(I was asked once what my ultimate fantasy is. This is pretty much it. I so need to go to the StarWarsCon this year for the 30th anniversary celebration. Where else can you get in touch with your inner Wookie?)
(Yep, Peter Pan syndrome. That’s what my novel will be about.)
A couple of music industry topics to close out the week…
Topic # 1: As many of you know, we are a few days away from losing internet radio as we know it. Barring a last minute action by the government, the rates that internet radio stations pay artists for streaming their music is going to skyrocket and essentially put all of them out of business. Those owned by big companies may survive by being a loss leader but others, including my refuge from the work day blues Pandora, will most likely disappear.
As a result, I’ve been listening to a lot of Pandora in an attempt to get my last bit of enjoyment from their music predictions. Sometimes they are spot on, allowing me to listen to Viva Voce this afternoon. But twice over the past few weeks I’ve been recommended the worst possible song.
The first one was when after listening to my usual mix of female singer-songwriters (Beth Orton, Tift Merritt, Kathleen Edwards, Lucinda Williams, etc.) I suddenly found myself listening to a cover of the Go-Go’s “Our Lips Are Sealed.” As performed by the lovely and talented Hillary Duff. Part of me can vaguely understand how an algorithm would come up with that but seriously Hillary freaking Duff? Why in the world would you want to spread that across the internet.
This afternoon was even more bizarre, to the point that I really think that the staff at Pandora are just goofing around knowing that they’ll be out of business in a week. That is the only way to explain how I had an Aimee Mann track be followed by David Hasselhoff. I’m not making this up. I was just working away, listening to good music, and next thing I know I’m listening to David singing from the Baywatch soundtrack. First off, I just have to state that the Germans must have no taste in music cause this was just awful. But more importantly, what in my music collection would ever suggest that this is something that I would want to listen to? And do I lose all credibility as a music snob knowing that my musical tastes encompass David Hasselhoff?
Topic # 2: Since the U.S. is cracking down it means that I’m going to have to cross the border for my music. Thus, thanks to Ariela (who wins the award for coolest name ever) I am now really jonesing for the music at radio3.cbc.ca. It’s podcasts of mainly Canadian artists though they have a full Waco Brothers concert, which is awesome beyond words. Lots of New Pornographers as well as the Immaculate Machine singing in French. It’s kind of bizarre hearing the same song in French but Kathryn Calder is even more attractive singing in a foreign language. Definitely worth checking out.
(This also just shows my growing Canadian fanbase. Remember, thanks to favorable exchange rates I’m 1.27 times cooler in Canada than I am in the U.S. Though you could probably make a couple of coolness arbitrage deals if you want to work the market.)
Topic # 3: On my huge list of things to do I am going to try to digitize my CD collection. Not sure why I’m planning on this, other than a desire to fill up a hard drive and degrade music quality by going from CD to MP3. However, this should make it possible for me to put together a CD consisting entirely of cover songs that I have collected over the years. This won’t be an official part of the Battling the Current collection but once it’s done I’ll make it available to anyone who wants a copy. I’ve got some strange songs hidden around including Richard Thompson singing “Oops I did it Again”, which everyone should hear at least once.
Have a great weekend.
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