By Jessica Roy 5/22 4:07pm

Visiting Dignitaries

(Photo: Amazon)

Microsoft Cofounder Paul Allen Is Putting Out an Album of ‘Blues-Based Guitar Rock Nuggets’

Paul Allen may be the undersung Microsoft cofounder, but dude apparently knows how to shred on guitar. The philanthropist and Seattle Seahawks owner announced on Twitter today that he and his band the Underthinkers will be releasing a debut album, Everywhere At Once, on August 6th. According to Amazon, the album is an “all-star, 13-song program of blues-based guitar rock nuggets” and will feature guests from Heart and Los Lobos. Guess you know what you’re getting your dad for Father’s Day! Read More

By Jessica Roy 5/17 10:43am

Visiting Dignitaries

Mr. Mason

For His Next Act, Ousted Groupon CEO Andrew Mason Will Release an Album of ‘Motivational Business Music’

Typically, when CEOs are ousted from the businesses they founded, they go “spend more time” with their families, take up a hobby like yachting or move immediately on to the next company they can try not to drive into the ground. Not so for former Groupon CEO Andrew Mason, who was fired earlier this year. Though he’s going to join Y Combinator as an advisor, Mr. Mason has another trick up his sleeve: dropping an album, of course. Read More

By Jessica Roy 4/04 3:55pm

Visiting Dignitaries

(Photo: Criterion.com)

Hipsterdom Collapses in on Itself as Steve Buscemi Plans to Direct Live Stream of Vampire Weekend Show

Character actor and meme muse Steve Buscemi will sit in the director’s chair once again. But rather than tackling episodes of shows like 30 Rock and Nurse Jackie, as he has in the past, Mr. Buscemi is heading to the Roseland Ballroom.

Digital Spy reports that Mr. Buscemi has agreed to direct the live stream of a Vampire Weekend concert taking place there on April 28. Apparently, Vampire Weekend’s bassist recently discovered Mr. Buscemi is actually a distant cousin.

And with that, all of Brooklyn fell silent in awe.

By Jessica Roy 9/19/12 5:55pm

Music 2.0

Mr. Braun did not wear a Mickey Mouse shirt.

Scooter Braun and Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino Talk Music Industry Disruption at Google Event

Betabeat arrived at Google’s Big Tent event at the Skylight West building just in time for the Trends and Transformations in Music panel. Moderated by Billboard editorial director Bill Werde, the topic du jour was how the Internet and social media have ushered in a new era of music production.

In attendance were Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino and none other than Scooter Braun, Justin Bieber’s talent manager and the man credited with discovering America’s favorite heartthrob. (Sadly, there appeared to be zero Beliebers in the audience, as no piercing screams rang out during the program.) Read More

By Foster Kamer 7/11/12 5:21pm

KILL THIS THING NOW

The Alien is Tumblr Wave, and We Are All Him

Tumblr-Wave: A ‘Genre’ of Music That Must Be Killed Before It Begins

The reason people invent sub-genres of music is because, quite frankly, they’re too stupid to describe the sound of something in anything other than terms they just invented. Often redundant, insufferable terms that somehow end up proliferating among a small group of people into a mode of branding by a larger group of people, that corporations then co-opt for the sole purpose of producing and profiting meaningless mass-manufactured culture. Shitty culture.  Read More

By Kelly Faircloth 6/28/12 8:53am

Apples and Androids

That cord = digital crow's feet. (Photo: flickr.com/philomglol

Let Me Let Me Upgrade Ya: Apple Reportedly Plans Major iTunes Overhaul

Damn, we feel old: Did you guys realize that iTunes debuted in 2003, which is now almost a decade ago? That’s practically a glacial age in technology, and in the era of Spotify, the software is starting to show its age.

Lest the program find itself suddenly in the dustbin of cultural history–Winamp-style–Apple reportedly plans to do a bit of sprucing up. Bloomberg says a major overhaul is scheduled to debut sometime before the end of the year.  Read More

By Jessica Roy 4/02/12 12:48pm

Pirate's Life

Mr. Dotcom performing "Megaupload Mega Song"

Kim Dotcom, Recording Industry’s Arch Enemy, is Releasing an Album

Hot on the heels of his celebrity-crammed hit track “Megaupload Mega Song,” Megaupload founder and 50 Cent aficionado Kim Dotcom is releasing an album, according to TorrentFreak.

Mr. Dotcom had his bail limits modified today and has been granted Internet access, as well as permission to make two trips a week to a recording studio in Auckland, where he can continue to work on an album featuring “several international artists.” Read More

By Adrianne Jeffries 11/08/11 9:53am

RAPPERS ON TUMBLR

855020-drake

Drake: ‘I Hate What Tumblr Has Become’

As rappers increasingly turn to Tumblr as a creative outlet and cultural reference point, one superstar is worried. “I’m really scared for my generation, you know,” the rapper told The Source. “The thing that scares me most is Tumblr. I hate what Tumblr has become. Because it like, it reminds me of those clique-y girls in high school that used to make fun of everyone else and define what was cool, but in five years, when you all graduate, that shit doesn’t matter. No one gives a fuck about that shit.” Read More