It looks like the dispute between former new-media champion Danger Mouse and label EMI has been settled and DM’s Dark Night of the Soul will be released digitally as well as in physical form this coming summer.  Something about this just makes me feel even sicker about the way that Danger Mouse is conducting business these days.

I had already chronicled the withdrawal of the once-lauded artist from new media, music sharing in my “Danger Mouse vs. music blogs” article a few months back.  Now, the report that DM has taken further steps to apply himself to the dinosaur values of traditional record labels can only mean that he’s  1)  Not confident in the growth of his fanbase due to his own efforts or 2)  Worried that the revenue streams he’s receiving from releases isn’t enough.

The same person who mashed the amazing Grey Album (one of the best albums of my young life) is now too amused by his own reflection on jewel cases to continue his efforts to crumble the record industry’s marketing endeavors.  The same artist who released a book with David Lynch about the trials and tribulations of Dark Night of the Soul with a blank CD-R for downloading of the “leaked stream“, is now in rebuttal and removing himself from the role of revolutionary.  Apparently the old adage about not being a conservative at 40 rings true.  [Pitchfork]