Where is the music industry going?

In response to a prompt I've decided to respond the this issue. Being a frequent "pirate" myself I could really care less for the record companies who force their pop music down the throats of Americans. The reason I feel this way is because in the last 30 years the industry has been focused around one thing, money.

Like most industries money should be the overall objective but not to the point where quality is thrown off a cliff. The presence of the MP3 format makes it easy to trade and find new music and the best part is that its free.

I bet right now your thinking to yourself well if the music is free how are the artists supposed to make money?

1 Make some good music
2 Give it away
3 Play a few shows
4 Go on a tour
5 Make lots of money

And if you doubt this process works take a look at Pretty Lights.

All of the music he has ever made is free and the best part is that its really good. I've personally spent over a thousand dollars going to Pretty Lights shows and buying t-shirts whatever else he has a available at concerts.

If you still don't think this is the right way to go about music production take a look at the new Pretty Lights record company and the list of sold out concerts. Also, in case you were wondering all the band under the pretty lights label give away their music on the same site.

People are cheap but easily won over, give them what they want and they won't hesitate to support you.

Granted that the music you make is good.

Ethnography Time.. & aliens?

Right now I'm putting the final touches on my ethnography which is well, lets be honest.. pretty much all but the research part of it. Not to worry however, the night is young and web pages are a hobby of mine. My project is on the site demonoid.me which is if you don't know a pretty prestigious piracy database.

.. Say that 5 times fast..
pretty prestigious piracy database

pretty prestigious piracy database

pretty prestigious piracy database

pretty prestigious piracy database

pretty prestigious piracy database

..

Well anyways I'm sure your wondering by now why exactly I'm blogging about demonoid and the real reason has to do with a related site. How these two are related has to do with the shared goal of free media for everyone. (Which is somewhat ridiculous) But if you were to click the link in the previous sentence you'd notice something a little off. The site has be seized by homeland security and no explanation has been given. Why media piracy is an issue with homeland security? I'm not quite sure but my guess is it has something to do with a transformers type issue. I'll keep looking into and see what I can dig up but for now keep your eyes open for any giant robots.

Will technology be the downfall of us all?

There seems to be a growing worry that todays children will become too attached to technology. With a race going on between smart-phone companies the technology is increasing exponentially and making it more difficult to stay updated. While a child used to be entertained with a simple black and white gameboy and a lucky few were blessed with a gameboy color, todays children are surrounded with constant internet access. The majority of "older people" are upset with how lazy and how technical growing up has become. I however, don't think its all so bad if used constructively. While I won't go as far as to say playing Black Ops is good for a 4th grader, I do think there are plenty of opportunities where children can learn as much as I know now by the time they are 11 or 12 years old. As with most things there is a light and a dark side to children using technology. Most obviously the affluent children who are bestowed with smart phones, laptops and tablets will have a sort of unfair advantage over children living in poverty.

So will technology be the downfall of a generation?

.. Probably not, but it sure can provide some educational advantages.

Google: Too monopolistic?

When asked to respond to how I feel about Google an if theres to much power behind one search engine a few things come to mind. For starters, why wouldn't I want one search engine? The benefits are vast of course I like google. I would say that out of all search engines Google has the best customer support with its features one of if not the largest index in the world and makes surfing the web a whole lot easier.

Im sure there are some that prefer to use yahoo accounts and hotmail and so on. But, call me old fashioned if I like everything in one place. Yes I have tried other services and they all rate about the same. There are those that get the job done effectively and those that don't. Why not have everything in the same place? With Google I can post a document online check my email review my powerpoints on the go and download them to a local computer when I arrive.

With technology changing so fast people want more access and less fuss. Google seems to be the only company that is caring about this issue, other than apple that is. Google has gone ahead and created an operating system for smartphones that will gives access to all of the features that come with a Google account. What more could someone really ask for? Oh yeah, did I mention they do it for free?

My answer to the question, "Is Google too big, powerful or monopolistic?" My answer is yes but why not be? The fact is that no other company seems to care what the consumer wants and is only looking to compete with what is already out there. News Flash email is old news and while its useful have a cool user interface isn't going to get me running over to a hotmail or yahoo account, honestly I still have one of each but don't even bother to use them. So until one of its competitors comes up with a game changer I say more power to Google.

Bruce Schneier

Known for his blog, "Schneier on Security", Bruce Schneier is an influential blogger who first made his start in 1998 in the field of internet security. Being a blogger I'm sure most people would comment as to what makes Schneier's blog different from any of the others. For starters the daily view count of his blog is over 200,000 per day with over 95,000 of those being unique visitors. Having access to this many minds on a daily basis is what takes Bruce's blog from a hobby to a profession.

While he doesn't make any money directly from his blog it has contributed to opportunities for him such as public speaking and further support for his books. Bruce for the most part despite the overwhelming popularity of his blog is still a very down to earth blogger. He writes for the most part about anything he wants and is still very open to reader comments.

When asked how he reacts to reader emails and comments, Bruce touched on the fact that he makes an attempt to read and respond to all especially ones pointing out typos. However, most emails he receives are readers who want him to touch on a subject which he often times he does not have time to do.

Schneier's blog has been ranked at high as 100 on Technorati but usually will sit in the top 120. Bruce Schneier appears to be a very reachable and un-molded blogger who uses his freedom as speech to express his viewpoints on internet security.

Intro

This is my first blog post. Hopefully there will be more to follow..