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Is This All We Are? An Industry of Fad Formats?
Source:
Digital Music News
It's not like people are smashing their Guitar Hero controllers, screaming for the real thing. This isn't disco, there isn't the same backlash. But they also aren't camping out for the next release, the latest track-pack or plastic instrument. Because this neverbecame the iPad, limited-edition sneaker or Star Wars mega-release. It's just a game with lots of plastic parts, all of which will gather more and more dust as the years go by. And that is a huge problem for ...
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Other Matters: Language, Ya Know? (from the Archives)
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Rifftides by Doug Ramsey
We in the Rifftides Department Of Language Reform realize that it has been only a year since this item ran. But it failed to change peoples' lousy usage habits, so here it is again. This time, please pay attention.The Rifftides Department Of Language Reform (DOLR) has been neglecting its duties. Its members claim that their failure to stop the misuse of “absolutely" and “no problem" discouraged them. At a staff meeting on the subject, the DOLRers moaned that they despair ...
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A New Jazz Glossary of Tempos (Super Bowl Counter-Programming)
Source:
Brilliant Corners, a Boston Jazz Blog
Kneebody + Busdriver: Why Horns Matter
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Inverted Garden by Eric Benson
One of my favorite thought-experiments of late comes from some Darcy James Argue-quilled Secret Society program notes: “What if every time you turned on the radio, everyone from T-Pain to Rihanna to Katy Perry was backed by a big band? What if Animal Collective and Vampire Weekend and MGMT all had 13-piece horn sections? What if the Rock Band video game came with a whole bunch of trumpet and saxophone and trombone controllers?" Yeah, what if? I love horns, their ...
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Hating Pandora Today, Loving It Tomorrow
Source:
HypeBot
I hate you. I've had an iPod Touch now for several months. The experience is astoundingly unlike my former iPod. Years ago, blinded by choice, I may have listened to the same artists and songs more than I realized, but back then, I still made real decisions. Sometimes while sitting. Sometimes while driving. Always spinning my fingers around the scroll wheel, attempting to discern what song I would most enjoy next. Upon downloading Pandora to my Touch, I've mostly relied ...
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Wow, YouTube Really Thinks We're That Stupid...
Source:
Digital Music News
Sorry, the gig is up on free music. It isn't making bands rich, or even making ends meet, for that matter. If you need proof of this, check out this discussion thread about Spotify—it contains real numbers and testimonials about how paltry the payouts on free access are. It's not just Lady Gaga that's getting the shaft. The rest is also mostly a work of fiction. Because for the most part, free isn't driving more people to shows, selling more ...
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Defining Success: What It Means to "Make It"
Source:
HypeBot
This post is by Hypebot intern Hisham Dahud. His Twitter: @HishamDahud. Throughout my young music career, I've encountered far too many people obsessed with this idea of “making it big"—of becoming some sort of popular music star; with the word “big" associated with attaining a high degree of fame. For these people, how much closer they are to “making it big" is how they measure their success. So does fame and recognition really determine how successful you are in today's music ...
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Why Any Seat at Music Hack Day is More Valuable Than a Front Row Ticket to the Grammys
Source:
HypeBot
“Technological change is discontinuous. The monks in their scriptoria did not invent the printing press, horse breeders did not invent the motorcar, and the music industry did not invent the iPod or launch iTunes." - Jason Epstein, The New York Review Of Books Epstein's statement, while part of an essay on book publishing, encapsulates both the reasons behind the current state of the music industry, aw well as, ...
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