Tunes

Listening to Nocturne No.2 Eb major by Chopin

I can only dream of having the talent to perform works by Chopin. I enjoy Nocturne No.2 in Eb major for its reflective mood, and its almost wandering rhythmic cadence. Like all great music, it takes the listener on their own journey.

Creativity

The time I hacked my elementary school cafeteria

There's a trending question on Quora about the biggest heist someone had ever pulled. Here's how I hacked my Australian elementary school cafeteria.

Business

Breaking into Silicon Valley

The best way to break into Silicon Valley? Jason M. Lemkin says, "product flattery." Read on to see what he means.

Tunes

Listening to Smile by Brian Wilson

Smile. One of my favorite records. A sad tale that it took so long, but equally amazing that it got made at all. So glad it was.

Music Business

Finding what's been lost in the transition to digital

It's not about whether Spotify and Pandora are paying a fair rate. It’s that they’re not paying enough to make up for what has been lost in the transition to digital.

Music Business

To stream tunes, or to buy

Some in the music industry seem surprised that Spotify subscribers don't buy music. Odd, since they're substitute products.

Tunes

Listening to Big Machine by Mark Duplass

Wonderful song from the closing of the movie Safety Not Guaranteed. Which, fwiw, is a seriously fun flicker well worth any indie fan's time.

Business

The helpfulness of criticism

I took a meeting with a VC the other day about my startup, "eBay for digital objects meets the social graph." There were a lot of negatives. Here's how I received the news.

Tunes

Listening to We No Who U R by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds

Many consider [Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds](http://www.nickcave.com/) one of the greatest bands the past several decades. More than 1 million monthly listeners on Spotify says it's a widely held view.

No discounting secondhand digital markets

Very recently Apple and Amazon respectively filed and were granted patents on processes that create secondhand markets for digital content within their ecosystems.

Tunes

Listening to the birds by Elbow

I discovered Elbow via a friend and I'm thankful for the intro. Their live show is stunning. the birds opens their excellent 2011 release build a rocket boys!

Technology

Funniest app review I've read in a while

A laugh-out-loud moment from the Mac App Store, a customer review of the OSX app Memory Clean. Major points for getting Cheez Curls into a review.

Tunes

Listening to Tel Aviv by Michael Tsukerman

When I published Entertainment & Media 5 years ago, a well-liked feature was 'song of the day.' Thanks to Spotify it's time to bring it back.

Technology

B&W P5s

The new headphones have arrives. B&W P5s. Unbelievable good.

Business

Yahoo!'s VPN logs don't lie?

Business Insider says that Marissa Mayer's work from home ban was supported by VPN data indicating that some external employees weren't logging in to Yahoo!s network. No login, no work?

Music Business

How to let people pay for music

Don't make people pay for music, says Amanda Palmer: Let them. In a passionate talk that begins in her days as a street performer, she examines the new relationship between artist and fan.

Music Business

How to buy music (if you're a fan of a band)

Ironic message from Suffocation guitarist Guy Marchais, who went to the mall and bought his own CD. And filmed it. Just to make a point about buying CDs from the mall.

Music Business

Pandora caps free listening hours

Pandora has capped free listening to 40 hours per month, apparently slightly more than the average listener uses.

Music Business

Dear Thom, Big Tech isn't the problem

Tech needs to keep commodifying things to keep the share price up, but in doing so they have made all content, including music and newspapers, worthless, in order to make their billions. And this is what we want?

Business

How to manage a Kickstarter campaign

A great Kickstarter campaign relies on great communication. Here's how two projects that went sideways got it right.

Business

Apple (APPL) stock manipulation?

Apple Insider claims fund manager Doug Kass yesterday tweeted a rumor of a forthcoming stock split announcement at Apple's shareholder meeting in order to "clear profits."

On Yahoo!'s work from home ban

What Marissa Mayer's ban on working from home says to me is that for better or worse Yahoo! is at least moving. Some believe it's going to backfire badly. Can anyone really argue that change at Yahoo! isn't absolutely necessary?

Technology

SF MusicTech 2013 outs tech angst towards rights licensing

I attended my first SF MusicTech Summit yesterday at the Hotel Kabuki in Japantown. One of the huge benefits of relocating from Australia to the States is being able to easily, and relatively inexpensively, attend conferences like this. It was a great experience.

Music Business

What Spotify licensing pricing means for their business model

Spotify will negotiate price breaks in forthcoming licensing talks with major rights owners. What does this mean for the future of their business?

Technology

Will we ever see a Google Store?

Google is reportedly about to enter the retail space. Here's what I hope their stores look like.