Pitchfork

Here at Pitchfork News, we try to give as much coverage to the underdogs and little guys as we give to the stalwarts of the indie world. So it is my pleasure to introduce you to a relative unknown named Beck. Who knows but that, with time, he might even become an artist to whom we devote eight stories in a single month?

Okay, you got me. This time, however, our Beck news is slightly upsetting. Though his most recent album, The Information, was released on Tuesday in the U.S. and on Monday in the UK, it seems that the UK's Official Chart Company (OCC) will deny him access to the charts there.

The decision was made in reaction to the DVD and stickers that come with the album, which, according to a press release "have been construed by the OCC as an 'unfair advantage'" over the other albums released last week.

Come again?! They're not even trying to recategorize the package as "video" instead of "audio"? They're just calling it an "unfair advantage"? Didn't they get the memo about how the music industry is scrambling to add incentives to get people to buy albums instead of downloading them for free?

Wow, congratulations OCC, you're the next big winners on my just-invented TV show, "Exercises in Missing the Point".

Beck told Billboard.com, "It's an unconventional package, but it shouldn't be penalized for that. Any art on a CD is an incentive to buy and listen. Ultimately, it doesn't matter. The response from the fans has been so strong, and that is the most important thing."

In continuing with the interactive art theme, Beck also announced yesterday that the merch available at his upcoming shows will be a DIY affair. Says a press release, "Fans will purchase a blank t-shirt with a set of iron-on decals, arrange the graphics on the shirt as they see fit, and have the shirt pressed up on the spot. There are four different sets of decals available as well as four different t-shirt colors, so the variations are endless."

Actually, they're not endless. There is definitely a set number of variations. We're just too lazy to do the math to figure out exactly what that is.

Also, for those of you who plan on seeing Beck on his current tour of the U.S., let it be known that there was a typo in our last Beck tour story. His show in Nashville will be on October 13, not October 12.