By Anonymous
Ok, so technically it doesn't work/exist yet but if Rhea Jeong can bring her concept to the market she may have a big winner on her hands!
"Designer Rhea Jeong's Void LP player seems devoid of reality, but it was inspired by the very real and very cute "Vinyl Killer," a little VW Bus that can propel itself around a record and play the tunes with its tinny speaker, naturally wearing out the precious LP in the process. The Void LP takes the concept of a self-sufficient speaker, amp and needle (the red ball), and then tosses them all into the air with a magnetic saucer. We're sure it sounds terrible, and it seems a little fantastical, but one thing's for certain: we want."
[From Engadget.com]
By Andrew J.R.
From what I have read/heard everywhere, it seems like Coachella was extremely successful this year, even despite a crippled economy. So does this mean that this season of music festivals will continue to see the same success as previous years? Not necessarily, but it may be a good indication.
Today I found an interesting article that touches upon this subject.
I for one have already purchased a ticket for one day of the Pitchfork Music Festival, and am planning on going to all three days of Lollapalooza (line up announced!). With headliners like the Dead and Bob Dylan playing Rothburry, they are making it tough to ignore as well.
Are going to a festival this year, or will a sour economy keep you indoors?
By Mike Boyd JR
Twitter has quickly gone from having a buzz to being one of the only things I hear people talking about! (Including myself)
My favorite person to follow on Twitter is Jim Jones... This guy is hilarious, and OBSESSED WITH TWITTER.
http://twitter.com/jimjonescapo
Here is a link to an article about how Jim Jones was updating his twitter status while he was being arrested two weeks ago. (Even though he was handcuffed and taken to jail, he was never stopped from using his phone to update twitter.)
http://www.sohh.com/2009/04/jim_jones_on_twitter_arre.html
That link also includes a video where a local news station interviews Jim Jones about the incident!
Jim Jones is just one example of how Twitter has become extremely important...especially in the music world.
Last night Jim Jones said that his new alias is "Twitter Jones" Ha!
It is now my personal mission to learn everything I can about Twitter! Who is with me!
---Mike "Twitter Boyd" JR
By Jacqueline
My roommates and I have been watching Scrubs religiously for many years now. Though J.D. (Zach Braff) and Dr. Cox (John McGinley) were the reason we tuned in week after week at first, we also quickly fell in love with the music featured on the show.
Not only did last week's episode deliver, it also included one of the best covers I've heard in a long time. Cast regular, Sam Lloyd (Ted), was accompanied by a band as he performed Outkast's "Hey Ya" at the Janitor's wedding. For the past week my roommates and I have spent more time than I would like to admit trying to find an mp3 version of the song to no avail. Instead, we've memorized every word in the scene. Check it out
here and if you happen to come across the track anywhere, PLEASE let me know.
By Zachary Chapman
Twitter, Twitter, and Twitter....
The first conference call when we discussed Twitter I have to say that I was rather clueless. I didn't understand why this was so hott and why so many people were using it. As I've continued to follow more people and my followers have began to grow I starting to see the impact it has.
I think it will take some time to understand all of the abbreviations and shortcuts, but I have recently discovered something called twtfm. This is a wonderful way to share music on Twitter. First, you follow twtfm. Once you are following twtfm you head on over to http://twt.fm
Next you log in to your Twitter account and search for a song.
The song you will search for will appear and you can listen to it or tweet it. If you decide to tweet the song a link will appear in your twitter box and you can share the song with everyone who is following you.
Twtfm is growing with new music everyday. With more that 260,000 followers this may be one of the easiest ways to spread the word about new music.
By Ryan Svendsen
Youtube is finally going in the right direction.
A couple months ago, Youtube hosted a worldwide audition for the first ever "Youtube Symphony". Michael Tilson Thomas (the director of the San Francisco Symphony) had the honor of conducting the symphony.
Don't underestimate the power of this orchestra based on Youtubes stereotypical video. No, there aren't any laughing babies in the orchestra or Charlie's getting their fingers bitten. They are all professional musicians who took the time to audition and gather "hits" in order to play in Carnegie Hall, the Mecca of Concert Halls.
What is next to come? An audition for youtubes first ever Hip hop group or Rock group?
I dunno, but while Classical music continues to decline among the younger generation, props to Youtube for linking it to the world wide web in an attempt to revive it.
Keep it Classy Youtube-
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8001253.stm
By Andrew J.R.
