http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2009/05/pandora-predicts-first-ever-profit-next-year/
As you can tell, I'm a fan of anecdotes. I like sharing with my 1 follower (thanks Lori) some little memories of my childhood so that you can how this subject matter has affected me and how, today, I can look upon it's growth as a business in relation to the growth of our culture and with myself as a part of that culture. So here's a bit about internet radio.
Pandora.com: We know it. We love it. It helps gets us through the work day and on to new music that we may or may not have dicovered otherwise. Some great artists that I have found using this application include, but are not limited to: Jenny Owens, Amie Miriello, Laura Marling, Gabe Dixon, Barcelona, Dragonette, Priscilla Ahn, and much more. When I first discovered Pandora, it was from a friend many moons ago. I would log in and listen at my parents house while working on homework or randomly searching the net for something, ANYTHING, worth-while. These were the days before Myspace and Facebook had taken over our precious internet minutes. My first internet radio station that I created was that of Alison Krauss, which is ironic considering my current employment, but I began to notice that there really isn't a lot of stuff out there that is quite like her. So I moved on to some other favorites: Susan Tedeschi, Billy Holiday, Better Than Ezra, Erykah Badu. The options seemed positively endless. Now this is just my first experience, I'm sure others have had equally mind-blowing visits to what became the first and most influential online radio site. As years have gone by, Pandora has been followed by others, a couple of examples being Last.FM and Slacker Radio. TasteKid is also and outlet, but it doesn't play the music, it just tells you who you should check out, thus causing a major loss in points.
Now I know that I'm not the most intelligent music business professional to walk the halls, but I do know that companies need money in order to survive. Pretty straight forward business model. Now, how to get that money is where the challenges have become more and more everyday... it seems. So when I first became a true Pandora advocate, I looked at the site and said "where's the money?" "Show me the money!" right?! as Cuba shouted violently in his studio kitchen into an obsolete cordless phone. I attributed it to advertising, where at the time I really started questioning this site I was also in gritting my teeth through an entrepreneurship class with one of the most eccentric musicians/professors this side of the Mississippi, and just about everything seemed to come back to advertising. It looked to be for a time there, the beginning and the end for most business ventures. But, in taking another look at Pandora, there really isn't a lot of advertising. Maybe one ad that changes as the page refreshes. The design has stayed consistent through the years, simple and straight forward through the years. Granted, as technology has changed, they've kept up, adding mobile applications, videos and even a link to festivals. But it is the iPhone application, among other things, that will give Pandora their first profit ever since their birth almost a decade ago.
Something seemingly unrelated that I saw on the glorious television screen just yesterday was a live performance of the All American Rejects at one of those crazy MTV Spring Break thing-a-ma-jigs. I was watching MTV2 and I couldn't believe the massive crowd of half naked twenty - somethings just swaying and jerking about completely without rhythm. And I thought about the bands that I'm huge fans of, and how they most certainly do not have crowds like that at their performances. Perhaps that's one of the reasons that I like them so much. So what did the All American Rejects do differently then someone like Sam Roberts Band or Gabe Dixon. Is it the lewd behaviour? or the crazy pirate outfits? I'm not sure. Maybe it's just targeting a totally different audience. So I wonder when I look at this crowd is... how many of these people have actually seen the album artwork, or did their girlfriend burn them a copy and tuck in a cutsie unmarked cd sleeve. Or they illegally downloaded it and lost on the hi-res album artwork.
so let's link this to Pandora and how they're about to make their first dollar. They're doing it.
I'm serious. That's the whole point. The labels are drowning in their own tears, so disgusted with teenagers across the country that they can't even bring themselves to work to find some avenue of expoitation. They've basically thrown up their hands it feels like. But not Pandora. They look at that swaying field of tanned greasy bodies and see leafy green dollar bills (perhaps). They were surviving better than the labels were before they even started making any profit at all. Now granted, two different business, two different business models. But they're still entertainment suppliers and they're still business all the same. The money needs to come in as well as go out. But then again, what kind of overhead does Pandora really have to pay, besides maybe some liscensing fees and the cost of running the server, and maybe an IT to maintain the site. They looked at the twenty somethings and said "let's work together" and thus from running a profit-free site they've blossomed into an iPhone application. The application is available for a measley $36 a year, but for a company that has not taken in $1 of profit in the past, that can add up to be quite the sum. It's the prefect answer to a daunting question. What do we do now? we work together. We seize opportunity and we gain success. At least we hope. Now the labels are in a completely different position. How does one create a WEA app. you don't. And any other idea that I've thought of in the last 2 minutes have an answer. An app to follow your favorite musicians? - Twitter. An App to listen to their music for free? - Myspace. An App to look at their photos and comment? - Facebook. It's all there, so where is the opportunity to begin with, better yet being able to seize it. There are other avenues that have been previously discussed. The joint advertising ventures, the merchandising ventures, so on and so forth. But it seems like none of these previously mentioned ideas or feasible, or fair. Or is it just that the labels are too scared. There is something out there and if I didn't have to get going to my second job instead of sitting here at the first one thinging about cool and awesome new ways that a label could make money but won't, I would think of it. But for now, I'll leave it open for tomorrow.
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Twilight
So I would like to discuss an epidemic that has swept the nation, thy name is "Twilight". This has nothing to do with Music, but everything to do with our culture. Back a few months ago when the movie trailers started for the movie, I had no idea what "twilight" was, what it was about, or that it was even a book. But then people started talking about it and I got a little curious. I love reading, and I love wierd fantasy/mythical stuff, so I thought to myself while reading the cliched quote on the back of the book in Newbury Comics "what's the worst that could happen, it's $10 and I'm sure it'll be a quick easy read if it's meant for teens". So I put my money where my mouth is and Twilight entered my life. Before I started reading the book, I understood going in that the story was comprised of love, and vampires - which I'm sure would thus lead to life threatening situations and inner turmoil. So as I started in to the first chapter I thought, well it's not Clive Barker but this could be good.
Within moments I was hooked. I'll admit that even though Stephanie Meyer may not be the most intellectual and worldly writer (not that I really know many), the imagery was wonderfully bright and the characters quickly and easily painted in my minds eye. You instantly feel sympathetic for Bella because she's alone, but jealous because she's this average, ho-hum girl from out of town and almost instanteously everyone is in love with her. If only it were that easy for us actual normal, average ho-hum girls in high school. But to ensure the fantasty continues she gets the hottest guy in school, and not only is he a "bad boy" he's a freakin' mythical creature! Apparently just the bad boy persona doesn't do it for us anymore, we're numb to the tattoos and bad attitudes and have moved on to murderous villians. The cherry on the fantasy sundae? This vampire has a gentle, romantic, loving side and a sense of self-preservation. And he's fallen in love with the plainest girl around.
- how like life -
After reading through the first book I instantly thought "man, guys are going to be pissed when they find out this vampire has made them all look like a bunch of jerks", and inadvertently he has. The image of Edward that is created in the novel can be different for each reader, but one thing will be the same for every girl reading: He is the ultimate fantasy. And we all, in some strange insecure way, feel unworthy of him. But if the plainest girl in school won his heart, then maybe there is hope for the rest of us. right?
I have moved my way through book two and three and am about to begin the final mile of the series. Just last week I got the chance to watch the "film" at a friends house, and (of course) because I loved the book so much I was compelled to run out buy the DVD, not knowing whether or not it was actually worth the $15 I dished out.
Long story short - it wasn't. And yet every night I come home from work, with several other things on my mind, A GRE test to study for, a poem to work on, a shower to take, dinner to make, and whatever else happened in the day; but all I want to do it sit down at my cluttered and crumb-covered kitchen table and watch it again and again on my computer. WHY?! I don't understand it and it's honestly been consuming my thoughts a bit. Am I seriously trying to live vicariously through Bella and find love in a romantic, super-powered vampire? Is this all in an attempt to keep my hopes up that if this average girl can find love with the coolest guy in town, than there has got to be something out there for me? It seems like any other romantic comedy. The trick here is that this isn't your everyday swooner people, this is a vampire. He's proclaimed his love and his life. He's saved her from the darkest of places and said all the right words at all the right moments. He stays with her while she sleeps and doesn't complain when she tells him he's not allowed to speak of leaving her side. Any other dude would be like "screw you, I want to hang out with my boyz". The ultimate relationship/infatuation. And now, he wants to be married, even though they've been together for what... a year?! sure, let's run off to be married so that we can take each others "virtue" and spend eternity together!
I'm honestly nervous for what this teaches teenagers that are reading this book. At least it teaches them to wait for the right person, the one you love, the right moment, and (of course) marriage. But are they now going to be looking for real men to think and act as a character in a movie does? I mean, understood, we all watch the sappy chick flicks and we swoon and wish secretly that our men would treat us this way, but we understand that our man, like us, are just human and this kind of stuff just doesn't take place. But with Twilight? I feel like it's different. It's a different audience with different expectations and a different naive grasp on human interactions/relationships. Now, texting is good enough for a break up, as if we have no respect for one another. I have noticed that this book has bridged together generations of women, from teens through young adults my age, to older middle-aged women. The desire to be loved by someone such as Edward is everywhere.
