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When first starting my scoring journey in 2017, I connected with maestro santoor player Kunal Gunjal, which whet my appetite for exploring ancient traditional instruments and what they might sound like in different contexts (in this case, with western cinematic orchestral instruments). The result of that experience culminated in an album, Nature Of All Things, a talk At Google, and landing an Indian-Asian inspired fantasy feature, The Candle & The Curse.

'Dead Whisper' score behind the scenes.

My love for this style of music and experimentation grew, but as a composer in the beginning stages of my career, it was a struggle to find filmmakers willing to give me a chance. So, to find solace away from the screen, I turned to my other love of literature. This seemingly unrelated detour ended up being a career changer for me.

As I read The Wheel Of Time series by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson I was compelled to write a theme that was essentially a love letter to the books. I used my savings to commission the Budapest Scoring Orchestra to play it, and sent the video to the production team at Amazon Studios, in hopes that it might get their attention.

Lucky for me, the fans embraced and shared it widely, as did Tor.com (the publisher website for the series). The music eventually came to the attention of composer Lorne Balfe, who promptly hired me to write music and project lead on the series, as well as write music on his other TV shows. Another lesson came from the experience: No matter the outcome, putting oneself out there authentically can lead to unique and fulfilling opportunities, as well as the experience to be ready when those opportunities arise.

I learned how to better write for orchestra, pitch myself as a composer, collaborate with a large team, and approach storytelling discussions with filmmakers from a deeper and more nuanced vantage point.

Those two years were like a bootcamp for me: hundreds of cues and several shows later (including Netflixs Life On Our Planet, HBOs His Dark Materials, and Hulus Victorias Secret: Angels & Demons), I feel so grateful to have learned to work with a music team operating at such a high level, as well as learn how to receive and act on valuable feedback from Lorne, the showrunners and the networks.

I was also working on my own projects during that two year span, and using instruments from various cultures proved yet more valuable when recording the theme I wrote for Riot Games League Of Legends: Lunar Revel 2023. The idea of writing a theme that represents such a cultural and spiritual aspect of Asian culture was a daunting prospect, but thankfully my experience combining Asian instruments with a western cinematic palette gave me a solid starting point.

The team at Riot (then led by Kole Hicks) really helped by giving valuable feedback and resources so we could record the score the right way, and do justice to our shared vision.

Dead Whisper Trailer #1 (2024)www.youtube.com

Cut to later that year when Conor Soucy contacted me to score Dead Whisper (our 4th project together), a couple of things happened that allowed the score to come to fruition: Conor and I had a friendship and trust that allowed him to give me agency to take creative risks with the score and try out ideas in search of something unique.

During our spotting session for the film, we would watch scenes, and I would immediately try out ideas on his piano in real time, allowing for deeper and more spontaneous collaboration.

Secondly, we won the SESAC New Music USA Reel Change Grant, which gave us the resources to hire the right players, experiment with bespoke sounds and invest in taking risks to push our creative limits. We got to work with Joy Music House, who helped produce the live recording sessions and make sure everything ran smoothly.

All the lessons from Nature Of All Things, recording exotic instruments for The Wheel Of Time, and reading all those books allowed Conor and I to talk story from a different vantage point, and try out ideas with the singular goal to make the best non-obvious choices in service of that story.

The resulting mammoth 57-minute score was a logistical challenge, but also an opportunity that resulted in recording master percussionist Bobak Lotfipour (Netflixs Hellraiser, A24s Green Knight), vocalist Abby Lyons (The Wheel Of Time), and a killer mix from Brian R. Taylor (The Walking Dead: Dead City). The end result is a juxtaposition between an organic, live instrument heavy score, and mangled / processed sounds, matching the throwback horror roots of the film, as well as its more modern influences.

The cliche, it takes a village feels especially apt here, as the amount of incredible support and trust I have received both from the filmmakers and composers Ive worked with, and the people on my team for those projects brought these projects to fruition.

Its a dream to be presented with a scoring opportunity where there is the trust and resources to put our best creative foot forward, and Im so grateful for the career detours that allowed for it to happen as joyously as it did.

