Monday, May 20, 2013

The 2013 Billboard Music Award Highlights


A treat to all viewers was a moment when A-Ha singer Morten Harket joined Pitbull and Christina Aguilera during “Feel This Moment”.  Catch this great moment here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfpzdNa9UME  However things didn’t go so smooth for Miguel who sure gave a performance that a viewer cannot forget.  While singing “Adorn” Miguel took a moment to jump over a crowd of fans filling an area by the stage. It seemed he had a good running start however his landing showed otherwise.  A young female was kicked in the face while another’s body was landed on.  During all of this commotion Miguel kept on performing never missing a beat.  After all the commotion happened the two girls seemed to keep low and just walk away while Miguel kept on singing never missing a beat.  http://stream1.gifsoup.com/view2/4688926/miguelbillboard-o.gif
Justin Bieber received the first ever milestone award and it was not as well-received as one would think.  When one wins an award you think the room would be filled with cheering right? Well that wasn’t the case when it was announced that Justin Bieber won the first ever fan-voted Milestone Award.  Beating out Bruno Mars and Taylor Swift, the room filled with a mixture of boos and cheers as Bieber took the stage.  Justin Bieber’s acceptance speech was terrible as well.  He basically pleaded for himself to get respect from his peers in the industry.  Maybe if he focused more on his “craft of making music” and less about his tool-like image he would get the respect he wants.  The fact that this was a fan-voted award also raises suspicion about the results.  It appears that although there may have been a better candidate to receive this award, the crazed fans of Justin Bieber allowed him to obtain this award.
Prince closed the show winning the Icon award and joining the ranks of Stevie Wonder and Neil Diamond.  This award seemed like it was well deserved and that they saved the best for last.  Prince preaching his love to the audience seemed like the 70s at their finest for those of us not familiar with his music.  
Overall I feel the Billboard music awards had something for everyone to enjoy, but it did not seem like an awards show.  It rather seemed like a space to showcase top 40, big production performances in Las Vegas.  It’s no surprise to some that Taylor Swift took home 8 awards but you wouldn’t know that from watching the show.  For a full list of awards check out the list here: http://www.billboard.com/bbma

Courtney & Jesse (interns)

Friday, May 17, 2013

Summer Tours


As we quickly approach the spring season, we tend to be bombarded with tour announcements. Before we know it, we’re back to planning out which bands we want to see, and where. With all the free time allotted to us, we can enjoy all day festivals such as Warped Tour, and even the return of Skate and Surf this year. In order to truly enjoy these festivals, it’s important that we plan ahead. Car rides, food money, and even accommodations, are necessary to be thought out. But unfortunately for us, these festivals only last a few days in the large span of time we have off from school. 
Other options we have are checking out venues, which are surrounded in an eventful neighborhood. The Paramount is a perfect venue for this. Huntington Village is full of restaurants and shops where you can easily spend your whole day walking around and you wouldn’t notice it. Then at night, you can come to the venue and listen to some good music. But before we can cherish the thought of summer, we need to finish our classes, and with that, good luck."



-Angie (intern)

Friday, May 3, 2013

Twitter #music


Twitter has brought a whole new meaning to the Songbird. Last Thursday, Twitter announced their latest app called Twitter #music. The app allows users to preview the latest songs trending on Twitter along with emerging artists or the “hidden talent found in the tweets.” Users are able to download music they love to their Spotify and ITunes account right from Twitter #music.
In a blog posted by Twitter they said that #music will be both a web platform and an iOS app that suggests music based on users' Twitter activity. Users can share music with their followers from the app by linking with iTunes, Spotify and Rdio, and find music recommended by people, especially musicians, they follow.

In 2012, Twitter had acquired We Are Hunted and had been working on the app for a while now. Artists and musicians will be able to connect with their fans in a whole new way. Twitter tested out the app on artists like Jason Mraz who tweeted, “Thanks to my friends @TwitterMusic for sharing your new app and connecting us thru music. Congrats!” and Nikki Sixx tweeted, “Loving the new app by Twiiter #Music.I think this is gonna revolutionize things real fast...”

Twitter is revolutionizing the way people share, listen, and download music. Users will find themselves sampling dozens of songs from all different artists for hours at a time. Twitter #music exposes users to different genres, artists, and musicians. Users are one tweet away from finding a song that is the anthem of their lives.

To read more about it click HERE 

- Katherine (Intern)