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JacquelineDempsey
Aug 6, 2008

Women's Circuit Bender Union Local 34



BigDave posted:

I used to work at Sears, and we had a 20 track CD for the in-store Muzak. About every 45 minutes, Hey There Delilah would play.

Over.

And Over.

And Over.

And Over.

I now hate this song with the fiery passion of a thousand burning suns.

This, but a thrift store and a Kelly Clarkson cd that occasionally skipped. I drat near break into hives if one of her songs comes on the radio.

On the foot fetish tip: at one point when I was desperately broke, I trawled the CL "ETC" ads for just such an opportunity to make quick cash. Replied to a guy who wanted smelly socks from waitresses, $20 a pair. I worked as a dishwasher for the army, and believe me, my feet/socks were probably way more rank after a shift than any waitress. I was even willing to wear frilly girly socks instead of my usual Hanes/Dickies, and would've taken pics proving, yes, I have female feet. But nope, guy very specifically wanted FOH staff. :(

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BiggerBoat
Sep 26, 2007

Don't you tell me my business again.
I'm old enough to remember when "payola" was an actual scandal. Now it's the entire business model. Lot's of things follow this pattern. Maybe it's always been like this and I'm just naive.

Eric the Mauve
May 8, 2012

Making you happy for a buck since 199X
Last time I was at the dentist I heard Call Me Maybe and The Devil Went Down To Georgia back-to-back and I was like "what the hell radio station is this?" They have a custom playlist everyone who works there gets to contribute like 10 songs to or something.

e: Personally I would ask candidates at interviews for their 10 songs to contribute and use that to filter out undesirables I might otherwise have accidentally hired

BigDave
Jul 14, 2009

Taste the High Country

BiggerBoat posted:

I'm old enough to remember when "payola" was an actual scandal. Now it's the entire business model. Lot's of things follow this pattern. Maybe it's always been like this and I'm just naive.

Record labels looked at Alan Freed and said "He can't do that to our music! Only WE can do that to our music!"

Lutha Mahtin
Oct 10, 2010

Your brokebrain sin is absolved...go and shitpost no more!

peanut posted:

The grocery store I was at yesterday has an amazing 80s muzak mix including "Let's Get Physical" :peanut: A lot of franchises here don't have a corporate mix so the staff just choose their own satellite station or cds, it is amazing to have uncensored NIN or Method Man during lunch.

i was once in a Minneapolis sandwich shop and was treated to an amazing conversation between a gen X dude complaining that the music was "kind of offensive" and the hipster guy behind the counter trying to explain the sociopolitical significance of NWA's "gently caress tha police". it was the most-minneapolis thing i have ever experienced, like straight out of an episode of Portlandia

e: and i would DEFINITELY stick with a dentist office that puts carly rae and charlie daniels back to back

Depressio111117
Oct 18, 2014

A whole world of imagination beyond the oompah band.

Thanatosian posted:

https://xkcd.com/988/

"An 'American Tradition' is anything that happened to a Baby Boomer twice" is maybe one of the truest things ever written.

God help me but I might be on the Baby Boomers' side here - modern Christmas music is just fuckin' god-awful.

"Christmas Wrapping" is okay

Midjack
Dec 24, 2007



Depressio111117 posted:

Christmas music is just fuckin' god-awful.

Yup.

Guest2553
Aug 3, 2012


I've done some hobby DJing on and off and one of my favorite things to do is play things that are inoffensive yet incomprehensible. One time I had my hand shaken by a CEO at a work function while reggae singer Protoje sweetly crooned "What a Merry Christmas would be/If me get a ganja stalk fia Christmas tree/And New Year's Eve when them a count down/Me a count pounds of the brown brown".

Simple mind, simple pleasure :downs:

KozmoNaut
Apr 23, 2008

Happiness is a warm
Turbo Plasma Rifle


ToxicSlurpee posted:

The music industry is really a huge scam top to bottom.

Absolutely. All that hubbub about streaming services not paying very much to the artists?

