Group items tagged

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/finance/2012/0928/1224324532192.html BUSINESS INTERVIEW: As executive vice president of digital media for MTV's music brands, Dubliner Dermot McCormack is confronting head-on the challenges all media companies face in an ever-changing digital landscape IT'S HARD TO know what to envy Dermot McCormack for most - his 17th-floor, corner office (the sign, in America, at least, that you have truly arrived) overlooking Times Square, or the fact that Bono has a nickname for him: Digital Dermot from Dublin. To be fair, he has earned it. McCormack is now executive vice president of digital media for MTV's music brands - including MTV itself, VH1, Country Music Television (CMT) and Logo TV. "My job is to move these cable TV brands into new platforms, expand the brands, expand the audience and make money while I'm doing it," says McCormack - who is originally from Ballyfermot - as though this were easy peasy. Few know quite as well as him, however, just how tricky the internet can be. An early pioneer of new media in the 1990s, McCormack was around for the dot com bubble (the first one, as some would argue). In fact, he was right at the heart of it. Having moved to New York in the early 1990s (the day after he graduated from DIT Kevin Street with a degree in electronic engineering - "My poor Mom," he says. "I never came back!"), McCormack was among those who built some of the earliest websites. Eventually, he went to work in advertising for the hottest new things around at the time - a website called iVillage.com. (So early on in the web age was this that McCormack talks about having approached Toyota about web advertising before the company had any sort of presence on the internet.) The iVillage group of websites still exists today, but you would be hard pushed to find any sign of the fact that, when the company went public in 1999, it was the biggest IPO in history. Shares in the comp

The latest from the American Idol judge-hunting drama: Mariah Carey is reportedly upset when she found out that producers are seriously considering Nicki Minaj as another judge. Though it was in no way final, Carey must have been annoyed if she really was led to believe that she will be the only female judge in the panel. Now, Minaj could be the big gamble Idol is willing to take in order to regain its former popularity - though if this would not work, let this be a warning that the show will definitely take a plunge and be a total train wreck. Adding fuel to the fire is Carey's controversial tweet weeks ago saying:"@AmericanIdol What's going on? need the info!! What about this combo? : ) if we could ever get him to do it!" Along with the message was an attached photo of Carey with Lenny Kravitz, obviously suggesting him as a possible co-judge. So far, only Carey has been confirmed in signing the judging contract with Idol but with speculations that there will be four judges this season, and Randy Jackson's exit, producers have 3 more slots to fill. Another rumored possible Idol judge is revealed to be Kanye West, with reports claiming that producers are in negotiations with the rapper. However, West seemed to be unsure as he does not think it's his cup of tea. At any rate, it was revealed that he was offered the same annual salary as Carey. Meanwhile, Randy Jackson has also been confirmed to be leaving the judging panel, possibly for a mentor post. This leaves the show with an all-new judge lineup, with others speculating there could be 4 judges this coming season. Other rumored celebrities being considered to judge Idol are Enrique Iglesias, Adam Lambert, Keith Urban, Nick Jonas, Brad Paisley and Pharrell Williams. American Idol is only several months away from its 12th season but the final set of judges is still given to much speculation. And for the producers, it will be challenging to steer an old franchise back to its glory d

http://myblackhawkminesmusic.posterous.com/black-hawk-mines-music-mtv-boss-bono-calls-di BUSINESS INTERVIEW: As executive vice president of digital media for MTV's music brands, Dubliner Dermot McCormack is confronting head-on the challenges all media companies face in an ever-changing digital landscape IT'S HARD TO know what to envy Dermot McCormack for most - his 17th-floor, corner office (the sign, in America, at least, that you have truly arrived) overlooking Times Square, or the fact that Bono has a nickname for him: Digital Dermot from Dublin. To be fair, he has earned it. McCormack is now executive vice president of digital media for MTV's music brands - including MTV itself, VH1, Country Music Television (CMT) and Logo TV. "My job is to move these cable TV brands into new platforms, expand the brands, expand the audience and make money while I'm doing it," says McCormack - who is originally from Ballyfermot - as though this were easy peasy. Few know quite as well as him, however, just how tricky the internet can be. An early pioneer of new media in the 1990s, McCormack was around for the dot com bubble (the first one, as some would argue). In fact, he was right at the heart of it. Having moved to New York in the early 1990s (the day after he graduated from DIT Kevin Street with a degree in electronic engineering - "My poor Mom," he says. "I never came back!"), McCormack was among those who built some of the earliest websites. Eventually, he went to work in advertising for the hottest new things around at the time - a website callediVillage.com. (So early on in the web age was this that McCormack talks about having approached Toyota about web advertising before the company had any sort of presence on the internet.) The iVillage group of websites still exists today, but you would be hard pushed to find any sign of the fact that, when the company went public in 1999, it was the biggest IPO in history. Shares in the compan

