Mind = Blown

I've been sharing this non-stop everywhere, but I think it deserves it.

The description of the video reads: "We needed to figure out the best possible way to move NPR Music's Tiny Desk from our old headquarters to our new facility just north of the U.S. Capitol. So we had OK Go perform 'All Is Not Lost' hundreds of times, as we transported the Tiny Desk from one home to the other."


I cannot even begin to fathom the amount of work and patience this took, but only two creative forces like ok go and NPR could pull this off. Absolutely amazing.

Click here to see the video on NPR's Tiny Desk Concert Series.

Global Citizen Tickets

This is one of the coolest ideas I can support.

Global Citizen (an extension of the Global Poverty Project) is a project / movement that promotes the awareness of and involvement in civil rights movements around the world, focusing primarily on extreme poverty. In a push to gain supporters and raise its collective voice, Global Citizen has come up with a brilliant idea.

With the help of a committee of music execs, the project is teaming up with big-name artists and managers to offer chances to win tickets to shows by supporting the movement. Each action a person takes (e.g. joining, promoting the site, signing petitions, fundraise, etc.) earns points that can be entered into drawings for tickets to a person's favorite artists.

I think this is a great idea. While "free" tickets aren't a guarantee, users are rewarded for doing simple actions that can make a big difference against real-world issues. Plus, the site itself is a great way for people to connect over causes they believe in. (Now all they need is a mobile app.)

Learn more about Global Citizen here, and more about Global Citizen Tickets here. And then go sign up :)

Answers to My Struggles

I've been struggling a lot lately (with all of my blogs) to come up with relevant and interesting content to blog about. Fortunately, while cruising through my Twitter feed this morning, I bumped into a wonderful answer to my problems.

How to Use Keyword Tools to Brainstorm Blog Topics

I know what I'll be doing this afternoon!

The Future of Obamacare

Normally I wouldn't bother to stop and read something like this. But I found this post interesting, mostly because I grew up half an hour north of Fort Dodge, and lived there for a couple years. It's strange to see a town in north central Iowa involved in something that could affect the nation.

Want to know the future of Obamacare? Take a look at Fort Dodge, Iowa.

#Music Coming to Twitter

"There's no question that Twitter and music go well together. Artists turn to Twitter first to connect with fans, and people share and discover new songs and albums every day. We can't wait to share what we've been working on at Twitter."

Truth, mostly.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/twitter/9994422/Twitter-Music-coming-soon-officially.html

It's nice to see an official music app coming to Twitter, which will hopefully streamline the many different ways artists are already sharing their music on the site. If it's user-friendly and eye-catching, followers of artists who aren't yet die-hard fans may be more likely to listen to their music and enjoy it.

Next up, Pinterest?

UPDATE: Twitter Music invite-only, for now. Go figure.
http://www.billboard.com/biz/articles/news/digital-and-mobile/1557356/updated-twitter-music-app-invite-only-for-now

Maximizing Social Media Presence at Events

This article is all about ways to maximize your social media presence before, during, and after an event. It's mainly targeted toward social media during conferences, but some of the ideas can be used to events like concerts, too.

http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/maximize-the-social-media-presence-at-your-next-event/

Some of these things I tried when promoting my last show, like blowing up a particular hashtag. It's hard in a town like this, when few people in your target market are active on Twitter.

I also like the idea of having a social media "command center," even at a small event. I could have stood to have one of my workers at my last show checking in on foursquare and blasting on Twitter and Facebook while I was busy getting everything together.

And wouldn't it be cool to take the idea of tweeting questions at a conference, and turn it into tweeting improv suggestions to performers? Eh??

Words from Randy

I'd never realized Randy Blythe was so well-worded, but maybe I shouldn't have been surprised:

http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/news/general_music_news/randy_blythe_i_am_in_no_way_shape_or_form_a_happy_man_right_now.html

No More Brain Pain

I used to blog (rant, really) in high school a lot. Talking about boys, school, and catty friends. When I "grew up" and ran out of those kinds of problems to publicly complain about, I stopped blogging. I didn't really get into it again until this past semester in a career development class. The intention was for this blog to be an outlet where I expressed my thoughts and opinions about happenings in the Music Industry, but I couldn't seem to find things to passionately blog and make a worthwhile article about on a regular basis (maybe I'm not trying hard enough?). Now, I'm not saying the Music Biz isn't my passion - it's just not something I'm crazy to write about.

