Author: JD
Indie Record Labels Would Support Spotify Boycotts By Their Artists
WASHINGTON — In mid-July, Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke and his longtime producer and collaborator Nigel Godrich announced that they were pulling their songs from Spotify. They argued that the online streaming service may be good for its investors, but it was bad for artists’ bottom lines. All the press attention and debate that followed have not caused a mass boycott, the company told HuffPost. But in multiple interviews, owners and executives of indie recording labels across the country said they would support the decision of an individual artist who wanted to pull out of Spotify — although few seemed to actively encourage it. At least one more prominent artist told HuffPost he will pull out of Spotify. Eric Hilton, who is one half of the band Thievery Corporation and also runs ESL Music, said in an email that he will be joining Yorke. “I’ve always spoken out about Spotify and today’s streaming sites 100% negatively. Thievery Corporation intends to join [Yorke] and not participate with Spotify, which is especially dangerous to the livelihood of artists,” Hilton wrote. “Thank you Thom Yorke for having the guts to stand up to the new techno-feudalistic gulag exploiting all artists.” At the time of publication, Thievery Corporation’s recordings were still listed on Spotify. Spotify did not agree to comment on the record for this story. Nor did any of the major labels that HuffPost contacted. A Spotify source said that Yorke’s label, XL Recordings, had asked the company to pull the singer’s songs off the site. XL Recordings refused to comment. The indie labels were more forthcoming. Besides supporting the decisions of their artists, some also suggested that Spotify might actually be helpful to bands just starting out. Laura Ballance, co-founder and owner of Merge Records, said she would let her artists pull out of Spotify. She noted that one of them, the singer-songwriter Mark Eitzel of American Music Club fame, had requested a temporary ban. “We would let them refrain from having their music up there if that is what they prefer,” Ballance explained via email. “The only artist we have had do that so far is Mark Eitzel. He had us keep his record off Spotify for the first three months after it came out.” But Eitzel and Hilton are music veterans. They remember what it was like to actually make a living off CDs and vinyl. Profits from Spotify may never equal profits from the old days of Tower Records. Indeed, expectations that Spotify cash could pay a band’s rent are low. “It’s not like we get a ton of money from Spotify anyway,” said Todd Hyman, owner of Carpark Records, in discussing why he’d be willing to pull an artist off the streaming service. Instead, labels and artists tend to see Spotify as just another tool to get their music noticed, similar to MTV in the ’80s and early ’90s, when it helped hip-hop and grunge go mainstream. Chris Manak, who performs under the name Peanut Butter Wolf and founded the indie hip-hop and soul label Stones Throw Records, said he appreciates “the promo aspect” of Spotify. “I barely think the good outweighs the bad,” he wrote via email. “But don’t really push my artists for or against it. Maybe I need to talk to Thom Yorke.” Manak added that he would support his artists if they wanted to leave Spotify. Caleb Braaten, the founder of indie label-of-the-moment Sacred Bones, agrees. “If a band wanted to be pulled from Spotify we would happily do so,” he said. “Spotify for up-and-coming artists is more of a promotional platform than a money-making one … As we know now Spotify is not a money-making platform for anyone besides Spotify.” Jasper Goggins, label manager for Mad Decent, noted that artists still need to get their music in front of consumers. And consumers are listening through Spotify. “As a small independent label I feel it is our primary duty to expose our artists to a larger audience and the best way to do that is to get their music in front of active consumers,” he explained in an email. “By removing music from Spotify, you’re basically cutting off your nose to spite your face. Of course I would love it if the royalties were higher, but we also have the majority of our music on Soundcloud and that is the complete opposite model. We pay Soundcloud for the bandwidth!”
