Expanding Your Music Interest
In the spirit of today’s poll, I decided to hold off on this story because it may not ring a bell for some of you. Successful movie star, Mark Wahlberg has had several smash hits over the past few years including Invincible and Shooter. Not to give to much time to gossip, there seems to be a general feeling that working with him is not always fun because of his brashness and arrogance.
But there’s a history behind Mark that makes him cooler than you think.
Who were sampled by…
Continue reading ‘Yeah that’s right, these dude made that piff’
Digital Music News makes note of the major role music appreciation has among users of MySpace, Facebook et al, as per a recently-released survey from UK-based Entertainment Media Research:
Overall, surveyed users indicated that social networks are a primary source for music discovery, an unsurprising discovery… In total, 46 percent of respondents wished for an easier way to purchase music discovered on a network.
“Discovery” and “discovered” perks up the ears here at 8trk, because that’s the central mission for this site: To help people discover new music. (That might even end up being our tagline; we’ll see!)
Discovery on 8trk will be via the connections users will discover between their favorite artists/songs/genres etc. and other (perhaps unexpected, perhaps not) artists/songs/genres. And similar to recommendations from MySpace friends, the connections found on 8trk will be created, debated and verified by other users who are just as enthusiastic about their musical knowledge. The social dynamic is central to what we’re looking to build here — heck, without it, there’d be no reason to start up a site like this.
And of course, we’ll look to leverage the thirst for music found on the big-boy social networking site — no sense in re-inventing the wheel. The idea to build an 8trk app for Facebook, and perhaps other sites, is the most obvious way to reach people who we think will really dig on 8trk.
As for the money part of it, mentioned above? We won’t be in the business of selling songs, at least not directly. If someone gets amped up about what they find out via 8trk connections, then more power to them if they want to buy those newly-uncovered songs. If that happens often enough, then maybe iTunes or whoever will notice, and then come up with something creative. But to start, we’ll be in the discovery business — that’ll be rewarding enough.
Where are the latest musical influences in pop music coming from? Increasingly, it seems like you need a world almanac to find out:
On any given night in an American rock club you can hear bands like Gogol Bordello, Man Man, Beirut and Balkan Beat Box playing odd-metered songs drawing on the rhythms of Eastern European Gypsy music. You might encounter Antibalas or Vampire Weekend riffing on African sounds, Dengue Fever making psychedelic Cambodian pop or a D.J. like Diplo spinning Brazilian funk. On the recent “Kala,” a contender for the year’s most exciting pop album, the British-Sri Lankan rapper M.I.A., who works from Brooklyn, draws on Indian, African and West Indian sounds. The folk-rocker Devendra Banhart creates fusions with Mexican and Brazilian musicians on his recent CD, “Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon.” And the veteran musical adventurer Bjork toured this year with a West African percussion troupe and Chinese pipa virtuoso.
Some of that funky polyglot of sounds can be experienced in these clips from: Beirut (”Postcards from Italy”), Devendra Banhart (”Cristobal”), and DeVotchKa’s cover of Velvet Underground’s “Venus in Furs”.
But is this a good thing? PopMatters’ Stu Sherman argues that it amounts to cultural theft and sanitization, basically robbing audiences of the experience of authentic native musical forms.
If only there was a direct way for fans of Beirut and Vampire Weekend to listen to the original source material (and vice versa).
Oh yeah — 8trk.com!
A big part of the vision for this site is to provide a knowledge source where, yes, you can see how an indie hipster band from the Lower East Side is “related” to, say, Nigerian bandleader Fela Kuti. What better way to do that than to solicit the wisdom of all those avid music fans who know all this, and want to share with others?
As even mainstream tunes become infused with so many different musical inspirations, I really see 8trk.com (through the work of its contributors) becoming the place to drill deeper and learn. To find out about the music behind the music. (Hey, does that sound like a great motto for this site, or what??)
As we get closer to launch, that’s what we’re hoping to see come out of this experiment. So don’t be shy, all you fans of Brazilian-techno-synthpop piano thumb music! Bring it on!
Oh Beyoncé! How else can I say it? The singing, the dancing, the acting, the high profile relationship, the sports illustrated swimsuit shoot. There are few people that you look at in life and just think, damn . . . you must be tired.
But here’s a quick glimpse at Beyoncé before Beyoncé. The Beyoncé that most guys have watched and wanted over her recent run is the same little known Beyoncé in this video that those who remember wanted just the same. Check out the video and make the connection.
