[Night Out] Anberlin's Last Shows Ever (11/25/2014 @ The Ritz in Ybor City, FL & 11/26/2014 @ House Of Blues in Orlando, FL)

Anberlin @ House of Blues in Orlando, FL 11/26/2014

The Friday before Thanksgiving while I was getting ready for work I received a text message from a friend of mine that I had seen the week prior at an Anberlin show at Gramercy Theater. While we were hanging out at that show, I had entertained the idea of heading to Florida to witness the final Anberlin shows ever before the band officially broke up for good. Later the next day, however, I pushed it out of my mind because it wasn't a thing that I could afford and felt incredibly silly for me to go out of my way for considering how many times I had seen the band growing up. She wanted to know if I was still planning on heading home for the holiday for the final Anberlin shows.

As I fumbled to text back, "Can't do Florida. Would love to, just can't", the second I hit send my eyes began to swell with tears and lump in my throat was big that I was having a hard time swallowing. I don't get into it much on here, but a big part of the person who babbles on about music to you that you are reading today was majorly influenced by my upbringing in Orlando. As much as I sometimes wish I had been born and bred in New York, I can't imagine that I would have been the music loving human being that I am today without the experience of being so hungry for music and so eager to support local artists that I traveled all over central Florida following a handful of bands around. Unfortunately, not many of them saw the semi-mainstream success that I had cheered them on for, but to this day I couldn't be more proud of what bands like Copeland, Underoath, and Anberlin have been able to accomplish since we were all idiot teenagers.

After a bit of encouraging/convincing from my friend, I did what any actual fan would do: I did whatever it took to get my behind to Florida.

I had to get to Florida by Tuesday night because it wasn't just Anberlin performing at The Ritz in Ybor City, my longtime local favorites Copeland would be opening. Copeland had disbanded a few years back, so it was a top priority of mine to not miss this unicorn of a reunion-eque performance. I literally flew in, kissed my family, drove where we needed to so I could borrow my mom's car, and proceeded to drive in some of the worst rain I had experienced driving in for an hour to Ybor City. Every 10 miles or so I received text updates from hometown friends already there about the status of the show because I was running so late (thanks again, JetBlue!).

But I made it. Not only did I make it, but it was just in time for "Coffee", a song that I had long spent defining myself to non-Florida friends who didn't quite understand the dynamic of the central Florida music scene. For 5 minutes I would forget that I was rain soaked and stressed out of my mind. The flood of memories and emotions that came was worn basically white knuckling it the whole way to Ybor because it had been years since I had driven in the rain at night. 16-year-old me was so happy that I had gone through all the effort for one more live experience of that song. I thought of the countless times that I had hid what was left of my allowance under one of their t-shirts on their merch table because I knew they were going to be heading out on tour and I wanted to make sure they had gas/food money. I relished in the moments I had with a band that had inspired me for such a large portion of my life.

Between sets I ran into a girl who I had met at a show over a decade ago. At the time she didn't have enough money for a Copeland CD, so I bought her one. We kept in touch and I'd later introduce her to a friend of mine who would eventually become her husband. She showed me photos of their kids and we caught up a bit. That was a bit of a surreal moment for the both of us. I had forgotten about the Copeland CD bit until she posted this Instagram a couple of days later.

Mind you, this was all before I even experienced any Anberlin music within the state of Florida. A longtime friend of mine got me backstage because I was getting overwhelmed by the crowd. From the side of the stage I sat on some amp cases or something and watched another band that I have literally been experiencing for more than half of my life. I watched their fans sing along so loudly that sometimes I had trouble hearing frontman Stephen Christian. I cried at their show in New York that I attended, but this one I managed to keep it together... at least for this one anyway. After the show a lot of us old school Florida scenesters waxed poetic about days gone by. It was equally weird and amazing to be around people that have been my musical family for as long as they've been.

