It WILL Get Better!

I know this is a blog mostly about music, but this is a topic that should be brought to light, and I am happy to have seen that one of the “Best Of The Web” speeches featured on TED.com is Councilman Joel Burns telling the gay teens “it gets better.” It has brought me great pain to hear about all the teen suicides that have happened this past year, only because teens were not accepted because they were gay.

The message I want to spread is: WE ARE ALL EQUAL!

A person’s sexual orientation does NOT make them less than I! I am a firm believer that closed mindedness is the downfall of our society. We must embrace our differences, and accept people for who they are, NOT for what people think they should be.

In 2010, after many gay teen suicides were brought to light by the media, the “It Gets Better” videos were started. These videos are truly heartfelt. Some videos include personal experiences, but all videos let teens know that although it may be tough right now it WILL get better. I believe many celebrities realized the power they have over teens and all fans, and they joined this campaign. Their videos spread rapidly through TV commercials and through YouTube.

In past posts I have stated what a powerful tool I think YouTube is, and one of the main reasons I believe this, is because I’ve seen the power the “it gets better” videos featured on YouTube have been. By October 20, 2010 the “It Gets Better” project achieved over 10 million views on YouTube, and in October 21, 2011, President Obama himself posted “It Gets Better” video.

The power of celebrities and the Internet is truly astonishing, but this project goes beyond following the celebrity trends. It is about truly getting the message across.

Again, I will say WE ARE ALL EQUAL! Life WILL GET BETTER! 

Below you will find various "It Gets Better" videos:

Here's a motto I've always lived by, and I will now leave you with:

No matter how gray a day may seem, the sun is always shining!

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I Have A Confession To Make...I Have An Addiction!

I have a confession to make. I have a musical addiction. It is truly a big problem! It is not a joke! I love music so much that there are days that I cannot stick to one song. I literally have to change, change, change the songs, and listen to more songs!  Just can’t get enough! Pandora helped my addiction a bit, but after a few “next song please” clicks, it told me that unfortunately it could not keep up with my addiction.

I used Grooveshark for a bit, but it just was not good enough. My iPod and my radio has helped with my addiction, but lately it has gotten much worse, and my wallet has not allowed me to get as much songs to keep my addiction going. Luckily a solution has finally come to the U.S, SPOTIFY. Yes, I know how obnoxious all caps words can be, but Spotify need the extra attention. In my opinion, it is truly amazing, and all of you out there with my same addiction will understand.

As the article, “Spotify is Finally Available in the U.S.  – Now What?,” states, “the speculation is over.” Spotify is here for all of us to enjoy and see what it has to offer, but what exactly is Spotify? The article describes Spotify as “service that has worked incredibly hard to build its offering around what its consumers actually want to listen to.”

I have been one of the lucky few that has been able to experience what Spotify has to offer, and I will say I am blown away. It is so simple to use, the prices for the upgraded versions are truly reasonable, and it offers us popular music, but also music that only a few know about. You can stream FULL albums and FULL songs. NOT just 30 seconds, NOT just a few songs, and the program does NOT choose the song for you, you hear the song you want, when YOU want to.

Obviously Spotify offers popular music, like Adele (who as mentioned previously I LOVE, I will be seeing in concert in October, and I can’t hardly control my excitement), Jay-Z, and Nicky Minaj. I have also been very surprised to see Spotify contain music from more unknown artists like Hey Hey My My. I even took it a step further and searched for a VERY UNKNOWN local Tallahassee band that I saw in concert once or twice named Finding Aquila, and yes Spotify has their album.

Currently Spotify is by invitation only. These are the steps for obtaining and invite for your own Spotify account:

1.     Go to www.spotify.com.

2.     Enter your e-mail address.

3.     Click on request an invite.

4.     Wait patiently until you receive your invite from Spotify.

5.     Follow the instructions in the e-mail.

6.     Have your mind blown away by music!

Here's a video to give you more insight on Spotify:

[Warning Spotify may cause a musical addiction!]

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