Profile Blogger - Nick Guarino - TSIS Blog

For my profile blog post I have found and choose blog writer, Nick Guarino. Nick Guarino is the owner and main contributor to his blog Thissongissick, which he started back in 2010. Since starting the blog out of his dorm room at Boulder Colorado his fan base has grown to millions of music enthusiasts  all over the world including over 110 different countries every single month. Since starting the blog Nick claims he and the blog have grown a lot, but his original purpose for starting the blog has stayed the same. He has always wanted to just make it easier for you to “discover sick new music that you've never heard before.” In high school he would make mix Cd's for my friends to show them all the new music he was discovering.

            Nicks connection to music is he blogs about the newest music trends and music coming out all over the world. Because his blog has grown so big, Thissongissick.com now works with musicians and record labels from all over the world to showcase a variety of the freshest electronic, hip-hop, indie, and alternative music to a global following.

            The blogs typical post range from 200-700 words and are blogged multiple times a day. This tone of the blog is very casual almost as if it was your dorm roommate was showing you some new music. Their layout is super simple and easy to maneuver. Two specific blog post that I choose to look at were his most two recent, the “RL Grime Unloads third annual Halloween mix full of unreleased music (free download)” and the “ [TSIS Premiere] Ookay Releases Powerful Trap Single “Egg Drop Soup”” Both post are similar in the sense that they both have a short description about the song and sound cloud link to the song itself. They both have custom artwork for the post and the RL Grime even has the entire mix individually written out (song specific).

            With Nick’s Uniform look, great content and overall knowledge and power within the music industry he and his blog will surely continue to post high quality post and attract a higher fan base.

Link to Blog: http://thissongissick.com/blog/

Sat·u·ra·tion

            Over saturation, a word that seems to be popping up with more and more frequency in music blogs these days. And over saturation is a phrase that, to a degree, accurately describes today’s popular music universe. It maybe that I feel this way because I’m a Music Industry major in at university that happens located in the music capital of the world. With the amount of information on the Internet, coupled with the democratization of music production, for a music major and lover like myself it seems harder and harder to find quality music. I often find myself having to dig deeper and deeper to find quality music. From this can we conclude that technology has made the quality of music go down? I beg to differ.

            Today’s technologies have allowed musicians to be more creative than ever, with new technologies helping them explore and access new types of music and sounds from around the globe. By exploring new music and with an increased ability to record in unique studio environment, environment and culture has been allowed to become a growing creative force behind music. These new way of recording music are allowing anyone to be a musician. There is more music created than ever, which is leading to a high level of saturation in almost every genre and market. The number of individuals and labels fighting for, “seven seconds of a viewers attention,” is greater than ever before. This leaves it to music heads, like myself, having to sort thru millions of people who now can call themselves recording artists. Rapper J. Cole in a recent interview put his opinions on the subject in a very relate able way. He said, “Today’s music age is like keeping up with the ‘rat race.’” It is so tough these days to poke through the music online, with everyone now being able to record and release music himself or herself. The same goes for DJ’s. With some basic technology and a little practice everyone can DJ. But this isn’t the first time in history we’ve seen this happen.

            When recorded music was making it’s transition from analogue tape to digital people started to utilize the “abuse” in the tape machines. If you pushed the machines harder than they were supposed to go you would get “tape saturation” which was a natural warmth to the overall sound of the music. Music makers from the 60’s to now took the abuse of the recording tape machines and turned it into something good. Technology led to saturation in technique. But it is without argument it made the music better.

            Yes the Internet is over saturated with bad music. And plenty of people are claiming to be musicians, DJ’s, and producers, or whatever else they want to label themselves. But the fact of the matter is one can waste time complaining about the huge volume of low quality music, which in my opinion is a waste of their breathe. Or they can instead look at it as the tape abuse of today’s age. The over saturation is just going to continue to push creative boundaries and real artists will find a way to use the saturation to their advantage. The struggle to rise to the top, to be heard, is what makes great art. Necessity is the father of invention. And we need better music now than ever.

