INTERVIEW: Tom Silverman, Tommy Boy/NMS Founder
Tom Silverman has made his entire career in the music industry. Circa the early 80s he founded Dance Music Report, the New Music Seminar (NMS) and Tommy Boy Records, now Tommy Boy Entertainment, whose roster includes hip hop staples De La Soul, Naughty by Nature, House of Pain, and more. [...]
App Me Up, Call Me Mashup—Music Trends 2010–2011
Get the app…Get on bits…Cover it…Check the remix. Cut the intro…Launch campaigns…Connect with fans…WTF is SoundExchange? These were the war cries of musicians in 2010. Get On Bits. Digital is the bomb. When I say ‘get on bits’ I mean get digital. Get on YouTube. Get on Facebook. Get indexed. Become bits. Bits outlive memories. [...]
Gaming For A Better Real World
Game designer/researcher Jane McGonigal asserts that collaborative videogames are the key to solving our real-world problems. In the video here, she outlines why she considers World of Warcraft to be an “ideal collaborative problem-solving environment.” She discusses four key factors in gaming culture that give gamers an edge at problem-solving—urgent optimism, social fabric, blissful productivity, and epic meaning.
Censorship and Media In An Expanding Internet Population—Do You Feel Censored On The ‘Net?
Blocking sites = blocking progress. I’m American. It’s hard to imagine über-restricted Internet surfing. In the U.S. internet censorship does exist in workplaces, libraries, and schools but U.S. censorship is minimal compared to Chinese censorship. Censored sites in China include wikipedia.org, amnesty.org, nasa.gov, digg.com, bbc.co.uk, cnn.com, guardian.co.uk, facebook.com, flickr.com, tumblr.com, wordpress.com, youtube.com, and—WTF—even disney.com is censored.
Remix The Planet: Punk to Dub
Open remixing will put more diverse and imaginative music into scene than ever before. Alkaline Trio—the punk-rock band that inspired me to start my music career—recently held an open remix contest via Indaba Music. Audio remixes give songs alternate lives, they break barriers, and they transcend genres.
Airport Venue: Entertainment Transportation
Entertainment and transportation will likely mesh in the future. Transportation—our movement from one location to another—has always had a massive influence on our culture, lifestyle, and architecture. We ride. We fly. We travel. We move.
