| The aim of artists is to put information out there, and when people are ready, they can come to it—and hopefully further themselves. The music, contrary to popular belief, is not universal, but it has the ability to universalize; it can become universal. |
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Wings over America: Lil Nas X on "Saturday Night Live," May 22, 2021.
(Will Heath/NBC/Getty Images)
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“The aim of artists is to put information out there, and when people are ready, they can come to it—and hopefully further themselves. The music, contrary to popular belief, is not universal, but it has the ability to universalize; it can become universal.”
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Yesterday's Tomorrow
I stepped inside a music venue for the first time in 15 months. IRL, in Brooklyn, is actually more of an art gallery, but it's been hosting live music in its main room and that's why I was there last Thursday, masked, a little nervous and, I realized as soon as the doorperson waved me in without bothering to look at the ticket on my phone, ready. Just plain ready. It was a hell of a first show for me: the trio of jazz trumpeter JAIMIE BRANCH (also on electronics and singing/chanting), upright bassist LUKE STEWART and drummer TCHESER HOLMES. It was their second set of the night (they'd be playing again 12 hours later, outdoors in Times Square, as part of my friend PIOTR ORLOV's DADA STRAIN show on THE LOT RADIO) and they kept hitting new and different peaks. A jam that landed on a looped mass of wordless harmonies that Branch, as far as I could tell, created in secret in front of all of us. A long, slow-building acoustic tune with a repeating bass figure as the anchor and the trumpet playing soft, melodic lines that steadily grew in volume and intensity. A finale in which the trumpeter/singer told us "it's yesterday's tomorrow" over and over and over until the wordplay turned into a mantra and then into an open-ended question and finally, in my ears, a call to arms.
Is this the tomorrow we were expecting to come back to after 15 months of loss and pain and anger and protest and art and emptiness and rebuilding? Is this the tomorrow we want to come back to? Is this the tomorrow we should come back to? What will be the same? What won't be? Do we have a say in this? To that last question, the trumpet, the bass and the ride cymbal all told me: yes, we do. We have, in fact, an obligation.
Square Circle
Speaking of yesterday's tomorrow, today is the first anniversary of BLACKOUT TUESDAY. One year out from black squares and promises, has there been a year's worth of progress? Has there been a year's worth of action on actionable items? Have promised funds been spent, and have they been well spent? Are there plans for today? For the next 12 months? Is there transparency? Engagement? Inclusion?
(Employment news: JAMILA THOMAS, a driving force behind Blackout Tuesday, was named *this* Tuesday as VP of artist marketing at MOTOWN. She continues to work on #TheShowMustBePaused.)
Ella Ella Ella
After a year of postponements and false starts, COACHELLA has been officially announced for the weekends of April 15-17 and April 22-24, 2022. The country fest STAGECOACH will follow from April 29-May 1... TUNECORE owner BELIEVE went public Tuesday with an IPO on France's EURONEXT PARIS exchange. It's hoping to raise 300 million euros... D-NICE is taking his CLUB QUARANTINE to the HOLLYWOOD BOWL in August with help from the ISLEY BROTHERS, COMMON and SHEILA E.... OLIVIA RODRIGO's SOUR sold the equivalent of 295,000 copies in the US last week, the biggest week any album has had in 2021... The Mount Rushmore of 2010s hip-hop, per SPOTIFY's RAPCAVIAR: DRAKE, KENDRICK LAMAR, J. COLE and NICKI MINAJ. RapCav picked the first three and its Twitter followers picked Nicki. Mount Rushmore, it should be noted, isn't about years or decades or even centuries, but maybe I'm nitpicking... PINK FLOYD's two principals are arguing about liner notes... Breaking down SONNY ROLLINS' catchiest tune.
Rest in Peace
Pop/country singer and AM radio staple B.J. THOMAS, whose hits included "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head" and "(Hey Won't You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song"... Brooklyn rapper SUPA GATES and Detroit rapper and videographer VONZA "VNZA" WATSON, at least the 12th and 13th hip-hop artists murdered in the first five months of 2021... Chicago house pioneer RODNEY BAKERR, an artist and founder of the label Rockin' House Records... Dallas rapper LIL LOADED... Detroit jazz bandleader JOHNNY TRUDELL, who played trumpet on several Motown classics... PATRICK SKY, folk singer who emerged from the 1960s Greenwich Village scene... Austin jazz drummer SCOTT LANINGHAM.
