Lars versus Lovetown
Summary Description There's nothing wrong with using MP3s to legitimately promote music, argues Simon Vandore.
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Roullas Top10 Simon Vandore

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Editorial InformationArticle Location
Article Topic Vandore
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Story Group 000716
Post Date 14/07/2000 08:43 AM Status Posted Entered by Roulla Yiacoumi on 13/07/2000 02:01 PM


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Content
Introduction
It was a joke that started in a student household.

Body
Lars was a goofy Swedish exchange student who . . . well, he just wasn't sexy. My friend David decided to fix that. On desks, walls and toilet doors around campus, the words began to appear. Inked, scratched, chalked, it didn't matter: LARS = SEX GOD. THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE.
At first it was only done by people who were in on the joke. But somehow it caught the imagination of others. Soon, David would walk into a lecture theatre and discover the words carved 5mm deep into his desk. By the end of that year, almost every room in the university had at least five desks that said LARS = SEX GOD. THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE.
Everybody had seen the words. Someone scrawled it on page three of the student newspaper and readers began to report sightings in their home towns around Australia. David even started a LARS = SEX GOD Web site.
The real Lars had long since returned to Sweden and I'm sure those responsible for the newest graffiti didn't even know who he was. Maybe they thought it was about Lars Ulrich, front man of Metallica?
Of course we all know about that Lars and his conflict with the Napster MP3 sharing universe. As I'm not usually an MP3 user -- I have the sort of hi-fi hardware that reveals MP3 sound fidelity for the soulless experience that it is -- I am probably not the best person to comment on Metallica versus Napster. I read Courtney Love's epic speech on the subject, but admired the wordplay more than her conclusions (what were they, exactly?).
Back to my friend David, originator of LARS = SEX GOD. He and I are both fans of Stephen Cummings, a legendary Australian musician and songwriter who used to front The Sports, a band famous a couple of decades ago for songs like 'Who listens to the radio?'. Unfortunately most Australians now know him only from the MBF health insurance jingle 'I Feel Better Now', penned and sung by Cummings. Meanwhile, he continues to release critically acclaimed albums and tour the live music circuit.
David's next project after the LARS = SEX GOD page was a Stephen Cummings fan site. He gathered all possible information about the man and his music, putting lyrics online and running a news page about upcoming gigs. He contacted Stephen personally to get the inside word on an upcoming album. What's more, Stephen Cummings gave the site his personal approval. He persuaded his record company to make David's voluntary work (renamed Lovetown, after a classic Cummings album) the official Stephen Cummings site, which it remains to this day.
Prior to the release of Cummings' latest album, David persuaded the record company to release two songs early in MP3 format, downloadable from the site. In an environment where fan sites often receive legal threats and MP3 has become a dirty word, the official Stephen Cummings site is a shining Australian example of embracing the Internet community and the technology.
Sure, Stephen Cummings is still not a household name and his album was released to critical acclaim, but it didn't sell in Lars Ulrich quantities. Cummings let his fans do something for him (David and his co-Webmaster even have a credit on the new album cover and were commissioned to create multimedia content for the CD), and he used MP3s to raise awareness of his music rather than running from the technology.
Surely this beats bringing in the lawyers?
Vandore is published every Friday on Newswire. You can contact Simon Vandore at svandore@acptech.net.


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Bulletin SummaryVandore: Lars versus Lovetown
There's nothing wrong with using MP3s to legitimately promote music, argues Simon Vandore.

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Vandore: Lars versus Lovetown

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