As I’m sure many of you know, there’s been a major to do regarding Spotify because it has a $100 million deal with Joe Rogan to stream him basically sitting around and bullshitting with guests on his eponymous podcast talk show. Specifically because he and his guests are very public assholes who spew all sorts of misinformation. Especially about COVID. For some reason unbeknownst to me people enjoy listening to Rogan and his guest engage in banal blather. I gather that it is because Rogan is good at just working the mic, but for the love of someone’s/anyone’s/no one’s (for the atheists among us) Deity or Deities (for the polytheists), listen to music or an audiobook or a history podcast* when exercising or commuting. Have some self respect people! As a result Neil Young; Nils Lofgren; Crosby, Stills, and Nash (and I would assume Young given he started the response); India ArieIndi, and several other artists have pulled or are seeking to pull their music from Spotify. Given that Spotify doesn’t pay them bupkis when someone streams their music on the platform, their actions have also brought attention to the fact that Spotify doesn’t pay them bupkis when someone streams their music on the platform.
While all of this has been ongoing I’ve been sitting back and waiting for the other shoe factory to drop. I figured given the amount of hours that Rogan spends flapping his gums on his show, somewhere in that mess of video was him saying something really offensive. And once someone took them time to listen to all of that bullshitting they’d find it and post it. And this morning, when looking for something dealing with misinformation unrelated to 50 plus year old gym rats with $100 million podcasts who are abusing Human Growth Hormone (The ginormous heads that got bigger as adults are the give away; you think Barry Bonds or Roger Stone’s or Matt Gaetz’s or Joe Rogan’s noggins got that way from testosterone supplementation? It did not!) I found that shoe factory.
The folks who tweet as PatriotTakes went through his oeuvre, rediscovered a large amount of Rogan saying exceedingly offensive things about Black people, and then posted it in a thread. This includes repeated uses of the “N” word. There was also an all too cute response about someone teaching their dog to do the NAZI salute. And, of course, insensitive and offensive remarks regarding Africa and AIDs.
Here’s the link to the thread with the videos. The tweets include some transcription of Rogan’s racist and anti-Semitic remarks. This is your warning not to play them, watch them, and/or listen to them if this stuff bothers you to watch and listen too!
India Arie has told Spotify that the reason she wants her music pulled from the streaming service is specifically so as to not subsidize Rogan’s racism. And she’s made it clear she’s not calling for Rogan to be fired.
She also said she believes that the controversial podcaster has the right to say anything he wants to say – but she believes that goes both ways.
Arie points out that artists like her make 0.003% of the money generated from Spotify. She asks for her music to be taken off the platform specifically because she doesn’t want money she makes for them to go towards what she believes to be problematic and racist.
The singer also included a 30-second video of Rogan saying the N-word over and over again throughout the years openly on several podcasts and interviews. Arie clarifies her thoughts “[Joe Rogan] shouldn’t even be uttering the [n-]word. Don’t even say it, under any context. That’s where I stand. I have always stood there.”
I have no idea what Spotify is going to do. It’s owner isn’t a US citizen and doesn’t live in the US so he’s pretty well insulated from the fallout on this in the US as long as people keep subscribing to Rogan’s podcast and others don’t abandon the service en masse. If this was happening at a major American outlet, I’d expect Rogan would either be fired or told to issue a contrite statement, resign, and drop out of site for a bit. But given that Spotify is owned by a non-American and the owner, Daniel Ek’s response has been weak sauce so far, I don’t expect much. Especially given the fact that Rogan’s listener base is basically douchebros, so I wouldn’t expect that they’ll abandon him.
Regardless, given the resurfacing of racist remarks and statements, including an attempt at genteel racism meant as a compliment that Rogan was unable to stick the landing on (the third tweet in the thread) because he’s not educated or polished enough to pull it off, I expect that Rogan will go through some things. Or, rather, that he should be facing the consequences of his past actions and statements. But that, of course, would require a much more mature and functional civil society than the US has.
* Don’t listen to true crime podcasts. They’re exploitative of other people’s suffering or bad fortune and are often full of the same propaganda the police push into news reporting about crime and law enforcement. Be better than that.
Adam L Silverman
I’m going to workout and them walk my doggos. You all know what to do.
hells littlest angel
While I don’t know the details of his deal, I’m pretty sure he’s not making $100,000,000 a year.
On the other hand, the world has descended into ridiculousness, so maybe I’m wrong.
dlwchico
I have been paying Spotify for a premium family account for several years now. Both my wife and I use it and enjoy it. It’s really nice to have this huge selection of music available at my fingertips with the playlists I have created over the years available on any of my devices.
