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March 24, 2011
Shorties (Sharon Van Etten, Tea Obreht, and more)
Up on the Sun interviews singer-songwriter Sharon Van Etten.
UOTS: Nobody really records albums that go platinum anymore because of the popularity of digital downloading. Artists don't get to celebrate their accomplishments of record sales or download sales because everything's digital, and those accomplishments aren't acknowledged the same way anymore. What are your thoughts on that?
SVE: As far as downloads go, I think they're discovering new ways to make it work for artists. I think the blog world is changing that with giveaways. There's a lot more disposable music out there. Going platinum and wanting people to want that kind of recognition, that's not the kind of music I play. I'm really okay with that. As far as keeping track of record sales, it's truly important to tour and meet your fans and sell records to them. The internet is really amazing and it helps people find you more easily, but as far as digital downloads, they can only help you. There's not much money in sales. All of the money is going to be in touring and publishing. That's just the way of the music world right now.
The Georgia Straight also profiles Van Etten.
Goodreads interviews Tea Obreht about her debut novel The Tiger's Wife.
Stuff lists 10 important reggae albums.
The Orlando Sun Sentinel interviews author Pat Conroy.
The A.V. Club interviews Sarah Vowell about her new book, Unfamiliar Fishes.
Center of Attention: The Art of Record Center Labels.
On sale for $3.99 at Amazon MP3: Telekinesis's 12 Desperate Straight Lines album.
Urlesque shares vintage book club mailers.
On sale for $2.99 at Amazon MP3: Smith Westerns' Dye It Blonde album.
Ernest Hemingway's Yelp reviews.
The Paris Review interviews Joyce Carole Oates about her new memoir, A Widow's Story.
The Dodos visit The Current studio for a live performance and interview.
Brokelyn lists Brooklyn's best free literary magazines.
The Record shares a history of the mp3 as an audio format.
NPR reviews Jim Shepard's new short story collection, You Think That's Bad.
The Daily Beast also reviews the book.
Vol. 1 Brooklyn lists really awful sports songs.
Follow me on Twitter and Stumbleupon for links (updated throughout the day) that don't make the daily "Shorties" columns.
also at Largehearted Boy:
previous Shorties posts (daily links from the worlds of music, literature, and pop culture)
Atomic Books Comics Preview (highlights of the week's comics & graphic novel releases)
daily mp3 downloads
Largehearted Word (highlights of the week's book releases)
Try It Before You Buy It (mp3s and full album streams from this week's CD releases)
weekly music & DVD release lists