So, I thought, "I still enjoy blogging. What else can I write about?" I thought about my past and current issues with headaches and migraines, and how I enjoy reading forums and blogs to find what issues others have and how they combat said issues. I realized that I'd to start a community like that of my own, where people could share their battles with and victories over "brain pain."

So, in addition to this blog, I've started No More Brain Pain. Like I said, I hope this can become a place where people can feel comfortable and share their struggles with headaches and other pains.

I have every intention of keeping this blog current, but I like having separate blogs for different purposes.

Speaking of up and coming blogs, you should also check out this guy's new blog: Tone Freqs :)

Pets on Social Media

There are some people who have a problem with pets on Facebook and Twitter. Some say it's illegal (maybe so, but I don't see FB cracking down), others say the pet owners have lost their minds (also possible). Maybe it's annoying, unnecessary, or just plain stupid. So explain to me...

Why in the world are people so willing to "friend" and "follow" animals on social media?

Knowing an animal must be voiced by a real person (a stranger, no less), people are still more likely to friend said animal than they would said stranger in their natural human form. But it's hard to say why. "Talking" animals aren't a novelty in this decade, and most of these animals aren't saying anything a human wouldn't. So where's the draw?

I shouldn't make this sound like I'm anti-pets on social media. That would make me a hypocrite. I'm just curious about what makes us, as humans, so attracted to these kinds of fronts that are simply hiding other humans.

What do you think? Are you opposed to pets on Facebook and Twitter, or do you think it's fun? Where do you stand?

P.S. You can find my own front on Facebook and Twitter :)

White Critics and Violent (Black) Rap

I've never really stopped to think about or listen to the racial / political debate that is centered around music, even though it's pretty clearly there. The following article clip by Dave Bry discusses Chief Keef's album "Finally Rich" and the criticism orbiting around it. I don't think much about race when it comes to critical listeners, since it is their job to listen to the good aspects of a song, rather than worry about who performs it. But that's maybe not so true.

Read on to learn about the discussion...

If you’ve heard of Chief Keef, a 17-year-old rapper from Chicago, it may be because he signed a $3 million dollar recording contract with Interscope Records last year, soon after spending two months under house arrest at his grandmother’s for pointing a gun at a police officer. Or you may have heard his biggest hit, “I Don’t Like,” a list of things he finds disagreeable punctuated with boasts of his virility, copious drug references,and murderous threats. “We ain’t gon’ fight,” he raps. “Our guns gon’ fight…” It’s a great song, mostly due to the powerful beat constructed by producer Young Chop, but one of the catchiest parts is Keef chanting “bang bang” in the background—a sound that has become all too common in Chicago, which had more than 500 murders last year.


Chief Keef is black, as are a disproportionate number of gun-violence victims in this country, and his music has been criticized for glorifying guns, which it does. He has also been criticized for being a poor rapper. His lyrics are terse and simple and delivered in a blunt, heavily slurred monotone. The Associated Press’ Jonathan Landrum called Keef’s major-label debut “woeful” and “borderline unbearable.” Nevertheless, when that album, Finally Rich (a sublimely ridiculous title, considering Keef’s age), came out in December, it had its supporters, too. Pitchfork’s Jayson Greene awarded it a 7.5 rating, calling it “ruthlessly effective.” Spin’s Jordan Sargent gave it an 8, praising Keef’s “unalienable artistic skill that so many people are invested in making you believe he doesn’t possess.” Cocaine Blunts blogger Andrew “Noz” Nosnitsky chose “Don’t Like” as his third favorite rap single of the year and tweeted, “chief keef made a fun album. i don’t know what the rest of you critics are listening to.” 

Greene, Sargent, and Noz are white, a fact that did not go unnoticed by Keef’s detractors. Ted Bawno, who's either a wealthy older white media mogul who founded ego trip magazine in the early ’90s or a fictional construction of ego trip’s non-white staff members, took to Twitter to say, “white people love chief keef because he is the Chief of Nothing and only poses a threat to other blacks in down-trodden neighborhoods.” Brian “B.Dot” Miller, who is black, and an editor at Rap Radar, took Sargent to task directly, tweeting at him to “please stop writing about MY culture,” bemoaning “cultural tourists writing about the music of MY culture” and “outsiders like yourself in hipster media that get a hard-on by overanalyzing black music.” An anonymous reader of Noz’s blog, meanwhile, wrote him to ask: “Has anyone ever told you that because you are a white supremacist you’re promoting minstrel show music like Chief Keef, Wacka Flocka and whatnot on your blog, because you want to make sure your white race stays ahead … ?”