I canceled it last week. I’m not sure what I will replace it with yet. I opened one of the boxes of old cds for the moment but a new streaming service, one that paid the artists a fair percentage of the take, would be nice.
SiubhanDuinne
It was only today that I finally, and I hope permanently, sorted out the difference between Spotify’s Joe Rogan and the WaPo’s Josh Rogin. No wonder I’m confused so much of the time.
Adam L Silverman
@hells littlest angel: It is a $100 million deal, so I’ll revise the text. Here’s a link to the reporting on it:
https://www.wsj.com/articles/spotify-strikes-exclusive-podcast-deal-with-joe-rogan-11589913814
zhena gogolia
Luckily Twitter won’t let me read the thread, so I can sleep peacefully tonight.
Adam L Silverman
@SiubhanDuinne: The latter has hair. The former has ginormous shaved noggin.
Adam L Silverman
@zhena gogolia: Did someone put parental controls on your mobile devices and computer?
Gin & Tonic
@zhena gogolia: Several people have recommended a number of simple and effective ways for you to read Twitter, but it seems you don’t want to implement any of them, and would rather post a half-dozen times per day about how you’re angry at Twitter. I don’t get it. Twitter will not listen to you.
Gin & Tonic
@Adam L Silverman: She is annoyed with Twitter.
debbie
@hells littlest angel:
Here’s a suggestion from the last thread about replacing Spotify.
Chetan Murthy
Adam, I appreciate your noting the issues with true crime podcasts, and copaganda generally. There’s so much shit in so many places, it’s hard to keep track. So I’m glad you pointed out as an aside, some of the other shit.
And yeah, jesus h christ, this guy should be going thru some things. I do wonder what the Swedes (or Norwegians, or whatever) think of this guy Ek and his stand.
zhena gogolia
Okay, I’m out. Bye guys, since this is now just linking to twitter all the time.
Baud
Stolen from a reddit commenter.
Joe Rogan is the Gwyneth Paltrow of bros.
schrodingers_cat
@zhena gogolia: You can make yourself a Twitter account but not post anything. I was in lurker mode on Twitter for years
I had 2 followers, husband kitteh and my best friend.
debbie
@debbie:
If that link doesn’t work, it’s (for me) Comment #36.
MomSense
Suzanne Santo, formerly of the band HoneyHoney has outed herself as an asshole supporter of Joe Rohan and someone who has swallowed that whole ridiculous mindset about alpha makes, etc. I’m so disappointed.
schrodingers_cat
@Baud: Gwyneth for all her faults can act. Can Rogan?
Baud
@schrodingers_cat:
I think it’s because she sells a lot of woo items for health.
debbie
@Baud:
Brilliant comparison! ?
WaterGirl
@SiubhanDuinne: There were 3 of them with similar names that were confusing me awhile ago. I figured out a system to remember them.
Rogan – the A stands for asshole.
Another one had an E, and he was the entertainer.
I forget how I worked it out for Rogin, with an I.
Clearly I have slept since then. But if you stick with A is for asshole, you’ll know the others are okay.
t
MisterForkbeard
Agree with Adam. The fact that Rogan is a giant asshole who lies and/or spreads misinformation is the entire point, and it doesn’t matter how much casual racism, stupidity and other shit comes out – his listeners won’t abandon him, Spotify won’t want to lose its $100m investment, and Republicans will defend him because they like what he’s saying and because he goes after Democrats pretty religiously.
The only way this ends remotely well is if lots of artists pull their content saying “They don’t pay us anything, and they take the money they make off our work and give it to racist shitbags like Rogan”. If enough of that happens and it damages Spotify’s music business, then they maybe make a change. But it’d have to do over $100m in damage, so…. probably not going to happen.
matt
I thought the major labels were big minority owners of Spotify. Seems like that would be a good point of attack to cause something to happen.
WaterGirl
@zhena gogolia: I get how frustrated you are.
There was a lot more to Adam’s post than a link to twitter, though, right? Twitter is ubiquitous but there’s a lot more going on here on BJ than just links to twitter.
So I hope you’ll reconsider giving up on BJ.
hells littlest angel
@debbie: Thanks. I’ve never used Spotify. I prefer the physical act of putting a CD in the player and listening to the entire thing.
zhena gogolia
@WaterGirl: Well, my comments seem to be annoying people.
Brachiator
Rogan indulges white guy anger culture. Some guys used to get this from Howard Stern, now they go to Rogan. Some people believe his crap, others don’t but still like to hear a certain meathead level of stupidity vindicated and reinforced.
It’s like NPR for stupid people.
