Idea of the Day - A new idea each day. Some Don't Suck!

Our Latest Posts About: Music

Milli Vanilli Wasn't Fake?

Saturday, August 19, 2017 1:00 AM By Joe Crescenzi

Do you remember Milli Vanilli?

Milli Vanilli were the hottest group of the early 90s. They had a string of top-40 hits, won all sorts of awards including Grammy Awards for best new group, and they sold tons of records. What could go wrong? Everything.

The problem was they were accused of being a "fake group", when it was revealed that they didn't sing on their own records or music videos. It was a huge scandal, and they were even stripped of their Grammy Awards.

Here's the thing. HOW can ANYONE be considered a "Fake Group?" That simply doesn't make sense. If a group makes a record, it's a group. If people like the music, they'll buy the records and play them on the radio. What's the difference WHO lip synched the songs on MTV. There was still SOMEBODY who sang the... [More]

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God Bless America vs The Star Spangled Banner

Monday, July 31, 2017 9:49 PM By Joe Crescenzi

God Bless America should be our National Anthem.

Whenever I hear The Star Spangled Banner, I can't help but compare it to God Bless America. They're both great songs, but as far as I'm concerned, God Bless America is simply... better.

God Bless America beats The Star Spangled Banner in every way possible. The words are are beautiful and easier to understand. Let's face it.
When people in other countries hear words like "bombs bursting in air", you know at least some of them will see that as aggression, especially since we're a military super power. They don't know the context of those words, and frankly, they confuse some American too.

Meanwhile, every word of God Bless America is simply beautiful and inspiring. Simply stated. It's a great song and it's a shame it is... [More]

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What's Wrong With Pay For Pay - Payola?

Sunday, May 14, 2017 1:00 AM By Joe Crescenzi

There was a lot of controversy in the 50s and 60s over the idea of Pay-For-Play... but what's wrong with it?

You and your band just recorded a masterpiece. It was a real labor of love and you can't wait for the world to hear it. Unfortunately, the only people outside the band who've heard it are your wife and your dog. Too bad. Better luck next time.

But wait! Here's an idea, why not pay some people to play it on the radio? I'm sure that once people hear it, they'll run to the local record store to buy it. Well, that's exactly what happened in the 50s and 60s, and it was a huge scandal resulting in the firing of the father of Rock and Roll, Alan Freed, and it nearly took down Dick Clark, who escaped with just a warning simply because he was more likable than Freed.

At... [More]

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Tag... Then Shuffle

Tuesday, March 28, 2017 1:00 AM By Joe Crescenzi

Sometimes Shuffle isn't enough.

One of the most popular features of music players is the Shuffle option that plays your music at random, but sometimes mixing your entire library is a bit too much. That's why I think music players like iPods, iTunes, and the iPhone should have one additional feature, the ability to let you randomly select artists, albums, and even other playlists, then shuffle them.

For example, you may want to hear random tracks from Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, and The Rolling Stones, all mixed together.

A Tag and Shuffle option would let you mix and match artists, songs, play lists, and albums into one list and shuffle them as you please.

P2P Media - We Should Be Able To Lend, Gift, or Sell Our Digital Media

Friday, March 11, 2016 1:00 AM By Joe Crescenzi

Wy can't we lend, give away or sell our digital media?

Do you remember going to a flea market and exploring the second hand books, and records? Now that everything's digital, we've lost the ability to (legally) buy, trade or give away media.

As a result, millions of people are building libraries of music, books, and movies that they can never give away or sell to family and friends, without making an illegal copy. The solution is to build a system where ownership of any particular digital copy can be transferred to another person.

The main difference between transferring ownership vs copying digital media is that the media is removed form one account, and transferred to the second. Technically, this also includes the ability to transfer media between two of your own acco... [More]

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Tag and Shuffle Multiple Artists, Albums or Playlists

Monday, February 8, 2016 1:00 AM By Joe Crescenzi

There should be a way to mix your music by tagging more than one thing.

One of the most popular features of today's music players is the ability to shuffle your music. The trouble is you only have a few ways to do it. You can select an individual artist, album or category... or shuffle your entire collection. So in a nutshell, you don't have that much control.