Ke$ha V.S Dr. Luke - The "he said, she said" story of todays popular music

            Artists and producers often have challenging relationships in and outside the recording studio. A good producer can make or break a song. A mega producer can make or break an artist. And sometimes, a mega producer and mega artist can try to make or break each other. Such are the fates of super producer, and former Saturday night live guitarist, Dr. Luke and his artist Kesha Rose Sebert. Earlier this week Kesha filed a staggering lawsuit against her producer and vise versa.

            According to CNN Kesha claims Dr. Luke has abused her for years. The website states, “Kesha's civil complaint filed in Los Angeles claims that Dr. Luke sexually, physically and verbally abused her over the 10 years since he signed her as an 18-year-old artist.” (CNN.com). Hours later, Dr. Luke and his attorneys filed a suit in New York on claims of defamation and extortion. CNN writes, “[These] ‘outrageous and untrue statements’ to extort him into releasing her from her recording contract with his label.” (CNN.com)

            Some eyebrows have been raised over the fact that Kesha for sometime has been battling to get out of a none to favorable record deal that she signed as an eighteen year old. However on the other side of the argument lies Dr. Luke who by other artists, on many occasions, has been accused of being incredibly controlling. This situation isn’t untypical. Kesha has asked in the suit that she be let go of her contract, as well as be paid for “damages.” According to details within the lawsuit Kesha claims that she, “ lived in a prison of his abuse,” as well as accusations that Dr. Luke gave her a "date rape drug" to allow him to sexually assault her while she was unconscious. He also allegedly used constant verbal insults -- such as calling her "a fat f--king refrigerator" -- "to make her feel completely worthless and maintain complete control over her life." Like most pop stars Kesha’s debut album sold a million plus copies. But she claims that did not stop the abuse. As much of the public knows Kesha developed an easting disorder, bulimia nervosa, which almost killed her. She sought serious therapeutic and medical help. She claims that this was due in large part to Dr. Luke’s verbal abuse about her weight. Mark Geragos, Kesha's lawyer said the lawsuit is a chance for Kesha to take back control of her life. He says," [It] ‘is a wholehearted effort by Kesha to regain control of her music career and her personal freedom after suffering for 10 years as a victim of mental manipulation, emotional abuse, and sexual assault at the hands of Dr. Luke.’ "

            For me as a young entrepreneur within the music industry I feel torn about the subject. By no means is abuse, sexual or otherwise, condonable in a business environment or in society. Especially when a young female artist entrusts an older man with much of her life. Yet, these suits have som much to do with money and creative control it is hard not to be skeptical. These accusations could shatter the image of one of my favorite producers. Kesha would exist without Dr. Luke. Dr. Luke has had an insanely impressive, twenty-seven Number One Billboard hits. Some of his big songs include: “Katy Perry's "I Kissed a Girl," "Teenage Dream," "California Gurls," "E.T", "Last Friday Night," "Part of Me," "Wide Awake", and "The One That Got Away," Rihanna's "Where Have You Been?," Britney's "Hold it Against Me" and "Circus," Ke$ha's "Tik Tok," "Die Young", "We R Who We R," and "Blow," Flo Rida's "Good Feeling" "Right Round," Miley Cyrus' "Party in the U.S.A.," Taio Cruz's "Dynamite" and so many more” (AAMinc). A man of his creative stature may very well be a control freak. He may as well be a criminal if what Kesha claims is true. Other Dr. Luke artists have come to the defense of his character. Hopefully Kesha gets out of her deal and Dr. Luke can find it within himself to apologize to her. Or else this could put a terrible scar on the face of popular music.

Social Bookmarking Soulmate

I came across my social booking soul mate early last week while doing research for our latest paper assignment. Thomas Brett is a percussionist, ethnomusicologist, composer, and writer who has started his own, highly successful, blog, brettworks.com. The blog entries are multimedia thought pieces, or meditations, on performance. Brett also has many insights about what he describes as the ever-shrinking attention span of the general public. These pieces of music incorporate improvisations on his personal ideas, music, and sounds. Most of his posts are quite short, usually around 250-500 word submissions, and engage interesting topics of analysis surrounding the place of music in our popular culture. His blog, which turned out to be both an exceptional work and rich resource, led me to many other interesting sites and publications on the same subjects. Some of these blogs include: beingmusicalbeinghuman.com, disquiet.com, generationbass.com, halfsharpmusic.wordpress.com, and sonicwarfare.com.