UncleEbeneezer
Rod Morrow of the BlackGuyWhoTips podcast (which is amazing and you all should listen/subscribe) had their podcast exclusively on Spotify for about 6 months last year and he has been noting that Rogan being on Spotify actually limits the amount of damage he does far more than if he was able to move to other venues. Spotify terms place some pretty serious restrictions on what their content producers can do with their material, essentially only allowing them to share very short clips on YouTube etc. He predicts that if Spotify decides to drop Rogan (unlikely given they already given him a $100M deal) that Rogan’s reach/ratings will expand pretty drastically. Careful what we wish for.
japa21
Adam, this is a little delayed. I wanted to thank you for your post amplifying on your thoughts about Ukraine on 1/29. I didn’t get to read it right away but it made a lot of sense to me. Always appreciate your insight even if occasionally I disagree.
Doug R
AHEM:
Read An Open Letter to Spotify: A call from the global scientific and medical communities to implement a misinformation policy.
Joni Mitchell – Big Yellow Taxi (Official Lyric Video)
gwangung
Somebody gave me this list of how much each service compensates artists:
DIGITAL SERVICE PROVIDER $ PER STREAM
Qobuz $0.04390
Peloton $0.04036
iHeartRadio $0.01426
Amazon Unlimited $0.01175
Napster/Rhapsody $0.01110
24/7 Entertainment GmbH $0.01050
YouTube Red $0.00948
Tidal $0.00927
Deezer $0.00567
Google Play $0.00543
Apple $0.00495
KKBox $0.00435
Amazon Digital Services Inc. $0.00395
Spotify $0.00331
Loen $0.00205
Pandora $0.00155
Vevo $0.00109
Yandex LLC $0.00051
YouTube Content ID $0.00028
UMA $0.00013
TonyG
@dlwchico: Long before I had ever heard of Joe Rogan, I tried Spotify but decided that I didn’t like the format. Pandora and Youtube Music are better in my opinion. (Plus my old CDs and even cassette tapes. Yup; I’m old.)
@dlwchico:
UncleEbeneezer
Speaking of Copaganda™, if you are a podcast listener, Running From Cops podcast is a really good and eye-opening look at Cops, LivePD and various cop/detective shows.
Spoiler: Surprise!, they are all super racist/BlueLives-y, exploitative and misleadingly edited.
Brachiator
@Baud:
Ouch.
Good one.
lowtechcyclist
@MisterForkbeard:
Depends on how the deal is structured. Obviously he didn’t get the $100M up front, and I’d be surprised if the entire $100M is guaranteed, rather than contingent on various things.
Brachiator
@zhena gogolia:
Huh? What?
I enjoy your comments, and have been absolutely enlightened by many of them.
Sure Lurkalot
@UncleEbeneezer: This fellow is good on Copaganda:
https://twitter.com/equalityAlec
Aziz, light!
Rogan’s racist remarks are pleasing to his fellow assholes, and publicizing what he has said will draw in more of them. This principle has been well established in recent years.
Baud
@zhena gogolia:
I’ve never let that stop me from commenting.
UncleEbeneezer
@Sure Lurkalot: Oh thanks!!
gene108
@Baud:
Nah
Joe Rogan is basically the essence of a group of guys drinking beers discussing the meaning of life, where inevitably at least one person is going to spout off some half-cocked inaccurate set of facts and everyone else picks sides on if he’s right or not.
Ohio Mom
@zhena gogolia: You don’t annoy me. I look forward to your comments when I see your nym.
Lots of times I don’t follow links, I treat them like footnotes, Oh yeah, you can document yourself.
Starfish
@zhena gogolia:
My sister and I were linking back and forth to tweets all the time. She does not have a twitter account, but she found a work around.
She uses Chrome as her browser.
In the allow or block cookies from specific sites section, always block cookies from Twitter.
Starfish
Here is a tweet where India Arie explains why she is leaving Spotify.
Here is a video of India Arie on YouTube singing her famous song “I Am Not My Hair.”
Steeplejack
@debbie:
Link works fine.
HinTN
@hells littlest angel: Me, too, but the 2022 vehicle I’m considering buying doesn’t have a CD player. The salesman somewhat contritely explained that Toyota stopped equipping their vehicles with them in 2019. He was young and somewhat amused that this deficiency was causing me difficulty. We laughed about everyone having their music on their phones now. Maybe I’ll check out Tidal.
Cameron
@schrodingers_cat: Well, he acts like an asshole. Does that count?
Steeplejack
@schrodingers_cat:
As someone quipped on Twitter, he was the least talented cast member of News Radio—a cast that included Andy Dick. ?
WaterGirl
@zhena gogolia: Maybe just Gin & Tonic!
Starfish
@Baud: The joke has been going around for a while.
Basically, women were calling Joe Rogan, Goop for men.
