With the recent glut of quality musical acts becoming corporate shills, I have often found myself wondering at what point they jeopardize their artistic integrity for a quick buck. It is sometimes difficult to distinguish between self-promotion and simple greed. For some artists, inclusion in a major corporate advertising campaign exposes a much wider audience to their previously unknown music (see Feist and her Ipod Nano ads); while others are clearly cashing in on the already established value of an older song (see any advertisement with a classic rock song).
Most of the time, I don't have a problem with this phenomenon. In the age of file-sharing, the music industry will need new sources of revenue, and advertising presents a significant opportunity. Local musician, Kevin Barnes from Of Montreal, famously sold the rights to one of his songs to Outback Steakhouse; they then rewrote the song into one of the more annoying jingles that I can remember. In an interview with Pitchfork, Barnes responded to critics of his move:
"Most people realize that indie bands don't make any money, so when something like that happens, it's not like all of a sudden the band is a sellout...that's the thing that seemed kind of funny...it doesn't matter what the band did all the way up to that point-- you sell one song to a commercial and all of a sudden you're a sellout."
Although I think Barnes is right, there must be some point where a good artist becomes a 'sell out'. Thanks to Bill Wyman from the Washington Post, we can now figure out exactly when this occurs. He has developed the Moby Quotient, named after the artist who once sold every song on his album 'Play' to marketing people of all stripes. In this exercise, a high Moby Quotient equals selling-out. From the article:
"If you are an artist who traffics in -- or has trafficked in -- your outsider status; if you were a punk or a rebel or a beast whose rude yawp emerged from the underground and you are now hawking your anthems of defiance as ear candy to further the sales of a crummy telecom company, a new line of SUVs or the marvelous things General Electric is doing, well then, sir or madam artiste, expect your Moby Quotient to be somewhat higher."
So based on this definition, what musical act is the biggest sell-out of all time? Leave your thoughts in the comments section.
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Has Your Favorite Band Sold-Out?
(sigh) What did that monkey ever do to you?
I’m not going to off on an anti-Creationist rant. I think people should be able to believe what they want. In that mode, I think protesting a school of thought by symbolically killing a monkey seems a little off-kilter.
I’m not really sure what this proves. The head of the protest explains that this “is exactly how satanic cults were punished in the old days.” By taking a loosely-connected toy symbol and stabbing it? Now, I’m not advocating anyone being burnt at the stake, but I believe that’s how things used to go down. . .
Have to love those cheeky Brits
Further cementing his place as the greatest rock 'n' roll musician of all time — if by greatest I mean the very closest one can come to exactly average — here are some excellent quotations from Oasis' Noel Gallagher via Idolator.
Ever a giant prick, Gallagher takes shots at all comers, particularly Blur, who, sorry buddy, is a much better band than yours. But you have to respect the guy's bravado, comparing himself to The Beatles after producing only one above-average album throughout a 15+ year career. Rock on.
China to U.S.: You can only honor who we say you can
In the news today is China's threat toward the U.S. regarding us honoring the Dalai Lama, which it claims will severely dampen our relationship.
Actually, I can see the political argument from the angle of The People's Republic, as by doing this, the U.S. is supporting a separatist that poses a threat to its state.
"'Such a person who basely splits his motherland and doesn't even love his motherland has been welcomed by some countries and has even been receiving this or that award,' the Tibetan Communist Party boss, Zhang Qingli, said during the congress."
However, the subsequent comment from Zhang is where I differ on the subject. He explains, "We are furious. If the Dalai Lama can receive such an award, there must be no justice or good people in the world."
My difference probably comes from the way that I view religious leaders and peaceful protest. Again, I can see China's side of the argument, but this statement seems a little dramatic.
In the end, though, the article mentions that China's threat is probably empty, but still it raises further questions on its status as "the people's republic."
We Got News
- A key US-India nuclear agreement is nearing collapse (Washington Post)
- London will be in the running for future Super Bowl sites (ESPN)
- Internet dinosaur, AOL, will cut 2,000 jobs this year (CNNMoney)
- Fed Chief says economic outlook is uncertain (USA Today)
- Hardee's unveils a 920 calorie breakfast burrito (CNNMoney)
First Baby Boomer Files For Social Security
The nation's first baby boomer has filed for social security, which could signal the beginning of the end for the program as we know it.
After years of hand wringing by politicians and the media, I am sure that you are all aware of the issues facing social security (hint: too many people taking money out, not enough putting money in). What, if anything, would you do to save it?
