Posts tagged Music at Switched

Posts with tag music

Obama's iPod Filled With Stevie Wonder, Jay-Z and Bob Dylan

by Evan Shamoon, posted Jun 27th 2008 at 9:05AM

Proving that politicians can have good taste in music, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama spoke with Rolling Stone magazine about his favorite artists -- which include Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, Jay-Z, and Stevie Wonder -- and how they've affected him personally.

"If I had one musical hero, it would have to be Stevie Wonder," says Obama, who grew up in the '70s, on bands like Earth, Wind & Fire and The Rolling Stones. "When I was at that point where you start getting involved in music, Stevie had that run with Music of My Mind, Talking Book, Fulfillingness' First Finale and Innervisions, and then Songs in the Key of Life. Those are as brilliant a set of five albums as we've ever seen."

Wondering what's on Obama's iPod? Well, he keeps it iPod varied with "everything from Howlin' Wolf to Yo-Yo Ma to Sheryl Crow." And he says he has probably thirty Dylan songs on there as well. "Maggie's Farm" is "one of my favorites during the political season," says Obama. "It speaks to me as I listen to some of the political rhetoric."

He's also friends with and fans of some new-schoolers as well. "Every time I talk to Jay-Z, who is a brilliant talent and a good guy, I enjoy how he thinks," says Obama. "He's serious and he cares about his art. That's somebody who is going to start branching out and can help shape attitudes in a real positive way."

We've been counting, and Obama's got 99 problems ... but musical taste ain't one. [Source: Rolling Stone]

Prince Sues Devoted Norwegian Fans Who Made Cover Album

by Blake Besharian, posted Jun 26th 2008 at 7:05PM

On June 7th, the artist and sex symbol formerly known as Prince officially turned 50 and apparently someone brought hime the wrong gift. It was a copy of a new five-disc Prince tribute album, which consists of 81 cover songs by Norwegian musicians of every genre including that country's National Symphony Orchestra.

Soon after receiving "Shockadelica-50th Anniversary Tribute to The Artist Known As Prince," the Artist sued C+C Records, the Norwegian music label that put the tribute together. The suit demanded that all copies of the album -- which has been critically acclaimed and peaked at no. 8 on the Norwegian charts -- be destroyed. The label's owner, Christer Falck, is also a well known television actor and a huge Prince fan. Since no one was paid for their participation, Falck didn't think he owed Prince anything more than a free copy of the disc. Especially since the description on the label's Web site features this loving statement:

"This is more than just a Prince-tribute album. This is actually EVERYTHING the Norwegian musical scene has to offer 2008. All is made with love to the world's greatest artist ever, Prince."

Actually, Falck shouldn't be surprised that he was sued, as this isn't the first time Prince has censured his fans. In 2007, he gave legal notice to YouTube, eBay and The Pirate Bay to take down all of his copyrighted content. Then, last October, Prince's record company, Universal, demanded that YouTube remove this home video of a toddler dancing to a barely audible clip of "Lets Go Crazy." Even this past spring, Prince demanded that YouTube remove a fan-recorded video of his cover of Radiohead's "Creep" at Coachella.

The C+C Records page and the "Shockadelica" MySpace page have free samples of the limited edition album. It's sure to be a collectors item. [Source: Wired]

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Starbucks Eliminating CDs and iTunes Gift Cards From Its Shops

by Tim Stevens, posted Jun 26th 2008 at 11:48AM

With file sharing, the death of independent radio, and out of touch record labels, the music industry hasn't exactly been flourishing lately. CD sales are way down, and while online music sales are way up, they're not exactly filling the gap. Unsurprising, then, that coffee uber-franchise Starbucks is scrapping its foray into the music distribution business, focusing instead on what it does best: coffee.

Starbucks had aspirations of turning into not just a cool place to get hot Venti Lattes in the morning, but also a place to check out new artists and buy a CD or three while you sipped and chatted. Those plans started with a rack of CDs at stores, along with iTunes gift cards, and a new music label. But when it was revealed that each store was selling only two discs per day, it was clear that people were coming for the caffeine kick and little else.

