A 2011 documentary conceived by late Nashville songwriter Will Gray titled Broke* (Reprised) […]
The 10 Costs You’ll Pay to Bring Your Hardware Product to Market
Apple reportedly spent $150 million to bring the iPhone to market. Hopefully, your costs will be a little less.
How Technology Is Reshaping American Spending Habits
As technology evolves, the innate spending habits of consumers gradually become aligned with new developments
10 Great Modern Punk Bands
Since 2016 marks the 40th anniversary of the Ramones’ classic self-titled debut, the existing state of punk is up for review. There’s no question that the contemporary landscape in punk music and culture looks remarkably different from 1976, or even 2006. The last 10 years alone have seen the movement…
Some Country Musicians Condemn Anti-LGBT Laws, But Top Tier Artists And Labels Remain Silent
In recent days, GLAAD and others in the LGBT community have called on the country music industry to speak out against new laws in North Carolina and Mississippi that are widely believed to discriminate against LGBT people. So far, the response has been disappointing.
After calls from GLAAD and other LGBT organizations for the country music industry to speak out against new laws in North Carolina and Mississippi which are widely seen as discriminatory against LBGT people, Nashville has been slow to respond.
Billy Ray Cyrus, Emmylou Harris, actor Chris Carmack of ABC’s Nashville and Gretchen Peters have all come out against the laws. But country music’s current platinum sellers and chart toppers have been noticeably silent. On the other hand, rock’s top tier including Miley Cyrus, Bruce Springsteen and Bryan Adams have been vocal opponents, with the later two cancelling shows in the two states.
Nashville’s record labels have been universally silent. Universal Music Group Nashville, Warner Music Nashville, Sony Music Nashville, Curb Records and Big Machine Label Group all declined t0 comment when asked by The Associated Press.
Similar bills were vetoed by Georgia’s governor and are still being considered in Tennessee and South Carolina. As the state capital of Tennessee and heavily reliant on both country music and tourism, Nashville and its music community will not be able to duck the issue much longer. It’s not a game they have been in before, but it’s going to have a big impact on their city so I think they are right now educating themselves on what the topics are and what the issues are,” Sarah Kate Ellis, president and CEO of GLAAD told Billboard.
How America Inspired David Bowie to Kill Ziggy Stardust With ‘Aladdin Sane’
Rest in peace, Ziggy Stardust – long live Aladdin Sane. Just a year after seducing the world with the saga of Ziggy, Bowie killed him off to invent a new glam character – a much darker one, with a new hairstyle and a lightning bolt painted over his face. “There…
Hear Flatt Lonesome’s Bluegrass Spin on the ‘Game of Thrones’ Theme
When Game of Thrones returns to HBO on April 24th, it’ll begin as it always does: with a rumble of percussion, a sweeping of strings and the unfolding of a now-iconic theme song that’s been kicking off the series’ episodes for five years.
Although rooted in medieval folk music, the title…
Technics SL-1200 Turntable Sells Out In Just 30 Minutes
Last year DMN wrote that the Technics SL-1200 turntable would be returning after being discontinued in 2010, despite there being a resurgence in vinyl interest.
This was made official yesterday when they went up for sale in Japan. Now, today it has been announced that the initial run of new Technic SL-1200 turntables sold out in just 30 minutes. 300 of the limited edition turntables went up for sale for the equivalent of $3,300 each and vinyl lovers quickly snapped them up.
Earlier this year it was reported that the new edition would set customers back thousands of dollars and people quickly criticised the price tag. But, this hasn’t had any effect on sales – in fact the manufacturers have reported that they didn’t quite expect the models to sell out as quickly as they did. The Technics SL-1200 turntable is classed as one of the most important turntables in history and those that purchased them obviously saw value in the product to justify the expenditure.
Now, there is talk that another 900 limited edition models will be available to purchase internationally, but at this time there is no dates on when or information on where.
Also, if the limited edition is out of your price range a slightly more affordable version is said to be available later this year.
The post Technics SL-1200 Turntable Sells Out In Just 30 Minutes appeared first on Digital Music News.
Go Behind the Scenes of Kiefer Sutherland’s ‘Down In a Hole’ Album
During his decade-long stint starring on the FOX drama, 24, actor Kiefer Sutherland kept a guitar in his trailer on the set. Yet, at the same time he was signing musicians to Ironworks Music, the label he co-founded with songwriter Jude Cole, he was initially reluctant to play in front…
Why We Need Pirate Radio For The Twenty-First Century
While streaming services do offer infinite variety and customization, the product remains essentially the same across platforms, and lacks the personal touch of a radio DJ. So then don’t these services integrate a live hosting feature?
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Guest post by Thomas McAlevey, CEO of Radical.fm
At the end of the movie “Pump Up the Volume,” Christian Slater’s character, pirate radio DJ Hard Harry, exhorts the kids who’ve come out to support him to start their own stations and “talk hard.” The film closes with a montage of students in basements, each broadcasting to their own audience, spreading their voices and the music they love. But launching a radio station back in the nineties wasn’t as easy as the film made it out to be — equipment was complex and expensive, and broadcasting without a license was illegal.
Nowadays, we build playlists on Spotify, create personalized radio stations on Pandora, and watch music videos on YouTube. But despite reaching puberty in the age of social media, none of these services offer any form of live sharing, nor any ability for voice communication directly with friends or followers. One of the things that keeps people coming back to terrestrial radio is that they feel a connection to the DJ, and the biggest selling factor for Apple’s Beats1 isn’t the music, it’s Zane Lowe’s personality.
Given the advances in streaming there is no reason why the creation of broadcast radio stations should be limited to huge corporations. With today’s technology anyone should be able to create and host a live talk radio station, or share their playlists with friends in real time, or both. Essentially, it’s pirate radio with a twist; these online stations would have unlimited potential reach, they would be fully licensed and legal, and artists will be compensated for their songs. Anybody, anywhere in the world, could play DJ for a few hours, or polish their skills over a lifetime. People could host shows for a few friends, or build large followings putting real effort into quality programming.
It is odd that streaming services haven’t embraced such technology yet, given how pervasive personalization is. Users would spend more time on a site which offered such an exciting differentiator, driving increased subscriptions, or providing more ears for advertisers. Gifted hosts would rise to the top providing opportunities for such a service to source and develop new talent, much as YouTube has done with some of its biggest stars. Active followers could communicate directly with their favorite hosts, and even casual listeners would appreciate the option of listening to something with more personality than a robot. Kanye West could modify his playlist order on the fly based on real-time listener feedback, a popular pastor from Zimbabwe could build a global following for his sermons, or the kid next door could become the next Ryan Seacrest.
The biggest problem facing the streaming industry today is that streaming services are all pretty much the same; massive jukeboxes in a cloud. Users only real choice is between personalized endless streams or on-demand playlists, and this has remained largely unchanged since the turn of the century. It’s time to move the ‘streaming debate’ away from subscriptions vs ad-supported (both have their place) and toward diversification. To dramatically grow the streaming market real innovation is required. Democratization of broadcast radio, monetization of those broadcasts for artists, labels, and streaming services, and the catapulting of the 45 billion dollar terrestrial radio industry into the digital age seems like a good start.