Bee’s Musings

If only there was a way that we really could save Pandora - wouldn’t we? How many great artists have you discovered on Pandora? How many otherwise unbearable work days has Pandora saved us from? And now, loyal listening ears, where will we be when Pandora leaves us?

From Wired.com:

Pandora — practically the poster child for online radio — says it will shut down if royalty rates enacted in March of 2007 are not altered soon.

Despite all of those warnings, the rates remain intact and must be observed by webcasters, even as the battle over them continues. Aside from a few concessions to small webcasters and those with lots of unique streams, Washington lawmakers have not altered the rates, which currently require Pandora to fork over 70 percent of its revenue to labels and artists.

Of course, with all this fuss, there are a few options. A radio conglomerate, like Clear Channel, could attempt to buy out Pandora and the music genome project. You would probably lose the ad-free formatting, but it would allow us to keep listening. Pandora could start charging a subscription fee, joining the ranks of XM radio. They could try to run more ads on their site (which probably get very few clicks, since most people run Pandora in the back ground while they do something else). Most listeners are spoiled, and would likely pay a nominal charge. Its not clear if it would be enough to really provide the revenue needed to continue their unique brand of programming.

Either way, the day that we lose Pandora will indeed be a sad day for our computer speaker systems.

I took news writing classes in college - it was mandatory since one of my 2 majors was journalism. I understand that headlines need to be sensational enough to get the attention of a prospective reader. But this one certainly got my attention today:

Did doctors remove babies’ hearts too soon?

The story isn’t much better - essentially asking if a team of doctors were violating a code of ethics among doctors to only harvest organs for transplants from someone who has been declared dead. For adult transplants, that means waiting 2-5 minutes after the person has been removed from life support to see if the heart starts beating again on its own. If it does not, then the organ may be harvested. In these pediatric cases, the doctors waited 75 seconds before harvesting. The hearts come from newborns who suffered major birth trauma resulting in severe neurological damage - damage from which the babies will never recover. By waiting the 75 seconds instead of 5 minutes, the transplant rates are much more successful.

One of my cousins actually had a heart transplant when I was a kid - I never met him (he lives in California), but I remember seeing pictures of him. He was “Baby Brian who had a monkey heart for a while.” And, a friend of mine in elementary school ended up having at least one heart transplant over the past several years. It seems like he’s on his second heart now, but we’ve lost touch so I don’t know for sure.  The measures that were taken in those operating rooms saved their lives. What these doctors are doing now are saving even more lives.

When my time comes, if they need my organs - and they’re sure I won’t wake up - you don’t need to wait 5 minutes to see if I change my mind.

You can read the whole article about the heart transplants from Salon.

I was lucky enough to be able to spend the weekend with 2 of my best friends (Larry and Tara) attending an absolutely amazing music festival - the first annual Mile High Music Festival. Here are just some of the bands that we saw:

Day 1:

• Newton Faulkner - You’d never guess this guy would have long red dreadlocks when you just listen to him…
• Gavin Degraw - The only performer from the main stage who I actually saw use the walkway from the main stage to go interact with the audience.
• Steve Winwood - The man, the legend. He also did a couple of songs with Tom Petty. Talk about once in a lifetime. Wow.
• O.A.R.  - These guys completely won over a new fan by seeing them live. That’s the way music should be.
• Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers - Amazing. Except for the 18 year old who used me as a pogo stick to scream at him that she wanted to have his babies. I’m not sure she realized that she could *be* his baby. Ick.

Day 2:

• Samantha Farrell- I could hear her soulful voice from outside the tent and had to go listen closer.
• Ferras - Another band that I’d heard one song from (and I didn’t even know it was theirs) that still turned out to be amazing.
• Ingrid Michaelson - her pure honest voice and simple lyrics engage virtually everyone.  I mean, really, she tells the man she loves that she’ll buy him Rogaine. What’s not to love?
• Colbie Callait - the crowd for Colbie was so huge that she just looked like a miniature Barbie from our standpoint. Her stage definitely needed screens for those of us in the way way way back.
• Rodrigo y Gabriella - ok, so Larry and I actually played Guitar Hero at the Guitar Hero on Tour van for part of their performance. But man, can these two play guitar. Wow.
• John Mayer - He actually “suggested” that women start showing their boobies at concerts again. And one of his band members went crowd surfing. He’s got so much more personality in person than you’d guess from some of his albums.
• Dave Matthews Band - amazing, as always. Even from the safe distance of the hillside to avoid being crushed and pulverized.

