Word. braiker:
can we talk about that voice for a minute? lord have mercy.
17.10.10
The NYT page is like walking into a library, while the HuffPo page is like walking through Times Square.
Felix Salmon weighing in on the HuffPost-AOL merger deal in his piece, “Why the NYT will lose to HuffPo.”
Fellow member ‘20’ member Anthony DeRosa says he’s not sure if he agrees.
My take: The driving force behind HuffPo’s success is the comments and feedback from readers, who send it along and add their own voices and thoughts on the topic. Although the Times site allows comments, it’s not as open or available. Despite being run and named after an extremely rich female, HuffPo is the true populist news site —and the reason why, I agree with Salmon, it will topple the Old Gray Lady.
-KH
(via the20newyork)
I’m not sure I represent the majority of people since I never go to Huffington Post, despite the fact they’re one of the most frequently trafficked websites on the Internet.
I think the above comment by Felix is spot on, and is exactly why I avoid HuffPo like the plague. I work in Times Square and try to escape from it as quickly as possible. I do agree with Felix’s point that I don’t navigate around the NYT. I go there because I’m directed to single articles. I read the article and leave and wind up coming back many more times to read other single articles, but never seem to be led down a path from one story to another by the Times itself.
But does the sensory overkill on HuffPo work? The numbers speak for themselves. They get a ton of traffic and they’re profitable. Peter Feld defended the fact that people slam HuffPo for having 3,000+ unpaid bloggers. According to what I’ve heard, the paid staff is somewhere around 60 people.
Peter does make a solid point that we here on Tumblr are very much like that staff of 3,000 unpaid bloggers. When’s the last time Tumblr sent you a check for the billions of pageviews they received last month?
(via soupsoup)
I’m fascinated with how “traditional” media industries - newspaper/magazine/publishing, music, TV/movies, web 1.0 (AOL, MSN, Yahoo!, Google) - are thinking about and REACTING TO the emergence of social media integrated apps, games, business, sites, etc. like The Huffington Post, Zynga games, Tumblr, etc.
It’s still strikes me as we approach nearly 20 years of digital that the media companies usual reactions follows a cyclical pattern of disfunction:
1. Dismissal,
2. Ignoring early signs of success,
3. Looking for & latching onto the “me too” silver bullet gadget/retread business model,
4. Taking a half/wrong steps (e.g. DRM, paywalls, magazine/newspaper iPad apps),
5. Continuing their methodical death march towards obsolescence hoping their half/wrong steps will work,
6. Going back to step 1 when the next digital innovation occurs.
Influential VC’s and tumblr users Fred-Wilson and Bijan Sabet had interesting posts about music/movie piracy and their frustration at trying to buy content and not being able to because of backasswards attitude/ineptitude of traditional media companies.
Here’s the deal - while there will always be a market for purchased entertainment and information (Broadway/West End theatre, physical/digital music copies, print/digital information), they will all increasingly become smaller and more niche industries.
The challenge that has been obvious for well over a decade now: How should media companies best proactively plan, change, and innovate for inevitable massively disruptive technology advances? I’m talking about fundamental repositioning of their value proposition, what they do, how many people they employ, their revenue expectations, HOW CONTENT DEVELOPMENT IS FINANCED, and most importantly, how they create new valuable business models that are not retreads of what worked in the past while realizing that they may not be as BIG as record vinyl discs were in the 70s-80s or CDs in the 90s. All that’s over.
Unfortunately, my up close experience and work within these industries has shown me that the delusional cycle continues…and continues.
Meanwhile the most innovative thoughts/leadership comes from smart musicians likeDavid Byrne and Radiohead’s Thom Yorke…or bloggers like Anthony De Rosa (SoupSoup).
Hmmmmm…
(Source: nbcnewyork, via soupsoup)
09.02.11
via newspeedwayboogie:
this is genius
If I have a single favorite sub-genre of music, it’s got to be the so-called “progressive” country music that originated from the great state of Texas during the 1970s. I just love the stuff. So I made this mix to share the love with all of you.
