Archives for October 2006

The Daily Loper – October 31, 2006

October 31, 2006 by Lopy

Oooooooh, Scaaaarrrrry! Edition

Today’s links of interest:

British comedian Cohen sets his sights on Austria
For everybody worried about being the butt of these types of movies, here a rule: don’t talk to strangers with cameras, and for gods sakes, read the waiver forms fully if you do.
Fox Gets It Wrong, NBC Says ‘Studio 60’ Stays Onboard
Everything you read …
Fake News Back on YouTube
…yesterday was wrong.

Music Executive Declares ‘CD Is Dead’, Announces Plans To Save The CD

October 31, 2006 by Kirk Biglione

It takes a true visionary to stand up to his industry and speak unpopular truths.
That’s exactly what EMI CEO Alain Levy did last Friday when he told an audience at the London Business School that, in his opinion, the CD format is dead. The audience gasped, the media ran banner headlines lamenting the passing of the once popular audio format, music lovers shrugged and loaded more songs onto their iPods.

There’s just one problem with this story. Levy didn’t really say that he thinks the CD format is dead. If you read his remarks closely you’ll see that he actually said “The CD as it is right now is dead”. See the difference? He’s implying that the CD format can be saved. Furthermore, he has a plan:

The Daily Loper – October 30, 2006

October 30, 2006 by Lopy

Happy 24th Birthday, KFSR Edition

Today’s links of interest:

Twyla Tharp brings Bob Dylan to Broadway
Well, it seemed like a terrible idea in the first place. And once again pointing out that convergence for the sake of convergence leads to a chaotic blob rather than a recontextualization that provides new insights into an older work.
In Early Newspapers, Impartiality Was the Exception
Yes, yes, yes, it is indeed common knowledge that neutral bias is one of those things we made up in the last century.
YouTube Is Purging Copyrighted Clips
Hmm, next up: major deals with YouTube to post copyrighted clips. Right now, the method-du-jour is to go to YouTube to catch something you missed last night on The Daily Show — taking that privilege away from viewers might backfire.

Great Googlely Moogley! Don’t Use Their Name in Vain!

October 30, 2006 by Jim Connelly

Sometimes even companies we love become too big for their britches. I guess that they get so used to having control of their environment and/or their market, they decide that they want to overreach and try to control things that they have no business trying to control.

The latest company guilty of trying to overreach: Google.

All they want to do now is control the English Language. Hey, let us know how that works out.

The Weekly ‘Loper – October 29, 2006

October 29, 2006 by Jim Connelly

While you were not watching the World Series, here’s what we were looking at:

Five Lessons The Music Industry Can Learn From AllofMP3 – The upshot: Allofmp3.com is focused on giving consumers the best bang for their buck, as opposed to being a grudging half-hearted stab at getting into the 21st century.
NBC’s Insidious Plot – Or not. Within a couple of days after this went up, NBC announced the revival of their Thursday night comedy block. We take full credit.
The Word On The Not-So-New Fall Television Season – Lacklustre.
You Say You Wanna Pay The Musicians? – It’s always hilarious to hear the record companies object to file-sharing on moral grounds. “You’re stealing from the poor musicians.” Right. Some might say that the record industry was pretty much built on stealing from the poor musicians?
That’s What I Like: YouTube – Kirk looks at how YouTube has become so indepensible so swiftly. Volume, volume, volume!

The Daily Loper – October 28, 2006

October 28, 2006 by Lopy

Ixnay On Your Obbingsay Edition

Today’s links of interest:

The Pretenders rock VH1 Classic
Also, that first album has been remastered and reissued. Nothing released around that same time — not even fucking "London Calling" — has withstood the test of time as well. It was perfect then, it’s more perfect now. And it was just the beginning of an extraordinary career.
Bengals-Ravens game Nov. 30 not on local cable TV
This is some of the fallout of the NFL Network/Time Warner Cable war. And you wonder why people hate their local cable company. Oh wait, you probably don’t.
Google bombing becomes new tactic for political campaigns
Gaming google’s search algorithms — as opposed to Al Gore Rhythms, which is a totally different head, man — for political profit.

The Daily Loper – October 27, 2006

October 27, 2006 by Lopy

How Taguchi? So Taguchi! Edition

Today’s links of interest:

The Man Who Sailed Around His Soul
A long look at the career of Andy Partridge. “To me, success is really making enough money to be able to carry on making music. That’s success.”
Can Wikipedia Ever Make the Grade?
In an attempt to prove that the credibility of Wikipedia is suspect, one man attempts to insert false facts. He then encounters the Wiki police.
Most Newspapers Not Using Web to Full Potential
Um, gee, where have we heard this before?

That’s What I Like: YouTube

October 27, 2006 by Kirk Biglione

It’s hard to imagine a world without YouTube — which is amazing when you consider that the site’s official launch was less than a year ago. In its brief existence YouTube has become an unstoppable force, hosting 65,000 new videos per day and 20 million users per month. YouTube’s mojo is so strong that masters of world domination, Google, finally gave up trying to compete and bought the company outright.

What makes YouTube so great? Videos, of course. By simplifying the process of uploading video content YouTube has become a repository for millions of videos. The site hosts a huge number of obscure video clips you never thought you’d see again, and in many cases clips you never thought you’d see in the first place.

I visit YouTube regularly to get my fix of weird Japanese television shows, rare music videos and live performances, vintage television commercials and movie trailers, and strange public access programming.

The Daily Loper – October 26, 2006

October 26, 2006 by Lopy

Strangely Truncated Edition

Today’s links of interest:

Martin Scorsese’s Next Film To Be Three Hours Of Begging For Oscar
The inside scoop on the next film from one of our greatest living directors.
MySI Is Successful for Sports Illustrated
Apparently football is better than swimsuits.

You Say You Wanna Pay The Musicians?

October 26, 2006 by Kassia Krozser

Kirk’s recent post on AllofMP3.com lead to a few interesting comments. Okay, one interesting comment — one of our readers took Kirk to task for not discussing royalties and the payment thereof. Poor guy, he had no idea that this is one of my favorite topics. Calculating royalties from the perspective of a major entertainment company comprised a large portion of my professional career.

Or, that is to say, they never let me anywhere near math. My role in the whole game was far more sordid.
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