Why I Built My Own Goddamn Link Shortener
A successful DIY musician (I'm told) isn't easily distracted. By contrast, a DIY musician - note missing adjective - chases all manner of butterflies down all manner of rabbit-shaped holes. As evidence, I spent yet another weekend building something arguably fabulous, though it bears no resemblance to music or anything musical. It's a URL shortener. "Tada!"
Identity Crisis: “High-Resolution Audio” vs. “High-Definition Audio”
Let's talk about high-resolution audio for a moment - that is, digital audio encoded at greater than 16 bits and 44.1 kHz. Or, is it "high-definition audio?" "High-bitrate audio?" Cripes, it's no wonder 'high-resobitdef' audio hasn't gained traction with consumers: Nobody knows what to call it!
A Decade of Spotify and Still No Liner Notes?
Will Lloyd's article in Spectator, "Spotify and the Death of Discovery," got me teething on the problem of dwindling engagement between artists and streaming music listeners. In my opinion, a chief contributor to this unfortunate decline is obvious, and has been for ten years now: In short, where are the liner notes?!
Feynman vs. Mecha-Feynman: Supercharging the Note-to-Self
If there's one thing I've learned, it's that I forget a lot. Physicist (and bongo player) Richard Feynman developed a technique for understanding and remembering complex ideas that I've found to be useful in the recording studio. For the music entrepreneur - or any entrepreneur, really - with so many hats to wear, this technique might improve your efficiency too.