A blog post of mine for the National Film and Television School:  https://www.nfts.co.uk/news/steam-powered-why-arts-key-engaging-students-engineering-technology National Film and Television School Head of Technology, John Maxwell Hobbs considers why the UK is facing a skills gap in broadcast engineering and how an increased focus on the arts could be the key: “There’s a lot of focus on what’s called the “STEM” approach to education these days. STEM stands for Science, Tech

A very thoughtful piece that's worth a read. via Why We Can't Solve Big Problems | MIT Technology Review.

Continuing the thread of non-linear, non-Euclidian, non-Newtonian thinking here.  It looks like chaos theory is making a comeback after 20 years.  And about time too.  It's time to put an end to the concept of data-driven certainty. via Chaos Theory in Ecology Predicts Future Populations | Quanta Magazine.

Published earlier today on MediumThere are a lot of articles analysing Apple’s new music service. (James Cridland’s got a good list of them here.) The majority of them are coming from tech journalists, and unfortunately, they suffer from a major lack of knowledge of how the music business actually works. They are worth reading, but prepare yourself for a lot of confusing the tray for the meal. Where most of the current analysis falls down is by treating the three elements of

I've always been interested in the way that serialised storytelling has allowed more complex stories and themes to be explored and how they have afforded a more intimate relationship with the characters. This article provides an interesting look into the way this approach has come to dominate TV these days.

It seems clear now that the headphones and the streaming music service are secondary acquisitions for Apple - with the Beats deal, they've just acquired the head of Interscope records. I would expect an announcement of an Apple record label fairly soon.

My friends Jackie and Stephen have started a series of salons in Dennistoun called, "House Music." I had the privilege of performing last night along with the artist Sue Tompkins. The feeling in the room was great and it resulted in some very nice performances.   I've mixed the recordings of the performance and released them on the "name your price" site,Bandcamp, where you can download them in a variety of formats, including FLAC, which will give you the same quality as CD

Free music just in time for a celebration of the equinox. Have an ambient weekend with the full Cinema Volta back catalogue, now available on the pay what you want music site Bandcamp. You can find the albums, "Space Exploration," "Tube," "Stuff," and "Music from The Kitchen' there. And as an added bonus, "Stuff" now includes the never before released track from the mid-1990's, "Portsmouth."

I've added another person to the Influences playlist - Syd Barrett, the founder of Pink Floyd. Toward the end of his time with Pink Floyd, there were stories of him simply playing one chord throughout an entire performance. I used to think that was odd, but now I think he might have been onto something. By the way - there's a direct literary connection between this song and the name of my band, Cinema Volta.  The first person who guesses right in the comments below will

I'll be chairing one of the featured panels at IBC this year called, "Waiting for the Sergeant Pepper Moment," looking at the potential technology has to change the way we make television. You can read about the panel at the IBC website. In 1967, The Beatles released their album "Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band," a watershed in modern music and the first time a mainstream band created music expressly for vinyl, as opposed to its being a mere recording of a traditi

I've released the "Angels" pieces as an album called, "Music Chamber."  These are the high quality masters of the tracks, which I highly recommend listening to.  Because of the nature of the music, a lot of the overtones and "phantom" voices are lost with the compressed streaming versions. I've put these up on the "name your price," site, Bandcamp, where you can download them in a variety formats.  I recommended you choose FLAC, which is a "lossless" format that will give yo

And yet another take on the Spotify/streaming payment story. Because of the complexities of musical ownership and royalties, as well as the myriad ways of listening to and buying music, this story will always be like the story of the blind men trying to describe an elephant through the sense of touch.  Except in this case, some of the blind men are touching something other than the elephant. Spotify and Pandora artist payments: Not as exploitative as they’re made out to be.

What do you call TV on the internet?  "TV."  Netflix is playing in the same league as the cable channels. Netflix steals Weinstein movies away from Showtime — Tech News and Analysis.

Are we about to see an extension of the "Mickey Mouse Protection Act?" Will copyright be extended 20 more years? An old debate returns — Tech News and Analysis.

Pretty compelling evidence that most media piracy is driven by a search for convenience rather than a desire to get something for nothing. What we have is two giants battling over crumbs while ignoring the fact that they are standing on the deck of a ship that is both sinking and on fire. CBS/Time Warner dispute causes sharp rise in TV piracy | Company News content from Broadcast Engineering.

More musicians weigh in on the subject of the financial side of online streaming: Streaming Shakes Up Music Industry’s Model for Royalties - NYTimes.com.

Cellist and independant musician Zoë Keating on the realities of making money from online music. A blog about an email about a blog about a news article about music streaming | Zoë Keating.

I've written an article for the BBC Academy looking at the dramatic changes we're experience in broadcast technology. Check it out here: BBC Academy - Technology - Out with the old, in with the new.

An easy to follow essay on how we got into this mess: Who killed the music industry? An interactive explainer | PandoDaily.

In my previous post, I discussed the recent announcement by Thom Yorke of Radiohead that he was pulling his music from Spotify. This announcement has caused quite a stir, with lots of people taking pro and anti Spotify positions.  It's important to have this sort of debate, but the focus on Spotify is causing people to miss the real point. Although his target was Spotify, ProducerNigel Godrich defined the real problem when he posted, “Making new recorded music needs funding