music

Ziggy Played Guitar


Look up here, I’m in heaven I’ve got scars that can’t be seen I’ve got drama, can’t be stolen Everybody knows me now

– David Bowie, Lazarus


David Bowie died surrounded by family at his New York home Sunday, January 10, 2016 eighteen months after being diagnosed with cancer. He …

Adele's '25' on Pandora

Adele’s ‘25’ on Pandora Pandora confirmed to Entertainment Weekly that every track from Adele'e new album is available through its radio service. That's not going to be a particularly great way of listening to 25 — because Pandora is a radio service, it means you can't choose what …

"Happy birthday" lawsuit takes a(n unexpectedly interesting) turn

“Happy birthday” lawsuit takes a(n unexpectedly interesting) turn Did you know copyright lawyers have waged a legal battle over ‘Happy Birthday’ for a long time? They have, and, somehow, it recently got interesting. If this proposition is accepted by the judge, …

OutBeat, America's First Queer Jazz Festival

OutBeat, America’s First Queer Jazz FestivalI don’t usually write about events here, but since I wrote the article to which I link above, I thought it appropriate to share. I had several great conversations with Chris Bartlett, Executive Director of the William Way Community Center in …

How to Export Your Last.fm Listening History on a Mac

My goal was simple: I wanted to export all of the tracks I’ve listened and stored in my Last.fm account. I don’t have any real experience working with APIs, but thanks to Jeroen Baert’s post, which I found via this StackExchange thread, I found a handy Python script that even a newb can run. The …

Streaming music: good for fans, bad for musicians

Streaming music: good for fans, bad for musiciansThe numbers are pretty stark, and while it doesn’t hurt to be available on streaming services, if for nothing else than the opportunity to be found by new listeners, unknown artists are better off leveraging social media and sites like Bandcamp to …

At least one Ars Technica reader agrees: Rdio > Spotify

At least one Ars Technica reader agrees: Rdio > SpotifyArs Technica reader jamieskella, contributing to Chris Foresman’s reader recommendation round-up for all those newly-gifted iPads out there: How and why is Spotify still being recommended when Rdio (free) boasts 18 million songs and is …

Google Music gains scan and match feature in the US

Google Music gains scan and match feature in the USNice.

Streaming music to listeners, but not money to artists

Streaming music to listeners, but not money to artistsGalaxie 500 drummer Damon Krukowski1, writing at Pitchfork: Since we own our own recordings, by my calculation it would take songwriting royalties for roughly 312,000 plays on Pandora to earn us the profit of one— one— LP sale. (On Spotify, one …

Pandora suing ASCAP for lower licensing fees

Pandora suing ASCAP for lower licensing feesDon Jeffrey of Bloomberg: Pandora also claims that it’s entitled to lower rates because some large music publishers have announced they are withdrawing new media rights from Ascap and negotiating licensing fees directly with Web radio services. The …