Often called indie rock’s Tim “The Toolman” Taylor, Nick Martens provides an in-depth guide on finding, experiencing, and surviving live underground music.

Major record labels are expanding their agreements with their artists. Instead of just making money on CD sales, labels want in on the touring and merchandising revenue as well. Nick Martens looks at the artistic impact of these deals in an attempt to divine their overall effect on the industry.

Yesterday, Radiohead announced that they would self-distribute their upcoming album. With record labels, iTunes, and the future of music in mind, soothsayer Nick Martens analyzes the implications of this surprising but welcome attempt at subverting traditional methods of purchasing albums.

In theory, it’s great to listen to music while reading dry modernist criticism, but it rarely works so well in practice. It’s too easy to get distracted or fall asleep. Premier musicologist Nick Martens applies state-of-the-science research methods to combat this problem, and locates four albums that make studying a breeze.