Every year in my Musical Taste and Monetization class, we trace the evolution of our listening habits, observing ourselves and becoming more aware of our influences. Clementine’s wonderful chart (at bottom) outlines our musical discovery methods. Once again, it’s people, not algorithms. This year was different in a few very significant ways compared to last…
With the rollback of DEI efforts by the Trump administration, I thought it would be timely to revisit the case of Keiko Yamada, a.k.a. Larry Clark, which attracted attention among music educators back in 2019. Using AI as my assistant, I gathered information online and came away with a different perspective this time, surprising even…
Are AI-powered music-generating and streaming platforms from China part of the next disruption? If we consider 1995-2005 as the “resistance era” against streaming (i.e., major labels clinging to physical media profits through very creative methods, in yellow below), perhaps we can consider 2005-2025 to be the “simmering period” of streaming consolidation. We are now witnessing…
(For my students in 2025 Composing for Improvisers class at Bennington College) March 14, 2025 Kyoko Kitamura In this class, we approach Structured improvisation as one of many ways to create an environment where participants can engage in a musical conversation using a shared set of building blocks. (Many words can be used in place of “building blocks”,…
A new era has arrived, one in which Spotify becomes profitable. I pulled numbers from Spotify’s annual reports going back 10 years and one thing stood out yet again: the falling % of cost of revenue to revenue. Cost of revenue (COR) for Spotify “consists predominantly of royalty and distribution costs related to content streaming.”…
The fantastic article on Spotify by writer Liz Pelly in Harper’s Magazine (The Ghosts in the Machine) felt like an apt summary at the end of the year. I appreciated the nuanced approach, especially since the writer makes efforts to follow and interview current working musicians on the scene, which is so often not the…
[This has been edited on 11/6/2024 to reflect the election results. This post is now a list of links to articles relating to media leading up to the election, continually updated.] The Republican sweep was decades in the making, and a win for unbridled capitalism. The markets are elated, for now. What role did the…
How do we find music? Recommendations from friends? Movies? Video games? Algorithm? Music is everywhere. But when 120,000 tracks are being uploaded every day to digital streaming platforms1 and Spotify gives us access to over 100 million tracks,2 the chances of us encountering a piece of music become surprisingly low. Yet, we find them. This semester at Bennington College, my…
３５年来の友人、辻田希世子さんが本を出しました！希世子はヴェネツィアで、私はパリと東京で、人生の最も多感な時期を過ごしました。友達歴３５年以上。彼女の文章を読むと、あの頃の自分達を思い出します。現在は二人とも母親兼社会人としてセカンドキャリアを歩んでいますが、あの時間があって今がある。たくさん笑いましたが、限りなく切なかったことも。懐かしく思い出します。北村京子 「ヴェネツィアの家族」（社会評論社）カーニバル、お針子、映画祭、そして家族…。記憶の引き出しにしまってあった面影たちが、ある日心の扉を静かにたたく。海の都ヴェネツィアで、かつて時を共にした人たちへの追想と愛惜。喜びと哀しみが今新しくよみがえってくる。アマゾンからのご購入はこちらから。https://www.amazon.co.jp/ヴェネツィアの家族-辻田希世子/dp/4784513892 著者 辻田希世子（つじたきよこ）1965年、大阪生まれ。上智大学外国語学部比較文化学科卒業。広告代理店にてコピーライターとして働いた後、1995年、イタリアへ留学。ヴェネツィアに移住し、ライターをしながら、ヴェネツィア大学、ボローニャ大学で日本語を教える。元イタリア記者協会会員。2007 年、日本に帰国。2019 年にHP トリリンガル・マム https://trilingual-mom.com を開設、イタリアおよび英語に関するエッセーと情報を発信している。翻訳書に「くろいちょうちょ」（講談社）。
“Bridging the Gap” is Kitamura’s new project concept conceived in 2024. Kitamura has always been interested in ways to bring people of diverse backgrounds and generations together, the main reason she has continued to pursue wordless vocal music – because language, while being an important tool to communicate, can also exclude. Taking this a step…