Today is a mix of new thoughts, brave acceptance and inspiration from one teacher to many. Read and Rock On!

Here is a quick quiz; below are five favorite brands; guess the Gen!

This list picked out the twenty brands with the most significant Favorability Difference between Gen Z and the other adult gens (Boomers, Gen X, and Millennials). Digging into the data, we found a few other interesting bits of information. Of the top twenty favorite brands of Gen Z, only 3 had a favorable rating of over 50% for different adult generations (Boomers, Gen X, and Millennials).

Categories with a favorability rating over 50% for adult gens.

Eight out of ten favorites on the Gen Zs list are digital companies. Born from 1996 to the present, this is the first generation born post-Internet—so much potential.

It is refreshing to find a story about a company admitting when a big swing may have come up short over the long term. We see strength and sincerity in any person, group, or company that can admit a mistake and moves forward. PC Mag, a behemoth in the tech press business, has been publishing for decades. They made us smile and showed us 5 Times They Were Very, Very Wrong. Link to the full article for all the details; we will focus on one of the times PC Mag says they were wrong, but we would argue not so much.

The first iPhone's release underwhelmed PCMag lists, and it’s possible you could argue that PCMag wasn’t alone in that review. Only Steve Jobs saw what was coming when the iPhone first hit the market. We remember the release of the first iPhone; we heard about it when we were checking email on our Blackberrys. The original iPhone was a larger iPod with a few other features; every once in a while, it would connect to a cell tower. Remember, in the first few years of the iPhone; they had an exclusive deal with one cell phone carrier. AT&T.

Apple gets into a market that had at least matured out of infancy, with a new product still in its infancy, on a cell phone carrier that also looked to grow into a new market. PCMag does talk about this as well, the first iPhone was not the iPhone, and it wasn’t until the App Store took off that the iPhone became the iPhone.

Legendary author Kurt Vonnegut gave lots of talks during his lifetime. Youtube is full of them. Mr. Vonnegut liked telling stories about making stories; below is another version of a Diagram of a story. He is talking to college students, and in addition to being funny and clever, Vonnegut finishes this talk with the following question quote:

Thank you, teachers, coaches, and mentors. And thank you, Mr. Vonnegut!

[Music Notes]

Back in the day, music labels would have representatives in the A&R department responsible for talent. These were the people with a brand you envied when looking from the outside. A&R stands for Artist and Repertoire and typically works as a talent scout and artist development after the artist is signed to the label. Blink 182’s Mark Hoppus told a story this week on his radio program that when Blink was first signed in the 90s, the A&R rep was the person with the credit card!

With the generational shift in music over the past decade, what does the new music label look like? Has the role of A&R been taken over by an A.I. that watches Youtube and TikTok for the next big thing?

Music Connection (similar to PCMag) is another industry publication that has been around since the 70s. They sent out a job posting for an A&R Coordinator at the Universal Music Group.

[More New Stuff]

Words | Music | Art | Unknown

Fifty newsletter posts in 50 days of music celebration. This is new music, and it may take a listen or two; after that, it will make you smile on many levels.

Click on the Apple Music image to listen to the song on Apple Music or on the Spotify Image to listen to Spotify.

Thank you for spending a few minutes with us!

With A Shout Team