Goop is Gwenyth Paltrow’s website where she tries to sell you jade eggs to put in orifices that should not have jade eggs in them for very magical feminine reasons.
Like Gwenyth is selling us conspicuous and ill-advised femininity, Rogan is selling us conspicuous and ill-advised masculinity.
The reason for saying this is to make the heads of the “You should listen to Joe Rogan” bros explode. They are probably the same bros telling you to listen to Jordan Peterson or read Ayn Rand.
Adam L Silverman
@zhena gogolia: This is Balloon Juice were the people annoy the other people.
Adam L Silverman
@japa21: Thanks for the kind words. You are quite welcome.
Ben Cisco, MSCIS Padawan
OT but…
So let me get this straight:
Couldn’t be bothered to use her surname
AND
kept the klansman’s name too?
It’s as if someone said “You can’t make this worse” and they responded “Hold mah beer and watch THIS!” ? ASSHOLES
Steeplejack
@Brachiator:
The Joe Rogan “experience” is a combination of Rush Limbaugh for dudebros and a “morning zoo” drive-time radio show where they don’t have to bother with playing any music.
Suzanne
Joe Rogan has expertise in eating pigs’ assholes and that’s it. Next time I eat a pig’s asshole, he will be the first person I consult. Until then, he can go to the trash heap of celebrities whose fame is disproportionate to their talent.
Ben Cisco, MSCIS Padawan
@dlwchico: Give Tidal a shot. Raven pointed in that direction and they’re legit.
Ohio Mom
@gene108: Nope, Platrow spouts off half-cocked inaccurate woo about women’s health, and arguing against her are members of the medical community who based their points on the current best thinking of evidence-based medicine.
Rogan makes his money just talking, Paltrow sells snake oil solutions to the medical issues she made up out of thin air.
So not exactly the model you suggest of guys drinking beer, shooting the breeze, but close.
ETA: I see Starfish said it better.
Roger Moore
@Adam L Silverman:
Burn the place down while you’re gone?
Cameron
@Ohio Mom: At least she doesn’t have a giant head like Joe Rogan.
schrodingers_cat
@Baud: That’s the spirit!
OT: I am reading a book on M. K. Gandhi’s assassination, called
Why they killed Gandhi? (A play on Godse’s confessional, Why I killed Gandhi*)
It is topical, especially since the intellectual and political heirs of those who killed him are in power in India right now trying to rewrite the history.
*A book I read a long time ago as a teen. Hindutva is just Nazism under a saffron cloak.
danielx
One of those days when almost every BJ post provokes a mental refrain of “fuck those guys”. Also known as Wednesday at BJ.
Omnes Omnibus
@Roger Moore: It seems obvious to me. I’ll get the gasoline.
lowtechcyclist
You ain’t old unless you’ve got a whole bunch of record albums you bought back in the day.
Leto
@Ben Cisco, MSCIS Padawan: Also in Alabama:
Adam L Silverman
@Roger Moore: Just make sure to make it look like an accident so we can get the insurance payout.
dexwood
@Adam L Silverman:
Oh, man, I lost the code book.
raven
@Ben Cisco, MSCIS Padawan: Yea, the boss lady likes it.
Cameron
@danielx: A day late and a dollar short?
danielx
@HinTN:
Or (if you have stuff digitized), get an iPod Touch and plug it into the USB port, which is what I did. On the other hand, sometimes you realize that you don’t have something digitized when you go to play something. I wanted to hear Janis Joplin’s rendition of Ball and Chain and didn’t have it.
UncleEbeneezer
@Leto: This is where this whole thing was heading from the very beginning.
Sure Lurkalot
@UncleEbeneezer: TBT, his point of view is that “community” police are too militarized and the incarceration rate in America is unacceptable. Thus, he is at odds with people “on both sides”. I think he’s insightful and he makes me think.
Omnes Omnibus
@Omnes Omnibus: @Adam L Silverman: The gasoline is for, uh, the generator. Yeah, that’s it.
(I think I covered our asses there.)
MisterForkbeard
@dexwood: It means we need to make pedantic criticisms or go after his grammar while he’s out so he has something to respond to when he gets back :)
Adam L Silverman
@dexwood:
Spanky
@danielx:
And yet here we are on Thursday night.
danielx
@Cameron:
Shorter: just another day at BJ.
Sure Lurkalot
@Starfish: @Suzanne:
Can I love these comments more? No, I cannot.
danielx
@Omnes Omnibus:
You didn’t mention the thermite.
Leto
@UncleEbeneezer: no lie told.
Sure Lurkalot
@lowtechcyclist: I got those albums! I’m old!
danielx
@Spanky:
Days and nights are all beginning to run together, which isn’t good.
geg6
I can only hope Rogan is gonna go through some things. Same for Mr. Ek.
