meet cool people, stop boredom and get some vital work on my CV and portfolio. Helping out isn’t all bad you know!

So now to you.. how do you get your music? Do you use Spotify? Would you pay £10 a month for unlimited music on your mobile phone? Do you go to gigs? How the hell do we save music? I’d really like to know what you think. I think it’d be interesting to see the response from the generation that was raised on the internet.

Psstt… The adverts on Spotify are obviously a slight annoyance. It’s not the amount, or the fact that there are adverts, but it’s the quality of them. No one cares what a couple of idiots think should be added to Spotify. Why does an Irish man want to put on his dancing shoes? Oh, and I defiantly don’t want to hear a woman with a thick, slow, Scottish accent asking me to search and browse through her “back-catalogue”. A bit of creativity doesn’t hurt anyone. I’m aware you are trying to push the premium accounts, but annoying free users will just encourage people to return to downloading music illegally.