Image Credit: Neville Longmore Abstract Artist
McDonalds is to food as radio is to music
I abhor essentially all music that is played on broadcast radio. Yes, musical taste is subjective, but the trite, banal, watered-down music devoid of personality played on radio in America is an insult to anyone with more than a fleeting interest in the form of art.
The problem I have with it goes deeper than formulaic structure and generic, unoriginal content - although you could easily make the case for either of those - but I’d like to also highlight something you may not realize: most of it is way overproduced. It isn’t authentic and is lacking a key element that makes music special: personality.
I prefer music written by one person in their home studio with just a few pieces of gear, music recorded by an amateur band in their garage, music recorded by a live jazz performance for an intimate group - people creating music because they love it without pretense. It is real, and it’s actually far better than what most big studios put out. Continue reading...
image credit: confusedvision
The slow shrinking of mainstream, one-size-fits-all; the massive growth of customization and personalization
Millions of people no longer watch TV, and many that do skip the ads with Tivo. Print newspapers and magazines are dying a slow and painful death (although a few smart ones have evolved and are thriving). Even web users use ad-block plus to skip the ads in Firefox.
How does your organization get its messaging out? Yesterday it was done through carefully crafting messages pushed out onto channels others had built - the ones I mentioned above. The ones that are becoming less effective and losing influence daily.
The old way was paying to use someone else’s monolithic channel. The world is obviously moving against this, it is one of the simultaneously most clear yet most ignored trends in communications. People scoff at the notion that the TV to consumer model isn’t forever broken. It is, and the world is not changing back. People who wake up from their mass media slumber don’t fall back asleep. Continue reading...
image credit: shoothead
There were alot of great comments on my post awhile ago: your resume is meaningless (and building career security, not job security). Please take a moment to read it if you haven’t, as I want to build upon what I wrote there.
I think this issue is relevant again because of the state of the economy. I get the sense that some people are fearing for their jobs. Stepping back and looking at the bigger picture you should never live a single day of your life with any fear - there is no reason for it. It’s simply not a productive use of life. Not if you want to be remarkable and reach your full potential. Continue reading...
You’ll notice at the bottom of this blog (and many others) a little icon that looks something like this:
This signifies that the work is published under a creative commons license. Click the button and you’ll be taken to the license page - which explains:
Creative Commons provides free tools that let authors, scientists, artists, educators and all content producers easily mark their creative works with the freedoms they want it to carry. Everyone can use Creative Commons to change their copyright terms from “All Rights Reserved” to “Some Rights Reserved.” Continue reading...
image credit: victor nuno
I have a theory. I believe that the ability to make art, whether music, drawing, painting, sculpting - it doesn’t matter what kind - is an inherently human trait.
Anyone who makes the statement “I am not creative” is wrong. Translated, it really means “I never tried”.
I’ve been told I am lucky to have the ability to make music. It’s really not luck at all, I am no more skilled in writing it than you can be. The difference is, I have put forth arduous hours, days, weeks, months and years of my life into it.
We are hard-wired for creativity. It is just a matter of honing it to a specific craft. And, it is perhaps one of the most rewarding feelings you can have — giving life to something original from within yourself to share with the world purely for intrinsic value.
Not convinced you should be an artist yet? Here’s 21 more reasons to consider it: Continue reading...