Album of the Year Nominee: The Lonely Forest, "We Sing the Body Electric"

h/t to Indie Rock Cafe for this gem of a discovery, a complicated and exciting rock record. At this stage in my odyssey of musical exploration and investment, The Lonely Forest's "We Sing the Body Electric" is a shot in the arm.

Hear the whole record here, and see if the harmonies don't pull you under.

Read more ...

Douglas Rushkoff Life Inc., Dispatch VI

"If you want a really free market, then we should be able to have not just one government-mandated currency."

Life Inc. Dispatch 06: Why Corporations Hate the Free Market from Douglas Rushkoff on Vimeo.

Read more ...

Douglas Rushkoff Life Inc., Dispatch V

"Even the spiritual people among us talk about 'self actualization' as if that's the highest thing a person can attain."

"If people are cooperating and collaborating, it's not good for the economy. People who are sharing stuff buy less stuff. If people buy less stuff, that's bad for the GNP."

Life Inc. Dispatch 05: Markets Love Selfish People from Douglas Rushkoff on Vimeo.

Read more ...

Album of the Year Nominee: The Low Anthem, "Oh My God, Charlie Darwin"

This is a new discovery for me, a Brown University-educated folk outfit that moves effortlessly between dulcet and demonstrative (take that, Ivy League!).

First, the dulcet:

To Ohio - The Low Anthem

And then the demonstrative:

Champion Angel - The Low Anthe...

Read more ...

Douglas Rushkoff on WNYC with Brian Lehrer

This is apropo, because one of the founding anecdotes of Life, Inc. is Rushkoff's mugging in 2007. When he started getting pushback for talking about it from his neighbors concerned about their property values, he went on Lehrer's show.

Here's that interview, from January of 2007.

Read more ...

Douglas Rushkoff Life Inc., Dispatch IV

Life Inc. Dispatch 04: It's Just Little Brown People Over There, Somewhere from Douglas Rushkoff on Vimeo.

Read more ...

IdolCritics: Follow Up

Iraheta has a record deal. With 19 Entertainment. Just like Kris Allen. And Adam Lambert. And David Archuleta. And Jordin Sparks.

Iraheta grew to be my favorite this season, and the pop music recording landscape will be better for her company. But my expectations are modest; it is, after all, 19.

Read more ...

Service as A Religious Product

Mara Einstein points to an Ad Age piece (subscription required) about the marketing of religion (in which she is quoted) and suggests that, "Churches are starting to realize that they need to take ownership of those things that make them different."

She asks: "What can a church give people that the consumer culture can not?"

Her answer? Service.

Men and women in a consumer culture are looking for chances to serve and to learn how to serve well and (this is key) effectively.

Here's the thing: brands are beating religion to the punch on service.

Churches need to jump on this idea because brand companies have been co-opting this attribute at an increasing rate. Whether it’s Product (RED) (buy a t-shirt and you help people dying of AIDS in Africa) or Nike’s Human Race (run a race and money goes to one of three charities of your choice) or hundreds of other “buy-a-product-help-the-world” campaigns, branding companies are monopolizing social causes and religious institutions are going to find themselves left out in the cold.

Does it have to be so either/or? Can churches not look for ways to participate in these opportunities for service that brands are offering consumers, ways to direct people toward them?

At the same time, don't churches need to be able to critique the practices of the corporate entities that are offering service as a product? So Starbucks offers a Product (Red) coffee card and Nike sponsors runs for charity causes: that in itself is marketing. Those brands understand their consumers, and identifying with a social cause ingratiates the consumer to the brand. That's why the brand does it.

That's not why the church does it. Churches don't build Habitat houses and run soup kitchens to build loyalty to their brand. They do it because they're supposed to, because they are the guardians of a deeper truth, that life isn't really life if it's only lived for oneself. That's something the church can offer a consumer culture.

Turning service into a consumer commodity is a backwards way of addressing social problems that seeks to capitalize for good on the consumer habits of a people who know how to consume more than they know how to do anything else. But the tactic doesn't teach them to live differently. That's what churches can do.

Read more ...

Douglas Rushkoff Life Inc. Dispatch III

Life Inc. Dispatch 03: Money as Debt from Douglas Rushkoff on Vimeo.

Read more ...

Douglas Rushkoff Life, Inc. Dispatch II

Life Inc. Dispatch 02: Insulation Equation from Douglas Rushkoff on Vimeo.

Read more ...

Douglas Rushkoff Life Inc. Dispatch I

Get this book. Watch these dispatches. Be the change.

"The object of the game is not to create another big entitity that's going to take down those big entities, but to get off that landscape altogether and start engaging with one another in small ways."

Life Inc. Dispatch 01: Crisis as Opportunity from Douglas Rushkoff on Vimeo.

Read more ...