MY BLACK HAWK MUSIC: As executive vice president of digital media for MTV's music brands, Dubliner Dermot McCormack is confronting head-on the challenges all media companies face in an ever-changing digital landscape. IT'S HARD TO know what to envy Dermot McCormack for most - his 17th-floor, corner office (the sign, in America, at least, that you have truly arrived) overlooking Times Square, or the fact that Bono has a nickname for him: Digital Dermot from Dublin. To be fair, he has earned it. McCormack is now executive vice president of digital media for MTV's music brands - including MTV itself, VH1, Country Music Television (CMT) and Logo TV. "My job is to move these cable TV brands into new platforms, expand the brands, expand the audience and make money while I'm doing it," says McCormack - who is originally from Ballyfermot - as though this were easy peasy. Few know quite as well as him, however, just how tricky the internet can be. An early pioneer of new media in the 1990s, McCormack was around for the dot com bubble (the first one, as some would argue). In fact, he was right at the heart of it. Having moved to New York in the early 1990s (the day after he graduated from DIT Kevin Street with a degree in electronic engineering - "My poor Mom," he says. "I never came back!"), McCormack was among those who built some of the earliest websites. Eventually, he went to work in advertising for the hottest new things around at the time - a website callediVillage.com. (So early on in the web age was this that McCormack talks about having approached Toyota about web advertising before the company had any sort of presence on the internet.) The iVillage group of websites still exists today, but you would be hard pushed to find any sign of the fact that, when the company went public in 1999, it was the biggest IPO in history. Shares in the company peaked at just over $100 shortly after the initial public offering, before plummeting to al

Taylor Swift walks around with a constant expression of shock at her swell luck and good fortune. As well she should, as the pitch-challenged, confessional sweetheart is doing phenomenally well in the singing business. She doesn't do as well in the relationship business, but her prolific taste in celebrity men has served her and supermarket magazines fine. "Love is a ruthless game, unless you play it good and right," she sings on State of Grace. I would argue that Swift plays the game ruthlessly - "good and right" being adverbs open to interpretation, or even meaningless to a doe-eyed pop careerist whose open-book romantic life is grist for the mill, an attention-getting supply of gotcha-good inspiration. Red, her fourth album, is full of big, errorless music - arena-pop that is just country enough to keep the CMT crowd happy. But even if there are very few missteps, excitement and soul are decidedly lacking. Swift's lyrical style lacks for ambition; someone like Canada's Liam Titcomb, a complete unknown in comparison, has much more of a clue how to write a poppy relationship song with wordy charisma. The pigtailed set will enjoy the 22-year-old woman-child who giggles at the end of the plucky-cute Stay, Stay, Stay. "Before you I only dated self-indulgent takers, who took all of their problems out on me," she sings, resisting the urge to rhyme "Jake Gyllenhaal" with "darn it all" or "John Mayer" with "hey, that's not fair." The album's catchy first single We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together is Avril-bratty, complete with a resolute girlie army on the chorus. But beyond the adolescent stuff, the platinum-selling Kennedy-clan befriender branches out - sometimes moving in less-than-mysterious U2 ways. While State of Grace uses chiming guitars and bold dynamics, All Too Well doesn't at all try to hide its With or Without You tension-building methods. Lyrically it represents Swift's best work, involving broken p