I had attempted to prepare myself all day for Anberlin's final show at House of Blues. I knew that if the feels had been weird in Ybor that they were DEFINITELY going to overwhelm me in Orlando. After as much facetime with my blood family as I could, I joined my other family inside House of Blues for a powerful set from the forever amazing Floridian five-piece. Throughout the majority of their set I applauded myself for keeping it together, but that was before I exchanged hugs and laudatory words with the band's manager and longtime personal hero of mine, Kyle Griner. He and I have somewhat of a history. He didn't know I existed until well after I would secretly go make extra copies of the flyers for the shows he promoted back in the day (I was painfully shy when it came to things like that for some reason). Since being made aware of this, however, it has been nothing but mutual respect and admiration. Like the bands I poured my heart and (formerly) allowance into, Kyle has been someone that has long inspired me to press on like I have in the 14 years that I have been actively trying to professionally help musicians make all of their musical dreams come true. After the year that I've had, I didn't realize I needed to hear all the nice things he said to me until after he walked away, but that sub-5 minute conversation alone was worth the airfare to Florida.

The band rang out their final note, we all hugged each other, shed a few tears, hung out for awhile, and then just like that, Anberlin had officially converted from touring rock band to fond memory.

If there's one thing that I learned from this particular experience, it's that it's important to not just remember where you came from, but to fearlessly embrace the seemingly awkward pieces of your former self that brought you to who you are today. I used to be really embarrassed about how much I supported the central Florida music scene even after I had moved away to Nashville and New York, but I would never trade the fire that these bands ignited inside of me at such a young age for all the limited edition Beck vinyl in the universe. I will forever be thankful for the contributions to the universe that were provided by both Copeland and Anberlin and never stop being inspired to pour my heart and soul into trying to make someone else feel the same way about another band.

Check out the photos from both shows in the gallery below. Pick up Anberlin's final album, Lowborn, on iTunes. You should definitely also grab Copeland's latest album, Ixora, while you're already there shopping.

[Interview] Don Diablo Talks Anarchy, Family, The First Song He Ever Made

Don Diablo @ Pier of Fear 11/1/2014. Image credit: Sprout Dr

At the end of the day the annual DJ Mag’s Top 100 DJs list is just that: a list. Granted, it's a fairly good indication of the DJs and producers that are probably worthy of your eardrums as well as your dollars, but like every facet of the music business, lists like this also get muddied up with the DJs du jour that vanish from the scene maybe a year after the list is published. We’re currently in a bit of a crisis in music where the overall sentiment is that we aren’t going to have any “career musicians” to replace the ones who we will eventually lose. Who will be our next Radiohead, Beck, Rolling Stones, Beatles, Bjork, Led Zepplin, etc.? At the current rate that we’re going, it feels like we’re all going to have to accept that these flavors of the week who are fighting for their 15 minutes are as much a standard part of the new music business model as our fairly newly crowned singles dominated sales model, or the reluctant acceptance of streaming for that matter.

When it comes to Dutch producer/DJ Don Diablo, this is not the case. He’s nothing remotely close to a fad. He is an artist that has put in the time to hone his craft, extend his family to include his ever growing fanbase, and gain the respect of the music community breaking all the rules every step of the way. Amidst the never ending swarm of momentary musicians that will come and go, we’ll at the very least have one powerhouse of a DJ that we will all happily grow old with.

Don Diablo and Steve Aoki in his "Back To Life" music video. 

Of course when he’s at the age (which is 90, for you kids at home) that he portrays in his music video for, “Back To Life”, who knows what Diablo will be doing? As we chatted backstage early November at Pier of Fear in New York City moments before his set, he confessed that music wasn’t his first love, but that filmmaking was. “[It’s] weird, right?” he chuckled, “We’re here at a huge rave tonight and this wasn’t even my dream!” His musical beginnings stemmed from the need to find the perfect song for a film that he had been working on with his friends. Since his search left him empty handed, instead of settling for second best, he took matters into his own hands and made music of his own. Although the song would eventually be what got him signed and releasing records at the ripe age of 14, he'll be the first to admit that the song was far from a masterpiece. “It was horrible!” he noted, “It sounded really bad. The production was horrible. I guess there were some ideas in there. A lot of it was based on samples.”

