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Tim Cook worries that humanity is “being drained out of music”
fastcompany ^ | 8/8/2018 | BY MARK SULLIVAN

Posted on 08/08/2018 9:29:00 AM PDT by ImJustAnotherOkie

Fast Company’s former editor and good friend Bob Safian recently returned to contribute a profile on Spotify founder Daniel Ek, in which they discussed his views on music distribution and curation. For a contrasting viewpoint, Safian also talked to Apple CEO Tim Cook about the way he and his company view music. Here’s what Cook said:

“I couldn’t make it through a workout without music,” Cook says. “Music inspires, it motivates. It’s also the thing at night that helps quiet me. I think it’s better than any medicine.”

Apple Music relies mainly on human curation to suggest music to users, while Spotify depends on algorithms. Cook didn’t call out Spotify by name but he is clearly highlighting the difference in approach with this quote:

”We worry about the humanity being drained out of music, about it becoming a bits-and-bytes kind of world instead of the art and craft.”

Reading this, I wasn’t sure if Cook was talking about the way tracks are chosen for users, or the way music itself is created by songwriters and producers. Either way, he’s right.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: bobsafian; danielek; spotify; timcook
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To: reg45
And the music is all the same …

You know... I have Apple Play, $9.99 per month. I'm a musician, but you know.... I will guy that for the rest of my life. Unlimited access to 40 million songs. From 60's Folk, to 40's big band, 70's rock, 80's metal.. etc etc. Country, Rock, Punk, Jazz, Christian, Metal, Rap.... it is all there. It is an amazing service, in my opinion.

21 posted on 08/08/2018 9:47:26 AM PDT by kjam22
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To: freedumb2003

We have access to some old records...from the 30s/40s...trying to decide what to do with them


22 posted on 08/08/2018 9:50:56 AM PDT by goodnesswins (White Privilege EQUALS Self Control & working 50-80 hrs/wk for 40 years!)
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To: Tax-chick

“Music is nice during a colonoscopy, though.”

Being KNOCKED OUT is nice during a scope.


23 posted on 08/08/2018 9:51:20 AM PDT by the OlLine Rebel (Common sense is an uncommon virtue./Federal-run medical care is as good as state-run DMVs.)
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To: ClearCase_guy
But iTunes? Spotify? Streaming and not owning? I don’t care for it. Which is why the music industry has made almost no money from me for over 10 years.

I have over a thousand cd's Few hundred albums. I know what you mean. But a few months ago I bought a $99 Sony receiver and hooked it to my 1970's vintage JBL home speakers. The receiver has Bluetooth. I use apple play and stream to it all day with either my iPhone or Ipad. I'll never get rid of the CD's, but for $9.99 a month, I mean it is a great deal. And it is EASY EASY

24 posted on 08/08/2018 9:51:20 AM PDT by kjam22
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To: Professional
Music has never been better, or more plentiful.

Agreed. There is a lot of good stuff out there. Of course, there being so much of it, there is also a lot of crap. I've really enjoyed some of the stuff coming out of fusions between classical and bluegrass musicians. For those of us who love music of all different types, it's never been better.

25 posted on 08/08/2018 9:55:45 AM PDT by zeugma (Power without accountability is fertilizer for tyranny.)
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To: ImJustAnotherOkie
"I wasn’t sure if Cook was talking about the way tracks are chosen for users, or the way music itself is created by songwriters and producers. Either way, he’s right."

Tracks aren't "chosen" for users. The user chooses what to listen to. All the software does is provide suggestions from what is available.

Likewise, use of computers in music composition only makes it possible for more people to express a talent for music composition, when they might not have the talent (or physical ability) to physically play an instrument. So, either way, he is WRONG!

26 posted on 08/08/2018 9:56:58 AM PDT by Wonder Warthog (The Hog of Steel and NRA Life Member)
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To: ImJustAnotherOkie

Wouldn’t it be great if Apple was run by somebody hip again instead of Ichabod RumpRanger?


27 posted on 08/08/2018 9:57:19 AM PDT by Regulator
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To: Psalm 73
Put some vinyl Hendrix or Joni Mitchell on the turntable for crying-out-loud.

That's where the problem began.

That's what happens when you divorce music from the source

Yep ... that's what happens when you record it and then play back the same recording endlessly.

You want music to come from its source ... learn to MAKE music. The source of music is a person generating tones to form rhythm, melody, and harmony right now in real time.

Don't blame Spotify. Or iTunes. Blame Thomas Edison.

