Our resident quote bleggar Fred Shapiro, editor of the Yale Book of Quotations, is back with another request. If you have a bleg of your own, send it along here. Enough with 21st-century movie lines. Let me now move on to 21st-century popular song lyrics. Here we face the same issues of qualitative decline as with movie lines, I believe. . . .
We’ve tackled the future of music distribution and we’ve taken on the War on Terror. But what happens when the two intersect? Apparently, guards at Guantanamo Bay have been playing David Gray‘s “Babylon” at all hours of the day and night, to distress detainees and soften them up for interrogation. Since this arguably constitutes a public performance of Gray’s song . . .
A recent study found that most amateur singers can carry a tune just as accurately as trained professionals, suggesting that singing may be as universal a human trait as talking. But good pitch doesn’t always mean good music — Bob Dylan, for example, seems to have gotten along just fine without perfect pitch. So what makes a singer “good?” (HT: . . .
Online music sales to pass CD sales by 2012. (Earlier) Scammers take advantage of “death bonds.” Music found to aid recovery for stroke victims. Are identical twins really genetically identical?
Go and read this profile of the artist/author/songwriter Sandra Boynton. Not only is it nicely written (by Phyllis Korkki — great last name, BTW, with 50 percent Ks) but it is also a fascinating business story about how Boynton juggles and, more importantly, measures such variables as time, enjoyment, money, creative thrill, etc. The article is full of surprises — . . .
Album sales hit new lows in 2007. (Earlier) New InTrade markets predict the effects candidates may have on economic matters. Is this pollster luckier than everyone, or just better? Study shows monkeys may “pay” for sex. (Earlier)
Rocco Landesman is a Broadway original, a producer with the heart of an artist, and a rogue businessman if ever there was one. (He is also, I am happy to say, an old friend of mine.) He is president of Jujamcyn Theatres, one of the big three Broadway theater companies, and is also one of the most prolific and award-winning . . .
Economics and rapping wouldn’t seem to be the most natural bedfellows, but they keep showing up on this blog, including here and here. But this latest instance is probably also the best.
Video My first job in journalism was as an editorial assistant at New York magazine, writing up the back-of-the-book culture listings. This meant that I received a lot of promotional mailings from movie studios, PR firms, etc. I was consistently surprised by the 8-by-10 promo pictures sent out for young female classical musicians: they were invariably all sexed-up, as if . . .
Last week, we asked for your questions for singer/songwriter/Internet celeb Jonathan Coulton. Thanks to all of you (including John Hodgman, or at least “John Hodgman“) for the questions, and thanks especially to Jonathan for his answers. Q: You’ve been getting a lot of mainstream media play over the last year. How has that been different from the attention you’ve gotten . . .
Singer/songwriter/Internet celebrity Jonathan Coulton may well represent the future of recorded music. A folk rocker perhaps best known for his hilariously deadpan acoustic cover of Sir Mix-a-Lot’s 1992 hit “Baby Got Back,” Coulton has demonstrated an uncanny ability to merge music with technology. A major Web presence with a pioneering attitude toward offering free content online, he holds the titles . . .
“[H]ybrid record label and blog” launches with new plan for selling music. (Earlier) A lesson in “Marijuanomics 101”. (HT: Economics International) A classic aptonym. (Earlier) Japanese engineers develop “musical roads”. (HT: BoingBoing)
How well has the Radiohead experiment fared? (Earlier) Employers adopting personality tests to avoid “hiring jerks”. A “How To” for corporate prediction markets. Are we more likely to vote for candidates we perceive as being “like us”?
Will a TV writers’ strike send more viewers to the Web? Do conservatives eat sushi? A culinary breakdown An analysis of “pay what you want” music donations (Earlier) AFL team offers fans a deal: they make the playoffs, or season tickets are free (Earlier)
Between the lawsuits against file-sharers and news of Radiohead’s digital-only album release, the digital distribution of music has become a big story. We recently hosted our own discussion on the issue here.. But for some people, this is very old news. Take the case of Peter Alexander, an economist in Washington, D.C., who has been researching and writing about the . . .