Let's say you're in the mood for some Pink Floyd, but you'd also like to hear The Beatles and maybe Tony Bennett. Right now, you can shuffle any of them individually, but there's no way to create a mix that contains all three.

The solution is to offer a way to tag multiple items with a checkbox, then combine them on-the-fly into an instant mix. The only way to do that right now is to create a new Playlist, then i... [More]

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Bring Back American Bandstand

Sunday, January 31, 2016 1:00 AM By Joe Crescenzi

American Bandstand was an American Institution.

It's been a long time since ABC's American Bandstand went off the air. For many people it was more than just a weekly dance show featuring the latest music of the day, it was a snapshot of American culture in a neat little package.

If you wanted a snapshot of the latest music, dance, fashion, hairstyles, makeup and language of each generation, you didn't need to look any further than Bandstand to see it. Every week, the studio was packed with young people decked out in their trendiest outfits ready to dance to the latest music.

The best part of the show was when Dick Clark would talk to the dancers and ask them to rate the newest songs. Depending on the decade, typical responses would be that they thought it was "Swell", "... [More]

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Live DJs on some Pandora Stations

Tuesday, December 1, 2015 1:00 AM By Joe Crescenzi

Radio without DJs?

One of the biggest reasons for the growing popularity of Internet and satellite radio is variety. For over 17 years, New York City didn't have a single country radio station. The same is true for a lot of music categories. Even though it's the largest radio market in the country, you'd have a hard time finding country, western, blues, big bands, 50's Rock & Roll and many other types of music unless you use satellite or Internet radio.

I started to listen to Pandora Internet Radio about 8 years ago, when they released their iPhone App, and I was immediately hooked because they have even more variety than SiriusXM Satellite Radio. That's because they have a nearly infinite number of "Stations", which are more like playlists lists of songs than a traditiona... [More]

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Control Garage Band With Your Voice - Compose Music Without Instruments

Wednesday, April 8, 2015 1:00 AM By Joe Crescenzi

Dum Dum Dum ... Dum Dum Da Dum... Dum Dum Dum... Dum Da Dum

One of the great things about technology is that it gives people tools to tap into their hidden talents. For many musicians, Apple's Garage Band was a revolution, because it allowed anyone with a Mac to have the same production tools that were previously only available to big record companies only a few years ago.

This meant that musicians could compose, record, mix, edit and distribute their own songs without the backing of a record company.

Another great feature of Garage Band was that even people who couldn't play any instruments could create music using loops and other digital instruments. However, to truly compose a melody, you still need some skills that are too complicated for people without a musical back... [More]

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Music Shuffle, Should Actually... Shuffle.

Wednesday, December 24, 2014 1:00 AM By Joe Crescenzi

Didn't I just hear that song 20 minutes ago?

Call it a case of Deja-Vu, but have you ever noticed that your music player seems to play some songs over and over, but other songs never seem to be played at all. How can that be? Most of the time, it's because Shuffle isn't really a Shuffle. It's Random.

Contrary to what some people think, Shuffle and Random are two different terms, so let's be clear about the definitions of Shuffle, and Random.

When you take a deck of 52 cards and Shuffle them, you change the order. When you're done, you still have 52 cards, but the sequence changes. If you deal them out from the top to the bottom, you won't repeat any cards.

Random, on the other hand simply describes taking something in no particular order. To use the playing card an... [More]

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* Note: The ideas on "Idea of the Day" were posted without any formal research into existing inventions.

In some cases, patents may already exist for these ideas, in other cases, there may not be any existing patents and you are free to develop and explore the viability of developing and patenting the ideas.

The authors make no claim that any of the ideas are safe, practical, or suitable for any particular purpose. You are responsible for the results of trying, developing, patenting or using any of the ideas on this site.

For some people, our ideas are just an interesting read, but our goal is to encourage you to take action. If you see an idea that you like, do something with it... Take action.

- Joe

Idea Of The Day. A new Idea Each Day. Some Don't Suck.