And the love triangle with Jacob?! oh, that is just the sprinkles and whipped cream. Who doesn't secretly love being the center of a love triangle, nevermind one involving a vampire AND a werewolf! It is the epitamy of what every girl dreams about.
The fantasy that we have, is it because we're an insecure society? Is it because we do truely believe that chilvalry is dead when it's the only thing that we really want? Do we want to feel like the kind of woman that could make such a villian want to change his ways out of love for us and become the good guy? it's a little arrogant, I have to admit, to think that we're great enough women to think that a monster would risk his existence and life for us. That we are that charming and charismatic that a killer would find love in his heart and change his entire life for us. What does this say about how we are taught to view relationships in todays society? It's as if the book seems to teach us that having this relationship and having someone to be with us at every moment of the day is the ultimate goal in life. Edward does say "Bella, you don't know how long I've waited for you", as if his life has meant nothing without her up to this point. What about the sense of self, not needing someone else for comfort and validation. I can understand the yearning for companionship and love, but we must find love in ourselves first before sharing it with others.
I know I have preached about this in the past and I don't really want to be redundant, but I wonder if with this new cultural obssession with Twilight only reaffirms the ideal that we as a culture feel like we can't function without the validation and acceptance of others. What if Bella moved out to Forks and made a life for herself all on her own. I mean sure, she makes friends, she gets a job to pay the bills and she goes to school. But what if she found love in herself and not with Edward, what is the story was a journey of self discovery. Do you think that the story would thus be as popular? maybe with a less accomodating crowd, the indie rockers and poets.
I have to admit, I love the book. I thought the movie could have been better, but regardless the book was awesome! The pages moved faster than I could keep up it seemed. The love story reaches out to even the most bitter and reminds them that there is someone out there for everyone, human or not. The aspect of this book that prompted me to come back to a blog that I haven't updated in over a month was her sheer NEED for Edward. She withered when he left and used another just to occupy her mind and find ways to get back to Edward. If he leaves her alone even for a little while she feels empty without him. To some, this is an unconditional level of love. To me, it's just wierd. Bella, sit down and read a book, maybe catch up on some homework or watch your favorite tv show. Sure it's not always going to be as COOL as hanging with your vampire boyfriend but you each have to lead individual lives as well as the one you share together. It's a lot, I know, but I think you can handle it. Heck, you've gone this far.
Within moments I was hooked. I'll admit that even though Stephanie Meyer may not be the most intellectual and worldly writer (not that I really know many), the imagery was wonderfully bright and the characters quickly and easily painted in my minds eye. You instantly feel sympathetic for Bella because she's alone, but jealous because she's this average, ho-hum girl from out of town and almost instanteously everyone is in love with her. If only it were that easy for us actual normal, average ho-hum girls in high school. But to ensure the fantasty continues she gets the hottest guy in school, and not only is he a "bad boy" he's a freakin' mythical creature! Apparently just the bad boy persona doesn't do it for us anymore, we're numb to the tattoos and bad attitudes and have moved on to murderous villians. The cherry on the fantasy sundae? This vampire has a gentle, romantic, loving side and a sense of self-preservation. And he's fallen in love with the plainest girl around.
- how like life -
After reading through the first book I instantly thought "man, guys are going to be pissed when they find out this vampire has made them all look like a bunch of jerks", and inadvertently he has. The image of Edward that is created in the novel can be different for each reader, but one thing will be the same for every girl reading: He is the ultimate fantasy. And we all, in some strange insecure way, feel unworthy of him. But if the plainest girl in school won his heart, then maybe there is hope for the rest of us. right?
I have moved my way through book two and three and am about to begin the final mile of the series. Just last week I got the chance to watch the "film" at a friends house, and (of course) because I loved the book so much I was compelled to run out buy the DVD, not knowing whether or not it was actually worth the $15 I dished out.
Long story short - it wasn't. And yet every night I come home from work, with several other things on my mind, A GRE test to study for, a poem to work on, a shower to take, dinner to make, and whatever else happened in the day; but all I want to do it sit down at my cluttered and crumb-covered kitchen table and watch it again and again on my computer. WHY?! I don't understand it and it's honestly been consuming my thoughts a bit. Am I seriously trying to live vicariously through Bella and find love in a romantic, super-powered vampire? Is this all in an attempt to keep my hopes up that if this average girl can find love with the coolest guy in town, than there has got to be something out there for me? It seems like any other romantic comedy. The trick here is that this isn't your everyday swooner people, this is a vampire. He's proclaimed his love and his life. He's saved her from the darkest of places and said all the right words at all the right moments. He stays with her while she sleeps and doesn't complain when she tells him he's not allowed to speak of leaving her side. Any other dude would be like "screw you, I want to hang out with my boyz". The ultimate relationship/infatuation. And now, he wants to be married, even though they've been together for what... a year?! sure, let's run off to be married so that we can take each others "virtue" and spend eternity together!
I'm honestly nervous for what this teaches teenagers that are reading this book. At least it teaches them to wait for the right person, the one you love, the right moment, and (of course) marriage. But are they now going to be looking for real men to think and act as a character in a movie does? I mean, understood, we all watch the sappy chick flicks and we swoon and wish secretly that our men would treat us this way, but we understand that our man, like us, are just human and this kind of stuff just doesn't take place. But with Twilight? I feel like it's different. It's a different audience with different expectations and a different naive grasp on human interactions/relationships. Now, texting is good enough for a break up, as if we have no respect for one another. I have noticed that this book has bridged together generations of women, from teens through young adults my age, to older middle-aged women. The desire to be loved by someone such as Edward is everywhere.
And the love triangle with Jacob?! oh, that is just the sprinkles and whipped cream. Who doesn't secretly love being the center of a love triangle, nevermind one involving a vampire AND a werewolf! It is the epitamy of what every girl dreams about.
The fantasy that we have, is it because we're an insecure society? Is it because we do truely believe that chilvalry is dead when it's the only thing that we really want? Do we want to feel like the kind of woman that could make such a villian want to change his ways out of love for us and become the good guy? it's a little arrogant, I have to admit, to think that we're great enough women to think that a monster would risk his existence and life for us. That we are that charming and charismatic that a killer would find love in his heart and change his entire life for us. What does this say about how we are taught to view relationships in todays society? It's as if the book seems to teach us that having this relationship and having someone to be with us at every moment of the day is the ultimate goal in life. Edward does say "Bella, you don't know how long I've waited for you", as if his life has meant nothing without her up to this point. What about the sense of self, not needing someone else for comfort and validation. I can understand the yearning for companionship and love, but we must find love in ourselves first before sharing it with others.
I know I have preached about this in the past and I don't really want to be redundant, but I wonder if with this new cultural obssession with Twilight only reaffirms the ideal that we as a culture feel like we can't function without the validation and acceptance of others. What if Bella moved out to Forks and made a life for herself all on her own. I mean sure, she makes friends, she gets a job to pay the bills and she goes to school. But what if she found love in herself and not with Edward, what is the story was a journey of self discovery. Do you think that the story would thus be as popular? maybe with a less accomodating crowd, the indie rockers and poets.
I have to admit, I love the book. I thought the movie could have been better, but regardless the book was awesome! The pages moved faster than I could keep up it seemed. The love story reaches out to even the most bitter and reminds them that there is someone out there for everyone, human or not. The aspect of this book that prompted me to come back to a blog that I haven't updated in over a month was her sheer NEED for Edward. She withered when he left and used another just to occupy her mind and find ways to get back to Edward. If he leaves her alone even for a little while she feels empty without him. To some, this is an unconditional level of love. To me, it's just wierd. Bella, sit down and read a book, maybe catch up on some homework or watch your favorite tv show. Sure it's not always going to be as COOL as hanging with your vampire boyfriend but you each have to lead individual lives as well as the one you share together. It's a lot, I know, but I think you can handle it. Heck, you've gone this far.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Oops, not music related.
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/magazine/articles/2009/02/08/the_end_of_alone/
The article listed above is admittedly lengthy, but a great representation of what I had been trying to spew out in the past entry (and it's written significantly better).
"The End of Alone" written in the Boston Globe, gives a beautiful and inspiring picture of how disconnected we have become to ourselves. My first reaction to this article was "man I know someone who would relish in all this philosophical bull", but then I began to feel a bit of the guilt that I have been feeling recently because of our loss of our sense of the self. For myself, I am nowhere near as technologically advanced as most. I am overwhelmed by the keyboard on my phone, better yet the e-mail and photo capabilities. I could say it's sad, but is it really? I do enjoy my alone time, but when I think about it my alone time is usually me sitting with my book, my notebook, a pen or pencil, some sweet soul music gently bumping and my cell phone casually placed on the coffee table. Just in case. So I'll admit that after reading this wonderfully written article, I did feel a bit guilty and disconnected with myself, even though I have been making good efforts to "find myself". I can sympathize with the anxiety of doing things alone. Now, I go to the movies alone, I go get lunch or dinner by myself (remembering my book, or journal always), and shop alone. I don't have much a choice in the matter to be honest, if there's something I want/need to do, I go do it. But sometimes I do these things when I am lonely. If I'm just sitting alone in my apartment and most of the time I can't bring myself to turn on the TV and I can only read and write for so long before the pages and words begin to blur, so I go out. Furthering the arguement, he discusses great writers such as "DESCARTES, NEWTON, LOCKE, Spinoza, Kant, Nietzsche, Kierkegaard -- they share the distinction of having been some of the greatest thinkers the world has known. They also share this: None of them ever married or had their own families, and most of them spent the bulk of their lives living alone." So then I began to think, where is the fun in that?! A naive and probably ignorant statement that only further confirms this change in our society.