I know Andrew Bird is gaining tons of fans by the day, and if you haven't heard him yet you probably will. Here in Chicago, as a native of the city, he is a huge deal. While I enjoy his records, seeing him live is a completely different (and better) experience. The first time I saw Andrew Bird was over the summer at a free outdoor show in Millennium Park, and he completely won me over.. In fact, the Chicago Redeye called it "the best show of the year" in the city. On Thursday night I had an opportunity to see Andrew Bird here at the Civic Opera House; a beautiful old theater with amazing acoustics and three levels of balconies. Again, he did not disappoint. Whether or not his stuff is your "style," I think you would be hard pressed to find someone who does not appreciate his talent and genius songwriting after seeing him live. Two nights in a row, Andrew Bird sold out the 3,500+ capacity Opera House to crowds full of indie kids, university professors, families, etc. If you get a chance, go see him live, you will not regret it!
By JakeInPhx
I don't know if anyone saw this but I thought this article was really awesome. John Mellencamp weighs in on the state of the music industry- click this guy.
Jake
By Jacqueline
Though I was reluctant to try Twitter and am still trying to get acquainted with the site, one of the coolest marketing campaigns I've heard about in recent months is being implemented through the social networking service by none other than Lily Allen, who has 120,000+ followers. She also once had the most MySpace friends in the UK.
Before her shows across the country, Lily Allen has been hiding tickets in various locations and standing in the sidelines waiting for them to be found after sending out hints through Twitter to her fans.
Some of her most recent Tweet hints for free tickets include:
-San francisco Is known to house many a mincer, you'll find these tickets stuck to a pincer.
-If you're out shopping then keep your eyes peeled, the tickets will be in the west of the field.
-Please pay attention now here are your orders, I'm under the four right outside a Borders. GO !
By Mike Boyd JR
I have decided to dedicate this blog post to MURS! (He is that awesome)
I just saw this Murs video for “Part of Me” and I must say that Murs takes Hip Hop to another level!
Check it out:
http://www.worldstarhiphop.com/videos/video.php?v=wshhi4Sbge5xV3imS454
Here is another recent video from Murs commenting on the Rick Ross & Fifty Cent Beef… Freestyle over “The Boss” (Commenting on Rick Ross speaking Murs’ name)
http://www.worldstarhiphop.com/videos/video.php?v=wshh5sY3jAw6Tx6jEOK7
Another, new Murs video "Me and this Jawn"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWYn8atAHvo&feature=player_embedded
BTW,
Check out Murs’ comments on Hip Hop and its role in the world…Really awesome video!
http://www.karmaloop.com/tv/index.html?bcpid=1287040724&bclid=1295326981&bctid=1902498562
MURS FOR PRESIDENT
By jndrum
In his analysis of the Net 2.0, Andrew Keen writes, “the new internet was about self-made music, not Bob Dylan or the Brandenburg Concertos. Audience and author had become one, and we were all transforming culture into cacophony.” Keen’s statement may, however, seem unfounded in the context of file-sharing, as the internet is still about Bob Dylan and the Brandenburg Concertos…and countless others for that matter, they’re simply just free of charge (most of the time).
Music isn’t dead as Keen later asserts in his book. He is right however, in that the audience and the author have become one, although not necessarily in the same way he had originally intended. Keen is writing here of amateur musicians, mashup artists who piece together material for their own purposes, other ‘amateurs’ who post their music as part of “open source music” on sites such as Jamendo, or users who post pieces on youtube simply to “share their personal lives” or “contribute to the collective intelligence of the internet.” However, for our purposes, audience and author are as synonymous as producer and consumer (or rather distributor and consumer).
Keen goes so far at to suggest that “Napster and Kazaa…pale in comparison to the latest Web 2.0 ‘remixing’ of content and ‘mashing up’ of software and music.” But, yet again, his ultra-conservative cultural claim that ‘music is dead’ is unfounded when compared to official data from the IFPI that 80% of all internet traffic is derived from peer to peer file sharing, of which is mostly music. Although Keen’s remarks are a bit extremist, he does have a salient point that can shed some light on the issue. He writes, “Cutting and pasting [enables] a younger generation of intellectual kleptomaniacs, who think their ability to cut and paste a well-phrased thought or opinion makes it their own.” Obviously, written in the context of mix and mash up culture, his words make perfect sense. However, the statement takes a very different tone when describing the motivations and behaviors of filesharers. Indeed, the simple act of cutting and pasting may affect what Keen calls mash up culture, but more importantly, the ease of operations on the Net 2.0 and the seemingly undeniable right to user-generated content has taken hold in the social ideologies of filesharers.
