5 Links to Consider | December 18, 2024
A round-up of this week's compelling and considered clicks, compiled from The Absolute Sound's veteran staff of experts and reviewers.
Old Voice Mails? Instructional VHS Tapes? They’re Music to His Ears.
Paul de Jong makes collaged songs out of obscurities he collects in his Mall of Found: a library of low-budget, homespun and dated pieces of spoken-word media.
De Jong, 60, is a Dutch American artist best known as a member of the collage-pop duo the Books, alongside Nick Zammuto. The band broke up in 2012, but de Jong continues to make collage music under his own name, and the raw material fills the main room of his high-ceilinged studio. The walls are lined with towering shelves crammed with vinyl, cassettes and VHS tapes that make up, as de Jong puts it “the fringes of the world of media.”
He calls the obscurities he collects the Mall of Found: a library of low-budget, homespun and dated pieces of spoken-word media Music Streaming Services Stats (2025)
Music streaming has completely changed the music industry. In fact, the vast majority of music listeners now rely on music streaming platforms. The following report will dive into some of the most important industry statistics.
Music streaming makes up 84% of music industry revenue
The music streaming industry grew by over 10% over the last year
Music streaming’s global revenue currently sits at $17.5 billion
Paid music streaming makes up 23% of all music streaming
78% of people listen to music via a streaming service
Over 600 million subscribe to a music streaming platform
Here’s a look at how music streaming revenue has increased over time My Search for Hidden Meanings in Beatles Songs
Before the Internet, we often had no idea what hit songs were about. Nowadays, you can go to Wikipedia or Genius.com and get a full rundown on any hit song. Everything is explained and documented. But in those pre-digital days, we had no authorities to turn to. So we constantly argued over what our favorite songs were really about.
But the most intense aesthetic experiences are always accompanied by a sense that you still haven’t fully grasped the meaning. You may have gotten part of it, and have tasted some of its delights, but there’s still more out there—at some deeper level—waiting to be tapped.
“I’m speaking mostly about the Beatles here, but other bands were also trying to do the same. Our tiny bedroom sound systems offered us a never-ending series of invitations to higher spheres of enlightenment—a kind of Rosicrucianism of the radio waves.”
Why are cassette and CD players so bulky now?
While cassettes and CDs are now staples on artists' merch tables, tech companies are starting to make physical media players again. But are they any good? The Verge’s Andru Marino finds out why today’s bulky cassette and CD players may not be able to compete with the innovative designs of the 2000s.
John Frum Cargo Cult sings various worship songs…
The John Frum cargo cult, centered on the Pacific island of Tanna in Vanuatu, venerates a messianic figure named John Frum, believed to bring wealth and Western goods ("cargo"). The name "John Frum" is thought to originate from a shipwrecked WWII American soldier "John from America”. Their music, a blend of traditional Melanesian rhythms and WWII-era military marching influences, reflects their encounters with Western culture and serves as a key part of their rituals and devotion.
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