Born in the USB

Ghastily ersatz Indie boys Keane are said to be releasing their next single on USB key, albeit in a limited edition of 1500, which, given how little singles sell these days may be too many. They are not the first to do it, that accolade belongs to those chirpy Canadians The Barenaked Ladies, but one wonders if it is any more than a gimmick. Considering the current discrepancy in quality between CDs or vinyl and digital formats such as mp3 or AAC files, it may well happen however that sales in the new formats increase without a concomitant change in quality. Is this a slippery slope? Of course, the gobshites in the music industry will blame it all on illegal downloading anyway.