Listening to Music. Changing forms

On June 8, when Apple announced it would launch its own streaming music service, it immediately shook up the big players of the music industry.

On June 30, Apple’s service will go live. And music lovers – especially the younger ones – are already agog with excitement.

Unlike streaming music from service providers like Pandora, Spotify, and Google Play Music - which is mostly available only within USA – Apple’s 24 x 7 streaming music will reach some 100 countries.

I am really not sure if Bahrain is one of them. But, if it is, people can register for a 3-month free-trial, and listen to the service on all Apple devices and personal computers. And pay $9.99 monthly after that.

Apple promises the same service to those with Android devices, by fall, this year.

Singer Taylor Swift created a storm this week by complaining that Apple – which had said it won’t pay artists during the trial-period – should pay. Apple relented, quickly.

In fact, a bit too quickly. Because, now, rumours are rife that Taylor Swift and Apple may have actually played a huge Public Relations gimmick.

That aside, personally, after having worked part-time on a radio station, playing western music for almost 8 years, during my twenties, I cannot resist giving my two-cents worth, on the changes I see.

When I passed the radio audition test, some 25 years ago, the radio station had put me, and the others with me, on a week-long training -- on how to correctly play the records from turn-tables, and how to cue those huge spools on the audio tape-decks.

On those – now, ancient – huge machines, we were also taught how to connect tape recorders, and other tape-decks, and how to dub dialogues and music, ensuring that music fades in and fades out without muffling the vocals - for our radio features and plays.

We had to manually use the knobs on sound-meters to ensure that decibel-levels are within normal hearing range.  And those huge transmission consoles with faders had no ‘pre-sets’.

They all seem primitive when I look at today’s studios with cutting-edge gadgetry for digital mixing.

Most importantly, however, after playing music records on our live shows, we had to write down, all the song titles, album names, and record-labels of companies, in a register.

This helped in the payment of royalties, by the radio station, to record companies, every time a song was aired.

By the time I left my part-time job at the radio station, things had changed. CD players had come in. And radio stations paid huge amounts to music companies for ‘complete broadcasting rights’; which meant no more payment for each song, every time it was aired.

Then came the ‘mp3 file’. And those tiny portable music players which made Sony Walkman look like Tyrannosaurus Rex.

And with mp3 files came  online peer-to-peer sharing of music; throwing intellectually property rights into a tizzy!

Napster, LimeWire, and Kazza are just a few names that were lambasted by music-makers for robbing their creativity.

If video killed the radio star, the new music and radio apps, now, killed the audio file-sharing websites.

CDs are almost gone. Downloading music is also passé. It is now the age of streaming music through apps now.

And whatever way we listen to music, I believe, the artists and music producers must get their due.

What Caused the Malaysian Earthquake?

Picture from BBC Website with thanks
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-33090576

An earthquake occurred, on June 5, in Malaysia.  That is an undisputed fact.

It occurred because of ‘naked’ tourists.

This, however, is a debatable inference.

An inference which, I think, one must make, or take, with a pinch of salt.

Ten trekkers who stripped and posed nude on Mount Kinabalu - Malaysia’s highest peak - on May 30, are now being accused of angering sacred spirits up there.

Because, in less than a week after their stripping incident, a 5.9-magnitude earthquake struck the region where the mountain stands.

The police identified five of the accused - and arrested at least two of them - to prevent them from leaving the country, after pictures spread on social media.

The arrests are made on grounds of obscenity and public nudity and, presumably, also to protect the tourists from some furious Malaysians.

The epicentre of this earthquake, which took 18 lives, is just 54 kilometres from Mt. Kinabalu. So, the anger of the tribal people who live around there, I believe, is somewhat justified.

Even though, I might agree, the logic and rationale for deducing the cause of the earthquake is somewhat out-of-place.

When one considers the fact that the tribes around there believe that their ancestors’ spirits inhabit Mount Kinabalu, one cannot easily rubbish their indignation.

When one considers the fact that this tourist group  - of six men and four women who took clothes off, for photos - was told by a tour-guide to stop stripping, and that the group's response was “Go to hell”, one cannot simply ridicule the Malaysian resentment.

