Music | Masters of Media

European Commission: online piracy helps music sales

Although it has been criticized as being a main cause of the musical industry decline, the online piracy of music files actually appears to help to provide access to legal content, shows a recent study of the European Commission’s...

By Vicentiu Dinga on 03/23/13 0

Giglocker – Diary your Events.

To be where the party is does not longer mean you might not like the music. The times of the silent disco are over! We can all again listen to music together in real life with people who appreciate...

By Isabel Theissen on 10/03/12 0

‘Share and Share Alike’ The Democratic Future of the Music Industry

As early as 1997, WELL member Michael H. Goldhaber predicted the paradigmatic shift that would be brought about in the global economy as widespread use of the internet began to take place. He realized that in these coming times of unavoidable...

By Basri Hoogstrate on 10/03/12 0

The effect of new media in teaching music

A thirteen-year-old child walks into the music classroom and recommends the guitar teacher a song of an independent, French punk band. The teacher listens to the song on YouTube and concludes that it is a bit too fast. The...

By Jeroen Rademakers on 09/13/12 0

You are the music while the music lasts: a look at record shops online and offline

The market for music has been collapsing since the up rise of high speed Internet access. Music is an elastic product that suffers under the effect of price and competition. The opportunities for users have changed and lean towards...

By Marnick van der Zee on 10/24/11 0

Do you remember the first time? Music and the rise of the ‘scented candle’

I grew up listening to Pulp. I vividly remember lying outside my older sisters’ bedroom as she played Different Class from her multi-CD changer Hi-Fi, while I pushed myself up against her door, devouring Jarvis’ every word. Outside, unbeknown...

By Jamie Franklin on 10/18/11 0

Love in the Time of Call-era: Rap music videos and the infectious relationship between humans and mobile phones

Attraction: Mobile tools R. Kelly ft. Nas “Did You Ever Think” (1998) The access point of your curiosity is the body, an exciting, new gadget. J. Macgregor Wise describes one perspective of human-technology relations as a received view in...

By Kendall Grady on 10/17/11 0

REVIEW: PressPausePlay

PressPausePlay discusses how digital technology has affected the creative industries including music, film art and even literature.

By Janice Wong on 09/19/11 0

Book Review: The Book of Ice, by Paul D. Miller (DJ Spooky)

In December 2007, composer and artist and writer Paul D. Miller a.ka. DJ Spooky a.k.a That Subliminal Kid boarded a decommissioned naval ship and traveled to Antarctica. The book that resulted from this journey is The Book of Ice,...

By Autumn Hand on 09/18/11 0

Legal vs. Illegal: Understanding Dutch Copyright

If one were to compare the Netherlands to the United States on just a topical issues alone it would seem like oil and water. The obvious differences, are well, just that – obvious (no need to discuss coffee shops,...

By Megan Adams on 07/23/11 1

Berghain: Adventures in Techno

Over the past few weeks I have situated myself in Berlin on a mandate to take in and absorb all that is the music culture here. On a mission to discover the heartbeat of the European music industry, I...

By Megan Adams on 06/29/11 0

How to make beautiful music (audibly & visually) without being a musician

Composing and representing music visually has traditionally been through music notation. Using a 5 lined “staff” or “stave” as a framework, black circles with lines are drawn to represent pitch and length of notes with other markings such as...

By Janice Wong on 05/10/11 0

Visualising music: the problems with genre classification

Want to listen to new music but sick of staring at your old MP3 collection? Streaming applications like Spotify, Last.fm and Pandora (US only) recommend related artists. Sites like The Hype Machine and Elbows aggregate music blogs for instant...

By Janice Wong on 04/26/11 0

Imogen Heap is crowdsourcing your sounds for new album

Imogen Heap, two-time grammy award winner and known for her innovative online practices...

By Janice Wong on 03/14/11 9

Music and Bits and Startups

Last week I attended the Music and Bits conference, which is the pre-conference for Amsterdam Dance Event. The conference touts itself as “an exploration of music and technology” and by all accounts I would say that was accurate. Of...

By Megan Adams on 10/31/10 1

Dark blog

As the first half of this semester draws to an end, and we all wrap up our compulsory blogging and prepare for the next hurdles of our MA course, I was surprised at not hearing a single word about...

By Hans Terpstra on 10/29/10 11

Digital Distribution + Music = Global Divide

A couple of months ago I was sitting at my desk with a friend, going through my iTunes collection and trying to put together a...

By Megan Adams on 10/28/10 2

Event review: Music & Bits – day 1 of ADE Conference

The funniest line in the opening speech for Music & Bits was “now for a practical matter – does anyone have an iPad charger?” I loved to hear that, in a room of music geeks, developers and techies, and...

By Janice Wong on 10/26/10 0

The E-reading Development Compared To Past MP3 Culture

Cheaper Books and Violation of Copyright?

The value added tax (VAT) for a Dutch digital book consists 19% instead of the 6% for a printed one. This results in only a minimal difference...

By Elias van Hees on 10/18/10 0