After six years, a handful of albums and one censorship controversy, Amanda Palmer wanted a way to call her own shots after splitting with Roadrunner Records in April.

After she claimed the label sought to cut or alter shots of her stomach in the video for the “Who Killed Amanda Palmer” song “Leeds United,” Palmer asked to be dropped in late 2008. As fans bared their own bodies in an online protest dubbed “The ReBellyon,” the singer took to performing a song pointedly titled “Please Drop Me” in concert.

When she finally got her wish, Palmer celebrated by offering a free download of a track titled “Do You Swear to Tell the Truth the Whole Truth and Nothing but the Truth So Help Your Black Ass,” a decision that probably would have made her former label cringe.

Independence has its virtues.

The Dresden Dolls frontwoman-turned-solo artist has joined a growing number of artists who’ve found a home on Bandcamp, a San Francisco-based website and publishing platform that aims to put musicians in better control of their digital sales and online merchandising.

“We really wanted to do everything quote unquote on our own,” said Sean Francis, Palmer’s director of new media, marketing and promotions, adding that they discovered the site in its infancy. “We always had them in the back of our minds for when ultimately she would get off the label.”

In contrast with a number of rules-clad retailers, Bandcamp offers ease and options: free sign-up; a Bandcamp storefront page to add to an existing site or let stand alone; an array of digital download formats (from hi-fi MP3s to FLAC and Ogg Vorbis files) for customers; physical sales and physical-digital bundling; and, perhaps most important, the ability to set prices, from free to a flat rate to a pay-what-you-want donation.

 The lawsuits may have stopped, but that doesn't mean the music industry and its trade group the Recording Industry Assn. of America has toned down its crusade against unsanctioned peer-to-peer file-sharing. Negotiations, label and lobbying sources say, have been underway with Internet service providers for more than a year, as the U.S. music industry is pushing ISPs to follow the leads of many European countries in adopting policies that limit or curtail Web access of those who are deemed as infringing users. 

Today, Universal Music Group Distribution took its fight online, launching a Facebook page in conjunction with the Recording Industry Assn. of America to promote the issue. It represents one of more bolder public stances from a major label in urging the U.S. to adopt such "graduated response" initiatives. The most well-known such policy, perhaps, is France's "three-strikes" law, which was passed last year and can strip a user of home Internet access for up to a year. 

In announcing the initiative, Universal Music Group Distribution head Jim Urie sent an e-mail urging the industry to participate. Wrote Urie, "Governments outside the U.S. are legislating, regulating and playing a prominent role in discussions with ISPs. Sales have dramatically improved in these countries. How is it that the U.S. -- with the most successful music community in the world -- is not keeping up with places like South Korea, France, the UK and New Zealand?"

Spotify, the much-hyped European subscription service that still does not have a U.S. release date, unveiled a host of new features today, many of which are designed to make the player a user's destination for hosting and sharing music. Spotify remains available in just a handful of European territories, but has already boasted more than 7 million users, and today's update will bolster their accounts with added social networking features. 

But perhaps the most enticing new addition is what Spotify has deemed "The Library." In short, the feature will scan the music on a user's hard drive -- everything most of us are listening to  via iTunes -- and allow it to be accessed directly via Spotify. With Spotify, a user's long-accumulated collection of music could now stand alongside everything available on the service, creating less of a distinction between the music that is owned and stored on Spotify, and thereby allowing subscribers to use Spotify as a full-on music management service.

Spotify is based on the so-called freemium model, which offers users the ability to stream music with ads at no cost, and premium services are then offered for a monthly fee of 10 euros (about $13). Spotify's premium service streams higher-quality audio files and lets users download and play songs on their smart phones. Users also have the ability to listen to music when not logged into the service, and now will have the ability to access pieces of their entire collection via Spotify's mobile phone applications.

After a public rant, OK Go got its way with the band's new music video. Bloggers can freely embed the Chicago power pop group's new video for "This Too Shall Pass." (Not to be confused with the old one for the same song, which can only be viewed on YouTube's website.)

The band unveiled the new video in a live Webcast on its official site. It shows a four-minute Rube Goldberg machine that starts off with dominoes and eventually cannons paint onto the band members.

