I am always looking for new music. The other day I stumbled upon this website that I think is absolutely amazing. You can tell them a few of your favorite artists and the site recommends others that you might like. You can even view a music map that shows your artist among a bunch of others that you might like based on the ones you have picked. This site also does the same thing for movies and books. It's pretty awesome. Check it out!

http://gnoosic.com/

This article claims that the RIAA's approach to copyright in an era of widespread use of digital technologies is lacking common sense. When our parents were growing up, production of recorded music was exclusive to a relatively small group of people with specialized skills and equipment. New technologies, however, have put the power of production into the hands of pretty much anyone with a computer. Of course the value of the RIAA's product has gone down, supply is way way up and demand is essentially zero because we can just do it ourselves. The actual recording isn't where an artist makes most of their money these days (with the obvious big-name exceptions). Most artist's money comes from promoting their brand and having a live performance that people are going to want to see. Therefore, 'stealing' music (and using it in remixes, mashups etc.) actually helps the artist because their fans are doing their promoting free of charge.
http://www.creativedeconstruction.com/2009/06/creative-culture-and-the-g...

Modern Musical Performance and the Musician as Translator

I wanted to approach this audio essay the way I approach written essays: I make an outline, write down everything that I find in my research/come up with in my head that fits each category of my outline, and then go back and work on it- maybe refining my topic, definitely making it more concise, and checking more nitpicky details like spelling and grammar. So here's my rough rough podcast-I've got lots there, might add more, but this is my filled in outline. I definitely need to polish it- I know the volume isn't equal everywhere, and I know the transitions aren't smooth, but I'm just concerned with it making sense right now (and having something to go from!) Comments?