Blue Scholars & Kickstarter

One of my favorite hiphop groups from Seattle, Blue Scholars, are funding their next album through Kickstarter.

What's really interesting is that this is effectively folks doing "pre-orders" to fund the whole thing.

This can only work after you've built up a fanbase appropriately, but Blue Scholars has always been savvy about targeting their market- they started by hitting up the small out-of-the-way college towns that rarely get hiphop, or music at all. Consistently hitting up these towns on tour not only made money, it was a good way to build a market.

Now, they're kicking $21,000 out of a $24,000 goal in 9 days. Although I don't think this preorder/ransom model is going to be THE way of music in the future, I think it's going to be a significant method.

Protect the racists!

I choose not to watch the racist white girl at UCLA talk about asian folks, but this article about how she's getting death threats and campus security is there for her is also problematic.

Now, yes, death threats are bullshit. Period.

But I'm wondering where campus security is folks are dealing with domestic abuse? Where's campus security when nooses are getting hung up in the black students' areas "for good fun"?

A white girl says racist shit and, guess what? When there's actually enough folks on campus that they're no longer afraid of speaking up, and they speak up, suddenly:

"Clearly the original video posted by me was inappropriate," she said. "I cannot explain what possessed me to approach the subject as I did, and if I could undo it, I would."

The levels of cognitive dissonance - you damn well know what "possessed" you (hint: no external force or entity "possessed" you, but at least you're honest enough to say that you'd rather not have the consequences.