Earlier quoted context omitted.
Keep in mind that there are a lot of serious, dedicated folks in the upper ranks of most businesses... and then there are other types of folks. Ex-CEO of Broadcom is one example. I worked at a startup where the well-connected CTO invited me to come to Tijuana with him and the secretary for a night of indiscretions. I've found having long hair and looking like a partier gets people to open up to you and you find out s…
Of course individual cases happen - I know of a few. I was more thinking about the way corporate parties are depicted in media (Hollywood movies, mostly). I am French and worked for French, German and US companies (tech) and I never witnessed what was discussed above. Flights in corporate jets were convenient and everyone was either chatting, or reading, or working. Multiple week travels in great hotels were pleases…
'Sexual favours were the norm in music industry'
461–470 of 643 posts
Re: 'Sexual favours were the norm in music industry'
#462> the Mafia is very much a part of the music industry, I'm not too familiar with the pop side of the music industry. I dipped my toe into the Rap/R&B side of the business building websites for new artists. There were literal gangsters in the recording studios sitting across from me drinking and smoking and they made plans for every aspect of these young girls lives: what and when they could eat, who they could see, w…
I worked for a startup that contracted with the major record labels at the time, with a lot of the funding coming from the record labels. One day a group of four men arrived at the office. They were investors and not too happy with how the stock had been performing. This was a time before naked shorting was illegal. They all wore suits and one of the men carried a baseball bat into the office. They all had stereotypi…
Dr. Dre said he saw one sound tech get beat down by six guys because he rewound the tape back too far.
The amount of intimidation, blackmail and extortion many in the rap game talked about was legit. Even in the DMX documentary, the two founders talked about twice strong arming record labels and their owners to let artists they wanted to sign out of their contracts.
Re: 'Sexual favours were the norm in music industry'
#463My understanding is this was more common in years past. Up to the 1950s it was understood a good looking secretary got her job in bed. The really ugly ones got and kept it by being good at the job, with a possible side of the wife doing well in bed. Even then it was understood as not always true, but it was true enough. Secretaries at the time demanded the ability handle boredom as a lot of the job was doing the simp…
Re: 'Sexual favours were the norm in music industry'
#464Earlier quoted context omitted.
I've seen this take quite a bit lately with respect to cancel culture and I'm a bit confused about it. Since HN is amazing, I'm hoping someone here can help me understand without it turning into a flamewar. I don't understand how "cancel culture" is substantially different from what we used to call "boycotts", just with the internet for more social lubrication. I suppose theres a risk that the allegations at the cent…
IMO the main issue with cancel culture is when it targets people who are innocent or gives unreasonable punishments for small mistakes. Those being cancelled are tried in the court of social media, where critics attack without evidence or even knowing the accusations. The accused' friends and employers fear being associated with the accused, even if they ultimately get cleared of any wrongdoing, and they can sue for…
Re: 'Sexual favours were the norm in music industry'
#465Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is a good thread, thanks. I'm reading through the articles now, and have concerns that the author is over editorializing at least some of them. I know for a fact Kindness Yoga is doing fine, I walk past there daily.
The targets of cancel culture don't always get completely buried, just like attempts at murder don't always succeed. That doesn't mean it wasn't an attempted murder or an attempted cancelling.
Re: 'Sexual favours were the norm in music industry'
#466Earlier quoted context omitted.
> The big question is will internet free the good artists that were gatekeeped I don't think so. What they need the most is publicity, and this is not magically granted by internet. Just take a look at e.g. Spotify; I'm sure there are hundreds of extremely gifted artists sitting down at barely a few dozens listenings, just because no one found them.
But it's interesting. Do we like artists due to marketing only ? Or seducing feature over artistic quality. A small but gifted artist on Spotify could, in theory (in theory), generate word of mouth at quickly get known. Sometimes I believe that labels were filters for that. They could see who was just very good and who had some 'it factor'.
Re: 'Sexual favours were the norm in music industry'
#467Earlier quoted context omitted.
Whenever discussing Polanski's late career and the acclaim or scorn he has received, it must be mentioned that the girl in question has (later, when she grew up) expressed that she does not wish that Polanski be prosecuted or further punished by the industry.
> the girl in question has (later, when she grew up) expressed that she does not wish that Polanski be prosecuted or further punished by the industry. I think Samantha Geimer has been doubly victimised – first by Polanski, then by a legal system which cares more about itself than about the interests and wishes of the victims it is supposed to protect. I think Geimer feels, that as Polanski's victim, she should have s…
Re: 'Sexual favours were the norm in music industry'
#468Earlier quoted context omitted.
Wow that sounds super interesting. Did he have any cool stories?
Some fun ones. What was more interesting to me was that a couple of my contemporaries who were taught by him also then went on to be in top ten groups.
Re: 'Sexual favours were the norm in music industry'
#469It depends on the company. I worked at a large international bank where we had a couple dozen project managers that would travel abroad for 2-6 weeks at a time. We had server set up in a storage closet with a huge porn cache. When the project managers came back to the US we would copy all the porn they had collected to the server, replace the porn on their laptops with new porn from the cache, then send them back abr…
Re: 'Sexual favours were the norm in music industry'
#470Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Look at all these vile people applauding this villain Acknowledging the artistic talent of a villain does not make you vile. Not at all. Imagine a clearer example. Imagine that somebody is on a life sentence convicted of a murder that they have commited. Do you think that this person has the right to write a book? Can this book be sent for participation at a literary contest? Can it win? Does the jury that gives th…
I mean it doesn't, but you have to look at this in the broader context. There are always more talented people than there are prizes/awards/jobs to be had. Just give the award to any of the dozens and dozens of just as qualified people instead and avoid the controversy. This is almost like holding a museum exhibit celebrating Hitler's art career——profoundly tone deaf at best, and normalizing that sort of behavior at w…