He knew exactly what he was singing about. If he was singing about lonely, he knew what lonely was. If he was singing about love, he knew what love was about.
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Wednesday April 27, 2022
REDEF
Pink Sweat$ at Coachella, April 22, 2022.
(Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images)
quote of the day
He knew exactly what he was singing about. If he was singing about lonely, he knew what lonely was. If he was singing about love, he knew what love was about.
- Sid Mark, 1933 – 2022, Philly radio DJ who played almost nothing but Frank Sinatra for more than 60 years
rantnrave://
Two Maths You Can Go By

Are 60,000 tracks really uploaded every day to SPOTIFY, as Spotify claims, and as, to quote my friend BILL WERDE, "freaking everyone says it all the time"? Werde's conclusion, based on his own calculations from Spotify's numbers, as laid out in his FULL RATE NO CAP newsletter, is: not a chance. He comes up with maybe 23,000/day, or less than half what the service claims. Even if he's off by, say, a whopping 50 percent because he's not considering factors like how many tracks are removed every day, it would still get the total nowhere near 60,000/day. This probably doesn't affect anyone's day-to-day life or anyone's day-to-day decisions about the tracks they *have* uploaded to Spotify. It's just an example of how a thing, once stated by anyone in a position of authority, can get repeated and repeated by everyone else until it's just assumed to be true—and makes you wonder what else is being announced, disseminated and repeated that might not, strictly speaking, be true. Like, oh, I don't know, how many times those tracks are being played and how much money is owed to the artists and songwriters responsible for them.

In related news: If an artist has fewer than 50 listeners in Spotify or a track has been played fewer than 5,000 times, that doesn't mean the artist is automatically a "hobbyist" or that the track is somehow clogging up the digital plumbing. Maybe the artist gets her listens elsewhere. Maybe the track is three or four Spotify subscribers' all-time favorite pop-punk song. This isn't to say the numbers aren't interesting or worth analyzing within the context of the digital music economy. But it's to suggest the music behind those numbers shouldn't be dismissed out of hand, and that it's quite possible there are a hundred thousand or more tracks with only a handful of plays each, or artists with only a handful of followers, who are exactly what make Spotify interesting to a hundred thousand or more individual subscribers. The breadth and depth are very much part of Spotify's, or any digital library's, value. It's certainly a big part of what I'm paying $9.99/month for.

Etc Etc Etc

The Guardian and BBC teamed up for a major investigation into multiple allegations of sexual assault against popular British radio DJ TIM WESTWOOD across a period of 25 years. Westwood lawyers call the allegations "false and seriously defamatory." A BBC Three documentary about the seven Black women accusing Westwood—who was a longtime BBC presenter—aired Tuesday night and is available on demand in the UK... Music question #1 (there will be more) about ELON MUSK's Twitter: Will it license music? "It’s past time to fix Twitter’s broken policy of not paying songwriters," NATIONAL MUSIC PUBLISHERS' ASSOCIATION CEO DAVID ISRAELITE says... T BONE BURNETT's company NEOFIDELITY says it has developed a new, LP-like analog format that's "future-proof," "one of one" and "the pinnacle of recorded sound," and he's recorded new sessions with BOB DYLAN to prove it. When you'll be able to hear it, what equipment you'll need to do so and what "one of one" means will all have to be left to your imagination for now... Right wing troll rappers.

Rest in Peace

Philadelphia radio legend SID MARK, who kept Frank Sinatra in almost exclusive rotation for more than 60 years. Mark had four weekly shows devoted to Ol' Blue Eyes—in Philly and New York and the nationally syndicated "The Sounds of Sinatra"—and was a close confidante of Sinatra, whom he met after playing nothing but his live album "Sinatra at the Sands" for a week in 1966. "I love him, and I say that publicly, I love him," Sinatra said from the stage of the Spectrum in Philadelphia 25 years later... R&B songwriter and session keyboardist ALLAN "GRIP" SMITH, who worked with the SOS Band, Jagged Edge, TLC and many others. (Ignore the typo on his age in that link from the usually reliable SoulTracks; he was 61).