It's literally all the big label's doing. Yes, the payout per playback is rather low, that's one thing. But they also force a very odd payout structure where only the biggest acts get any significant payout, and they keep ~90% of that for themselves, paying the artists a pittance. Just like they've always done.

Record contracts are scams, especially today where it's easier than ever to produce music yourself and get your name out there on social media.

BiggerBoat
Sep 26, 2007

Don't you tell me my business again.

KozmoNaut posted:

Absolutely. All that hubbub about streaming services not paying very much to the artists?

It's literally all the big label's doing. Yes, the payout per playback is rather low, that's one thing. But they also force a very odd payout structure where only the biggest acts get any significant payout, and they keep ~90% of that for themselves, paying the artists a pittance. Just like they've always done.

Record contracts are scams, especially today where it's easier than ever to produce music yourself and get your name out there on social media.

Further, for the most part, they get to decide who the "biggest acts" are.

MightyJoe36
Dec 29, 2013

:minnie: Cat Army :minnie:

BiggerBoat posted:

Further, for the most part, they get to decide who the "biggest acts" are.

Which is why you get a new artist with a unique sound and after their first "breakout" hit they end up sounding like every other top 40 artist.

KozmoNaut
Apr 23, 2008

Happiness is a warm
Turbo Plasma Rifle


MightyJoe36 posted:

Which is why you get a new artist with a unique sound and after their first "breakout" hit they end up sounding like every other top 40 artist.

I am so loving glad the music I like is still considered a weird niche and hasn't been screwed over by big labels (yet).

Sure, there are a bunch of crappy mainstream sound-a-like metal bands, but they haven't been able to kill off the teeming filthy underground, where all the good music is, the stuff with real heart (and liver and lungs...).

shame on an IGA
Apr 8, 2005

Lutha Mahtin posted:

i was once in a Minneapolis sandwich shop and was treated to an amazing conversation between a gen X dude complaining that the music was "kind of offensive" and the hipster guy behind the counter trying to explain the sociopolitical significance of NWA's "gently caress tha police". it was the most-minneapolis thing i have ever experienced, like straight out of an episode of Portlandia

e: and i would DEFINITELY stick with a dentist office that puts carly rae and charlie daniels back to back

The strangest dentist experience I have ever had was the time a friend of my normal dentist was brought in to do a procedure she hadn't before while she assisted so she could learn how. This guy had just come from an all day children's charity dental workshop on Ft. Bragg, blasted chinese pop on his phone the whole time so he could tell it was ringing by the music stopping, and kept putting me on the line to talk him up to the car sales chick he was trying to get with.

A++ would get mandible surgery again

ToxicSlurpee
Nov 5, 2003

-=SEND HELP=-


Pillbug

BiggerBoat posted:

I'm old enough to remember when "payola" was an actual scandal. Now it's the entire business model. Lot's of things follow this pattern. Maybe it's always been like this and I'm just naive.

The only thing that really changed is a step got added. It's still illegal to directly pay radio stations for spins. It is perfectly legal to pay somebody to go tell the radio stations about this cool new artist you just signed to the label and for radio stations to very coincidentally only play stuff that gets promoted that way.

This is also why the record industry loathes internet radio and resisted purely digital distribution for as long as they did. Napster really threw a massive spanner in the works back in the '90s. Instead of having to pay $25 for a CD with two good songs you could just go download the songs. The labels of course wanted to still force poo poo down your throats if you wanted the two good songs but being able to buy songs piecemeal has severely damaged that. The industry is not happy and is trying to ruin it but good luck at this point. Plus like was said the internet makes it practically free to make and distribute your own music so the need for record labels is effectively dead. Indie musicians are increasingly just doing it this way. Yeah they won't become rock stars because the industry is going to prevent it unless you sell your soul but so what? You can keep total creative control of your work and not have to give 95% of the money the album makes to company executives.

