How Smart TVs in Millions of U.S. Homes Track Us

Jason Tate Jul 6, 2018

Samba TV is one of the bigger companies that track viewer information to make personalized show recommendations. The company said it collected viewing data from 13.5 million smart TVs in the United States, and it has raised $40 million in venture funding from investors including Time Warner , the cable operator Liberty Global and the billionaire Mark Cuban.
Samba TV has struck deals with roughly a dozen TV brands — including Sony, Sharp, TCL and Philips — to place its software on certain sets. When people set up their TVs, a screen urges them to enable a service called Samba Interactive TV, saying it recommends shows and provides special offers “by cleverly recognizing onscreen content.” But the screen, which contains the enable button, does not detail how much information Samba TV collects to make those recommendations.

New Tariffs Causing Hell for Synthesizer Manufacturers

Jason Tate Jul 4, 2018

Donald Trump’s new tariffs are going to be horrible for synthesizer manufacturers. The company behind the the Moog synthesizer has posted an open letter on their website:

A U.S. tariff (import tax) on Chinese circuit boards and associated components is expected to take effect on July 6, 2018.
These tariffs will immediately and drastically increase the cost of building our instruments, and have the very real potential of forcing us to lay off workers and could (in a worst case scenario) require us to move some, if not all, of our manufacturing overseas.

Miles Teller to Star in ‘Top Gun’ Sequel

Jason Tate Jul 3, 2018

The Hollywood Reporter:

Miles Teller has nabbed the role of Goose’s son in Top Gun 2.
Teller will star opposite Tom Cruise in the long-in-the works sequel that sees Cruise, reprising his role as the hot-shot pilot with the call sign Maverick.

Instagram Adds Ability to Add Background Music

Jason Tate Jun 29, 2018

Josh Constine, writing at TechCrunch:

The right music can make a boring photo or video epic, so Instagram is equipping users with a way to add popular songs to their Stories. […] Thanks to Facebook’s recent deals with record labels, users will be able to choose from thousands of songs from artists including Bruno Mars, Dua Lipa, Calvin Harris and Guns N’ Roses.

And:

When friends watch a music-equipped Story, the song will post automatically. They’ll also be able to tap on the sticker to see artist and song title info, but for now these stickers won’t link out to a musician’s Instagram page or their presence on streaming services — though that would certainly be helpful. I also suggest that Instagram should create deeplinks that artists can share with their fans that automatically opens the Stories camera with that song’s sticker added.

Good idea.

Soccer Mommy and Paramore in Conversation

Jason Tate Jun 29, 2018

Sophie Allison of Soccer Mommy and Hayley Williams of Paramore sat down with Stereogum:

Well, first of all this album cycle we’ve just been more intentional I think about really having more women around. For me, it’s a little bit of a selfish thing ‘cause for so long I was always the only female performer on tour. Especially when we were younger and we’d get booked onto other tours I was always the only girl. And it actually affected my sense of femininity and that part of my identity for a long time. So it’s sorta just been natural timing and also our collective interest as a band to have female energy around and obviously the music is awesome too.

The Gospel According to Kendrick Lamar

Jason Tate Jun 28, 2018

Lisa Robinson, writing for Variety:

I tell him that Chuck D once told me that in the 1980s, “We was broke, but we wasn’t broken,” and Kendrick says, “I love that. I felt that for sure. Because the times we had to wait for food stamps every month, or we’d run out of food and had to wait for welfare to kick in, or walk to the County building—it wasn’t about the County building; it was about the walk to the building. Because if we didn’t have that County building to walk to, I wouldn’t have built that bond with my mother, or my father, to see that this is a family. What Chuck D says resonates so much with me, because we were broke, but we had us.” I ask him if he wants to start a family and he says, “This is the constant question, because I’m obsessed with my craft and what I’m doing. I know what I’m chasing for my life, even though I don’t know what it is. But it’s an urge that’s in my every day. That urge to make an ultimate connection with words to man. And I don’t feel I’ve done that yet.”

Kanye West and Tidal Facing Lawsuit of Exclusive Claims

Jason Tate Jun 25, 2018

Marc Hogan, writing for Pitchfork:

Kanye West and Tidal can’t dodge a lawsuit that alleges they tricked fans into subscribing to the streaming service by falsely claiming it would be the only place to hear West’s 2016 album The Life of Pablo, a judge has ruled.
In an an 18-page opinion today that was obtained by Pitchfork, U.S. District Court Judge Gregory Woods granted parts of Tidal’s motions to dismiss the proposed class-action lawsuit but denied other parts, allowing the case to go forward as it relates to a tweet West made on February 15, 2016.