Now at age 34, Diablo has been creating music for 20 years. Things have certainly changed in the way music, especially electronic music, was made since then. “[Back then] it was a time where you really had to invest in making music,” he noted, “You had to buy equipment, learn how to work the machines. It’s different than nowadays.” Despite overcoming the technological hurdles, being a seasoned electronic music veteran who’s not exactly an old timer can have its disadvantages. “Some people think I’m really old.” he chuckled, “They think I’m an old fat German guy because they know records from me from like 15 years ago.”

Having a professional career that began in his early teenage years has made what he considers to be the status quo is pretty mind blowing. “My reality is pretty distorted.” he explained, “I have a pretty weird life in that sense. […] I just grew up living in hotels and planes and doing whatever the hell I want. Sleeping in. Not sleeping. I don’t have a weekend. I don’t have a week. I just do what I feel and I have no boss to account to.”

“They think I’m an old fat German guy because they know records from me from like 15 years ago.”

— Don Diablo

This unruly upbringing would have a profound impact on his approach to his creative process, which he is constantly hinting at very subtly by utilizing the anarchy symbol in his logo. This intentional little detail is his statement to both his fans and musical colleagues alike. “Anarchy means no rules so you don’t have to obey existing expectations or rules,” he explained, “For me, it means that you don’t have to make music in one genre. You don’t just have to be a DJ. [...] I try to break free of the rules and just come up with a different idea and in that sense to me it’s like anarchy.”

This credo of his is seen throughout his work everywhere you look. Most DJs aren't known for directing their own music videos, contributing lyrics or vocals for their songs, genre hopping, or designing their own clothes in addition to a handful of other things. They also most likely wouldn't choose to enlist their mother and grandmother for a photoshoot to encourage fans to vote for them in the Top 100 DJs list over hiring a publicist for a huge press blitz, but again, Diablo dances to the beat of his own machinedrum and no one elses. “I’ve literally been trying to destroy my musical career for years,” he said, “But every time I get more inspired and I get more ideas.” He never allows himself to get burnt out on making music or any of his other disciplines. “[...]When I’m not inspired with making music I get into other stuff,” he elaborated, “I start editing a video or coming up with concepts with videos. [...] You can do other things that are still creative and a part of you being an artist. So that’s how I found a nice little balance for myself so I can be creative 100% of the time.”

Since he’s always working on something, when the time comes for a song to come together, it can happen faster than you'd imagine. “I think the best songs I’ve done, I’ve done in one day,” he divulged, “Like let’s say, 'Anytime'. I finished it in 3 hours. It’s just boom boom boom. Obviously I already had the idea there for a long time. I created all the separate elements and had them in a folder. [...] The actual production only took a few hours.”

“I’ve literally been trying to destroy my musical career for years, but every time I get more inspired and I get more ideas.”

— Don Diablo

However unconventional his methods seem to be, they’re most definitely working in his favor. This past October for the first time ever he made his debut entry on the Top 100 DJs list at number 82. While it comes as no surprise to longtime fans like myself, as usual artists are their biggest critics, "I’ll be very honest," he confessed, "Most of my life I’ve been feeling pretty disappointed in myself. Like, I’ve never really been proud of anything that I’ve done. I felt like my life was a big failure, you know?" Those of us on the outside looking in can see his gradual climb, but Diablo hadn't noticed until it was blatantly obvious, "Yesterday I played in a club and I played like 90% of my own records and people went APESHIT," he gushed, "They weren’t just singing along to the lyrics of my songs, they were chanting along to the melodies. Like during 'Knight Time' they were like, 'dun dun dun, dun dun dun dunn' but in a choir. It really made me feel like for the first time in the last couple of months that everything is coming together. I’m proud of what I’m achieving now."

