This Friday, May 1st, Bandcamp is waiving their share of revenue for all purchases, which means every penny you spend on Bandcamp goes directly to artists (or small indy labels). Last time they did this, on March 20th, they raised $4.3 million for their musicians, “helping artists cover rents, mortgages, groceries, medications, and so much […]
Category Archives: Music
…and some something about musicians
tl;dr if you care about music and musicians, and you have some spare money, now would be a good time to send it their way. You could buy recordings, subscribe to support people on platforms like Bandcamp or Patreon, hire them for a lesson or studio work if you are yourself a musician, or just […]
Some bass players I have recently been enjoying
KT Chang: Elephant Gym. Math rock! Chang has developed an interesting hybrid technique of tapping and melodic playing, and the band is happy to write around her bass lines (Elephant Gym is in fact a bass reference). Not everything is this busy or elaborate, but “Games” gives you an idea of her approach. I heard […]
Some quick takes on AI-based music composition startups
I just responded to two questions about AI-composition startups from a student and thought I’d share them here as well. This is a placeholder for deeper thoughts. The questions: What are your thoughts on the uses of Amper music specifically as an AI generative software? A user can create their own personal track by determining the […]
2020: “Hit record”
My New Year’s resolution is “hit record.” Very simply: it means that I will record a lot of my musical improvisations over the course of the year. I’m aiming for twice a week give or take, but I’m not going to be precious about it. I have ideas for what might happen after that, but […]
What Is Music Technology For?
(x-posted on the Social Media Collective Research Blog) In late March and early April, I attended three events that together signal some interesting shifts in thinking about music technology and sound. The first, a day-long symposium on March 24th I co-organized with Nancy Baym, was entitled “What Is Music Technology For?” It came after a weekend-long […]
Once Again, the Political Economy of Communication People Had It Right
Yesterday’s New York Times caught up with a story that’s been making the rounds of the internet music circles since Zoe Keating published her finances about a year ago: in many cases, Spotify pays so little they might as well not be paying artists at all. Sure, artists get fractions of cents in royalties, but very […]