While Maroon 5 didn’t go so far as to say “here is our recorded music, take it and use it as you like,” they did something just a few steps down: they released some samples, multitrack music, and vocals for a popular song to allow fans to remix them.  The winning DJ would win a trip to Miami to perform in from of a live crowd.

The contest was actually promoted by imeem, my favorite online radio station.  It started December 3, 2008, and was to be finished on January 16, 2009 with the winner’s announcement.  Late last night, they announced the winner: DJ 2nd Nature.  You can listen to DJ 2nd Nature’s Maroon 5 remix of “If I never see your face again” at imeem.  The remix is not very good, to say it in a nice way.

Within hours of posting the contest winner, other entrants were fast to complain on the imeem blog for the contest.  They rightfully should have, as the contest rules dictated how they’d pick the winner: 50% based on artistic creativity, and 50% based on number of online plays and comments for each remix.

DJ 2nd Nature’s statistics:
PLAYS:972
FAV:5
COMMENTED:18
RATED: 13 TIMES

Another entrant, Axel Van G’s statistics:
RATED: 72 times
FAV: 95 times
PLAYS: 2,798 times
COMMENTED: 88 times

We can see here an obvious problem.  The winning entry barely had any traffic at all, and an obviously better entry had more traffic, more comments, more “favoriting” by fans, and more ratings.  The winning DJ’s remix was even rated poorly!

Another comment left on the imeem blog shows that the winning DJ has actually had a relationship a year prior to the contest with the organization hosting the contest prize concert.  From DJ 2nd Nature’s site:

Got a couple things going on at WMC and Remix Hotel. I will be in MIA from Tues threw Friday with my crew to network and spin. I will be in and out of the Pioneer booth doing a couple demos on Wednesday and Thursday at Remix Hotel. Also, Wednesday night I’ll be playing a 1 hour electro/house/remix set at Flavour (click for directions). On Thursday afternoon I’m speaking on a WMC seminar at 3:00PM ‘Video DJing with DVJs & the SVM Mixer’ Workshop presented in conjunction with Pioneer & Sony Vegas. The panel will include myself along with Eclectic Method, Sandra/Vello, BT, Roonie G and Sander Kleinenberg. Hope to link up with everyone down there.

As we can see here, this DJ has had a relationship with the venue, and has even spoken at its events.  Is this just a coincidence, or was the contest rigged as some DJs are saying?

Whatever it is, it is bad news for Maroon 5 and imeem — both organizations rely on DJs to move tunes in the clubs to get more people hearing them.  What imeem was thinking when they picked a shoddy, subpar remix is beyond me, but I can surely say that I heard MUCH better and more professional remixes in the contest, and was shocked to hear the winner be one I could only listen to once before my ears hurt.

“My grandmother was ill in bed when the Nazis came to her home town of Staszów. A German soldier shot her dead in her bed. Madam Deputy Speaker, my grandmother did not die to provide cover for Israeli soldiers murdering Palestinian grandmothers in Gaza.

The present Israeli government ruthlessly and cynically exploit the continuing guilt among Gentiles over the slaughter of Jews in the Holocaust as justification for their murder of Palestinians. The implication is that Jewish lives are precious, but the lives of Palestinians do not count. I suppose the Jews fighting for their lives in the Warsaw Ghetto could have been dismissed as militants.”

Hurrah for Gerald Kaufman, a Jewish hero to come out against the secular State of Israel.

The full text of British MP Gerald Kaufman’s heroic speech is on page 2:

I think Padmasree makes good sense to be the head of technology for the U.S., but not in terms of being good for industry.  Good for the State, bad for industry.

Warrior’s career has been more focused on being a large voice in the technology industry, although maybe not the wisest.  Her time at the helm of technology at Motorola is not one that can be labeled as “technologically-savvy,” she just has an active and expressive personality that is more akin to Steve Jobs, but with worse ideas.  She’s adept at climbing the corporate ladder politically, which is exactly what the U.S. government wants: someone who is politically smart, even if they’re not intelllectually relevant to the market.

Her ability to move from Motorola to Cisco shows that she’s also well connected.  Both corporations needed someone who can spin the right phrases.  Her insight into technology shows that she may not be the wisest candidate for the job.  When the iPhone came out, she slammed it for the following reasons, back in 2007:

1. She saw no purpose for a touch screne on a phone.
2. She didn’t find the gesture interface revolutionary.
3. She didn’t like the lack of a hardware keyboard.
4. She was against the closed operating system structure that Apple professes in their products.

Of course, Warrior was completely wrong on the iPhone, much to Motorola’s detriment.  Is this a person you’d want in charge of your corporate interests?  Not I.

In terms of what she can do for the State, she’s always been a big proponent of “Seamless Mobility,” where Internet access is available everyone in a person’s life.  We know that Obama wants broadband availble for everyone, even if it means slow and financially expensive (for the taxpayers) broadband.  I’d say that Padmasree would be all in favor of such a spending measure.  Many of her old corporate cronies at Motorola and Cisco would love to get a jump on those tax dollars being spent.

Overall, I don’t see her being nominated as a bad thing or a good thing.  She’s politically savvy, well known in the insider tech circles, and is loved by the paleomedia and some in the New Media, such as Om Malik, who let her speak at his conference last year.  As Om says, she also is from Chicago (for the last few decades, it seems), so she definitely would be a crony that Obama is likely to pick.