- How Pandora’s data could help artists plan better tours and albums – This really interesting stuff but we’ve said that every time we’re confronted with a new data set. As previously noted, data is fantastic and becoming ubiquitous. We can and – almost – track everything. The question becomes what will we do with it? In this case, Pandora is suggesting that artists can improve their albums and tours, which makes this a very interesting case of data perhaps driving the creative process. Could information about Woodstock’s attendees affected Hendrix’s Star Spangled Banner? No. That was just LCD. But Pop Music is most certainly formulaic. Pandora and the artists that adopt AMP could be making pop niches.
- Seat 21A – Choose happiness. I watched Game 1 of the World Series – coincidentally enough with a Medium editor – in a crowded San Francisco bar. It was comfortably crowded so I didn’t have to touch my neighbors but I was aware they were there. As the game got somewhat out of hand and the standing took a turn from the novel to the exhausting, Leah asked me, “Why isn’t anyone talking to eachother?” Sure I was talking to her and other friends were talking to one another, but why weren’t we making new connections? After all, isn’t that the reason for such a public watering hole? I chalked it up to safety, choosing not to seem weird or to not step out of our place. I could hear that group behind me discussing steroids in baseball. I had strong thoughts on the matter, agreeing with some of what I heard, disagreeing with more. But I didn’t join. I chose not to discuss. To be clear, I was content talking with Leah but I also understood her point: If sports is to bring us out and connect us, why don’t we connect? The next morning I read this piece and I think there are some parallels. Sports it a means to connect. So too is happiness. Choose it.
- Google Wants Inbox to Be Your Email System for the Next Decade – Just don’t touch my Gchat.
