Michael Jackson - A Music Icon

Within the same week at the destruction of the Georgia Theater, we lose an even more prominent musical icon: Michael Jackson. If you haven't already heard, the King of Pop died yesterday after being found unconscious and not breathing in Los Angeles, CA. Twitter and Facebook blew up with news of his hospitalization and rumors of his death.

I still can't believe it.

So many of us grew up listening to his music. He was part of our childhood and influenced us in so many ways. He was the greatest recording artist and entertainer of our time. He was the superstar of planet Earth. He changed the world.

MJ lived a hard and messed up life and although he was plagued with controversies and allegations later in his career, I truly believe that he will be remembered for his music.

Double inductee in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. 13 Grammy Awards and number one singles. Countless other awards. Over 750 million records sold worldwide. Ultimately, he did what wanted and didn't let anything stop him.

He will be missed.

Athens Music Community Pull Together to Save the Georgia Theater

7:59 AM. Friday Morning. I was awaken from a text from a friend saying that the Georgia Theater was on fire. What an alarm. By the time I drove up to Downtown Athens, I was met with a downtown-wide power outage. Restaurants, stores, and traffic lights were completely dark and the streets were filled with cops. The smell of smoke was present and helicopters flew above me.

It was a scary time to be in Athens.

Walking up to the crowd of people behind the caution tape, I saw the smoke still filling the sky above the Georgia Theater. On the outside, it seemed fine, but from the smoke, it was obvious the inside would be gutted. I met up with many friends trying to see what exactly was going on. Everyone was shocked. I could overhear different people talking about the fond memories they've had at the historic venue.

The Georgia Theater's website has been updated with this message:

"It is with immense emotion that we sadly report the Georgia Theatre burned down Friday morning, June 19. There are a lot more questions than answers right now and we will do our best to keep the public informed as we learn more."

Attending Jump's last concert. Countless Gamedays. Planning the 80's for the Ladies benefit concert there. Numerous Abbey Road Live shows. Watching Contraband rock out. These are just a few of my fond memories from the Georgia Theater. We all share very fond memories at the Georgia Theater and the wonderful thing is, the Athens music community is not going to let them fade away. Already, musicians and different venues around downtown Athens are pulling together to help bring back the Georgia Theater.

Perpetual Groove, who were supposed to perform at the theater on Friday and Saturday night, performed elsewhere and donated the proceeds to the Georgia Theater.

This Tuesday, June 23rd, The Whigs and Dead Confederate will be performing at The Melting Point to benefit the Georgia Theater staff. Doors open at 6pm and tickets are only $10. Hope everyone can make it!

Also, the Georgia Theater has release a new shirt to help offset the damage done by the fire and help support the staff who are now out of work. Click here for more details.

On the shirt it reads, "Built to last... We shall return," and I believe they will.

Did Coldplay Rip Cat Stevens?

Okay, this is getting ridiculous.

At the end of last year, Coldplay was accused of copying one of Joe Satriani's songs for "Viva La Vida." Now Cat Stevens is coming forward saying that he was the one to actually inspire Coldplay in writing the song written in 1973. Earlier this week, he told The Sun that "there’s been this argument about Coldplay stealing this melody from Joe Satriani, but, if you listen to it, it’s [his]! It’s the Foreigner Suite, it is!”

Give. me. a. break.

Before I rant anymore, you'll have to listen for yourself.

It's a very large stretch, but here's the thing: the chord progressions may be similar, but that is all! In the long history of music, there are going to be songs that share similar chord progressions. Artists everywhere need to realize and accept this!

Hmm, what a coincidence was it that Cat Stevens announced this so-called plagiarism the same day his new album was released? Yeah, right.

What do you think?