If Keen’s argument that young people are “intellectual kleptomaniacs”, I would argue that the normal, every day filesharer, simply doesn’t know any better. However simplistic this statement may be, I believe that there is a severe disjuncture between the current (old style) entertainment industry and their Web 2.0 consumers. The music industry has always relied on the younger generations to drive sales. However, today’s youth (post-Gen Y) is comprised of “postmodern, eclectic, Google-generationists, Wikipediasts, who don’t necessarily recognize the concepts of authorships/ownerships”, a generation of people of whom the industry is deathly afraid of.
But, who’s to blame for the so-called demise of the entertainment industry? Can the industry “blame” (read: sue) young file sharers for adhering to a social norm that they grew up on? The internet is a social construct, millions of (mostly American) teenagers use the internet for social networking purposes on a daily basis, spending hours a day online. Keen is right in some respects; Teenagers born in 1990 were told in 2006 that they were Time Magazine’s Person of the Year: “Yes, you. You control the Information Age. Welcome to your world.”
They have been given a seemingly undeniable ‘right’ to content on the Internet, it is “their world”, and cutting, pasting, and sharing are their tools.
Need proof of these 'ownership' sentiments? Type '
Warner Music Group' into youtube's search engine (evidently, these people didn't read youtube's user agreement before accepting the terms, i.e. anything they post becomes 'property' of youtube)
The new business models of digital commerce 2.0 (Youtube, Myspace, Facebook) amplified the social norms of the Net 2.0, originally instilled by Napster, Gnutella, and the Open Source-derived ideologies of digital general public licenses have fostered sharing ideals in this generation. Essentially, and unfortunately, the entertainment industry brought their supposed demise upon themselves by not responding early enough to the sociality and social norms created by the Net 2.0.
Now what? Is music becoming something like water...why buy bottled water when you can get it for free?
I think the more pressing question for the industry is: how can we reconnect with our consumers and get rid of the 'bad guy' stigma? How can we rebuild trust?
By Andrew J.R.
I'm sure that most people already knew about this, but I was very happy to just hear the news earlier today. Ecstatic even. Somehow this will be my first year going to Pitchfork. Every year there is one band that I'm pleasantly surprised to see on the line-up, and I've already made plans to be out of town by the time it's announced. I'm still kicking myself for missing Os Mutantes a few years ago, but I won't let it happen this time. While this probably should not merit a blog posting, I felt it had to be pointed out.
http://www.pitchforkmusicfestival.com/news.php#march27
By the way, if you haven't checked out the video of The Flamings Lip with Stardeath and the White Dwarfs doing Madonna's "Borderline," you're missing out... try listening with headphones on.
http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid4020141001?bctid=15146946001
By choyler1
There's good news for a media industry forced to trade analog dollars for digital pennies. According to Jeff Zucker, the NBC Universal chief who coined the famous conversion rate, digital pennies are now migrating towards dimes. "We're at digital dimes now, we're making progress," Zucker said last week during the McGraw-Hill Media Summit in New York.
Overly optimistic? The updated assessment appears rosy, at least according to back-of-the-envelope calculations. Zucker refused to discuss Hulu-related financial figures, though estimates peg annual revenues at $70 million. In 2008, NBC Universal revenues landed at roughly $17 billion, yielding a ratio (4/100) that beats a penny, but falls short of a dime. Whether that gap narrows over time remains unclear, though Zucker admitted that digital assets may never reach dollar-to-dollar replacement parity with analog.
Of course, Zucker is most concerned with the evolution of television, though his dollar-to-pennies comment resonates with related industries like music. But in music, specifically the recording industry, the ratios are quickly moving in the wrong direction. Paid downloads were once considered a high-growth category, though annual volumes seem to be plateauing. Other digital formats and concepts are struggling, and CDs are enduring a double-digit freefall.
The broader music industry - including touring, publishing, and licensing - is in better shape, and majors are wisely pursuing more diversified artist agreements. Still, labels are heavily rooted in recordings, and some are broadening better than others. Universal Music Group, for example, has been benefiting from aggressive acquisitions into publishing (BMG Music Publishing) and artist services (Sanctuary).
Perhaps Universal Music Group crosses the chasm, and successfully transforms itself into a different type of music company. But does a successful transition involve ditching attempts to monetize the recording? Instead of fighting a complete lack of scarcity, simply allowing the recording to move towards zero? Not a digital dime, not a penny, but simply nothing?