LG CURVED OLED TV
LG has begun selling their curved screen technology in the USA and they’ve packed it with the most bleeding edge TV tech available. First up, the tv features a immersive and curved OLED screen that’s rich with saturated colors, inky black levels, and a sharper, smoother picture than that of conventional LED screens. It also uses a body made of carbon fibre reinforced polymer to achieve an ultra-thin profile and also touts 3D capability and voice recognition technology.$15,000, LG
David Guetta, forced to flee the stage in embarrassment
SMH!!!! At a recent show in Paris the pop star, David Guetta, was forced to flee the stage in embarrassment when at the start of his show he hit the play button on the wrong track. Instead of hearing Guetta’s usual pop-house hits, fans were inadvertently treated to a personal self help CD that had been prescribed to Guetta for treatment of crippling chorophobia – the irrational fear of dancing. Guetta took to Twitter to release the following statement: “To all my fans, I’m sorry that you had to find out that I have been pre-recording sets and not playing live.” “Please understand that this is not due to lack of talent or laziness but because of this crippling phobia, for which I am seeking professional help, as was heard when I accidentally hit play on my coping CD.” The EDM star claimed that the condition developed in childhood following a dancing accident at a school talent show which left the performer “acutely embarrassed” and a “confirmed bed wetter.” The pop star went on to further say that ordinarily he doesn’t “even look at the crowd. I’ll just twiddle some knobs on the mixing desk thingy. When I do have to look up to the crowd I’ll close my eyes as if enjoying myself, or I’ll let my golden locks dangle in front of my eyes so I don’t see people dancing.” “Ironically with no-one dancing it probably would have been one of my shows that I would have actually enjoyed.”
Hacker Barnaby Jack dies in San Francisco
Barnaby Jack, a celebrated computer hacker who forced bank ATMs to spit out cash and sparked safety improvements in medical devices, has died in San Francisco. A police spokesman said that he was found dead on Thursday evening by ”a loved one” at an apartment on Nob Hill and that foul play had been ruled out. The San Francisco Medical Examiner’s Office said it was conducting an autopsy, though it could be a month before the cause of death was determined. His sister Amberleigh Jack, who lives in New Zealand, told Reuters he was 35. She declined to comment further, saying she needed time to grieve. Jack was due to appear at the Black Hat hacking convention in Las Vegas next week, demonstrating techniques for remotely attacking implanted heart devices. He said he could kill a man from 30 feet away. His genius was finding bugs in the tiny computers embedded in equipment such as medical devices and banking machines. He received standing ovations at hacking conventions for his creativity and showmanship. He became one of the most famous hackers on the planet after a 2010 demonstration of ”Jackpotting” – getting ATMs to spew out bills. (reut.rs/gIGXVq ) The hacking community expressed shock as the news of his death spread via Twitter early on Friday. ”Wow … Speechless,” Tweeted mobile phone hacker Tyler Shields. Jack’s most recent employer, the cyber security consulting firm IOActive Inc, said in a Tweet: ”Lost but never forgotten our beloved pirate, Barnaby Jack has passed.” Jack had served as IOActive’s director of embedded device security. ”You grimy bastard. I was just talking up about your awesome work last night,” Tweeted Dino Dai Zovi, a hacker known for his skill at finding bugs in Apple products. ”You’ll be missed, bro.” Friends and fans alike Tweeted memorials to Jack’s Twitter handle, @barnaby_jack, on Friday. Dan Kaminsky, an expert in Internet security, Tweeted that he had hoped the news of Jack’s death was a prank: ”God, the stories. Nobody caused such hilarious trouble like @barnaby_jack.” Jack’s attacks on ATMs brought him the most attention, but his work on medical devices may have a bigger impact. Two years ago, while working at McAfee, he engineered methods for attacking insulin pumps that prompted medical device maker Medtronic Inc to bring in outside security firms and revamp the way it designs its products. (http://reut.rs/sM9mTE) He followed that up with work on heart devices that he was to present at Black Hat next week in his first presentation at the annual convention since 2010. Jack told Reuters in an interview last week that he had devised a way to attack heart patients by hacking into a wireless communications system that links implanted pacemakers and defibrillators with bedside monitors that gather information about their operations. ”I’m sure there could be lethal consequences,” he said. He declined to name the manufacturer of the device, but said he was working with that company to figure out how to prevent malicious attacks on heart patients. By Jim Finkle