- Matty Karas (@troubledoll), curator
in the wee small hours
Los Angeles Times
A year ago, they were picking fruit with their dad. Today, they're the hottest act in Latin music
By Kristina Garcia
Led by 15-year-old Yahritza Martinez, the sibling trio Yahritza y Su Esencia have turned a pair of viral TikToks into a record-breaking single and a debut EP.
Better Homes & Gardens
Harry Styles Reveals the Meaning Behind His New Album, 'Harry's House'
By Lou Stoppard
On his new album, Harry Styles explores themes of belonging, peace, and discovering domestic bliss wherever you can find it.
The Guardian
DJ Tim Westwood accused of sexual misconduct by multiple women
By Alexandra Topping and Aamna Mohdin
Seven women accuse ex-Radio 1 DJ of predatory behaviour in joint investigation by the Guardian and BBC.
Complete Music Update
US Supreme Court declines to answer key question for dealing with song-theft disputes
By Chris Cooke
The US Supreme Court has declined to hear a song-theft dispute in relation to 'You Raise Me Up', the song made famous by Josh Groban or Westlife depending on where you live.
Billboard
How to Manage A Music Star: Advice From 32 Masters
By Lyndsey Havens
To accompany Billboard's first-ever Managers Issue, we polled today's top managers on the best advice for navigating the biz.
Billboard
Should Today’s Artist Managers Get More Than 20%?
By Elias Leight
Guiding an act's career now involves so many disciplines that some managers say it's time their relationships with artists reflect those additional duties.
Complex
The Man Who Unearthed Jay-Z's Summer Jam Footage Has a Vault Full of Rap History
By Andre Gee
Footage of Jay-Z’s iconic 2001 Summer Jam performance went viral. The owner of HipHopVCR has a lot more where that came from.
Broken Record
Broken Record: Michael Stipe
By Rick Rubin and Michael Stipe
Michael Stipe plays Rick Rubin his new song and also talks about why he decided to record a solo album, and how he always intended to be super famous.
Dada Drummer Almanach
Toward a Community Theory of Value
By Damon Krukowski
What has happened to the music community? In my personal understanding of rock and roll history, punk rock tore down the fourth wall, eliminating the barrier between performer and audience. That lack of divide is not without risk for both sides, but it comes with the reward of collective responsibility for everything that transpires in the room.
The Daily Beast
How a Sound Hack Called ‘Binaural Beats’ Is Helping People Get Happy, Horny, and High
By Sofia Quaglia
Some cities have banned it for being a “digital drug.”
no one cares
Los Angeles Times
Masks are off, COVID rates are up and musicians are once again on edge about touring
By August Brown
A slew of acts have canceled tour dates as COVID cases rise once again, casting a pall over what was shaping up to be a record-setting concert season.
BBC News
Live music revenue fell again in 2021, despite gigs returning
By Mark Savage
Royalties for live music were down almost 30% last year, but a recovery is on the horizon.
The Quietus
Women Of Their Word: The Reality Of Being A Female Music Writer
By Jude Rogers
There is more extraordinary music writing by women than ever before, yet female writers are still facing a host of barriers that their male counterparts are not. From online abuse to tokenism from editors, Jude Rodgers recounts the realities of her life in journalism, and her hopes for the future of the industry.
GQ
How Rosalía Became the Queen of the Global Nightclub
By Laia Garcia-Furtado
She found stardom by updating flamenco for the digital age. But with her genre-melting, party-starting new album 'Motomami,' the Spanish singer is ready to show just how expansive her music can be.
KQED
On ‘Mahal,’ Toro y Moi Shows Love to the Bay Area and His Filipino Community
By Nastia Voynovskaya
The artist is prioritizing in-person connection over hype, and embracing a grittier psych-rock sound on his new album.
Music Business Worldwide
Could one of these startups become the new TikTok or SoundCloud? Meet Techstars Music class of 2022
By Murray Stassen
Startup incubator's 2022 class includes Beatmatch, Circle Labs, Clever.Fm, Green Room, Keiphone, Music Games Company, Musicasa, Nal Media, Radia and Solace Vision.
Culture Notes of an Honest Broker
The Music Business Turns Into Groundhog Day
By Ted Gioia
A new consumer survey measures an industry in which "time is standing still."
Variety
Kanye West’s King Crimson Sample in ‘Power’ Sparks Lawsuit Against Universal Music
By K.J. Yossman
Declan Colgan Music Ltd (DCM), which own the mechanical rights to “21st Century Schizoid Man,” claim that UMG has been underpaying on streaming royalties arising from “Power.”
NME
Devo on the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame: 'I voted for Dolly Parton'
By Gary Ryan
Devo frontman Mark Mothersbaugh on voting for Dolly Parton to enter the hall, new music and working with Tony Hawk.
what we're into
Music of the day
“Icy (live at Coachella)”
Pink Sweat$
Sounds like summer (lyrics about being "just too cold" notwithstanding).
Video of the day
“Brown Sugar”
Rick Famuyiwa
Rick Famuyiwa's 2002 rom-com about a hip-hop magazine editor and an A&R exec.
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