Archive for 2010
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[ Comments Off ]Posted on June 9, 2010 by admin in Music
Wednesday, June 9th, 2010It would be nice if the cost of live music were to enjoy the same market adjustment that recorded music has over the last decade, but things will probably get worse before they get better with the merger of Ticketmaster and Live Nation.
Few things have made me more ecstatic than the explosion of indy music over the past decade. But I still have one complaint. Ticket prices. While the average pop song has settled nicely at a price of about a dollar, and the artist generally takes a bigger slice of that dollar in spite of the lower unit price, concert tickets rose in price by over 80% between 1996 and 2003, and have continued to rise consistently since then. What’s behind this insane inflation of concert prices? Well, everyone’s pointing fingers, but most agree that it began over a decade ago with the aggressive and monopolistic practices of Clear Channel, who devoted most of their energy to decimating the diverse network of venues and promoters that used to exist. But as easy as it is to place ALL the blame on them, the fact is that “premium artists”, i.e.: dinosaur rock baby boomer idols like the Rolling Stones and the Eagles – are just as much to blame in many ways, by charging upwards of 300 bucks for shows, in order to offset their lousy album sales and still be able to stay in $2,000 a night hotels while on tour. Even a next generation act like Green Day can be accused of this greed, if you believe the numbers in this infographic; Green Day’s 65% cut makes the promoters and venues look like they’re being reasonable. It’s rough enough out there that even a well-established artist like Imogen Heap had to throw in the towel recently. And it’s probably going to get worse before it gets better, in light of the DOJ’s recent approval of the monster merger of Live Nation and Ticketmaster. I think it’s time we started to practice some asymmetrical warfare techniques against the concert ticketing industry. It would be amazing if a network of non-ticketmaster promoters and venues could pull it together. I personally would be out every night of the week if I could catch a decent band for ten or fifteen bucks on a regular basis. We’ve done it with record labels, lets change the game with radio and live music too.
Sure. FarmVille’s All Fun And Games. Until Somebody Makes A Billion Dollars.
[ 1 Comment ]Posted on June 8, 2010 by admin in Popular Media
Tuesday, June 8th, 2010Game sales have been outstripping music and movie sales for some time, but the real money may be in imaginary money.
If the entertainment industry is still wondering where that billion dollars in lost sales went last year, I think I have an answer for them. FarmVille. Yes, laugh at your Facebook friends as their lonely cows meander through the pasture of your Facebook feed, but Zynga, the developers of the game, banked a cool $270 million last year, and are looking forward to topping ONE BILLION DOLLARS this year. All because your do-nothing crackhead friends couldn’t find anything better to do than plant imaginary corn. But there’s the rub. It wasn’t slacker crackheads that were playing. It was Midwestern housewives. At least that’s how David Laux, global executive for games and interactive entertainment at IBM was quoted in that article. While the real demographic for the boom in this kind of game isn’t literally “Midwestern housewives”, it certainly is a new kind of user, and a new kind of development process. Not surprisingly, the same “traditional” game developers who enjoyed the kind of growth that has led to game sales outstripping movie sales in many countries are a little upset that a company like Zynga is creating the kind of revenue streams that it is, especially with the kinds of games (Farmville, Mafia Wars, etc) and user engagement strategies they utilize. Some developers resort to a bit of hyperbole to express their concern for the “purity” of the industry by saying things like “metrics-driven design and extrinsic rewards for in-game actions could lead to a future of designing shitty games that you have to pay people to play“, when what they may really mean is “dang, I wish I’d thought of that“. There’s no question that this new game market is going to be a big thing for a while, but what I find almost more interesting (and which I touched on earlier this year) is that there’s a second billion dollar industry spinning off of this all, one involving transferring your imaginary money between these booming games and social networks. I personally have never understood the “hook” with games like FarmVille; frankly Facebook itself is like a game to me. But what will catch my attention is an opportunity to get in early on a growing economy, even a virtual one. See you in ProfitsVille!
How Green Is The White House?
[ Comments Off ]Posted on June 6, 2010 by admin in Clean & Green
Sunday, June 6th, 2010The White House and Washington in general are pretty green. It’s just the policies they create that are all black and oily. And you may be surprised to learn that George Bush may have been secretly green in his spare time.
