Friday Five: This Is How Smartphones Ruin Clubbing

In this week’s Friday Five, we’re leading with a piece from Decoded Magazine that explores why taking selfies and videos at clubs is causing a disconnect between the DJ and the crowd. We’ve also got pieces from Soundfly, The New York Times, Coindesk and Timeline. Have a great weekend ahead!

1. Are Phones Having A Negative Impact On Clubbing? – Remember nights out when smartphones didn’t exist? Getting in touch with your mates may have been difficult (even with beepers and pagers), but when you were all together it was one solid evening that all of you were “present” for. With smartphones, you can be at a party and “check out” of it by snapping content for your social profiles. Do phones make for a less-engaging experience? Decoded Magazine explores Read more
2. From Discs To Digital: The History Of Music Formats – How’d we go from wax cylinders to invisible bits of data stored in a cloud? This feature from Soundfly traces the development of recorded music from the 19th century until today Read more
3. Why Does New Music “Suck”? – If you’re past your 20s you’ve probably already wondered why all the big hits these days sound “bad” compared to when you were a teenager. Here’s why you think and feel that way, according to science. The New York Times has it Read more
4. How A DJ Is Disrupting Spotify With Tech – DJ/producer Gareth Emery is probably the last person you’d think of when you think of cryptocurrencies, but he’s just launched a startup that pays artist royalties in a virtual currency instead of cash. Sounds interesting? Find out more in this piece by Coindesk Read more
5. The Night Disco Died – In 1979 over 59,000 people descended upon a baseball field in Chicago and burned thousands of disco vinyl records while chanting “Disco sucks”. Learn how it happened and why something like this must never happen again. Timeline has it Read more

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