Can’t agree about true crime podcasts as they are not all exploitive. My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark almost always keeps victims up front and center and donates thousands of dollars every year to get rape kits processed, for womens shelters and other organizations to help solve cases and help victims. And The Murder Squad with Paul Holes and Billy Jensen focus on unsolved cases and to try to crowdsource new information and clues to solve cold cases. They both are respectful, empathetic and in it for all the right reasons.
lowtechcyclist
If you’ve got a computer with a CD drive, copy your music CDs to your computer, copy them from your computer to a thumb drive, then plug the thumb drive into your car’s USB port.
Even a 16 or 32 GB thumb drive holds a shitload of music.
Omnes Omnibus
@danielx: What thermite? ::whistles innocently::
J R in WV
@schrodingers_cat:
I begin to suspect there are Nazis everywhere. Sad but true.
Even here.
All the men of my parent’s generation volunteered to fight against the Nazis and the Imperial Japanese military (Japanese Nazis)… and now one of our two political parties is… Nazis.
ETA: I don’t mean HERE on Balloon Juice, I mean here in America…
lowtechcyclist
@Sure Lurkalot: Welcome to the Geezers Club!
Now since I’m a geezer, it’s my bedtime. Gotta be here bright and early for AL’s Covid-19 thread, after all.
Pharniel
@Ohio Mom:
Loading Ready Run does a segment called Showcase Showdown which is exactly what it sounds like, and one of the showcases was items from GOOP.
The ‘insertable jade energy disburser’ wasn’t flared, and that sums up the level of safety you’re getting from GOOP goods.
As for Spotify, the main issue is that their shareprice has been crashing – Down ~50% (49.23%) from the past year and 33% in the last month – there’s only so long before you are looking at a full shareholder revolt or an attempt to crash the price to shortsell and then perform a hostile takeover.
P.S. – Their EBITA is also trash, gross profit went from $2.3 billion to $788 million between 2020 and 2021 during a time of pandemic where people were trapped in their homes, and while revenue & cash on hand increased, they took on a billion-and-a-half of long term debt vs. being debt free.
J R in WV
@Pharniel:
That’s some of the best news about on line music I’ve heard, ever.
Fuck those guys !!!
Leto
Since this also an open thread, we have people who love classical music, and I simply want to scream at the current state of the world:
Black people in classical music
It’s not comprehensive, but there’s a lot of info there, tons of pictures, and YouTube/short video clips. Consider it a most enjoyable palate cleanser.
West of the Rockies
@zhena gogolia:
I super enjoy your presence here, truly.
Ohio Mom
@HinTN: My 11 year old car has a CD player but Ohio Dad’s almost three year old car doesn’t.
He had to use his laptop to copy his CDs, then moved the files to his phone via the cable that came with the phone for recharging. He uses Bluetooth to move the music from his phone to the car’s audio system.
That might be enough to make me just listen to the radio when my car goes. Or maybe I’ll buy a CD walkman, if they still exist, and leave it on the passenger seat when I’m driving by myself.
schrodingers_cat
@zhena gogolia: You don’t annoy me at all. In fact you and Baud are among some of my favorite commenters.
HumboldtBlue
@Steeplejack:
TBogg threw that out as well.
geg6
@lowtechcyclist:
Or just subscribe to satellite. I love my Sirius radio and use it on my phone and in the car. I was gonna do what you suggest until I got satellite and found I didn’t really need to. Sirius content covers everything I’ve ever loved music-wise and introduced me to stuff I didn’t know I’d like.
raven
Speaking of
John Mellencamp – Wasted Days ft. Bruce Springsteen
Eggbert
Opinion-haver has opinions.
raven
@Omnes Omnibus: Willie Peter make you a believer. . .
Tim in SF
You lost me at “Don’t listen to true crime podcasts”
The In The Dark podcast brought light to the case of Curtis Flowers, preventing prosecutor D.A. Doug Evans from prosecuting Flowers a seventh time, and getting him released after wrongful imprisonment for more than two decades. It’s a great podcast.
I don’t know why anybody would shit on the whole genre when there are gems like In the Dark. Don’t believe everything you read in Mother Jones.
Darkrose
@lowtechcyclist: That’s a big if, at least if you have a laptop. My last gaming machine to have an optical drive was two laptops ago. I’m hoping I’ll be able to find the exterbal CD drive by the time my pre-order of the Endwalker soundtrack gets here.
Ohio Mom
@lowtechcyclist: I DO have a bunch of record albums I bought back in the day. My downsizing plan is to sell them to the used record store I bought most of them at back in the late 70s to early 80s.
