This is a nice list of one-hit-wonders, folks who had one big hit then faded into obscurity. The list starts in the 1960s and makes its way to 2006. But definitely not complete. Not even close. Got any to add?
Music
Composr, the free app that lets musicians collaborate around the world
Composr is a free app that lets you start a song, then allows musicians add tracks remotely. As the song owner, you decide which tracks make the final cut.
The Who releases iOS/Android app, working on Oculus Rift virtual experience
The Who are celebrating 50 years in the guitar smashing business. 50 years! Is that possible?
Murder for hire charges dropped against AC/DC drummer Rudd
Time to get out of there and get back to making music.
CD-loving Japan resists move to online music
New York Times:
Japan may be one of the world’s perennial early adopters of new technologies, but its continuing attachment to the CD puts it sharply at odds with the rest of the global music industry. While CD sales are falling worldwide, including in Japan, they still account for about 85 percent of sales here, compared with as little as 20 percent in some countries, like Sweden, where online streaming is dominant.
Dave Grohl’s incredible gift to music lovers
Music that touches you at a deep level is a rare delight. Same with a book, a movie, a piece of art or anything that is the result of the creative process. Today I had the good fortune to stumble upon something that did this on several levels.
Sonic Highways is a documentary series on HBO, put together by Dave Grohl and Foo Fighters. The series is an incredible journey, taking you on a deep musical exploration of eight cities, building a song in each city based on the musical foundation found in that city.
Mac, iOS developer debuts at no. 5 on Billboard’s comedy charts
Former Apple developer and evangelist James Dempsey and his band, The Breakpoints, a WWDC regular, have hit the big time.
8 seconds of white noise tops Canadian iTunes charts
It was bound to happen eventually. A perfect storm of consumer anticipation, a new album ready for release, and the complexity of the digital music construction process.
U2 responds to pushback about their massive iTunes album release
[VIDEO] U2 put together a video responding to fan questions. One fan brought up the album that was automatically added to everyone’s library, wanted or not:
Can you please never release an album on iTunes that automatically downloads to peoples playlists ever again? It’s really rude.
Bono sighed, then said:
Oops, um, I’m sorry about that…This beautiful idea. Might’ve gotten carried away with ourselves. Artists are prone to that kind of thing. Drop of megalomania. Touch of generosity. Dash of self promotion. And deep fear that these songs, that we’ve poured our lives into the last few years, mightn’t be heard. There’s a lot of noise out there. I guess we, us, we got a little noisy ourselves to get through it.
On the video embedded below, the question starts at about 2:18.
The Autocomplete Song
[VIDEO] Heh. The words to this song were written by an iPhone, using autocomplete. It’s actually pretty catchy.
Elton John creates song on the fly from oven instructions
[VIDEO] Elton was on a chat show and was challenged to create a song, on the spot, from a set of oven instructions. Genius.
How Megadeth, back in 1994, helped the record industry discover the web
Back in 1994, the internet was still a wide open frontier. WebCrawler was the state of the art in search engines. It was able to index the complete text of every site on the web. Excite, the first real portal site, was just getting started. And the music industry had no concept of what was coming.
Great read.
Jimmy Fallon and Robert Plant sing an awesome iPad duet
[VIDEO] Back in March, Billy Joel came on the Tonight Show to take Jimmy Fallon’s iPad for an incredible ride with just a brilliant duet.
Now it’s Robert Plant‘s turn. The only thing that could have made this better is if they launched into D’yer Mak’er. Now that would have been something to see.
Music video animation makes its way across multiple iPads and iPhones
[VIDEO] This is an incredibly creative video for the song Knock Knock, by Brunettes Shoot Blondes. I would love to know how they made this.
How to hide the free U2 album from your iTunes library
A nice tip, just in case U2 is not your cup of tea.
Finding the new U2 album Apple gave away at the keynote
If you made it to the very end of yesterday’s keynote (not easy, given the stream stuttering and Mandarin overdub), you got the chance to watch U2 perform live and Tim Cook give away the new U2 album to all comers.
Finding the album can be a bit tricky, though. If that’s you, click through to the original post for instructions.
The ABCs of lossless music formats
Great explanation of lossless compression from Kirk McElhearn.