Continued here:
What Are the 5 Best Ways to Network in Hollywood? - No Film School

With Spotifys recent launch of comments on podcasts, the streamer is taking yet another step toward building a social networking experience in an app primarily known for music. With comments, podcasters can now engage with their listeners directly within Spotify, as they can with other interactive features like Polls and Q&As. Combined with the apps 2023 revamp, which added a TikTok-like discovery feed, artist profiles where creators can hawk merchandise and concert tickets, as well as the ability to post to stories, Spotifys app is shaping up to be a social network centered around all things audio, not just a music-streaming app.

Following this weeks added support for comments on podcast episode pages a social networking feature if there ever was one the question now is whether Spotify will add something similar for music artists in the future. This could be an even more compelling addition to the app, as the fanbases around musicians tend to be larger and more active than those around most podcasts.

When speaking with Spotify VP of Podcast Product Maya Prohovnik about the launch of comments, we ventured a question about adding support for comments on artists pages, too.

Prohovnik didnt outright deny that such an idea was under consideration, instead initially declining to comment, before adding that: I can see a world where we extend [support for comments] to other formats on Spotify, but we always want to do whatever is right for the format, and those types of creators and artists.

Its worth noting that the idea to build a social network in a music app has been tried before by Spotifys top competitor, Apple.

In 2010, Steve Jobs introduced iTunes new social network Ping as Facebook and Twitter meet iTunes, calling it a social network all about music. Clearly, Jobs was onto something, but Ping never found success in the Apple founders lifetime. Shortly after Jobs death, Apple shut down Ping in 2012, a rare flop for the iPhone maker. Apple later tried again with a social feature for musicians, Connect, which also didnt last.

Even today, Apple continues to half-heartedly embrace social networking in its Apple Music streaming service, with an optional feature that will periodically check the contacts on your devices to recommend new friends to follow so you can see what theyre listening to.

However, unlike Apple, Spotify has never made a bold declaration that it was building a social network focused on audio.

Rather, the company has quietly and slowly rolled out a series of features that simply make the app more social for both creators and their fans. With last years redesign, for instance, Spotify added in-app video feeds across its Home pages, including its tabs for Music, Podcasts and now Audiobooks. Though those feeds designs have been tweaked since launch, the move served as a signal that Spotify was taking learnings from Gen Zs preferred social network, TikTok, when designing its own product.

Spotify CEO Daniel Ek spoke to TikToks influence during the companys Q1 2024 earnings, telling investors that TikTok and others had improved the user experience and that the industry was learning about these trends and trying to improve our products.

We are not any different than anyone else in that were trying to learn from the marketplace, Ek said, hinting at the apps TikTok inspiration. We learn what consumers like. We try to improve upon it and make the best possible user experience.

Over the past year, the company also added new ways for artists to reach fans, through a Spotify Clips feature, that worked similarly to Stories on other social networks. Here, artists could add 30-second videos to their profile pages and album pages.

Artists can also get fans excited about new releases with Countdown Pages, and fans continue to hear from favorite artists through video messages via the companys annual Spotify Wrapped campaign. Meanwhile, Spotify users can continue to follow creators and friends on the platform to stay updated on the latest music and events and see what friends are streaming. They can collaborate on playlists with others in many ways, including in real time. The company has previously been spotted testing a Community feature that would allow users to see, in real time, what others were streaming.

With the addition of comments, Spotify envisions an app where users arent just launching audio and then returning their phone to their pocket, but one where theyre actively engaged, sharing their thoughts, feelings and opinions as they would on a traditional social network.

Combined, these features are beginning to add up to an app thats not just another music streamer, but one that aims to compete for users time and eventually, the ad dollars spent on larger social networks.

