MUSIC BUZZ: Apple // PonoPlayer // More
In the discussion if the Spotify model is good or bad for music it is easy to overlook that one giant has not made its move yet: Apple. But with the acquisition of Beats Music and declining sales at the iTunes Store, it’s clear that change is coming. 9to5Mac dug out some information about what is going on behind the curtain. For my part, I’m curious how they will bring your library of bought music together with what is available for streaming.
PJ Harvey decided to turn the process of recording her new record into an art installation. Melanie Hayden-Williams could snatch tickets for the event and had a look (together with Pulp’s Jarvis Cocker):
Presented by Artangel and Somerset House, this was a date with Polly, her musicians and producers Flood and John Parish. Of course a 45 minute slot does make you wonder if you’re going to walk in on tea break or a fight of unimaginable creative tension…but if you’ve ever seen PJ Harvey interviewed she is the charm, wit and beauty of West Country otherworldliness that could only run a very tight ship of efficiency.
Neil Young went out on Kickstarter to reinvent the music player for high-quality audio files. Supposedly, the PonoPlayer makes music just feel better. David Pogue of Yahoo Tech could not confirm:
To me, the Pono Player story is a modern retelling of “The Emperor’s New Clothes.”
But maybe you’re different. Maybe you believe that high-res music has more “soul” or is less “tiring” to listen to, as fans claim, even if you can’t actually hear a difference.
ISongU.com introduces isongU.com to solve an obvious problem in the music industry:
Even now, there are about 200 million songs worldwide compared to about 6 million in the year 2000. We may have 1 billion songs by the year 2020. And every song that enters the pile devalues the currency of music ever further.
I agree that with low production costs and free distribution today there is much more (good)music competing for market share. isongU.com wants to solve this with complicated brown paper-bag tests to judge the true quality of music. The hope is that only music bubbles up that is worth the attention and money of the masses. I just don’t think it is possible to judge the objective value of art. A song that means the world to 100 people is just as valuable as the number one of the billboard charts. There is no shortcut for finding good music: everybody has to look and listen for themselves.
And last, music sales rise in Germany!
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