1. MYBLACKHAWK MIN http://my-blackhawkmines.com 2. Black Hawk Mines : Myspace making a comebackThe former leading social network site Myspace announcedin Monday that it's getting a resurgence in popularity due totheir introduction of a new online music player. Over a million new users have registered at myspace.com inthe previous month, averaging 40,000 accounts activateddaily. Its new owners attribute this positive response mainlyto Myspace's integration with Twitter and Facebook. The ousted social network star has transformed into anonline community for music enthusiasts and appears to begrowing into a platform that is ready to co-exist with Twitterand Facebook. 3. Instead of competing with Facebook, it is now going headto head with online music services like Rdio, Jango,Pandora and Spotify. Myspace is now claiming they havethe biggest catalog of tracks online with 42 million songs. MySpace was purchased by News Corp for USD 580million in July 2005. But according to Rupert Murdochhimself, the chief executive of News Corp, their purchasehas been a big mistake and that it was mismanaged inevery way possible. So it was not at all surprising for them to sell it in June2011 to Specific Media for only USD 35 million, a mere6% of their original valuation. 4. The new owners, Chris and Tim Vanderhook, along withartist Justin Timberlake invested and reinvented Myspace.They managed to shift the site's focus from socialnetworking into an entertainment portal.Since its launch of the new music player 2 months ago,there has been an increase in registrations and asignificant rise in the amount of site traffic. Myspace appears to have a number of assets in itspossession including a huge song library, large traffic andbrand recognition that if the firm can sustain its new-foundupward trend, the new owners may certainly have gotten abargain. 5. This new MySpace player boasts of unlimitedand free music streaming from unsigned andestablished artists. They also offer customizedr

The latest from the American Idol judge-hunting drama: Mariah Carey is reportedly upset when she found out that producers are seriously considering Nicki Minaj as another judge. Though it was in no way final, Carey must have been annoyed if she really was led to believe that she will be the only female judge in the panel. nicki minaj mariah carey Now, Minaj could be the big gamble Idol is willing to take in order to regain its former popularity - though if this would not work, let this be a warning that the show will definitely take a plunge and be a total train wreck. Adding fuel to the fire is Carey's controversial tweet weeks ago saying:"@AmericanIdol What's going on? need the info!! What about this combo? : ) if we could ever get him to do it!" Along with the message was an attached photo of Carey with Lenny Kravitz, obviously suggesting him as a possible co-judge. So far, only Carey has been confirmed in signing the judging contract with Idol but with speculations that there will be four judges this season, and Randy Jackson's exit, producers have 3 more slots to fill. Another rumored possible Idol judge is revealed to be Kanye West, with reports claiming that producers are in negotiations with the rapper. However, West seemed to be unsure as he does not think it's his cup of tea. At any rate, it was revealed that he was offered the same annual salary as Carey. Meanwhile, Randy Jackson has also been confirmed to be leaving the judging panel, possibly for a mentor post. This leaves the show with an all-new judge lineup, with others speculating there could be 4 judges this coming season. Other rumored celebrities being considered to judge Idol are Enrique Iglesias, Adam Lambert, Keith Urban, Nick Jonas, Brad Paisley and Pharrell Williams. American Idol is only several months away from its 12th season but the final set of judges is still given to much speculation. And for the producers, it will be challenging to steer an old franchise back t

New Building Is a "Musicians Resource Center" Once more, the air conditioning went kaput at the MusicGarage's previous location on 1700 South in the middle of July this year, the sweltering heat was enough to make program founder/director Steve Auerbach seek out some new digs due to the blazing-hot glory of summer that made a major bummer The MusicGarage now is located at 250 W. 1300 South, it began in 2009 as an after-school program housed in a 12-foot-by-12-foot room at the Utah Arts Alliance, and it is just west of the 1300 South Trax station. "This place had more lint in the ducts than you can ever imagine," Auerbach says. Its prior use as an appliance-repair store might seem like a far cry from anything music-related, but with its spacious layout and convenient location, it's perfect for the big plans he has in mind for the space. http://updates.my-blackhawkmines.com/ Describing it as a multifunction, multipurpose music venue and "musicians resource center," Auerbach says the newly renovated 190-capacity, 2,700-square-foot building features a full sound system, a digital light system, a stage, a production/green room and several other rooms than can be divided into areas for local teachers to hold individual music lessons. The whole space can also be rented out for private events like the bar service is available by request or to those who needs a spot to host a wedding reception or wanting to shoot a high-quality video of a live performance by their band without a crowd of strangers jostling the camera. Auerbach says he'd also like to open the stage to more than just music acts, including comedy, theater and spoken-word performances, as well as feature local art in the foyer-complete with gallery-style track lighting. Regardless of all the changes and despite the fact that the MusicGarage is still a music-education program at its core it is devoted to providing accessiblehigh-quality, creativity-nurturing musical instru