The chain will still continue to sell a few CDs here and there, but its upstart music label has been sold off, leaving fledgling bands with one fewer venue to get their music out there. And thus the cycle continues. [Source: Silicon Alley Insider]

Ex-Eagle Don Felder Hearts Treos, Computers, and His Girl's Face

by Christine Whitney, posted Jun 24th 2008 at 1:02PM

Remember that one kid in your class who wore the Hawaiian shirts and played 'Hotel California' on his guitar at each and every school talent show, 'cuz he just loved The Eagles that much? Well, he's super excited about onetime lead guitar Eagle Don Felder's new memoir Heaven and Hell: My Life in the Eagles (1974-2001). Here, The Eagles' secrets will be revealed -- tensions will run high, hotel rooms will be ravaged, and fans will swoon.

Homeboy will be crazy jealous when he finds out that Felder talked to the kids at Switched about his tech secrets, and his fiancée. You heard it here first. Drop down and get your Eagle on.

What gadgets do you always bring with you to the set (for down-time?

MacBook Pro, Canon camera, Treo 680, iPod, Bose noise cancelling headphones, 100 GB mini external drive, MOTU Ultralite, Guitar and cables.

What cell phone do you have right now and what do you love/hate about it?

I have a Treo 680. I love the PDA features including texting, email, contacts, web browsing, phone reception clarity and hot sync ease.

Who's the last person you sent a text message to and what was it about?

My fiancée telling her I love her face.

Where do you go (site or service) pretty much every time you get online?

MySpace, AOL, Facebook, eBay, USA Today, Wall Street Journal and Sharenow.com and donfelder.com. I have lots of friends and emails to attend to daily as well as keeping up with the election results and world news.

What annoys you most about your iPod, cell phone, or laptop?

DROPPED CALLS. Maybe one day they'll figure out a way to make these things work.

Name one thing you wish your iPod/cellphone/laptop could do that it doesn't do now?

I wish it could do voice texting/email so I would stop nearly killing myself while driving.

What upcoming gadget can you not wait to get your hands on?

Flying car so I don't have to be stuck in LA traffic anymore.

You're stranded on a desert island: What gadget do you bring?

A satellite cell phone with a built in GPS so I can call for help....DUH

What's the most-played song or artist on your iPod?

Alicia Keys & John Mayer. I respect artists that can sing, write and play.

Blackberry, Sidekick, or Treo?

Treo 680 – love it!!!

Do you have an iPhone?

I'm waiting for the new version to come out and for my friends to let me know if it's any better with the texting and battery problems than the first model. I'd love to have one but need the texting and e-mail features most of all. That seems to be the weakest part of the iPhone. I wish it had a keyboard.

What's the longest time you've ever spent playing a video game in one sitting and what game was it?

I don't play video games. I'm totally spastic when it comes to doing something with my thumbs. My kids beat me every time I try. It becomes far too frustrating.

Mac or PC

Both, I have 12 computers. Here are how they are used:

2 Mac Book Pros for use on the road and in my stage show.
4 PCs – 3 in my studio for running sound applications like Gigasampler and 1 in my office for business
4 Mac G5's in my studio for Pro Tools, Digital Performer, Logic, Illustrator, Photoshop and Go Live web design.
1 Mac in my home running iTunes for my house sound system
1 Mac G5 in my graphics art studio for all graphics programs.

Yes, I'm a computer NERD.

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Beatles Video Game Coming Soon?

by Will Safer, posted Jun 23rd 2008 at 4:47PM

You still can't buy their music on iTunes, but The Beatles soon may be coming to a video game near you.

The Financial Times is reporting that representatives of Apple Corps., the company the oversees The Beatles' business interests, have been in talks with both MTV Games (maker of Rock Band) and Activision (whose Guitar Hero is all the rage among video gamers these days). Which company they're more likely to choose to make a game is unknown.

