| Coming out of quarantine, and such a dark time for a lot of people, I thought how cool to have a summer song that can just make people happy. |
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St. Vincent at the Hollywood Palladium, Los Angeles, Jan. 13, 2019.
(Scott Dudelson/Getty Images)
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“Coming out of quarantine, and such a dark time for a lot of people, I thought how cool to have a summer song that can just make people happy.”
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PapCaviar
The top story in today's mix, CHARLIE HARDING's reported essay for Vox on how playlists have all but swallowed albums—and quite possibly a few artists' careers—is a great read on the unintended, but very real, consequences of a seismic shift in music consumption. It's also a reminder of why some legacy formats that don't get much attention in our very online world remain crucial to the pop music economy. EMILY WARREN, an A-list songwriter, contrasts two kinds of pop success for Harding, who co-hosts the excellent SWITCHED ON POP podcast. Warren "told me that she knows songwriters with hundreds of millions of streams and Grammy nominations who still drive UBER for a living," Harding writes. "But she says that a songwriter with just two big radio hits is set up to retire." Is that the price of progress? Or the horrible cost of neglecting our infrastructure for a few beats too long?
'Brutal' Youth
It's unclear if the troubled prom queen photo OLIVIA RODRIGO used to promote her short film SOUR PROM is a homage to HOLE's 1994 album LIVE THROUGH THIS or to Hole's inspiration, BRIAN DE PALMA's 1976 horror film CARRIE, or if maybe Rodrigo, who's a little younger than "Live Through This" and a lot younger than "Carrie," is acknowledging/winking at both of them (or if she's doing a meta homage by copying Hole's gesture of copying De Palma). It also doesn’t completely matter. Either way, the "DRIVERS LICENSE" possessor and singer is honoring a long tradition of album covers and other pop artwork that serve as homage, parody or critique of imagery that came before. Sometimes the homage is openly acknowledged but often it is not, leaving fans to discover and draw connections for themselves, as they'll inevitably do.
Also sometimes, one of the (more or less) original sources will take offense, like Hole's COURTNEY LOVE, who took to both Instagram and Facebook to call out Rodrigo and to request flowers and a note of explanation from the teen pop star. That, too, is part of a long-running tradition of creators whose first instinct is to protect their creations, no matter their own sources. An understandable reaction. The raised eyebrows of the elders is a vibrant part of the pop ecosystem.
My favorite response in L'Affaire Sour Patch comes from ELVIS COSTELLO, who took to Twitter to chime in after a random tweeter piled on by calling out the obvious similarities between "BRUTAL," the opening track on SOUR the album, and Costello's "PUMP IT UP." "This is fine by me," Elvis wrote. "It’s how rock and roll works. You take the broken pieces of another thrill and make a brand new toy. That’s what I did. " He then used hashtags to succinctly praise/criticize himself for ripping off BOB DYLAN and Dylan for ripping off CHUCK BERRY. "Brutal," it's worth noting, sounds nothing like Berry's "TOO MUCH MONKEY BUSINESS." Borrow and re-borrow enough times and chances are you'll wind up with something original again. A copy may get you a call from a lawyer, or a snarky tweet. But a copy of a copy of a copy of a copy? That's how new art movements are born.
Etc Etc Etc
ARIANA GRANDE, in partnership with the portal BETTER HELP, is giving away $1 million in therapy—a small step, she herself acknowledges, but an important one for a culture that says it wants to be more proactive in administering mental health care... In a 24-hour auction that starts at 8 am ET today, A TRIBE CALLED QUEST is selling a 1.5% share in the sound recording royalties for its first five albums. It will be sold as an NFT, with a starting price of $35,000. ROYALTY EXCHANGE is hosting the auction... Did the WOMEN SONGWRITERS HALL OF FAME induct the wrong KLYMAXX?... A beginner's guide to vintage metal t-shirts.
Rest in Peace
Canadian songwriter/producer TIM THORNEY.
