Quick hits
June 21, 2012 1 Comment
1) Love this open letter from Cracker’s (and Camper Van Beethoven) David Lowery about how pirating i.e., stealing, digital music takes a real toll on artists. I used to download digital music for free when there weren’t a lot of other options, but ever since the Itunes store has been there, I’ve paid for all my digital music. Oh, and Cracker is actually one of my very favorite bands:
1a) Love this song
2) Kevin Drum discusses the disturbing fact that Americans think we face more of an existential threat now than we did during the Cold War. Ummm, no.
3) Just talked about Double Jeopardy in class yesterday. Slate has a terrific series on suggestions to fix the Constitution. This one says that if you don’t have unanimity for conviction, there should be no retrial. That fact in itself suggests “reasonable doubt.” Good point. Apparently, that’s how military justice already works.
4) Nice piece in the New Yorker making the point that privatization really doesn’t work everywhere and is especially problematic in schools and prisons.
5) Assuming you have the right genes (and most people do) exercise on the day of a test will help you perform better.
6) It really is stupid for the Supreme Court to pile so many important decisions all coming out next Monday. Some really important decisions will surely get short shrift as a result.
About Steve Greene
I read that David Lowery piece and am frankly not impressed. His points are well taken, but it seems like he’s still in denial about how music is being consumed. The old model simply doesn’t work. Downloading music has become widespread enough that just saying people to do the right and “moral” thing won’t stop it. The music industry has gone crazy over previous “threats” (taping, used music, burned CDs), but it has always found a way to adapt. This is another of those times. The model of distribution needs to change to account for how people want to listen to music. Simply telling people to buy everything on iTunes won’t change a thing.