| Big [record] companies going forward will just be managers of catalog. I don’t see the need for a record company [beyond that] to exist. |
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Justin Bieber at Nickelodeon's Kids' Choice Awards, Santa Monica, Calif., March 2021.
(Rich Fury/Getty Images)
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“Big [record] companies going forward will just be managers of catalog. I don’t see the need for a record company [beyond that] to exist.”
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Is There an ArcLight That Never Goes Out?
God I loved the ARCLIGHT. There was no better place in the world to see Hollywood movies, as far as I'm concerned, than in Hollywood, at the SoCal chain's flagship theater on Sunset Boulevard. It had no particular identifying characteristic—it didn't serve food at your seat, it didn't show art house or foreign films, it didn't have an IMAX screen, it didn't do anything, really, except get every single detail of day-to-day moviegoing right. Perfect picture and perfect sound every time (I have a decade of receipts to back this up). Great sightlines. Clean, comfortable seats. Floors that seemed like they were secretly vacuumed between reels. And any number of other details, like the ushers who served as both emcees and quality-control supervisors, that drew a devoted crowd of Angelenos who wanted nothing more than to repeatedly spend two hours in the dark watching the films the studios around the corner or down the road were making.
The first time I went, before I moved here, I remember thinking to myself, "Of course. This is the exact theater Hollywood *would* build for itself." It was like a private screening room for the entire town. And as I was processing the startling news this week that the ARCLIGHT HOLLYWOOD, the adjacent CINERAMA DOME and the rest of the ArcLight and PACIFIC THEATERS group won't reopen after the pandemic, I was trying to think what the music equivalent of this temple of moviegoing is. A venue that could serve as the platonic ideal of concertgoing. A venue whose management is attentive to every detail of what every concertgoer would want on any given night, which might not mean pristine floors, but would definitely involve pristine sound and clear sightlines and an eye for the little things that would make you want to keep coming back no matter who was playing. A space to be savored, not simply tolerated. A space, whether a small club or an enormo arena, that's comfortable and welcoming for artists, too.
Great booking would matter, too, of course, in a way it doesn't automatically matter for a movie theater. The ArcLight had enough screens that it didn't have to pick just the right films; its job was to show as many of the most popular or talked-about ones as it could, so you could pick the right one. Music venues, obviously, work differently. The place that may have come closest for me, as a fan, may have been the long-gone FEZ in New York, a place you didn't want to leave even after a show was over (and you didn't have to since there was a great lounge upstairs). Maybe you'd suggest RED ROCKS, or the RYMAN, or BERGHAIN, or (LE) POISSON ROUGE, or maybe a less celebrated room that just makes you want to escape the world and drown in music every night.
Or maybe it's not a theater but a record store, like the celebrated one that was across the street from the ArcLight Hollywood until a year ago, and which has since moved a few blocks away. I know quite a few people who consider AMOEBA MUSIC the perfect music consuming experience, and I don't know a soul who isn't praying for its post-pandemic survival.
What rooms will still be here when it's finally behind us? What treasured rooms won't reopen then, or ever? Do we know yet? Are we prepared for the inevitable, even as more and more 2021 and 2022 tour announcements roll in? Will the Small Business Administration save your favorite live room? Will livestreams? Will vaccine passports? Will our collective desire to get out of our houses and be social again?
Dot Dot Dot
One beloved venue that appears out of danger: Nashville's EXIT/IN... I'm undecided on whether CAR THING is the worst product name of the streaming era or a stroke of REPO MAN branding genius. I'm also undecided on whether we want people driving down streets and highways with cars whose interiors look like this... This is an SNL skit, right?... BRANDEE YOUNGER's guide to her favorite IMPULSE! tracks... MORGAN WALLEN cancels all his summer 2021 live dates, says he needs "a little more" time away, says he's "been making my amends," is apparently not responsible for those billboards in Nashville... The Canadian province of Ontario, facing a surge in Covid cases, has temporarily banned livestreams from empty venues.
