We’re the only ones doing what we do—like we could literally take this whole conversation and make it a whole song. If it make noise, we can make it heat. | | | | Hip-hop parking lot: Skooly performs a drive-in show at Murphy Park Fairgrounds, Atlanta, June 6, 2020.
(Marcus Ingram/Getty Images) | | | | | |  | “We’re the only ones doing what we do—like we could literally take this whole conversation and make it a whole song. If it make noise, we can make it heat.”
| | | | | | rantnrave:// How hard is it to put together a comprehensive deal for livestreaming music on a video platform that neither TWITCH nor INSTAGRAM has one—now of all times? Both have positioned themselves as music plays and both presumably have lots of money in the petty cash drawer. Twitch is owned by AMAZON (which paid $970 million for the service six years ago), and Instagram by FACEBOOK. Quarantined DJs have flocked to both over the past three months and brought music fans with them. And yet this is going on at one and this at the other. There's a lot of frustration being directed at the services as well as at record companies (less so at music publishers, who presumably are a less sexy entity to be frustrated with). Is this a case of intransigent rights holders or cheap rights users? A little of both? Or is it possible everyone, except DJs and fans, is happy exactly as things are?... Live music crisis followup #1: 90 percent (!) of indie concert venues in the US could go out of business within months if Congress doesn't supply some relief, according to the NATIONAL INDEPENDENT VENUE ASSOCIATION. The venues are pushing for passage of the bipartisan Restart Act or similar legislation to help them weather a continued industry-wide shutdown via loans, tax credits and other forms of relief. In several states, live music venues are among the last businesses that will get to reopen. And, the association notes, as long as clubs in big city Covid hotspots remain closed, it may not even matter if those in smaller markets open, because it will be impossible for bands to route tours... Live music crisis followup #2: BILLBOARD's DAVE BROOKS reports that the possibility of a fall COACHELLA is officially off, and GOLDENVOICE can't promise it will be back next April either. The promoter, per Brooks, is weighing a reduced-capacity April 2021 fest vs. a fuller October 2021 version, and won't make a decision "until there is more clarity on the pandemic's overall trajectory." Wow... "Urban" music followup: The word appears on its way to being fully canceled. Days after REPUBLIC RECORDS said it will no longer use "urban" to describe music, BLOOMBERG's LUCAS SHAW reports WARNER MUSIC and IHEARTMEDIA are doing the same and UNIVERSAL and SONY are having discussions about it. A coalition of British black music executives is asking the UK industry to follow suit. This editorial by radio and label veteran DAVID C. LINTON, chairman of the LIVING LEGEND FOUNDATION, explains how a word originally intended to make a black radio station palatable to white advertisers turned into a word that gave black executives a perch at record companies but limited their avenues for advancement. "I guess it's good" the word is going away, Linton writes, "but it doesn’t excite me until I see some parity for black executives in running not just departments, but companies." In other words, what we have for now is a good edit to a flawed recording. But in the long run someone might have go back into the studio and record the whole thing over from scratch... "Music has the potential to reach many more people with the message that the real source of happiness is warm-heartedness and a concern for others." So says the DALAI LAMA, whose album INNER WORLD will be out July 6... RIP PAU DONÉS.
| | | - Matty Karas (@troubledoll), curator | | | |  | The Guardian | | A growing number of other DJs and musicians are giving the app a shot, with individual artists offering at-home performances to their fans. | | | |  | Audiofemme | | Disco Demolition Night attempted to silence a genre made for and by people of color and LGBTQ communities under the guise of a promotional stunt. | | | |  | Music Business Worldwide | | David C. Linton, Chairman of The Living Legends Foundation, offers a timely history lesson on the US business. | | | |  | Bloomberg | | 1.3 billion streams and counting: Why country music is thriving in the coronavirus pandemic. | | | |  | Billboard | | George Floyd ... let that sink in. I was asked to write an essay about George Floyd and how the music community, country in particular, can play a role in healing. First and foremost, I cannot write anything until I acknowledge the murders of Tamir Rice, Walter Scott, Botham Jean, Philando Castile, Atatiana Jefferson, Dominique Clayton, Michelle Cusseaux, Walter Scott, Antwon Rose II, Breonna Taylor and George Floyd. | | | |  | Pitchfork | | “Now I want to go protest, with my song playing,” says Johnniqua Charles, whose run-in with a security guard led to an unlikely internet hit. | | | |  | Rolling Stone | | 32 years after its release, streams of the anti-cop anthem are surging once again during the nation’s George Floyd protests. “A lot of people would be happy that they song gets streamed,” says MC Ren, “but it’s unfortunate.” | | | |  | Variety | | NIVA released the pessimistic figure as part of a drive to support the Restart Act, a bipartisan bill in Congress that would provide federal relief for shuttered venues. | | | |  | The New York Times | | Choirs have been linked to several coronavirus outbreaks. And some scientists are skeptical about efforts to bring them back with protective measures. | | | |  | The Undefeated | | Although challenged on his black card, he struck a blow for the power of black artists. | | | | | Billboard | | On Saturday (June 6), Billie Eilish marched in a Black Lives Matter protest in Los Angeles: with her hoodie zipped up and green hair falling down to her face mask, the 18-year-old held up a sign that read, "STOP KILLING BLACK PEOPLE." | | | |  | First Floor | | a.k.a. Dismantling the systemic racism of the music industry. | | | |  | Nikkei Asian Review | | Livestreaming readies to storm onstage as pandemic plays on. | | | |  | Resident Advisor | | Yuko Asanuma speaks to the artists and activists at the heart of a new socio-cultural movement in Japan's capital. | | | |  | BBC News | | The £2.5m fund is almost depleted after just five days, with one new applicant every 10 seconds. | | | | | The Guardian | | Coronavirus has pushed live classical music to the edge of the abyss. But Prince Charles’s fears for the Royal Opera is the only thing making the headlines. Why aren’t the big names kicking up a fuss? | | | |  | The Ringer | | The heartbreaking and emboldening song from Christine and the Queens’ "Hélöise Letissier" has taken on a new resonance during isolation. | | | |  | American Songwriter | | James Weldon Johnson and John Rosamond Johnson were brothers. Born two years apart in 1871 and 1873, respectively, the two also became artistic collaborators. James was a writer and civil rights activist. He was a leader of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. | | | |  | Wide Open Country | | Linda Martell, the first black woman to perform on the Grand Ole Opry stage, got there by singing the country music she learned back home. | | | | | Pitchfork | | Usage of LRADs, which can be loud enough to induce vomiting and cause ear damage, has been documented at protests across the country. | | | | |  | | YouTube | | | | | | | | iMarkkeyz x DJ Suede the Remix God | | | | | | | | | | | © Copyright 2020, The REDEF Group | | |