Obviously, we learned a bit on the first day that we put to good use on the second day. Things like bringing food into the venue in our bags, to avoid ridiculously long food lines for overpriced ice cream and lemonade. We also finally adjusted to the fact that it was ok if we didn’t see a band’s entire set, and if we weren’t in the front row. Sometimes you can experience music just as well (or even better) from a few dozen feet away.

Want to check out a few photos from the event? I’ve posted them on Facebook. See those pictures!

If next year’s line up is anything like this one (please add Matt Nathanson to the line up - please!) I’ll definitely be back next year for more fun in the sun.

If you’re into marketing - which, of course, I am - the <a href=”http://www.bzzagent.com//p/8460322192/brandicjohnson”>Church of the Customer</a> Blog is a good place to stop by on a regular basis. Their regular writers have spent years learning about customer evangelism, so if you spend a few minutes with them, you’re likely to learn quite a bit.

So, I often think that NeverLost (from Hertz) or GPS systems generally are lifesavers. I’ve grown accustomed to the friendly little “bing” noise whenever I’m supposed to turn in an unfamiliar city. Well, in my navigation from the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky airport to my company’s office in Cincinnati, that little bing let me down. And it let me down leaving the airport - so I there I was wandering around the back roads of northern Kentucky, in a rented Mazda M3, that conveniently had Florida plates.

I hate standing out, being conspicuous, anywhere. I go to great lengths to avoid drawing attention to myself. So out of state plates and rental cars go against my nature. As I’m speeding along a little 2 lane highway, avoiding some of the largest roadkill I’ve ever encountered, I can envision the classic hillbilly taking a look at my shiny car and saying slowly “You ain’t from around here, is ya?” And of course, my boss’s voice: “Don’t make a run for the Kentucky hills when you get there!”

Luckily, NeverLost didn’t fail me permanently. 30 minutes later (including going 20 over the posted speed limit on the highway), I arrived at our office to finally meet more of my coworkers, and set some goals for the upcoming months. Overall it was an exciting and invigorating experience - I love sharing what I love about online marketing with new people. My favorite is the moments when pieces of it all click and they catch my enthusiasm. I like when they see that they can own a process from beginning to end, and every result is their own result.

But I still hate being lost in Kentucky with Florida plates.

Then you might love “Read It Forward” from Random House. Just by sending an email, you can get free advanced reading copies of forthcoming books. I was able to pick up a few copies of books at Book Expo America earlier this year - and its great to be able to read a book before it hits the shelves, and start recommending it to your friends, family, and book groups.

Read it Forward

“It’s way more profitable to encourage each of your existing customers to spend $3 than it is to get a stranger to spend $300.” - Seth Godin

If only more marketers remembered that and used it when planning their campaigns.

There’s a post on LifeHacker that answered an interesting question - what books have touched your life the most? Of course, the winner was the Bible, but there were a few other interesting contenders:

• The Ayn Rand Collection (mostly just the author in general)
• Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy
• Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
• The Stranger
• George Orwell - 1984 and Animal Farm, most notably

And, of course the list goes on. There are quite a few that I haven’t read - which makes me wonder… why am I sitting here writing about the books I haven’t read instead of reading them?

The books from Lifehacker

In the vein of “Dear Stupid“, and PostSecret, I’ve discovered “Oops, I’m sorry.” Its a fun little site, where you can anonymously post apologies to people you’ve wronged, and request apologies from people who have done you wrong.

Maybe I just like to live vicariously, reading what other people can’t say to each other… it makes me feel better about the things I can’t say to the people I know.