If the digital door is closed, can this create a frenzy? I was watching a BBC documentary about The Beatles first visit to America a couple of weeks ago. This little nugget of film making was a collection of behind the scenes clips of the fab four and the madness that unfolded around them: no narration, no colour and no surprises there. We've all seen the photos a million times and this is certainly another brilliantly timed peice of Beatlemania PR to coincide with the 2009 re-mastered back catalogue. But one of the things that struck me most was not the music, but the obsession that grew from the demand for sightings and snippets of information, however mundane, that could make headline news and make or break a die hard fan. They just couldn't get enough. Everybody knows their name

It's interesting to consider that this lack of access to information fueled the obsessive demand for the band even more. I'm not claiming that this was deliberate, and it's obvious that the restrictions to media, scheduling and getting physical products on the shelves was very different back then. This is a far cry from the current revolution/revolt in the music industry and its attempts to convert downloads into dosh. The demand from fans is to make music 'real' again. There are lots of attempts to add value to our digital music; iTunes are releasing sleeve notes, lyrics and exclusive photos with some downloads (Dark Side of the Moon double gate fold anyone?). Is this better... ...than this? The ever outspoken Jack White has launched a new 'closed network' called The Vault, funded by his label Third Man Records. The project is described on the site as "not your typical networking site. The Vault gives you special stuff that will not be available anywhere else". It's a 'closed door' model and it looks like there's a lot of interest in it for that reason. It remains to be seen whether The Vault will be successful, but I applaud anyone that tries to bring back  romance and resonance to the experience of music. Open or closed...