Read the rest here:
Spotify is no longer just a streaming app, its a social network - TechCrunch

U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy made headlines last year after he issued an advisory about social media and youth mental health. In a New York Times op-ed published in June 2024, he declared that it is time to require a surgeon generals warning label on social media platforms, stating that social media is associated with significant mental health harms for adolescents. This is just the latest volley in the surgeon generals fight against the youth mental health crisis, which he has called the defining public health issue of our time. By proposing a surgeon generals warning label akin to those on tobacco products, Murthy is implying parallels between Big Tech and Big Tobacco. Both are multibillion-dollar industries where profits are prioritized over peoples well-being and where vulnerable and impressionable youth are seen as key targets for gaining market share and potentially lifelong customers.

I teach an undergrad course on technology use and adolescence at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and I frequently give talks to the general public about social media and youth mental health. A big part of my job is thinking about how to distill a complex and constantly updating field of research into accurate yet accessible take-home messages, and I think the analogy between Big Tobacco and Big Tech is the wrong one to make.

Such an analogy is misleading about the effects of social media. Tobacco is clearly and definitively harmful. The research on social media is more ambiguous and complicated. While some youth are harmed by itlike those who are cyberbullied or using social media so excessively that it is disrupting their schoolwork or sleepothers benefit from or even thrive on it. The surgeon generals advisory even has a whole section on the potential benefits of social media use, like increased feelings of social connection and online social support, especially for youth with marginalized identities who may struggle to find in-person support. Simply warning that social media use is associated with harm flattens a complex reality without offering specific solutions.

The relationship between food and health is extremely complex, and we intuitively understand that such complexityexists.

My preferred analogy when discussing social media and mental health is not tobaccoits food. Big Food is also a multibillion-dollar industry that puts profits over health and hopes to turn youth into long-term customers through marketing and careful product design. But the relationship between food and health is extremely complex, and we intuitively understand that such complexity exists.

For starters, we do not argue about whether food is good or bad. We recognize that some foods are healthier than others, some are OK in moderation, and others should be avoided at all costs. Similarly, some social media behaviors are clearly beneficial (making meaningful connections with peers), some should be more carefully monitored (comparing yourself to others that you see online), and others should be banned outright (viewing or creating content advocating for self-harm or problematic eating behaviors).

Furthermore, we know that individual characteristics may determine what is healthy for someone to consume. People with a family history of heart disease may need to be extra careful about what they eat, and many parents try to wait as long as possible before introducing their children to juices and sodas. Similarly, people with a history of depression may need to be extra careful about what they consume online, and parents should wait to introduce social media until their kids are mature enough to handle using it responsibly. (There are also parents who think their children should never have sugary drinks, just as there are parents who think their children should never have social mediaand children will probably manage to sneak access to both.)

A surgeon generals warning that food is associated with significant health harms would be technically true but not practically helpful. Instead, public health measures around nutrition and youth are multipronged, including more detailed and nuanced education about healthy eating habits for children and parents, involving pediatricians, schools, and communities, restricting what types of food are available at school, and regulating how foods can be marketed to children.

Likewise, a blanket warning about social media would not be especially helpful on its own. It may discourage some users or push some parents to pay closer attention to their childrens digital media habits, but it does not make the platforms any safer to use. We also need efforts from families, schools, health care workers, and communities to address the youth mental health crisisand tech companies must do their part as well.

I worry that requiring a surgeon generals warning could even backfire by discouraging tech companies from cooperating with researchers and mental health experts. The World Health Organization, U.S. National Cancer Institute, and former U.S. Surgeon General Regina Benjamin have all declared that there is no safe level of tobacco use, so getting Big Tobacco to make their products safer is a nonstarter. But some researchers argue that a modest amount of screen time is associated with the greatest adolescent well-being, and Big Tech can make their platforms safer. (For example, Meta currently redirects searches associated with self-harm or disordered eating to mental health resources instead of harmful content.)

Murthys Social Media and Youth Mental Health Advisory contains a detailed bullet-point section on what platforms should do to minimize risks and maximize benefits. But would tech companies still want to work with a surgeon generals office that is portraying them as dangerous to our youth?