A Bizarre Piece of News from Indy
The whole story is here.
Monday, October 15, 2007
Day 7: Au Revoir to the French Riviera
Unfortunately, our week in Nice had to draw to a close, and so must my posts and pictures. This may be a pleasure to some, but I hope most of you enjoyed this brief feature while it lasted. If and when I go anywhere else I plan to uphold the same standards I have set forth here.
Check out the trip from the beginning:
The First Weekend (Days 1 & 2) - Nice
Day 3 - Nice
Day 4 - Villefranche
Day 5 - Monaco
Day 6 - Into the Countryside
And here's more from our final day on the French Riviera, after the jump.
Fall Concert List
We are almost through the fall concert season, but there are a few great shows left to go this month and in December. Here is a handy list of the upcoming shows. As always a few featured shows will appear on the side bar. Let me know if I am missing anything important:
Athens:
11/17 - Krush Girls - 40 Watt
11/30 - Modern Skirts - 40 Watt
12/3 - Dinosaur Jr. - 40 Watt
12/6 - Deerhunter - 40 Watt
Atlanta:
11/15 - Regina Spektor - Tabernacle
11/18 - Hold Steady/Art Brut - Variety Playhouse
11/20 - Of Montreal - Variety Playhouse
Facebook Says: "Get the F#$@ Out"
Dear Friends,
Many of you may have noticed that "Pasty", surname "Quail", is no longer appearing on your list of Facebook friends. Please rest assured that this is not because of something you did last weekend. Rather, the people at Facebook apparently look at the Terms of Service in a different way than we did.
For instance, they read the TOS and expect people to abide by them, whereas we didn't look at them and could not care any less what they say. As a direct result of this, "Pasty" has lost his Facebook profile.
But worry not, my friends. We will revive the old "Pasty Quail" group on FB, and we will be branching out to other social networking sites soon. We are also working on developing a Pasty Quail application for Facebook that will deliver our best content directly to your newsfeed.
Update: Apparently, Facebook is on an account disabling rampage at the moment. Check out this list of things you should avoid doing in order to preserve your account.
Modern science at it again
A recent Stanford University study has discovered a possible method for diagnosing Alzheimer's before symptoms arise.
Though at present there is a dearth of effective drugs for the disease, clearly "the real usefulness of an early diagnostic test would come when drugs are developed that slow or halt the progression of Alzheimer's disease. Several therapies that might be able to do that are now being tested. The drugs would be most valuable if they could be used before cognitive ability has declined too much."
This is a great step from our old friends in the lab. The article makes a good point that some might not want to know they have a terminal illness before it happens. While this could be psychologically debilitating, depending on the situation it can be of great benefit to yourself and the people around you; learning about it will help everyone recognize when it starts to occur, and they'll know how to take care of you.
Call him Ishmael
I apologize to the squeamish for posting this picture, as it's hardly news even for a slow news day. Yet, I do find it impressive that someone caught this shark, more than doubling the previous record for this fishing contest.
If you care not to read the article, this mako shark caught 70 miles from Destin, Fla., weighed 844 pounds. So, next time you're out on the yacht in the Gulf, I'd check for open sores.
That's a lot of candy bars to sell
Further checking reality, CNN reports that an estimated $3 billion will be spent on television advertising for the 2008 elections (across the board). Granted, so many people running for offices adds up pretty quickly. At the same time, this number shows how ridiculously difficult it is to project oneself on the national level, leading into question what kind of "free" elections we truly have.
Stephen Colbert Tries His Hand at the NYT
Stephen Colbert, host of The Colbert Report has written an opinion column for Maureen Dowd, the editor of the New York Times Opinion Page. The column is great; he manages to rip many of the NYT Opinions editors as well as most of the presidential candidates. The image of John McCain passing a hat at the gas station while the Straight Talk Express sits by idly is pretty great.
Airline Flight is Safe
Here in the United States, there has been only one fatal crash of a commercial airliner in 5 years (approximately 5,475,000 flights at the rate of 30,000/day). Look here for details about the 10 plane crashes that have made the airline industry so safe.
Laws Are Made to be Broken
Professor Tim Wu, from Columbia Law School, has an article on Slate about US laws that are meant to be broken.
This seems to be part of a running piece, so keep an eye on this guy and what he has to say.
ESPN's Ombudsman right on, as per usual
I found myself referring to this column about 70 times last week after I read it, as ESPN's Ombudsman, Le Anne Schreiber, aptly discusses The Worldwide Leader's lack of journalistic integrity.
