Living Differently According to iTunes

My friend referred me to this article on Wired News titled “iTunes Undermines Social Security”, about what I’d observed a few days ago with people being able to share playlists. (Written in November 2003, the article reveals how slow I’ve been in joining the digital revolution. Knowing how the New York Times operates, I predict that an article on this phenomenon won’t show up in its Style section until later this year.)

More Connected Than We Thought

This whole wireless thing is very odd. Maybe if I had more of an understanding of the technology, I wouldn’t be so amused by the fact that I can pick up network “stephen” in my apartment. Or that now — sitting in the school library — I can share music with “Dave” (everything from Britney Spears to Yo-Yo Ma) and “Eren” (a lot of rock and alternative).

I look through my iTunes playlist as a stranger might. What kinds of assumptions are other users making about my music? One person connected to my playlist, though only briefly. Did this person see Kylie Minogue — sandwiched between Kurt Elling and Les Savy Fav — and think, there’s nothing to work with here?

I see a lot of top 40 stuff, like N’Sync and Avril Lavigne, in other people’s playlists. Some other bands that are popular right now, like everyone seems to have some songs from The Killers or The Yeah Yeah Yeahs. I assume that the people with music from bands like Weezer, Blur or 311 are older, music that I listened to in high school.

And there seems to be an art to the naming of one’s playlist. Not just generic stuff like So-and-So’s Music (the iTunes default) but “Music from the 8th floor” or “Gloves found owner missing?” There was even one — and I should have noted the specific wording — that seemed to be a message to someone telling him where to go.

When Indie Goes Network

I thought I might have heard wrong when Seth, on last week’s episode of “The O.C.” — which I happened upon while flipping through the channels, I swear — said something about Death Cab for Cutie playing on stage. I didn’t recognize the band (I’ve only seen them once in concert), but the music sounded familiar.

The next day, an article titled “Death Shows for Cuties: Why can’t indie bands stay on the soundtrack — and off the stage — of trendy TV teen shows?” appeared on Salon.

When I realized it had been them on the show, I was really bothered. It’s not even that I think the band sold out with their appearance, or that I begrudge them more fans and further success (though the tiniest part of me does feel that way). But seeing this great indie band on this slick, superficial TV show was like seeing spilled blood. I felt this sense of revulsion at seeing something that shouldn’t be, whether blood outside skin or indie band on FOX. At the very least, it’s distasteful.

In her article, writer Hillary Frey makes the following point: “On the stage, there’s no drama. A band is nothing more than a prop, a song is never loud enough, the very cute guitar player is never visible. The setup takes all the joy out of a live performance, and all the excitement out of a truly dramatic moment. It’s a waste.”

Gotta love those mutants:

PR Making Media

Here’s a really thought-provoking essay written by a Paul Graham on the influence of PR firms on journalism. Someone mentioned the essay on the graduate journalism listserv. Will try to comment on it later.

Making Media Transparent

In an article in Slate, Jack Shafer argues that Jim Romenesko‘s Web site is making journalism more transparent by publicizing journalistic transgressions that would otherwise not have gotten much attention in the media. He cites the example of Mitch Albom, whose column in the Detroit Free Press has been suspended pending an investigation into an article that he wrote. According to Shafer, Romenesko’s coverage of the incident allowed it to become a national story. Might be a site worth checking out regularly.