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| Matty Karas (@troubledoll), curator |
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GQ |
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| The Redemption of Justin Bieber |
| by Zach Baron |
| He made every mistake a child star can make, including the ones that nearly destroyed him. Now-fortified by God, marriage, and a new album, "Justice"-Justin Bieber is putting his life back together, one positive, deliberate step at a time. |
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Variety |
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| 15 Years of Spotify: How the Streaming Giant Has Changed and Reinvented the Music Industry |
| by Kristin Robinson |
| In honor of the game-changing digital service provider’s 15th anniversary, Variety breaks down 15 innovations, transformations, modifications and other ways Spotify has changed how people consume music and brought new functionalities to its platform. |
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The New York Times |
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| The Long Tail of Aphex Twin’s ‘Avril 14th’ |
| by Eric Ducker |
| A song released 20 years ago continues to inspire curiosity and covers by classical, experimental and pop artists. |
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Music Business Worldwide |
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| UnitedMasters’ Steve Stoute: ‘Record companies’ ownership in artists’ intellectual property will diminish’ |
| by Murray Stassen |
| Steve Stoute tells MBW about what Apple's investment means for UnitedMasters and gives us his predictions for the future role of record labels in the music industry. |
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Pitchfork |
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| How DMX Found God |
| by Clover Hope |
| In the aftermath of a childhood filled with neglect, the late rap legend became an anxious servant of the Lord. |
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n+1 |
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| That Real S*** |
| by Blair McClendon |
| Nobody sounded like X. If he wasn't your favorite rapper then he was better than your favorite. He rapped in a way no one else could. He didn't ride beats so much as drive them, and when they didn't suit him he rolled right over them. |
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Nashville Scene |
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| On George Jones, Exit/In, and Preserving Nashville's History |
| by Betsy Phillips |
| If protecting Nashville’s history is actually important to the city, we need some preservation designations with teeth. |
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Mixmag |
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| How New Zealand beat COVID and got back to raving |
| by Martyn Pepperell |
| Martyn Pepperell reports from New Zealand, where clubs have reopened safely and the local scene is thriving. |
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Midia Research |
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| Assessing the streaming opportunity: You’re doing it wrong |
| by Mark Mulligan |
| Emerging markets will be crucial to future growth -- yet much of their potential may go untapped. The reason is all to do with how the music industry measures the opportunity, and that approach needs to change. |
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Daily Dot |
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| The #FreeBritney movement is about more than just a pop star’s money |
| by Allison Goldberg, Jennifer Jamula, Leanne Simmons... |
| For the activists behind @FreeBritneyLA, the saga continues. |
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The Guardian |
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| Rockin' in the free world? Inside the rightwing takeover of protest music |
| by Luke Ottenhof |
| It’s easy to laugh at hardcore patriots misunderstanding Bruce Springsteen’s Born in the USA, but such appropriation is increasingly widespread - and dangerously twisting the truth. |
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The Boston Globe |
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| As the music streams, artists see but a trickle in profits |
| by Hiawatha Bray |
| Boston-area musicians are demanding higher royalty payments from Spotify and other streaming services. |
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Texas Monthly |
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| Veterans and Upstarts Alike Are Optimistic That Austin Hip-hop Will Finally Get Its Due--Even During a Pandemic |
| by Trey Gutierrez |
| Those who have long worked in the shadow of creative epicenters like Houston and Dallas believe Austin rap’s moment to shine is approaching. |
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Music Tomorrow |
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| A new way to think about SEO in the music industry |
| by Dmitry Pastukhov |
| Is it possible for artists and music professionals to approach naming their songs and projects in a way that make them more visible on search across all the various social platforms and DSPs? |
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Pitchfork |
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| The Bruce Springsteen and Barack Obama Podcast Is Just Two Guys Talking About Hope |
| by Sam Sodomsky |
| The eight-episode series, now available to hear in full, is largely too formulaic for its own good, though a few spontaneous moments slip through. |
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Kerrang! |
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| The Offspring: Why SoCal's punk legends remain rock's ultimate gateway band |
| by James Hickie |
| From underage drinking to the monumental success of "Smash," to being a stepping stone for teenage punks, The Offspring might've become elder statesmen after nearly 40 years in the game, but they're still a voice for a new generation. |
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Vulture |
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| 5 Rules of Great Songwriting Collabs, According to Teddy Geiger and Dan Wilson |
| by Charlie Harding and Nate Sloan |
| The two songwriters join co-hosts Charlie Harding and Nate Sloan to lay out the ground rules for collaboration from Wilson’s "Words and Music in Six Seconds" cards through a case study of Geiger’s “Love Somebody.” |
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The Quietus |
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| The Glorious Exclamation Mark: Carla Bley Interviewed |
| by John Doran |
| Carla Bley is arguably the greatest living jazz composer; John Doran talks to the woman fellow musicians have nicknamed 'Countess Bleysie' and 'Bleythoven' about foundational free jazz sessions, the magic of The Liberation Music Orchestra and her epic jazz opera, Escalator Over The Hill. |
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| Music of the day |
| "Tuyo y Mío" |
| Camilo ft. Los Dos Carnales |
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YouTube |
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Screening online this week at the SFFilm Festival (sffilm.org).
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| Music | Media | Sports | Fashion | Tech |
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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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| Jason Hirschhorn |
| CEO & Chief Curator |
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