Lenny Kravitz, The Script, 19 others join iTunes Festival London
The start of iTunes Festival London is only two weeks away and Apple significantly added to the artist lineup today, adding 21 new acts. The new bands join the six that were introduced when the 2014 festival was first announced. […]
Pandora CFO, Beats “not a competitive service”
Here’s one for Gruber’s Claim Chowder file. Pandora CFO Mike Herring, speaking with Oppenheimer Securities analyst Jason Helfstein at an investment conference:
I don’t have much comment on Beats. Frankly, it’s not a competitive service in any form today. iTunes Radio is much more of it, competitive service and really had no impact on us long-term.
Apple’s new “Dreams” ad
[VIDEO] Dreams is the latest ad in the “You’re more powerful than you think” series. The song in the ad is When I Grow Up by Jennifer O’Connor.
As is now the norm, all the apps featured in the ad are highlighted on Apple’s web site.
Ethan Hawke on the Black Album and passing music along to your child
The movie Boyhood was filmed using the same cast over 12 years, so you literally see the protagonist growing up before your eyes. A great concept, said to be a great movie, can’t wait to see it.
In a scene celebrating Mason Jr.’s 15th birthday, he receives a mix CD from his father, Mason Sr., played by Ethan Hawke. Called The Black Album, it’s a compilation of the best of John, Paul, George, and Ringo’s solo work, post-Beatles.
The CD comes with a set of liner notes in the form of a letter, cribbed from liner notes Ethan Hawke originally wrote for his daughter. Great concept, great letter, especially if you are a Beatles fan.
Pomplamoose uses Mac and projector to create excellent video for “Video Killed the Radio Star”
[VIDEO] Even if you are not familiar with Pomplamoose, you’ve probably seen them in one of their commercials, like this one for Hundai.
Their latest effort is a cover of Video Killed the Radio Star, filmed using a Mac (maybe a MacBook Air?) and an Epson projector.
Kid from LA sneaks his way into countless music festivals (and the Grammys), ends up making a movie
[VIDEO] Noisey:
Marcus Haney has never paid to go to a festival. He makes replica wristbands, sneaks past security guards, and walks with confidence. Sure – he gets chucked out. But often he ends up on the main-stage, hangs out with bands, and captures unique views with his camera.
Marcus Haney is following his passion in a way that few people do. He’s got that rare inner voice, that bright burning vision, that guides him.
Follow the headline link to read the interview. Watch an early, leaked trailer for his documentary, a work in progress, below.
CSNY 1974, a brilliant bit of work
If you’ve never listened to them before, take a few minutes to check out this live album from 40 years ago. Here’s a link to the album on iTunes. Scroll to the bottom and hit Preview All.
Arpeggios From Hell
[VIDEO] Tina S is a remarkable guitar player. We’ve posted some of her work before, most notably her cover of Van Halen’s Eruption.
Here’s her take on Yngwie Malmsteen’s Molto Arpeggiosa, colloquially known as Arpeggios From Hell.
Tina S is a phenomenally gifted guitarist and she is still just a teenager. Enjoy!
Pink Floyd to release first new album in 20 years this fall
I was a huge Pink Floyd fan (Wish You Were Here and, of course, Dark Side of the Moon are still high on my list of all-time great albums), though my interest in the band waned after the release of The Wall. It’ll be interesting to see what they come up with.
Music streaming up 42%, track sales down 13%
TechCrunch:
Nielsen’s U.S. music report on the first half of 2014 shows digital music consumption rapidly shifting from downloads to streaming. On-demand streaming was up 42% over the first half of 2013, racking up 70 billion play in the first half of 2014. Meanwhile, digital track sales fell 13% to 593.6 million and album sales fell 11.6% to 53.8 million. The report on US trends (not international) makes Apple’s acquisition of Beats looks smart, as its iTunes download sales model is quickly dying out. As a whole, dismal digital and physical sales dragged total music sales plus streaming industry down 3.3%.
Google buys Songza music curation service
Google completed its long rumored acquisition of Songza for a reported US$39 million. Songza is a music curation service that lets you select playlists based on elements like genre, mood, and decade. It runs on iOS, Android, ChromeCast, and the web.
Fastest guitarist in the world
The video is from last year, but new to me. Sergiy Putyatov is one of the fastest guitarists in the world. His official Guinness Record is 27 notes per second. Astonishing.
Lousy timing
Everyone knows about Pete Best and Stuart Sutcliffe, the former drummer and bass player for The Beatles who missed out on perhaps the biggest opportunity in musical history. But here are some other candidates for the Mount Rushmore of lousy timing.