| [Saxophone] is a complicated instrument, 24 keys, and to be able to make music with that while remaining present mentally is like, 'that’s a heady person.' You’re moving your hands really fast and you’re very in tune. It’s like a dancer or pole dancer or stripper, very intuitive and very self-confident. |
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| Singin' in the rain: Taylor Swift at Gillette Stadium, Foxborough, Mass., May 20, 2023. |
| (TAS Rights Management/Getty Images) |
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| quote of the day |
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“[Saxophone] is a complicated instrument, 24 keys, and to be able to make music with that while remaining present mentally is like, 'that’s a heady person.' You’re moving your hands really fast and you’re very in tune. It’s like a dancer or pole dancer or stripper, very intuitive and very self-confident.”
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- Masego, whose self-titled second album is out now on EQT/Capitol.
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| rantnrave:// |
Condition of the Art
Through what lens should the music industry view ANDY WARHOL’s series of silk-screens of PRINCE, which were based on a portrait by rock photographer LYNN GOLDSMITH, and which were the subject of a landmark Supreme Court decision handed down last week?
Was Warhol akin to human musicians ED SHEERAN, ROBIN THICKE and PHARRELL WILLIAMS, writing and producing songs that seem to borrow a vibe, and maybe a bit of rhythm and/or melody, from songs that came before them? Or was he more like a non-human artificial intelligence program listening to any number of existing songs and spitting out endless new ones that literally reuse pieces of their DNA? Should he have been free to do what he wanted, unbound by any obligations to his sources, as the music industry wishes for Sheeran, Thicke and Williams, or did he owe a perpetual debt to his sources (even long after his death), as the industry says A.I. will have to?
Or was Warhol not quite either of those things? What options are available in between? Was he a visual sampler? An interpolater? Folk artist? Pop star? Postmodern visionary? An artist being an artist? More than one of the above? Can a visual artist’s output be mapped against the creation of sound recordings in those kinds of terms, or any terms at all?
Were record companies and publishers right to worry that a decision in favor the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, in the case of Warhol v. Goldsmith, would have opened the door for future A.I. programs to rob human musicians blind? Was the actual decision—a 7-2 ruling in favor of Goldsmith that the majority said was about a specific magazine contract and the legal definition of fair use and not about Warhol’s right to create the artworks in the first place—as narrow as the majority made it out be? Or will it have much broader implications as everyone else, including dissenting JUSTICE ELENA KAGAN, fears? Would a win for Warhol’s foundation have led to an absurd broadening of the meaning of fair use and created a free-for-all for artistic appropriators? Will the actual decision lead to an absurd narrowing of what artists are allowed to do?
Are those record companies and publishers right to be happy with the outcome of the case? Is it logical, and workable, for them to have wanted Ed Sheeran to win and Andy Warhol to lose?
Do we want Lynn Goldsmith’s photos and Andy Warhol’s silk-screens to be equally free to exist? Beyond the narrow specifics of the Goldsmith-Warhol-Vanity Fair legal dispute, which I think I understand as much as a layman can and for which I am sympathetic toward the photographer, what should the art industry’s and the music industry’s and the legal system’s goals be? What’s the best wide angle lens for all of this?
Can we—please—start with the idea that Warhol was an artist who made important, beautiful and provocative art? Does it matter if not everyone agrees with those adjectives? Can we simply agree that it's art and that we want it to be made and we want it to exist? And that we want future artists to follow their muse wherever it may lead, even if it means provocatively or transformatively or mysteriously appropriating from Warhol himself? And can we root for, and strive for, decisions, legal and otherwise, that lead toward that simple goal?
(And finally, a correction: In Friday's newsletter, I mistakenly said the labels and publishers had sided with Warhol in the court case, an obvious mistake that was easy to catch if you followed the link in that same sentence. They were, of course, on Goldsmith’s side. Thanks to all who corrected me, and my apologies.)
Etc Etc Etc
TAYLOR SWIFT’s ERAs tour has been welcomed with government-sanctioned celebrations across the US. In Massachusetts this weekend, it was greeted with pouring rain and legislation. The so-called “Taylor Swift Bill,” introduced in the state House and Senate, would require transparent, all-in ticket pricing and prohibit dynamic pricing, the controversial practice of changing concert ticket prices in real time as demand fluctuates. Massachusetts joins a number of states and the federal government in trying to rein in ticketing practices that have increasingly angered fans of several artists, including Swift... Record execs are continuing to press streaming services to raise their prices and Bloomberg’s LUCAS SHAW says it’s “only a matter of time” before they get their biggest wish, a bump in the price of SPOTIFY’s basic subscription price in the US. If Spotify doesn’t act on its own soon, Shaw reports, the record companies will force its hand by requiring it in their next contracts with the streaming giant... Imagine Hollywood’s reaction if federal prosecutors went after filmmakers, in court, for glamorizing drugs and having characters murdered. Record companies should be having that reaction now, publicly and loudly... And every artist who plays anywhere in Florida should do this. The more in violation of state law, the better... JOSH FREESE, whose previous gigs have included WEEZER, NINE INCH NAILS and GUNS N’ ROSES, has officially been appointed to the most talked-about drum seat in rock and roll.
Rest in Peace
Punk and metal bassist ALGY WARD. He was a member of Australian punk pioneers the Saints and first generation UK punks the Damned before co-founding New Wave of British Heavy Metal band Tank, with whom he played for most of the rest of his life... British poet, singer and percussionist PETE BROWN, best known as the lyricist for several classic Cream songs, including “White Room” and “Sunshine of Your Love.” Brown maintained a lifelong songwriting partnership with Cream’s Jack Bruce... Country booking agent GEORGE MOFFETT, founder of Ohio powerhouse Variety Attractions.
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| - Matty Karas, curator |
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| andy warhol looks a scream |
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A History of Rock Music in 500 Songs |
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| A History of Rock Music in 500 Songs: 'Dark Star' by the Grateful Dead |
| By Andrew Hickey |
| Episode 165 looks at "Dark Star" and the career of the Grateful Dead. This is a long one, even longer than the previous episode, but don't worry, that won't be the norm. There's a reason these two were much longer than average. |
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| andy warhol silver screen |
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The Critic Magazine |
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| A tale of two tribes |
| By David Conway |
| The diverging fates of Central Europe’s Roma and Jewish musicians. |
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GQ |
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| Confessions of a Dave Matthews Superfan |
| By Alex Pappademas |
| Essayist and screenwriter Samantha Irby is one of the biggest DMB fans on Earth--so much so that she devoted a whole section to Dave in her hilarious new essay collection, "Quietly Hostile." |
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Sound Field |
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| How Does the Mouth Become an Orchestra? The Art of Beatboxing |
| By Linda Diaz and Arthur 'LA' Buckner |
| Linda Diaz teams up with the remarkable talents of The Beatbox House, a collective of world-champion beatboxers who push the boundaries of music using only their voices. Together, they delve into the depths of beatboxing, exploring its origins and its deep roots in the culture of Hip Hop. |
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The New York Times |
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| Classical Crescendo |
| By Maureen Dowd |
| For cool kids, symphony halls are getting hotter. |
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| what we're into |
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| Music | Media |
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| “REDEF is dedicated to my mother, who nurtured and encouraged my interest in everything and slightly regrets the day she taught me to always ask ‘why?’” |
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