Music
The Good: YouTube Plans To Help Artists Get Paid
As concerns about proper credits and payments for artists persist amid the surge of streaming services like Spotify, Tidal & iTunes, YouTube has announced new infrastructure is being implemented to become more transparent with creators. In addition to consolidating content to one official artist channel, YouTube has announced they’ll be working with the International Standard Name Identifier or ISNI system. The consolidation effort will unite an artist’s videos, performances, songs, and subscribers into one primary channel which will pop up first in the search options. Tim Devenport, the executive director of the ISNI International Agency issued a statement regarding the new venture: “We’re delighted to partner with YouTube on such an ambitious effort. Many organizations active in the music sector have already shown interest in using ISNI identifiers as part of the infrastructure they need to manage rights and royalties effectively.
“We view this as a transformative opportunity to offer the music industry a valuable identifier scheme and in so doing, to deepen ISNI’s knowledge of this domain and improve its technical facilities and approaches.”
The Bad: Fredo Santana Dies At 27
On January 19th, 2018 Fredo Santana was found dead by his girlfriend in his Southern California home after an apparent seizure. The rapper who is known as being one of the pioneers of Chicago’s drill scene was only 27. Last year Santana was hospitalized after kidney & liver failure; he addressed the health concern on Twitter, and talked about his battle with drugs. “Gino found me on da floor shaking bleeding out the mouth having a seizure shit could a been the end” later tweeting: “I was running from my old life tryna get high didn’t want to face them demons”; “I’m getting help I might just go to rehab” Over the past several days rappers and members of the Hip-Hop community mourned Santana’s death offering condolences across social media. Santana is survived by his son Legend.
World
The Good: Apple Plans To Help Educate Girls Around The Globe
Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple Inc. (left) announced this week that the technology giant will be partnering with Nobel Prize winner Malala Yousafzai (right) and her non-profit foundation. In a tweet sent from Cook’s account, plans to support education are underway: “Apple is proud to support the courageous, visionary @Malala in advancing every girl’s right to 12 years of free, safe, quality education. Together we’re committing to expand the reach of @MalalaFund and provide secondary school opportunities to girls around the world.” The partnership is expected to aid over 100,000 girls in countries across the globe. The Malala foundation is committing their efforts to aiding underdeveloped nations where education is inaccessible, already establishing efforts in Pakistan, Nigeria, Afghanistan, Jordan & Lebanon. The organization was co-created by Yousafzai and her father in 2014 after Yousafzai came into the world’s spotlight after surviving an assassination attempt by the Taliban for attending school. Since the shooting, she’s taken her story across the world inspiring change in education policies overseas.
The Bad: Kentucky High School Endures Shooting
Tuesday a student opened fire on fellow classmates at the Marshall County High School leaving two dead and 17 injured. The police say Bailey Nicole Holt and Preston Ryan Cope were both killed by the 15 year old shooter after he began shooting in the school auditorium just before 8AM. Police now have the student in custody and have not released his name. More than 5 schools have been affected by gun violence since 2018 began just 24 days ago re sparking activists calling for more gun control.
Business
The Good: Uber Hires It’s First Chief Diversity Officer
This week Uber announced that it will be appointing Bo Young Lee to the position of Chief Diversity Officer, and she’ll be starting late March. Lee will oversee inclusion strategies such as diverse hiring practices and support groups for employees. The move towards changing the company’s culture comes after a tough year for the famous ride sharing app. Susan Fowler, a former employee for Uber wrote about her experience with sexual harassment in the company which she believes was handled improperly. Lee issued a statement concerning her new position: “There’s much more work to be done, and I’m excited to bring my experience to the table solving tough challenges in partnership with Uber employees.”
The Bad: Tourism To The U.S. Drops, Costing 4.6 Billion
The National Travel and Tourism Office has reported a 3.3% drop in travel spending and a 4% slide in inbound travel. Overall the decline has resulted in revenue losses estimated to be in the billions and 40,000 jobs. With political tensions high, some experts are blaming the rollback on negative messages coming from the White House. Adam Sacks, the president of Tourism Economics, told The New York Times: “It’s not a reach to say the rhetoric and policies of this administration are affecting sentiment around the world, creating antipathy toward the U.S. and affecting travel behavior.” The U.S. Travel Association plans to create a campaign to lobby in Washington to promote open borders and foreign travel.
Hilarity:
Angry Fast Food Worker Makes Burrito To Go
A Taco Bell supervisor is listed in stable condition after getting into a heated dispute about schedules this week. Police in South Carolina were called to a local Taco Bell restaurant where an employee was accused of beaming a burrito at the supervisor after being angry about working a morning shift. Instead of calling out sick, switching the shift, or employing any another equally rational reaction, the employee became irate, threw the burrito, broke the headphone set and stormed out. No arrests have been made.
Student Swipes Left On Tinder, Emails Every Claudia On Campus
If you you’ve used Tinder, you’ve done it. Swiped left (rejecting a match), when you meant to swipe right (accepting an invitation). This happened to a Missouri State University student this past week but he didn’t allow his mishap to prevent him from getting a date. Remembering her name and school, he went on to send over 20 emails, contacting every Claudia in the university’s directory, explaining the situation and asking them out for donuts. The correct Claudia found the freshmen’s email which referenced a joke she made in her bio and accepted his invitation.
Make sure to check back every week for our review of the good, the bad, and the hilarious!