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| Matty Karas (@troubledoll), curator |
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Vox |
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| The pop star versus the playlist |
| by Charlie Harding |
| Streaming services’ playlists make it easier for listeners to find music worth playing. But experts say they’re also breaking fans’ relationships with artists. |
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The Hill |
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| Musicians, broadcasters battle in Congress over radio royalties |
| by Karl Evers-Hillstrom |
| Music artists are launching a lobbying assault on Capitol Hill in hopes of securing radio royalties, sparking fierce resistance from the broadcasting industry. |
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Vanity Fair |
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| Dua Lipa on Her International Upbringing, Life With Anwar, and Creating ‘Future Nostalgia’ |
| by Erin Vanderhoof |
| Before she rocketed into the pop stratosphere, before she delivered a record of club catharsis to a world stuck dancing in its bedroom, before she broke the billion-stream barrier, before the Grammys…Dua Lipa had to learn to believe in her own powers. |
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Pollstar |
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| Mid-Year In Review: Pandemic A Factor, Yet Live Industry Poised For Rebound |
| by Bob Allen |
| Here at the midpoint of 2021 while all eyes are on the future, analysis of the state of live entertainment during the past six months shows that concert activity was still largely defined by the pandemic. |
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Billboard |
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| Global Dance Music Industry’s Value Slides to 10-Year Low: 2021 IMS Business Report |
| by Katie Bain |
| Ten key takeaways from this year's report. |
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Broken Record |
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| Broken Record: Archie Shepp -- Activist of the Avant-Garde |
| by Justin Richmond and Archie Shepp |
| Justin Richmond talks to Archie Shepp about how an assignment he received in the third grade sparked the activism that's been ever present in his 60-year career. Shepp also talks about his relationship with John Coltrane, who he says never took his horn out of his mouth. And he recalls the rhetorical power of Malcolm X. |
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Vulture |
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| Writing the Summer’s Biggest Song Via WhatsApp |
| by Charlie Harding and Nate Sloan |
| How the creators of BTS’s “Butter” turned out a banger from across the locked-down world. |
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Sodajerker |
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| Sodajerker on Songwriting: St. Vincent |
| by Simon Barber, Brian O'Connor and Annie Clark |
| St. Vincent joins Simon and Brian for a conversation about her fascinating new album "Daddy's Home." During the chat, Annie talks about her approach to songwriting, collaborating with the likes of David Byrne and Jack Antonoff, her relationship with the guitar, and the place of music theory in her work. |
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Guitar World |
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| The wild times, final days and last recordings of Alexi Laiho |
| by Jon Weiderhorn |
| Featuring interviews with his Bodom After Midnight bandmates Daniel Freyberg and Mitja Toivonen, plus former Children of Bodom guitarist Roope Latvala. |
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Bloomberg Businessweek |
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| Don’t Sue Me Like That: Anatomy of a Copyright Troll |
| by Joshua Brustein |
| How rock photographer Larry Philpot perfected a perfectly legal way to extract settlements from his images of Tom Petty, Willie Nelson, Ted Nugent, and more. |
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Los Angeles Times |
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| An answer to 'pain porn': Questlove on celebrating Black joy with 'Summer of Soul' |
| by Rob Tannenbaum |
| Roots drummer and music historian Questlove counters Black erasure with his directorial debut, the Civil-Rights-era concert film 'Summer of Soul.' |
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KQED |
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| Chris Crocker, 'Leave Britney Alone' Video Creator, Reflects on What's Changed |
| by Sharon Pruitt-Young |
| Over the last few days, it's been said a lot on Twitter: "Chris Crocker was right." But as Crocker explained during a recent interview with NPR, they don't want to be right—and it's not about them at all. |
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Billboard |
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| Roblox and Twitch Are Gaming the System Against Songwriters |
| by David Israelite |
| NMPA president/CEO David Israelite argues that gaming platforms like Roblox and Twitch harm songwriters due to unlicensed uses of their music. |
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Trapital |
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| Jay Z and Damon Dash’s NFT Lawsuit, Explained |
| by Dan Runcie |
| This case has all the salacious Jay Z – Dame Dash drama hip-hop lives for, but let’s get the facts straight. |
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The Guardian |
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| Elton John and John Grant: ‘We help each other. We are both complicated people’ |
| by Jude Rogers |
| The pop legend and the US indie star have long been friends and fans of each other’s music. With Grant staying chez Elton and about to release a new album, the pair sat down to discuss politics, homophobia - and why Elton should never write lyrics. |
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5 Magazine |
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| Reaching a little bit higher: Jackie Queens |
| by Terry Matthew |
| Based in South Africa, Jackie Queens says she has a song for every moment in her life. Before she's done there will be a Jackie Queens song for yours, too. |
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VICE |
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| Fedde Le Grand: How 'Put Your Hands Up for Detroit' Changed My Life |
| by Emma Garland and Fedde Le Grand |
| On the 15th anniversary of its release, Fedde Le Grand explains how a track he wasn't even fussed about became an international club classic. |
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Stereogum |
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| Read An Excerpt From Richard Marx’s New Memoir 'Stories To Tell' |
| by Richard Marx |
| Richard Marx has plenty of experiences and tales to relay. One of them includes teaming up with NSYNC during their heyday, to help make what would become one of the boy band’s signature songs. |
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Emma-Jean Thackray's "Yellow" is due July 23 on Movementt.
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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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