“Everyone’s Doing A Radiohead.”

Everybody likes getting stuff for free. I found a newspaper lying on a seat on the subway yesterday and realised it was the best thing to happen to me in weeks. There’s always a massive crowd around free samples of rancid sausage in the supermarkets, plus I’m still waiting for my million dollar cheque from the Nigerian president.

This week in partiular has been excellent for those of us (i.e: everyone) who wish things (i.e: everything) could be a bit cheaper (i.e: free). First there was Coldplay’s “Violet Hill”, which was downloaded straight off their website 600,000 times in the first day of its free download week period, apparently by people unaware that Coldplay seem to be in the process of “going” prog-rock with their upcoming album “Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends”, with initial unimpressive results.

On top of that, CCS are also giving away a free song called “Rat Is Dead (Rage)” on their website, which is taken from their upcoming second album “Donkey”. The song seems to indicate a turn away from electronics and keyboards as heard on their debut, towards a more guitar-driven sound.

Expect CSS’s offering to be heard in clubs and trendier-than-thou clothes shops, and expect to hear Coldplay’s new single heard at funerals around the world for years.

last song i heard – “unplanned” – african headcharge

New Weezer Album Art Revealed.

Here’s the cover of Weezer’s new album, which is due out on the 24th of June.

A slightly strange press release has also been released.

last song i heard – “foundations” – kate nash

Hot Club De Paris Announce New Album.

Hot Club de Paris have confirmed that their second album, “Live at Dead Lake”, will be released in the U.K on June 16th, through the Moshi Moshi Label.

The first single to be released will be “Hey Housebrick”, which will be followed by a U.K tour, though no North American tour or release date is expected. 

last song i heard – “open house” – bombay bicycle club

The Future Of Journalism.

Answering to “Post 3 – The Future of Journalism – Any topic related to the future of journalism.”

Probably the most talked about aspect of “the future of journalism” (preferably screamed from the side of a road along with other end-is-nigh observations) is the increasing involvement of ordinary people in important topics and issues. There’s always been letters pages in newspapers and call-in opinion segments on broadcast stations, but in the past five years ( – from what I’ve noticed, maybe it’s been going on longer – ) the media have become really keen on wanting to see viewer’s sides and interpretations of issues.
This trend seems to have begun, from what I’ve seen, with the rapid mainstream accessibility of e-mail around 2000.
From what I can make of the topic, “amateur” journalism really kicked off with the World Trade Towers in 2001. The immediate impact of the shaky citizen videos, mostly at street-level, let us see the “real” or “human” side of what was going on, rather than footage of a TV reporter standing behind security barricades half a mile away. This style of footage, mostly shot by public citizens with cheap household video-cameras and mobile phones, was seen again during Hurricane Katrina, the Boxing Day (2004) Indian Ocean earthquake, and the London (2005) and Madrid (2004) public transport bombings.
As more people now have access to a computer, the internet and some cheap sort of photography equipment – these days usually a mobile phone – than ever before, it seems that the news media industry had realised that they were no longer only competing between each other, but almost with the readers/viewers themselves.
You can now find places to upload your videos, photos and (usually opinionated)writings on various news sites, the most prominent examples that I’ve found being CityNews in Toronto and the BBC’s website.
From what I’ve seen of audience material, I hope for the sake of the industry that it’s left to the professionals.

However, the line between a citizen and a professional is becoming increasingly blurred, mostly due to the rise of blogs. I have to say I enjoy “blogging” (though I don’t enjoy saying that word), and I like the fact that more people are able to show their opinions, rather than having to go through the trouble of printing a fanzine/newsletter like in the old days of yore, though the fact that most blogs are simply opinion – in some cases almost propaganda – shows that there is still a need for accurate, balanced reporting.

In the future of the industry, I honestly can’t see how it’s going to go. Media concentration could continue until there’s about one or two companies controlling a continent worth of news, or a “red” side and a “blue” side. We already know that China routinely block off sections of the Internet, and in all honesty I could see that happening in the West eventually.

In the aspect of online journalism, I’ve heard about the idea of having to pay for a “upgrade” version of the Internet, which uses higher bandwidths, more updates and easier-accessible information, while the “regular” or “current” version of the Internet would then be free, but suffer from clogging over-capacity (because nobody wants to pay for anything), slower connections and less new updates of information, much like when DVDs took over from VHS – you start seeing less and less until they were gone.

Then there’s the Twitter idea – news outlets could adopt Twitter’s global map feature and apply it to news stories, showing you what’s happening where with a little marker, and how it could link to something far away (i.e: such as political stories), ending up kind of like a airline route map. That idea sounds great to me. We already have things like Google Earth, which lets you zoom right down to streets and buildings anyway in the world, so I hope that that idea could develop in some way.

Overall though, it’s an exciting (but sometimes worrying) time to be going into journalism, and I’m interested to see where it’ll go.