So I thought about our desperation for relationships, our haunting fear of being alone in this big bad world, that everyone claims is so small, and tried to figure out some kind of middle ground. How can I have faith and confidence in myself when alone but still find peace in another. It's all quite contradictory in my mind. I found several articles on the importance of building relationships. Unfortunately, most of them were quite qhetto looking and didn't really connatate a good sense of integrity (I know, I'm stereotyping a website) so I'm not going to post any of them here. Generally they supported the importance of building interpersonal relationships, whether they be friendships, business, romantic, or otherwise. The funny thing about these articles is that they all discuss "needs", and how our relationships are based on these "needs" and how we determine what we want to get out of a relationship based on these "needs". So what are the needs? I'm sure we could list a million of them, and I'll leave it open to the discussion (not that anyone will discuss it). I'm sure a lot of these needs are things that I've already talked about in the previous entry: validation, comfort, security, self-esteem, and companionship. According to our first half of the debate, these are things that we are supposed to find within ourselves. But I do feel like relationships are important, and not specifically for these things but for other aspects of our life such as communication and other social skills, connection, and how about fun!
Yes, after reading the Boston Globe article I did have a sense of guilt for not taking every moment of my life to reflect on the time-space continuum, but as I think more about it, as these things tend to cause me to do, I don't feel guilty at all and the fact that someone would try and make me feel guilty for not living my life as they have is just wrong. Yes I agree that our society is a bit too involved with their technologies, but think of how that line of communication has improved business, adventure, and possibility. My relationships that I have built and broken for myself were not based on needs, they were just based on pure enjoyment.
Comfort: relief in affliction; consolation; a cause or matter of relief or satisfaction; a state of ease and satisfaction of bodily wants, with freedom from pain and anxiety.
This definition has quietly haunted me for many years. And it amazes me that something so simple and positive could cause such an uproar in ones mind. What a debate - this paradox called comfort. Do we find this in ourselves, in others, in our bed, in music, in television, or some may never find it. In my opinion I think this goes for our critically acclaimed thinkers listed above. In an effort to claim that any and all peace in your life must be harvested on your own, they had sheltered themselves from relationships and love. Sometimes, I feel like love was simply made up in order to justify these cravings of comfort and security, and then as time went on it became marriage. But I can't leave myself to feel so negative towards love. As much I hate it most days, it also is something beautiful that we can find in ourselves and share with others. A passion that fuels us and reminds us that we are alive. For those thinkers that hid alone, I feel sympathy for the overwhelming flow of thoughts, but I also feel that they were quite arrogant, making others feel incompetent and shallow for building relationships when maybe they were just as scared as the rest of us.
I don't want to drag on and on about this forever because, as the previous entry it will become non-sensical and redundant. We've very briefly looked at two very different sides to a very difficult debate. I believe in a middle ground, most don't believe in anything at all. I remember a good line from a Ray Lamontagne song where he said something like "you build these walls, but walls will only crush you when they fall" and if you don't ever let the walls crumble, you will always be hidden and closed, whether your are looking to open yourself to the world or other people.
Highly recommend Gabe Dixon's live performance of "Is This Love" - check it.
The article listed above is admittedly lengthy, but a great representation of what I had been trying to spew out in the past entry (and it's written significantly better).
"The End of Alone" written in the Boston Globe, gives a beautiful and inspiring picture of how disconnected we have become to ourselves. My first reaction to this article was "man I know someone who would relish in all this philosophical bull", but then I began to feel a bit of the guilt that I have been feeling recently because of our loss of our sense of the self. For myself, I am nowhere near as technologically advanced as most. I am overwhelmed by the keyboard on my phone, better yet the e-mail and photo capabilities. I could say it's sad, but is it really? I do enjoy my alone time, but when I think about it my alone time is usually me sitting with my book, my notebook, a pen or pencil, some sweet soul music gently bumping and my cell phone casually placed on the coffee table. Just in case. So I'll admit that after reading this wonderfully written article, I did feel a bit guilty and disconnected with myself, even though I have been making good efforts to "find myself". I can sympathize with the anxiety of doing things alone. Now, I go to the movies alone, I go get lunch or dinner by myself (remembering my book, or journal always), and shop alone. I don't have much a choice in the matter to be honest, if there's something I want/need to do, I go do it. But sometimes I do these things when I am lonely. If I'm just sitting alone in my apartment and most of the time I can't bring myself to turn on the TV and I can only read and write for so long before the pages and words begin to blur, so I go out. Furthering the arguement, he discusses great writers such as "DESCARTES, NEWTON, LOCKE, Spinoza, Kant, Nietzsche, Kierkegaard -- they share the distinction of having been some of the greatest thinkers the world has known. They also share this: None of them ever married or had their own families, and most of them spent the bulk of their lives living alone." So then I began to think, where is the fun in that?! A naive and probably ignorant statement that only further confirms this change in our society.
So I thought about our desperation for relationships, our haunting fear of being alone in this big bad world, that everyone claims is so small, and tried to figure out some kind of middle ground. How can I have faith and confidence in myself when alone but still find peace in another. It's all quite contradictory in my mind. I found several articles on the importance of building relationships. Unfortunately, most of them were quite qhetto looking and didn't really connatate a good sense of integrity (I know, I'm stereotyping a website) so I'm not going to post any of them here. Generally they supported the importance of building interpersonal relationships, whether they be friendships, business, romantic, or otherwise. The funny thing about these articles is that they all discuss "needs", and how our relationships are based on these "needs" and how we determine what we want to get out of a relationship based on these "needs". So what are the needs? I'm sure we could list a million of them, and I'll leave it open to the discussion (not that anyone will discuss it). I'm sure a lot of these needs are things that I've already talked about in the previous entry: validation, comfort, security, self-esteem, and companionship. According to our first half of the debate, these are things that we are supposed to find within ourselves. But I do feel like relationships are important, and not specifically for these things but for other aspects of our life such as communication and other social skills, connection, and how about fun!
Yes, after reading the Boston Globe article I did have a sense of guilt for not taking every moment of my life to reflect on the time-space continuum, but as I think more about it, as these things tend to cause me to do, I don't feel guilty at all and the fact that someone would try and make me feel guilty for not living my life as they have is just wrong. Yes I agree that our society is a bit too involved with their technologies, but think of how that line of communication has improved business, adventure, and possibility. My relationships that I have built and broken for myself were not based on needs, they were just based on pure enjoyment.
Comfort: relief in affliction; consolation; a cause or matter of relief or satisfaction; a state of ease and satisfaction of bodily wants, with freedom from pain and anxiety.
This definition has quietly haunted me for many years. And it amazes me that something so simple and positive could cause such an uproar in ones mind. What a debate - this paradox called comfort. Do we find this in ourselves, in others, in our bed, in music, in television, or some may never find it. In my opinion I think this goes for our critically acclaimed thinkers listed above. In an effort to claim that any and all peace in your life must be harvested on your own, they had sheltered themselves from relationships and love. Sometimes, I feel like love was simply made up in order to justify these cravings of comfort and security, and then as time went on it became marriage. But I can't leave myself to feel so negative towards love. As much I hate it most days, it also is something beautiful that we can find in ourselves and share with others. A passion that fuels us and reminds us that we are alive. For those thinkers that hid alone, I feel sympathy for the overwhelming flow of thoughts, but I also feel that they were quite arrogant, making others feel incompetent and shallow for building relationships when maybe they were just as scared as the rest of us.
I don't want to drag on and on about this forever because, as the previous entry it will become non-sensical and redundant. We've very briefly looked at two very different sides to a very difficult debate. I believe in a middle ground, most don't believe in anything at all. I remember a good line from a Ray Lamontagne song where he said something like "you build these walls, but walls will only crush you when they fall" and if you don't ever let the walls crumble, you will always be hidden and closed, whether your are looking to open yourself to the world or other people.
Highly recommend Gabe Dixon's live performance of "Is This Love" - check it.
Thursday, January 29, 2009
So I'll admit that I've been slacking off. I'm sure there is a TON of music industry news I could be commenting on, but I've been busy and work and busy with life so I haven't kept up. I will though comment on one of the most hilarious pieces of genius to ever stumble onto the MTV screen. If you really want to call it any of those things.
