Blogging Ethnomusicologists

The author of the World Music textbook that I put on reserve has a blog with notes and YouTube links
Bakan WORLD MUSIC blog
He recently posted links to YouTube videos of Balinese music, including gamelan playing. It'd be interesting to discuss some of these excerpts in class, as we spend some time to talk about ethnomusicology as a discipline.

Acoustic Analysis of Music

Musical Acoustics/Physics of Music
Seeing the Sound
Praat Tutorial for Musicologists
Acoustics and Sound Technology

French Rap: A Podcast

Probably the first English-speaking show about French Rap and Hip Hop.
Yo La La ! The French Rap Hip Hop podcast mp3 online radio show.
Though the podcast's host (and programmer) has obvious preferences for specific styles and genres within French Rap and Hip Hop scenes, the program showcases an interesting musical diversity.

Future of Music (Coalition and Interview)

A podcast interview with a number of insightful comments about current changes in what people do with music.

Well-Rounded Radio: Episode 041: Jenny Toomey of The Future of Music Coalition

Among the issues that the coalition has focused on are music licensing, payola, low-power radio, health insurance for musicians, network neutrality, record label contracts, Internet radio licensing, and many other topics that are key to the current and future era of music-making for both independent and rising musicians.

Presentation (Week 1)

Course Outline

Here is the long version of the course outline (syllabus), in PDF format.
ANTH398D/2A

Music and Narrative

Lots to discuss, here.

Paul Potts Biography

Sound of Her Voice

Time of day calling it quits at AT&T - Los Angeles Times
Among interesting passages:

'I think that's very sad,' Daniels said. 'I was told at one time that my voice would last until well into the 21st century. Now it looks like I'm about to be laid to rest.'

Surely, there's a music-related project to be done on the sounds of those voices. Isn't this the "mashup" era?

Music's Industrries: Ringtones in 2007

Some recent news about ringtones, with Apple getting into the fray.

Worldwide ringtones sales totaled $3.5 billion last year, according to London's ARC Group, a research firm that tracks the telecom industry. APPLE, LABELS PITCH 'TONES | By BRIAN GARRITY | Business News | Financial | Business and Money

If this is true and sales of audio recordings didn't jump up from last year, this would mean that sales of ringtones are equivalent to more than 10% of the sales of recordings. Not that it's necessarily good for artists but in terms of simple accounting, it shows that there is more to doing business with music than "pushing CDs on consumers."