28 posted on 08/08/2018 10:00:00 AM PDT by NorthMountain (... the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed)
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To: ImJustAnotherOkie

Ban rap.


29 posted on 08/08/2018 10:08:45 AM PDT by Architect of Avalon
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To: ImJustAnotherOkie

30 posted on 08/08/2018 10:10:34 AM PDT by CtBigPat (I was a Tide Pod addict but I'm clean now.)
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To: CtBigPat

I have never understood DJs as stars.

I mean, you play tunes and yell stupid stuff. It is one of the few things that requires less “talent” than cRap.


31 posted on 08/08/2018 10:13:32 AM PDT by freedumb2003 ("Trump is such a liar. He said we'd be tired from all this winning" (/dfwgator 7/27/18))
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To: goodnesswins

Do you have a record player that does 78 RPMs? Do you have a lot of spare time?

Back in the late 90’s/early 2000s, I used my nice vinyl player and Soundblaster card to rip a bunch of my ‘classic’ (not available on CD) albums to CD, and eventually to MP3.

I eventually got it down to an hour or so per album, and most of that was just doing other things while side 1 and 2 played. Splitting up the tracks with a .wav editor and saving all the files off took another 10 minutes or so.

(However, these days, I follow the plan of, if the artist is selling a re-mastered CD of one of my favorites, I buy it, because hassle)

Anyway, on that stack of old albums, you might just have some very amazing classics, or a bunch of dreck. We forget that the 20’s, 30’s, and 40’s had their share of bad music too. It’s just gotten buried under the carpet as everyone gushed over Glenn Miller, etc.

If you look on YouTube, you can find channels of old, recorded (and preserved) music, and old time radio shows. Perhaps you could donate the old records to one of them, or (no clue) maybe museums are into that sort of thing.

There’s also Ebay. I don’t know if your collection includes things like, oh, Robert Johnson, but if it does, hoo boy $$$.

Good luck!


32 posted on 08/08/2018 10:38:51 AM PDT by Kommodor (Terrorist, Journalist or Democrat? I can't tell the difference.)
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To: ImJustAnotherOkie; All

I can barely listen to the radio these days. I live in the midwest rural area and we listen to country but even that has gone all to hell and fast.

You got faggots like Luke Bryan and Sam Hunt who sing about being emotional little bitches and pouting over some broad that left them. Pathetic.

These days I listen to classic rock. At least they PLAYED INSTRUMENTS


33 posted on 08/08/2018 10:55:43 AM PDT by George Rand (-- I can't befriend liberals because I won't befriend ignorance --)
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To: Kommodor
And if all else fails...


34 posted on 08/08/2018 11:08:16 AM PDT by Fresh Wind (Hillary: Go to jail. Go directly to jail. Do not pass GO. Do not collect 2 trillion dollars.)
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To: Professional

As long as recording artists, songwriters, and their heirs get paid, I’m all for it.


35 posted on 08/08/2018 11:14:00 AM PDT by agave (Jesus: Bigger Than the Beatles)
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To: Blueflag
That was my reaction, Lots of humanity in country /western music.
36 posted on 08/08/2018 11:24:03 AM PDT by JoeFromSidney
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To: Rapscallion

I’m guessing you’re not involved in producing music?

Quantizing everything with one button stomps the humanity out of the idiosyncratic rythmic differences that go into making up any pop musician’s signature sound.

Everything snaps to the barline, mathematically perfect.

Pitch correction software is dirt cheap. Can’t sing for S&&t? No prob. Computer correction gives you perfect pitch.

Tip of the robot iceberg.

Anyone can buy a decent DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) program for $200.00. Tons of pooter handled correction software comes with them.

I miss the days of real (to reel) tape, when you had to be able to actually Play your instrument instead of just Edit it together on a pooter.


37 posted on 08/08/2018 11:40:11 AM PDT by To-Whose-Benefit? (It is Error alone which needs the support of Government. The Truth can stand by itself.)
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To: the OlLine Rebel
Being KNOCKED OUT is nice ...

I don't have time for that.

38 posted on 08/08/2018 12:11:25 PM PDT by Tax-chick (Fill in my standard rant.)
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To: Kommodor

Thanks


39 posted on 08/08/2018 12:38:42 PM PDT by goodnesswins (White Privilege EQUALS Self Control & working 50-80 hrs/wk for 40 years!)
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To: Tax-chick

LOL can’t spare an extra half hour?


40 posted on 08/08/2018 12:39:57 PM PDT by the OlLine Rebel (Common sense is an uncommon virtue./Federal-run medical care is as good as state-run DMVs.)
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