Every artist has a tipping point in their career. Unfortunately for Diablo, it all started shortly after his father passed away after a battle with cancer 2 years ago. “When my dad passed away I let go of every inch of fear that I had in my body and I also tried not to overthink things." It reinforced his creative process. "I do everything on feeling and out of my heart [now]," he said,  "Sometimes it’s a song that’s very personal, sometimes it’s just a cool tune. I don’t like to linger around too much. I just want to release music.”

Once he freed himself from fear, songs like "Starlight" would find their way out into the world. "Once I had that record," he explained, "I just realized, 'Wow. It’s really connecting with people on a worldwide scale.' Something just snapped in my head and everything I did before in all those years I basically set aside and I started over like I was a new artist." Songs like "Knight Time", "AnyTime", "Back In Time", and "Back To Life" would further propel him forward. As the play counts on Soundcloud and Spotify continue to soar and the dance floor becomes more tightly packed, his inspiration proportionately increases as well. "Right now I’m just insanely inspired," he gushed, "It goes up and down, but for the past 2 years I’ve been on an incredible high. I just had ideas that just go into the studio and music just comes by itself."

Up until recently he was prepping for a proper full length debut, which was tentatively titled, Respect Doesn't Pay The Bills. After an unfortunate series of hard drive failures earlier in the year, however, he took a step back to see what he could learn from the whole experience. "It opened my senses," he explained, "I lost all my music. I lost my whole album. But the album would have kept me on the same path." Throughout the majority of his career, Diablo has been an internet darling of sorts, getting so much love from music blogs that for a few years he was often Hype Machine's Most Blogged Artist, which he obviously is grateful for, but as his scrapped album was appropriately named, respect doesn't pay the bills in this industry. "[...] It’s cool getting good criticism and people on the blogs really loving you," he admitted, "[...] but I wasn’t getting any bookings. I really kind of saw it as a sign." After a month of soul searching he came to the conclusion that he would hold off on a full length for the time being. "I thought, 'Maybe this wasn’t meant to happen. I need to change my direction.' That’s when everything kind of happened for me. I broke through. All the things I’ve always dreamed about have happened straight after that. It really was an eye opener for me."

Instead, he chose to refocus on rebuilding his entire technical system so he could create more easily on the go as well as making the decision to take a singles based approach for the time being.  “I have the songs," he said. "I could release them tomorrow, but my record label and the people I’ve been working with have been saying, ‘Keep building this momentum’[...] I still really have a long way to go." While he estimates that we probably won’t see a proper full length until after summer of 2015, he did jokingly offer to put out one before then, "Maybe I should just start a poll," he chuckled. "[...]I’m gonna go on my Facebook and if I get 10,000 likes from people wanting me to do an album I’ll do an album before the summer of 2015."

That's the nice thing about Diablo, since he's been working on his art for such a long time it's easy for him to adapt to whatever his current situation may be. For example, if his musical career were to end today he thinks he could fairly easily transition back to his first love, filmmaking. “I’ve actually been writing on a couple of scripts," he admitted, "They’re all based around family life." For him, it's important for his art to have an impact on people, whichever discipline it may be. "[...]I’ve always wanted to touch people. Not just in their feet but also in their heart." Just like with his music, he hopes the movies he would make to impact people's lives. "My favorite movies have always been dramas," he noted, "You know, those movies that take you on that emotional journey and really make you walk out of the cinema with that feeling of, 'Wow I need to call my mother or my brother or my friend from back in the day.' It makes you think about life. It’s like art transforming life. It takes you one step further." He went on to detail how his ideal first documentary film would probably be at least partially about his family, who were immigrants from Indonesia. "There’s like a whole dramatic life story with my mother and her brother." he said.

“The most important thing is that you leave [behind] a legacy. I always thought that the legacy would be music, but at the end of the day there’s only one thing that’s important and it’s family.”

