HOT: Sad Songs Say So Much
For some depressed people, sad music holds a strange allure. A new study shows that the attraction isn’t sadistic or simply a case of misery loving company. The study, published in the science journal PLOS ONE, found that along with “providing consolation” to the sad listener, depressing music helps by “regulating negative moods and emotions.” The study concluded that listening to sad music stirs our creativity and imagination, allowing us to find ways to cope with or overcome sadness. Perhaps this is what will save the music industry — cut in on the pharmaceutical companies’ racket and have shrinks prescribe depressing music for emotional problems: “Listen to two Smiths songs and call me in the morning.”
WARM: A Sour Promo Opportunity
Taco Bell has given bands free food vouchers since 2008, promoting up-and-coming “Indie” acts on its website and sponsoring events at South By Southwest. Now the makers of Sour Patch Kids candy are giving this “Indie music branding opportunity” concept a go, opening something of a youth hostel for touring bands in Brooklyn, N.Y. The catch is that the artists must produce “content” for the brand — anything from social media posts (“After a long night of rockin’, nothing beats winding down with a huge joint and some #sourpatchkids”) to videos touting the wonders of Sour Patch Kids. For bands that don’t want to be associated with disgustingly unhealthy food products, there are still options for tour lodging — like the tried-and-true “sleep on a fan’s apartment floor” that has served the music community so well for decades.
This dude knows what's up:
COLD: Forgotten Truths
In May, the European Union decided that individuals have the “right to be forgotten” and can request that Google and other search engines remove “inaccurate, inadequate, irrelevant or excessive” links from results. It was the opening of a can of worms in regards to access to information online, and one of the oddest worms to wiggle out is Classical pianist Dejan Lazic, who wrote to The Washington Post to request the removal of a negative review. The Post’s report on the incident notes that the request was not only ridiculous but also ridiculously misguided — the paper is a content provider, not a search engine, and is not based in Europe (though Lazic is). Lazic’s request will go nowhere, but it’s frightening how many take-down requests have been approved by Google. The Post says the search site has removed 68 percent of the links requested by users since the ruling.
