
(Kevin Mazur/Getty Images)
(Kevin Mazur/Getty Images)
Kudos to CORY DOCTOROW and the ELECTRONIC FRONTIER FOUNDATION for some out-of-the-box thinking in proposing a blanket music license for every user, big and small, and nearly every use case on the internet. The TL;DR version of a plan that would seemingly nullify and replace every label deal with every streaming service and every other site that wants access to "SAVAGE," "SAY SO" and "BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY"—file under "wishful thinking"—is that there would be a central clearinghouse/collecting society from which anyone could get a compulsory license based on their reach, and "If you have one user and FACEBOOK has 2.5 billion users, then your license fee is 1/2,500,000,000 of Facebook's fee." Doctorow's plan, which is as full of holes as it is appealingly simple, assumes, for example, that such a license would give any would-be giant killer "access to the same catalog that AMAZON, APPLE, and GOOGLE claim," but doesn't ponder how that would-be giant killer with a few thousand users, a few thousand dollars and no label relationships would get actual copies of the tens of millions of tracks that would make that possible. Or how music's underpaid long and medium tails would fare in a payment system based on the equivalent of airplay monitoring. On the other hand, no one's figured out a great way to license music for podcasts, and even giants like INSTAGRAM are still struggling with how to incorporate music into their business plans, so if someone can kickstart *that* discussion, kick away... Do I want to devote three and a half hours to another two-part documentary about Los Angeles music in the 1970s? Yes if the director is ALISON ELLWOOD, who perfected the format with 2013's HISTORY OF THE EAGLES and who returns with LAUREL CANYON: A PLACE IN TIME, premiering Sunday on EPIX. Sunday's part one has "more of the light, and the second part would be more of the darkness," Ellwood tells the LA TIMES. "There’s tons of light that comes through the darkness in Part 2 as well—it’s not like it was doom and gloom. But it shifted.” As it too often does... Can MTV pull off a traditional VIDEO MUSIC AWARDS show in August with live bands in front of a live audience in Brooklyn? Though it's making backup plans, too, the network says it's trying... Knowing me, knowing the new president of the global rights society CISAC... Forty years ago this weekend in Washington D.C.... BIG HIT ENTERTAINMENT files for its IPO in South Korea... I looked for LADY GAGA's new album, CHROMATICA, on SONOS last night by searching for her name. On SPOTIFY inside Sonos, it's pretty much at the top of her page, right under Lady Gaga Radio and a top tracks link. On TIDAL, a click on "Own Albums" takes you right to it. On APPLE MUSIC, ugh. A single scrolling page of 60-plus items, with "Chromatica" about two-thirds of the way down. If I don't know exactly what I'm looking for, I'm never going to find it. Please work this out, Apple and Sonos. In related news, this remains ridiculously sweet ear candy... It's FRIDAY and that means in addition to GAGA there's new music from LIL YACHTY, ANUEL (Latin trap provocateur), MALA RODRIGUEZ, MEDHANE, DIPLO (goes country), ENRIQUE BUNBURY, KANY GARCÍA, CIRCO, 2ND GRADE, FREDDIE GIBBS & THE ALCHEMIST, ACE HOOD, PROBLEM, KIP MOORE, ONDARA, NICOLE ATKINS, DEERHOOF, INVENTIONS, M IS WE (cassette-only release arrives on BANDCAMP for the three or four of you without working tape decks), SWEET SPIRIT, NOAH REID, ALEC BENJAMIN, CAROLINA CALVACHE, JEAN-LOUIS MATINIER & KEVIN SEDDIKI, PALAYE ROYALE, XIBALBA, BEHEMOTH (this one's for you, BERTIS DOWNS), SORCERER, KYGO, FLYING LOTUS ("Flamagra" instrumentals), SÉBASTIEN TELLIER, HANIA RANI, DAVID GRUBBS & TAKU UNAMI, SOULWAX, JIMMY BUFFETT, the LONG BEACH DUB ALLSTARS, NEW FOUND GLORY, MRS. PISS, JADE HAIRPINS, JAIME WYATT, JOELL ORTIZ & KXNG CROOKED, VISTAS, the REFLECTORS, TEDDY THOMPSON, CHRISTIAN LEE HUTSON, PAINTED ZEROS, VARSITY, the WHITE BUFFALO, RICARDO ARJONA, CHIQUIS, BANDA LOS SEBASTIANES and the IGGY POP box set THE BOWIE YEARS... And finally, let's pair all that listening with a good burger. Our friends at OFF THE MENU are sponsoring the BURGER SHOWDOWN, which matches celebs with chefs in 10 cities to collaborate on new burger recipes that you can watch them make online and then order via UBER EATS. It's a benefit for FRONTLINE FOODS, which supports local restaurants and feeds Covid-19 responders.