— Don Diablo

Family is something incredibly important to Diablo, moreso than anything else in his life. “The most important thing is that you leave [behind] a legacy. I always thought that the legacy would be music,” he admitted, “but at the end of the day there’s only one thing that’s important and it’s family.” I was heartbroken to hear that just two days prior to our interview that Diablo’s adorable grandmother that helped him campaign for the DJ mag list had passed away. He even admitted to the audience during his set that he almost didn’t perform that night because he was still very shaken from it. As seen in his latest video for “Back To Life”, you can see that mortality of man is something that has been impacting his art for awhile now, “[...] If you look at the time series I did (Anytime, KnightTime, Back In Time) they all kind of revolve around the concept of time,” he explained, ”I’ve lost a lot of people in my life in the last 2 years so it really made me realize like how precious and valuable time is.

For Diablo, his family extends past his bloodline to both his fans and his inner circle of friends. It’s seen in the way he interacts with his fans on social media and how hard he’s working to help his friends make their dreams come true as well. “I’m really working my ass off so hard right now and I’m making a lot of money right now, I’ll be honest,” he confessed, “I’m saving that money because I want to create good things for other people, you know? For my inner circle, so I can do things for them. I can help them achieve their dreams and they don’t have to wait as long as I had.” He revealed exclusively to Some Kind of Awesome that he will be starting his own label, which will be officially launching early next year. “It’s the first step to helping other people achieving their dreams.” he said.

Follow Don Diablo on Twitter, Facebook, and Soundcloud.

Make sure you download his latest single, "Generations"...NOW.

Check out the photos below of Don Diablo at Pier of Fear in NYC on 11/1/2014. Click here to view the full gallery in its full glory!

[Night Out] Electric Youth @ Music Hall of Williamsburg (11/12/14)

Click here to go to the full gallery.

The night was just as icy cool as Electric Youth singer Bronwyn Griffin as she serenaded us with dreamy synth pop tunes on that blissful Wednesday night at Music Hall of Williamsburg. Sprout and I were impressed with how effortless Griffin’s performance was as we twirled and swayed about like Molly Ringwald in The Breakfast Club to tunes like “WeAreTheYouth”, “The Best Thing”, “Tomorrow”, “Before Life”, and their latest single, “Runaway” off of their latest album, Innerworld. I must admit though that as a frontwoman that she still has a bit more to learn in terms of presentation. Sometimes her effortlessness almost looked like she was bored with performing, which is unfortunate because the audience was so glued to her that she could have instigated the chillest dance party that MHoW has seen to date. Mind you, that’s just me being critical because I would love for them to see their full potential. At any rate, I would still say that Electric Youth are worth catching live if not just for the opportunity to feel as euphoric as we did exiting the venue that evening.

Make sure you grab the deluxe version of Innerworld on iTunes.

Watch the video for “Runaway” below.

[Watch] Breton - "Parthian Shot" (Official Video)

Has SKOA's beloved London based band Breton seduced us with a recurring theme of all things great (world domination perhaps)?  Indeed they have. With extra singles off the deluxe edition of War Room Stories like "Titan", and today's release of the video for "Parthian Shot", it seems quite evident. Whether it's their always evolving use of atmospheric sounds which may include:  recording samples of everyday objects, a recurrent echo, or simply sounds and lyrics played in reverse; this alchemy is throughly woven into Breton's style and will taunt your mind like a sharply fired arrow of a Parthian archer. 

You can imagine my delight in seeing a link with the words 'NEW' and 'BRETON' in the same sentence. Sitting at my desk, headphones snugly in place, I took a look at the "Parthian Shot" video. I was drawn in immediately by the reverse tones of choir like chants at the beginning of the song which effortlessly transported my mind to a cavernous, stained glass window chapel of sorts (yes, I have a very vivid imagination).  My eyes then devotedly fixated on the screen. Here I watched as  a surreal, creamy, technicolor melting liquid mesmerizingly cascaded over a human structure naturally morphing and mixing in synch with the sound. It was easy to lose myself in this video. I felt a familiar yearning to connect the enchanting audio in my headphones to what I was seeing,  and then unite it with its unique song title.  Was it a metaphor for the sharpness our words can have when we speak them to one another? The way someone's words can 'dissolve' and 'melt' us or 'put us back together'? I don't know. The simple fact that this song and video stirred something in me was satisfaction enough. Sometimes the simplest Breton visions and sounds bring forth the most complex journeys. And I'm ok with this.

