| We want ownership... Can we get the equity? Is it a possibility? Can I get 1 percent of that?... I try to get my artists and my team to think not about the front end, but the back end. |
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Marie Ulven, aka girl in red, in Copenhagen, Nov. 12, 2019. "If I Could Make It Go Quiet" is out today via AWAL.
(Joe Miller/Gonzales Photo/Getty Images)
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“We want ownership... Can we get the equity? Is it a possibility? Can I get 1 percent of that?... I try to get my artists and my team to think not about the front end, but the back end.”
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Get in the Van
Or hop on your couch and watch someone else get in the van. It's the weekend, it's spring, and while the highways might not be full of starving, sleep-deprived musicians in beat-up rented vans driving all day in search of tiny clubs in Wichita or Tucson or Fresno with sketchy bathrooms and germ-covered SM58 microphones, for the first time in a long time it doesn't seem crazy to at least dream about that beautiful, glamorous fantasy world. "It's the greatest thing you could ever do," FLEA tells us in the trailer for DAVE GROHL's documentary WHAT DRIVES US, which drops today on AMAZON PRIME's music-doc premium channel the CODA COLLECTION. "I just felt like we were this roaming band of gypsies. We show up and we rock you." Which is one way of looking at the life. Another way might go like this: "People are always like, 'Oh what kind of sights did you see when you went to New York?,' or whatever. And it's, like, I got some soup and I saw a disgusting club bathroom. Saw some human feces." That's drummer/vocalist HOZOJI MATHESON-MARGULLIS of Seattle post-hardcore band HELMS ALEE in another new doc, WHY AM I DOING THIS? (A FILM ABOUT TOURING), which dropped two weeks ago on YOUTUBE and advertises itself as "100% Dave Grohl free!" It features not a single musician who ever showed up and rocked you like Flea, or who ever wanted to. Two films about the same, yet different, life, and you might want to fill two bowls of popcorn, buy an extra six-pack of PBR and make it a double feature. Grohl's film is told through the eyes, ears and memories of members of NO DOUBT, the RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS, METALLICA, U2, BLACK FLAG, FUGAZI, STARCRAWLER, etc., sharing war stories about what it was like, for the most part, back then. It has a budget. ERIC FUNDINGSLAND's "Why Am I Doing This" probably has a budget, too—it's hard to say—and stars members of BOTTOMLESS PIT, HELMS ALEE, WIMPS, the BISMARCK, CONAN NEUTRON, etc.—many of them from Grohl's old hometown, Seattle—telling war stories about what it's still going to be like when live music resumes and what it's never, in fact, not going to be like. Same highway, different lanes. Same chord, different inversions. Next phase, new wave. FIRST AVENUE, 7TH ST ENTRY. Someone should make five or six more of these. I'd watch 'em all.
Dot Dot Dot
Streaming will continue to push recorded music revenues toward increasingly high peaks for at least the next decade, GOLDMAN SACHS analyst LISA YANG predicts in the company's latest update of its MUSIC IN THE AIR report. "New formats" including gaming and connected fitness will be major revenue drivers too, the banking giant predicts... But the real future is on TWITCH, according to, um, Twitch, which, in a report called TWITCH'S ROCKONOMICS, says it's paying out significantly more per hour of listening time than streaming services are paying... A manifesto by WILLIE NELSON, who turned 88 on Thursday... OUTSIDE LANDS, scheduled for the last weekend in October in San Francisco, sells out in two hours... NICK CAVE on ANITA LANE... The video of PRINCE's guitar gently weeping at the 2004 Rock Hall of Fame induction ceremony has been re-edited by the original producer. Still no shot of his guitar coming back down at the end, though. Which it did.