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| Matty Karas (@troubledoll), curator |
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New Republic |
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| Music for Nothing |
| by Alex Pareene, Laura Marsh, Tom Gray... |
| Everyone streams music. Musicians make pennies. Is Spotify to blame? |
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Slate |
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| Why Olivia Rodrigo’s “Good 4 U” Is Rock’s First Hot 100 No. 1 in Years |
| by Chris Molanphy |
| The versatile Disney star might be the dying genre’s best hope. |
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The Guardian |
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| A year since Blackout Tuesday, has equality in music improved? |
| by Stephanie Phillips |
| Amid the BLM protests of 2020 came a call to make the music industry accountable on race - but while new initiatives are helping, real change is still slow in the UK. |
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Music Business Worldwide |
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| Making change in diversity as a woman in music |
| by Paulette Long |
| A year on from Blackout Tuesday, it is fitting for UK Music to release the granular ethnicity data from 2020’s Diversity Report for the first time, showing where the Black, Asian and Minority ethnic people in the industry are in terms of career levels. Or more to the point, where they are not. |
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Pitchfork |
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| What Is Asian American Music, Really? |
| by Cat Zhang |
| Seeking more than representation, a critic tries to make sense of a fragmented, disparate musical tradition. |
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Cocaine & Rhinestones |
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| White Lightning |
| by Tyler Mahan Coe |
| CR018/PH04: Ever wonder why so many people will never trust the government or politicians Ever wonder if the “moonshine” you can now buy in liquor stores is really moonshine? “White Lightning” was George Jones’ first #1 country record, sure, but it’s also the cork in a jug of profoundly strong history. |
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Backseat Freestyle |
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| Are You Ready To Go Back To Outside? |
| by Jayson Rodriguez |
| How willing will people be to return to group settings? Maybe their heart is set on going but their head won’t turn the corner. Maybe they have all the confidence in the world to get back to simpler times. I asked five of my music business friends/peers in different fields to share their thoughts. |
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Water & Music |
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| From Napster to now: The legacy of Y2K music piracy |
| by Kristin Robinson |
| In the 1920s, music companies were facing a piracy problem. Across major cities, bootlegged copies of sheet music were a commonplace and more convenient option for music fans than the official offerings from major publishers. Sound familiar? |
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VICE |
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| The Music Industry Is Where No Artist Stops Working--Even When They Die |
| by Kristin Corry |
| How else do you explain Nipsey Hussle and Juice WRLD ending up on a... Maroon 5 album? |
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Esquire |
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| An Oral History of Tupac's Sexual Abuse Trial |
| by Sheldon Pearce |
| In 1993, Tupac Shakur had the world in his hands-until he became the center of a trial that would change hip-hop forever. For the first time, a juror is speaking out about what happened inside the jury room. |
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The Guardian |
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| ‘Black music is my superpower. It’s my way of showing love’: the art of Georgia Anne Muldrow |
| by Christine Ochefu |
| The LA musician, who has unleashed another of her psychedelic funk and hip-hop beat tapes, talks about social justice, her time in Brixton and the battle over ‘woke’, a word she helped popularise. |
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Billboard |
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| Executive of the Week: Dreamville Co-Founder Ibrahim ‘Ib’ Hamad |
| by Dan Rys |
| Hamad has worked alongside J. Cole for their entire careers, building Dreamville from a label home for Cole into a full, functioning company with several other budding stars. Along the way he’s helped build Cole into one of hip-hop's premier artists, building on Cole’s talent to expand into different lanes and help build his brand into one that extends beyond genre. |
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The New York Times |
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| Lance Loud Was an Early Reality Star. He Was Also a Gay Punk Pioneer. |
| by Jim Farber |
| Loud was part of “An American Family” in 1973, but his wild band, Mumps, never signed a record deal. Now their songs are being released on the 20th anniversary of his death. |
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TODAY Show |
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| Melissa Etheridge paved the way for lesbian rock stars. She doesn't care if you remember |
| by Allison Slater Tate |
| The Grammy winning rock icon looks back on her life in the music industry before she came out and the "beautiful spectrum" she sees among today's artists. |
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How to Build a Sustainable Music Career and Collect All Revenue Streams |
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| Music Publishing Isn't Scary or Confusing w/ Songtrust President Molly Neuman |
| by Emily White and Molly Neuman |
| Music publishing has brought fear and confusion to many songwriters over the years. There are horror stories of songwriters signing their publishing rights away for a nominal advance in the 20th century, only for their catalog to go on to make millions. But first, what *is* music publishing? And how do you collect on it? |
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Los Angeles Times |
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| TikTok stars like Bella Poarch can turn random songs into hits. So why not make 'em themselves? |
| by Mikael Wood |
| TikTok influencers like Bella Poarch and Addison Rae are following the Paris Hilton/Bhad Babie template and extending their brands by launching music careers. |
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Clash Magazine |
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| The Music Industry's TikTok Obsession Is Another Form Of Fast Fashion |
| by Lucy Harbron |
| It’s no longer 15 minutes of fame, it’s 15 seconds. |
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Quartz |
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| 'Never give up': A Hong Kong boy band has emerged as the voice of a city under crackdown |
| by Mary Hui |
| The pop group's songs reflect an undying fighting spirit, and are lauded as powerful acts of expression at a time when that freedom is being restricted. |
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The Ringer |
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| A Fan’s Farewell to Taemin as He Leaves K-pop for the Military |
| by Kate Halliwell |
| Many singers before him have halted pop stardom to fulfill a mandatory obligation to join the South Korean military, but it’s strange to see a supernatural force like Lee Tae-min bound by the laws of man. |
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NPR |
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| In The Wake Of The Tulsa Race Massacre's Centennial, A Communal Hip-Hop Album Emerges |
| by Julie Wenger Watson |
| Stevie Johnson is the executive producer of "Fire in Little Africa," a hip-hop album commemorating the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre's centennial that honors the city's past, while bridging new communities. |
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Salon |
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| By refusing to name her abuser, Lady Gaga reclaims power |
| by Kylie Cheung |
| #MeToo isn’t just about creating spectacle-it’s about supporting survivors, whatever they need. |
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POLITICO |
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| How Harry Reid, a Terrorist Interrogator and the Singer From Blink-182 Took UFOs Mainstream |
| by Bryan Bender |
| The hidden history of how Washington embraced a fringe field of science. |
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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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