Watch "Parthian Shot" below:

Breton On Tour! 

21 Nov - Liberte´ - Rennes, FR
22 Nov - La Cartonnerie - Reims, FR
23 Nov - L’Autre Canal - Nancy, FR
24 Nov - La Rodia - Besancon, FR
25 Nov - Casino de Paris - Paris FR
27 Nov - Marche´ Gare - Lyon, FR
28 Nov - Paloma - Nimes, FR
29 Nov - La Sire`ne - La Rochelle, FR
30 Nov - CCM John Lennon - Limoges, FR 
02 Dec - Heaven - London, UK

[Watch] Breton - "Titan" (Official Music Video)

Ugh, Breton is on FIRE this year. I've barely been able to keep up with all the happenings and goings on with these guys, which is a fantastic problem to have if I'm honest. Since releasing their sophomore LP, War Room Stories the four-piece has basically been full throttle nonstop in the form of extensive touring just about everywhere as well as putting together some bonus goodies to go on their upcoming re-release of the now highly acclaimed release, which drops on November 10th. I've already expressed all my feels about the addictive little dance pop track, "Titan", but now the tune has a video to go with it and boy it is a stunner.

Way back before their debut album, Other People's Problems, dropped, I chatted with singer Roman Rappak about how the band likes to speak in multiple languages when it comes to their art, which obviously has always included video. I have to admit that prior to peeping the video below that the danciness of the tune sort of distracted me a bit from the subject matter. The video does an excellent job of reshifting the focus.

Fun fact about this video: it was shot a mere 15 minute walk outside of the bands old stomping grounds, Breton Labs aka the abandoned bank that the group had been living and creating in. (h/t to Noisey for that bit of info they got from Roman) 

Watch every last second of "Titan" below. 

[Watch] Jose Gonzalez - "Every Age" (Official Music Video)

It has been 7 years since Jose Gonzalez released his sophomore LP, In Our Nature. I remember the day it came out all too well because I was actually working at Mute at the time and everyone was so excited to see how far the record would take him. Gotta say, it took him pretty far. While I've thoroughly enjoyed his contribution to society in the form of Junip over the past few years, I am so so so so so so so so so happy that he has returned to us all on his own. 

Earlier today the video for his first single, "Every Age" was unveiled. It's more of an experience, actually. If you head over to Eyes in Space you can enjoy the view of a drone slowly lifting of to SPACE(!!!), which is almost as beautiful as the song itself. Almost. That's saying a lot considering the breathtaking 360° view that the video provides. Bonus: if you're one of those lucky gadget heads out there with a VR headset, you can have an even more awesome experience with the video than I did. 

His upcoming album, Vestiges & Claws drops on February 17th, 2015 on Mute. 

P.S. you can check out the non-360° version of "Every Age" below. 

Why Does It Have To Be Either Spotify Or Taylor Swift? Why Are We Not Saying It's Her Label's Fault?

A photo posted by Taylor Swift (@taylorswift) on Oct 10, 2014 at 9:43am PDT

The internet has been up in arms all day. Why? Because Taylor Swift somewhat abruptly decided to pull her entire catalog from Suckify Spotify. It's a dramatic move considering streaming is supposed to save the music industry from piracy (and subsequent loss of album sales). It's an even bolder statement coming from the only person who has managed to scrape together a whopping 1.25 million album sales for 2014 so far, making her the only artist to do so for the year at this point.

