Reflection 5/25/14

This week was alright. Nothing out of the ordinary happened so that’s good more or less. Friday was the highlight of the week though. Other than it just being Friday, there was the semi championship for our baseball team. It kind of sucked that we lost; especially because the whole school got signed out for the game. Nonetheless, it was a fun experience. I was out of town over the Memorial Day weekend. Because of that, my plans for the weekend were kind of ruined but it can’t be helped. Monday, I didn't really do anything. There’s only a few more weeks until summer. 

Nobel Literature Prize Speech

I don’t want to sound conceited or anything, but I have to be one of the luckiest guys in the world. I honestly still can’t believe I won this award. A lot of people might not think the Nobel Literature Prize is anything special. I mean it is a Nobel Prize after all. It’s just not as popular as other awards. But that doesn't change the fact that this is an award that I've been dreaming about getting for as long as I can remember. Winning the Nobel Literature Prize to me was like winning an Oscar or a Grammy for anyone one else.

The only thing I regret is that I won this award for a book that I didn't even think was my best work. Don’t get me wrong though. I had fun writing Until the End of Time. But when I finished writing the book, I felt like there were too many loose ends and that the reader would walk away feeling disappointed and kind of peeved that they spent thirty bucks on such a let down of a book. That’s why I was so surprised when my publisher told me that he loved the book. That’s when I knew the book wasn't so bad because my publisher will let me know how bad my stuff is. I actually really have to thank my publisher for the work he does as well. He really has helped me improve my writing. And he’s not the only one. My family has been the most supporting people while I’m writing. They are the one’s that keep me from tossing that story I've balled up because I think it’s not good. They urge me to take a second look at my work and keep working at it. That’s exactly what happened. I balled up Until the End of Time and got ready to toss it. But I didn't because of the people that believe I can improve anything I do. And a few years after my book was published, some movie directors came up to me and said that they wanted to make a movie out of it. My book. The one that I was so close to throwing in the trash. Of course, all of the action described in my book translated well to the big screen. And now, I’m here, accepting this award. But honestly, it would feel a lot better winning this award for one of my other novels. Poetry and short stories were always my main focus and I took a leap of faith with Until the End of Time. Writing it was so out of my comfort zone. But I can’t complain because the journey to get where I am has been both rewarding and difficult. It consisted of nothing but practice and commitment, for that was the only way I could become the best author I could be; even though I still believe that the book I won this award for was not my best.

I know I mentioned thanks to my family and my publisher for supporting throughout my writing career and I hope that they continue to support me. However, there is another person, better yet group of people I would like to give my thanks to. I just wanted to say thank you to the readers for supporting me as well. Without you guys, no one would know about my book. No one might even know about any of my books if it wasn't for you. All of you definitely keep me in business and you guys inspire me to be a better writer so that I can create better stories for you to read. Basically what I’m trying to say is: if you keep reading, I’ll keep writing. Thank you for the support and thank you for allowing me to accept such a prestigious award like the Nobel Literature Prize. Good night.

Reflection 5/18/14

This week was alright. It’s getting closer and closer to the end of the year so that’s pretty exciting. Nothing really new happened though. Mr. Rehak is leaving so that kind of sucks. Friday was probably the worst though. Nothing particularly bad happened. It’s just that the night was dead. I wanted to go to the Lacrosse City Championship and support varsity but I had to get service hours for NJHS. It wasn't all that bad. I actually kind of had fun. But I still would have liked to go to the game. There will be more to do next week. 

Final Works Cited

Works Cited

Burma, Darryl. "7 Best Crowdfunding Sites for Musicians." CrowdMapped. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 May 2014. <http://www.crowdmapped.com/7-best-crowdfunding-sites-for-musicians/>.

"Crowdsourcing and the Evolving Relationship Between Artist and Audience."Crowdsourcing and the Evolving Relationship Between Artist and Audience. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Apr. 2014.

Kanter, Beth. "Crowdsourced Philanthropy: How Do We Measure The Impact of the Crowd?." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 17 Dec .2010. Web. 1 May 2014. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/beth-kanter/crowdsourced-philanthropy_1_b_797828.html>.

Messitte, Nick. "Crowdsourcing Your Record: How One Singer Separated Herself From The Pack." Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 18 Feb. 2014. Web. 1 May 2014. <http://www.forbes.com/sites/nickmessitte/2014/02/18/crowdsourcing-your-record-how-one-singer-separated-herself-from-the-pack/>.

"Pandora's Tim Westergren: The Man Who Remade How You Hear Music." Interview. n.d.: n. pag. Print.

Plummer, Vincent . "hypebot." 'hypebot'. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 May 2014. <http://www.hypebot.com/hypebot/2014/03/fangagement-artists-crowdsourcing-opinion-interview-5-michael-shoup-12southmusic.html>.

