Video: Times Square Obama Afghanistan Protest Arrests
New Photo Brings Flying Overweight Debate Back
AA's "Fat Flier" Got Whole Row
State Sen. Savino Gets Noticed For Impassioned Gay Marriage Speech
Teen Gets Two Years For Killing Kitten
Bryan Bruchman, of New York band Man in Gray, and his girlfriend Mary, have started a site to pay homage to all of those ruined songs in life. You know how often a song will stick itself to a situation, an event, a memory...making music a sonic earmark, and the first few notes of a song leading you on an unwanted trip down memory lane.
So this site, Ruined Music, not only focuses on those songs ruined by an ex...but also by "a roommate, a bandmate, a former best friend, a neighbor, a teacher, or an ocelot". So go dig up that old mix tape and let nostalgia sink in, write a little 1,000 word diary entry on that song that reminds you of a 7th grade crush, and submit it for the world to see. This one, by New Yorker Carrie Jones, has got to be our favorite. The song? "The Luckiest Guy on the Lower East Side" by the Magnetic Fields.
Check out this clip on MTV News where everyone from Lee Sargent of Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, to U2's Bono, talk about what songs are ruined for them.
add to stumble upon
add to reddit
tweet this
post to facebook
This was cool until I saw that you lose ALL rights to your work if you submit a story. Clearly they want to compile an anthology of everything submitted and not have to pay the writers. that's just great.
this is an awesome project. but "pay for art" is right - they are trying to sucker everyone.
That is a pathetic attempt at compiling "free" material to get a book deal. Kind of like Post Secrets... real original.. take everyone else's work... compile it into a book.. PROFIT!! I hope this site fails.
How are they suckering people if they state right up front that you're giving them the rights to your submission? Presumably if you agree to the terms, you consider the credit/exposure/satisfaction that you get from having your piece published sufficient compensation.
Sheesh, stop being jealous that someone else thought of the idea first and just enjoy the writing.
Better luck on future music coverage guys. Still waiting for some new vital coverage to emerge here...Bono's last album helped ruin music. Nough said.
Hey guys, thanks for all the comments.
We really aren't trying to sucker anybody - there aren't even any ads on the site (so nobody is making money at all) and we provide information and links to the authors in order to get as much exposure for them as possible. We are big fans of the people whose stories we publish.
As for the statement on the site that you are talking about (which has since been removed and is now being rewritten to more accurately reflect our intentions) - we put that up quickly one day to protect ourselves and the writers after finding that a website had copied material from the site without giving proper credit to the writers. We felt the need to prevent that from happening. In no way was it meant to say that we were trying to take work away from the creators and use it for our own gain - if a time comes when anyone makes money off Ruined Music, the writers would absolutely be asked for permission to use their work in whatever form it would be. And if anything like that ever happened we would absolutely make sure any contributors whose work is used are credited and compensated.
So now, how about you send us a story?
Commercials are the only reasons why my favorite songs have been ruined....