            However, his blog brettworks.com is a unique place, unlike any music website I have ever encountered. It is an incredibly insightful blend of his various thoughts, feelings, and observations. It can be explored easily, both for in depth research or aimless curiosity. He uses videos, quick and witty analysis, and short notes notes to illustrate interesting points. Brettworks.com is a place where the musical roots of today’s popular culture connect with other ideas. It is a place of growth; new concepts and insights.

Lawsuits, Bitterness and Hardship - Stories of Band Breakups

            When I was in the sixth grade I was in my first real band. We had six guys: drums, guitar, bass, trumpet/trombone player, pianist, and singer. Our first practice lasted a total twenty minutes. We spent fifteen minutes rehearsing covers and five minutes attempting to write original material. We ended up just jamming for an hour. Then decided being in a band was tough, so we went skateboarding. We clearly were on the path to major success. We only lasted as a band for 3 months. We played two live shows and rehearsed only two times a week. We were in 6^th grade. Drugs and alcohol weren’t the problem. Success hadn’t gone to our heads. In fact we didn’t have any success. The run was over as soon as it had begun.

            Earlier this week news came out that the huge EDM super group Krewella, which is made up of sisters, Jahan Yousaf, Yasmine Yousaf and Kris Trindl, had broke up. And the breakup was getting messy. They have been a band since June 8, 2010. The reason why this date is definite is because all three members bear matching "6-8-10" tattoos commemorating the date. Since becoming a band they’ve sold millions of records and toured the world playing in front of millions of people. Unfortunately on Tuesday, Kris Trindl filed a $5 million dollar lawsuit against the sisters for being kicked out of the EDM group “unfairly,” according to Billboard Magazine, next day, October 1^st, the Yousaf sisters responded to the suit and its allegations.

We woke up this morning to the lawsuit Kris filed against us.  As you all know, there are two sides to every story. We ask our fans to please be patient and not come to any conclusions until we are able to respond to the lawsuit with the truth. Our team has advised that we don’t get into any specifics until we can properly respond to the false claims made—most importantly being that we did not kick Kris out of Krewella, he resigned. We’re having a really difficult time today. As we write this letter to you, we are in the studio working on the second album. Please hang in there with us, the truth will eventually come out. Thank you for being so supportive, we love you guys. – (Billboard Magazine)

Trindl, according to widespread sources, was kicked out of the band for alcohol abuse. However, he has previously checked himself in rehab for alcohol abuse. After he emerged clean, the sisters and fellow band members claimed that he was depressed. It seemed is mood was weighing down the group. Whether, this is true or not, or if Trindl in fact continued his sobriety remains to be seen. The fact remains, he is no longer with the band.

            Band breakups, often followed by lawsuits, are not a new thing. The majority of bands go through breakups. Or at least they take breaks. My sixth grade band was not bucking the trend. Rolling Stone magazine has published articles covering the biggest band breakups of all time. The names are infamous. Guns and Roses, The Everly Brothers, The Pixies, The Clash, Rage Against the Machine, and Oasis, are just a few mega groups that had mega meltdowns. Like Krewella, many bands break up due to alcohol or drug related issues. Sometimes break ups start over creative and monetary control. Big bands lead to big egos. So why is it so hard to stay a band? Why was it so hard even in sixth grade, when we didn’t have to face adult issues? Why couldn’t we hold it together? It seems the only answer is a delicate balance. A balance that remains a mystery to many including me. But in Krewella’s case, did they kick out a band member going through the challenges of trying to better himself? Or did they do what was right for the creative health of the group? The Yousaf sisters or Trindl? Can you pick a side? If it is too difficult, you could always give up and go skateboarding. Unless of course, you want to be in a mega band.