A couple of weeks ago I wrote a post (see here) about how concert tickets have been getting more expensive. I touched on two main explanations for this, one is inflation, the other is the change in revenue artists make from selling their music. Artists used to sell millions of records and would see a... Continue Reading →
The COVID19 pandemic has brought about an increase in both unemployment and remote home office working. This is seeing a lot more people with time at home. As well as this lockdown and social distancing restrictions have rendered socialising more difficult among friends and loved ones. All of this extra time at home got me... Continue Reading →
There's a great story about Bob Dylan that says he ran away from home 17 times and was brought home 16 times. While it is mostly just an anecdotal tale told for fun it does tie in nicely to what I'm disusing for this week's post. Last week I did a post [see here] about... Continue Reading →
With COVID19 still restricting employment within the economy, a lot of people are finding themselves out of a job for at least the moment. Obviously, essential services are still open but non-essential services are not. The arts, entertainment, and recreation sector have taken a severe loss at this time because unfortunately while they are great... Continue Reading →
It is often said that music is a form of therapy and a lot of research finds that it is beneficial to people in stressful situations. This got me wondering whether or not it could it help alleviate some of the stresses associated with the COVID19 lockdown situation. We are all struggling with being away... Continue Reading →
Economists often get a lot of grief because of the cold and calculated nature of economics or the "dismal science" to quote Thomas Carlyle. And to be fair, maybe the stigma is some what warranted. Economists are often concerned with efficiency and productivity at an aggregate level which means they may overlook the more nuanced... Continue Reading →
A friend of mine, Cillian, sent me on a photo yesterday of something his mother found while she was rummaging around. It was a ticket to a Queen concert from 1978, which means, assuming the ticket was hers, she has very good taste. In addition to finding this out, seeing the ticket also provided me... Continue Reading →
I'm currently reading a book by Malcolm Gladwell called Outliers: The Story of Success. The book tries to explain how incredibly successful people came to be so successful. One of the key features of the book is that it tries to dispel some of the myths surrounding successful people. Gladwell explains that very successful people don't benefit... Continue Reading →
I use Spotify quite a lot during normal times, but now that COVID19 has me housebound I've noticed I'm using it even more. I took to the Irish Spotify charts to see was this a national event or just me. The below chart shows the total number of streams for each song in the top... Continue Reading →
