Ged Carroll

Month: January 2010

  • Google Music China

    I spent some time in Shenzhen and tried the Google Music China service. It was unlike anything else I have seen and was designed especially for consumers in mainland China.

    Google Music China

    Google Music China is impressive in terms of the size of its catalogue and ease-of-use. You have a mix of western artists and Chinese artists on the service. There didn’t seem to be a lot of censorship going on. You could download the full expletive riven Eminem experience. The music is downloaded into your computer as MP3 files and doesn’t have any DRM on it. I put it into my iTunes library. The service is powered by a Chinese partner for Google, which becomes apparent when you look at the URL on the page for an individual track.

    There didn’t seem to be a restriction on the amount of music that you could download. I got a mix of material from jazz to techno including a number of albums by The Jazz Messengers.

    Much of the music seems to have been licensed through the US right holders of the music; such as this Astralwerks license for a Fat Boy Slim track below.

    The service is free, in that I didn’t have to pay per track, or pay a subscription. Instead the music is ad funded with display ads as shown below.

    Google Music banner ad

    I do wonder what the click through rates are on the adverts that periodically get vended on the service?  More China-related content here.

  • Stussy Bearbrick

    Shawn Stussy just threw down on a Stussy Bearbrick. Admitted the Stussy Bearbrick looks pretty lame. Imagine if you set up your own company and you named after yourself because you signed all your work. Over time your signature became the most valuable design asset of the company. Over time you decide that you want to take some of your hard earned cash, take time out and do the stuff that you actually enjoy. You leave your business, having been bought out.

    However, you then have the problem of seeing your name plastered over absolute tat.

    taking your name in vain

    Welcome to Shawn Stussy’s world. They guy invented streetwear as we know it. He mixed American classics like the oxford cotton button down, denim and t-shirts together. On top of that he added American workwear beloved of surfers.  Shawn also got Japan and what they could bring to the table back when everyone else was just thinking about Sony.

    And then the copy and paste aspects of punk culture. There is a reason why Stussy designs come off like old school fanzines. They both come from a common cultural route. The backward SS was a homage to Chanel. The repeating pattern a nod to the luxury brands from Gucci and Louis Vuitton to MCM.

    Supreme, Palace, Neighborhood, Off-White all are following in his footsteps.

    I am a big Stussy fan and it is a rare season where I don’t buy something from their collection. It is hard to keep banging out new streetwear, season after season, even when you’re delving into an archive like Stussy has.  But some of the stuff ends up being pretty ropey and I sympathise with Shawn Stussy’s predicament. Which is why I look forward to seeing what his long-awaited new venture S-Double Studios will come out of the trap with. More on luxury here.