The industry has been whining that album sales are down but of course they are; people are buying individual songs or just using streaming services more and more because gently caress the record industry model of "we'll make you pay for an album that is 80% garbage filler you will hate then starve your favorite musicians to death because gently caress you I need another yacht."

Internet radio is also another thing blowing up the traditional record industry. With terrestrial radio only so many stations can really exist in a given area. The internet has annihilated that.

HerStuddMuffin
Aug 10, 2014

YOSPOS
A good post.

Only thing I’d add is if you like an artist or band and want to support them, go see them perform live and buy their merchandise at the show. They get to keep a lot more of the proceeds from that.

Collateral Damage
Jun 13, 2009

HerStuddMuffin posted:

Only thing I’d add is if you like an artist or band and want to support them, go see them perform live and buy their merchandise at the show from their online merch store. They get to keep a lot more of the proceeds from that.
Don't buy merch at shows. It's always stupidly expensive and the event organizer takes 25-50% of the profits. Buy it from the band's own store, it's going to be cheaper and the band gets a larger part of the profit.

MisterOblivious
Mar 17, 2010

by sebmojo

Collateral Damage posted:

Don't buy merch at shows. It's always stupidly expensive and the event organizer takes 25-50% of the profits. Buy it from the band's own store, it's going to be cheaper and the band gets a larger part of the profit.

Lol, you like music popular enough to have "event organizers" instead of some dude named Chris thats praying he can get some band that lives out of their van to show up on a week day.

Hot Tip: dudes living out of their 12 passenger rental van selling merch at shows are turning your merch purchases into gas money, meals and hotel room stays.

I've missed out on a whole shitload of "tour-only" releases by not having the cash on hand to pick up a bunch of 7"s.

Collateral Damage
Jun 13, 2009

Of course if it's a tiny bar show where the band themselves are selling the merch off the edge of the stage after the set, that's a different question. Those guys are probably not going to have a merch store anyway.

MisterOblivious
Mar 17, 2010

by sebmojo
Reminded of the first, and only, time I had the "jab a cd into your hand and demand money scam."

I was a teenaer, high as gently caress, just leaving the Family Values Tour and some jackass jammed a rap cd in my hand. I had no idea it wasn't legit. I think I just dropped it on the ground when he demanded money.

Some dude had just shoved a Digital Hardcore sampler at me.

The Digital Hardcore sampler was legit. It's still one of the my favorite things I've gotten for free:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ncm9J8KXU50

It had as MSRP of $2 at music shops. They were literally shoving them at people like they were prostitute cards after a show.

MisterOblivious
Mar 17, 2010

by sebmojo

Collateral Damage posted:

Of course if it's a tiny bar show where the band themselves are selling the merch off the edge of the stage after the set, that's a different question. Those guys are probably not going to have a merch store anyway.

Speaking of selling things just off the edge of the stage....
ATR getting arrested at an anti-fascist riot:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nb-wgQ9DsMw

Doctor_Acula
May 24, 2011
RE: Music Talk

Any smaller acts that I am currently in to, I'll pick up their stuff on Bandcamp. I think they get like 90-85% of the sales from those purchases. Most of the stuff I listen to on Spotify, I already bought these CDs over the last 20 years, so they already got my cash up front. Hell, most of the tunes I have ripped and stored on a HD somewhere, it's just more convenient this way.

I picked up a CD at Target (like, physically picked up, not purchased because lol) and it just felt weird at this point.

EL BROMANCE
Jun 10, 2006

COWABUNGA DUDES!
🥷🐢😬



It's quite funny that the generation of kids growing up will probably use vinyl, tapes, but barely any CDs.

Midjack
Dec 24, 2007



EL BROMANCE posted:

It's quite funny that the generation of kids growing up will probably use vinyl, tapes, but barely any CDs.

Arguably once it's digital the corpse of information doesn't matter. You could theoretically build a music player that read the digitally encoded signal off of chiseled stone tablets, which actually sounds like something I need to patent and market to audiophiles for extreme audio longevity.

shame on an IGA
Apr 8, 2005

Midjack posted:

Arguably once it's digital the corpse of information doesn't matter. You could theoretically build a music player that read the digitally encoded signal off of chiseled stone tablets, which actually sounds like something I need to patent and market to audiophiles for extreme audio longevity.

