February 8th, 2006 Rachel
Duh.
If you want to live vicariously through someone who’s in a much warmer spot that the rest of us bundled up in our scarfs and mittens, check out my friend Kelly’s blog. She’s having a great time and in less than two weeks has seen some amazing things, tasted some fabulous wine, and been on a few adventures. I have little doubt that there will be more, much more, as this trip is scheduled to come to an end…um…
Well, that hasn’t been decided yet. Which makes it even more fun.
Posted in Canada, Daily Photo | No Comments »
February 8th, 2006 Rachel
If you want a snapshot look at one of the best books I’ve read in a long time, with even more current information and perspectives on the music industry, check this out. Gerd Leonhard writes in his Future of Music Blog from MIDEM 2006. Here’s a tiny piece of a heck of a lot to take in (but if this is your thing, you’ll soak it up…):
The bottom line is that the SYSTEM, the OPERATING PARADIGM, is
broken, at the core, and that truckloads of band-aids will not make it
well again - these attempts at reviving an almost comatose record (but NOT music-) industry
will just keep us going until we can get a full set of organ (and
brain) transplants. But of course, usually, big changes must simply
play themselves out, and so for 2006, I predict
that the PAIN of selling music the good old way (i.e. by the ‘unit’,
whether online or offline) will become so severe that most incumbents will
simply waive most currently mandatory must have’s and finally throw
their holy cows (such as not licensing anything in MP3 format, or
maintaining territorial restrictions) into the digital meat-grinder, and will start heading for greener pastures, in droves. Good.
Yeah, this is a guy to read. He knows what he’s talking about, has fascinating ideas and an enlightened perspective. For a topic that often gets bogged down with financial, emotional and political issues, Leonhard rises above it all and makes the issues clear and a possible path almost self evident.
Posted in Books, Learning, Music, Tech | No Comments »
February 8th, 2006 Rachel
So, my friend Slava made an interesting comment today when we were discussing Belle and Sebastian [note: that’s the label’s website, their band website was down for some reason…]. I just got their new album,The Life Pursuit off of eMusic yesterday. Pretty much all my music is downloaded online now, which is more affordable, more convenient, and takes up less space (well, though at the same time it’s taking up *more* space on the ol’ computer).
BUT…besides the fact that I don’t have a copy of the cd to stick in my car cd player to get away from the ever more awful terrestrial radio…
What happens when I’m in a situation where I might get an album signed?
Now, I’ve never been really really huge on this thing, but there have been a couple of times where getting something signed has been awesome, meaningful and just plain cool.
Take last year, for instance. I got to see Malcolm Gladwell give a presentaion at U of T on Blink when it first came out. Now, I had already read The Tipping Point (twice) and was in total awe of this man during the entire time he spoke. Well, on the day of, I packed up my wrinked copy of the ol’ book and picked up a shiny copy of the new book and brought them with me. The room was packed, I sat on the floor, and I soaked up every second of it.
Afterward, I got in line to get my books signed [if I’m being brutally honest, I must admit that I was so "star struck" I didn’t have an answer when he asked "Who should I make this out too"…so, my signed copies don’t have my name in there - such is life, heh]. It means a lot to me that I have that as both a signal to both me and others of what a fan I am, and also as a memory of that evening.
So, what do I do when I see Belle and Sebastian at SXSW? Well, they’re awesome, so I’ll repurchase the album. But I don’t know how often I would do that, and I don’t know how that standard will change if the CD continues to be phased out…
Digital signatures? Other memorabilia being signed (I suppose a t-shirt might do, in some instances)?
We shall see.
Posted in Music, Tech | 2 Comments »
February 8th, 2006 Rachel
I was at a conference today, which on top of being extremely informative, entertaining, and worth getting up at 4am (though some might say I’m biased…), is one of those times where meeting people is the name of the game. Networking.
Everyone puts on their schmoozing hats, pulls out their business cards and starts asking the questions ("so, is this your first time at one of these?", "what made you come today?", "what do you do?", etc, etc). For me, as a young gal just starting out in her professional life, this is a tremendous opportunity to learn how to play this game early, before it counts too much (yeah, it always counts, but as I was without business cards and only revealed my reasons for even knowing about the event to a couple of people, I will have faded away in the minds of most attendees right about…six hours ago).
As I spoke with one gentleman, he called me on something that is one of the most important lessons that I think I will learn for playing in this arena. Here’s how the exchange went (well, paraphrased…4am, remember…):
Him: "Predixis? Ah, isn’t that one of the company’s Rick was just taking about?"
Me: "Yep, Predixis is one of the companies that JLA has invested in."
Him: "What is the business again…?"
Me: "Well, they have this technology that is able to analyze music acoustically in order to…"
Him: "You mean ‘We’."
Me: "Sorry?"
Him: "You said ‘They’…aren’t you part of the company?" <insert twinkly eyed grin>
Yes. I am a part of the company, and I most definitely should have said ‘We’. That one little word makes a big difference, and I’m extremely grateful to him for pointing it out. I sometimes forget subconsciously that I’m not just a far-flung appendage working from across the country on ’stuff’. I am a part of the team. Another example:
"Hi, my name is Rachel and I work with Predixis…"
"Hi, my name is Rachel and I work for Predixis…"
"Hi, my name is Rachel and I’m part of the Predixis team."
What would you rather hear? What would you rather say?
Those minor changes have a huge impact both on how a person is perceived, and I have little doubt that it also plays a big part in how someone (in this case ME) perceives their own self. It sounds corny, like something that should be in one of those cheesy inspirational posters but it’s true and it really means something.
One more example, from way back during my brief stint as a veterinary receptionist, before I end this slightly (I hope…) long winded post:
Client: "Are you a vet?"
Me: "Oh, no, I’m just a secretary."
Client: "Oh, okay…"
<Vet walks around the corner>
Vet: "You’re not "just" anything…"
Me: "Oh, um..I mean..right.." - as I feel slightly embarrassed, but know I will not forget this moment where the difference between modesty and insecurity is clarified.
They’re just words, but they really do mean something.
Posted in Learning, MusicIP, Personal | 3 Comments »
