Music

I’ve owned up to some of the great loves of my life in the past. For instance, I’m a music lover and I’m very partial to board games (even during a denial-of-service attack). Today I can also share that I like The Beatles. In particular, anything from “Rubber Soul” and later when the “Yeah yeah yeah” turned into something rather more “Yeah man. Dig it”. I’ve simply never come across a more talented combination of musicianship and songwriting abilities – for me, you can kick The Stones, The Who, Cream and.. yes.. even MeatLoaf to the kerb, as Lennon, McCartney, Harrison and Starr are the guv’nors. ...

…Und der Haifisch, der hat Tränen und die laufen vom Gesicht; doch der Haifisch lebt im Wasser – so die Tränen sieht man nicht…_ …And the shark, that has tears And they run from the face But the shark lives in water So no one can see the tears…_

TechSpot: Facebook plans to launch a music service on September 22, which happens to coincide with the company’s F8 conference. The news comes via CNBC’s twitter feed which reported the headline earlier today. A quick blurb on CNBC’s website also mentions the pending music service launch, suggesting that Facebook won’t actually host the music, but will partner with a provider to offer the service. There isn’t much more to go on at the moment, but this isn’t the first time we’ve heard such rumors. Last month, Facebook announced a video calling feature powered by Skype. Software developer Jeff Ross panned through the program’s code and found references to an app called Facebook Vibes which connects with a music download dialog. Ross posted the following statement on his blog. ...

“Distant Earth” is ATB’s 9th studio album, which was released on the 29th of April 2011, by Kontor Records. It features 2 CDs in the standard edition, 3 CDs in the limited edition, and 3 CDs + 5 ATB signed postcards + ATB bracelet in the FanBox Limited Edition (which can be ordered on Amazon and it is limited to 2000 copies). Also, there is another 2 CD digipack version that comes with an ATB sticker and it’s available only in Germany. ...

Goodbye Lullaby is the fourth studio album by Canadian singer-songwriter Avril Lavigne. The album was first released on 2 March 2011. Recording sessions began in November 2008, and took place over a period of almost two years, concluding in October 2010. The album’s songs contain mainly stripped down instruments, such as the piano and acoustic guitar. Every song on the album was written by Lavigne, with half of the album being written with co-writers. The album debuted inside the top five in over 15 countries such as the United States and Canada, topping the charts in Japan, Australia, Greece, Taiwan, Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong and Czech Republic. The lead single of the album, “What the Hell”, was released on 7 January 2011, and achieved worldwide chart success; reaching the top twenty in the United States and United Kingdom, the top ten in Europe and Australia and the top five in Asia. The following singles, “Smile” and “Wish You Were Here”, had moderate chart success worldwide. The album also includes an extended version of the soundtrack single for the 2010 film Alice in Wonderland, titled “Alice”. ...

The Black Eyed Peas have taken over MySpace in an effort to improve its social entertainment offerings. Hijacks is a project that involves allowing celebrities — like the aforementioned Peas — to “take over” MySpace. Fans will have the opportunity to learn more about these celebrities’ particular interests, while also receiving access to new products and exclusive content. So in the case of the Black Eyed Peas’s MySpace Hijack, fans can do things like play a new 8-bit game, view the band’s featured playlist and learn more about chanteuse Fergie’s love of Italian fashion house Emilio Pucci. Non-MySpace users will be able to view some of the content from the hijack, but actual MySpace membership is necessary to receive access to items like a limited edition Black Eyed Peas badge. This promotion is taking place just a little more than a week after the Black Eyed Peas released their last disc, The Beginning. ...

One of the greatest setbacks of the Android platform has been the absence of a killer media player, as its native media player is simply lacking. To date, DoubleTwist has been the best option, but Winamp for Android is a powerful new alternative. Before the turn of the century (a.k.a. the Wild West of file sharing), Winamp reigned supreme for MP3 playback on Windows. Now I haven’t used a Winamp product since I learned about foobar2000 back in 2002, but it’s often nice to see the resurgence of a familiar face in tech. ...