Personally, I think it's a terrible move. I get it. We've heard time and time again that artists make little to no money from streaming. It's fractions of a penny per stream. When you actually look at the math, it's embarrassing that we have been praising streaming as our savior. You have to wonder though, who really is at fault here? Is it actually the streaming service, or is this another case of record labels being too greedy and them cutting artists out way too much? I get the feeling that we're all to quick to jump on the former and not the latter.

I can't believe I'm actually about to say this, but maybe we all should spend a second being nice to Taylor Swift and Spotify. It's not their fault. Well, it might be Swift's to an extent, but I'll get to that. Either way, especially in this case we should be throwing mad shade in Big Machine Label Group's direction, not her or Spotify's. We should also probably be upset that not much has changed from an overall industry standpoint to benefit musicians since streaming sevices came to town.

It's no secret that Taylor Swift thinks that music shouldn't be free. Last year she wrote an op-ed piece in the Wall Street Journal where she said, "It's my opinion that music should not be free, and my prediction is that individual artists and their labels will someday decide what an album's price point is. I hope they don't underestimate themselves or undervalue their art." This is all well and good, TayTay. You most certainly are not wrong here, but maybe instead of insisting that the technology trying to work with you is to blame, maybe it's the folks you got in bed with when you knew full well that they are notorious for trying to pay your kind (artists) as little as possible for their work.

There are plenty of artists who are well aware that Spotify isn't all to blame here. Last November, Billy Bragg wrote a lengthy Facebook post where he had this very thought regarding labels and royalty payouts. "The problem with the business model for streaming is that most artists still have contracts from the analog age, when record companies did all the heavy lifting of physical production and distribution, so only paid artists 8%-15% royalties on average," he wrote."Those rates, carried over to the digital age, explain why artists are getting such paltry sums from Spotify. If the rates were really so bad, the rights holders - the major record companies - would be complaining. The fact that they're continuing to sign up means they must be making good money." He then goes on to explain that in Sweden that artists have already identified that it's not the streaming service that's at fault and that it's actually the labels wrongdoing. These artists have begun to take action to get better royalty rates that actually reflect the costs in digital production in distribution. 

So why isn't the same happening here? Why is it that instead the largest act of the year is instead doing the opposite and running into the arms of Big Machine Label Group, instead of taking a step back and trying to see what's actually happening here.

The fact of the matter is, streaming gives everyone access to ulimited possibilities of music to listen to. What Taylor Swift is doing is limiting how much of the world she can dominate, not to mention how much money she could be potentially be making. It has been said that whopping 25% of Spotify users have streamed Swift's songs and that her songs were on 20 million playlists. Call me crazy, but that's a pretty impressive amount of penetration within a userbase. It just doesn't make sense to run in the opposite direction of that. 

Although I have many opinions about the way in which Spotify's offerings are available for the masses, I couldn't agree more with Billy Bragg in that same Facebook post when he wrote, "I've long felt that artists railing against Spotify is about as helpful to their cause as campaigning against the Sony Walkman would have been in the early 80s. Music fans are increasingly streaming their music and, as artists, we have to adapt ourselves to their behaviour, rather than try to hold the line on a particular mode of listening to music."

The internet has turned consumers into a la carte fans. Everyone chooses what level of fandom is. Some fans only buy CDs. Some only buy vinyl. Some stream exclusively but opt to see their favorite artists live instead of purchasing music. There are also some who avoid spending money on an artist as much as possible via pirating or only listening to music via YouTube. That's only a small handful of the use cases that are out there and believe me, as long as technology is going to keep changing as quickly as it has it's only going to get even more complicated.

Business Insider has reason to believe that because label owner Scott Borchetta is looking to sell the label that by pulling Swift's catalog that it will cause scarcity in the market and it will thus drive people to purchase 1989 instead of Googling it and almost immediately finding it floating somewhere online. Someone should really remind Ms. Swift and Big Machine Label Group that you can't force people who only kind of like you to buy your album. That's not how the world operates now. We do not live in a black and white world full of absolutes. You either adapt to how things are changing, or your kind dies. 

