July 23, 2021 - Issue #7 - Past Issues

Welcome to the Uncaged Bird newsletter. This issue is a roundup of recent music-related stuff I found interesting. Uncaged Bird also offers in-depth articles on singing, which you can find here. Next week’s newsletter will include the latest of these articles. Currently, my working title is: “What to expect in your first singing lesson.”

The extraordinary ear of Charles Kellogg

Ted Gioia, whose writing I love more with each read, has sketched the life of a naturalist who could imitate nearly any birdcall and put out fires with his voice. Yes, there are recordings. Yes, this may send you down a YouTube rabbit hole…

Didn’t read the fine print

Grow up in the compact disc era? Fall prey to the Columbia House promotions like I DEFINITELY DID? I mean, 10 CDs for $0.01! What’s not to like? Here’s the history of the infamous subscription schemes of the ‘90s.

Creativity through limitation

Crappy netbooks given to kids sparked a hip hop revolution in Argentina.

Heard of Twitch? I hadn’t…

By now, it’s pretty clear that streaming services based on subscription models don’t pay recording artists as well as the old model based on the sale of physical goods like records. Some bands combat this by going direct to their audiences via a live, interactive video app called Twitch. There are even people teaching singing on Twitch now.

RESPECT

I can’t even imagine the courage it would take to portray the singer Rolling Stone called “the greatest singer of her generation.”

Have a lovely weekend!

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