Morning Music Notes – Ben Is Back in the Folds

Ben Folds Five Alive

That headline sort of makes no sense, but sounded clever when I first typed it, and my Backspace key is broken, so you’re stuck with it. What I’m trying to convey is that Ben Folds’ old band, Ben Folds Five, have reunited and are back in the studio recording (via Hollywood Reporter). The band hasn’t released an album since 1999, but Ben Folds carved out a solo career and released several albums.

It was during this solo career in which Ben Folds made his epic YouTube video of him on Chat Roulette. For those unfamiliar with Chat Roulette, it involves you and your webcam, and the randomness (and grossness) that is the internet. You hit the button and end up chatting with some random person with a webcam across the world. It CAN be pretty cool, but you see more penises (not guys – ACTUAL penises) than Paris Hilton. Anyway, Ben Folds hooked up his webcam at a concert and made a pretty cool video. Pretty cool if you were on Chat Roulette and ended up seeing a bit of the Ben Folds concert though! Check it out below.

Ben Folds on Chat Roulette
[youtube LfamTmY5REw]

Harvard Thinks Tablets Might Injure You

Harvard recently studied the science of hipsters. Now, they studied injuries through tablets – shouldn’t they be curing cancer or something? The study, using the small sample size of only 15 people, showed that users’ necks were bent more compared to when using a desktop or laptop computer, especially when the tablet was placed on the user’s lap (via Digital Trends). The advice given is to move your neck and change positions every 15 minutes. Wait, is this HARVARD giving this advice, or Harvard Community College? Hello Common Sense!

When Twitter Hashtags Kill Your Marketing

A lot of bands or media like to try and get hashtags (that’s the # in Twitter for the uninformed) they create to trend, and be among the most popular hashtags of the day in their given country or even across the globe. Magazines will ask about their favourite song lyrics, or bands will try and get their new video to trend with fans’ comments. Sometimes these fail, and fail spectacularly. The most recent example was when McDonalds tried to get people to talk about heartwarming McDonalds stories, using #McDstories (via Digital Trends). They paid to make this a promoted tweet and trend on Twitter. People started telling all of their McDonalds horror stories, and basically ruined what McDonalds thought was a well-planned campaign. Some of the tweets that brought down the campaign include:

– One time I walked into McDonalds and I could smell Type 2 diabetes floating in the air and I threw up. #McDStories
– #McDStories I lost 50lbs in 6 months after I quit working and eating at McDonald’s
– I haven’t been to McDonalds in years, because I’d rather eat my own diarrhea
– Ate a McFish and vomited 1 hour later….The last time I got McDonalds was seriously 18 years ago in college… #McDstories

Oh, the internet can be SO cruel!

Death Always Helps Album Sales

A long known fact in the music industry is that perhaps the best way to sell albums is to die. Not great for long term career planning, obviously. This fact was at the forefront last summer, when Amy Winehouse died, and her albums returned to the charts. Last week, Etta James passed away at the age of 73. This week, her album sales increased 378% from the previous week (via NME). Her biggest hit, At Last, had 63,000 downloads last week. Let’s hope her will is in order for all of the royalties being collected.