Smartphones Are The Worst

Probably by now you’ve seen a clip of Louis C.K. explaining why smartphones are the worst.  If not, here ya go:

This has been generating a lot of chatter on the internet this week.  Maybe a lot of face-to-face conversation too, I don’t know.  Hopefully no one is texting about it.

But really, I think he has some interesting points.  I know I am guilty of pulling my smartphone out when I’m in public by myself, waiting for someone, etc.  And I think to some degree it is that I don’t want to look like the person just sitting there alone.  Which is weird because I am the person sitting there alone.  But it’s not as some sort of escapism.  It’s not like I pull my phone out so that I’m not alone with my thoughts.  Because I really do love being alone with my thoughts.

I will agree with him about people texting and driving.  It’s stupid. Don’t do it.  But I’m really not convinced that the people you see texting and driving are feeling alone and texting someone.  I know that everytime I’ve been in the car and pulled over to text it’s because I’m picking someone up, or arranging some sort of plan.  Not cuz I’m lonely.  That’s a really weird theory.

And as for kids being mean.  Kids have always been mean and they always will be.  Smartphones, and the internet, and technology certainly didn’t change that base fact.  I seriously doubt that there are kids who aren’t mean to another kid to their face and then run home and say things over FB.  If a kid’s going to be mean to you online, they’re going to be mean to your face.  That’s what kids do.

Anyway, those are just the few thoughts I could rustle up on the topic.  It’s an interesting topic.  Leave some comments and tell me what you think.

Here’s the Gawker article that ate up everything Louis C.K. said with a spoon:  http://gawker.com/louis-c-k-s-explanation-of-why-he-hates-smartphones-is-1354954625

And here’s a Slate blog refuting everything he says:  http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2013/09/23/louis_c_k_hates_cell_phones_but_he_s_wrong_smartphones_are_both_good_and.html

And now you can’t say I never provide you with links.

CD Baby

If (when!) I am in the market for a digital distributor to release my music I think the distributor at the top of my list is probably CD Baby. There are a lot of choice for digital distribution but I think CD Baby offers some additional benefits that I like, such as:

• They will print CDs and vinyl. I know that people want music digitally but I still want to be able to provide a CD or LP should someone want one. Plus, I just think it is important to have actual physical copies.
• I can have UPC codes added to my music. It would be nice to be able to track sales that way.
• I can have download cards printed. That would be handy.

There are some drawbacks to CD Baby, as opposed to other alternatives. It does seem pretty expensive. $49 for an album (or $99 if I wanted to go for the pro upgrade) and $12.95 for a single ($39 for the pro upgrade) does seem pretty steep. But then again if I’m really serious about my music I should be willing to make the investment. But then again I only pay that fee one time instead of having to pay a yearly fee like with Tunecore. All in all, CD Baby seems really well established and regarded so I think it would be a good choice in a distributor.

Creative Recycling

(Title borrowed from Yoram Eshet-Alkalai’s essay “Digital Literacy: A Conceptual Framework for Survival Skills in the Digital Era)

In terms of Digital Literacy, “Reproduction Literacy” is creating original, authentic work by interpreting or integrating existing pieces of other works. I like the term ‘creative recycling.’ With the advent of a digital realm the idea of using or interpreting the ideas of people before you is inescapable. But it’s not a bad thing. Great ideas, inventions, movements, etc. are born because of the influence of earlier creators. And it is an idea that has infiltrated every corner of society. A musician is influenced by other musicians before him; a writer is influenced by writers they admire; researchers are influenced by prior experiments; businessmen follow successful business models they have studied. 

In terms specific to the music industry, musicians are a prime example of reproduction literacy. Every musician has influences that affect them in different ways. As a guitar player I am influenced by my favorite players. From their tone, to the way I phrase the music I write, to the way I look at the guitar as an instrument. I’m just copying and adapting the way someone before me approached guitar playing and interpreting it to fit my style. But I can also trace other influences from other parts of my life that I incorporate into my music. My years learning and playing piano have had a big impact on the way I write music on the guitar. I think studying piano has made me a more melodic guitar player. Studying literature has changed the way I listen to and think about lyrics and language in music. And studying music – the focus, concentration, and time required – has impacted other areas of my life. I’m just using influences and ideas and interpreting them in ways that are meaningful and useful to me.  In the process I hope I’m creating something unique and original, but also meaningful to someone else. 

