Blake Schwarzenbach of Jawbreaker is on the first episode of the Missing Words podcast.
In our premiere episode, we discuss the relationship between nostalgia, reunions, and coming back to artistic creations after quite some time during these not-so-optimistic times.
Why exactly do certain records get dismissed by one generation only to find a whole new one appreciating it for different reasons? Why do we want bands to come back so we can experience something we may have missed being a part of?
Just a quick reminder that today Bandcamp is donating 100% of their share of sales to the Transgender Law Center. If you’re looking to pick up some new music today, that’s a great place and cause:
In response, we will be donating 100% of our share of every sale today, August 4th (from midnight to midnight Pacific Time) to the Transgender Law Center, a nonprofit organization that works tirelessly to change law, policy, and culture for the more equitable. TLC does critical policy advocacy and litigation on multiple fronts, fights for healthcare for trans veterans, defends incarcerated trans people from abuse in prisons and detention centers, supports trans immigrants, and helps trans youth tell their stories and build communities.
Martin Shkreli, the eccentric former pharmaceutical CEO notorious for a price-gouging scandal and for his snide “Pharma Bro” persona on social media, was convicted Friday on federal charges he deceived investors in a pair of failed hedge funds.
A Brooklyn jury deliberated five days before finding Shkreli guilty on three of eight counts. He had been charged with securities fraud, conspiracy to commit securities fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
Adi Robertson, writing at The Verge:
Patreon is still tiny compared to Kickstarter, where 13 million backers have funded 128,000 successful campaigns, but it’s rapidly growing. Half its patrons and creators joined in the past year, and it’s set to process $150 million in 2017, compared to $100 million total over the past three years. The company itself has raised $47 million in funding, most recently with a $30 million round in January 2016. Conte is still funding his solo music on Patreon, and so is Pomplamoose, which nets $5,000 a song from around 1,700 supporters.
Speaking of awesome reader supported models, please check out our supporter options if you like this website. If you can afford even $3 a month to help support this website it really helps. Thank you.
Steven Levy, writing for Wired:
Cochlear implants bypass the usual hearing process by embedding a device in the inner ear and connecting it via electrodes to the nerve that sends audio signals to the brain. The implant gets sound from an external microphone and sound processor that usually sits behind the ear. Until now, users have had to deal with balky remote controls to adjust the settings. And dealing with smartphones has required a separate piece of equipment that vexes communication thanks to its low quality and annoying lags. But Bahnmueller, a 49-year-old executive in automotive safety, has recently been testing a new solution. The reason I was coming through so clearly is that his over-the-ear device linked to the implant was streaming directly from his iPhone—essentially putting the conversation in his head.
Dischord Records have put their entire catalog up on Bandcamp.
Discogs have released their mid-year report:
[I]t’s time for us to crack open our books and reveal the data we’ve collected from the Discogs Database and Marketplace for a better look at music sales in 2017 and Discogs’ growth. And, once again, we’re comparing some of our numbers to the Nielsen Music Mid-Year Report.
AFI have shared a statement on Facebook in regard to their former bass player selling re-releases of their early work. You can find the full statement below.
Read More “AFI Share Statement on Former Bass Player Selling Early Recordings”
Alex Kantrowitz, writing for BuzzFeed:
For well over a year now, the digital advertising and publishing industries have grappled with the growing power of Google and Facebook, which suck up 98% of every new ad dollar spent online, according to some estimates. With so much growth and power concentrated in just two companies, publishers worry about the viability of their ad businesses, while advertisers bemoan their loss of leverage around ad buys.
Deeply unsettled by the idea of a Google-Facebook duopoly, both groups have done what they can to defend against it. But so far, nothing they’ve done seems to have worked.
It seems so obvious to say that two companies controlling this much of the online advertising market is bad.
John Mayer is on the latest Billboard “Pop-Shop” podcast. On the show he mentions that he thinks Paramore released the best rock record so far this year.
Bjork has announced a pre-order for her new, as of yet untitled, album.
According to ET Canada, Paul McCartney plays drums on one of the Foo Fighters’ new songs:
Paul McCartney plays drums on one of our songs. He’s a pal. We’ve known him for a long. He’s great. He’s the most wonderful person in the world. He’s a great guy,” Grohl said.
“He hadn’t even heard of the song. He comes in and Dave picked up an acoustic and showed him real quick. He sat on his special drum set that his tech set up for him. I sat there with a drumstick conducting. He did two takes.”
Downtown Boys’ new album, Cost of Living, is streaming over at NPR.
Paramore’s After Laughter is now up for order on vinyl. It’s also up for order on Amazon.
Mike Masnick, writing for Techdirt:
Last week, I (like probably many of you) saw the news that the famous (or infamous, depending on your viewpoint) fact checking website “Snopes” was crowdfunding on GoFundMe, saying that it needed to raise money as soon as possible, because “a vendor” refused to recognize that Snopes had terminated a contract and was holding the site “hostage.” […]
However, in presenting its own predicament, Snopes… does not exactly do a credible job of explaining the full story. If Snopes were reviewing Snopes’ own crowdfunding campaign, it might have to put it in the “Mixture” category as not being fully accurate, but not being fully false either.
This entire story is nutso