Road Test: DDA

The DDA marries the physical and digital worlds of music consumption, but is it ready to take the CD's mantle? Several months after its release – and with a swag of new releases in the pipeline – TREVOR BLOCK asks whether it’s going to have the lifespan of the 7” or burn out like the 8-track?

[Historical image is withheld pending rights review.] DDA is a new electronic music format, developed in Australia and currently undergoing limited/trial release. Launched in December with five releases (Skipping Girl Vinegar, Sneaky Sound System, Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu, Grafton Primary and a “Home Grown Roots” compilation) and retailing for around the same price as a CD, it extends several promises. I got hold of a copy of Skipping Girl Vinegar’s Sift The Noise to see what it can do.

The first, and most obvious difference, is the packaging. Dom Alessio’s Mess+Noise review of the original CD format notes the following: “There’s a hand-crafted beauty to the debut album from Melbourne’s Skipping Girl Vinegar that renders warmth both within and outside the music. Before anything else, there’s the packaging: a gatefold cardboard casing with two booklets, one with the lyrics scribed in typewriter font over what looks like the pages of those old maths grid books kids in high school use. While the lyrics complement the music, the other pocket-sized booklet introduces the band through sepia tones and a forward which explains that the album was recorded over four years in a multitude of makeshift studios and bedrooms around the world. In the digital zeitgeist, it’s nice to see a band that still cares about the little, enriching joys of physical releases.”

That was the CD. The vinyl came with a rather handsome cotton "library bag". But there's none of that to be seen this time around.

The DDA version comes in a fairly plain plastic package reminiscent of the old CD long boxes. What you get in the pack is a plastic tag attached to a dust cap, and the stick itself. The tag has the cover art on it, while the device itself is a chunky black USB stick with no identification – this could get confusing if you owned a few. You slot the stick into a handy drive and wait a few minutes for it to make itself at home. There is some software installation to be completed, but when that’s finished, you have a few options.

“As a thing in your hand, it's more akin to an unadorned CD; a blank silver disc in a see-through jewel case that only does something when you fire up a computer.”

One is to use your media player to listen to the music, or you can explore added content such as photos and video. The original sleeve artwork, liner notes, recording info and so on are all included and provide plenty of distraction. Obviously the rewards here are dependant on the quality of your monitor, soundcard etc. The high-tech aspect may be more marketable to fans of Sneaky Sound System and Grafton Primary, but it doesn't seem to fit the Skipping Girl Vinegar aesthetic.

But the real point of the format (or, if you prefer it in accountant-speak, the real value add) comes when you click through to the DDA site and activate your account. Each copy comes with a unique code that sets you up on their online hub. The online interaction is where DDA seem to be placing their faith. There’s a fairly bog-standard music news ticker, some very quiet forums, more band info and a mobile phone app that lets you transfer songs from the DDA to your phone. Most tellingly, updated content for your purchase is available here too.

The idea – and this is a statement made by the company behind it – is that each DDA release is expected a life of 18 months or so (at least until the band’s next album). In the meantime, any new stuff the band want to add is yours. And not just singles or remixes. Media, photos, live videos, or anything the band creates within that period can be downloaded through this interface – and it’s all included in the initial purchase price.

[Historical image is withheld pending rights review.] For bands, it beats mailing lists or Facebook fan pages hands down. Fans will be paying to sign up to a new and much deeper level of ongoing interaction. But it’s a two-way street. If no new content is forthcoming, the lure of the online component will inevitably diminish. It’s going to take some fairly rigorous efforts by both manufacturer and artist to ensure that bond is maintained. More than six months after it was issued, only one new track has been made available by Skipping Girl Vinegar. The other issue is the lack of portability. While you can burn the files to a CD, the stick is locked for copying so the files aren’t transferable to a friend’s computer, for example.

Apparently the trial phase is over, and more DDA releases are planned soon, but the lingering question remains: who does this product appeal to? The DDA itself is only a storage device really which makes it not too dissimilar from a compact disc. But it doesn’t have that physical presence that people who grew up in the vinyl, cassette and CD generations crave. As a thing in your hand, it's more akin to an unadorned CD; a blank silver disc in a see-through jewel case that only does something when you fire up a computer.

This has limited appeal for those who believe that pictures on a screen are no substitute for a physical product wrapped in a sleeve – even at the reduced scale we've all gotten used to since the introduction of CDs. For those who’ve become used to downloading music as faceless MP3 files, this tangibility aspect may not be an issue. But for them, the broader issue may be, "Why bother with the extras?", especially if they’re not forthcoming.

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For more information visit www.dda4me.com.