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The Muse |
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| How Can I Explain: An Incomplete Oral History of Asian Americans and Our Ineffable Love of New Wave |
| by Esther Wang |
| Why was “Bizarre Love Triangle” widely dubbed the Asian American anthem? Why were there so many Asians of a certain age in the crowd at the one Erasure concert I went to on New Year’s Eve in 2014? Was it something akin to the well-documented love that Mexican Americans have for Morrissey and the Smiths? How can I explain? |
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TorrentFreak |
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| How the MP3, Pirates and Apple Changed The Music Industry |
| by Ernesto Van der Sar |
| When Karlheinz Brandenburg first released the MP3 format in the early 90s, it started a chain of events that disrupted the music industry. |
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REDEF |
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| REDEF MusicSET: I Sell the Songs That Make the Whole World Sing |
| by Matty Karas |
| It's a seller's market for songs, with buyers opening their hundred million dollar wallets for the catalogs of Bob Dylan, RZA, Stevie Nicks and seemingly everyone else with a few hundred songs to sell. Who besides Merck Mercuriadis is buying, who's selling and why now? |
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Los Angeles Times |
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| Channeling Harley Quinn and Lil' Kim, Ashnikko won the internet. Are the pop charts next? |
| by Suzy Exposito |
| Combining striking visuals with bubblegum trap, Ashnikko went viral on TikTok and YouTube. Now she's taking her boldly feminist pop to the mainstream. |
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Pitchfork |
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| The Meaning of Lil’ Kim |
| by Clover Hope |
| An essay from the new book "The Motherlode" that details the complicated legacy of one of rap’s boldest provocateurs. |
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The New York Times |
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| Rare Violin Tests Germany’s Commitment to Atone for Its Nazi Past |
| by Catherine Hickley |
| The instrument’s holders refuse to compensate the heirs of a Jewish music dealer, jeopardizing a system for restitution that has been in place for nearly two decades. |
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Complete Music Update |
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| Dissecting The Streaming Inquiry #01: The big picture view |
| by Chris Cooke |
| The UK Parliament's inquiry into the economics of streaming is now well underway and last week the culture select committee published all 197 submissions that have been as part of its investigation. The inquiry was sparked by the #brokenrecord and #fixstreaming campaigns. |
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Music Business Worldwide |
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| Audius has raised nearly $10m for its Spotify rival. Can its blockchain-based model change the game for artist payments? |
| by Rhian Jones |
| Does Audius offer a viable and more ethical alternative to music streaming? |
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NME |
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| Lil Baby: 'It's not about the fame game -- I'm more about real life' |
| by Luke Morgan Britton |
| Lil Baby, whose ‘My Turn’ was America’s most-streamed album of 2020, reflects on a headf*** of a year, collabing with Kanye and his passion for activism. |
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Vulture |
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| Disney and Nickelodeon Stars Gone Pop: A Power Ranking |
| by Jordan Crucchiola, Zoe Haylock and Milan Polk |
| Has Miley held her position at the top? How powerful is Lesbian Jesus? And is Zendaya poised to be our next superstar? |
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| ah hear this, robert zimmerman |
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GQ |
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| The Sounds of Happiness: 12 Culture-Shapers on the Songs That Make Them Happy |
| by Chris Heath |
| While interviewing people for The Happiness Project, Chris Heath asked the 12 interviewees whether there was a song that made them happy. Here is a fuller list of their wildly diverse answers. |
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Pollstar |
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| 24kGoldn: No. 1 Without A Tour ... Yet! |
| by Sarah Pittman |
| Although Golden Landis Von Jones has enjoyed his sustained No. 1 success over the last few months, he, like many other up-and-coming artists, faces a purely 2020-21 conundrum: How does a hot recording artist establish their touring career side without the ability to have live shows? |
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Holler |
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| The Unstoppable Rise of Morgan Wallen |
| by Natalie Weiner |
| His greatest success seems to still be ahead of him, if he can stay upright on all the tightropes he’s walking while avoiding the kinds of legal and PR troubles that have so far punctuated his career. |
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Don't Rock the Inbox |
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| Don't Rock the Inbox: Issue #4 |
| by Natalie Weiner and Marissa Moss |
| New year, new country (but also the same old country). |
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The New York Times |
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| An Organ Recital, With a Coronavirus Shot |
| by Alex Marshall |
| Salisbury Cathedral is joining Britain’s vaccination drive, and its organists are providing a musical accompaniment. They’re even taking requests. |
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Cabbages |
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| The Secret 1990s/2000s Hip-Hop Labels Hiding In Plain Sight On Bandcamp |
| by Gary Suarez |
| Bandcamp’s business has attracted relatively obscure indie labels with deep catalogs, including a number with out-of-print or otherwise hard-to-find hip-hop albums. |
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The Guardian |
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| System of a lockdown: the web series keeping the spirit of metal alive |
| by Skot Thayer |
| In Two Minutes to Late Night, a corpse-painted comedian and his musical guests cover metal classics. The result has been an unlikely Covid-era hit. |
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The Quietus |
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| The Metal Gods At Fifty: Judas Priest Interviewed |
| by Michael Hann |
| KK Downing and Rob Halford, plus producer Tom Allom and Mantas from Venom talk to Michael Hann about Judas Priest being the first (metal) gang in town and their five decade history. |
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HipHopDX |
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| What Ever Happened To Fugees Affiliate John Forté? The O.G. Hip Hop Presidential Pardon Story |
| by Kyle Eustice |
| Long before Donald Trump set foot in the White House, Fugees affiliate John Forté needed a Hail Mary of his own — from the 43rd President of the United States, George W. Bush. |
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Music In Africa |
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| Jonas Gwangwa embodied South Africa’s struggle for a national culture |
| by Gwen Ansell |
| Through 65 years on stage, Jonas Gwangwa's playing contributed to every genre of South African jazz. Yet he chose to step away from mainstream success for 10 years, leading the Amandla Cultural Ensemble of the African National Congress to win hearts for the anti-apartheid struggle and present a vision of what post-apartheid national culture could be. |
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