 

CWF + RTB

CWF + RTB (Connect with Fans and Reason to Buy) is one of the prevailing business models in the music industry right now, and I think is especially popular with independent and DIY musicians. It seems to have really gained traction with Trent Reznor’s blog post about how new/unknown artists can try and further their career without the aid of a major label. Read that here: http://forum.nin.com/bb/read.php?30,767183,767183.

A lot of people are really excited about this business model and I also think it is pretty cool. One of the main reasons I like it is because I think it humanizes artists/bands/musicians in the eyes of their fans. I think when an artist is almost completely shut-off from their fans they come across sort of like an unattainable goal. Like they might not be real. But if anyone can get on Twitter, Facebook, etc. and write directly to an artist – and get a response! – it makes them seem a little more human. I think another thing CWF + RTB does is reminds us that making music is someone’s job and livelihood. But there is another really important distinction CWF makes: a fan purchasing something from an artist is a voluntary transaction, not an obligatory purchase. It puts the power more in the hands of the fans and shows a certain amount of respect towards fans. Give them the opportunity to support you, don’t demand it.

The main argument against CWF + FTB seems to be that you can’t make it big. It will work for less popular or already well established groups but you won’t ever make it to the big leagues. I think that is a pretty valid argument and something to take into account when considering if this business model is right for you. In the last few weeks it was announced that Nine Inch Nails had returned to a major label for their upcoming album. Trent Reznor’s reasoning was very interesting. He claims that he simply wants to reach a wider audience and the recent downsizing of major labels has left only the best people working there. You can read an article about his thoughts here: http://www.spin.com/articles/trent-reznor-nine-inch-nails-hesitation-marks-columbia-spin-september-2013-cover-story/ Although, if you’re just interested in managing you musical career and aren’t concerned with becoming a superstar I think it is a fantastic option.

Musicians and the Internet

In this class and several of my previous classes at BEAU we have talked about resources available to musicians and the impact of said resources. In my opinion the internet is the best and worst tool available to musician.  But I don’t exactly mean ‘best’ and ‘worst’ in the traditional sense. The Future of Music coalition has done many relevant and important studies on the effect of emerging technology on musician’s careers. They can be found on the web here: http://futureofmusic.org/ and the specific article I’m using here: http://money.futureofmusic.org/are-musicians-benefiting-from-music-tech-sf-musictech-presentation/.

Now, onto the reason I think the internet is the best thing to happen to all musicians, established or aspiring. They are able to have direct contact with fans. This is important from a musician aspect and from a fan aspect. As of February 2012, 66% of musicians say this is the biggest impact the internet has had on their career. Fans are the people you are playing for and to, so having direct access to them at any time is a huge opportunity.

Now, onto the reason I think the internet might be hurting artists. As of February 2012, 36% said their day-to-day work was more about promotion. An artist’s job is to create art and it is hard to create art when you are online promoting yourself. Artists are now handling more aspects of their careers, which is in my opinion, both a negative and a positive. You want to have as much control over your career as possible but you need time to actually create. By now I think we are all too aware how easy it is to waste a huge amount of time on the internet.

Mash-ups

I think the closest I have come to working on a mash-up is two projects in Desktop Production. For one project I arranged pre-recorded song clips and then mixed the song to my liking. The second project dealt with audio and video clips and arranging them in the right order and mixing the audio levels. I really like working on the first project. It was fun to be able to hear all the pieces of the song and then mix them the way I thought sounded best. It was really interesting to then hear the other students’ arrangements and how they were all a little different. I think I liked hearing how the different instruments reacted with each other and how “boosting” one over another made a huge difference. There is definitely a lot of thought that goes into song production and I am grateful that there are people who put so much time and effort into making songs sound so good. The video project was fun too, but I think I enjoyed the audio more. 