While The Beatles have been slow to to come to new technologies (it was quite a while before the band's catalog was released first released on CD), the remaining members of the band (Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr) recently began exploring new avenues to get their sound out to the masses. For example, some Beatles tunes have been used on 'American Idol' and the Cirque du Soleil show "Love" in Las Vegas has been a hit with fans.

Word is a deal could be in the making within the next few weeks.

What will the game be like? (We would like to see a first-person 'Yellow Submarine' adventure. To visit a walrus. And an octopus' garden.) [Source: PaidContent and Joystiq.]

Yamaha's Tenori-on Music Maker Goes on Sale in America

by Darren Murph, posted Jun 20th 2008 at 3:17PM

Thanks for keeping your promise, Yamaha. The almost unicorn-like Tenori-on music maker has at long last gone on sale here in America, offering USers willing to part with $1,200 the chance to get lost inside a cacophonic wilderness. Good luck finding one in stock. [Source: Tenori-On via CNET]

McCain Uses Video Game Music In Campaign Ad, Upsetting Composer

by Terrence O'Brien, posted Jun 20th 2008 at 2:15PM

In what we're sure is a subtle way to try and connect younger voters, the McCain campaign has been using a chunk of music composed by Christopher Lennertz for 'Medal of Honor: European Assault' in a commercial. Lennertz is unhappy about it's use, however, as he is an Obama booster. Unfortunately for Lennertz, the rights to the music belong to the game's publisher EA, and not the composer.

Lennertz did, however, release a statement voicing his dissatisfaction with the McCain campaign for not seeking his approval or even notifying him of the music's use. Lennertz only found out about his music being used in the commercial when he started recieving e-mails from friends and family.

"I would like to think that someone who believes in the American ideals of business and creativity like Sen. McCain supposedly does, would not want to disgrace or inflict any hardship or ill-will on the artists who create in this country by using their works to promote products and agendas which with they disagree."

Lennertz ened his statement by declaring his support for Senator Obama. The full text of his statement can be found here. [Source: Joystiq]

Amazon MP3 Offering Coldplay Albums for as Little as $1.99

by Terrence O'Brien, posted Jun 19th 2008 at 5:22PM

Amazon Offering Coldplay Albums for Dirt Cheap

Amazon is looking to blunt Apple's iTunes-exclusive marketing blitz surrounding Coldplay's new album 'Viva la Vida.' Despite Apple's claims of exclusivity, 'Viva la Vida' is the number one selling album on the Amazon MP3 store.

Amazon's plan of action is to greatly undercut Apple on prices. Coldplay's new album is a full dollar cheaper at Amazon ($8.99) than on iTunes, but the really dirt cheap prices are on Coldplay's back catalog. Each week, an old Coldplay album will be made available for $1.99 for a period of seven days, then the the next album in the catalog will go on sale for the bargain-basement of $1.99 the following week.

The Coldplay deal is just part of a larger marketing strategy by Amazon that includes a Friday Five, which is five albums for five dollars, rotated out weekly, and a Daily Deal that offers a different album every day at steep discounts.

Amazon's lower prices are sure to win over some converts, but it still remains to be seen whether or not 'X & Y' can be called a "deal" -- even at $1.99. [Source: BetaNews]

London Eco-Club to Get Its Power From Dancers on the Dancefloor

by Terrence O'Brien, posted Jun 19th 2008 at 12:17PM

The Sustainable Dance Club (SDC), based in Rotterdam in the Netherlands, made a big splash last year when it announced that it would be building an eco-friendly dance club, which would use a specially constructed dance floor that generated electricity when people danced on it. It's a year later, however, and the SDC is only now announcing that its green club, called Watt, will open in September. It took a feisty millionaire in England partnering with the organization to get the first eco-friendly, dancer-powered club off the ground, a month earlier than the group's home town project back in Holland.

The new club in the King's Cross area of London, England, is being funded by Andrew Charalambous, a millionaire property owner, and his organization Club4Climate, which specializes in green twists on recreation. The bar will serve organic booze and features a water recycling system. And here's a new twist to the whole "getting in for free" idea: Watt will waive the admission fee to anyone who can prove they walked, biked, or took public transportation to get there (will it have bike racks, we wonder?)