First of all, let me express my intrigue with the ombudsman position to begin with, which serves as a liaison between the public and any given entity, usually used in reference to a government or a media outlet. In her lengthy column, the main point Schreiber hits on is ESPN's recent tendency to create its own opinions and pass them off as news in lieu of actually reporting.
After I read the column, I began to notice this phenomenon more and more as I watched ESPN throughout the week. For example, last week on Monday Night Football, the Bills led by 8 with six minutes left, and the announcers had given the game away to them, saying it was "the biggest victory for the Bills since 1994." This was the fifth game of the regular season and out-of-conference match-up; in other words, it was completely meaningless to either team.
An interception by each team (both of which saved touchdowns), and then a miraculous comeback by the Cowboys in the last minute followed. The point is that the announcers and anchors are so eager to be first to make some overarching, important comment that they neglect to do their job, which is to report on sports. I admire their enthusiasm, because surely ESPN does cover athletics more extensively than any other media outlet, but as Schreiber notes:
"If you look at the proportion of airtime and cyberspace devoted to reporting fact versus delivering opinion on ESPN, ESPN.com and ESPN Radio, it is clear that the main function of sports news is to serve as the molehill on which mountains of opinion are built. We don't have news cycles anymore. We have opinion cycles."
This brings us to the all-important question that she asks as well: Why do we need 24/7 sports "reporting?" The airtime is there if a breaking news story comes along. But why, on a Wednesday in the middle of October when football bookends the weeks and baseball is only on every other day, do we need an hour-and-a-half Sportscenter? Show some college soccer, or hell, water polo (at least on "The Ocho"). You have the assets and the energy, so why not take advantage of the position as "worldwide leader in sports?"
So, this drought thing is getting pretty serious
As the local weather has improved greatly, it's been difficult to care as much about our lack of rain. This summer, as temperatures remained above 100 for more than three consecutive weeks, the lack of precipitation was much more noticeable.
However, as we are all aware, and as the AJC reported yesterday, Atlanta and the surrounding areas (I'm pretty sure Athens is in worse shape, actually) will have to take drastic measures — and possibly SERIOUSLY drastic measures — if we don't get some real rainfall soon.
It's very difficult to curb our consumption of anything, especially water, and I know I have done very little to conserve despite the fact that it's on my mind every time I turn on a faucet. Sometime soon, we might not have much of a choice.
We rest on God's day, so we talk about Him today
This headline is a slight misnomer, as it covers not God exactly but the people who act ostensibly in His name. Last Monday, I covered some churches' use of Halo 3 in order to attract and convert the youth.
In a similar vein, the famed Left Behind Series has a new product to sell (and unfortunately, no, it's not another riveting movie starring Kirk Cameron).
Last year, a video game based on the series was released to poor reviews and abysmal sales, yet it is in the news again, as the an evangelical group disguising itself as the Pentagon tried to send the game to troops in Iraq.
I'm not really sure how you impersonate the Pentagon, nor am I sure of the repercussions. A unique ploy nonetheless.
Bono for Jesus, again
U2's impending merge with The Almighty has made further progress, as I discovered the announcement for the U2charist.
For those of you unfamiliar with Catholicism and its direct subsidiaries, Episcopalianism and Lutheranism, the Eucharist is, in brief, both a celebration of Jesus' Last Supper as well as the physical representation of his body and blood taken during the Mass (this is true in Catholicism, at least; I'm not so sure about those heathen Protestants).
Anyhow, furthering the link/indiscriminate line between religion and popular culture, the U2charist is a traditional religious service served by the wonderfully uplifting music of U2. See the mission statement below:
"The U2charist is a great opportunity to reach out to the people in your congregation and larger community, especially young people. This service the music and message of U2 about global reconciliation, justice for the poor and oppressed, and the importance of caring for your neighbor. Led by the global [Millennium Development Goals] ambassador, Bono, U2 is calling people worldwide to a deeper faith and engagement with God's mission. The U2charist seeks to be an extension of this ministry."
Though this disclosure is not really needed, I'm not a terribly large fan of U2. Therefore, I understand that my bias against their music distorts my view of their rabidly evangelistic fan base. To me, this union of church and U2 makes perfect sense, as I've seen firsthand how some U2 fans worship Bono. I make fun of Tom Cruise all the time for being the Jesus of Scientology, but is Bono going to be perceived as the Second Coming? This is only half a joke.
