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22 Nov 2010 10:17

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Music: Pitchfork’s Kanye West review today is a rare beast

  • 04/02 the last time the site gave the marker to a new album (Wilco’s “Yankee Hotel Foxtrot“); And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead got one two months earlier
  • 11/10 the last time the site gave a 10.0 to a reissue (Weezer’s “Pinkerton“), which is much more common – Pitchfork often gives the hallowed 10.0 in retrospect
  • 04/05 the last time an album got a 10.0 AND a 0.0, which Robert Pollard’s WTF stage-banter oddity “Relaxation of the Asshole” got; technically it’s a 5.0 source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

20 Nov 2010 21:50

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Music, Tech: Protip from MC Paul Barman: Cell phones emit radiation, guys

  • Our friend (and reader) Shawn Vulliez sent this clip along to us, which features MC Paul Barman (a guy you might know if you follow underground hip-hop) noting the dangers of cell phones over animations that Vulliez (a well-known artist himself) created. Sleep with your cell phone? Keep it in your jeans? You may want to consider not doing that. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

16 Nov 2010 10:04

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Music, Tech: Yeah, Apple announced The Beatles on iTunes. Snore…. zzz

  • We’d like to thank The Wall Street Journal for making this so anticlimactic. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

15 Nov 2010 20:21

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Music, Tech: The long, winding road between Apple Inc. and Apple Corps

  • It’s been a very long time coming. The Beatles and Apple have been on each other’s bad side for so long that the rock legends’ appearance on the Apple Store is almost anticlimactic, and likely to be incredibly boring. But the WSJ’s reporting that it’s finally going to happen. We’d like to remind you all how this happened and the stakes that were involved.
  • 1967 The Beatles form their own company, Apple Corps, which they used mostly for their own music.
  • 1976 Two computer nerds and a third guy still kicking himself found Apple Computer. It’s a big hit.
  • 1978 One Apple sues the other, and they make a deal not to encroach on each other’s businesses.
  • 2003 Apple starts up its iTunes Music Store, causing another lawsuit, which they won back in 2006.
  • 2010 Reports come out suggesting that The Beatles will finally be on the iTunes store. Finally. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

14 Nov 2010 21:01

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Music: Sigh: Our least-favorite pop star ever prevented fresh World War

  • 1999 A British calvary officer in Kosovo defied orders to have troops seize an airfield overtaken by Russian troops, which could have reignited the Cold War – or worse.
  • 2004 The American general who ordered the strike, Gen. Wesley Clark, ran for president as a Democrat, and lost. Nobody ever heard from that guy ever again.
  • 2005 The British soldier in question released a song with these lyrics: “You’re beautiful, you’re beautiful, you’re beautiful, it’s true.” Yes, that guy. James freaking Blunt. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

12 Nov 2010 20:18

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Music: Protip to Microsoft: Don’t use bands to market your stuff, ever

  • marketing Gorillaz, Damon Albarn’s ultra-popular cartoon-meets-music collective, has a marketing campaign with Microsoft for Internet Explorer 9.
  • muse Despite this, Albarn himself has been singing the praises of the iPad, to the point where he says he recorded an album on the iPad. Not good for Microsoft. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

11 Nov 2010 16:03

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Music: Don’t do it, man! Phil Collins thinks suicidal thoughts

  • I sometimes think I’m going to write this Phil Collins character out of the story. Phil Collins will just disappear or be murdered in some hotel bedroom, and people will say, ‘What happened to Phil?’ And the answer will be, ‘He got murdered, but, yeah, anyway, let’s carry on.’ That kind of thing.
  • Phil “our personal hero” Collins • Expressing suicidal thoughts in this month’s issue of Rolling Stone, out Friday. Dude, we love you. Your songs are our songs. You can’t do that to us! Sometimes we claim to love your songs ironically, but we know the truth. You’re our hero. Back in 1992, we unironically thought you were a God with an in-vis-a-ble touch-yah. And, against all odds, nothing will change that. Not even an entire album of overly-sappy songs for Disney like “You’ll Be In My Heart.” source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

03 Nov 2010 10:52

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Music: Taylor Swift: A million-seller in her first week. And so sweet, too!

  • 1,047,000 in sales for Swift
  • 1,006,000 the number of copies Lil Wayne’s “Tha Carter III” sold way back in 2008 – the last time any artist had a million-plus week
  • 1,141,000 the number of copies 50 Cent sold of “The Massacre” back in 2005 – the last time anyone sold as many copies as Taylor Swift source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

24 Oct 2010 19:46

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Biz, Music: The super-rich Jay-Z knows how to build a brand for himself

  • Jay-z may not have that vitamin water money to his name like 50 Cent, but he does OK for himself. The rapper recently showed up on the cover of Forbes with Warren Buffett, and he’s managed to continue to bring in millions of dollars on his own brand by signing the right business deals and finding ways to creatively work with partners. One could argue that you could have a whole business strategy class on how Jay-Z works in business, because he knows how to time his moves very well, and has really only had a small handful of flops (that first collaboration he did with R. Kelly comes to mind). Some more details:
  • $450 million in total net worth, which is pretty rad
  • $150
    million     the size of Roc Nation, Jay-Z’s profit-sharing deal with Live Nation, which is profitable despite the lack of signed artists
  • $204
    million     the amount Jay-Z received for Rocawear in 2007 – but get this; he kept creative control of the line and heads day-to-day operations
  • 45M the number of albums he’s sold so far; all of his albums have gone platinum in the U.S.
  • 10 the number of Grammy awards he’s won in his two-decade career (show off)
  • 11 the number of chart-topping albums in his career – nine solo and two collaborations source
  • » Other business ventures: Don’t think that he stops with clothes and songs. He also has a restaurant chain to his name, The 40-40 Club; a Greenwich Village bistro, the Spotted Pig; a co-ownership stake in the Carol’s Daughter beauty line; and best of all, an ownership stake in the New Jersey Nets, which will end up in Brooklyn in 2012 thanks partly to him.
  • » And he’s just getting started: The next thing on Hova’s agenda? He has a book coming out with a fairly interesting concept – basically, he took the lyrics to dozens of his hit songs and explained them in depth. “Decoded” also has Microsoft on board for the advertising campaign. Because that’s how Jay-Z rolls. He gets corporate sponsors to back his projects, and the corporations win because they can bank on Jay-Z’s name to give them cool points. And let’s face it, Microsoft can use as many of those as they can get.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

21 Oct 2010 16:17

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Music: In remembrance: Elliott Smith. He died seven years ago today.

  • We can’t believe it’s already been seven years. On October 21, 2003, Elliott Smith’s life ended. It may have been suicide. It may have been murder. It’s never been clarified, but either way, he’ll be greatly missed. It was a very emotional moment in our own growing-up process, hearing the endless creativity that came from this guy, and we’re still learning stuff from songs like “Between the Bars” and “Twilight.” Want a good way to honor his music and memory? Donate a couple of bucks to the Elliott Smith Memorial Fund, which helps two charities, Outside In (which helps homeless youths in Portland, Oregon, Smith’s hometown) and Free Arts for Abused Children (which is self-explanatory, and has received tons of donations in Smith’s memory over the years). Smith’s death was sad; you can help something good come from his memory. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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