Oral History of the 2005 Warped Tour

Jason Tate Jun 22, 2018

Chris Payne, writing over at Billboard:

Fall Out Boy and My Chemical Romance played Warped in ‘04 and after drawing fervent crowds, were signed on for the next year early; by the time June ‘05 rolled around, “Sugar, We’re Goin Down” and “Helena” were MTV staples, improbably climbing the Hot 100. 700,000 kids came out that summer, more than any Warped before or since (for context, last year pulled 300,000). Individual bands regularly sold over $30,000 of merch per day. Bodyguards were needed for the first time. At summer’s end, the tour’s profits hit seven figures. But Warped’s summer-long slog paid another price; across 48 shows in 59 days, musicians and personnel grappled with oversized egos, volatile — if not occasionally hostile — environments, and a sideshow’s worth of distractions far from home, with a massive mainstream audience suddenly watching.

Women on the Warped Tour

Jason Tate Jun 21, 2018

Steve Knopper, writing at The New York Times:

The New York Times spoke to 75 women and nonbinary musicians who have performed on the tour, many of whom echoed NPR Music’s Ann Powers, who recently criticized Warped as a “wild boys’ paradise.” Some divulged #MeToo stories; others ripped bands known for making misogynistic remarks onstage.

Instagram Announces IGTV

Jason Tate Jun 21, 2018

Josh Constine, writing for TechCrunch:

Today at a flashy event in San Francisco, the company announced it will begin allowing users to upload videos up to one hour in length, up from the previous one-minute limit. And to house the new longer-form videos from content creators and the general public, Instagram is launching IGTV. Accessible from a button inside the Instagram homescreen, as well as a standalone app, IGTV will spotlight popular videos from Instagram celebrities.

Why Tidal Is in So Much Trouble

Jason Tate Jun 20, 2018

David Turner, writing at Gizmodo:

Tidal’s subscriber numbers received such intensified attention because initial adoption of the service appeared to be slow and the company ceased providing any user base information, while its competition continued to show growth. An extensive 2017 Dagens Naeringsliv report alleged that Tidal’s subscriber numbers were inflated. The paper said according to multiple sources and documents that Tidal’s true subscriber base in September 2015 was closer 350,000—Jay-Z tweeted it was 1,000,000—and in March 2016 was 850,000—although Tidal said 3,000,000.

I just don’t see how Tidal finds a place in this market. If you want a streaming service, you’re using Spotify or Apple Music, if you want random songs or videos, you’re using YouTube. I don’t see any place for Tidal to grab a foothold.

Audio Released of Children Separated From Their Parents at the Border

Jason Tate Jun 19, 2018

Ginger Thompson, writing at ProPublica:

The desperate sobbing of 10 Central American children, separated from their parents one day last week by immigration authorities at the border, makes for excruciating listening. Many of them sound like they’re crying so hard, they can barely breathe. They scream “Mami” and “Papá” over and over again, as if those are the only words they know.
The baritone voice of a Border Patrol agent booms above the crying. “Well, we have an orchestra here,” he jokes. “What’s missing is a conductor.”

Our government is torturing children. These are the kinds of things that if we read about in history books we would not be able to understand how people let this happen. There will come a time when future generations read about this era in their history books, and they will rightfully judge us. This is sickening.

The Earliest Images of the Moon Were So Much Better Than We Knew

Jason Tate Jun 19, 2018

Ryan Smith, writing at World of Indie:

Fifty years ago, 5 unmanned lunar orbiters circled the moon, taking extremely high resolution photos of the surface. They were trying to find the perfect landing site for the Apollo missions. They would be good enough to blow up to 40 x 54ft images that the astronauts would walk across looking for the great spot. After their use, the images were locked away from the public until after the bulk of the moon landings, as at the time they would have revealed the superior technology of the USA’s spy satellite cameras, which the orbiters cameras were designed from. The main worry was the USSR gaining valuable information about landing sites that the US wanted to use.

This Clarinetist’s Career Was Derailed by a Deleted Scholarship Letter

Jason Tate Jun 15, 2018

Brianna Sacks, writing at BuzzFeed:

Eric Abramovitz had been training for this moment for nearly his entire life: the opportunity to study under one of the best clarinet teachers on the planet, on a full-ride scholarship to a prestigious music conservatory in Los Angeles. […] What happened next, outlined in interviews and court documents filed in Abramovitz’s successful lawsuit against Lee, paint the picture of a promising “what if” life trajectory knocked off its rails by what a Canadian judge called “despicable interference” by a selfish girlfriend.

This story is bonkers. I sent it to my violinist girlfriend and she read the entire thing slack-jawed.

The Oral History of The Gaslight Anthem’s ‘The ’59 Sound’

Jason Tate Jun 13, 2018

Robert Mays, writing at The Ringer, has put together an oral history of The Gaslight Anthem’s The ’59 Sound:

The intangible thing of “The ’59 Sound,” it didn’t mean anything about the ’50s. I didn’t imagine people banging on jukeboxes and Fonzie and all that. I’m not interested in any of that. To me, it reminded me of my grandmother and a time where simpler things were valued more. Friendships, relationships, and that kind of thing. There weren’t so many distractions. You didn’t have so many goals. Now, a kid grows up, and he could be anything. That’s great, but it’s also very daunting. Because which one of the anythings do you be?