It would be nice for once that instead of a huge artist running in the opposite direction of technology like streaming services that we witnessed an Arrested Development or House of Cards + Netflix scenario where an album is exclusively made available via streaming. Even if it was just for a limited time before some cool deluxe physical version was made available that fans could purchase. Futhermore, it would be an even bigger deal to see an artist do this after they completely shed themselves of their chains of a record deal so we could see them earn money directly from a streaming service on their own. Any tiny bit of the above would be amazing just so we could see how it works. Everyone is still so worried that the music business is dead and that artists will never may make money the same way again. While this is true, if artists who are able to potentially take the hit for the good of the community were less afraid to take more chances, there is potential for the industry to see a rebirth that the fans in the 21st century and beyond would happily pump their hard earned dollars into in the name of the art. I understand that everything is insanely complicated and it's more than just being like, "BYE FELICIA" to a major, but I really think that's the kind of direction we need to go into before significant change is made.

[Night Out] OMG CMJ 2014 Day Five: Soko @ United Palace Theater Theater

Soko @ United Palace Theater 10/25/14 (with our boy Matt on guitar!)

Saturday night Kibbe and I trekked up to the United Palace Theatre to cover Soko (who opened for Foster the People.)  Honestly, I'm glad we didn't try to stick around after Soko because I'm not really a fan of Foster the People. I was still interested in covering Soko nonetheless, especially since one of our friends Matt was going to be playing his gothic heart out on guitar and keyboards to make it worth the commute. For those not in the know, Matt is half of the Los Angeles band VOWS (formerly WAZU). The other half, his gorgeous partner with the hauntingly velvet voice, Rizz, was there supporting him in the wings. So win win, we get to cover an artist that was new to us, and catch up with super talented and genuine humans we know (and love) as Matt and Rizz. 

May I dare say United Palace Theater doesn't have the friendliest security staff and some of them obviously haven't been to photo pit hospitality class 101 but, that's a story for another day. I held my own under their fascist "photo pit" rules and managed to get some fun shots.

Soko entertained us with upbeat rhythms intertwined with hyper banter about her suicide attempts and reminders that "she would be old tomorrow" because it's her birthday. She playfully slipped out of articles of clothing on stage because "it was hot" and then made mention that the crowd from the night before was a "better audience".  I'll agree that the crowd was not as present as they could have been but, I don't know, maybe they just weren't in the mood or their adult sippy cups of overpriced beer ran dry.

Soko's spirited set ended and I swiftly maneuvered up the aisle (in my awesome hot pink Dr Marten boots) to meet up with Kibbe in the lobby. She was talking to some random people and I approached them with my not so happy Sprout pout (which is a rare occurrence, mind you).

Deciding it was time to make like a tree and leave, we headed round back to meet up with Rizz to briefly exchange hugs, catch up on life, and then say our goodbyes.  We were saddened to hear that the big move to Los Angeles hadn't been as fruitful for our friends as they had hoped, which is unfortunate given how talented these two are. It really got to me while Kibbe was on the verge of tears after we parted ways with Rizz. 

We left the venue with a mixed bag of emotions and a laundry list of nuances such as: the not so friendly security people, lack of photo pit hospitality, and a fan base with a pretense so thick that it penetrated the theater's every molecule.

The cab ride back to Kibbtopia provided a forum for the "WTF" convo and I believe an epiphany which inspired the manifestation of a brand new SKoA mission statement (coming soon).I'm going to call this revelation "the big picture". It's not easily noticed sometimes but, it's definitely there if you're willing to really see. This particular 'SKoA Night Out' presented an opportunity for Kibbe and I to truly get a glimpse of the big picture. A scenario that involves our love of music, truly talented artists, and their connection to the music industry.  This combination has become the catalyst to our commitment in changing the way music is revered, celebrated and showcased. We love music and we need it to love us back again. 

We'll be making a big announcement in the next few days sharing our new mission and vision for SKoA. For now, click here to head over to our Gallery to check out more photos from the show.