Damn. Read the rest here.

Jingleball

I attended the KDWB Jingleball back in December, which was basically a mish-mash of a bunch of pop artists regularly on the radio right now. Many artists, like Cher Lloyd and Owl City, had short 20 minute sets earlier in the night. Other better-known or respected artists, like Train and Ed Sheeran, had 30 minute-or-so long sets. The headliner (of course) was PSY.

PSY walked out on stage, and admired his audience in awe. PSY demanded that the house lights be turned on so that he could see and take a picture of his audience, followed by a comment that went something like, "Wow. I've never seen such a large gathering of people in one space before." (Something he says at each venue nightly, I'm sure.)

I assumed PSY would perform a few of his lesser-known hits and then finish the night with Gangnam Style. Much to my surprise, he performed Gangnam first. Andy and I looked at each other and said, "Really? Is he done?"

After a moment of hesitation, PSY said, "I've been an artist and performer for a long time, and I have lots of songs that are popular in other countries. But America only knows Gangnam Style, so..." Cue the second performance of Gangnam Style, this time with the house lights on. Then he was done.

Ponder this: PSY was paid who knows how many thousands of dollars to fly stateside and perform the same song in the same venue to the same audience twice. Insanity. Total insanity. How much must he hate that song??

Successful Blogging

This is an incredibly long, but useful, article. Something I could definitely take a few things from.

I think numbers 2, 3, 12, 13, 15, and 22 are the most useful tips (for me) in this article.

http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/26-essentials-for-blogging-success-what-you-need-to-know/

The home of this article - www.socialmediaexaminer.com - is a great site in general. It has a lot of great tips and know-how on the growing social media world.

The Future of the Office

When I think of the future, I like to think of myself in a large, comfortable office with plenty of desktop space and natural sunlight. I ran across this article that makes interesting predictions regarding office appliances and what will come of them:

http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/Articles/2012/09/26/10-Ways-Your-Office-Will-Be-Different-in-Five-Years.aspx#page1

After the intro, the article is essentially just a slide show, and I couldn't tell what some of the pictures were trying to convey. But there are some things (like Rolodexes and suits and ties) that I agree may drop off (some have already). That's okay with me; my vision of the future also involves a more laid-back workplace atmosphere and casual employees anyway.

Atmospherics

As I leisurely browsed books at Barnes & Noble the other day, I realized I'd been (subconsciously) listening to slow, smooth jazz. I began to ponder the psychology of different music at different stores, and what makes people tick when shopping.

The study of atmospherics is really intriguing to me (I'm so glad this actually has its own name). Why does the slow and quiet music work for B & N, and why do Hollister and American Eagle require blasting, overpowering beats? How are acoustics of a store chosen and built?

Fun facts (some more obvious than others):

• Since Hollister markets toward teens and young adults, marketing teams use overpoweringly loud beats (and smells) to create a "party all the time" atmosphere. Fast, bumping music is also more apt to cause a person to make impulse purchases, whether they realize it or not.
• Certain restaurants don't add acoustics because they want to let chatter and the clanging of silverware bounce all over to maintain a lively (and presumably successful) atmosphere.
• Loud music = short stays, more impulse buys. Soft music = longer stays, more thoughtful and prolonged buys.
• In advertising, music composed specifically to match a product is often more successful.

Pretty cool/creepy, eh?

To read more about this kind of stuff:

• Psychology Today
• Suite 101

The first half of this article talks about store lay-out, which is just as interesting:

• FreeholdPatch

Inorganic

I'm not sure how I feel about this:

http://www.hypebot.com/hypebot/2012/10/can-you-survive-in-a-world-of-music-without-musicians.html?utm_source=feedblitz&utm_medium=FeedBlitzEmail&utm_campaign=0&utm_content=395530

I don't think the world could survive without musicians, whether they're creating melodies or soundbytes. 

Either way, I like my music organic.

The Gigstation

This is really clever, and great for a band that can't afford extra merch people or roadies:

The Lights Out merch stand

The first 3 minutes is mostly a band member setting up the stand, but if you're just interested in the final outcome, skip ahead.

It's certainly not flawless; non-devoted fans may be tempted to just steal a CD or t-shirt, and allowing fans (or non-fans) to pay what they want for a CD could mean the band is getting short-changed. On the other hand, this is becoming a more popular trend, so it must be doing okay.

And not only does this stand look cool, but it creatively provides all the information fans may need about gig dates and the band's music.

Now instead of a merch girl, every band needs a techie.