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Your Media Business Will Not Be Saved

Jason Tate

Joshua Topolsky, writing on Medium, about the struggles the media industry now faces:

A second thing happened alongside those foundational publishing challenges: this industry which had controlled its ability to reach a populace through ownership of things like printing presses began to cede its power in the delivery and distribution process to other people. People who didn’t care about or understand the media business. People who told them the answer wasn’t the best of something, it was the most of something.

Partially this was done out of fear, but mostly it was done out of ignorance.

Obviously this is a topic near and dear to my heart. It’s why I’m trying something different with this website. And, well, this first month has been a rollercoaster. So far we’ve had one of the biggest unique visitor months a website I’ve run has seen in quite a while, we’re going to go past 4.5 million pageviews, our time on site and retention numbers have been fantastic, and a few hundred have already signed up to support this website, the content we are putting out, and the community we’ve been building. I’ve heard a lot of positive feedback from our sponsors and advertisers about the new model we’re trying out and they seem to be loving the exposure they’re seeing. I’ve heard from a lot of members that love how fast the site loads, love how quickly they can find what they are looking for, and have enjoyed our features, community, and even the advertisements themselves. But mostly they seem as excited as I am about the course we’re headed down.

Is this going to work long-term? I’m still not sure. But it’s a start. I hope we’re making the “good shit” that Topolsky writes about here. I think we are. There’s still a very long road to self-sustainability, but this time I at least feel like we’re in the right vehicle and it’s pointed in the right direction.

Last Call for AbsolutePunk Pin Pre-Orders

AP.net Logo Pin (Gold)
Jason Tate

This is the last week we’re going to have pre-orders up for the AbsolutePunk.net commemorative logo pin through Hard Rock’s Online Rock Shop. So, if you want one of these little guys, now is the time to make sure you get your order in. This entire thing has been a lot of fun and introduced me into the world of pin collecting. I didn’t even know this was a thing until we put this together. Now I’m seeing them everywhere, and if my favorite bands start putting these out my wallet may be in trouble. I mean, I already saw the limited edition Portland Timbers one and kinda want it. If Blink put out one of their logo? Or a little floating Brand New spaceman? Yeah, I’d have no idea where I’d even store them and I’d want all the pins. But I digress.

Last call for pre-orders on Hard Rock’s Online Rock Shop.

Prince Tops Billboard Charts (Week Ending April 21st)

Jason Tate

Prince’s albums The Very Best of Prince and Purple Rain are the top two albums on the Billboard 200 this week.

The Very Best of Prince earned 179,000 equivalent album units in the week ending April 21 (up 10,872 percent compared to the previous week). Of that sum, 100,000 were in traditional album sales (up 11,232 percent). As for Purple Rain, it shifted 69,000 units (63,000 in pure album sales; up 3,101 percent).

Prince died on April 21, the final day of the latest tracking week for the new chart, meaning that fans rushed to purchase his music in the roughly half-day left in the tracking week (after the news broke around 10 a.m. PT), enough to send him to Nos. 1 and 2. We will see continued impact from the icon’s passing on the following week’s chart, dated May 14 (reflecting activity in the week ending April 28).

Morrissey Blogs About Prince

Morrissey
Jason Tate

Morrissey, writing on True to You:

Although a long-serving vegan and a strong advocate of the abolition of the abattoir, neither of these points was mentioned in the one hundred television reports that I witnessed yesterday as they covered the enchanted life and sad death of Prince. The points were not mentioned because they are identified as expressions against e$tabli$hment interests, therefore we, mere galley slaves, aren’t allowed to know. Prince has influenced the world more than is suspected, and somehow the life of his music is just beginning, and he would be thanked not only by humans but also animals for living his lyrical life as he did. Humans, you see, are not the world.

Read More “Morrissey Blogs About Prince”

MTV to Bring Back “Unplugged”

MTV
Jason Tate

Steven Zeitchik, writing for the LA Times:

“Unplugged,” which could be on the air in coming months, will stoke the interest of those who came of age with artists such as Nirvana, Eric Clapton and Arrested Development breaking down their music to its acoustic basics, often with some added atmosphere.

“It won’t be carpets and candles,” Erik Flannigan, executive vice president of music and multiplatform strategy, said of the new show. “And it won’t be rock legends playing their catalog. “What we want to do,” he said, “is take the attributes that made ‘Unplugged’ such a success for so many years and reimagine them for 2016.”

