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Why Are Those “Now!” CDs Still So Successful?

By Paul Hiebert on

It’s another day, and yet another Now That’s What I Call Music! compilation album is available for consumption. Not to make anyone feel old or anything, but we’re at volume #41! (In the UK, where the series began in 1983, they’re at #80). Artists featured this time around include LMFAO, Katy Perry, Lady Gaga and, for those who prefer to rock, Nickelback.

If the past is any indicator of the future, this album is bound to be a hit. In a recent press release, the Now! team states that “every album in the numeric US series has reached Billboard’s Top 10, and 15 Now! releases have reached #1, second only to The Beatles in chart history.” Indeed, according to the Recording Industry Association of America, every Now! album has achieved either Gold or Platinum status, with only a few exceptions. In 2006, Slate music critic, Jody Rosen, wondered if Now! could save the music business, calling the franchise “one of the great success stories in the record business over the last decade.”

So, in our age of digital downloading and cloud computing, of Pandora and Sirius and Spotify and even YouTube, how are these records comprised of jams found everywhere still so successful? … Read More

Tech

Vintage Radio iDevice Hacks

By Alison Nastasi on

Yesterday we shared an iPhone add-on that turned your cell into a vintage camera. While you’re still busy drooling over that, check out Devin Ward’s vintage radio hacks. The Los Angeles electrician takes tube-amp radios and replaces the original wiring with new electronics and a speaker — basically leaving you with a swanky-looking shell that you can plug your iPod, iPhone, or other iDevice into. You can read more about the technical fine print on his Etsy page, where he sells the rehabbed radios for around 200 bucks each. Whet your vintage whistle, below. … Read More

Music

So, What Do Bands Earn for Digital Sales and Streaming Services?

By James Furbush on

There’s never been a better time to be a music fan. Love obscure Swedish pop music? There’s someone writing about it, easy ways to discover your next favorite band, a variety of services that let you listen to those tunes, and your computer can hold way more albums than a wall of shelves ever could.… Read More

News

The Morning’s Top 5 Pop Culture Stories

By Caroline Stanley on

1. The British royal family has confirmed that Prince William is finally engaged to Kate Middleton. They have been dating since 2003. [via CNN]
2. Baz Luhrmann has confirmed that Carey Mulligan will play Daisy Buchanan in his adaptation of The Great Gatsby. Leonardo DiCaprio will play Jay Gatsby, and Tobey Maguire… Read More

Web

Reader PSA: Gird Your iTunes Accounts

By Caroline Stanley on

This just in from Gawker via TechCrunch: There has been yet another security breach involving Apple. According to Ryan Tate, “If you’ve got an iTunes account linked to a PayPal account, you should be on guard; users with that setup are reporting mass purchases of software, videos and music through the… Read More

Music

Visualizing the Best-Selling iTunes Songs of All Time

By Aaron Gonsher on

Apple iTunes is closing in on the titanic milestone of 10 billion songs sold, and they’ve just announced their best-selling songs of all-time. Looking at the titles listed is hard enough (nothing about “TiK ToK” will ever seem okay), but our masochistic tendencies inspired us to create word clouds for every one of the top 12 songs. (Thank you, Wordle.)

These clouds weigh the appearance of certain lyrics within the songs and create charts assigning size status based on word frequency. If you’ve ever bemoaned the state of modern commercial music, the inanity of looking at these consolidated lyrics will do nothing to ease your pain. But it is kind of funny. Commiserate with us after the jump. … Read More

Music

MusicDNA, A New Music Backbone in Transit

By Andrew Hwang on

When you whip out your iPod on the subway to scroll your volume to the left, surreptitiously making sure no one is peering over at your guilty pleasure, you’re probably not aware of a new medium that the creators of the MP3 and MP3 player have been devising. An alternative to the widely accepted and almighty MP3, MusicDNA will be a constantly updating stream of band-specific multimedia for your… Read More

Web

Facebook Music Service to Challenge Google’s

By Stelios Phili on

Hours apart from Google’s new music service announcement, Facebook has declared that they, too, will join the battle in to overthrow iTunes. Google’s service will allow users to search for specific songs, ultimately leading them to a song page with lyrics and the ability to stream the track via Lala or iLike. Facebook, however, will make use of their bumper-sticker pushing gift store. The store currently generates millions of dollars per year by selling ten cent facebook credits as a means of purchasing virtual odds and ends for your friends. The store will soon incorporate ten cent, streaming “web song” gifts from Lala, which will be fully downloadable and iPod… Read More

Music

Things That Will Happen Before Beatles Catalog Is on iTunes

By Michael McGregor on

With The Beatles: Rock Band and the band’s entire remastered catalog hitting retail shops today, it’s no wonder that we hear more rumors that EMI, the Fab Four’s floundering label, and Apple, ye proprietor of the country’s largest retail music shop, finally reached a deal to sell the Beatles catalog on iTunes. Sky News would have you believe it’s true, quoting Yoko Ono as their source. Of course, Sky News removed the link almost immediately after publishing, though not before a host of news services picked up on the story.… Read More

Web

The Morning’s Top 5 Pop Cultural Stories

By Caroline Stanley on

1. Coldplay will cameo in an upcoming episode of The Simpsons where Homer wins the lottery and buys a private performance for Bart. [via NME]
2. There’s a new website that allows you to Mad Men-yourself. [via Pop Candy]
3. Possibly inspired by all the Wild Things hype, they’re looking to… Read More