Tom's MP3

I had no idea Suzanne Vega was the mother of the MP3:

"I was ready to fine-tune my compression algorithm," [Karlheinz Brandenberg, director of the Fraunhofer Institute...] recalls. "Somewhere down the corridor a radio was playing 'Tom's Diner.' I was electrified. I knew it would be nearly impossible to compress this warm a capella voice."

So Mr. Brandenberg gets a copy of the song, and puts it through the newly created MP3. But instead of the "warm human voice" there are monstrous distortions, as though the Exorcist has somehow gotten into the system, shadowing every phrase. They spend months refining it, running 'Tom's Diner' through the system over and over again with modifications, until it comes through clearly. "He wound up listening to the song thousands of times," the article, written by Hilmar Schmundt, continued, "and the result was a code that was heard around the world. When an MP3 player compresses music by anyone from Courtney Love to Kenny G, it is replicating the way that Brandenburg heard Suzanne Vega."

Interesting as the story of Vega's trip to meet Brandenberg is, the rest of her essay – essentially, her reflections upon writing Tom's Diner and the extended afterlife the song developed after DNA remixed it – is also well worth a read.

There a few new remixes or interpolations every year. Some ask first, and some don't. The last one to ask permission was the artist Pink, who I love. I feel I have a liberal remix and usage policy – I have said yes to almost every request regarding "Tom's Diner" – except one, for pornography. The most extreme one is probably "Came in the Door Pimpin'" by Dave Hollister. I approved it because I felt it was his authentic point of view.

I love the remixes, I embrace them, I am proud of many of them. Yes, they have "revitalized and extended my career," as someone put it to me recently. They make me feel connected to the world beyond New York City in a way I never could have imagined when I wrote the original song about a single person feeling isolated. Absolutely. However, I still believe in copyright protection. This issue alone could take up a blog by itself. Maybe for another day.

[Via Collision Detection]