Quantcast

Call for Papers: PopMatters Celebrates The Jam in Massive Special Section

Buzznet gets hungrier and the whack iPod tax

Monday, Apr 14, 2008

Buzznet’s diet of blogs that it’s consumed now includes Idolator.  Rest assured that BNet’s appetite isn’t going away- they’re still hungry and they still want more.  They’re becoming the News Corp of new media, gobbling up everything it can as it makes a push for not just synergy but also as much hip cache as it can.  It remains to be seen if BNet is going to let the old brands keep the format that made them so desirable in the first place or if it bends them all for its own means (like Uncle Rupert).  If they’re smart, they’ll do the former but rest assured, they’re already thinking about the later.  I wish the Idolator folks good luck.


And just in case you can’t get enough of new ways to punish all consumers to offset the music industry’s mistakes,  you can lump the idea for the Internet tax with the idea of an iPod tax.  The same idea here is that another industry is going to be forced to bilk its customers so that it can then pay off the music biz.  So everyone’s happy then, right?  Somehow I don’t think the BPI (aka the British RIAA) will stop with electronics manufacturers or Net providers (and don’t forget that they’re trying to squeeze money from radio too) but they’ll also branch out to other industries that are involved in music- any remaining manufacturing plants for CD’s, plus the graphic designers and print shops that make the photos and sleeves as well as the studio engineers, club owners, caterers, groupies and drug dealers will all get squeezed somewhere down the line for being involved in the music pipeline.  And then the cost will get passed on to the consumers too, whether they pay for or want the goods or not.  It reminds me of the old joke about an exclusive club.  “I wanted to get in and they said ‘That’ll be 50 bucks.’  I said ‘Forget it- I’m going home!’  They said ‘OK, that’ll be 30 bucks!’”

Comments
Now on PopMatters
Bone and Bell Release Second EP (Mixed Media) [Tue, 10:00 am]
Cannes 2012: Day 9 - 'Student' + 'In the Fog' (Notes from the Road) [Tue, 9:00 am]
The 10 Greatest Aspects of the 'Star Wars' Franchise (Short Ends and Leader) [Tue, 8:00 am]
Devil May Cry: HD Collection (Reviews) [Tue, 6:45 am]
The Walkmen: Heaven (Reviews) [Tue, 2:00 am]
King Tuff: King Tuff (Reviews) [Tue, 2:00 am]
Lake Street Dive: Fun Machine EP (Capsule Reviews) [Tue, 2:00 am]
Theresa Andersson: Street Parade (Reviews) [Tue, 2:00 am]
  1. The Top 10 Overplayed Songs You Hate by Artists You Love (Sound Affects)
  2. Tea with 'Sherlock': Investigating the Investigators (Features)
  3. Sunk? This 'Battleship' Stunk! (Short Ends and Leader)
  4. Tenacious D: Rize of the Fenix (Reviews)
  5. Top Ten Lost Midwest Punk Singles (Sound Affects)
  6. Like 'Doom', In Heels (Moving Pixels)
  7. 10 Pieces of Cinematic Art That Require Revisiting (Short Ends and Leader)
  8. Punk Rock's Pet Sounds: An Interview with Bomb the Music Industry! (Features)
  9. She's a Rainbow: A Tribute to Donna Summer (Features)
  10. Counterbalance No. 82: U2's 'Achtung Baby' (Sound Affects)
  11. 'Albatross': A Not-So-Weighty Coming-of-Age Meets Mid-Life-Crisis Film (Reviews)
  12. Counterbalance No. 83: The Stooges' 'Fun House' (Sound Affects)
  13. We Will Avenge Them Or… Be Avenged?: The Individual in the US Experience (Features)
  14. The Queen and Her Crayons: An Interview With Donna Summer (Features)
  15. The Best Canadian Records of the Year? The Fun Agony of Voting for the Polaris Prize Long List (Sound Affects)
  16. Flash Points: Mommy's Breast, Marriage Equality and Why Chipotle Is King (Features)
  17. Killer Mike: R.A.P. Music (Reviews)
  18. Sergio Leone: Something to Do with Death (Columns)
  19. Sherlock Holmes, Dirk Gently and the Case of the Eccentric Detective (Columns)
  20. Early Summer 2012 New Music Playlist (Mixed Media)
  21. In Support of Supports (Moving Pixels)
  22. Flash Points: Chicks, Sluts and Facebook (Features)
  23. In Defense Of... Rock Radio: A Force in Popular Culture (Columns)
  24. The Cult: Choice of Weapon (Reviews)
  25. Garbage: Not Your Kind of People (Reviews)
  26. Willie Nelson: Heroes (Reviews)
  27. 'People's Pornography': The Mundanities of Pornography and Surveillance Culture (Reviews)
  28. Saint Etienne: Words and Music (Reviews)
  29. Feeling '80s Spirit: Post-Hardcore Punk for the Plastic Generation (Columns)
  30. Like a Jack London Story on Steroids: 'The Grey' (Reviews)
Categories
PM Picks
Music Archive
Announcements
Ratings

10 - The Best of the Best

9 - Very Nearly Perfect

8 - Excellent

7 - Damn Good

6 - Good

5 - Average

4 - Unexceptional

3 - Weak

2 - Seriously Flawed

1 - Terrible

© 1999-2012 PopMatters.com. All rights reserved.
PopMatters.com™ and PopMatters™ are trademarks
of PopMatters Media, Inc.

PopMatters is wholly independently owned and operated.
PopMatters is a member of BUZZMEDIA Music, MOG and Guardian Select.