Sorry bro you're too late.

https://www.zmescience.com/research/technology/quartz-disk-5d-storage-52543/amp/

If digitally nanoencoded quartz is too high tech there's also sapphire microfiche readable by analog microscopes

https://www.zmescience.com/research/technology/quartz-disk-5d-storage-52543/amp/

shame on an IGA fucked around with this message at 21:23 on Mar 18, 2018

Midjack
Dec 24, 2007



shame on an IGA posted:

Sorry bro you're too late.

https://www.zmescience.com/research/technology/quartz-disk-5d-storage-52543/amp/

If digitally nanoencoded quartz is too high tech there's also sapphire microfiche readable by analog microscopes

https://www.zmescience.com/research/technology/quartz-disk-5d-storage-52543/amp/

Another million dollar idea down the drain. :(

boner confessor
Apr 25, 2013

by R. Guyovich
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rdzCv_9eaoM&t=22s

meanolmrcloud
Apr 5, 2004

rock out with your stock out

I work with a client who works at the local iheartmedia hub in our area. We are in a top 10 market, but the place, at least on Wednesday afternoons is a loving ghost town. They have the office space to house 10 times the people I see on a given day and the people I do see look miserable. I grew up loathing clearchannel so a huge part of me is glad to see the company suffering.

BiggerBoat
Sep 26, 2007

Don't you tell me my business again.
Someone brought this up in another thread and, as a graphic designer, it hit home for me.

Those loving contests where you submit a logo or poster design and the winner gets like $200 - if they're lucky. Fuckers are getting hundreds of design ideas for next to nothing.

EL BROMANCE
Jun 10, 2006

COWABUNGA DUDES!
🥷🐢😬



An idea pioneered in SA Mart, except it often costs $0.

SEKCobra
Feb 28, 2011

Hi
:saddowns: Don't look at my site :saddowns:
Bidding to the bottom is the business concept of several service apps these days. Some industries wise up and only the worst bidders remain on those platforms.

SpannerX
Apr 26, 2010

I had a beer with Stephen Harper once and now I like him.

Fun Shoe

BiggerBoat posted:

Someone brought this up in another thread and, as a graphic designer, it hit home for me.

Those loving contests where you submit a logo or poster design and the winner gets like $200 - if they're lucky. Fuckers are getting hundreds of design ideas for next to nothing.

You're just figuring this out now? Hell, my old man told me about that sort of poo poo going back to the loving forevers, but he was a lawyer so was always suspicious about pretty much everything.

BiggerBoat
Sep 26, 2007

Don't you tell me my business again.

SpannerX posted:

You're just figuring this out now? Hell, my old man told me about that sort of poo poo going back to the loving forevers, but he was a lawyer so was always suspicious about pretty much everything.

no. Just reminded of it now

ToxicSlurpee
Nov 5, 2003

-=SEND HELP=-


Pillbug

SpannerX posted:

You're just figuring this out now? Hell, my old man told me about that sort of poo poo going back to the loving forevers, but he was a lawyer so was always suspicious about pretty much everything.

It isn't a new idea but it's gotten massively worse in recent years. Having a poo poo load of desperate and/or aspiring artists and a nation that worships sociopaths and you're going to get lots and lots of this sort of thing.

It's scummy as gently caress and definitely a scam but good luck stopping it.

Gridlocked
Aug 2, 2014

MR. STUPID MORON
WITH AN UGLY FACE
AND A BIG BUTT
AND HIS BUTT SMELLS
AND HE LIKES TO KISS
HIS OWN BUTT
by Roger Hargreaves
I spent some time working for my state governments office office of fair trading. My job was to take complaints from consumer's about products or services provided by traders and attempt to conciliate them. This was like being a neutral negotiator between the two to reach an outcome that was inline with the Australian Consumer Law and acceptable to both parties. It wasn't enforcement as that can only be done by a tribunal or court in my state, but the idea was that we could help people reach a conclusion with out choking up the courts with claims that were basic.

