We’re sharing this infographic on the demographics of social media use for two reasons:

1. We’re obsessed with infographics. Like the rest of the world. They give the sun its shine. They give Ke$ha her filth. 
2. This is truly relevant info for artists and bands. Being pro-active about the business of your music these days means going DIY on a lot of fronts, including marketing, which for a lot of people now, is almost synonymous with social media. You know your audience…and with this kind of information, you now know where they are most likely to engage on social media. Hey, if you have to do a lot yourself, it always helps to know where to target your efforts.

Jack White speaks on the unbearable lightness of Lady Gaga, and calls Twitter stupid. All totally brand new thoughts, right? (Yes, I just wanted an excuse to post a picture of Jack White. Whatever.)

Jack White has criticised Lady Gaga by claiming that her music is “all image with no meaning behind it”.

Speaking to Esquire – the same publication who he told that he would always miss playing with his old band, The White Stripes – he accused Gaga of being “all artifice”. He said:

I don’t think she lives it because it’s all artifice. It’s all image with no meaning behind it. You can’t sink your teeth into it. It’s a sound bite. It’s very of this age, because that’s what people want. They want a Twitter line, a jpeg, an MP3.

In the same interview, White also condemned the nature of celebrity culture and Twitter. “The goal of modern celebrity is to make yourself into the lowest common denominator,” he said. “‘Hey, I’m a guy just like you. I like a beer, a football game’. Especially in reality television, you’ll see people will go so far as to make a fool out of themselves just to prove that.

“Twitter is the most perfect example of modern living,” he added. “I think the only people who should have [Twitter accounts] are comedians. Because it’s all about one-liners.”

via NME

I don’t know about you, but nothing warms my heart like crazy bitches acting crazy, especially when they do it in public. In other words, as far as I’m concerned, Twitter was basically created for Courtney Love. And the everlasting Queen of Cray never fails to uphold her end of the relationship. Today’s example: Making all of us think about her vagina.

AfterLana Del Rey(ugh, she really needs to stop giving me reasons to blog about her) covered Nirvana’sHeart-Shaped Box, Courtney Love decided that the rest of us couldn’t live our lives without knowing exactly what that song is about. (I’m going to refrain from making the obvious comments about how sad it is when you’re “Time to Feel Good About Myself” moment of the day includes reminiscing about someone finding your vagina appealing 20 years ago. Okay, maybe I’m not going to refrain.)

Love’s comments are above, Lana’s performance below. Your brain might have herpes now, and no, I’m not sure which of them gave it to you.

ICYDK, CDBaby has a pretty decent blog, full of pretty decent industry tips, lists, and info. But whatever, don’t go there; I’ll make sure to copy the best stuff here. ONLY READ THIS BLOG. JK. But seriously. 

Anyway, they compiled this list of songwriting Twitter accounts you should follow, and as much as I DON’T agree with the existence of other music blogs, I DO agree with this list. So here you go:

1. American Songwriter Magazine

@AmerSongwriter - Stay up to date on the business, craft, and technology of songwriting.

2. The USA Songwriting Competition

@usasong – This Twitterfeed for the world’s leading international songwriting competition offers tips on how to write better songs, record better demos, etc.

3. Performing Songwriter

@PerfSong - Music news, interviews, reviews and stories from Performing Songwriter magazine archives and founder Lydia Hutchinson.

7. The Beatles Songwriting Academy

@RealMattBlick - Matt Blick blogs and tweets about songwriting tips he’s learned from every song in the Beatles catalog.

8. Songwriting Scene

@SongScene – A great resource of tips, links, stories, and more. For songwriters, by songwriters.

9. GrammarGirl

@GrammarGirl - Mignon Fogarty is host of the Grammar Girl podcast. Fun tips about how the english language works.

10. Dictionary.com

@dictionarycom - Free online language reference resources! Plus the “Word of the Day.”

——–

Oh, what the hell– you can never have too many songwriting resources– let’s do a few more!

11. Robin Frederick

@RobinFrederick - Author of Shortcuts to Hit Songwriting and Shortcuts to Songwriting for Film & TV.

12. Song Lyrics

 @songlyrics - The name says it all. Entertaining info about popular song lyrics and how they came to be.

13. Poetry Verve

@PoetryVerve - Links to poets, poetry, prose, literary events, and news.

Chuck D knows all.

You know who is still great? Blur. (Quietly pretend you know more of their songs than that one.) I sometimes forget about them, which is a bummer, but then they pop up often enough with cool treats like these to remind us that they are still out there perpetrating acts of audio-awesomeness. They have two new tracks coming out next week. Here’s more from Consequence of Sound on how you can hear them:

On July 2nd, Blur will debut two new songs, “Under the Westway” and “The Puritan”, via a worldwide webcast that will be streamed live on Twitter. Following the performance, the two songs will be released digitally, and a limited 7″ single will be available on August 6th through Parlophone.

The webcast will be filmed and streamed live from a secret location in the UK. It will begin at 6:15 pm BST (12:15 pm EST) with a performance of “Under the Westway”. Then, following an interview, the band will perform “The Puritan” at 7:15pm BST. Tune into @blurofficial to watch along.

As previously reported, Damon Albarn debuted both cuts during recent solo shows; however, this will mark the first time the band has performed them publicly. In an issued statement, Albarn said he wrote the songs for the band’s upcoming performance at the Olympics and is “really excited about getting out there and playing them for people.”