OK Go's Damian Kulash Jr. celebrated in Monday's broadcast that the video could be displayed in blogs, Facebook pages and MySpace profiles. "It's going to be available on our website, and it's going to be posted on YouTube," he said. "And it'll be embeddable. Woo!"

We've embedded the clip above. Woo!

(Though, our excitement is lessened by the blaring emergency-alert-like tone that permeates the first few seconds of the video. Music doesn’t kick in until about the 1:54 mark, and the band added the following statement to its official YouTube page: “This video is still being processed but we wanted you to be able to see it anyway so we turned it public. Hold tight for the sound to finish processing.”

[Updated, Mar. 2, 11:10 a.m. OK Go's video initially had some problems. We have updated the YouTube embed code with the working clip.]

Swedish streaming music service Spotify may be gunning for iTunes, but its founder, Daniel Ek, acknowledged Tuesday that the start-up can't overtake Apple without some help -- or at least an ambitious business model.

During a one-day industry conference at the Henry Fonda Theater, the audience as well as the questioner -- New Music Seminar co-founder Tom Silverman -- sort of froze for a moment when Ek made an off-the-cuff comment about Spotify's financials.

"We're the fourth-biggest revenue provider to Universal," Ek said onstage.

"Uh, in Sweden -- or?" Silverman fumbled.

"Worldwide," Ek shot back.

Eh, not quite, according to at least one person in the know. A source at Universal who asked not to be named because of ongoing negotiations between Spotify and the record label called Ek's claim "totally inaccurate" and "completely untrue."

"Maybe in Sweden," the Universal source added.

While Ek may have been a bit ambitious about the current lucrativeness of the European music service, he has some interesting ideas on how to make subscription sign-ups as painless as possible. The hotly anticipated Spotify hasn't yet launched in the U.S., but on Tuesday he specified a few companies he may partner with in the States, as well as a broadly ambitious plan to ease the purchase of music.

Spotify, the Swedish music streaming software that's rocking Europe, has huge ambitions. Though still limited to six countries and yet to launch in the U.S., Spotify founder Daniel Ek is setting his sights on America's top music retailer and digital jukebox -- Apple's iTunes.

During a Q&A at the one-day New Music Seminar industry conference at the Henry Fonda Theater on Tuesday, Ek drew frequent comparisons to iTunes, and dropped in a few criticisms as well.

"We want to be the platform where you organize your music," Ek said at the event. "This is the cloud that everyone is talking about."

The "cloud" describes the Internet streaming model that exchanges ownership with convenience. Hulu is the Web's cloud equivalent for TV.

Most Spotify users choose to listen to and organize the software's 8 million tracks into playlists, and Spotify allows them to do it for free. Like iTunes, simplicity is at the top of developers' minds.

In order to cheaply download tracks, cache songs for offline consumption and access music from cellphones, 250,000 people -- mostly in Scandinavia and the U.K. -- are paying 10 euros or 10 pounds per month (that's $13.97 and $15.98, respectively). Other perks include removal of periodic banner and audio ads.

Rather than target what Ek calls "niche services" like Rhapsody and Napster, which charge all users a monthly fee, Spotify seems to be gunning for the big Apple.

With the release of Ustream Broadcaster for the iPhone today, it's pretty safe to assume that live video is about to become a lot more ubiquitous.

After signing up for a Ustream account, users can hit the "go live" button and start streaming video from the iPhone's camera to their Ustream website profiles. The app is available as a free download and even runs on older iPhones that don't have built-in video recording features.

If you look around at what's in the hands of many folks on most nights at the Palladium or the Henry Fonda, you'll probably see quite a few iPhones. That's how L.A. rolls. Once the overhead lights dim and the stage starts rocking, countless fans scramble for their phones to snap photos or record video.

A lot of those clips show up on YouTube the next day (and some, that night), but the device-to-Web delay is about to shrink -- from hours to seconds.

Ustream Broadcaster has been available on Google's Android phones for some time, but today is when the iPhone and its massively greater number of devotees can have at it. Before, you might have found the occasional concert on weekend nights, ready to watch. Now that it's on the iPhone, you'll probably be able to watch a show from practically every angle facing the stage.

Today's release of Ustream Broadcaster is unfortunately timed for the music industry. On Tuesday night, the major labels, in a partnership with Google, launched Vevo, a YouTube for music videos. U2 frontman Bono called it "the birth of a new model for our industry." A new model that apparently hasn't accounted for live concerts.