They all still have their sticky labels saying “Mole’s Used Records” with the price handwritten in, typically fifty cents or a dollar. I’m curious to see if I make the purchase price back, forty plus years later.
Steeplejack
@UncleEbeneezer:
There is a Joe Rogan channel on YouTube (“PowerfulJRE”) that has numerous full episodes of his show (two to three hours), not just short clips. Maybe they date from before the Spotify deal; I didn’t delve very far.
HumboldtBlue
Great game between UCLA and Arizona. Cats got’em
Caphilldcne
@Ohio Mom: I refused to pay $110 for a CD player in my ex’s car in the divorce. We’ve remained friends and she has essentially loaned me her car during the pandemic. I therefore have no CD player because I was a jerk.
PJ
@Darkrose: Optical drives are cheap:
https://www.amazon.com/External-CD-DVD-Drive-Compatible/dp/B07MJW5BXZ/ref=sr_1_3?crid=WE4RGUTX28I6&keywords=cd+optical+drive&qid=1643943991&sprefix=cd+optical+drive%2Caps%2C56&sr=8-3
(note: this is not an endorsement of that particular product)
different-church-lady
@zhena gogolia: Now be fair: this blog has been just linking to Twitter for years now…
Steeplejack
@HumboldtBlue:
Probably where I saw it (second- or third-hand).
different-church-lady
You know, there’s this thing called “the radio.” It’s marvelous, you should check it out
Lyrebird
@Gin & Tonic:
Hi G&T!
FWIW I tried one of the remedies, probably did it wrong, and still couldn’t get my PopeHat fix, and then I forgot on which thread people gave the advice.
Been telling myself that maybe it’s better for my time management if I just rely on Anne Laurie and the other Front Pagers to pick what tweets I see, but anyhow…
Thanks @Starfish: for repeating some of the instructions, I will try that after I catch up more on grading.
HumboldtBlue
@Steeplejack:
Same here
frosty
@zhena gogolia: Your comments don’t annoy me. At all.
ETA I’m with WaterGirl, please stick around.
different-church-lady
@Lyrebird: I forget who it was a couple of nights ago, but they were asking “How do people get anything else done when they spend so much time on Twitter?” And I replied, “You’re missing the whole point of Twitter.”
dmsilev
@Starfish:
Ars Technica had a story a couple of days ago also making that analogy, and the Rogan-bros were, shall we say, extremely triggered. Last I looked, the comment thread was closing in on 3000, as a bunch of extremely patient people explained over and over and over again that no, this isn’t censorship.
Cameron
@Leto: Classical music? How ’bout a little omaggio a George III?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6357vL9TPg
zhena gogolia
@West of the Rockies: That’s sweet, thanks. G&T hurt my feelngs. I guess it’s because I had a conversation yesterday where a “friend” kept interrupting me to say she’d already heard whatever it was I was about to say. So having the same thing happen to me here was kind of painful.
zhena gogolia
@schrodingers_cat: Same to you!
ETA: Thanks to all the people whom I don’t annoy.
I wish Amir would check in.
Night, all.
Steeplejack
@Ohio Mom:
I was going to say: SiriusXM. It’s a bit spendy—I think I’m paying slightly over $25 a month—but, as @geg6 says, there are a bazillion channels, with news and sports, not just music. No ads, except on simulcasts of TV programs, and all of the music channels are good about hitting the deep cuts and not just playing the top 50 or 100 songs. (And there are channels dedicated just to deep cuts in various genres.) There’s mercifully little DJ talk. And you can play SiriusXM on your computer, tablet or cell phone.
You might have to get a car radio that has a SiriusXM receiver in it. My car is an ’09 model, and its “radio” has both SiriusXM and a CD player (which I have used about five times in 10 years). Something to consider, anyway.
Trust me, I can almost guarantee that you don’t want to go back to listening to “terrestrial” radio.
HinTN
@geg6: Sirius got Ryan Cullwell when I want him?
Librarian
Back in the 70s, when you wanted to hear classical music, you just put 120 Music Masterpieces on the record player. “I’m sure you recognize this lovely melody as Stranger in Paradise. But did you know that the original theme is from the Polovetsian Dance No. 2 by Borodin?”
zhena gogolia
@Librarian: John Williams!
Benno
@schrodingers_cat:
Two words: News Radio.
So, no.
Steeplejack
@Darkrose:
You can buy an external USB CD (or DVD) drive for about $30-35. I just sourced one for a friend a few weeks ago.
mrmoshpotato
Agreed. I have no opinion on what agenda they’re pushing, but their exploitive nature is spot on.