The centerpiece of the discogtheque, however, is the dance floor -- a spring-loaded platform that generates electricity as the crowd dances on top of it, compressing crystals and generating current through what is known as the piezo-electric effect, the same phenomena used in push-button lighters and grills. [Source: Sustainable Dance Club, via Daily Mail]

Meet the Trons, an all-Robot Rock Band

by Darren Murph, posted Jun 19th 2008 at 8:45AM

We'll admit, we reckoned we were coming along alright with our bar chords, but now we're teetering on the edge of just giving up. Yeah, we've seen robotic mechanisms programmed to make meaningful sounds before, but The Trons are a bona fide band, man. We hear they're going on tour as well -- talk about a guaranteed sell out. Totally killer Sister Robot video after the jump. [Source: YouTube]

Continue reading Meet the Trons, an all-Robot Rock Band

Oldest Recording of Computer Music Uncovered

by Terrence O'Brien, posted Jun 18th 2008 at 3:03PM

Oldest Recording of Music Performed by a Computer Uncovered

Computer-based music had its humble beginnings, it turns out, as a rather tuneless scratchy recording of a melody featuring 'God Save the King,' 'Baa Baa Black Sheep,' and 'In the Mood' performed by a Ferranti Mark 1, the first commercially available general purpose computer. The performance was recorded in 1951, six years earlier than the previous oldest recording of computer music, performed by an IBM mainframe.

The recording was by the BBC for a show called 'Children's Hour' after it had discovered that programmers had coaxed computers to play music. The performance doesn't sound much better than a 6-year-old kid blowing into a bass kazoo, but it's nonetheless historic as it is currently the oldest recording of its type.

Still, the BBC tune is by no means the oldest instance of computer-based music. That honor goes to the CSIRAC, a Australian computer, which was the first computer to play music, beating the Ferranti by no more than a few months, but no recording of its performance has yet been unearthed.

The Ferranti Mark 1 is a direct descendant of Baby, the forefather of all modern computers, which the BBC is celebrating this month in honor of its 60th anniversary. [Source: BBC]

Half the Songs on the Average Teen's iPod Are Illegal

by Terrence O'Brien, posted Jun 16th 2008 at 11:47AM

Half the Songs on the Average iPod are Illegal

If you were to dig through the average 18-year-old's iPod, you'll find quite a bit of illegally obtained music. According to a recent British study, an average of 842 illegally downloaded tracks can be found on a 14-24 year-old's iPod. 842 songs equals about half of the average music collection for the same age group.

The study also proved once and for all that anyone who says they don't illegally download music is probably lying. 96 percent of respondents age 18-24 have illegally copied or downloaded music, while 89 percent of 14-17 year olds have.

Record companies are desperate to put an end to piracy and restore revenue streams as CD sales continue to bottom out. This same study also showed that teens were willing to pay for legal subscription services. Even so, consumers have long had a number of legal subscription services -- Napster, Rhapsody, and others -- to choose from and yet none have truly taken off.

Perhaps if consumers weren't scarred by decades of greed, stupidity, crappy music and artificially inflated prices, they'd be more willing to play fairly. [Source: Times Online]

Yes, Vinyl is Back! (Again)

by Christine Whitney, posted Jun 14th 2008 at 2:30PM

Hooray! As we reported last year, vinyl, our favorite music format, is rumored to be making a comeback. A recent CNN article asserts that from 2006 to 2007, manufacturers' shipments of LPs increased by 36%, while shipments of CDs dropped over 17%. In your face, CDs and MP3s!

Hard-core music aficionados laud the analog sound delivered by records as more continuous and superior to digital recordings like those found on CDs. And LPs are so much more handsome and charming! Case in point: Our first LP was Iggy Pop's 'New Values' but our first CD was Ace of Base.

With the advent of MP3s, we've trashed most of our CDs [full disclosure: we held onto 'The Sign'] but the LPs remain. DJs and other eccentrics like ourselves have long been faithful to the LP format, but lately it's starting to make an incursion into the mainstream, as many mega music retailers such as Amazon.com and Best Buy have started offering LPs.

