Linked List
linked-list
videos
LATEST ARTICLES - PAGE 44

Spotify Is Killing Song Titles

Jason Tate

Michael Tauberg, writing on Medium:

With the death of record stores, radio, and to a lesser extent, iTunes, the unit of music delivered to customers has shrunk. From the album, to the song, to now, the stream, music has been disentangled from it’s larger context. As such, we would expect that the names of albums and songs are uncorrelated to their musical success. One way to measure this is the number of unique words in a song title. Although there does appear to be an art to naming a hit song (or say book), the longer tail of music means more random song titles chosen by artists instead of record executives.

An interesting dive into music data.

How Losing Religion Saved Underoath

Underoath
Jason Tate

Underoath sat down with Revolver to talk about their upcoming album:

“One of the best things we ever did was when we agreed not to be a Christian band anymore,” Chamberlain tells Revolver. “And when we made this record the [phrase], ‘that’s not Underoath enough,’ was not allowed to be said because those two things fucking ruined our band in the first place.”

Mike D of the Beastie Boys Featured in Vulture

Beastie Boys
Jason Tate

David Marchese, writing for Vulture:

The filters are still there, though. They’re just different. When I was 15, getting into the Clash exposed me to reggae. I’d see that they covered a song by Junior Murvin or that they had a single produced by Lee Perry and dig from there. My younger son does the same thing but in newer ways. He comes home from school in Bali and starts to make a song using his laptop, and he’s looking up what samples Kanye used and that opens the door for him to dig. The tools he has are immediate. He’s not having to go out. It’s so different from how I did it.

Thomas Erak Starts GoFundMe for Solo Album

Fall of Troy
Jason Tate

Thomas Erak (The Fall of Troy, Chiodos, and a million other side projects) has started a GoFundMe for a new solo album:

I have been working towards putting together a solo record for the last year or so and need to raise money for studio time/travel/housing while I finish and record the album. Also would like to be able to self release. Looking to record mid-April and hoping to release ASAP after it’s all done!

Blog: Clueyness: A Weird Kind of Sad

Jason Tate

Tim Urban:

At the time, my dad didn’t think much of it—pretty normal day in their lives. But later on, he found himself remembering that day, and he always felt bad about it. He pictured his father sitting there at the table, now alone, with all the cards and pieces laid out. He pictured him waiting for a little while before accepting that it wasn’t gonna happen today, then collecting all the pieces and cards he had laid out, putting them back in the box, and putting the box back in the closet.

Pretty random story for my dad to tell me, right? The reason he did was because it was part of a conversation where I was trying to articulate a certain thing I suffer from, which is feeling incredibly bad for certain people in certain situations—situations in which the person I feel bad for was probably barely affected by what happened. It’s an odd feeling of intense heartbreaking compassion for people who didn’t actually go through anything especially bad.

I do this all the time.

Blog: The Intellectual We Deserve

Jason Tate

Nathan J. Robinson:

Jordan Peterson appears very profound and has convinced many people to take him seriously. Yet he has almost nothing of value to say. This should be obvious to anyone who has spent even a few moments critically examining his writings and speeches, which are comically befuddled, pompous, and ignorant. They are half nonsense, half banality. In a reasonable world, Peterson would be seen as the kind of tedious crackpot that one hopes not to get seated next to on a train.

But we do not live in a reasonable world.

What Happened to Side One Dummy Records?

Side One Dummy
Jason Tate

Dan Ozzi, writing at Noisey, looks at the collapse of Side One Dummy Records:

Many SideOneDummy artists who spoke to Noisey were reluctant to comment publicly on their situations since their futures with the label are currently being determined. Some have pre-existing contract renewal options under evaluation, others are in the process of obtaining rights to their back catalog from the label, and those with recent or future releases are working with the label on promotional strategies going forward. And since SideOneDummy has largely been home to small to mid-level acts that largely don’t employ lawyers or managers, most have been left to navigate negotiations on their own, and lack the business acumen to do so.

There’s an Online Harassment Campaign Underway Against People Advocating for Diversity in Comics

Comic Books
Jason Tate

Rachael Krishna, writing for Buzzfeed:

An online harassment campaign and culture war called #Comicsgate is underway against people pushing to diversify the comic book industry, with trolls and their influential enablers targeting those calling for increased representation for women, different races, and the LGBT community.

Several comics superfans and creators are calling it a dark evolution of the Gamergate controversy that targeted women participating in video game culture with abuse.

The Making of 7 Iconic Movie Posters

Jason Tate

Tony Pierce looks at seven iconic movie posters designed by Tom Martin and tells the story behind them:

While at Universal, one of the most unique design challenges Martin faced came from Jurassic Park director Steven Spielberg.

The assignment? Create a logo that could brand both the movie and the fictional theme park in it.

“We visited the set during the production and saw some of the dinosaurs and props,” says Martin. “They were actually going to have branded products, merchandise in the store in the film. They needed a logo to put on the items in the gift shop.”

YouTube Will ‘Frustrate’ Some Users With Ads So They Pay for Music

YouTube
Jason Tate

Lucas Shaw, writing for Bloomberg:

People who treat YouTube like a music service, those passively listening for long periods of time, will encounter more ads, according to Lyor Cohen, the company’s global head of music. “You’re not going to be happy after you are jamming ‘Stairway to Heaven’ and you get an ad right after that,” Cohen said in an interview at the South by Southwest music festival.

Correct, in fact I’d be so annoyed I’d go sign up for a music service like Spotify or Apple Music instead.

Glenn Howerton Is Dead Serious About Being Funny

Always Sunny
Jason Tate

Glenn Howerton, best known as Dennis on It’s Always Sunny…, but also very good in the new show A.P. Bio, was recently profiled by GQ:

You know what I think it is? [The characters are] an interesting parallel to what I think is wrong in society in general, which is, it’s the most extreme version of someone who is out only for themselves. In a weird way, here we are in a free market economy, in a democracy, you’re given permission to get whatever you can get, as long as you’re acting within the confines of the laws, you’re encouraged to. “Hey, if you can go make a billion dollars, go make a billion dollars.”

And that’s great in theory. But I do think it lends itself to a mindset like “Yeah, I stepped on a couple heads on my way, but I didn’t break any fucking laws. So fuck you. Fuck you.” And that doesn’t build communities, it doesn’t lead to happiness. And yet we still celebrate it.

This is a really great interview.

Toys ‘R’ Us Plans to Close All U.S. Stores

Money
Jason Tate

Reuters:

Iconic toy retailer Toys ‘R’ Us Inc will shutter or sell its stores in the United States after failing to revamp its struggling business, putting 30,000 jobs at risk and leaving a void for vendors who supplied the company with $11 billion worth of goods a year.

As a kid there was no place I wanted to go more than Toys ‘R’ Us.

iHeartMedia Files Chapter 11

Iheart Media
Jason Tate

Ed Christman, writing for Billboard:

iHeartMedia and some of its subsidiaries filed for Chapter 11 protection last night after reaching a pre-packaged agreement with its principle creditors that will apparently see the company cut its debt in half to $10 billion after a debt-to-equity swap with some debt holders; and the spinoff of Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, which is not a part of the Chapter 11 proceedings.