How to Listen to Music at Work. It's Harder Than You Think.

While some people cannot work without music, I often find it hard to work with it.  

This bothers me.  Why can't I concentrate? Why does my productivity plummet?  What about all those studies that say that listening to music while you work is the best thing for you?  

Any of this sound familiar?

It turns out that I've been listening to the wrong music.

According to Will Henshall, the founder of a start-up called focus@will, my problem is that tend to put on music I like.

Huh?

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Arts & Crafts 10th Anniversary Collection Available for Pre-Order

Arts & Crafts, the little label that could, is celebrating it's 10th anniversary this year.  Part of the commemoration is a deluxe package of hits and rarities.  

The label is now taking pre-orders for your choice of a 4 x LP set ($60 CAD) or a double CD ($15 CAD).  

Here's the tracklisting for Arts & Crafts 2003-2013:

Disc I
1. Broken Social Scene - 7/4 (Shoreline)
2. Stars - Elevator Love Letter
3. Zeus - Are You Gonna Waste My Time?
4. The Stills - Being Here
5. Feist - Mushaboom
6. Apostle Of Hustle - Folkloric Feel
7. Amy Millan - Skinny Boy
8. The Most Serene Republic - Content Was Always My Favorite Colour
9. Jason Collett - I'll Bring The Sun
10. New Buffalo - Recovery
11. Feist - I Feel It All
12. Timber Timbre - Demon Host
13. Dan Mangan - Rows Of Houses
14. Stars - Your Ex-Lover Is Dead
15. Los Campesinos! - You! Me! Dancing!
16. Broken Social Scene - Lover's Spit

Disc II
1. Broken Social Scene - Deathcock
2. The Hidden Cameras - Mind, Matter And Waste
3. Amy Millan - She Got By
4. Apostle Of Hustle - I Want A New Drug
5. Cold Specks - Grave Goods
6. Ra Ra Riot - Saccharin And The War
7. Sally Seltmann - You Don't Know Me Anymore
8. Los Campesinos! - Allez Les Blues
9. Timber Timbre & Tasseomancy - The Darkness Of Things
10. Feist & Constantines - Islands In The Stream
11. Stars - Rollerskate
12. The Dears - Raise The Dead
13. Brendan Canning - Secretaries' Party
14. Jason Collett - False Cassandra
15. Dan Mangan - Faults
16. Chilly Gonzales - Tarantelle
17. Kevin Drew - Apology
18. Snowblink - Blue Moon

This is the Country Song from Hell: The Wild!

And I mean that in the most positive way.  These guys from BC have attracted attention from Andrian Grenier of the HBO series Entourage and the owner of Wreckroom Records in New York.

Here's a Golden Oldie That Shuffle Coughed Up Today

iTunes was on shuffle this morning when this came up.  It was quit a hit back in its day. And it turns out that Spin had a, um, oral history of the song yesterday.

Are Music Sales Up for the First Time Since Napster? Apparently So

A number of sites (including the New York Times) are covering a release by music industry trade group, the IFPI, stating that worldwide music sales were up last year for the first time since 1999--the year that Napster was introduced.

It wasn't much of an increase--0.3%--but when you're talking about a worldwide market worth $1.65 billion, every little tick is important.  And given that the industry has been taking lumps for well over a decade, this is cause for celebration.  I wonder how many people in the industry even remember what it was like to have a good year.

So what's changed?  The thirst for digital, really.  With more people purchasing digital downloads each month and with more people signing up for streaming music services, it looks like music sold/rented in 0's and 1's is finally living up to its financial promise.

To put it another way, the rise of digital music sales is going up fast enough to offset the decline in sales of CDs.  According to this report, digital music accounted for 34% of all sales last year with a year-over-year growth rate of 9%.

The industry isn't out of the woods yet.  But you can bet that everyone is breathing a little easier.  And let's remember that in 1999, the music industry was worth $38 billion.  There's a long way to go before everyone gets back to the days of 300 baud modems and GeoCities.