Results for "Opinion"

The New Music Business is for Grown-Ups

February 19, 2011

This post is by Robin Davey of The Hoax and The Bastard Fairies.  Interview. Although the accessibility of YouTube has opened up avenues to exploit the seemingly prophetic abilities of Justin Bieber and his ilk, the truth is, the only people that are mesmerized by his skills are the young and naive. The rest of us, consciously or subconsciously, equate it to ...

Is This All We Are? An Industry of Fad Formats?

February 11, 2011

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 ...

Other Matters: Language, Ya Know? (from the Archives)

February 10, 2011

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 ...

A New Jazz Glossary of Tempos (Super Bowl Counter-Programming)

February 7, 2011

Kneebody + Busdriver: Why Horns Matter

February 5, 2011

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 ...

Hating Pandora Today, Loving It Tomorrow

February 5, 2011

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 ...

Wow, YouTube Really Thinks We're That Stupid...

February 4, 2011

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 ...

Defining Success: What It Means to "Make It"

February 4, 2011

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 ...

Why Any Seat at Music Hack Day is More Valuable Than a Front Row Ticket to the Grammys

February 2, 2011

“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 ...

The Historical Accident of Artists Getting Paid...

February 1, 2011

Is the era of artists getting handsomely paid for their work over? Or, getting paid at all, for that matter? Was it just a fleeting moment that's now getting handed back? “You have to remember that it's only a few hundred years, if that much, that artists are working with money," Francis Ford Coppola recently expressed ...