We R Generation Txt

I found my new favorite website:

www.textsfromlastnight.com

It's along the same lines as fmylife.com and overheardinathens.com, other hilarious websites you must check out. Basically, you submit real texts you've received and submit them to the site along with the area code for everyone's enjoyment. We're all guilty of the occasional embarrassing text message. This website exploits it:)

While laughing hysterically at some of the submissions, it got me thinking about how our generation turned into "Generation Text." I think it all started with AOL Instant Messenger and other services like it in the mid 90's. 10 years ago, AIM use to be the shit. We could be connected and chat or be "away" if we didn't want to. Around the same time, beepers started to gain popularity. Beepers- something to tell us that we need to call other people. It's hard not to think about those and not laugh about its pointlessness, especially now. 

In the brink of the new millennium, cell phones became more affordable and more people could have them. AT&T introduced their service which included SMS text messaging. The only catch was that we were limited to only a certain amount of texts sent and received per month, say 200 for example. If you didn't have the plan, it could have been 10 cents per message. Some people would get angry if they received messages. 

The one thing that opened this generation to texting was the inclusion of unlimited texting plans. After that, we realized texting just makes sense. It's quick and easy, how we like most things. Nearly all teenagers with a phone text and close to 85 percent of college students reported that they text regularly, according to the Pew Research Center. Why can't we just make a phone call, some have asked. This is our generation's way of adapting to new technology. Some have argued that people are getting more unsocial and less personal. I can see that argument in a way, but the rise of texting and social networking actually gives us new ways to connect and stay connected, just in a different way. 

People keep talking about "text speak" but this was here long before texting became popular and it all started during the AIM years. How many of these can you translate? LOL, ROTFL, BRB, GTG, AFK, ASL, BTW, WTF, LMAO, OMG, PWN, NOOB, TTYL. This is how we spoke on IM and to watch it grow within pop culture to the point where people actually say "LOL" or "OMG" is pretty much amazing.

With the rise of texting, many have utilized and capitalized on the idea of this idea of short and to-the-point ideas from one person to another. Just look at how Twitter really took off in the past year. Fmylife.com is a new and interesting take on the idea of short bursts of information and now TFLN (Texts From Last Night) is taking it a little further. Actually, more literally I guess.

We R Generation Txt. Lazy? Arguable. Better because of it? Absolutely.

iPhone Apps Are the New Myspace Page

I have a confession. I am an iPhone App-oholic. I have over 50 Apps and browse almost daily for new ones. Do you know the cool thing though?

Call me cheap, but I haven't paid for one App as of yet.

That's the beautiful thing about the App Store: the amount of high quality free applications are amazing. In the music industry world, bands and other musical artists are starting to realize the full potential of these simple but amazing apps.

Artists like Death Cab for Cutie, Soulja Boy Tell 'Em, Pink, NIN, and Santana have jumped on the band wagon and have released apps to strengthen ties to their fans and to boost album sales. Most of the apps operate much like a Myspace artist page. There are samples or even full songs available to stream from the web, news updates from the bands, upcoming shows, photo galleries, video galleries, discography, and even biography sections. Others, like Soulja Boy's, feature a chat feature to interact with other fans. Death Cab's app features a unique tour section where fans can see how far away the band is in relation to their location and directions to upcoming shows. Also, the ability to browse the app and listen to DCfC's music at the same time is awesome!

Every musical artist should have their own iPhone app, and I think in time, most will. It provides another way to connect to your friends on an interactive level and help promote your brand in bold new ways. Also, the ability to update apps gives an unlimited lifespan to artist iPhone apps.

Something I would love to see are apps for individual albums. Basically take what you would put into physical albums into digital form in an app- cool artwork, liner notes, lyrics, and throw in some special features like making of videos, interviews, and a way to communicate with the bands. Another great way to hype and promote music. 

In the mean time, I'll be feeding my addiction.

Are We Addicted to Twitter?

I just found a hilarious video about the the growing popularity of Twitter and how some people let it take over their lives. For all the Twitterers out there, check out this video and laugh at the rich sarcasm in it!

As an avid Twitter user, this is exactly what I hope doesn't eventually happen to the service- people tweeting endlessly about useless things like using the bathroom or watching TV. Twitter should be used to tweet ABOUT the things you're doing, not what you're doing. Watching TV? Which show are you watching? If I tweet about watching LOST, other LOST fans will see and tweet back. That is the beauty of Twitter. Also, the video doesn't mention the ways it's used for marketing, politics, references, etc. These are the ways I find Twitter to be most useful. Many of my friends often tweet about interesting articles or blogs they've read or written. 