But what does Bono care? YouTube already has him covered with streaming -- the Rose Bowl event was one of the most-trafficked streams ever. Maybe streaming is something Vevo has planned (you know, after it fixes the problems it already has), but the Ustream app gives them a reason to get moving.

Here's some homework for you Thursday night: Search Ustream for Metallica or Morrissey. Even if you didn't get tickets, you won't have to miss a beat.

-- Mark Milian
twitter.com/markmilian

Image credit: Ustream

The Nine Inch Nails pigs started marching Thursday night when Trent Reznor peeked up from the depths of married life with a message on his Twitter account.

The Twitter page @Trent_Reznor has remained quiet since October when Reznor returned briefly to drop two messages -- one about the anniversary of his first album release and another about a fan project compiling concert videos. Before that, there was a gap since July.

Despite the lengthy silence, Reznor maintains 636,520 followers -- fans still hanging onto the funny, stinging and smart messages transferred from the fingers of the electronic rocker.

He returned on Thursday, saying simply: "Is this thing on?" Minutes later, he addressed the much-publicized eBay auctions of some of his now-defunct band's gear. "Just clearing out some storage spaces for a new beginning," he wrote.

Once upon a time, Reznor was one of the most-buzzed-about stars on Twitter. Pop & Hiss has pulled out five of our favorite tweets from the 44-year-old musician.

A tidal wave is washing over Europe, and it has already begun to transform the digital music landscape overseas. In the next few months, the company expects to make its way to the U.S.

Spotify is a program similar to iTunes that lets users listen to just about any song on demand. For free. The application takes a page from the Google model -- give a fantastic product away and plan to make money from ads.

It also has a "freemium" component -- that is a business model where the cow and milk are free, but the bells and hormones cost extra.

In order to play music on smart phones (including a spiffy iPhone app) or store songs to be played without an Internet connection, users must subscribe to Spotify Premium, a 10-euro-per-month plan. Each subscriber can sync three devices with up to 3,333 songs.

But Spotify has said in prior interviews that it expects the majority of users to stick with the free version. For that reason, U.S. record labels are skeptical, according to a recent story in the Financial Times. Subscription services such as Napster and Rhapsody have failed to attract significant followings.

The Financial Times also claims that Spotify delayed its launch in America due to roadblocks in talks with the labels here. Spotify spokesman Andres Sehr maintains that it's still on track to make its way stateside early next year, as the Swedish company has told Pop & Hiss for weeks.

Because "the U.S. is the largest music market in the world," Sehr said, "it's a long process."

Compared with the back-and-forth with European labels when Spotify was just starting out, this is nothing. "We negotiated with the record labels for two years before we launched," Sehr said.

"We've shown that we're really popular," Sehr said in a phone interview from Stockholm. "There's data, and we see how things work."

"Really popular" might be an understatement. According to firsthand accounts from folks across the pond, Spotify is practically ubiquitous in some circles. Barely a year old, the service hit the ground running in the half-dozen countries it operates in.

We've been testing the software for about three weeks. It blows the doors off of anything on the market and poses a major threat to several music services fighting for attention.

As countless bands release iPhone applications offering little more than a mobile version of their websites, electronic musician BT has a bigger goal. He wants to turn his phone into an instrument.

BT, along with a small team of developers at his company, Sonik Architects, built Sonifi, an iPhone app that lets users very easily manipulate songs on the fly.

Brian Transeau, best known by his stage name BT, scored the soundtracks to "The Fast and the Furious," "Zoolander" and "Go," in addition to gaining a significant underground following for his solo releases. His pioneering stutter sound effect influenced the trance genre.

A standard pop group's iPhone app offers little more than a band site, with music streaming, tour schedules, news and photos. MySpace's iLike built an entire business around it.

So, there's something to be said about a musician with a truly original utility. T-Pain has his Auto-Tune toy; Nine Inch Nails has its location-based Twitter app; and now, BT has Sonifi.

The app, available at the iTunes App Store, comes with just one song -- a dance track. But you can spend hours playing with it.

After Google ramped-up its music search-and-play capabilities, Apple has now quietly opened up its music store today with the launch of  iTunes Preview.

The iTunes outlet has one of the biggest record collections of any store, real or digital, but you wouldn't know it if you weren't on a computer that didn't have the software installed.

