Music Biz
iPad DJ
Apple’s new iPad could boost interactive music, according to Wired.com. Rj Voyager is a free app for iPad from Reality Digital that lets you modify the pre-selected music as if you were a sound engineer. For example, if the album David Archuleta was available, instead of just listening, you could create live mixes for a party — or pretend you are a DJ in the sound studio working with the artist himself!
No More Music
Half a world away, human beings have a different view of music. On April 3 Islamic fundamentalists in Somalia ordered radio stations to stop playing music. They have ten days to comply. What will happen if they don’t? Well, at least one station, Radio Mogadishu, will continue to transmit programs independent of the Islamists’ bans. “Radio Mogadishu is expected to become even more popular, especially if the dozen independent broadcasters in the city stop playing music,” Hassanow Qalli, a resident of Mogadishu who has been involved in Somali folk dances and cultural displays, told the Nation. Radio Mogadishu stores a repository of the country’s cultural heritage, including folk songs and patriotic tunes.
MORE: All Africa
Kris Allen and David Cook in Africa
Both Allen and Cook returned from recent goodwill trips to Africa. Allen brought TOMS shoes to Rwanda, while Cook was in Ethiopia to help increase awareness of the plight of young women. Cook’s trip to Ethiopia will be featured on the upcoming “Idol Gives Back”; the April 22 telecast may also include more of Allen’s trip to Haiti last February.
MORE: Top Idol Blog
Buzz Board
Global Trends in Music
It didn’t take a global survey to tell me that the undisputed number 1 passion in the world is—music! But the survey has a few other facts that might be hard for the Somali Islamists to accept.
The study’s highlights:
- The majority of people (63%) consider themselves passionate about music.
- Only 6% of people around the world say they ‘couldn’t care less’ about music.
- One third of Americans (read, “Honeybees!”) would ‘give anything’ to meet their music idols.
- Most people do purchase their music legally and legal mobile downloads are beginning to take off.
- An overall 16% of people bought a live music / concert DVD in the past 12 months.
- Almost one third of people globally (31%) said they’d buy a product that is endorsed by their favorite artist / band.
Steve Garton, global head of media research for Synovate, said: “Since the beginning of humankind, there has been a passion for music. From the primitive beating of drums, to even before we are born when we’re already used to the steady beat of our mother’s heart, we are programmed to have a passion for music.”
MORE: Global survey about music trends
¡Más Música!
The Billboard Latin Music Conference and Awards draws together top artists and business executives for a four-day discussion and celebration of all things Latin. It runs April 26-29 in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and confirmed panelists and speakers include Marc Anthony, Aventura and Universal Music Latin America chairman/CEO Jesús López.
Meat Loaf on Simon Cowell
No, I’m not going to throw a meat loaf on Simon Cowell, I’m just quoting Mr. Michael Lee Aday, AKA Meat Loaf, about Mr. Cowell. Perfectly civil.
“…I’m doing my bit to save real music. Too many singers are famous on the back of one or two songs. We’re not producing enough artists – that’s killing music. Simon Cowell is a smart man and I salute his success, but he’s not creating artists. He’s creating people who can sing decent cover versions. He has the power to reinvent the music business. He could help take it back to the proper music we had in the Sixties, Seventies and Eighties. Someone needs to save music. It’s like saving the whales. I’ll do my bit, but we need to work together.”
MORE: Daily Mail
Way-back Machine
Did you know that Elvis Presley never won a Grammy for a Pop, Rock ‘n’ Roll or R&B song? His three Grammy Awards were all for Gospel songs.
- Best Sacred Performance 1967 for the album How Great Thou Art, which sold over a million copies and reached #18 in the Top Albums chart.
- Best Inspirational Performance 1972 for his album He Touched Me.
- Best Inspirational Performance 1974 for his live version of “How Great Thou Art” from the album Elvis Recorded Live On Stage in Memphis.
In 1971 the Academy granted Elvis its Lifetime Achievement Award. Elvis was just 36 years old.
Music Beat Buzz
