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The three words “a new study” are the bane of many a blogger and journalist’s existence. Every day, some semi-scientific organization concocts some new semi-scientific conclusion and rushes the half-baked results to their organization’s PR department, where they’re then served to a journalistic populace that has an ever-growling news hole to fill. And we get the post-digestion, um, scraps. This week, there have already been three studies that have made music-industry pundits go somewhat bananas, despite each being maybe a little light on the whole “revealing groundbreaking information” front. A recap of each inquiry–complete with Idolator-bestowed grades!–after the jump.
• Because more people file-shared In Rainbows than purchased it, record labels should just embrace illegal downloading. Also, something about ice cream. Of course, this particular study is being lapped up like, um, ice cream by the tech elite, who love nothing more than to have their own prejudices against paying people who engage in creative works confirmed. And of course, this study doesn’t necessarily say how records by bands who aren’t as well-situated within the music industry as Radiohead is might actually go about the process of making records without indebting themselves to credit card companies, their parents, or unsavory entities that employ people who go by the nickname “The Shark.” GRADE: C-
• People want lyrics, but they don’t come with downloads. (Especially illegal ones.) And those lyrics sites that are cobbled together through the efforts of semi-literate amateurs are not all that good. Can everyone who thinks this study is revealing “groundbreaking” information on the “lyrics sites may be crappy” front please read that Ghostface/Wikipedia misinformation article and the homepage of KissThisGuy.com and then get back to me? Thanks. GRADE: D+
• Antisocial teens may be into emo. Or rap. Or heavy metal. Or… country? Reading all the stories about this Australian study gave me a flashback to the “Suicide Solution” days. And the Judas Priest trial. Adding “country” to the list of genres that might indicate mental unrest was a nice touch, but still, this whole “metalheads are antisocial” conclusion? Mike Muir has a more nuanced take on it:
GRADE: F for study, A for “Institutionalized”
Illegal downloading is here to stay [Guardian]
are not all that good [Year of Reading via Hypebot]
Study links music to teens’ mental states [Canberra Times]
Suicidal Tendencies – Instutionalized [YouTube]
