| Life isn't about finding yourself, or finding anything. Life is about creating yourself. |
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“Life isn't about finding yourself, or finding anything. Life is about creating yourself.”
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Windows Filled With Frost
Swagger is telling the publishing company that wants to buy your life's work that, yes, it can have everything you did in your first eight decades here on Earth, every world-changing acoustic folk song, every universe-altering electric rock song, every story song, every protest song, every love song, every 10-minute-plus epic about sad eyed ladies and desolation rows, every song anyone alive or dead has ever covered or ever will cover, every song you've ever sold to Victoria's Secret or Chobani, every song that helped you win your Nobel Prize, every song about time or death or women or men or America or anyplace else, every song on BLONDE ON BLONDE and DESIRE and SHOT OF LOVE and LOVE AND THEFT, every vision of Johanna and twist of fate and tale of Yankee power, every joke you've ever thought of and every melody that's ever coursed through your veins and everything and anything else you've ever done, they can have all of that, free and clear, but *only* that. Anything you write this year when you're 80 years old or record next year when you're 81? You're keeping those for yourself.
Maybe that's how these things are always done—the publishing company or hedge fund that's buying your songs for a few hundred million bucks takes possession of your existing catalog but not your future catalog because your future catalog doesn't exist. But I like to think this is specifically what Bob Dylan, who turns 80 today, wanted. A clean break with his past, which he's just been making up all along anyway. A chance to move on one more time, to whatever he makes up tomorrow. A bet on his own future. Sure, UNIVERSAL MUSIC PUBLISHING GROUP gets "I CONTAIN MULTITUDES" and "I'VE MADE UP MY MIND TO GIVE MYSELF TO YOU" and "MURDER MOST FOUL" and the rest of the magnificent ROUGH AND ROWDY WAYS, released 11 months ago, when Dylan was a mere child of 79 years. But Bob Dylan's keeping the next one. And the one after that.
Bob Dylan sells and negotiates with the wisdom and confidence a man who knows what's still to come. He wheels and deals—or maybe they just said here's several hundred million dollars and he just said yes, I don't know—with the ease of a man who's never stopped writing, never stopped recording, never stopped touring, never stopped being a troubadour. And with the knowledge that no amount of money, no contract, can buy that from him. Universal gets hundreds of classic Bob Dylan songs, and all the non-classic ones too. Bob Dylan gets Bob Dylan.
Happy birthday Bob.
Every Dylan album, ranked. "My favourite Dylan song" by MICK JAGGER, MARIANNE FAITHFULL, YOLA, MEGHAN REMY and others (no one asked me, but it's "IT TAKES A LOT TO LAUGH, IT TAKES A TRAIN TO CRY," maybe). Deep cuts. Eighty things you should know. Read. Watch.
That time he sparred with BOOM BOOM MANCINI. And what FRANK SINATRA told him that time Dylan and BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN were invited to a dinner party at Sinatra's house: "We were standing out on his patio at night and he said to me, 'You and me, pal, we got blue eyes, we’re from up there,' and he pointed to the stars. 'These other bums are from down here.' I remember thinking that he might be right."
No Direction Home
In what Billboard says is a "speed bump" for investment in songwriting catalogs and master recording revenues, UNIVERSAL MUSIC will no longer agree to redirect royalties from artists and songwriters to "entities with no legally recognized relationship" with the music company. The change in policy on letters of direction means artists and songwriters who sell future royalties to investors will be responsible for actually getting those royalties to them going forward. UMG is citing "tax and legal liability issues." Observers suggest the company, itself a buyer of catalogs, may have an interest in making such deals more difficult for the competition. Question: If Dylan's label, SONY, adopts the same policy, will it refuse to pay his mechanical royalties directly to Universal Music Publishing Group?
Dot Dot Dot
The music industry-backed DOTMUSIC (officially .MUSIC, but this sentence would be confusing if I spelled it that way) has moved "a major step closer" to being able to launch and operate the .MUSIC internet domain. Here's a good thread from IP lawyer ANNEMARIE BRIDY on what that means and how it will work... My sister Linda's new favorite riot grrrl band, the LINDA LINDAS, are on the verge of signing with EPITAPH RECORDS after this glorious performance at a branch of the Los Angeles Public Library went viral. Despite ranging in age from 10 to 16, the LLs are already veterans of the SoCal rock circuit. Also, despite it only being May, "RACIST, SEXIST BOY" is already the best rock song of 2021... Congrats to my friend DANIEL EFRAM on successfully funding his STEVE KEENE ART BOOK via KICKSTARTER. It will be the first book devoted to the work of rock's favorite (and the world's most prolific) painter.
Rest in Peace
Acclaimed hip-hop photographer CHI MODU, who shot iconic images of the Notorious B.I.G., Tupac Shakur and many others for the Source... Columbus, Ohio, rapper BOOG THE BANDIT, at least the 11th hip-hop artist murdered in 2021; it's May... CRAIG DUFFY, tour manager for Duran Duran, Blur, Radiohead and others... ARTHUR POMPOSELLO, longtime host of the Algonquin Hotel's Oak Room.