In reality, the transition happens with or without UMG - or EMI, Sony Music, or Warner Music. Sure, a download costs 99-cents on iTunes, but averaged against the immense volumes of file-traded music, the effective valuation is just above zero. Indeed, the disruption is already well underway, and labels are left weighing short-term, protectionist strategies against less-certain, longer-term bets. Either way, selling overpriced downloads against a backdrop of zero-scarcity is a difficult play.
So why the slow-footedness? A recent interview between an unnamed major label executive and TechCrunch suggests that the short-term could be a better strategic bet. Instead of rushing into a sea of digital pennies or worse, why not protect and prolong a dwindling pile of billions? That means litigating, restricting, and maximizing licensing fees on ill-fated companies like Spiralfrog, while worrying about the future later.
Perhaps that makes sense for an exiting executive, one whose strategic roadmap includes a golf course in 2012. But it makes little sense for the twenty- or thirty-something executive, and even less sense for artists attempting to build sustainable careers. That would explain why many artists are increasingly moving with market forces, and building their careers around moneymakers like touring, publishing, licensing, sponsorships, and other, cash-generating assets.
Or, simply rolling with what the market offers for the recording. Radiohead and Trent Reznor spring to mind, though artists across all tiers - developing, mid-range, and superstar - are crafting homegrown business models that make sense for them - and more importantly, the broader changes happening in music and media consumption.
By Mike Boyd JR
Just a few years ago, when the crew was “Ballin’ ” thanks to Max B’s ghost writing skills on Jim Jones’ biggest single to date “We Fly High”, I never thought that I would see the day when Dipset would break up and every member become a relevant force in hip hop on their own.
Yet this has become the case:
Jim Jones is about to release his 4th studio album entitled Pray IV Reign on March 24th featuring the smash hit “Pop Champagne” as well as “Frienemies” in which Jim Jones takes shots at Max. B and Cam’ Ron. Frienemies can be heard here:
http://www.worldstarhiphop.com/videos/video.php?v=wshh2vZ7O1A4m64Max8D
In addition to the album, Jim Jones is releasing an off Broadway play, a film about his life, and a book that he recently wrote!
Cam’ Ron is putting together what is shaping up to be an amazing album in “Crime Pays.”
Both “I used to get it in Ohio” and “I hate my job” are awesome songs that are getting a bunch of internet buzz around Cam’Ron ‘s name!
I Used To Get It In Ohio:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epP7i7unWdU
I Hate My Job:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWQWTZVWVZs
Max B is very comfortable within the Boston based hip hop label Amalgam Digital where he has been releasing mixtapes and video blogs left and right. Max B is as much a comedian as he is a rapper!
Check out Max. B “riding the wave” in this episode of Max. B TV:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fp_o7Yg6E98
Juelz Santana is staying relevant with features on major singles like The Dream’s “Rockin’ That Thang”
Seen Here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkuAvgRGFrY
I have to admit that Freeky Zekey is still pretty irrelevant, but he is sticking next to Jim Jones:
http://www.worldstarhiphop.com/videos/video.php?v=wshhS2t34L4iX0rrh1V0
I am excited to see how this all pans out, and I can not wait to see if Dipset can come back together!
By Zachary Chapman
I recently got an e-mail from my favorite band Incubus telling me about the new greatest hits album coming in June. I have been a pretty hard core Incubus fan for the past 8 years now. With that being said, I own all of their albums and have all of their music that would be on a greatest hits album. I heard about a greatest hits album coming out a couple of months back and didn't really get too excited because of the fact that I already have heard all of these songs, but would some added value items get me to purchase?
When reading through this e-mail I came across the fact that if I pre-ordered this album I would get a pass code that would give me access to their new single, "Black Heart Inertia" before anyone else. I was very excited because I really didn't want to wait until June to own this song. In addition to the pass code for the song I would also get a pass code to pre-order tickets to see Incubus at any concert on their upcoming tour. It's very ironic because the show I picked is in Chicago on July 25th, at the same place where I saw them July 25th in 2007. If the excitement for the new song was not enough, then this was the factor that made me immediately grab my credit card.
As many people know vinyl is quickly gaining popularity. While checking out, I noticed I could get this greatest hits album on Vinyl. This would be my first Incubus Vinyl!
So here I am $30 poorer and my album will not arrive until mid June. The feeling is not that bad because I know that I will be seeing Incubus this summer!
Epic records has been doing this strategy with Incubus for quite some time now and it really seems to help with album and concert sales.
This is just one example of how a little added value can go quite a long way.