Stevens, Darren. "Crowdsourcing: Pros, Cons, and More." Hongkiatcom RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Apr. 2014. <http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/what-is-crowdsourcing/>.

Wright, Danny. "Top Five: Weirdest Crowdsourcing Offers." Theguardian.com. Guardian News and            Media, 27 Nov. 2013. Web. 28 Apr. 2014

"Young Guns: Grooveshark, the Jaws of the Music Business?" Fox Small Business Center. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Apr. 2014.

."10 Cool Crowdsourced Music Video Projects." Mashable. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Apr. 2014.

Reflection 5/11/14

This week was alright. We only have a few weeks until school is over and I’m getting more excited as each week passes.

We got our progress reports this week as well. I did aright. I got four B’s and one A. I could have done better. I’ll just have to work harder to finish the semester out.

On Saturday, my sister had a dance show up at Northwestern. It was pretty cool. The following day was Mother’s Day, but my mom had to work so we didn't do much. We still got her gifts and stuff and tried to make her day as easy as possible.

Revised Research Paper

Byron Mason II, Matthew Harvey

Jay Rehak

English 614

4 May 2014

Crowdsourcing: First Draft

With the music industry so saturated, many artists have to use interesting tactics to gain funds from their fans. With the use of crowdsourcing, artists interact with their fans in the wackiest ways to get funds that they need.

There are a myriad of ways that crowdsourcing has fulfilled the necessities of many musicians. For instance, in order to gain funds for their EP covers, music videos, and other needs, musicians have gone as far as giving fans who donate haircuts, heart to heart conversations, and even giving fans some of their hair. The positive feedback and abundance of funds that musicians have received only proves how effective their methods of crowd sourcing music are. It also shows

        As said in the article Crowdsourcing and the Evolving Relationship Between Artist and Audience, the relationship between the musician and the audience is constantly changing due to technological advancements. (Linver) This is very true because with the computer and it’s paths for communication, there is absolutely no length that musicians will not go in order to get funds for their music. Sometimes it’s not always easy to get said funds, but it does help to have thousands of adoring fans that will almost do anything just to get close to the celebrities that they admire. The American rock band, the Hold Steady uses their loyal fans to their advantage when they launched a campaign so that they could fund a covers EP. According to the Guardian’s Music Blog, each member of the Hold Steady will choose a song to cover. Once completed, the exclusive EP will be sent to the Hold Steady’s fan club, the Unified Scene. In order to get more fans involved in the band’s project and gain funds, the Hold Steady has put up some “tempting” offers on the table. A fan who pledges has the chance to interact with the band in some very interesting ways. They can get a phone call from the band; get a haircut from Tad Kubler, the guitarist for the band, of even go on a jog with one of the lead singers Craig Finn. The article also states that the band is already close to getting all of the funds they need, proving how crowdsourcing music and interposing crazy interactions with fans can have such a positive effect. (Wright)

        Interacting with your fans by giving them haircuts and jogging with them is one thing, but actually making your fans apart of music and music videos is another thing. C-mon and Kypski, a popular Dutch band from Utrecht pulled off this feat. According to 10 Cool Crowd Sourcing Music Video Projects by Amy-Mae Elliot, C-mon and Kypski integrated the movements and poses of fans with their own in the music video. It’s very cool. The band members put up a website where using their webcams fans can copy poses done by the band. In the video, the one of the band members will do a pose and then the video will cut to fifty people doing the same pose. It is indeed a great way to interact with fans and gain funds at the same time. The article states that 19,618 people have collaborated with the project since the website was put up and the video is updated every hour. (Elliot) The truth is, that in order to stay relevant and successful, musicians need their fans in order to stay relevant and successful. Even Tim Westergren, the man who revolutionized music with Pandora agrees with this statement. During an interview with Founder’s Forum, Westergren said that in the near future, musicians will be a lot closer with their fans in order to complete certain tasks. (Gerber)

         Although the musicians are really the main forces pushing behind the crowdsourcing of music, the only reason they have a chance to share their music and interact with fans is due to the organizations that put their music out there. Grooveshark, an up and coming music streaming site is shedding light on an abundance of artists. (Scotti,)

 One other way crowdsourcing can affect an artist's ability to make money by changing the artists style to extremes, these extremes can decrease an artist's marketability crowdsourcing can affect an artist's ability to make money by changing the artists style to extremes, these extremes can decrease an artist's marketability depending on the crowd. Marketability is a prime factor in becoming a successful music artist. To be marketable an artist's music must be able to be applied to many mediums, in other words iTunes downloads and YouTube views are not enough. Your music must be what's popular and in the now, at least popular enough for other companies, organizations, or even artists to become interested in it. Crowd sourcing can affect these opportunities by forcing the artist to edit the appeal in their craft.

