Speaking of brands dying from apathy, heads up, Facebook:

via Bombtune

Interesting data from Next Big Sound on Artist Distribution:

Wells Baum says it’s not your fault:

91% of artists remain undiscovered. It’s not your fault, it’s the algorithms.
Algorithms play a part in this, but so does the basic distribution of talent among humans. As George Carlin said:
Not all children are smart and clever, got that? Kids are like any other group of people: a few winners…a whole lot of losers.
When I taught at Rutgers and FIT, I found this to be the case as well. I naively expected every kid in my classes to be a passionate, talented and curious designer.
Not so. I quickly discovered I was lucky if I had 1 or 2 talented—and more importantly, hungry—students in a class of 15-20.

Bus Vandalized as Protesters in S.F., Oakland Target Silicon Valley Shuttles

via Co.Create

BatKid saves San Francisco.
I love this city.

Via The New Yorker:

A new study released today indicates that Americans are safe from the threat of gun violence except in schools, malls, airports, movie theatres, workplaces, streets, and their own homes.

Also: highways, turnpikes, libraries, places of worship, parks, universities, restaurants, post offices, and cars.

Plus: driveways, garages, gyms, stores, military bases–and a host of other buildings, structures, and sites.
America, Fuck Yeah.

Mayor Jean Quan of Oakland recented compared Oakland to Brooklyn.
Peter Lawrence Kane of The Bold Italic sees if this comparison holds up:

How cool is Oakland? Well, Manhattan is the global capital of all media. Brooklyn has Girls and writers named Jonathan. San Francisco has Looking, the newest Real World, and Blue Jasmine, as well as Twitter, Yelp, Reddit and all the rest. Oakland has Pandora and a growing number of high-profile tech companies, but not nearly as many ­- and there lays part of its charm, at least for now. Oakland is considered cooler by not being quite as marketable, because Manhattan and San Francisco – and, rapidly, Brooklyn – are taking coolness down with them as they ascend up out of reach. The human body is exquisitely attentive to a certain calculus wherein it feels its movement relative to everything going on around it, not just from geographical center to periphery but in the vertiginous up-is-really-down movement of the city and desire.
I lived in Manhattan for 12 years, 5 of which were in the the East Village—still one of the best neighborhoods in NYC. My brother moved to Cobble Hill in Brooklyn a few years ago and I will admit, if my wife and I ever move back to NYC, Brooklyn is one of the top places I’d consider moving to.
From what I’ve heard from natives here in San Francisco, Oakland doesn’t have BKLN Cool Status yet.

David Byrne: If the 1% stifles New York’s creative talent, I’m out of here

What, then, is the future of New York, or really of any number of big urban centers, in this new Gilded Age? Does culture have a role to play? If we look at the city as it is now, then we would have to say that it looks a lot like the divided city that presumptive mayor Bill de Blasio has been harping about: most of Manhattan and many parts of Brooklyn are virtual walled communities, pleasure domes for the rich (which, full disclosure, includes me), and aside from those of us who managed years ago to find our niche and some means of income, there is no room for fresh creative types. Middle-class people can barely afford to live here anymore, so forget about emerging artists, musicians, actors, dancers, writers, journalists and small business people. Bit by bit, the resources that keep the city vibrant are being eliminated.
I lived in New York for 12 years and started to see the signs Bryne talks about in 2012 when my wife and I moved out. Now we’re in San Francisco and seeing the same signs, perhaps even more.

Apparently there’s a New Jersey Hall of Fame. A quick Google search reveals this doesn’t seem to be a standardized award across all 50 states.
According to the regulations, all you need to get nominated is to either have been born in New Jersey and/or lived here a minimum of five years.
Lived in Jerz at least 5 years? Pretty weak requirements.
I say this as someone who recently launched a project showcasing 54 actors, musicians and other entertainers from my home state of New Jersey. In order to make my cut, you have to have at least been raised in New Jersey to qualify. Where you spent your formative years (0-13) are what end having having a big influence on your character (combined with who raised you).
Say I’m famous and I move to Canada for 5 years. Do you think I should get a Montreal Hall of Fame award? I don’t.
Now if you weren’t born in NJ but made significant contributions to influencing public policy and helping communities, that’s a different story.
This years nominees include (I bolded the ones I think are legit Jersey candidates):
Grover Cleveland (born in Caldwell, NJ, raised in Fayetteville, New York)
Bill Parcells (born in Englewood, raised in Hasbrouck Heights)
Whitney Houston (born and raised in Newark, NJ)
Bobbi Brown (born in Chicago, raised in NYC)
Alan Alda (born and raised in NYC)
Brooke Shields (born in NYC, raised in Haworth, NJ)
As proud as I am to be from New Jersey, this “hall of fame” smells a little like bullshit to me.

In her March 2013 TED Talk, Amanda Palmer asked not how we make people pay for music, but how we let them.
What a great talk.