Kay
@Leto:
This is good. It’s about a white (conservative) student who took the only critical race theory class available in Mississippi.
rekoob
@Steeplejack: Since we’re both around at the moment, I thought I’d update you on my Coastal Delaware search. I’ve rented a small house in Lewes (just east of DE 1) that should be a good start to getting to know the area. It will allow me to consolidate some of my possessions in Central and Northern Virginia and give me a chance to see whether I should make a more permanent base in the area or try something else. I’ll be focusing on the consolidation over the next couple of months, with the goal of being in place as the beach season commences.
I’m looking forward to hitting the bike/hike trails, and am thinking about sculling/rowing opportunities. My guess is that the water is too choppy/crowded for such things, but I rowed on the Potomac in Alexandria without too much trouble. Perhaps it’s time to look into kayaking. In any event, there may be a chance for us to break out the green balloons before too long. If Suzanne moves to greater Philadelphia, even better!
Steeplejack
@rekoob:
I’m glad you’re easing into it. The one thing I feel that I didn’t get across in our last discussion was that living in a place is different from vacationing in a place. I think it’s important to get a feel for living in a place at least for a little while before making a permanent commitment. Or, alternately, realize that you’re rolling the dice and be prepared to roll with whatever happens. Sounds like you’ve got a good plan.
I think the big thing about that stretch of Delmarva is that there is one main road, which gets very crowded on weekends and all through the vacation season. It’s not a deal-breaker, by any means, but it’s something to be aware of.
Lewes is a great location. You’ve got Agave, a great Mexican restaurant, right there, and my brother tells me they just opened a new location closer to Rehoboth Beach on Highway 1. El Azteca, also on Highway 1, in Rehoboth Beach proper, is also great. I guess I’ve got Tex-Mex on my mind.
James E Powell
@Librarian:
I remember that TV ad & the guy in it. Used to run in nearly every commercial break on the UHF station with the late-night movies.
citizen dave
@Steeplejack: You probably know that you can call XM, play the game and get a substantially better deal. I was paying more than you for way too long, and my stepson recently goaded me into calling xm. Now locked in for $8 per month for at least a year.
Fun for this longtime Neil Young fan to see the good shit he has stirred up. He has an excellent archives site his own self.
Leto
@Kay: It is. I hope the information she’s learning here will stick with her and help her lead a better life. Preferably out of Republican politics, which that letter she wrote might do on its own.
PJ
@Steeplejack:
@rekoob: The Delaware shore is dark and lonely in the winter. Ain’t much going on, ain’t much to do. But you’ll find that out soon enough.
Steeplejack
@citizen dave:
Holy shnikeys! I’ll have to check that out. I pay annually, and it is all too easy to not think about it the rest of the year. In fact, I had to look up what I was paying when I wrote my previous comment.
I did remember to cancel Evernote in time last month. Got a subscription to that for a project a couple of years ago but hadn’t used it at all in the last year.
Ohio Mom
@Steeplejack: We have a couple of nonprofit radio stations in Cincinnati, I stick to them.
Steeplejack
@PJ:
You make a good point, although it is getting a bit better. Over the last few years I have noticed more restaurants and stores staying open all year instead of closing for the “off season.” But there’s still a big seasonal change.
Ohio Mom
@Kay: I saw that article earlier, it’s an inspiring story and something of an intro to CRT for those who need one.
I hope the reporter puts a note somewhere to re-interview Murphee in five years. I want to see where she ends up, guessing it won’t be working in the Republican Party. Maybe a public defender’s office?
randal m sexton
@SiubhanDuinne: made me laugh
Kalakal
@zhena gogolia: I’m not one of them, I appreciate your comments
Ben Cisco, MSCIS Padawan
@Leto: Batting 1.000 today. Ugh!
Ben Cisco, MSCIS Padawan
@raven: Boss lady has good taste.
Sebastian
Has this been posted already?
The Pale Scot
It’s going to take Dua Lipa leaving
NWO Joe
I never got a paid Spotify account. I tried it once and didn’t like it. It wanted to curate my listening and did a piss poor job of it.
I’ve found Apple Music to be pretty damned good; they have some remasters that are unique. I’m a particular fan of their work on the Beatles catalogue. There is very little they do not have. Much of their stuff is lossless. I can download whole albums and play them back on demand. I also buy music now – used to be one of those who “acquired it through dubious means”, which is one reason I have a 2 TB hard drive full of music in the car. I like Qobuz and Bandcamp. I also listen to several terrestrial stations via streaming, most notably FIP, KEXP out of Seattle, BBC6, and KMHD out of Portland. KEXP has a great mix of eclectic music and one of the best morning shows I can recall with John Richards. His show is very positive and inspiring and was very helpful in getting me through the darkest times of the pandemic.