The Lack of Diversity at Bled Fest

The Lack of Diversity at Bled Fest
Jason Tate

Bled Fest have posted a blog on their website discussing, kind of, why they don’t have more diverse roster at this year’s festival:

Is there a responsibility on us or other event producers like us to even pay any attention to races, genders, etc.? Is there a quota? Let’s just roll with an estimate of 10%. If 10% of applications represent minorities, should I book 10% of acts featuring minorities? 15%? 20%? Should we specifically attempt to go outside of who submitted and the agents we work with (defined earlier as almost entirely white males) to make sure that there’s a fair % of minorities represented? and what’s fair? Do we focus more on race and gender than we do on skill, promotional value, achievement, professionalism, etc.?

I think this is a false choice. I don’t think looking at the reasons for why certain music scenes lack diversity means you need to ignore other metrics. Using phrases like “affirmative action” and “quotas” misses the entire damn point: do better than you’re doing right now. Let’s start there.

Study Says Dyson Hand Dryers Spread More Germs

Jason Tate

Beth Mole, writing for Ars Technica, on how Dyson hand dryers spread viruses in bathrooms:

Researchers have long known that warm air hand dryers can launch bacteria into the air—compared to dabbing with paper towels, which unleashes virtually none. But new jet air dryers, made by Dyson, are significantly more problematic—they launch far more viruses into the air, which linger for longer periods of time and reach much farther distances, researchers recently reported in the Journal of Applied Microbiology. This is particularly concerning because viruses, unlike many infectious bacteria, can easily maintain their infectiousness in the air and on surfaces, and just a few viral particles can spark an infection.

Harriet Tubman Will Replace Andrew Jackson on the $20 Bill

Jason Tate

Micah Singleton, writing for The Verge, on how Harriet Tubman will be replacing Andrew Jackson on the twenty dollar bill.

In a surprise move, Harriet Tubman will replace Andrew Jackson on the $20 bill, one of the most heavily circulated bills in the world, according to a report from Politico. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew will announce the change later today, according to the report. This marks a big win for Woman on 20, the movement to put a woman on the face of US paper currency for the first time in nearly a century.

Geoff Rickley Talks With Alt Press

Thursday
Jason Tate

Thursday frontman, Geoff Rickley, speaks with Alt Press in a new interview about the band getting back together to play Wrecking Ball and what could be next:

There’s something I hated at the time that I’m counting as a blessing now. At the time, I really hated the fact Thursday came up and inspired bands like Story Of The Year and the Used because I hated that [the scene] was turning into radio rock that was turning off the kinds of bands that I wanted to be influenced by us, making them do smart things with post-hardcore. [Those bands] would think, “It’s totally played out and whitewashed, I’m going to move on to indie rock” or this or that. I resented it at the time because I wanted to have a bunch of really smart, interesting peers who pushed the art form to another level. Looking back on it, I feel like maybe part of the the reason Thursday is so relevant and pure is because there was this radio rush and the smart kids stopped making post-hardcore. There aren’t that many great post-hardcore bands who came in the wake of Thursday doing this stuff. I think that’s why Thursday still stands up: There wasn’t a lot of great innovation in the wake of the band. And I owe that to bands that were more interested in radio hits—they helped preserve the vitality of Thursday.

Press a Button, Play a Chord

Jason Tate

Josh Constine, writing for TechCrunch, looks at a new digital guitar where can basically press a button to play a chord:

You can also freestyle, playing whatever you want. Rock band Muse’s lead singer Matt Bellamy is an investor, and he told me he uses it to write songs since it’s so easy to recreate what’s in his head without fumbling to find where to put his fingers. The guitar automatically records your last 30 minutes of playing so if you discover the perfect riff, you won’t forget it.

Concert ‘Merch’ Comes of Age

Jason Tate

Robert Cordero, writing for the Business of Fashion, on how concert tour merchandise is becoming not just a way for artists to make money, but also a player in the fashion world:

“Obviously, the sales [of concert ‘merch’] are big and significant,” says Jerry Lorenzo, the Los Angeles-based founder and designer of Fear of God, who worked closely with Welch to create some of Justin’s Bieber’s looks for his current tour. “But they’re just as important as a branding asset to an artist,” he continues. “It’s the new CD. It’s as important as the sound, a part of the vision.”