My first concert was N*Sync and B*witched. After watching the amen break beat video, my first thought was, "That's the break beat from Let's Go by B*Witched. I hadn't listened to the song in over ten years. Maybe the staying power of the breakbeat accounts for its constant reuse/sampling.

The post-mortem boost of sales is a trend that follows the death of any pop artist. Since Whitney will not benefit from these sales, I wonder how much of the profit will go to her daughter, Bobbi Kristina, and how much will go to record executives.

The band Beirut utilizes sounds and conventions of music from Eastern Europe, Asia and other areas of the globe. This article discusses the band's popularity in Brazil, a popularity that would have been impossible without the invention of recorded sound.

The song Somebody that I Used to Know by Gotye is everywhere, including in my head. I found this video jokingly accusing Gotye of stealing the melodies from both Ba Ba Black Sheep and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star to make his hit song. Its a funny video but one line in particular stands out in relation to the Letham reading: "I don't wanna live this lie. I wanna be an honest guy." At least the parody version of Gotye is acknowledging his source material.

The Indie rock group, Wild Flag has had a huge year both before and after the release of their self titled debut album. This interview with the band gives some insight into singer/guitarist Carrie Brownstein's songwriting process. She, unexpectedly, acknowledges Rihanna as an influence on the songs off the album. She tells Rolling Stone, "The melody for Romance, I came up with after a day of listening to Rihanna and Beyonce and then filtering it through my messed up post-punk filter."