I don't know if anyone else has caught this show, but yesterday during a pretty crappy snowstorm I was working from my bed and casually left MTV on because surprisingly enough they had music videos on in the morning. I was preoccupied with my work and while digilently copy and pasting away I failed to notice that the music had stopped and my TV was now bombarded with a bunch of "toolbags".
Side-note - quite some time ago I was having a conversation with my mom about who knows what and casually in conversation mentioned that some dude or other was a total "tool bag". My mom proceeded to ask me what I meant by a "tool bag" and I moved to the metaphor "dumb as a bag of hammers". She had a sort of moment of realization but then mentioned that she thinks a tool bag would be quite handy. That's my mom for you folks.
Anyway, as I was saying about the music being gone and tool bags and such. So I info-ed this show that had sneaked up upon me and it just so happened to be titled "Tool Academy". A pretty fitting name for the bunch of drones I was faced with. I clicked the "guide" button on my remote to search for something a bit less ... well... awful, and came up empty handed. It was a battle between a disasterous bunch of daytime television programming. I contemplated turning off the TV altogether and just hitting play on my CD Player, but then some ridiculous comment was made and I was basically hooked. So I thought to myself, what's a couple minutes, at least it will provide me with some seriously humorous entertainment and maybe even an ironically deep look into our twisted culture.
So I watched, feeling a little guilty and embarrassed, but I watched. I dug to find the purpose and the objective of the mindless banter and somehow came up with this. I am pretty sure that the show was about a group of guys, in a house along with their girlfriends, and they were "learning" t0 be respectful, mature adults. basically. So what I saw, was a group of guys bad mouthing their women behind their backs and then in some therapy session having to reveal their fears and confessions to their beloveds. pretty funny to see these big muscle dudes with horrible MTV haircuts and fake vintage t-shirts try to "reveal" their feelings. One of them, I couldn't even tell if he was speaking english, but I do know that he kept referring to his bleach blonde overly tanned girlfriend as "dude" and looked like he was about to punch a wall.
So I know this is not good to do but I started kind of comparing myself to these people. Mostly because, minus the details, their confessions were pertinent to my own personal life and I've been doing a bit of soul searching concerning our human obsession with companionship. I actually started this internal debate while sitting in the Orthopedic Surgery waiting room. I was probably the only one there under 40 and also the only one that did not have a signficant other sitting by, hand on the knee or rubbing my back for comfort. How did all these relationships come to be? How did they find one another and how did they decide that they were both right for each other? Was it a compromise, was it a battle of wits or simply love at first sight? But I digress, per usual. In essence I find it contradictory that we all stive to be blossoming, strong, and independent individuals, but yet still crave the comfort of others and the validation of our thoughts and opinions. How does it all work, I have no idea. So I kept watching.
As I watched and thought about individuality in part with relationships I remembered how feverishly we depend on other people to define ourselves, which truthfully is obvious and redundant. But in furthering this thought, it's not just that we rely on others for our comfort and validation, but the experiences we share with these people and what these experiences mean to us. I think what I mean is that we take the experiences we have with people, whether it be good or bad - going to the movies, getting a beer, fighting and yelling, laying on the beach - doesn't matter. We take these experiences and we determine our opinions and reactions to them and thus use those ideals in other aspects of our lives. It goes past feeling validated, it's just .... you.
I'm not sure that makes sense, even to me who just wrote it.
I'm going to try and think up an example, mostly for my own clarification. So say you go to the movies with your boyfriend or girlfriend, or sisters, could be anyone. I went to the movies with a long time friend of mine recently and he's a bit cynical. Me, I'm a bit indifferent with movies. So we go, we eat dinner, see the movie and get some hot chocolate and talk about what we think as we've done maybe a million times before. Now I liked the movie, he didn't - what a surprise, but what's a good conversation without a conflict. So instead of letting him and his opinions and criticisms determine how I felt about my own, I simply thought about the joy of a good conversation and how being in that moment made me feel, regardless of the difference of opinion. I took that experience and when having a conversation with other people, refer back to it and remember the curiosity, the emotions, and the relevance to my own life. I let the feelings associated with the experience define my reactions moving forward. And it's ever changing.
I think this is becoming much more involved then I ever intended it to be. All this from a bunch of tool-bags.
So to try and loop this into my music theme and it's association with our culture. I don't know if anyone is a fan, but I am a huge fan of Kris Delmhorst. In my opinion she writes the most beautiful love songs and the difference that I find between her ballads and others is that she does not write the song as though without them she could not survive. There are a lot of artists who have love songs that I aboslutely love. Great example: "Hope For Me Yet" by Marc Broussard, one of my all time favorite songs. But in listening to his words, he relies on his recepient for validation. Don't get me wrong, this is an awesome song, I don't care who you are, where you're from, Marc Broussard rocks, but it's a good example of how pretty much all love songs are based. The singer always feels lost, lonely, sad, suicidal or something without the other person in their life. And it feeds our culture a great deal.
Going back to the tool-bags and why they still matter to this one - sided debate. These guys were clearly consumed with themselves, concerned with appearance, money and status. And from a woman's perspective, I'm sure their girlfriends felt the same way about most things, or they probably wouldn't be together. Not only does the culture breed lonely love-sick swooners, but to make the situation worse, we now have to worry about how we look, how much money we make and if our job is cool enough so that we can be moved out of the lonely pool and into the "validated by a fake relationship" pool.
With all this stuff to worry about it's no wonder we're an overmedicated culture of fear, insecurity, anxiety and depression. And this all affects how we respond to our music. We listen to what those musicians are telling us. We are their shoulder, because they are musicians and they are, by nature, typically sad, so we let them lean on us for a little while. We feel like we've connected and we feel like what this famous person has to say has got to be the right way to feel about the same situation in my life. I think a lot of musicians use this relationship to sell music and write songs that reach out into their market and not only touch their audience, but basically show them a "bathroom wall" kind of good time. The next issue is, did the listener pay for that good time? Our musicians have welcomed us into their lives, not just with the sad songs but with the happy ones too. We celebrate their success with them, their love and their good times. So even if we feel lonely we can invite ourselves into their world and find comfort in them.
Now I'm not going to sit here and tell people that this is a horrible way to live life and is totally void of any personal independence. I'm guilty of sitting alone in my apartment and singing along to sad songs and feeling a deeper emotional connection than if I weren't listening to the song at all. Our lack of the our sense of self is very obvious in everyday life. Straight from TV shows to our connection with music and then on to the relationships we rely on with the people in our lives. I'm proud of the relationships I have. As I said, I try and remember that they do not define me, but I would never say that sitting alone and simply being happy with myself is enough. At least for me it's not, I enjoy the outside world and relationships are very important.
When it comes to this subject, I think that people don't even think about it. I honestly believe that people grow up faithfully devout to the thought that they have to find someone that makes them happy enough and only then will they be whole. I watch my best friend do it everyday, and it's kind of wierd and unnerving if you ask me. But you're not asking, at this point you're probably asking me to just shut up. I could just go on and on forever when it comes to our obsessions with relationships, fulfilling or not. Has it all become about validation? About feeling like we're actually apart of this world and that we matter to someone, anyone?
Yes, I think it has. Honestly, I have felt more and more that I am a working gear in this broken down machine, as I am at my job and in my family. I don't need someone to tell me and the beautiful love songs... they are just so beautiful.
I don't know if anyone else has caught this show, but yesterday during a pretty crappy snowstorm I was working from my bed and casually left MTV on because surprisingly enough they had music videos on in the morning. I was preoccupied with my work and while digilently copy and pasting away I failed to notice that the music had stopped and my TV was now bombarded with a bunch of "toolbags".
Side-note - quite some time ago I was having a conversation with my mom about who knows what and casually in conversation mentioned that some dude or other was a total "tool bag". My mom proceeded to ask me what I meant by a "tool bag" and I moved to the metaphor "dumb as a bag of hammers". She had a sort of moment of realization but then mentioned that she thinks a tool bag would be quite handy. That's my mom for you folks.
Anyway, as I was saying about the music being gone and tool bags and such. So I info-ed this show that had sneaked up upon me and it just so happened to be titled "Tool Academy". A pretty fitting name for the bunch of drones I was faced with. I clicked the "guide" button on my remote to search for something a bit less ... well... awful, and came up empty handed. It was a battle between a disasterous bunch of daytime television programming. I contemplated turning off the TV altogether and just hitting play on my CD Player, but then some ridiculous comment was made and I was basically hooked. So I thought to myself, what's a couple minutes, at least it will provide me with some seriously humorous entertainment and maybe even an ironically deep look into our twisted culture.
So I watched, feeling a little guilty and embarrassed, but I watched. I dug to find the purpose and the objective of the mindless banter and somehow came up with this. I am pretty sure that the show was about a group of guys, in a house along with their girlfriends, and they were "learning" t0 be respectful, mature adults. basically. So what I saw, was a group of guys bad mouthing their women behind their backs and then in some therapy session having to reveal their fears and confessions to their beloveds. pretty funny to see these big muscle dudes with horrible MTV haircuts and fake vintage t-shirts try to "reveal" their feelings. One of them, I couldn't even tell if he was speaking english, but I do know that he kept referring to his bleach blonde overly tanned girlfriend as "dude" and looked like he was about to punch a wall.
