I’m not sure you can consider yourself a true music writer in 2008 until you’ve written all of the following:

• The Death of the Album?
• Downloads: Harmful or Helpful?
• Music Blogs: The Next Record Labels
• Vinyl Is Back!

You ever wished someone would combine the massive time-sucking hole that is Twitter with a streaming music player? That’s right– now, instead of just having access to people’s egotistical and banal tossed-off thoughts, you can also get immediate streaming access to that Cut Copy remix they’ve been listening to. Fuzz.com unveils its new “Blip” service.

As a guy who has, for many years, kept one foot firmly planted in the Music sphere, and the other foot firmly planted in the Tech sphere, I can’t help but feel like my worlds are colliding when Tunecore gets into a fight with Michael Arrington.

Techcrunch: Tunecore Tells Us Where We Can Shove It

The Matablog just posted a new track from Shearwater’s new one, Rook. Enjoy:

Quick, what does the world need now more than anything else? That’s right, more music blogs!

But seriously, though, from Digital Music News comes word that the make-an-instant-music-blog startup Uber.Com just received investment cash from Universal (who, you recall, also put money into Buzznet back in April). It’s worth pointing out that, in a similar vein, Warner recently put $20 million into Lala.com.

Hmm, anyone see any possible problems in the majors owning the music blogosphere?

Last.fm Spreads To Major Sites

“IN-A-BOX” BRINGS LAST.FM TO OTHER MAJOR WEB PROPERTIES

Dust off your best old SNL Dick-In-A-Box jokes, everyone!

During last night’s episode of The Best Show on WFMU, listeners called in to help host Tom Scharpling and special guest Ted Leo write a song. Two hours later, lyrics were compiled, the song was recorded, and Tom premiered Ted’s song over the air.

Take a listen to “The World is in the Terlet” - Stream

Bottle Up & Go, who we introduced you to just about a year ago, will see their new EP, These Bones, released by Kill Normal Records next month. And they’re in the midst of an East Coast tour even as we speak– swing by and catch their show if you get a chance (they’re back here in NY on 6/21 @ Mercury).

The June Mix has been posted, and I’ve got a few announcements:

• The Idolator Pop prints are now sold out.
• Catbird Records CBR 014 - Air Waves EP is now sold out.
• Catbird Records CBR 013 - PWRFL Power EP is now sold out.

and thanks for everyone who wrote in to say they saw the PWRFL Power eSurance commercial; it started airing nationally on 5/12. Go Kaz go!

Popmatters’ Rob Horning:

I used to think that having too much music was a problem I would want, but I appreciated music a lot more when it was scarce. When it was scarce, I was much more likely to look for reasons to include songs in my life rather than reject them. Constraints make music meaningful.

…I’ve recently begun the quixotic project of trying to listen to all the music I have and sort out which songs I actually like so I can find them more easily. But since I’ve started, I never listen to music for sheer pleasure or distraction anymore; it’s systematic, Sisyphean work, as more unheard music keeps getting added to the pile.

“The Hype Cycle,” at n+1 Mag:

[T]he problem with hype is that it transforms the use value of a would-be work of art into its exchange value. For in the middle (there’s no end) of the hype cycle, the important thing is no longer what a song, movie, or book does to you. The big question is its relationship to its reputation. So instead of abandoning yourself to the artifact, you try to exploit inefficiencies in the reputation market. You can get in on the IPO of a new artist, and trumpet the virtues of the Arctic Monkeys before anyone else has heard of them: this is hype. Or you issue a “sell” recommendation on the overhyped Arctic Monkeys: this is backlash. But there are often steals to be found among recently unloaded assets: “Why’s everybody hatin’ on the Arctic Monkeys?” says the backlash-to-the-backlash. The sophisticated trader is buying, selling, and holding different reputations all at once; the trick in each case is to stay ahead of the market. And the rewards from this trade in reputations redound to your own reputation: even though the market (i.e., other people) dictates your every move, you seem to be a real individual thinking for yourself.