PC Magazine: The Beatles have finally given iTunes a ticket to ride, allowing their iconic music to be added to Apple’s catalog. But while the Fab Four might be the most notable iTunes holdout, they certainly aren’t the last. A dwindling number of artists are still resistant to joining Apple’s music download service. Searches on iTunes for AC/DC, Kid Rock, Tool, Garth Brooks, and Def Leppard will return disappointing results: karaoke and cover tracks, not material from the artists themselves. Reasons for non-compliance with Apple vary. ...

Lady Gaga took to Twitter this morning to announce that her YouTube videos have hit the lofty milestone of 1 billion total views. The musician is the first to reach such a goal, but Justin Bieber is trailing close behind with 962,726,797 total video views. Sources were predicting this outcome a few weeks ago, with Lady Gaga reaching 1 billion YouTube views around October 20, and Bieber hitting the mark on November 1. ...

Some people didn’t like his comments about downloading… Two of Gene Simmons’ official sites were shut down after hacker attacks by a group called Anonymous, associated with the 4chan.org forum. The attacks were in response to comments by Simmons about how the music industry should have been tougher with illegal downloaders. Both SimmonsRecords.com and GeneSimmons.com were taken offline briefly due to the attacks. Simmons had made the comment, “The music industry was asleep at the wheel, and didn’t have the balls to sue every fresh-faced, freckle-faced college kid who downloaded material. And so now we’re left with hundreds of thousands of people without jobs. There’s no industry.” ...

Short answer: an infinitesimally small amount. If you have any sympathy for musicians you’ll buy their CDs from their web sites or at their performances. That’s pretty much the conclusion you’ll draw from a great attempt at quantifying musicians’ pay rates in the online music business(es) by David McCandless of InformationIsBeautiful.net. McCandless tried to determine how many songs or CDs a musician would need to sell in various ways to make the U.S. minimum wage ($1,600 per month). It was a tough project. He wrote: “As ever, this was incredibly difficult to research. Industry figures are hard to get hold of.” ...

If you’re one of those people who scribbles your plans for a given week on the back of the junk mail in your purse (totally not me…), then you could probably benefit from MySpace’s new platform. Today, MySpace continues on its quest to distinguish itself as a place for entertainment and socializing with the addition of what is essentially a calendar that combines your events, your friends’ events, concerts and shindigs put on by your favorite artists and even events from your Facebook account. You can also buy concert tix from band pages and pages of other entertainers. ...

BT Released “These Hopeful Machines” in 2 Discs. These Hopeful Machines is the Grammy-nominated sixth studio album by American electronic musician BT. Released on February 1, 2010, the album sees collaborations with the likes of JES, Rob Dickinson, Christian Burns and Kirsty Hawkshaw, also featuring a cover of “The Ghost in You” by The Psychedelic Furs. While some of the songs go beyond 10 minutes in length, the album spans two discs with six tracks on each. In an effort to make the album more accessible to casual listeners, the record was eventually re-issued as a single-disc version with shorter tracks, titled These Humble Machines. In addition, the album would later spawn a double disc remix edition titled These Re-Imagined Machines, also featured as a “Limited Collector’s Edition Box Set”. With great reception from the critics, the album was nominated for the 2011 Grammy Awards under Best Electronic/Dance Album. ...

Matisyahu (born Matthew Paul Miller, June 30, 1979) is an American reggae musician. Known for blending traditional Jewish themes with Reggae, rock and hip hop sounds, Matisyahu is most recognizable for his single “King Without a Crown”, which was a surprise Top 40 hit, and for being an orthodox Jew. Since 2004, he has released two studio albums as well as one live album, two remix CDs and one DVD featuring a live concert, and a number of interviews. Through his short career, Matisyahu has teamed up with some of the biggest names in reggae production including Bill Laswell and duo Sly & Robbie. ...

Johnny Cash (born J. R. Cash; February 26, 1932 – September 12, 2003) was a Grammy Award-winning American country singer-songwriter. Cash is widely considered to be one of the most influential American musicians of the 20th century. Cash was known for his deep, distinctive bass-baritone voice, the “freight train” sound of his Tennessee Three backing band, his demeanor, and his dark clothing, which earned him the nickname “The Man in Black”. He traditionally started his concerts with the introduction “Hello, I’m Johnny Cash”. ...