Blog: NPR Music: Monitor Mix

By Everett True I'm a tastemaker critic. I lecture in music blogging. The title of my own blog is "The Life of Everett True as a Fading Music Critic," and within it, I feature a pleasingly random array of music discovered via social networks (Facebook, Twitter, MySpace) and the odd record-company freebie. There are plenty of links and shoutouts for others operating in similar networks. We're talking Town Bike, Las Kellies, Hello Cuca! , Super Wild Horses, Monster Women, Kitchen's Floor , Blank Realm, Pens . Don't feel bad if [...]

By Eric Garland, founder and CEO of BigChampagne Media Measurement In 2007, Radiohead no longer had a contract with its record company, EMI, and was about to release its seventh full-length album, In Rainbows . For its first new release in four years, one of the world's biggest [...]

By Omar L. Gallaga, NPR's All Tech Considered Blog Remember how amazing it was, way back in 1999, to type the name of a song or artist into Napster.com and have instant access to a song? Remember how un-amazing it was to wait for it to download over a poky dial-up connection? It makes sense that music was the first chunk of traditional media to really tumble down in the face of online digital distribution. Songs, already broken down into 1s and 0s for CDs, were easy to digitize [...]

The folks over at All Songs Considered have posted their list for the 50 most important recordings of the decade . A lot of people helped put it all together. And while we didn't agree on all the picks, we did agree it was one of the best decades ever for music. Check it out and tell us what you think. » E-Mail This » Add to Del.icio.us

The survey continues!!!! Here is another question we sent out to various people in the music, arts and entertainment communities: What is the most effective thing a band or label can do to make you listen to their music? Whether it's word of mouth, seeing a band live or stumbling upon an artist's YouTube video, most everyone agrees that the best way to be heard is to be good . Read what our respondents said and feel free to share what gets you to [...]

By Stephen Thompson Today in Song of the Day: Our two-week survey of the decade -- one popular song per year, per weekday -- continues with Kelly Clarkson's 2005 hit "Since U Been Gone." ( photo courtesy of the artist ) [...]

Last week, I had the opportunity to chat -- and, by chat, I mean "chat via the Internet" -- with a handful of independent record labels' owners and managers. I wanted to discuss the role of the label in a time when fewer people seem to know or care what labels their favorite musicians or bands are on. Furthermore, and perhaps this has always been true, we may not even know what exactly a label does . At the beginning of this decade, record labels were still a way of indexing artists; of positioning them [...]

What can the music business do for this kid? iStock We want to know what you think about music during the '00s, so we're posing a question every weekday from Nov. 9 to Nov. 20. Then, we'll post and discuss some of the interesting, fun and ridiculous responses. Nov. 16: What advice do you have for the music business? What can they do to get you to discover and buy more music? [...]

Sadly, the weekend is over. With hopes that everyone who wanted to turn in a song was able to, we are no longer accepting entries for the Record A Song This Weekend extravaganza. We already extended the deadline for those of you who had trouble sending in submissions on account of an over-full email inbox. The amazing news is: We received over 150 songs! We can't wait to share them all. Soon... Lastly, thank you! (If you missed the deadline but you [...]

We asked you to tell us what you think the last song you bought or downloaded for free was actually worth by sending us a picture of what you would have traded for it . Here are some of your responses: "The last music I bought was the Raincoats reissue from Kill Rock Stars. I paid a grand total of fifteen dollars. Of the eleven tracks, "In Love" is now one of my favorite songs ever. I paid roughly $1.36 for the track. That's about how much I [...]

By Carrie Brownstein As beardy indie-folk takes over, is rock losing its edge? (Getty/Fergus McDonald) These are strange times in rock music when the genre's big brothers and elder statesmen -- those pillars of manliness, with upper bodies so capable and broad that it looks as [...]

By Amy Schriefer Today in Song of the Day: Our two-week survey of the decade -- one popular song per year, per weekday -- continues with Britney Spears' 2004 hit "Toxic." ( photo courtesy of the artist ) [...]

While we may not agree as to whether new recording technology makes music better or worse (see Douglas Wolk's fantastic essay ), I think we'd all be willing to admit that technology has made making music a whole lot easier, cheaper and more accessible. We can be more agile, impulsive, nimble, reactionary and spontaneous than ever before. Right? Well, that's the idea anyway. So, let's try! Here at NPR Music, we could have given you a mere 24 hours, but we'll be generous and allow you the entire weekend in which to record [...]

Thurston Moore. (Andrew Kesin) Thurston Moore is a musician who, aside from being in the legendary band Sonic Youth, has collaborated with everyone from Glenn Branca to Lydia Lunch to Mike Watt. Moore is also a writer, poet, ardent supporter of bold weirdos and fiery rockers, and owner of Ecstatic Peace Records . It was announced recently that an offshoot of the label -- Ecstatic Peace Library -- will begin publishing art books in 2010. [...]

By Linda Holmes & Stephen Thompson The signs of Idolatry. (Getty/Scott Gries) All week, and all next week, NPR Music is opening a fire hydrant of trenchant analysis covering the last decade in music. So here are NPR's two most devoted viewers of American Idol -- [...]

By Douglas Wolk Want to hear a really sloppy record? It's a good song, but the recording's a mess. The drums consistently drag the rhythm; the bass player isn't quite sure how his part is supposed to go. If you listen carefully to the end of the second verse (around the 48-second mark in this video), the whole band gets lost for a moment and ends up adding an extra beat by accident. It is, of course, the Beatles' "Rain," as great a rock recording as anyone's [...]

By Frannie Kelley Today in Song of the Day: Our two-week survey of the decade -- one popular song per year, per weekday -- continues with 50 Cent's 2003 hit "In Da Club." ( photo courtesy of the artist ) [...]

By Tobi Vail, musician, influential DIY punk zinester, activist and feminist theorist from Olympia, Wash. To read more of her writing, check out Jigsaw Underground photo by Joaquin de la Puente At the end of the '90s, I got excited when I realized that young girls no longer needed to hang out with creepy record-collector guys in order to find out about cool music. Information was out there for everyone to access equally via the Internet. Knowledge about obscure records could [...]

Holding up an iPhone at a show? Not cool. We want to know what you think about music during the '00s, so we're posing a question every weekday from Nov. 9 to Nov. 20. Then, we'll post and discuss some of the interesting, fun and ridiculous responses. Nov. 12: How has the decade made fans more obnoxious at concerts? Share your horror stories of viewing an entire show [...]

A very excited fan. (Flickr, The Advanced Guard) Here are more results from the survey we sent out to a variety of folks in the music, arts and entertainment communities. Here was the question: How much physical evidence of your music fandom have you shed in the past decade? How much have you collected? Lance Bangs, [...]