       One thing that many listeners and critics forget about the music industry is that, what we listen to is another person trying to make a living. It is very hard to see behind the lavish lifestyle of many artists but a lot of musicians are struggling to stay afloat. The main reason is that it becomes harder and harder to keep your same general fan base interested all the while trying not to sound repetitive and dry. One popular and everlasting way to escape this realm of uncertainty is through other artists.

         Features, or collaborations are when two or more separate musicians, bands, groups, producers, etc.; come together and build a piece of music. This is a strategy that has been implemented since the early 20th century when musicians such as Louie Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald would perform on stage together. The tradition has long since snowballed its way into a regularly occurring event that helps artist share the spotlight and essentially exchange fans. A prime example would be 1986's hit single, Walk This Way, a collaboration between incomparable rock band Aerosmith and legendary hip hop collective Run DMC. The song was a crossover between the sounds of 70s hard rock and 80s flourishing hip hop. This opened up many listeners to a realm of music many had never seen, it brought listeners of rock over to the new styles of hip hop, and brought hip hoppers into the vast history of rock music. This synergy of culture and exchange of fan base added fuel to the flame that was Run DMC, and successfully revamped the career of declining rock band Aerosmith. This exchange also gave rise to an early effect of crowdsourcing music, the new listeners of hip hop requested a different sound, and those new rockers wanted a new vibe. As a result, artists were forced to conform to the listeners ear, giving hip hop and rock new elements.

       The last example was a bit early. Nowadays with the internet existing -allowing for worldwide communication- crowdsourcing music has given major changes to the industry. Here's what popular music crowdsourcing site Crowd Audio had to say about crowdsourcing production: "If you’re a musician, Crowd Audio gives you access to a community of audio engineers eager to mix and master your music, giving it that professional sound". One might ponder With all these benefits, what could go wrong with crowdsourcing?" Well the simple answer is bias. Bias can get in the way of people's opinion of the music and sometimes damage the crowdsourcing process, depending on the crowd. Marketability is a prime factor in becoming a successful music artist. To be marketable an artist's music must be able to be applied to many mediums, in other words iTunes downloads and YouTube views are not enough. Your music must be what's popular and in the now, at least popular enough for other companies, organizations, or even artists to become interested in it. Crowd sourcing can affect these opportunities by forcing the artist to edit the appeal in their craft.

         One thing that many listeners and critics forget about the music industry is that, what we listen to is another person trying to make a living. It is very hard to see behind the lavish lifestyle of many artists but a lot of musicians are struggling to stay afloat. The main reason is that it becomes harder and harder to keep your same general fan base interested all the while trying not to sound repetitive and dry. One popular and everlasting way to escape this realm of uncertainty is through other artists.

         Features, or collaborations are when two or more separate musicians, bands, groups, producers, etc.; come together and build a piece of music. This is a strategy that has been implemented since the early 20th century when musicians such as Louie Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald would perform on stage together. The tradition has long since snowballed its way into a regularly occurring event that helps artist share the spotlight and essentially exchange fans. A prime example would be 1986's hit single, Walk This Way, a collaboration between incomparable rock band Aerosmith and legendary hip hop collective Run DMC. The song was a crossover between the sounds of 70s hard rock and 80s flourishing hip hop. This opened up many listeners to a realm of music many had never seen, it brought listeners of rock over to the new styles of hip hop, and brought hip hoppers into the vast history of rock music. This synergy of culture and exchange of fan base added fuel to the flame that was Run DMC, and successfully revamped the career of declining rock band Aerosmith. This exchange also gave rise to an early effect of crowdsourcing music, the new listeners of hip hop requested a different sound, and those new rockers wanted a new vibe. As a result, artists were forced to conform to the listeners ear, giving hip hop and rock new elements.

       The last example was a bit early. Nowadays with the internet existing -allowing for worldwide communication- crowdsourcing music has given major changes to the industry. Here's what popular music crowdsourcing site Crowd Audio had to say about crowdsourcing production: "If you’re a musician, Crowd Audio gives you access to a community of audio engineers eager to mix and master your music, giving it that professional sound". One might ponder With all these benefits, what could go wrong with crowdsourcing?" Well the simple answer is bias. Bias can get in the way of people's opinion of the music and sometimes damage the crowdsourcing process.

Reflection 5/4/14

This week was alright. I was dreading going to school this week though because it was the first full week of school we had in a while. However, the week wasn't that bad. I guess I was just really scared of mounds of homework or something like that. We actually had long division for three days this week, which was pretty cool.

The highlight of the week would probably be the movie my class has been watching in World Studies. We've been learning about World War II and as a supplement to the lesson the class has been watching Schindler’s List. It’s a pretty good movie.