Below, you can watch a video in which guitarist Alex James briefly discusses the webcast and the new material. After that, there’s fan footage of the two new songs as performed by Albarn.

You know who we love? The DIY Musician blog. More specifically, a multi-part list they’ve been issuing of must-know organizations, websites, and resources for artists. Below is part 4 of the series, which specifically addresses good folks to follow on Twitter to bolster your professional musical efforts. Annnnd since we’re basically social media junkies, we like it. You will too.

10 organizations, artist services, and music companies you should follow on Twitter

1.MusiCares Foundation

@MusiCares - MusiCares provides help to music people who don’t have safety nets for emergencies. Be A Part Of The Heart!

Website · http://www.musicares.org

2. SoundExchange

@SoundExchange  - A nonprofit performance rights organization that collects royalties from digital streaming music, then pays recording artists and copyright owners. Get played, get paid!

Website · http://www.soundexchange.com

3. ASCAP

@ASCAP - The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers – the world’s leading performing rights organization and advocate for music creators.

Website · http://www.ascap.com

4. SESAC

@SESAC - A performing rights organization ( a business designed to represent songwriters and publishers and their right to be compensated for having their music performed in public) headquartered in Nashville, with offices in NYC, LA, Atlanta, Miami, and London. 

Website · http://www.sesac.com

5. BMI

@BMI -BMI collects license fees on behalf of songwriters, composers & publishers and distributes them as royalties to those members whose works have been performed.

Website · http://bmi.com

6. The American Federation of Musicians (AFM)

@ MusiciansUnion - The American Federation of Musicians (AFM) of the U.S. and Canada represents over 90,000 professional musicians of all styles, helping them earn fair wages, find affordable solutions to health insurance, gear insurance, etc.

Website · http://www.afm.org/

7. GRAMMY U

@GRAMMYU - Official Twitter account for GRAMMY U, the unique and fast-growing community of college students who are pursuing a career in the music industry.

Website · http://www.grammy.com/grammyu

8. Better Than The Van

@bettrthanthevan - It’s like Couchsurfing for musicians: find free places to stay for bands on tour.

Website · http://www.betterthanthevan.com

 9. Sonicbids

@Sonicbids - Sonicbids is a Social Music Marketing™ platform that connects bands, promoters, consumer brands and music fans.

Website · http://www.sonicbids.com

10. CD Baby (well, we had to include ourselves at SOME point!)

@CDBaby - CD Baby: indie music distributor & artist resource. Sell your music worldwide, including on iTunes & Amazon MP3 & get expert industry advice. Need help? Ask away!

If I had to pick a “Top Ten Things I Love About The Music Industry Today” (and now that I’ve mentioned it, I obviously will have to write that), a lot of pretty frivolous things would be on it: the feeling of utter fear I feel when I see Madonna’s arm veins, ­the idea of Robin Thicke’s baby messing up his hair, the way John Mayer is slowly turning into the non-hot, latter day version of Johnny Depp…I could go on. But no matter what ended up making the cut, the list would undoubtedly include Kanye West.

I’m not necessarily referencing any one specific thing about Mr. West. Just him in his glorious entirety. His opulence, his arrogance, his inexplicable antics, his stage-rushing, his stone-faced Kardashian hand-holding, but most of all, the fact that if none of the persona existed, we would still listen to his music and love it. In fact, unlike most over-the-top celebretards, the bravado, style, and extremity of public presence that Kanye has built around him only serves as an effective context for his music, rather than providing a distraction from it. He is an utterly ridiculous human being who, despite being frighteningly afflicted with megalomania and appearing completely out of touch with reality, consistently backs up his overwhelming swagger by being really, really talented. We’ve become so used to rappers who claim to be the best, but are basically big, boring, generic snoozes. Kanye is more arrogant than most, but he’s actually talented, creative, and productive enough to back it up. Some of you might think that’s annoying. I think it’s great. Fuck it. May we all learn to be uber-confident, non-fuck-giving, and work hard enough that the haters haven’t a lame leg to stand on.

Okay, now that I’ve sufficiently fed compliment cakes to Kanye’s obese ego (obego?), let’s talk about how insane he is. Because – all legitimate creative ability aside – that’s why we all love him. He’s covered in delicious crazy sauce. And then covered in diamonds, and topped off with thick whipped crazy. (SO MANY FOOD METAPHORS. I need to stop writing while hungry.) So in celebration of the news that his forthcoming G.O.O.D. compilation, Cruel Summer, is (at least supposedly) coming out during the actual summer, I thought it would be fun to go back and reminisce about some of West’s weirder moments.

Here we go: Top 5 Krazy Kanye Moments

5.     DONDA

Ahem. I think we need to throw this one to ‘Ye himself to explain.

4.     That time he was Black Jesus

3.     That time he gave Mike Meyers a cardiac episode

2.     AMBER ROSE. THAT WHOLE THING. But especially, the Terry Richardson photo shoot.

1.     His Twitter

If Kanye West’s Twitter isn’t the absolute pinnacle of everything that is absurd and amazing about the Internet, then I quit. Honestly, if you aren’t following @KanyeWest, I don’t know what the hell you’re even doing online, because short form writing really doesn’t get more confusing, amusing, insane, manic, and downright entertaining than the shit this man can fit into 140 characters. I’m telling you, there will be whole college lit classes devoted to deciphering the subtle genius of Kanye’s tweets one day.