So I know this is not good to do but I started kind of comparing myself to these people. Mostly because, minus the details, their confessions were pertinent to my own personal life and I've been doing a bit of soul searching concerning our human obsession with companionship. I actually started this internal debate while sitting in the Orthopedic Surgery waiting room. I was probably the only one there under 40 and also the only one that did not have a signficant other sitting by, hand on the knee or rubbing my back for comfort. How did all these relationships come to be? How did they find one another and how did they decide that they were both right for each other? Was it a compromise, was it a battle of wits or simply love at first sight? But I digress, per usual. In essence I find it contradictory that we all stive to be blossoming, strong, and independent individuals, but yet still crave the comfort of others and the validation of our thoughts and opinions. How does it all work, I have no idea. So I kept watching.
As I watched and thought about individuality in part with relationships I remembered how feverishly we depend on other people to define ourselves, which truthfully is obvious and redundant. But in furthering this thought, it's not just that we rely on others for our comfort and validation, but the experiences we share with these people and what these experiences mean to us. I think what I mean is that we take the experiences we have with people, whether it be good or bad - going to the movies, getting a beer, fighting and yelling, laying on the beach - doesn't matter. We take these experiences and we determine our opinions and reactions to them and thus use those ideals in other aspects of our lives. It goes past feeling validated, it's just .... you.
I'm not sure that makes sense, even to me who just wrote it.
I'm going to try and think up an example, mostly for my own clarification. So say you go to the movies with your boyfriend or girlfriend, or sisters, could be anyone. I went to the movies with a long time friend of mine recently and he's a bit cynical. Me, I'm a bit indifferent with movies. So we go, we eat dinner, see the movie and get some hot chocolate and talk about what we think as we've done maybe a million times before. Now I liked the movie, he didn't - what a surprise, but what's a good conversation without a conflict. So instead of letting him and his opinions and criticisms determine how I felt about my own, I simply thought about the joy of a good conversation and how being in that moment made me feel, regardless of the difference of opinion. I took that experience and when having a conversation with other people, refer back to it and remember the curiosity, the emotions, and the relevance to my own life. I let the feelings associated with the experience define my reactions moving forward. And it's ever changing.
I think this is becoming much more involved then I ever intended it to be. All this from a bunch of tool-bags.
So to try and loop this into my music theme and it's association with our culture. I don't know if anyone is a fan, but I am a huge fan of Kris Delmhorst. In my opinion she writes the most beautiful love songs and the difference that I find between her ballads and others is that she does not write the song as though without them she could not survive. There are a lot of artists who have love songs that I aboslutely love. Great example: "Hope For Me Yet" by Marc Broussard, one of my all time favorite songs. But in listening to his words, he relies on his recepient for validation. Don't get me wrong, this is an awesome song, I don't care who you are, where you're from, Marc Broussard rocks, but it's a good example of how pretty much all love songs are based. The singer always feels lost, lonely, sad, suicidal or something without the other person in their life. And it feeds our culture a great deal.
Going back to the tool-bags and why they still matter to this one - sided debate. These guys were clearly consumed with themselves, concerned with appearance, money and status. And from a woman's perspective, I'm sure their girlfriends felt the same way about most things, or they probably wouldn't be together. Not only does the culture breed lonely love-sick swooners, but to make the situation worse, we now have to worry about how we look, how much money we make and if our job is cool enough so that we can be moved out of the lonely pool and into the "validated by a fake relationship" pool.
With all this stuff to worry about it's no wonder we're an overmedicated culture of fear, insecurity, anxiety and depression. And this all affects how we respond to our music. We listen to what those musicians are telling us. We are their shoulder, because they are musicians and they are, by nature, typically sad, so we let them lean on us for a little while. We feel like we've connected and we feel like what this famous person has to say has got to be the right way to feel about the same situation in my life. I think a lot of musicians use this relationship to sell music and write songs that reach out into their market and not only touch their audience, but basically show them a "bathroom wall" kind of good time. The next issue is, did the listener pay for that good time? Our musicians have welcomed us into their lives, not just with the sad songs but with the happy ones too. We celebrate their success with them, their love and their good times. So even if we feel lonely we can invite ourselves into their world and find comfort in them.
Now I'm not going to sit here and tell people that this is a horrible way to live life and is totally void of any personal independence. I'm guilty of sitting alone in my apartment and singing along to sad songs and feeling a deeper emotional connection than if I weren't listening to the song at all. Our lack of the our sense of self is very obvious in everyday life. Straight from TV shows to our connection with music and then on to the relationships we rely on with the people in our lives. I'm proud of the relationships I have. As I said, I try and remember that they do not define me, but I would never say that sitting alone and simply being happy with myself is enough. At least for me it's not, I enjoy the outside world and relationships are very important.
When it comes to this subject, I think that people don't even think about it. I honestly believe that people grow up faithfully devout to the thought that they have to find someone that makes them happy enough and only then will they be whole. I watch my best friend do it everyday, and it's kind of wierd and unnerving if you ask me. But you're not asking, at this point you're probably asking me to just shut up. I could just go on and on forever when it comes to our obsessions with relationships, fulfilling or not. Has it all become about validation? About feeling like we're actually apart of this world and that we matter to someone, anyone?
Yes, I think it has. Honestly, I have felt more and more that I am a working gear in this broken down machine, as I am at my job and in my family. I don't need someone to tell me and the beautiful love songs... they are just so beautiful.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
iTunes Ebb and Flow
Well how do I seriously avoid writing about the most talked about Music Industry uproar for quite some time. The negotiation of a DRM free iTunes with variable pricing. Labels are expecting to come out ahead with this deal, but is that truthfully a realistic view? Possibly, but I'd like to dig a little deeper into the psyche of this agreement.
The biggest deal here is that some of the pricing on iTunes is going to change. A lot of popular music will undoubtly go up over the $1 mark, making the battle between your favorite song at this moment or the Big Mac that much more difficult. This will make the push for content bundling a little more necesary, because personally, we're already fighting a generation that is used to getting their music for free and if not for free, really cheap. Then you go and raise the price. Will this push more teens to make the extra effort to find a quick torrent to steal the song as opposed to paying more? The unfortunate thing, and this may be totally all made up in my head, is that I don't think that a lot of kids understand the whole point of paying for music and why downloading is considered stealing. They don't understand the copyright law, or that it's not just the artist that loses money, it's also all the people behind that artist that make them a success and bring them to your ear and thus, into your heart. The download generation is also considered, by me at least, to be a "damn the man" generation. And I know I've used this horribly cliche phrase before but it's quite examplory of the type of market so many obsolete label heads are trying to crack. This type of rebelious nature found in the download generation could cause one to think, maybe they won't like this $.30 price hike for their favorite tunes. But! they may also enjoy the $.30 price drop for something less noticed. Which, something the downloading "damn the man" generation also enjoys is finding brand spanking new music that mostly no one has heard before. I think it creates some sort of a feeling of being a trend-setter. Whatever helps you sleep at night kiddies.
Our culture has fueled such a war between the downloading generation and the labels. The more the labels fight to get whatever dollar is owed to them, the less and less young adults are likely to give it up. There is a feeling of trying to screw over the industry simply because it gave you a glimpse of file sharing and now it's out there and easily accessible, but they don't want you to have that. First things first, the labels (obviously) did not give anyone any type of file sharing capability. To be perfectly honest, and because I work for a label and worry about these people all day, I don't think anyone of the heads of a department would know the first thing about staring a file sharing website. And what would be the sense! You'd literally be taking your own money out of your own pocket. But that is all needless to say, we know that these handy file sharing sites are created by bored, jobless teens that are looking to piss someone off, whether it be helping people steal their product or setting the neighbors cat on fire. Or is that a stereotype, oops, sorry.
But I digress, per usual. Back to the subject at hand. Will the variable pricing help or hurt the industry. For a someone that works with a small label which has a good number of artists that feed themselves purely on their tour sales, the discussion that has already somewhat happened is "are we going to get screwed because we don't turn out crazy pop hits". And it's very very likely. Simply because our artists do not generate serious dollar bills like some, they will probably suffer and be placed with the $.69 crowd. Thus, we suffer and the deal is counter-productive. And whether or not I think that kids are going to be just as willing to pay $1.29 as they were at $.99 is arguable. I personally think that it will irritate a lot of kids and they will find other ways of buying/sharing their music. Then there is the up-side that they will think "what's another $.30" and just pay the extra without a question.
The real truth will be seen once the prices start changing and the fluctations in sales numbers is visible. The labels are hopful that this will create some much needed revenue for them, but I can't say that I feel as warm and fuzzy about it. Granted, I am young, and technically considered a part of that "downloading, damn the man" generation. There are others that have the experience of sea tortoises in this industry. But if you look at the past few years, you can see where that experience has gotten them; cowering and scared of a bunch of 16 year olds wearing short skirts and snow boots (I know I don't get it either).