Just close your eyes and imagine yourself back in Austin, circa 1973, with an ice cold Pearl in hand…
Amarillo Highway: The Texas Scene 1969-1979
01. Sir Douglas Quintet – Texas Me
02. Billy Joe Shaver – Honky Tonk Heroes
03. Jerry Jeff Walker - Sangria Wine
04. Willie Nelson – Devil In A Sleepin’ Bag
05. Kris Kristofferson - From The Bottle To The Bottom
06. Ray Wylie Hubbard - Up Against The Wall Redneck Mother
07. Waylon Jennings – Omaha
08. Terry Allen – Amarillo Highway
09. The Flatlanders - Dallas
10. Townes Van Zandt - Pancho & Lefty
11. Joe Ely - West Texas Waltz
12. Steve Young – Ballad Of William Sycamore
13. Guy Clark - L.A. Freeway
14. Willis Alan Ramsey – Northeast Texas Woman
15. Mickey Newbury – The Future’s Not What it Used to Be
16. Kinky Friedman – Rapid City, South Dakota(click the image to download zip file)
Enjoy!
Nice! Thanks ….
Oh hella ya! Muchas Thanks Comp!
28.02.11
via theduty:
Wayne wants to know if you have what it takes to handle 5 lbs of gummy skull.
…well, do ya?!
Wayne Coyne. Serious Badass.
Gummy. Music. Skull. This is brillant…& hilarious.
(Source: changeyrlife.com)
21.04.11
Beastie Boys Hot Sauce Committee Part Two
The entire house is now up and shakin’ it! #Dope
26.04.11
via federalaudio-blog:
Beastie Boys & The Roots “So Whatcha Want” on the Jimmy Fallon show
#Dope
(Source: federalaudio-blog, via soupsoup)
29.04.11
David Bowie - Station to Station
This is some of the most oddly comforting music for me as it reminds me of the 70s and my pre-adolescence/teenage years and my crazy cool step brother who was always introducing me to the most cutting edge music available in the hinterlands where I grew up.
So this “LP” along with Bowie’s “Berlin Trilogy” of Low, Heroes, & Lodger is what I’ve been listening to this week. And it’s fit with the grumpy, rain-soaked NYC vibe going on.
#ComfortMusic
120 plays
17.05.11
David Bowie - Heroes
Part two of “The Berlin Trilogy.” There’s so much to write about this song yet it’s all inadequate as “Heroes” has a million layers (The Cold War, Love, The Berlin Wall, Hope, Loss, Desperation, etc.). This iconic song and video are just perfection.
“I…I wish I could swim…like the dolphins…like dolphins can swim…”
#ComfortMusic
17.05.11
David Bowie - Boys Keep Swinging - Lodger
Part three of “The Berlin Trilogy.” This song and the video for “Boys Keep Swinging” still crack me up from the obviously ironically sexist lyrics to the video’s Bowie in drag as a brunette, redhead, and blonde…a matronly blonde with a cane who blows a kiss to the camera at the end. Brilliantly subversive for U.S. sensibilities at the time.
The Lodger “LP” was interesting as “Berlin Bowie” incorporated a lot of Turkish melodies throughout while Germany was (still is) coming to grips with Turkish immigration (via “guest workers”) and Germans of Turkish decent.
#ComfortMusic
51 plays
17.05.11
19.05.11
Takin’ Care of Business (BTO cover) - The Replacements from “The Shit Hits The Fans”
Happy Friday Cover Day…The Mats were one of my ’80s Indie American faves along with X, Husker Du, Los Lobos, The Blasters, Del Fuegos, Let’s Active, Violent Femmes, R.E.M., etc. Was lucky that I saw them 3 times (Bob playing in a dress, covering Brian Adams’ “Summer of ‘69 that segued into “Hello Dolly”…it was all brillant) but never when they fell apart. They were infamous for that.
Back then we all thought it was cool that they repeatedly fucked up on purpose at big career moments (show cases, national TV appearances). It kept them “our band” or “our secret.” Now I think it’s silly and an opportunity lost.
Then again, they ain’t shilling on American Idol for the train wreck that is the Spiderman Broadway musical!!
#Repect
03.06.11
Exit Music (For A Film) - Vampire Weekend (Radiohead Cover)
Not really a fan of Vampire Weekend but I like this cover…
10.06.11