For example if someone purchased a defective vacuum cleaner from a white goods dealer and complained to us about it, I would contact the dealer and see what they would be willing to offer the complainant. Under the ACL the vacuum had to be fit for purpose when sold so if the defect was cause by manufacturing error the trade should either repair or replace it. Most good traders would do this without us but sometimes we'd have to give them a small poke to remind them of their obligations.

Of course this worked both ways where a complainant could easily be lying or overstating a claim for their own benefit. Scams were a part of the job on both sides. The most popular are the eBay sales people who claim to be from Australia but end up being from elsewhere. People would buy phones from them, phones would arrive either: broken, pre used, fakes of brand names or frankly in one case a literal empty box (not eBay other thing ask about this one) and the trader was unreachable with their business was number being fake and their email dead.

I will try to think of some sanitised stories to share, as I must be careful with not giving away personal details, but feel free to ask questions and I'll see what I can say.

goatsestretchgoals
Jun 4, 2011

We have a scam in the USA called the Better Business Bureau that claims to do similar, but in reality just shakes down small businesses for 'memberships' at which point their rating goes from F to A for no apparent reason.

What's it like living in a country that actually looks out for the little guy. :allears:

BogDew
Jun 14, 2006

E:\FILES>quickfli clown.fli
There's a fun one in Australia where a company called BNRenewals scrapes ABN (Aussie business numbers) renewal dates then sends out a letter claiming to be a service that renews your account.

The use of a letter is an interesting touch as it looks more official than an email.

Thing is we already have ASIC that does all of the above for you and at half the price! One year is actually $35 and three years is $86!

There are similar schemes afoot where companies claim to be a service to check credit rating or car rego information but most of this can be done for free via government sites.
Amusingly it is actually legal as it's a legitimate service, just you are paying someone to do this for you and often a fee you never had to pay for in the first place.

I got caught out years ago with a credit check scheme, turns out I didn't need to pay for that, but the good news is the company got busted and I got refunded my fee.

Tunicate
May 15, 2012

yeah, the freecreditreport dot com scam

guess who owned them

equifax

Ham Equity
Apr 16, 2013

i hosted a great goon meet and all i got was this lousy avatar
Grimey Drawer

Tunicate posted:

yeah, the freecreditreport dot com scam

guess who owned them

equifax

The fact that Equifax is almost certainly going to make a shitload of money off of that leak is about the biggest loving scam ever.

I really wish the CFPB hadn't been completely neutered by this administration.

iajanus
Aug 17, 2004

NUMBER 1 QUEENSLAND SUPPORTER
MAROONS 2023 STATE OF ORIGIN CHAMPIONS FOR LIFE



WebDog posted:

There's a fun one in Australia where a company called BNRenewals scrapes ABN (Aussie business numbers) renewal dates then sends out a letter claiming to be a service that renews your account.

The use of a letter is an interesting touch as it looks more official than an email.

Thing is we already have ASIC that does all of the above for you and at half the price! One year is actually $35 and three years is $86!

There are similar schemes afoot where companies claim to be a service to check credit rating or car rego information but most of this can be done for free via government sites.
Amusingly it is actually legal as it's a legitimate service, just you are paying someone to do this for you and often a fee you never had to pay for in the first place.

I got caught out years ago with a credit check scheme, turns out I didn't need to pay for that, but the good news is the company got busted and I got refunded my fee.

I got an email last week from someone pretending to be ASIC telling me I needed to renew my business name. I checked manually on the Web and it actually expires in 2021 so idk I think I'll avoid clicking the link in the email.

Pretty good job looking official, though

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peanut
Sep 9, 2007


My mom's card info was stolen... the bank called her about a suspicious ATM withdrawal. How the heck are they making fake cards that work in ATMs? What does the IC chip do anyway?

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