Careless Reminiscing, Random Phrases, and Non-Future-Proof Songwriting

September 29, 2015 1 Comment

You’ve probably seen the “On This Day” feature of Facebook – if not with your own posts, then with those of your Ffriends*. In theory, you’ve shared only your most joyous and most impressive moments online, so you’re only too happy to be reminded of them, and have the opportunity to share them all over again.

Or maybe you were having a sucky time on this date a few years ago. Remember that?

No no, this was fine. Not fantastic or anything, but fine.

No no, this was fine. Not fantastic or anything, but … fine.

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Opening Tracks of Every Muse Album, Ranked

July 7, 2015 Leave a Comment

It’s totally unfair to judge an entire album by its first song. So today we’re doing exactly that.

Muse album covers

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Apple Pioneers Radical New Concept: Paying Musicians for Their Material

June 23, 2015 Leave a Comment

DISCLAIMER: The title of this post is sarcastic.

Until this weekend, Apple was so confident in its new streaming service that it didn’t even feel the need to pay royalties for the music it would be streaming during the 90-day consumer trial period. It took a scathing Tumblr post from Taylor Swift to make them change their minds.

tumblr-404

Give yourself more credit, Tumblr. You can be useful in extremely rare cases.

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I Knew Grooveshark. Grooveshark Was a Friend of Mine.

June 10, 2015 Leave a Comment

Grooveshark collage

In the spirit of digital copyright infringement, the image for this blog entry is composed of illustrations from (clockwise from top left) The Atlantic, Slate, Billboard, and Gizmodo.
Also the Grooveshark logo cleverly turned upside down like a dead fish. It’s clever.

I’m not yet sure how I feel about Apple Music. Or rather, I know it bothers me, but I’m not exactly sure why yet. A rant is probably forthcoming in the next few days. But it has made me think more on the fate of Grooveshark, a streaming service that shut down on April 30.

Despite claiming 35 million users, Grooveshark never amassed much mainstream mindshare. That’s surprising, because it was a vast repository of easily linkable and shareable songs, all completely free. It looked slick, it was easy to use, and listeners could even upload songs for the whole world to enjoy.

Which was pretty much the problem.

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DIY Pasta Measure & Tripod Microphone Stand

March 16, 2015 3 Comments

Pasta measure mic stand

What do you do when you find a great deal on a USB microphone at a secondhand store but it doesn’t come with its desktop stand? Simple: you dig through your junk drawers and messy office until you find a wooden pasta measure, a broken tripod, an old guitar pick, and the perfect rubber band.

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