A Royal Wedding in the Digital Era

As Prince William and Kate Middleton tie the knot, there is, of course, a lot of excitement going around (on both sides of the pond). For one, they've started a website containing all sorts of information about the blessed event.

What struck me as slightly odd about the website was the fact that you can get Twitter updates about the wedding!! Seriously?

I completely understand the need for the royal family to maintain a website for the wedding in an effort to connect with the public. But a twitter account?

As the planning for this even unfolds it will be interesting to see the role of social media (and digital media in general) plays. Technically speaking, Prince William and Kate are not the first of the British Royals to be assisted by media--consider the wedding of Prince Charles to Camilla.

Still, it should be an interesting show as they try to use the media to their advantage in publicizing this joyous event!

Cheers!

Youtube and iTunes

I often listen to music on Youtube--it's free and easy to find.

Recently, I noticed that at the bottom of the video, Youtube is starting to provide a link to iTunes and Amazon.com so that the viewers can find an MP3 of the song to purchase.

Is this an effort to combat the copyright problems?

At least it is helpful to Youtube users not having to search for the songs on their own.

Thoughts?

Helen Keller?

I was browsing Freakonomics, and I came across this article about Helen Keller. Apparently schools don't think it is necessary to teach about Helen Keller anymore.

What?!?

Granted, as the article points out, she was a socialist...but that doesn't seem to stop schools from teaching about other socialists.

Whatever her opinion and philosophy, I still think it is important for children to study her. After all, she was both blind and deaf, and overcame many obstacles to acquire a degree and become a speaker and author. The story of Helen Keller teaches kids about perseverance through overwhelming obstacles. I'm not quite sure what "earth day" teaches them, other than to recycle...which they already know about...

The Fate of the Music Industry

As this article at Freakonomics points out, the music industry is struggling in the face of the digital era. File sharing is rampant, and record companies are losing money to illegal downloading.

But aside from all the illegal stuff, Freadonomics brings up an interesting point about albums vs singles. How many people, when they buy a cd, absolutely love every song? I know that even on the cds that I enjoy the most, there is always at least one song that I feel compelled to skip.

Somehow, the music industry doesn't seem to understand the importance of making more singles available so that their customers are not forced to purchase whole albums, half of which they don't want. We discussed in class about the "long tail," in which people are perhaps more willing to spend money on singles than whole albums--and consequently spend more money in the long run.

As a musician, I totally understand that every song a band produces is not necessarily good--and everyone eventually makes a flop. By producing singles, a band doesn't have to release all its bad songs (as it might with an album) and instead can spend its energy on the good stuff.

While the "delivery technology" of the music industry will continue to change, I don't think that the music industry will die out. After all, people are still buying musical instruments (like the harp...which isn't cheap!)