Some links:
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/columnists/mark_bowden/20070617_The_Point___Journalisms_future.html

http://www.newcommreview.com/?p=64

http://onlinejournalismblog.com/2008/03/06/ten-ways-journalism-has-changed-in-the-last-ten-years-bloggers-cut/

http://www.icce.rug.nl/~soundscapes/EDITORIAL/oped0701.shtml

Most Watched Video Of The Week – #1

The Go! Team – “Ladyflash”

last song i heard – “before i knew” – basia bulat

Pavarotti – Must Be Laughing In His Grave.

You know when you go to see a DJ and find out that they’re really just pressing the play button on their laptops, then pretending to fiddle about with random buttons and switches the rest of the night?
Turns out that Pavarotti was doing just that at his last concert.

(Well, kind of.)

Leone Magiera, the singer’s longterm conductor and pianist, has revealed that my favourite Italian ever (apart from Monica Bellucci, ahem) was actually miming at his last live appearance at the 2006 Turin Winter Olympics.

But wait! Just before you start cracking his old CDs over your knee, disgusted at such a shameless trick, consider that he was already ill with the pancreatic cancer that eventually killed him, and the whole bloody orchestra was miming as well.

“The orchestra pretended to play, I pretended to conduct and Luciano pretended to sing,” Megiera claims in the book “Pavarotti Visto Da Vicino (Pavarotti Seen From Close Up)”. “It came off beautifully. No one was aware of the technical tricks.” He goes on to explain that the singer recorded his vocal track in a studio in his home town of Modena, while the full orchestra recorded its part separately. The reason for the recorded performance was due to the cold weather and Pavarotti’s unsureness regarding his voice.

“Pavarotti’s great career therefore ended with a virtual performance, something sad but inevitable,” Magiera states.
“It would have been too dangerous for him, because of his physical condition, to risk a live performance before a global audience.”

And you know what? I don’t usually advocate miming, but good on him. The fact that he was in a wheelchair from his undiagnosed cancer in the first place shows that he was determined enough to go through the trouble of pre-recording and showing up at all, instead of just cancelling. I know I wouldn’t bother – I can barely be arsed getting dressed most days. Just give everyone those non-descript uniform suits like in 1984 or THX-1138 and have done with fashion.

But in the end – Mr Pavarotti.

Well done Sir.

last song i heard – “the loneliness of a tower crane driver” – elbow

Muse – “HAARP”

Today sees the release of Muse’s “HAARP” CD + DVD, which covers their sell-out Wembley gigs last summer.

The DVD contains footage of their second night, June 17, at the stadium, while the CD was recorded on the opening night, June 16.

The band have previously stated in interviews their interest in alternative theories and New World Order conspiracies, including a genuine belief in Zecharia Sitchin’s literature. The title for their new release is taken from a U.S experimental project that is able to “x-ray” the globe to locate enemy submarines and weapons, though is believed by theorists to be able to control weather patterns and block global communications, with the potential to conduct “geophysical warfare” in its present state.

For a good introduction to the HAARP project, there’s a CBC report:

Part 1 – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QkLTzesBxGE&feature=related

Part 2 – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zi1nLmlicxU&feature=related

last song i heard – “soap bar” – goldie lookin’ chain

U2 – About 11 More Years 2 Many

You’d think what with all of King Bono’s world-saving antics and shoddy acting jobs, he could have hopefully somehow forgotten that he was the frontman for U2.

Unfortunately not.

Because King Bono and his band of merry men have just signed a 12-year contract with Live Nation.

12 years. Think back to what you were doing 12 years ago. Go on! Now take that huge period of your life and flip it over and imagine where you’ll be in 12 years. What are your life plans? Because whatever they are, at least you now know you’ll have the comfort of hearing U2 on the radio while you’re not living them out.

A BBC report explains more on the deal –

“Irish rockers U2 have signed a 12-year deal with concert promoter Live Nation to handle the band’s merchandising, digital and branding rights… U2 will continue to release records through Universal Music. “We’ve been dating for over 20 years now,” said singer Bono. “It’s about time we tied the knot.” Live Nation has managed U2’s tours since 1980. Financial details of the deal have not been disclosed. “U2 are doing their best work right now, on record and in concert,” said the band’s manager Paul McGuinness. “The opportunity to integrate U2 and Live Nation’s vision of the future is a great extension of our established business.”"

As CD sales continue dropping, more artists are looking at “360 degree deals” that combine their touring, publishing and recording revenue. Madonna recently signed a similar deal with Live Nation, reported to be worth $120 million over the course of ten years. So as well as enjoying the potential of seeing U2 fly around the world in their ethically appropriate jumbo-jets for another 12 years, you can also enjoy seeing Madonna bouncing around in leather trousers when she’s 59.

And by the time she’s 59, King Bono will be 57. Old enough to know better than to keep wearing those sunglasses indoors?

Here’s hoping.