I’m sorry to say that’s classified information. But we do know that solar panels were installed in 2003 under the Bush administration, and the Obama administration is planning upgrades. President Carter is rarely given credit for his inspired attempts at opening America’s eyes to the perilous environmental future that is now the present, but he managed to open a few with this speech in 1977. He also installed solar panels on the White House which were later taken down by Ronald Reagan, in a move that was partly practical (a roof leak was being repaired), and certainly a typically Reaganesque political statement at the same time. And although the Obama administration appears firmly committed to clean & green issues, the presidential limo won’t be a hybrid, for obvious reasons. I have to admit that as I prepared to write what I intended to be a snark on Washington’s limo-driven excess and apalling waste, I was suprised to find that DC is often high up on lists of green cities. I was equally surprised to find that living in New York City is considered by some green thinkers to be a greener lifestyle choice than living in Vermont. And I’m sure that you’ll be as surprised as I was that Bush’s Crawford Ranch was pretty green too. So it seems that all in all, Washington’s pretty green. It’s just the policies created there that cause all the problems. For a lengthy and dry – but informative – history of how US foreign policy was shaped by oil over the last century, see this 1975 government report. And for a refresher on why we invaded Iraq, see this Independent UK piece. And then take a look at this list to figure out who we’ll invade next. My bet’s on Canada.
Star Trek Induced Tech Ennui
[ 2 Comments ]Posted on June 5, 2010 by admin in Technology
Saturday, June 5th, 2010Sure, I’d LOVE to boldly go where no-one has gone before. But not only do we not have the technology, that’s a split infinitive.
 Well, we’ve got the hardware worked out. Now we just need to work on the billing. |
I have a serious case of technology-induced ennui that I can only blame on Star Trek. Sure, iPads are nifty, and it’s really groovy that there are now affordable, terabyte-sized hard drives. Excuse me….*yawns*. I’m underwhelmed. I want some teleporation! And replicators! And a holodeck! And an android (no, not that
It’s Not Easy Being White
[ 1 Comment ]Posted on June 4, 2010 by admin in Lifestyle & Culture
Friday, June 4th, 2010I mean REALLY white. It’s hard to believe that in the 21st century, albinos remain an ostracized and oppressed minority.
 Model/actress Connie Chiu is one of the few that has turned her albinism into an asset |
I mean really white. As a white heterosexual male, you’d probably think I’d have it made when it comes the treatment I receive in our culture. Well, the problem is, I’m a little too white. That probably sounds silly to you, but although I’m not an actual albino, my lack of pigmentation has had a profound impact on my life, and led me to always identify more with just about any culture that isn’t “the American white”. Being hopelessly pale – much like being a “ginger“, an effeminate male, a masculine female, or a black, asian, or Muslim person (among countless other “minorities”) – sets you up for decades of being treated differently in America. If you’re pale, you’re assumed to be frail, introverted, and afraid of the sun and sports. All of which were quite the opposite of the truth for me. We like to think that in the 21st century, we treat people more or less the same, but the fact is, you’re probably more comfortable around “average” looking people than stunningly beautiful people, even if you’re stunningly beautiful yourself. And depending on your race and national origin, you probably have a profoundly different set of reactions to people other than “your own”. I can only begin to imagine what it feels like to be an albino; in spite of their rather insignificant actual differences, their visual appearance seems so dramatically different as to almost appear alien. And I’d bet that their relative rarity isn’t the only reason you probably don’t have any albino friends. Historically, albinic people have always been regarded as either evil or magical in some way, when in fact the only difference they possess is a simple lack of pigment and possible vision impairments. The results of this cultural bias can be downright horrifying; in African countries like Tanzania and Burundi there have been numerous witchcraft-related killings of albinos in recent years. Parts of their bodies are used in potions sold by witchdoctors. In Zimbabwe, belief that sex with an albinistic woman will cure a man of HIV has led to rapes and subsequent HIV infections. To learn more about Africa’s “tribe of ghosts”, see this Daily Mail piece. And if you want to offer aid to this very real problem – 53 children and adults with albinism have been killed since 2007 in East Africa alone – visit the National Organization for Albinism and Hypopigmentation’s web site.