The Rise of Social Media

Social Media has undeniably become a huge part of the internet as we know it. Here is a brief overview of the rise of social media.

• 1971: The first email is sent
• 1985: America Online(AOL) starts
• 1994: Geocities. It allowed people to make personal websites modeled after geographic locations
• 1997: AOL Instant Messenger
• 1998: Google
• 1999: In Great Britain Friends Reunited starts. It allowed people to connect with old school acquaintances and was the first social media to achieve fame
• 2002: Friendster launches in the U.S. It grew to 3 million in 3 months
• 2003: MySpace is launched
• 2004: Facebook is launched for college students, primarily Harvard
• 2005: Facebook launches a version for high school students
• 2006: Twitter launches. Facebook will later try, unsuccessfully, to buy Twitter
• 2006: Anyone over the age of 13 can now join Facebook
• 2008: Facebook passes MySpace in total monthly unique visitors
• 2010: Facebook has over 400 million users. Myspace drops to 57 million, down from a high of 75 million.
• 2012: Facebook reaches a billion users

It is interesting to me how quickly social media has risen to prominence. In only 11 years it has grown to include over a billion users and completely transformed the ways in which we can communicate.

I thought the chart below was a really interesting representation of how rapidly social media has risen. It didn’t even take Twitter a full year to have 50 million users while it took TV full 13 years. Whatever your feelings on social media you cannot deny its power and presence in our society.

Timeline info from: http://www.uncp.edu/home/acurtis/NewMedia/SocialMedia/SocialMediaHistory.html

Chart from: http://www.ehulool.com/the-rapid-rise-of-social-media-infographic/

This Is the Future?

So, after posting yesterday about Fender’s very cool foray into the world of 3D-printed guitars I ran across an article on Premier Guitar about a New Zealand company manufacturing 3D printed guitars. Read the article here: http://www.premierguitar.com/articles/19361-odd-guitars. The company is called ODD Guitars and was started by Olaf Diegel, who is a professor of Mechatronics at Massey University in Auckland, New Zealand. The Guitar bodies are 3D printed, rather than carved, and are made from Duraform PA. They don’t come cheap, it looks like they start around $3000. Visit ODD Guitars on the web: http://odd.org.nz/index.html.  And now onto the pics and videos!

The Atom – a Les Paul style guitar.

Americana – another LP style. The attention to detail on this one is amazing!

The Americana has the outline of the NY skyline in the body.

Steampunk – a tele style guitar. The gears aren’t just for decoration, they actually move.

I love guitars, so here’s some cool guitar-stuff

I try and keep up with guitar-related news so here’s a few things that have caught my attention lately. Enjoy!

First up, Earthquaker Devices announced several new pedals recently at Summer Namm 2013. The Depths optical vibe and Arpanoid polyphonic pitch arpeggiator. Both pedals look really, really cool.  The Depths might just be my next pedal purchase. Earthquaker Devices is my favorite pedal manufacturer out there right now(I have the Crimson Drive and LOVE it) so if you’re a guitar player be sure to check them out. Visit them on the web http://earthquakerdevices.com/   Here are video demos of both pedals:

Next up, Fender ventures into the world of 3D printing and prints two guitars. A hollowbody Strat and a honeycomb Telecaster. Honestly, I think the honeycomb Telecaster is pretty cool. These guitars, especially the Tele, don’t have quite the same vibe as a classic Fender but they are pretty cool in a futuristic sort of way.

Last but not least, who doesn’t enjoy some Tommy Emmanuel every now and then? He is an absolutely amazing player and whatever you think of this style of music at least appreciate how much skill and talent he has.

About Me.

I’m Emily. I hail from Salt Lake City. And I love music. I have a B.A, from the University of Utah in English Literature but recently decided what I really am interested in is music. I’m currently studying Music and Entertainment Business at BEAU. I’m hoping I will be able to try out many different areas of the music industry so right now I’m not focusing on any one area in particular. I think publishing, PR, marketing, labels, and gear are the most interesting areas to me right now. I play both piano and guitar, although guitar is my main love. I love jamming with friends and talking about anything guitar-related, so if you’re a guitarist come talk gear with me!