So to keep this entry short and sweet because I have to go home, this is no longer a battle between digital and physical. It's now become a battle between legal dgital and illegal digital. And I think that if iTunes asks for a good deal of titles to raise their prices, the illegal side may not exactly win, but it may gain yet another advantage.
Just pay for your damn music people. Oh sweet irony.
The biggest deal here is that some of the pricing on iTunes is going to change. A lot of popular music will undoubtly go up over the $1 mark, making the battle between your favorite song at this moment or the Big Mac that much more difficult. This will make the push for content bundling a little more necesary, because personally, we're already fighting a generation that is used to getting their music for free and if not for free, really cheap. Then you go and raise the price. Will this push more teens to make the extra effort to find a quick torrent to steal the song as opposed to paying more? The unfortunate thing, and this may be totally all made up in my head, is that I don't think that a lot of kids understand the whole point of paying for music and why downloading is considered stealing. They don't understand the copyright law, or that it's not just the artist that loses money, it's also all the people behind that artist that make them a success and bring them to your ear and thus, into your heart. The download generation is also considered, by me at least, to be a "damn the man" generation. And I know I've used this horribly cliche phrase before but it's quite examplory of the type of market so many obsolete label heads are trying to crack. This type of rebelious nature found in the download generation could cause one to think, maybe they won't like this $.30 price hike for their favorite tunes. But! they may also enjoy the $.30 price drop for something less noticed. Which, something the downloading "damn the man" generation also enjoys is finding brand spanking new music that mostly no one has heard before. I think it creates some sort of a feeling of being a trend-setter. Whatever helps you sleep at night kiddies.
Our culture has fueled such a war between the downloading generation and the labels. The more the labels fight to get whatever dollar is owed to them, the less and less young adults are likely to give it up. There is a feeling of trying to screw over the industry simply because it gave you a glimpse of file sharing and now it's out there and easily accessible, but they don't want you to have that. First things first, the labels (obviously) did not give anyone any type of file sharing capability. To be perfectly honest, and because I work for a label and worry about these people all day, I don't think anyone of the heads of a department would know the first thing about staring a file sharing website. And what would be the sense! You'd literally be taking your own money out of your own pocket. But that is all needless to say, we know that these handy file sharing sites are created by bored, jobless teens that are looking to piss someone off, whether it be helping people steal their product or setting the neighbors cat on fire. Or is that a stereotype, oops, sorry.
But I digress, per usual. Back to the subject at hand. Will the variable pricing help or hurt the industry. For a someone that works with a small label which has a good number of artists that feed themselves purely on their tour sales, the discussion that has already somewhat happened is "are we going to get screwed because we don't turn out crazy pop hits". And it's very very likely. Simply because our artists do not generate serious dollar bills like some, they will probably suffer and be placed with the $.69 crowd. Thus, we suffer and the deal is counter-productive. And whether or not I think that kids are going to be just as willing to pay $1.29 as they were at $.99 is arguable. I personally think that it will irritate a lot of kids and they will find other ways of buying/sharing their music. Then there is the up-side that they will think "what's another $.30" and just pay the extra without a question.
The real truth will be seen once the prices start changing and the fluctations in sales numbers is visible. The labels are hopful that this will create some much needed revenue for them, but I can't say that I feel as warm and fuzzy about it. Granted, I am young, and technically considered a part of that "downloading, damn the man" generation. There are others that have the experience of sea tortoises in this industry. But if you look at the past few years, you can see where that experience has gotten them; cowering and scared of a bunch of 16 year olds wearing short skirts and snow boots (I know I don't get it either).
So to keep this entry short and sweet because I have to go home, this is no longer a battle between digital and physical. It's now become a battle between legal dgital and illegal digital. And I think that if iTunes asks for a good deal of titles to raise their prices, the illegal side may not exactly win, but it may gain yet another advantage.
Just pay for your damn music people. Oh sweet irony.
Monday, December 29, 2008
Diagnosis: Fear
Today while at work with no functioning e-mail, I got the chance to really thoroughly read through some of the more interesting magazines that cross over my desk through the week. Among my stack was a magazine named "UTNE" with a great, informal and confident picture of Obama on the cover pointing his finger, his eyes shaded by Ray-bans, as if to say "you and I, we'll make it happen".
There were some really great articles in this magazine, all of which I wish I had the time and energy to respond to, but one in particular prompted this blog. The title "FEAR ITSELF", written by a Julie Hanus, and on the opposite page, the picture of a man bombarded by common fears such as terrorism, crime and germs. The objective of the article seems to be to uncover what it is that fuels our fear, how it affects our daily lives, and the consequences we suffer for living with such fears. It seems like commonsense to say that we all fear something. I fear losing my job, as do many others. My best friend has a fear of germs and keeping her children safe. It's interesting to me to think about what fuels these fears and what kind of decisions we then make based on them.
Granted this article has nothing to do with music, but it does have a very significant impact on our society and I think, in turn, this affects how we relate to our music.
Throughout the article the writer compares how we once handled fear in past generations compared to how we now handle our "comtemporary" fear. She explains that in the past, fear would pull together communities, "They were a source of shared identity and engendered camaraderie and trust." Our past generations used fear to being their communities together, forming a great dependence and trust with one another. She furthers the arguement by pointing out that today "The individual way we've come to experience fear contributes only to isolation and feelings of helplessness. Instead of seeing support or solutions, we add to our grim roster of perceived threats." Truthfully a well made point.
Over the past few months I have given a kind and attentive ear to a few friends who have voiced many of these concerns. Instead of looking at each situation as an opportunity to rise above, they simply hold their nose as the water overcomes them and give in. Someone or something is always responsible for the laundry list of issues we face each moment of our busy days.
"One explaination for the incapacitating nature of contemporary fear is that our brains simply are not wired to process modern life." But what is this "modern life" that is referred to here. What makes our modern life something that our brains are not capable of handling? Is it all the blackberrys? the overwhelming pressure of society from every aspect of life to feel a sense of acceptance and validation? Each day we watch the news and are bombarded with images of car wrecks, missing children, and disease only to then lie in our beds and create our own spinning web of fears.
A great example of how these fears affect our daily decisions would be the undeniable feelings we all conjured up after the events of 9/11. It is reported that for 12 months after 9/11, most people heeded a warning from their guts to avoid flying, thus putting millions more on the roads. In that one year, the fatalities due to car accidents rose and an additional 1,595 people lost their lives. Another great example "When out guts tell us not to let children play outside unsupervised, the sedentary lifestyle that ineveitably results exposes kids to a host of health problems far more dangerous than the slim probability of abduction". Children that are left in home are more apt to be consumed by television, video games and other mind numbing types of activity. This type of lifestyle not only creates a higher risk of obesity but also a lazy and unmotivated ethic. Children that are not encouraged to be outside, taking advantage of what the world has to offer, I feel are more likely to take it for granted in the future and less likely to feel motivated in other aspects of their life as well.
Another issue that so many people consume themselves with ignorantly would be germs. Our bodies have been built to be able to fend off general germs such as the common cold. Yes, sometimes we get sick if we let ourselves lose sleep or we don't treat our immune systems with the respect it deserves, but our bodies have evolved to be able to fight these bugs. It is very clear that we, as a society, are overmedicated and too lazy or impatient to take the time to simply care for ourselves. It is reported by Mother Jones that today there is more than 9,000 types of antibacterial products on the market, with 2,753 introduced in 2007. The Food and Drug Adminsitration did conclude in 2004 that between basic hand soap and antibacterial soap, neither was better at preventing infection. "Sales of antibacterial chemicals are projected to reach $930 million in 2009". $930 MILLION! That is insane. And for what?! so that we can train our bodies to never be able to fight off the common cold? And then people ask me why I chose a glass of water without the tylenol when I get a mild headache.
Our television has single handedly been able to reach into our homes and play with our most deperate anxieties. Even completely fictional law or criminal based shows such as Criminal Minds tend to lay blame on those that are not "fearful enough".
The author brings up an episode of the Daily Show With John Stewart, pre-election, where voters were rallying with fears worn on their sleeves. Reporter John Oliver concludes "There's no red America, no blue America. There's just one scared shitless America". I remember watching that episode, probably the one episode of the Daily Show I every really paid attention to and thinking what happened to us? what happened to a people proud of themselves, hard working and confident? Everyone waves their American flags and pumps their fist for our country but then runs home to cower behind their Lazy-boy, just hoping to make it to tomorrow.
Sasha Abramsky writes in an issue of The Chronicle of Higher Education "After centuries of tenchological progress, we think we can glimpse the promised land. We can envision a world in which cancer is merely a coldlike nuisance, in which stem-cell research banishes Alzheimer's, ... But the world today is far from a utopia. My guess is that we have become so fearful at least in part because we fear our intoxicating future's being snatched away from us".