Podcasts? Leah Sottile has some of the best work on the right wing in the west I’ve ever heard, told in a compelling manner. And I like that baseball one that team from the Midwest did that sounds like an old baseball game from the early 70s
I cannot imagine what Spotify could possibly do for me.
Ruckus
@zhena gogolia:
We all annoy some people some days.
The thing is you are a valuable commenter. And your opinion matters because you matter. Please stay, please say what you need to say.
I’ve been on this blog for a long time and I have 3 people in pie storage. Only one has been added in the last year. And that was just a few days ago because if I wanted to read Pravda, I’d subscribe, and learn Russian.
Another Scott
@Ohio Mom: WYSO in Yellow Springs is excellent as well.
Cheers,
Scott.
Steeplejack (phone)
Redacted.
The Pale Scot
But it will have a usb jack. A 500 gb drive will hold 10,000 songs. My Camry’s audio system catalogues them by artist and album, the selection controls are on the steering wheel
Ruckus
@lowtechcyclist:
How many is a whole bunch?
Jerzy Russian
@different-church-lady: That was me. A related question is “How does anything get done if you spend all of your time reading the comments at Balloon Juice?” The answer is of course “Things don’t get done anymore.”
Ruckus
@Darkrose:
Don’t know about windows computers but Apple has an add on CD/DVD drive for $79. Works great, plugs into a USB port.
Citizen Alan
@Steeplejack: I think that might have been me on here, actually. I know I made that exact same comment. :)
gwangung
@Ruckus: Oh, you don’t need one of those; you can buy a DVD drive that works for $25.
(Um, yes? I do have one of them Apple drives….)
Craig
Haven’t read all the thread, but anecdata- 10ish friends have told me in the last few days that they’ve deleted Spotify. Never saw any benefit in it myself, but it’s encouraging to see people make a bare minimum move and ditch bullshit software.
Ruckus
@gwangung:
Ya, I just checked and saw that $79 is maybe a bit Apple pricy but it works and fits in with the Apple decor around here and I bought it a while back and I think it was $74 then……
Dopey-o
Not exactly the same as Spotify, but we have a local, community radio station KDHX FM. When we leave town, i stream it on my phone and bluetooth into the car radio.
The musical range is astounding. Blues, rock, punk, feminist, native american, ragtime, cornpone country, soul, rap, stuff I don’t recognize. Balkan mountain music, antique folk music on wax cylinders. Changes every 2 to 3 hours.
/end of shameless promo.
Steeplejack (phone)
@NWO Joe:
Thanks for the overview. I’ll check out some of those.
Steeplejack (phone)
@Citizen Alan:
Get your ass downstairs and read the responses to your job comment.
Steeplejack (phone)
Redacted.
lowtechcyclist
Terrestrial radio is pretty hit-or-miss, depending on where you are. If I wasn’t in the broadcast radius of Annapolis alternative station WRNR-FM, I probably wouldn’t listen to the radio at all.
Nancy
@zhena gogolia: some persons is not equal to all people or even all Balloon-Juice readers.
But do what seems best to you.
Antonius
Been a Spotify customer for a few years. Abandoned them entirely yesterday without remorse. I have CDs and a CD player on my desk because I’m old.
Nancy
@gwangung:
Hard to believe that I’d be looking at a list and thinking 43 cents is the highest.
Nancy
@lowtechcyclist:
That’s us but we did start buying quite young. Three dollar albums in the remainder bin.
evodevo
@lowtechcyclist: OMG (looks at cabinet containing at least 500 vinyl records from the Sixties/Seventies)…I AM OLD!!
satby
@Leto: the classical streaming station yourclassical.org is highlighting black composers and classical performers for BHM on a special stream Lots of great stuff there, and on all the streams..
laura
@Darkrose: i had to buy an external CD drive a couple few years ago. Happy to loan it to you if/when you need it. Are you still in East Sac? I can bike it over to you. Please feel free to get my email from a blog supervisor.
Steeplejack (phone)
@Nancy:
It’s worse than you think: that’s 4.3 cents, not 43 cents.
RAM
That’s exactly why I’ve never been able to stomach ‘reality’ TV programming. I find it demeaning to both the subjects and the listeners–it’s simply an electronic version of P.T. Barnum’s freak shows brought right into people’s living rooms. It’s also coarsened and forever stained the social fabric of the U.S.
JML
@RAM: I’m with you on the reality TV. Technically the cooking competition stuff is “reality” tv, but feels more like a game show to me. That’s the reality tv I want. The rest of it? Big nope.
Tarragon
Deleted for broken formatting
Tarragon
@gwangung:
Apple claims it pays $0.01 per stream.
brantl
@zhena gogolia: Stop tripping on the same stick, and blaming it on the stick.