I also worry that a surgeon generals warning could end up shielding the tech companies against liability for harms caused by their platforms. Imagine how such a warning would be implemented: Every time users log on, they would see a pop-up about social media being associated with mental health harms. They may read it, or they may just reflexively tap I accept the risks, and now the responsibility for any consequences has been shifted to the user. Just requiring a warning lets tech companies off too easily. They can and must do more to protect people on their platforms.

A surgeon generals warning for social media is not going to solve our youth mental health crisis. That said, in just proposing this warning, Murthy is using his bully pulpit to bring national awareness to the importance of understanding how social media affects youth mental health. I am curious to see whether Congress will approve the surgeon generals request and, if so, whether it will be the first piece of a larger effort to improve youth mental healthor if it will end up as just a Band-Aid that plasters over deeper issues.

Original post:
The Surgeon General Says Social Media Is Like Tobacco. Hes Completely Wrong. - Slate

Politics in Japan can be a staid affair. The race to become the governor of Tokyo, which reached its climax on July 7th, was anything but that. Fifty-six candidates, many of them eccentrics, traded barbs. Pets featured on election posters; so, in one case, did pornography. A candidate dressed as the Joker from Batman spouted nonsense on national television. Another took off her clothes.

In the end Koike Yuriko, the incumbent governor, bagged herself a third term with some 43% of votes. Yet it was the second-place finisherIshimaru Shinji, an outspoken but little-known former bankerwho stole the headlines. Up to now, Japanese voters have seemed curiously unmoved by the kinds of social-media-fuelled populism that have upturned politics in other countries. That no longer seems so true.

Most people expected that the race would be a head-to-head between Ms Koike, a former national legislator for the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and Saito Renho from the Constitutional Democratic Party (CDP), the main liberal opposition (who goes by just her given name). Both Ms Koike and Renho gained fame as television newsreaders before they entered politics. Yet relative obscurity was no obstacle for Mr Ishimaru. His brief political careerfour years as mayor of Akitakata, an unremarkable town in Hiroshimadid not produce any noteworthy achievements. His candidacy was not backed by any political party.

Read more from the original source:
Social-media populists have arrived in Japan - The Economist

Spotify is one of the worlds most popular music streaming services and it seems it wants to be more than that.

Spotify rolled out comments on podcasts

The Swedish music platform announced it was adding comments on podcasts as a way for creators to interact with listeners. The new feature expands on Q&A and polls, which the platform introduced in 2021. According to Spotify, over 9 million unique listeners on the platform have used either Q&A or polls this year, and the features have experienced 80% year-over-year growth.

The platform could also expand on comments, too. Maya Prohovnik, Spotifys vice president of podcast product, told Techcrunch she can see a world where we extend [support for comments] to other formats on Spotify, but we always want to do whatever is right for the format, and those types of creators and artists.

The comments feature for podcasts provide[s] a creator-controlled way for podcasters to interact with their fans on Spotify, a company spokesperson said in a statement shared with Quartz. While we are always exploring more ways for creators and artists to reach and engage with their fans, we dont have any specific plans to share at this time.

During Spotifys first quarter 2024 earnings call, chief executive Daniel Ek said the company is focused on winning discovery and were going to add as many ways that we can to improve the discovery of Spotify. He pointed to the platform adding music videos and music clips where artists can engage with fans.

Ek said TikTok and other social media platforms have obviously improved the user experience, and as an industry, all the companies are learning about these trends and best practices and trying to improve our products.

As Spotify seemingly tries to enter the social network game, competition is growing between other social media platforms vying for users. According to figures seen by the Financial Times, X said its number of global daily active users was 251 million in the second quarter of this year just 1.6% above what it was a year ago. Before Elon Musk acquired the social media platform for $44 billion in October 2022, the platform previously known as Twitter had experienced double-digit year-over-year growth, including 33.8% growth in the second quarter of 2022.

Meanwhile, Metas rival platform, Threads, reached 175 million monthly active users in its first year, according to chief executive Mark Zuckerberg. In April, Threads counted 28 million daily active users, beating out X, which had 22 million.

Original post:
Spotify is getting into the social network game - Quartz