Going starkers  on mountain top - stripping off from even their bare necessities - may seem unusually liberating and powerfully exhilarating to certain passionate mountain climbers.

But it reeks of completely irreverence, and utter insolence. Especially to those who’ve grown accustomed to honouring that mountain-place.

Connecting the stripping of clothes to the occurrence of the earthquake may seem completely weird and absolutely unscientific.

But so does the bizarre obsession of some -- to take off their clothes, click a few nude-pictures and share them online!

Serves them right, is what some people are saying. They should know how to respect the Malaysian culture, some others are saying.

Angering ancient spirits evokes dangerous phenomena, like these earthquakes, say some spiritists who still thrive among us.

It took my thoughts to an old 1969 western ‘MacKenna’s Gold’, which I had recently watched again.

In that movie, the Apache believe that hidden in "Canyon del Oro" is a fortune in gold, guarded by Apache spirits which should not be angered.

The greed of the white men, and of the younger generation of Apache, eventually makes the Apache spirits to cause an earthquake. Or that is what we are led to assume.

But let us come back to the topic in the news. Of those Malaysian courts deliberating now on the fate of the arrested ‘nudists’.

And while we are at it, it may be a good time for us to revisit the old wisdom -- of respecting others’ cultures and belief systems. Even if they are not in line with ours.

Today, we have begun to embrace freedom and welcome individuality to such extremes that, sometimes, accommodating to conservative sentiments has become intolerable.

We have grown to mock traditionalism to such extremes that we are overlooking the dangers of irresponsible liberalism.

Despite globalization, and widespread knowledge and wisdom, it must be understood that cultures are significantly different.

And what is good for the geese need not always be good for the gander.

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Vacation Unplugged

“The US is the only advanced economy that does not require employers to offer paid holidays or time off.”

“Not even a single US state has a paid-vacation law on the books."

The above lines are from an article by Jack Dickey  in the latest issue of TIME (1 June 2015) ,  titled “Save the Vacation.”

So, is the ‘lack of paid-leave’ in USA a thing that people of US need to be proud of? Or guilty of?

That's a question only they can answer.

But ‘being overworked is the main reason Americans say they skip vacation’ – or at least for what they put money aside for - according to Dickey’s well researched article.

Being overworked, to skip vacation? Is it not like saying you are too tired to sleep?

The article, however, has such an overwhelming backup of statistical analyses and inferences, that you will be, well, overwhelmed.

Now, here in Bahrain, as the mercury rises, undoubtedly, there are plans made by many – especially the expatriates – to run off to cooler climes.

With schools and universities closed during July and August, it is usually a huge rigmarole for many us, to try and convince our bosses, particularly those of us in private establishments, to let us match our vacation with our children’s.

And our bosses hem and haw, shrug their shoulders, roll their eyes, look towards heaven, and make all such gestures that would delight a body language analyst, but ultimately, grudgingly, reluctantly, they concede to our requests.

They have to. They must. They can’t say no. After all, it is the law. Annual vacation, I mean. Not its matching with children’s.

Most foreigners, here are on contracts, have guaranteed paid-leave after every two years, if not after every year. And most Bahrainis have one month paid-leave that is statutory.

So, in a way, those of us working here, enjoy a slightly better vacation situation than those in the USA.

But the real question, I think, is not whether you are lawfully privileged to enjoy a vacation but whether you are happily engaged, in enjoying one.

In these days of constant connectivity, are you really switched off? Away from your office mail, and away from that office interaction, while on vacation? That is the question.

According to TIME’s article, 61 per cent of employed vacationers in America say they plan to do minor work-related tasks during their vacation. 38 per cent will be emailing, 32 per cent accessing office files, 30 per cent receiving and making calls and at least 24 per cent texting.

But will that not kill the very purpose of a vacation? Is not the “break” a time to go and come back, refreshed and rejuvenated?

That is why some companies in US – which can afford it – are telling their employees to go on a vacation; and even giving them incentives.

While we may not get incentives, we must be glad that we can go, and make the best of what we get when we go.

While we cannot completely unplug ourselves from work,  I think, we must try to disconnect from work-related tasks when we can.  By effective planning, and bold delegation.

“A six month vacation, twice a year,” is a mere fantasy.

But “a one month vacation, once a year,” is a real luxury to some.