A very clear, self explainatory point. We're spoiled. Recently, a great deal of New Englanders lost their power to an ice storm, some for lengthy periods of time. My parents were out of power for 6 days, and thankfully, we're New Englanders, this has happened before so we turn on the generator, light a few candles and cook dinner on the gas grill. but after 6 days my mother just said "This is getting really old" and I said to myself it's amazing to think we're that dependant on something, on anything. I can even say the same thing for my work today. Our e-mail is down and without it everyone has gone home, without the e-mail, there is basically no way to get work done. How is it that it has come down to a company not being able to function simply because we're not able to get an e-mail. Granted it completely cuts off communication, and with our music industry, communication is pretty much all that we have to go on.
"It's a bittersweet silver lining, but economic pains could provide just the sort of galvanizing force we need to recalibrate ourselves towards solidarity." This is, if we as one community are willing to give up our fears and work together as a team, which to me is doubtful. Call me pessimistic, but we don't have a good record of being able to get along with one another. With fear already taking over our country, Obama has been able to "make good on politics of hope, though, the American public must continue to demonstrate the resistance to fear they showed by electing him."
The article advocates an interest in learning our human nature, accepting our susceptibility to "misjudgments and miscalculations". We, as a people, need to remember what we are made of. We tend to take ourselves to seriously, and cower in the presence of humility. We have to learn to be grateful and compassionate, sharing these wonderful attributes with others, in learning to release our overwhelming sense of fear. But we must not completely let go of our sense of fear. Our instincts serve us well and we do have the ability to judge our situations and their risks with intelligence and sophistication. "When something doesn't quite sync up, gut to head, then it's time to pause and at least question what's causing the discrepancy".
Someday we may be able to let go of allowing our individual fears to define us. With giving up our fear, we "free poiliticians from fear inducing rhetoric or stymie fearmongering marketers..."
If we could take the opportunity to release these anxieties and concerns, we could take a larger look at our lives, putting our role into perspective and seeing how far we have come as a people.
We still have so many big steps to take, but releasing the fear makes way for hope to move ourselves further along.
So this has been quite lengthy and I apologize if I have bored anyone, but I must admit that this article really reached out to me. As I stated early, I have been approached by friends and family members with situations of such fear and anxiety, and I can sympathize, I have these moments of my own. It's very hard to be able to advise someone on how to be able to let go of these feelings in such a high pressure society, especially when I myself am not completely able to do so. I always try to remember that when I'm worried about what other people are thinking about me, 9 times out of 10, the other person is worrying about the same thing. And if they are sitting by making their judgements about me, they are also judging themselves, comparing their insecurities against my own. Our society has truthfully fed a generation of fearful adults. It seems as though we're always made to feel like our accomplishments are still not quite enough, our skills and talents are not enough to make us stand out in a pile of resumes. There is the need for continued education and experience in order to set yourself apart in the workplace. In personal life there is such pressure to be confident, unique and creative that even those who make the best friends and companions feel as though they can't quite live up to par, even though they try and teach us in middle school that we are all "special in our own way". And we are! We are all lovable, once we learn to love ourselves. We are all beautiful and intelligent as long as we can see ourselves in that light. So release the fear and find all that there is inside yourself as well as others. After that, the world is your oyster (as they say).
There were some really great articles in this magazine, all of which I wish I had the time and energy to respond to, but one in particular prompted this blog. The title "FEAR ITSELF", written by a Julie Hanus, and on the opposite page, the picture of a man bombarded by common fears such as terrorism, crime and germs. The objective of the article seems to be to uncover what it is that fuels our fear, how it affects our daily lives, and the consequences we suffer for living with such fears. It seems like commonsense to say that we all fear something. I fear losing my job, as do many others. My best friend has a fear of germs and keeping her children safe. It's interesting to me to think about what fuels these fears and what kind of decisions we then make based on them.
Granted this article has nothing to do with music, but it does have a very significant impact on our society and I think, in turn, this affects how we relate to our music.
Throughout the article the writer compares how we once handled fear in past generations compared to how we now handle our "comtemporary" fear. She explains that in the past, fear would pull together communities, "They were a source of shared identity and engendered camaraderie and trust." Our past generations used fear to being their communities together, forming a great dependence and trust with one another. She furthers the arguement by pointing out that today "The individual way we've come to experience fear contributes only to isolation and feelings of helplessness. Instead of seeing support or solutions, we add to our grim roster of perceived threats." Truthfully a well made point.
Over the past few months I have given a kind and attentive ear to a few friends who have voiced many of these concerns. Instead of looking at each situation as an opportunity to rise above, they simply hold their nose as the water overcomes them and give in. Someone or something is always responsible for the laundry list of issues we face each moment of our busy days.
"One explaination for the incapacitating nature of contemporary fear is that our brains simply are not wired to process modern life." But what is this "modern life" that is referred to here. What makes our modern life something that our brains are not capable of handling? Is it all the blackberrys? the overwhelming pressure of society from every aspect of life to feel a sense of acceptance and validation? Each day we watch the news and are bombarded with images of car wrecks, missing children, and disease only to then lie in our beds and create our own spinning web of fears.
A great example of how these fears affect our daily decisions would be the undeniable feelings we all conjured up after the events of 9/11. It is reported that for 12 months after 9/11, most people heeded a warning from their guts to avoid flying, thus putting millions more on the roads. In that one year, the fatalities due to car accidents rose and an additional 1,595 people lost their lives. Another great example "When out guts tell us not to let children play outside unsupervised, the sedentary lifestyle that ineveitably results exposes kids to a host of health problems far more dangerous than the slim probability of abduction". Children that are left in home are more apt to be consumed by television, video games and other mind numbing types of activity. This type of lifestyle not only creates a higher risk of obesity but also a lazy and unmotivated ethic. Children that are not encouraged to be outside, taking advantage of what the world has to offer, I feel are more likely to take it for granted in the future and less likely to feel motivated in other aspects of their life as well.
Another issue that so many people consume themselves with ignorantly would be germs. Our bodies have been built to be able to fend off general germs such as the common cold. Yes, sometimes we get sick if we let ourselves lose sleep or we don't treat our immune systems with the respect it deserves, but our bodies have evolved to be able to fight these bugs. It is very clear that we, as a society, are overmedicated and too lazy or impatient to take the time to simply care for ourselves. It is reported by Mother Jones that today there is more than 9,000 types of antibacterial products on the market, with 2,753 introduced in 2007. The Food and Drug Adminsitration did conclude in 2004 that between basic hand soap and antibacterial soap, neither was better at preventing infection. "Sales of antibacterial chemicals are projected to reach $930 million in 2009". $930 MILLION! That is insane. And for what?! so that we can train our bodies to never be able to fight off the common cold? And then people ask me why I chose a glass of water without the tylenol when I get a mild headache.
Our television has single handedly been able to reach into our homes and play with our most deperate anxieties. Even completely fictional law or criminal based shows such as Criminal Minds tend to lay blame on those that are not "fearful enough".
The author brings up an episode of the Daily Show With John Stewart, pre-election, where voters were rallying with fears worn on their sleeves. Reporter John Oliver concludes "There's no red America, no blue America. There's just one scared shitless America". I remember watching that episode, probably the one episode of the Daily Show I every really paid attention to and thinking what happened to us? what happened to a people proud of themselves, hard working and confident? Everyone waves their American flags and pumps their fist for our country but then runs home to cower behind their Lazy-boy, just hoping to make it to tomorrow.
Sasha Abramsky writes in an issue of The Chronicle of Higher Education "After centuries of tenchological progress, we think we can glimpse the promised land. We can envision a world in which cancer is merely a coldlike nuisance, in which stem-cell research banishes Alzheimer's, ... But the world today is far from a utopia. My guess is that we have become so fearful at least in part because we fear our intoxicating future's being snatched away from us".
A very clear, self explainatory point. We're spoiled. Recently, a great deal of New Englanders lost their power to an ice storm, some for lengthy periods of time. My parents were out of power for 6 days, and thankfully, we're New Englanders, this has happened before so we turn on the generator, light a few candles and cook dinner on the gas grill. but after 6 days my mother just said "This is getting really old" and I said to myself it's amazing to think we're that dependant on something, on anything. I can even say the same thing for my work today. Our e-mail is down and without it everyone has gone home, without the e-mail, there is basically no way to get work done. How is it that it has come down to a company not being able to function simply because we're not able to get an e-mail. Granted it completely cuts off communication, and with our music industry, communication is pretty much all that we have to go on.
"It's a bittersweet silver lining, but economic pains could provide just the sort of galvanizing force we need to recalibrate ourselves towards solidarity." This is, if we as one community are willing to give up our fears and work together as a team, which to me is doubtful. Call me pessimistic, but we don't have a good record of being able to get along with one another. With fear already taking over our country, Obama has been able to "make good on politics of hope, though, the American public must continue to demonstrate the resistance to fear they showed by electing him."
The article advocates an interest in learning our human nature, accepting our susceptibility to "misjudgments and miscalculations". We, as a people, need to remember what we are made of. We tend to take ourselves to seriously, and cower in the presence of humility. We have to learn to be grateful and compassionate, sharing these wonderful attributes with others, in learning to release our overwhelming sense of fear. But we must not completely let go of our sense of fear. Our instincts serve us well and we do have the ability to judge our situations and their risks with intelligence and sophistication. "When something doesn't quite sync up, gut to head, then it's time to pause and at least question what's causing the discrepancy".