Students fight for the right to file-share. (Earlier) Headhunters see spike in lies on resumes. Is Craigslist inadvertently prolonging the Iraq war? (Earlier) Why are so many good kidneys going to waste? (Earlier)
Do people consider social concerns when making economic decisions? Found a wallet on the street? Be careful, you may be on film. Woman found liable for $222K in damages in file-sharing suit. (Earlier) Organizations for wounded soldiers offer free handbook for injured vets. (Earlier)
In Freakonomics, we wrote about Paul Feldman, an economist turned bagel delivery man who began charging his customers based on the honor system. From the experiment, he found that, all in all, people were pretty honest. Now the band Radiohead is borrowing a page from Feldman’s playbook, but on a much grander scale. One of the most popular bands in . . .
Is the cutthroat college process good for kids? (Earlier) Smuggling ring busted for cashing in on out-of-state cans. (Earlier) What’s the most important psychology experiment that has yet to be performed?
Does file sharing really have no effect on record sales? (Earlier) Four men charged with selling steroids on MySpace. (Earlier) Consultants build a business around “nonverbal cue” coaching. Smaller Volvo marketed to new group of “enlightened consumers”.
Two weeks ago, I blogged about my inability to recognize how new technologies would change my life for the better. I typically wait years to adopt things, then do so grudgingly, only to find within days that I don’t know how I ever lived without them. I asked our readers to offer suggestions about my next life-changing technology. The enticement: . . .
Before I was in the writing industry, I was in the music industry. While the economics of journalism have changed a lot over the past 20 years — witness the demise of Times Select and the potential demise of the Wall Street Journal‘s pay site — many other aspects of the writing industry haven’t changed much at all. If you . . .
Study results show rock stars die younger. (Earlier) BMA urges “ultimate fighting” ban, UFC officials object. Wal-Mart musical opens in New York to poor reviews. Fantasy football not your thing? Try new fantasy investing.
First, Dubner graduates. Next, they beat Michigan in football. Then Miss Teen South Carolina Lauren Caitlin Upton plans to attend Appalachian State. Not sure if they offer this as a major, but perhaps Miss Upton has a future writing librettos.
Today is the birth date of Michael Philip Jagger, known to the world as Mick. As true fans know, Jagger isn’t just the long-tenured front man of the Rolling Stones; he was also a student of finance and accounting at the London School of Economics. He did not graduate from LSE, however; he attended for just a short time. I . . .
July 20 has been declared National No TV Day by the U.K.’s IndyMedia. While the boycott has more to do with protesting Channel 4’s cancellation of a particular music show than about getting rid of TV in general, it would be fun to measure the unintended consequences if it really works. Will we see a surge in … bar fights? . . .
Via Reuters: A study led by Max Planck Institute biologist Keith Jensen found that, unlike humans, chimpanzees are capable of revenge but not spite. Researchers tested the apes’ reactions to theft by their peers using collapsible tables that allowed chimps to steal food from each other. While the chimps who were left hungry later sought revenge as punishment, they showed . . .
Driven by a question similar to Dubner’s theory on libraries, University of Texas economist Stan Liebowitz examines the effects of radio play on record sales, and finds that heavy radio rotation may actually hurt sales. Reader Geoffrey Wiseman pointed us to an alternative explanation for violinist Joshua Bell‘s remarkable inability to draw a crowd during his impromptu concert in a . . .
Via Wired: In addition to providing potential career-building skills, online gaming may be good for teens, according to a three-year study of adolescent gamers by researchers at Brunel University. The findings showed that teens who gamed could “establish their presence, identity and meaning in ways that might not be accessible or permissible in their everyday lives.” Though there’s also the . . .
A reader named John Grund wrote in to lament the relative unpopularity of Paul McCartney — relative, that is, to John Lennon. Grund bases his assumption on a Google Trends search of the two men’s names. Indeed, aside from the occasional spike, McCartney lags behind his long-deceased mate (Lennon is in red): “You might think that if McCartney ever had . . .