"Why don't you just call your friends instead of Tweeting about it?" Very popular question. It would make sense maybe 10 years ago, but today's world is ten times faster than it was then. People are always on the go, juggling multiple projects and tasks daily. Unfortunately, this leaves little time in the day to chat with friends and family. Just look at how the popularity of texting has sky rocketed. Twitter gives you the opportunity to stay connected with loved ones through short blog posts. 

Hilarious video, though. It's always fun to twitter about useless things every now and then. Favorite quote: "I forgot how much I like pickles." LOL.

iPhone OS 3.0 Preview!

Last Tuesday, Apple announced the new consumer and developer features for the next iPhone operating system update. All of the new features will be highly welcome by consumers and open up more opportunities for developers to evolve apps even further. 

I'm pretty excited about the new update! Finally, we'll be able to cut, copy, and paste! Searching your iPhone will become a reality, operating much like Spotlight. Also my favorite update will be the ability to use the landscape keyboard while using more applications like Mail and text messaging. I quickly got tired of using the small keyboard, so this will be a much welcomed new feature. 

The most notable new feature will be something most iPhone users have complained about the beginning- MMS support. With this new feature, iPhone users will be able to send photos, audio files, contacts, and locations via MMS. Unfortunately, there's a catch... this is only available on the new 3G models. So early adopters who complained of not having this feature that most other phones had, like me, will still be SOL. I'm pretty disappointed about this, especially since I wont be in the market for an iPhone upgrade for awhile. Apple, I love you, but c'mon!

The iPhone OS 3G update should be available for download some time in June, free for iPhone users and $9.95 for iPod Touchers. Check out the Apple's site for a detailed list of new features for consumers and developers.

Social Nets In, Emailing Out.

Social networking sites like Facebook and Myspace has overtaken emailing as the most popular internet activity, which was reported by Billboard over a study taken by Nielsen. 

And to think some of us thought "Facebook Stalking" was a fad. Bah!

Neilsen released a study showing that online participation on social networks exceeded emailing by 67 percent to 65 percent. This shift in online activity is going to have a profound effect on marketers and publishers. They are already having a hard time connecting with more consumers because time is being taken away from them in favor of more time on social networks, which is already hard to reach consumers on.  Basically, the more time social networking takes of you, the less you shop and buy, and the less those marketers and publishers make. 

I've personally noticed my shift from using email to Facebook messaging friends. It's just plain easier to message others, especially more than one. Twitter has also made it much easier to keep up with friends and family, leaving my email for more professional contacts. Interesting enough, Linkedin has slowly taken over my professional contacts as well!

Some interesting data that Neilsen reported were that nearly 2/3 of the world's internet users visited a social network in 2008, 10 percent of total internet time was spent on social media, and that social media has broken out of the youth demographic. Facebook's greatest growth has come from the 35-49 year olds, and has added double the amount of 50-64 year olds to the under 18 crowd. I'm sure many of your mommas and papas are already on Facebook (and even more of you have untagged those less than flattering pictures from last weekend.)

With this new development, marketers and publishers are in a dilemma and you know what that means! New business models! 

"As the online industry matures and the values of online real estate is increasingly measured by time spent, rather than pages viewed, a significant shift in advertising revenue from 'traditional' online media towards social media could be realized -- if the successful ad model can be found," the Neilsen report said. "Whatever the successful ad model turns out to be, the messaging will have to be authentic and humble, and built on the principle of two-way conversation -- not a push model -- that adds value to the consumer."

Athentic and humble? Two-way conversation? Sounds like they are talking a little bit about viral marketing, which relies mostly on word of mouth marketing. This has been working well on Youtube, but can the music industry benefit from this shift too? We're definitely on the right track with the incorporation of applications like iLike and Last.fm, but how can we further this concept into the social networking sites?