It's Friday
And that means new music from DAWN RICHARD, who goes electronic via New Orleans in SECOND LINE... Norwegian alt-pop songwriter GIRL IN RED, who makes her full-length debut with IF I COULD MAKE IT GO QUIET... Tennessee singer/songwriter ASHLEY MONROE, who explores life beyond the borders of her usual, um, country on ROSEGOLD... Country star THOMAS RHETT, joining the mini-trend of releasing double albums one at a time with COUNTRY AGAIN SIDE A... Afrobeat great TONY ALLEN, whose final album, THERE IS NO END, arrives on the first anniversary of his death... DJ KHALED, whose KHALED KHALED features, and I'm quoting, "all your favorite artists," and you can take it for granted that he's not exaggerating... GOJIRA, continuing to make climate-friendly metal on FORTITUDE... And more new music from FLYING LOTUS (his soundtrack to the Netflix anime series "Yasuke"), ANGEL BAT DAWID/HANNE DE BACKER/SIGNE EMMELUTH, SHELLEY FKA DRAM, LIL EAZZYY (debut mixtape from buzzed-about Chicago rapper), the ALCHEMIST, CADENCE WEAPON, J.PERIOD, MATT SWEENEY & BONNIE "PRINCE" BILLY, MARIANNE FAITHFULL WITH WARREN ELLIS, EDDY KENZO, MICK FLEETWOOD & FRIENDS (all-star live album paying tribute to Fleetwood Mac's early years), MANCHESTER ORCHESTRA, MAETA, JULIA MICHAELS, JULIA STONE (Australian singer/songwriter co-produced by St. Vincent), ADRIAN CROWLEY, JUAN WAUTERS, LEON VYNEHALL, SCOTCH ROLEX, ELSA HEWITT, BURIAL & BLACKDOWN, CRUMB, ENUMCLAW, DEGO, SERJ TANKIAN, RITUALS OF THE DEAD (out Saturday), ORYX, DROPKICK MURPHYS, ROYAL BLOOD, ROSIE TUCKER, RONNIE MILSAP, MARILYN MCCOO & BILLY DAVIS JR., MORRAY, YELAWOLF, CAPOLOW, MICHAEL WOLLNY/EMILE PARISIEN,/TIM LEFEBVRE/CHRISTIAN LILLINGER, SUFJAN STEVENS, SHOVELS & ROPE (covers album feat. Sharon Van Etten, the War & Treaty and others), MERCYME, BOWERBIRDS, KUČKA, BEN SERETAN, JOSEPH SHABASON, YA TSEEN, TEENAGE FANCLUB, GUIDED BY VOICES, AMY SPEACE, SARAH LOUISE and PAUL JACOBS... And from BROOKLYN's BLANK FORMS, a 500-page book celebrating the work of jazz trumpeter DON CHERRY and fashion and textile designer MOKI CHERRY in the 1960s and '70s. Two albums will follow in June.
Rest in Peace
Japanese film and TV composer SHUNSUKE KIKUCHI, best known for the anime series "DRAGON BALL"... Indian classical singer RAJAN MISHRA... 1950s torch singer JILL COREY... NICK WEAVER, songwriter/guitarist for Australia's DEEP SEA ARCADE.
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| Matty Karas (@troubledoll), curator |
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| we fell in love in october |
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Music Business Worldwide |
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| Goldman Sachs says Universal Music Group is worth over $50bn |
| by Tim Ingham |
| Latest Music In The Air report will put a spring in the industry. |
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Synchblog |
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| The Big Clean Up: How Do We Improve Music Rights Data? |
| by Eamonn Forde |
| We examine the progress being made with regards to cleaning up music rights data and look at industry-wide solutions and initiatives. |
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Billboard |
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| Pay It Again, Sam: We Still Need New Publishing Infrastructure |
| by Travis Rosenblatt |
| "We don't need to figure out how to optimize the current publishing infrastructure," says Meddling founder Travis Rosenblatt. "We need a new one for the world we live in now." |
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Stereogum |
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| girl in red Is Alive |
| by Danielle Chelosky |
| Marie Ulven on her debut album and making the leap from lo-fi DIY sensation to queer pop icon. |
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MTV News |
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| Dawn Richard's Electronic Reinvention Spans All Of New Orleans On 'Second Line' |
| by Jaelani Turner-Williams |
| The artist's newest album pays homage to the liveliness of NOLA parades while embodying a seductive blend of deep electronic sounds. |
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Pitchfork |
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| The Secret History of Women in Electronic Music Is Just Beginning to Be Told |
| by Isabelia Herrera |
| "Sisters with Transistors," a new documentary highlighting women pioneers in early electronic music, offers one portal into the past—hopefully with more to follow. |
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CNN |
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| He's shaping the future of Spotify, one moonshot idea at a time |
| by Kerry Flynn |
| Spotify is frequently one step ahead of us, suggesting undiscovered songs, artists and podcasts based on what you listened to in the past. But who is helping Spotify stay one step - or 10 years - ahead in the audio industry? |
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Music x |
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| The sachetization of music consumption |
| by Maarten Walraven-Freeling |
| Sachetization comes from the fast-moving consumer goods industry and refers to the bite-size packaging - e.g. one biscuit, or 15ml shampoo - of goods that used to be available only in bigger, and thus more expensive, packages. Music consumption has seen a little bit of sachetization, but there is significant growth to be had. |
