Adding Resources to EMichaelMusic.com – My Digital Hoarding On Display
I am a collector, compiler and curator and have always been even from the time when I didn’t know the meaning of words such as “collector,” “compiler” and “curator.” Growing up in Massachusetts and New England, I heard this type of behavior referred to as “hoarding” or being a “pack rat.”
As a college professor, the act (art?) of collecting/curating can be quite positive and in digital times, even essential. In the recent past, I would compile lists of my favorite recordings, films, books, CD stores, stores, restaurants and bars (as well as a few places to avoid – in the pre-Twitter era, I found list of places to avoid very helpful) and provide them to my students usually in a long list found at the end of a syllabus.
That has led to where I am in 2014. This list of needs to be much more of websites that I love/like and use. And even better if the access to information is free, as in “does not cost” – one only needs Internet access, hopefully not the degraded 3rd world kind of Internet access provided by the Evil Comcast. [I should have known Comcast was the worst company ever when I first saw this Comcast commercial a few years ago.]
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I have finally created the first version of this bibliography/collection of thousands of my favorite and/or essential resources, entitled it
and placed it as a link in between “Calendar” and “Blog” on the first page of my website. My definitions/stretches of meanings and category-creating allow me to squeeze “Business” and “Communication,” significant and stand-alone-worthy fields, into “Technology,” and perform other lexicographic contortions to my heart’s desire. To paraphrase – “all the sites that fit.”
That there are nineteen (19) categories surprised me – my broad and sometimes narrow definitions resulted in these 19. There are sites that reside in two or more categories because of some natural overlaps. (This time around I have eliminated restaurants, bars, movies and record albums – the present nineteen categories are large and unwieldy enough!)
A few words on the first four (4) of nineteen (19) categories:
Broadcast – By “Broadcast,” I mean a site where one can hear and/or see audio & video, or sites involved in audio & video in some manner. Portals for audio & video lie ahead. Bloomberg – Brink to Tiny Desk Concerts – NPR Music to Hypster and more.
Concerts & Festivals – important festivals ranging from straight ahead music with broad appeal, to music with select appeal (intentional reference to This Is Spinal Tap with that “select” adjective) to academic/deep thinker to simple & perceptible conferences. The Governor’s Ball Music Festival to Pop Montreal to Electric Daisy Carnival and more.
Education & Non Profit – Non profits, educators & educational sites I love/like and use. Artists House Music to Electronic Frontier Foundation Deeplinks to Volunteer Lawyers For The Arts. There is one exception, however – Better Call Saul – a site that also clearly belongs in Legal and which some might not consider “educational.”
Lawsuits – In “Lawsuits,” I vacillate between linking to a lawsuit as found in one of my Pinterest boards (containing three more links pertaining to CCNV v. Reid), to a government link (WNET v. Aereo) to a Google Scholar link (Campbell et al v. Acuff-Rose Music). (I will greatly expand “Lawsuits” in the near future.)
I will elaborate on the other fifteen (15) categories –
Legal
Lifestyle Brands
Live Music & Culture
Management
Music Labels
Music Marketing Platforms
Music Recording Stores
Musicians
Performing Rights Organizations
Publishing
Social Media
Technology
Trade Associations
Books
– in future posts. As always, I welcome your input.