9 Powerful Men Who Don’t Eat Meat
Real men eat meat. At least that’s the stereotype that has been passed down since our days as hunter-gatherers — when men (the hunters) would go off to kill wild animals, while women (the gatherers) would hang around collecting fruits, nuts, and berries. [See the successful men who don’t eat meat] “Meat seems associated with strength and power, two features generally attributed to males,” write the authors of a 2012 study published in the Journal of Consumer Research that examined why male consumers avoid vegetarian options. In another study, published in the journal Psychology of Men and Masculinity, researchers linked eating meat with “manhood, power, and virility” and found that men were more likely than women to “endorse pro-meat attitudes” and believed it was “human destiny to eat meat.” But times are changing. A growing number of male business executives and political leaders, including former President Bill Clinton and Newark Mayor Cory Booker, are breaking gender expectations and embracing the vegetarian or vegan lifestyle. It’s a trend — first pinpointed in a 2010 Businessweek article titled “The Rise of the Power Vegans” — that parallels mounting public awareness about the damaging effects of meat consumption on health and the environment. For some, the welfare of factory-farmed animals is also a concern. Conversely, “chick foods” like kale and soy products are growing in popularity. In the United States, vegetarians are still rare: Only 5% of American adults say they are vegetarian, according to a 2012 Gallup study, and just 2% of people consider themselves vegan — people who don’t eat any ingredients that come from an animal, including eggs, milk, and honey. While the percentage of vegetarians has remained the same over the last decade, this pattern may slowly change as tofu and salads became more fashionable among America’s male movers and shakers. Former President Bill Clinton switched to a meat- and dairy-free diet after a health scare in 2004. Former U.S. president Bill Clinton revamped his diet after undergoing quadruple bypass surgery in 2004 to deal with artery blockages. Known for his love of McDonald’s and dessert, Clinton quit his unhealthy eating habits and went vegan after leaving office. The low-fat, plant-based diet helped him shed 24 pounds for his daughter Chelsea’s 2010 wedding. Twitter co-founder Biz Stone has been a vegan for 10 years. With a net-worth of around $200 million, Biz Stone ranks in the 1% of richest Americans. And after more than 10 years as a vegan, the entrepreneur in the scant group of Americans who call themselves vegan. The 38-year-old invested in a vegan meat company, Beyond Meat, last year with Twitter co-founder Evan Williams. In an interview with Fast Company, Stone said the company’s meatless chicken strips imitated the flavor and feel of the real fleshy stuff so well that “it was a bit freaky.” Hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons gave up meat for health and environmental reasons. Wikimedia Commons The founder of Def Jam Records was raised eating meat, but turned full-on vegan more than 10 years ago with a new-found awareness about the environmental impact of eating meat. “Every day, more and more people are turning vegan, more children are looking at a rib and making the connection that it came from a suffering animal and more people are loving themselves and the Earth they live on just a little bit more by saying no to meat and dairy,” Simmons said told Ellen DeGeneres in 2010. The entrepreneur, reportedly worth $340 million, is using his fame and fortune to protect animals. He recently launched a “cruelty-free” clothing line called Argyleculture that will not use any animal products — meaning no wool or leather apparel — in its collection. Newark Mayor Cory Booker has been a vegetarian for two decades. AP Booker has been a vegetarian for more