Whoever thinks of a good model will probably be the next hired. I graduate soon... excuse me while I wrap my head around this;)

Etta James Hating on Beyonce and Obama

During the Inaugural Ball after President Obama's historic inauguration, Beyonce made a special guest performance rendition of "At Last," which is one of Etta James', R&B veteran, signature songs. The Obama's danced together with the beautifully historic song helping express the emotion of the day.

Unfortunately, Etta James didn't think so.

During a concert in Seattle last week, the Associated Press quoted Etta James saying that Beyonce was "gonna get her ass whipped."

"I tell you that woman he had her singing for him, singing my song, she gonna get her assed whipped. The great Beyonce. Now like I said, she ain't mine. I can't stand Beyonce!"

She was definitely being sarcastic when she said "the great Beyonce." To add to the ludicrousness, she went on to slam the president as well. "You know your President, right? You know the one with the big ears? He ain't my President."

Etta. Now really. Could you possibly be any more rude in public? You should be ashamed. It's obvious that they made the right choice in not having you sing at the inaugural ball because of your complete lack of professionalism, class, and respect.

Let's not forget that even though "At Last" is Etta James' signature song, IT'S NOT EVEN HER SONG TO BEGIN WITH. She basically gained fame for making a cover of the 1941 song written by Mack Gordon and Harry Warren. "At Last" was originally written for the musical film Orchestral Wives and was performed by Glenn Miller and his orchestra, reaching #14 on the Billboard pop charts in 1942, soon becoming a standard. 

So why the hell is she getting angry at Beyonce? 

Nice try tying to stir some controversy to gain some attention, Etta, but get over it. You're old news now. Thanks for showing your true colors.

Making a Video Game in 48 Hours

Global Game Jam Jan. 30th - Feb. 1st 2009

Reporting live from the journalism building at UGA, in the New Media Suite, with little to no sleep and running on energy drinks! The Athens chapter of GGDA (Georgia Game Developers Association) is participating in the Global Game Jam, put on by the International Game Developers Association. Global Game Jam is a competition for with over 50 participating teams in 23 countries to make a fully functional video game in 48 hours.

The competition started at 5:00 pm yesterday afternoon with our guidelines for our game. We through around about 4 ideas and after about 2 hours, we focused on one awesome game. What's my task, you ask? The music is being composed by yours truly, along with another awesome music and sound engineer, Dan Wentworth.  We spent all night throwing around musical themes and ideas for the different levels for the game and finished 3 themes this afternoon! This is seriously some fun shit I'm doing, can't wait till we can show it off to the world.

The 48 hours ends tomorrow at 5:00 pm (just in time for the Super Bowl:) and we still have a couple more themes and sound effects to work on, so I will keep you updated until then. Until then, check us out streaming live here and click on Athens, GA. Maybe you catch a glimpse of me! Very Big Brother-esque;) 

iTunes Plus Will Offer DRM Free Music

The last Macworld ever was held yesterday and Apple made many announcements about updates with their software, but probably the most exciting news was their iTunes update.

iTunes, which is the world's largest and best-selling music library, has sold over 6 billion songs since it opened in April of 2003. Since then, songs went for .99 cents a piece, but now Apple is introducing new pricing tiers this April: $.69, $.99, and $1.29. It was also announced that most songs will be priced for $.69. 

The next announcement was an iTunes update called iTunes Plus. What does this mean? Brace yourself... DRM FREE MUSIC! Starting today with a partnership including all of the major record labels, Apple will offer 8 million songs DRM free and will be adding 2 million by the end of the quarter, totaling to 10+ million songs that will be DRM free.

The last bit of info will be refreshing to all iPhone users (hehe)! It's been annoying that I can't buy music off on iTunes on my iPhone unless I am connected to an area WIFI because most of the time I am on the Edge network. No fancy 3G for me:( But not anymore! Starting today, iPhone and iPod Touch users will be able to preview and download music on iTunes using WIFI and 3G networks.

These are some impressive announcements for iTunes, making it much more appealing to download music legally, but it still bears the question. Are you still going to bootleg your music?