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The Quietus |
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| One In A Million: Tony Allen's Brilliant Swansong |
| by Jeremy Allen |
| Featuring collaborations with Skepta, Ben Okri, and Danny Brown, the final album from afrobeat legend Tony Allen offers a fitting coda to one of music's great second acts. |
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The Pudding |
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| How many artists overshadow their band after going solo? |
| by Russell Goldenberg |
| What the data say about Beyoncé, Nick Lachey, and others. |
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| i wanna be your girlfriend |
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Complex |
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| The Strange Rise of Adin Ross, Explained |
| by Eric Skelton |
| Twitch streamer Adin Ross has exploded in popularity lately, inviting popular rappers on his streams. But is he heading towards controversy and backlash? |
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The Guardian |
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| Why stars should think twice before calling out their critics |
| by Hannah J. Davies |
| From Lizzo to Lana Del Rey, celebrities have taken umbrage with reviews online. But arguing with journalists only warps the public’s view of the media, and puts writers under siege. |
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Vulture |
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| Billie Eilish’s Real Power Might Be Her Ability to Still Surprise |
| by Craig Jenkins |
| “Your Power” is another unexpected turn, one of the singer’s most direct and revealing bits of writing to date. |
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Twitch |
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| Twitch's Rockonomics |
| by Will Page |
| Live streaming won’t go away when live music returns. But the two can co-exist. |
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The Tennessean |
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| Thomas Rhett goes 'Country Again': 'This is where I'm at as an artist right now' |
| by Matthew Leimkuehler |
| When did Thomas Rhett know he would lean into being "Country Again" for his next album? He points to a moment in 2019, when a pair of Lucchese boots - the same he's worn since high school - felt better than another night in sneakers. |
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Billboard |
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| If You Know H.E.R., You Should Know Him: Oscar & Grammy Winning Producer D’Mile |
| by Neena Rouhani |
| Billboard catches up with Grammy and Oscar-winning producer D'Mile, discussing his work with H.E.R., Silk Sonic and early collaborators, and the state of R&B. |
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Variety |
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| Underrepresented Composers Get a Helping Hand From New Agencies and Databases |
| by Jazz Tangcay |
| When the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences released its shortlists in nine categories in February, only one female composer made the cut for best original score - Lolita Ritmanis for "Blizzard of Souls." Even then, the Emmy-winning composer was considered a long shot. |
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Bloomberg |
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| U.K. Deploys Thousands of Ravers to Test Relaxing of Covid Rules |
| by Emily Ashton and Marc Daniel Davies |
| Thousands of people at a mass nightclub rave in the U.K. will be a key test of whether live events halted during the pandemic can reopen at full capacity as planned from the end of June. |
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Vulture |
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| Flying Lotus’s Yasuke Soundtrack Is His ‘Full-Circle Moment’ |
| by Craig Jenkins |
| The Grammy winner on working on Netflix’s new anime, seeing himself in the historic Black samurai, and why this is his synth album. |
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Apple Music |
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| Pete Townshend & Roger Daltrey: ‘The Who Sell Out’ Released in 1967 and their Legacy |
| by Zane Lowe, Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey |
| Celebrating the deluxe version of 1967's "The Who Sell Out," Pete Townshend talks about the storytelling throughout this concept album, influencing how other musicians approached their sound, and moments that shaped The Who’s legacy. |
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| Music of the day |
| "Your Power" |
| Billie Eilish |
| "Try not to abuse your power..." Quietly devastating lyric, and wow that video. From "Happier Than Ever," due July 30 on Darkroom/Interscope. |
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YouTube |
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"Try not to abuse your power..." Quietly devastating lyric, and wow that video. From "Happier Than Ever," due July 30 on Darkroom/Interscope.
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You should watch Dave Grohl's "What Drives Us," too!
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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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