than 20 years. The politician credits a meat-free lifestyle for boosting his athletic performance. “In 1992, I decided to experiment, to try [being a vegetarian] for 3 to 6 months,” the politician explained in an “Ask Me Anything session on Reddit. ” And WOW! when I did my athletic performance took off, I felt so much better and it comported with other values and ideas I was exploring at the time, so I decided that this is what is best for me. It was a very personal decision.” Booker also the tried to be a vegan, but gave it up because he couldn’t resist ice cream. Former Walt Disney CEO Michael Eisner converted to veganism following quadruple bypass surgery. Jason McELweenie via Flickr Quadruple bypass surgery in 1994 forced Michael Eisner, then 52, to adopt a non-fat, vegetarian diet. It wasn’t easy for the media mogul to give up his “regular American” eating habits. “I miss everything,” Eisner told the “San Francisco Chronicle” in a 1998 interview. Eisener left Disney in 2005 after a 21-year career, but not before transforming the theme-park operator into the world’s largest entertainment company. Casino mogul Steve Wynn was convinced to give up meat for health reasons. AP Images The 71-year-old chairman and CEO of Wynn Resorts became a vegan in 2010. The business magnate described his conversion at a vegan tasting hosted by Bon Appetit magazine in Las Vegas. While on his boat in St. Tropez, Wynn was inspired by “a handsome Indian gentlemen” who after a year as a vegan “was 30 lbs lighter and 15 years younger,” Eater quoted the self-made billionaire as saying. He added: “The American diet is unbearably suicidal… animal-based diets cause cancer and degenerative spinal disease… and animal-based diets are absolutely unhealthy.” (Just a note: Wynn isn’t a doctor or nutritionist, and we aren’t sure where he got his facts from. Studies indicate that meat in moderation can be healthy for most people.) In an effort to ease the stigma associated with plant-based diets, Wynn mandated in 2012 that restaurants in his hotels have vegan menu options. Venture capitalist Joi Ito credits his health and happiness to a vegan diet. Wikipedia Joi Ito, director of the MIT media lab, blogged about his decision to become a vegan in December 2006. Six months later, Ito was 40 pounds lighter and overflowing with praise for his new fruit- and vegetable- heavy eating plan. “I’ve never been healthier or happier as long as I can remember and I intend to continue being a vegan,” Ito wrote. Ito is the CEO of venture capital company Neoteny and chairman of the boards of Creative Commons and Six Apart Japan. Former CEO of Viacom Tom Freston stopped eating meat after his wife became vegan. Freston’s meat-free conversion was heavily influenced by his zealous vegan ex-wife, Kathy Freston, who is also the author of “Veganist: Lose Weight, Get Healthy, Change the World.” Before the power couple separated last summer, Kathy told Vanity Fair in 2011 that Tom “eats fish and occasionally meat, but never at home.” Prior to that interview, Tom gushed in a Bloomberg article that the benefits of veganism are “undeniable and many.” Whole Foods co-CEO John Mackey has been a vegetarian (now vegan) for three decades. AP John Mackey, the co-CEO of Whole Foods, has built a grocery empire that’s modeled after the executive’s own attitude toward food. Mackey survives on an organic vegan diet that spurns vegetable oil, sugar, and processed food. The health-conscious supermarket co-founder recently described a typical dinner to the The New York Times: What did I cook for dinner last night? A salad, with my own walnut-cashew-based dressing, a stir-fry that I made without any oil, because you can do that with just water. It had kale and chard, onions, mushrooms and tomatoes in it, and mashed potatoes without salt or dairy, but I added some almond milk. Meanwhile, Whole Foods continues to grow as a result of its commitment to healthier, natural, and local food.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“Jumping at several small opportunities may get us there more quickly than waiting for one big one to come along.” -Hugh Allen
@SOSODEFMGMT AND @sosoDefLive BOTH FAKE !!!
IT’S REALLY FUCKED UP ON THE PART OF @TWITTER, THAT 75 PERCENT OF THEIR BUSINESS COMES FROM THE USAGE OF CELEBRITIES,BUT THEY STILL ALLOW PEOPLE TO CREATE BULLSHIT RUMURS AND FAKE ACCOUNTS,(SMH) ANYWAY, IF YOU HAVE BEEN IN CONTACT WITH EITHER OF THESE 2 ACCOUNTS, YOU HAVE BEEN HAD.