I have been collecting digital music files since the MP3 became a practical storage and transmission format in the late 90s. Whether traded, ripped from my own CDs, downloaded in the heydays of Emusic.com – which for a time served up all-you-can-download music from mostly independent labels for a reasonable monthly fee – or purchased […]
Archive | Music Sharing
The Free Music Archive Lives On
After coming to the brink of a shutdown when grant monies were dramatically reduced, the Free Music Archive announced that it will live on under the ownership of camera rental company KitSplit. A few weeks ago my Radio Survivor colleague Erick Klein talked at length with FMA Director Cheyenne Hohman, who explained why the project […]
A quick tour of Thrillhouse records in San Francisco
There are all kinds of reasons why I love my neighborhood in San Francisco, and Thrillhouse Records is definitely one of them. It is an excellent little community based record store situated on Mission and 30th street, just below the climb up to scenic Bernal Heights. Thrillhouse describes itself as so: “Thrillhouse Records a volunteer […]
Nat’l Record Store Day footnote: my years at Sam Goody records
National Record Store Day has once again come and gone and [doh!] I keep forgetting to post a piece on that day mentioning that for years I worked for one of the biggest post World War II record chains on the East Coast: Sam Goody records. I clerked at the 49th street and Broadway store […]
Is Sprint worth six free months of Spotify Premium?
Latest Sprint buzz: the carrier may try to acquire T-Mobile. This follows Sprint announcing that it will offer six months of Spotify Premium to “all new and existing postpaid Sprint customers” who are on one of its “framily” plans. This is good news, except that if you take advantage of the aforementioned offer your carrier is Sprint. […]
Radio still “dominant” music discoverer? Contested readings of Nielsen data
The latest Nielsen survey on music listening reads as so: “Music Discovery Still Dominated by Radio, Says Nielsen Music 360 Report.” Here are the marquee statistics from the Nielsen press release: Radio is still the dominant way people discover music 48% discover music most often through the radio 10% discover music most often through friends/relatives […]
Is this guilt trip necessary? Music file sharing and the war on college students
“I am an avid music listener, concertgoer, and college radio DJ. My world is music-centric. I’ve only bought 15 CDs in my lifetime. Yet, my entire iTunes library exceeds 11,000 songs.” These words, written by college radio general manager and NPR intern Emily White, will probably go down in history as the most remembered in […]
Is Ripping CDs from Your College Radio Station Ethical?
Social media outlets were abuzz yesterday with discussion about the ethics of stealing music after 20-year-old Emily White’s post, “I Never Owned Any Music Anyway” appeared on NPR’s All Songs Considered blog. In the piece, White, talks about how she has more than 11,000 songs in her iTunes library, but has only bought 15 CDs. […]
Rocker David Lowery chides NPR music intern who didn’t pay for her 11,000 song collection
David Lowery is a veteran rock musician known for his work with the bands Camper Van Beethoven and Cracker. Over the last quarter decade he’s had plenty of experience with the music industry, both independent and major labels, and has recently expressed strong criticism for the way services like Spotify compensate artists. On Monday he […]
The rocky ride and kiwi-flavored future of Turntable.fm
Regular Radio Survivor readers are doubtlessly aware of Turntable.fm, my colleague Matthew’s favorite online music site. Turntable lets users join a room, pick an avatar and play DJ for all the other listeners in the virtual club. Matthew likes the “Classical of all kinds” room, but there are rooms dedicated just about every other genre […]