Soundwalk produces artful audio tours in which the listener is able to step into the life of a famous narrator who guides you through their neighborhood streets and local hang-outs.

Image credit: Getty Images, Art, concept, people, objects/Flickr
For the past decade or so capitalists have struggled to maintain control over the distribution of music. We’ve seen the trend reports, multitudes warning about the demise of the industry. We’ve also seen artists like Radiohead and front man Thom Yorke demonstrating a little optimism by facing the situation head on; see paywhatyouwill pricing and their decision to quit the album format cold turkey. Innovation is present, Mos Def’s T-shirt marketing, leak strategy, and new perspectives on album art included. Quite simply, the business of music is evolving and it is important [...]

While online music distribution avenues like Apple’s iTunes have had moderate success in keeping the music industry alive in the wake of the disintegration of CD sales, the new music consumer still prefers downloading the best or most popular tracks off the album, leaving the rest behind. Some music traditionalists and certainly record labels bemoan the death of the physical album as a complete, physical package, and not just for the fatter sales tapes, CDs, and LPs procured for the latter. Beyond the simple fact that stores and labels could charge more for albums, the sentiment persists that there was [...]

The commercial offspring of an alliance of independent record shops staring down the barrel the new reality of the music biz, ThinkIndie is an online music store that proffers hand-picked, DRM-free, high-quality MP3 files from a dizzying variety of independent artists, positioning itself as a cultural alternative to mainstream music emporiums, both online and off.
The selection ranges between famous acts like Sonic Youth and David Bowie, critic’s darlings like Animal Collective, and of course a host of lesser-known acts that have been vouched for by the curators behind ThinkIndie. ThinkIndie’s prices don’t seem to be standardized, and it’s certainly not [...]

Some people accept the demise of the physical album as an inevitability, others embrace it. Like Mos Def: He’s releasing his latest album, The Ecstatic, as a T-shirt. How does that work? The T-shirt has The Ecstatic Killer of Sheep-interpolating cover art printed on the front, song titles on the back, and a download code for the album on the hang tag.
While some fans were disappointed by his last couple of showings (True Magic 2007, The New Danger 2004), The Ecstatic is getting good reviews. Pitchfork gives it an 8.0. We’re excited to see the man returning to his [...]

These days, designers are looking for ways to add tactile experience and analog physicality to devices that have become virtual and digital. Looking to create interfaces beyond flat touchscreens, they are embracing the clunky and perhaps flawed, but tangible aesthetic of the past.
The NVDRS Cassette Tape concept design utilizes this old-is-new mentality. It’s a digital music player, that uses limitations and physical movement to create a unique music listening experience. Keeping with the 45/60/90 minute limits of traditional cassette tapes, the NVDRS forces you to carefully select the songs you’d like to hear, and not just dump thousands upon thousands [...]

While the sharing of music tracks has been big news for a while, the sharing of bootlegs, radio-edits, personal-gig-recordings and other music never intended for sale seems to be booming too. Our iTunes and other music libraries are filling up with music that record companies aren’t trying to sell.
I recently found myself sending a link to a site called Hypeful with MP3s of 2008 best covers to friends. The list includes Vampire Weekend’s cover of Fleetwood Mac’s Everywhere and Grnarls Barkley’s cover of Radiohead’s Recknoner. What’s interesting about Hypeful’s list is that so many of the tracks are not [...]