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| Matty Karas (@troubledoll), curator |
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UPROXX |
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| Every Bob Dylan Studio Album, Ranked |
| by Steven Hyden |
| How does it feel … to be on your own … like a person ranking Bob Dylan studio albums? Come with me on this journey through dark heat. Be sure to grab one more cup of coffee before we go to the valley below, because this is going to take a while. |
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Billboard |
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| Universal Music’s New Policy Presents a Speed Bump for Royalties Sales |
| by Glenn Peoples and Ed Christman |
| Investors who have purchased some or all of an artist, songwriter, producer, engineer or side performer’s revenue stream on a sound recording or composition owned or controlled by UMG will need to coordinate that payment directly through the artist or songwriter with whom the label and publisher has a deal. |
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VICE |
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| ‘Twerkulator’ Went Viral, So Why Was The Song So Difficult to Release? |
| by Kristin Corry |
| The City Girls highly-anticipated single has finally hit streaming services after awaiting clearance of Afrika Bambaataa’s “Planet Rock.” |
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The Independent |
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| Why amapiano will be the sound of summer |
| by Natty Kasambala |
| South Africa’s house spin-off had a big 2020 but as lockdown lifts and bars open back up, amapiano’s jazzy, pulsing numbers are the perfect soundtrack for 2021’s newfound freedom. |
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Pollstar |
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| Vaccination Verification: To Require Or Not To Require? It's A Fair Question |
| by Deborah Speer |
| When New York’s City Winery opened its doors May 10 for the first of five (and now 14 and counting) sold-out shows with comedian John Mulaney, everyone in the house was vaccinated against COVID-19. Venue owner Michael Dorf made sure of that. |
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NPR Music |
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| On 'Sour,' Olivia Rodrigo Is A Lowercase Girl With Caps-Lock Feelings |
| by Lindsay Zoladz |
| The debut album by the "drivers license" phenom plays like one bottled-up soliloquy after another, bursting from a quiet observer who has been paying closer attention than you think. |
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The Guardian |
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| My favourite Dylan song – by Mick Jagger, Marianne Faithfull, Tom Jones, Judy Collins and more |
| by Dave Simpson |
| Bob Dylan is 80 today. But what’s his greatest song? Stars pick their favourite - and recall their own encounters, from Marianne Faithfull turning him down to Judy Collins whacking a policeman to get backstage. |
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Culture Notes of an Honest Broker |
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| The Greatest Wasted Musical Talent of the Century |
| by Ted Gioia |
| The troubled life & many careers of pianist Oscar Levant (1906-1972). |
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Los Angeles Times |
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| 'Whoa, this is crazy': L.A. teen punks the Linda Lindas on going viral (just before finals) |
| by August Brown |
| Life has changed for L.A. girl-punk band the Linda Lindas, whose library performance of "Racist, Sexist Boy" blew up the internet. |
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Pitchfork |
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| The Story Behind Mariah Carey’s Secret ’90s Alt-Rock Album |
| by Rafael Canton |
| Behind-the-scenes collaborators detail the making of the icon’s liberating side project, Chick’s "Someone’s Ugly Daughter." |
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Variety |
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| How Did ‘Mind Your Own Business,’ Delta 5’s 40-Year-Old Cult Hit, End Up in an Apple Ad? |
| by Jem Aswad |
| It's safe to assume that the mouths of wizening hipsters across the country dropped open with astonishment when they heard "Mind Your Own Business," a 40-year-old song by short-lived British post-punk quintet Delta 5, blasting from their TVs when a new Apple ad aired during the NBA play-ins. |
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Slate |
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| Meet the Twentysomething Behind Weezer’s New Classic Rock Record |
| by Madeline Ducharme |
| Weezer’s 15th record is all hair metal and Van Halen riffs, thanks to this millennial. |
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Trapital |
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| Tracy Chan on Twitch Music, Helping Artists Monetize, and the Creator Economy |
| by Dan Runcie and Tracy Chan |
| Twitch's VP Head of Music, Tracy Chan, talks about how artists on Twitch are making money. The number of artists making $25,000 on Twitch has grown 16x since the pandemic started. |
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The Nelson George Mixtape |
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| RETRO MUST READ: Two Conversations with Marvin Gaye |
| by Nelson George |
| On the anniversary of 'What's Going On' I revisit early '80s interviews with the soul music icon. |
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Star Tribune |
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| 80 things you should know about Bob Dylan on his 80th birthday |
| by Jon Bream and Chris Riemenschneider |
| Instead of candles, here are 80 things to celebrate about the Minnesota-born birthday boy. |
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Billboard |
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| Reducing Artists’ Royalties for Promotion -- Haven’t We Heard That Before? |
| by A2IM |
| Spotify's Discovery Mode allows artists and labels to choose specific tracks to be algorithmically served to listeners, but cost of access is a reduced royalty. |
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Complex |
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| What It's Like to Be Justin Bieber's DJ and A&R |
| by Waiss Aramesh |
| Justin Bieber’s long-time DJ and friend Taylor James has been around from since Bieber’s second show ever. Now he's been rewarded with a new title: Bieber’s personal A&R. |
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Pitchfork |
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| Going Deep on Y2K-era Girl Groups With 'Girls5eva' Creator Meredith Scardino |
| by Clover Hope |
| The musical comedy series cleverly underscores the camp and cringe of turn-of-the-millennium pop. |
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Vulture |
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| Writing Love Notes to the Archive of Black Performance |
| by Danielle A. Jackson |
| Books by Hanif Abdurraqib and Daphne A. Brooks are devoted to performers of the past and present-and their adoring fans. |
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Condé Nast Traveler |
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| In Lagos, A Female Duo Is Celebrating the Legacy of Afrobeats |
| by Ify Obi |
| The Kan Àwa collective, made up of Olayinka Owoseni and Yvette Ogungbe, wants the world to know about the genre. |
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NJ.com |
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| Chi Modu, acclaimed hip-hop photographer, dead at 54 |
| by Amy Kuperinsky |
| Modu is behind some of the most famous images of the Notorious B.I.G., Tupac Shakur and more. |
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| Music of the day |
| "I Contain Multitudes" |
| Bob Dylan |
| "I sing the songs of experience like William Blake / I have no apologies to make." |
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YouTube |
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"I sing the songs of experience like William Blake / I have no apologies to make."
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Martin Scorsese's 2019 version of Dylan's 1975 version of himself.
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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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