Mega-chains are not expected to cause competition for indie record stores, as their clientele and musical persuasions are dramatically different. Top sellers from the corporate end include Madonna's latest 'Hard Candy,' and everybody's parents' favorite standby, The Beatles' 'Abbey Road,' which you'd be loathe to find at the neighborhood record exchange. [Source: CNN]

Metallica Asks Bloggers to Pull Down Advance Reviews

by Evan Shamoon, posted Jun 12th 2008 at 8:54AM

You know what's heavy metal? Biting a live chicken head off on stage. You know what's not? Whining to music critics and telling them not to review your precious new album.

Metallica invited music critics in London to listen to six tracks off its forthcoming album, with the implicit implication that the critics would go ahead and write reviews based on what they'd heard (no non-disclosure agreements, contracts, etc). So, immediately after the reviews hit the Web, Metallica's management contacted the writers in attendance and asked them to take down the reviews.

The music blog Blinded by the Hype contacted The Quietus, one of the blogs that had run a review, wondering what had happened to the piece. Here's what editor Luke Turner had to say:

"The Quietus kept our article up the longest and, as no nondisclosure agreement had been signed," he wrote, "[we were] not prepared to remove it merely due to the demands of Metallica's management. We only removed the article earlier today to protect the professional interests of the writer concerned."

Since their whole hissy-fit about people downloading their music without paying (also very heavy metal of them, we should add), Metallica has garnered its fair share of hateration on the Internet. This newest tantrum probably won't help matters. [Source: ArsTechnica]

Pearl Jam Offering Free 'Bootleg' Downloads on Verizon Phones

by Tim Stevens, posted Jun 11th 2008 at 8:24AM

Pearl Jam Offering Free Bootleg Downloads Through V CAST

Back in the day, bootleg recordings were poor-quality reproductions of live concerts captured on crummy tape systems that were then passed around (usually illegally) between rabid fans. These days, it seems, that concept has gone a little....commercial. Verizon has announced a partnership with former grunge mavens Pearl Jam to release a trio of 'bootleg' tracks after each concert on their 2008 tour, which kicks off tonight in West Palm Beach, Florida.

Three songs will be captured each night, mixed by a Verizon engineer, then posted to Verizon's V CAST network for download on Verizon Wireless phone the the desktops of Verizon Wireless customers. One of the three will be free for 24 hours after posting, while the other two will cost $.99 each. After 24 hours, that free track will be replaced with another, though the old one will still be available for purchase along with all the others for the duration of the tour.

Underground it ain't -- after all these arent's really bootlegs, are they? -- but if you want to get in on the action, you'll have to download the V CAST Music Manager software. You certainly can't beat the price -- so long as you're quick with the downloading and don't mind one measly track per night. If, on the other hand, you're willing to pay for the full show, head over to PearlJam.com, where pretty much anyone can download MP3 versions of shows for $9.99 (and those will work on any player or phone!). [Source: Pearl Jam Summer Tour 2008]

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Obama's iPod Filled With Stevie Wonder, Jay-Z and Bob Dylan

Prince Sues Devoted Norwegian Fans Who Made Cover Album

Starbucks Eliminating CDs and iTunes Gift Cards From Its Shops

Ex-Eagle Don Felder Hearts Treos, Computers, and His Girl's Face

Beatles Video Game Coming Soon?

Yamaha's Tenori-on Music Maker Goes on Sale in America

McCain Uses Video Game Music In Campaign Ad, Upsetting Composer

Amazon MP3 Offering Coldplay Albums for as Little as $1.99

London Eco-Club to Get Its Power From Dancers on the Dancefloor

Meet the Trons, an all-Robot Rock Band

Oldest Recording of Computer Music Uncovered

Half the Songs on the Average Teen's iPod Are Illegal

Yes, Vinyl is Back! (Again)

Metallica Asks Bloggers to Pull Down Advance Reviews

Pearl Jam Offering Free 'Bootleg' Downloads on Verizon Phones

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