Someday we may be able to let go of allowing our individual fears to define us. With giving up our fear, we "free poiliticians from fear inducing rhetoric or stymie fearmongering marketers..."
If we could take the opportunity to release these anxieties and concerns, we could take a larger look at our lives, putting our role into perspective and seeing how far we have come as a people.
We still have so many big steps to take, but releasing the fear makes way for hope to move ourselves further along.
So this has been quite lengthy and I apologize if I have bored anyone, but I must admit that this article really reached out to me. As I stated early, I have been approached by friends and family members with situations of such fear and anxiety, and I can sympathize, I have these moments of my own. It's very hard to be able to advise someone on how to be able to let go of these feelings in such a high pressure society, especially when I myself am not completely able to do so. I always try to remember that when I'm worried about what other people are thinking about me, 9 times out of 10, the other person is worrying about the same thing. And if they are sitting by making their judgements about me, they are also judging themselves, comparing their insecurities against my own. Our society has truthfully fed a generation of fearful adults. It seems as though we're always made to feel like our accomplishments are still not quite enough, our skills and talents are not enough to make us stand out in a pile of resumes. There is the need for continued education and experience in order to set yourself apart in the workplace. In personal life there is such pressure to be confident, unique and creative that even those who make the best friends and companions feel as though they can't quite live up to par, even though they try and teach us in middle school that we are all "special in our own way". And we are! We are all lovable, once we learn to love ourselves. We are all beautiful and intelligent as long as we can see ourselves in that light. So release the fear and find all that there is inside yourself as well as others. After that, the world is your oyster (as they say).
Saturday, December 27, 2008
Now you see it, now you don't
Well I guess there are a few things to bring up for this weeks business.
1) Warner pulls all content from YouTube
2) RIAA promises to stop suing
3) Myspace blocks project playlist
I think first and foremost the fact that the RIAA has finally decided to stop pulling lawsuits out of their butts is a huge positive note. Everywhere you turn the news articles are saying "now what?". Well, maybe the labels can start to regain some of their dignity back. A large part of me wonders if all the irrational legal action that the RIAA took on young kids, people that didn't even own computers, and others that were not even living only fed the fire for angry bitter "damn the man" teens to keep sticking it to 'em. There is always an air of carelessness when you're a teenager. You don't care if you risk cancer smoking a cigarette, risking your job when you get a tattoo, you most certainly don't care about risking getting sued by the record industry for illegally downloading music, especially when you're one of 20% of the country that does it. But you can't hide. As much as I believe the RIAA should have taken action on serious offenders, they were stupid about it. Almost every case looked like a joke to the onlookers and it was humiliating. They only hurt themselves, throwing fuel on an already unwieldy fire. The culture most certainly aids a generation of kids who are ready and willing to take that risk all to feel like they're setting themselves apart and doing their part to screw over big money making record execs.
The funny thing is, those big money making execs are suffering so bad now since you all decided to damn them, that they have to make sure that they are get every penny that they should out of all the other exploitations that are out there. And there are many, such as the YouTube and the Project Playlist. YouTube has been dealing with these kinds of issues since it started up. At least this time they are not being sued. Universal reported great results from their negotiations with YouTube, but Warner can not seem to settle for agreements that are not completely fair to the label, the artists, songwriters and publishers, which I agree with. They have every right to fight for what they feel is appropriate for everyone involved. If the agreement is rational and fair then everyone benefits, even YouTube. It is discussed that YouTube structured agreements with all four major labels to share advertising revenue, which is a good break for the labels and a concept that has been talked about in the past. With so much pressure to keep their heads above water, labels are in a position to create and fight for these kinds of deals in order to make the best profit for each and every available outlet. Warner will lose out of the great exposure for the time being, and the fans won't be too thrilled, but eventually a contract will be settled on that, we hope, will be appropriate and fair.
Project Playlist was also blocked on Myspace. Myspace has decided to "take sides" with the labels, pulling the widget at the request of rights holders. The labels have argued that Project Playlist's structure of their widget and the streaming encourages infringement. There have been other sites that have crumpled under pressure from the labels, in fear of legal action. There are a lot of programs that they could also make this claim about, but the disadvantage the labels give themselves is not stepping into a modern generations mind set to "seek and destroy" these third parties. Of course, the way things are moving at this point, for every site you close another will blossom and guaranteed it'll be better than the last. You'll never be able to fight the young generation, made up of tech savvy, opinions, and intelligence against a bunch of obsolete industry ideals that labels created 40 years ago. And the more the labels fight, the more society fights back harder and with better resources. We all know this to be true with most things. Project Playlist competes with the functionality of MySpace itself and Facebook has also made the decision to not block Project Playlist. So whether or not booting the widget is a good idea? probably a bad idea. But that's what we get for burning out CDs for everyone and their cousins. Losing the widget doesn't really benefit anyone, the labels lose exposure, and the fans are just going to keep getting pissed off without understanding why.
So good news and bad news for the industry. Glad to hear that there is no longer silly ego - trip lawsuits running around. Sad to hear that Warner and YouTube can't learn to get along. Truthfully, the RIAA will probably find another way to blatantly embarrass themselves. Warner will come to some kind of agreement with YouTube, seeing as it's the best promotional tool for anyone and anything, and Project Playlist? It'll make it's home on other community sites for the time being and I'm sure the labels will find someone else to complain about tomorrow anyway.
1) Warner pulls all content from YouTube
2) RIAA promises to stop suing
3) Myspace blocks project playlist
I think first and foremost the fact that the RIAA has finally decided to stop pulling lawsuits out of their butts is a huge positive note. Everywhere you turn the news articles are saying "now what?". Well, maybe the labels can start to regain some of their dignity back. A large part of me wonders if all the irrational legal action that the RIAA took on young kids, people that didn't even own computers, and others that were not even living only fed the fire for angry bitter "damn the man" teens to keep sticking it to 'em. There is always an air of carelessness when you're a teenager. You don't care if you risk cancer smoking a cigarette, risking your job when you get a tattoo, you most certainly don't care about risking getting sued by the record industry for illegally downloading music, especially when you're one of 20% of the country that does it. But you can't hide. As much as I believe the RIAA should have taken action on serious offenders, they were stupid about it. Almost every case looked like a joke to the onlookers and it was humiliating. They only hurt themselves, throwing fuel on an already unwieldy fire. The culture most certainly aids a generation of kids who are ready and willing to take that risk all to feel like they're setting themselves apart and doing their part to screw over big money making record execs.
The funny thing is, those big money making execs are suffering so bad now since you all decided to damn them, that they have to make sure that they are get every penny that they should out of all the other exploitations that are out there. And there are many, such as the YouTube and the Project Playlist. YouTube has been dealing with these kinds of issues since it started up. At least this time they are not being sued. Universal reported great results from their negotiations with YouTube, but Warner can not seem to settle for agreements that are not completely fair to the label, the artists, songwriters and publishers, which I agree with. They have every right to fight for what they feel is appropriate for everyone involved. If the agreement is rational and fair then everyone benefits, even YouTube. It is discussed that YouTube structured agreements with all four major labels to share advertising revenue, which is a good break for the labels and a concept that has been talked about in the past. With so much pressure to keep their heads above water, labels are in a position to create and fight for these kinds of deals in order to make the best profit for each and every available outlet. Warner will lose out of the great exposure for the time being, and the fans won't be too thrilled, but eventually a contract will be settled on that, we hope, will be appropriate and fair.
Project Playlist was also blocked on Myspace. Myspace has decided to "take sides" with the labels, pulling the widget at the request of rights holders. The labels have argued that Project Playlist's structure of their widget and the streaming encourages infringement. There have been other sites that have crumpled under pressure from the labels, in fear of legal action. There are a lot of programs that they could also make this claim about, but the disadvantage the labels give themselves is not stepping into a modern generations mind set to "seek and destroy" these third parties. Of course, the way things are moving at this point, for every site you close another will blossom and guaranteed it'll be better than the last. You'll never be able to fight the young generation, made up of tech savvy, opinions, and intelligence against a bunch of obsolete industry ideals that labels created 40 years ago. And the more the labels fight, the more society fights back harder and with better resources. We all know this to be true with most things. Project Playlist competes with the functionality of MySpace itself and Facebook has also made the decision to not block Project Playlist. So whether or not booting the widget is a good idea? probably a bad idea. But that's what we get for burning out CDs for everyone and their cousins. Losing the widget doesn't really benefit anyone, the labels lose exposure, and the fans are just going to keep getting pissed off without understanding why.
So good news and bad news for the industry. Glad to hear that there is no longer silly ego - trip lawsuits running around. Sad to hear that Warner and YouTube can't learn to get along. Truthfully, the RIAA will probably find another way to blatantly embarrass themselves. Warner will come to some kind of agreement with YouTube, seeing as it's the best promotional tool for anyone and anything, and Project Playlist? It'll make it's home on other community sites for the time being and I'm sure the labels will find someone else to complain about tomorrow anyway.
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