The preview feature lets users browse the music catalog by genre and artist. Albums are ranked by sales, as they are in the iTunes program, and pages contain track listings, pricing, reviews, biographies and other info.

Yet in order to listen to 30-second song previews or buy tracks, you still need to fire up the iTunes application.

But this finally provides an accessible way to browse for music to buy -- just in time for the holidays -- while at work or at the library, where administrators often frown upon installing third-party software like iTunes.

You can search for music using Apple.com's sitewide search engine. But strangely, iTunes Preview is having trouble executing searches from its pages. It's a new product, so we'll excuse the bugs.

Search, we suspect, is a big reason Apple rolled out the feature. As Google partners with music sites like Lala, Pandora, Rhapsody, MySpace and Imeem for its Discover Music  search feature, Apple perhaps doesn't want to be left out.

Until a few days ago, Santa Cruz-based BlueBeat was a largely unknown streaming music site. Then the Beatles catalog went on sale -- at a quarter per song -- and BlueBeat became a national headline.

A federal court in Los Angeles this week issued a temporary restraining order against the site, which  earlier in the week had been hit with a copyright infringement lawsuit by EMI’s Capitol Records, the Beatles’ U.S. label.

The order set back, at least initially, a novel legal argument advanced by BlueBeat that songs produced through digital regeneration are akin to songs performed by “cover” bands and therefore do not run afoul of copyright law. BlueBeat had argued in court filings that its downloads were legal because the company had created entirely new versions by a computer through a process called “psychoacoustic simulations,” which makes the recreated songs sound just like the original recordings.

“We analyze them and then synthesize new songs, just as you would read a book and write an article,” BlueBeat Chief Executive Hank Risan told Pop & Hiss on Friday. The site’s “intention,” he added, “is to create a live performance, as if you are there listening to the actual performers doing the work as opposed to a copy or a phonorecord or CD of the work.”

But the court didn’t buy it. On Thursday, U.S. District Court Judge John F. Walter sided with EMI. “Plaintiffs have ... produced sufficient evidence demonstrating that defendants copied protected elements of their recordings,” read the ruling. “Indeed, screenshots from BlueBeat’s website show track titles, with the same names as the plaintiff’s copyrighted works.”

A spokeswoman for EMI said the company would not comment on the legal proceedings.

Lawyers for Capitol called BlueBeat’s justification “nonsensical” and “completely false,” and that it “deliberately misconstrues the Copyright Act … and ultimately confirms that defendants are in fact copying, distributing, and publicly performing plaintiff’s copyrighted and pre-1972 sound recordings without license or authorization.”

“In essence,” Capitol’s reply states, “what defendants seem to be arguing is that because they copied plaintiffs’ sound recordings using their own proprietary technology, they have created a ‘new,’ ‘independently fixed’ sound recording. That is wrong.”

My colleague Randy Lewis and I worked together on this story for Saturday’s Business section, which also offers the opinions of some legal experts on the matter. Below, you will find the complete Q&A with BlueBeat’s Risan.

The company’s founder called me and said he was willing to discuss the issues on-the-record. What follows is the result of our 40-minute conversation, in which Risan goes into detail on “psychoacoustic simulation.”

BlueBeat, a 20-person company, Risan said, dates to 2002, but sold downloads for only about one week. At the start of our conversation, Risan, a mathematician who told The Times in 2003 that he has made and lost millions of dollars trading securities, said he had licenses with all the major music publishers.He added that his right to sell downloads was protected under the federal Copyright Act.

That’s where we pick it up.

You say you have licenses to sell music because of the federal copyright law, but you don’t have any agreements with any record label?

No. We don’t transmit their recordings. We’ve created independent recordings that don’t require it. Even so, we do pay royalties to SoundExchange for the EMI content that we transmit, as well as to the publishers of the EMI content, which we perform.

To the untrained ear, the recordings on your site sound pretty similar to the original recordings.

They do sound similar, to some extent. If you actually listen to our 320 [Kbps MP3] recordings versus the actual CDs, you’ll hear a remarkable difference. They’re created with the intention of recreating a live musical performance. When you listen to them, they’re done in a virtual soundstage of using psychoacoustic simulation, and the intention is to create a live performance -- as if you are there listening to the actual performers doing the work as opposed to a copy or a phonorecord or CD of the work.