| We get so stuck on categories and labels that you completely miss the point of really beautiful, authentic forms of art. |
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| Black Midi's Morgan Simpson at the Pitchfork Music Festival, Chicago, Sept. 10, 2021. |
| (Daniel Boczarski/Getty Images) |
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| quote of the day |
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| rantnrave:// |
Running Up the Numbers
Between streams, downloads and actual album sales, KATE BUSH’s entire catalog was seeing the equivalent of just under 2,000 album consumption units per week in the US for the first five-plus months of 2022, which is the current, awkward way of saying her catalog was officially being credited with that many album sales per week. According to Billboard, that translates to around $12,000/week in sound recording royalties. Then “RUNNING UP THAT HILL” happened. The week the new season of STRANGER THINGS dropped, Bush’s physical album sales more than doubled and her streams increased more than 20-fold. The following week was even better. In those two weeks, Billboard estimates, her sound recording royalties were worth $415,000. Not to mention: whatever Netflix paid upfront for the sync. And her songwriting royalties for all those Netflix views. And her songwriting royalties for all that album consumption, which is separate (and unequal) from the sound recording royalties. In case you’re wondering what a moonshot sync can do for an artist’s wallet when everything goes right. “Running Up That Hill” is #4 on the Hot 100 this week. The album, HOUNDS OF LOVE, is #12.
Rhyming Assassin
Hey MARKET HOTEL in Brooklyn, please re-read your own announcement of your decision to cancel failed presidential assassin JOHN HINCKLEY JR.’s sold-out show next month. Which was a good decision. But which came with a lengthy defense of the initial booking, which said Hinckley has paid his debt to society, is harmless, and “Hosting provocative happenings for its own sake is valid, and should be part of any venue’s reason to exist.” Fine. Yes even. But you went on to say you “don’t care about [Hinckley] on an artistic level,” he “hasn’t had to earn” either the booking or the paycheck, and he wouldn’t have sold all those tickets if wasn’t, in fact, a failed presidential assassin. Perhaps a re-read will prompt you to reconsider, in the future, whether someone whose music neither you nor your patrons care about and who did, in your words, a “violent thing,” is the kind of provocative happening you or any venue should be promoting for its own sake. What, you might ask yourself, is the nature of the provocation? And why? Hinckley, who’s also been un-booked in Chicago and Hamden, Conn., told the New York Times he understands the decision and he “would have only gone on with the show if I was going to feel safe at the show and feel that the audience was going to be safe.” He’s looking for another venue in New York.
Johnny on the Block
A pair of test pressing of the SEX PISTOLS’ “ANARCHY IN THE UK” single got the highest bid at an auction of records and other items from the late JOHN PEEL’s collection in London. They sold for £20,400. Other high-ticket items included a SMITHS demo cassette and a QUEEN album with a letter from FREDDIE MERCURY... Next on the block: Vinyl records, turntables, disco balls, clothes and more from the collection of hip-hop pioneer DJ KOOL HERC, which will be auctioned by CHRISTIE’s in New York in August.
Rest in Peace
MEGHAN STABILE, a New York jazz promoter (and networker, community builder and more) who was a crucial figure in the careers of several major artists over the past decade—and in the arc and direction of jazz in general. Her “curious mission,” the New York Times wrote in 2013, was “to make jazz matter to the hip-hop generation.” “Her influence on the reconnection of jazz and contemporary African-American music from hip-hop and beyond has had enormous reverberations on the art form," Bill Bragin, executive artistic director of The Arts Center at New York University Abu Dhabi, told WBGO.
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| - Matty Karas (@troubledoll), curator |
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Rolling Stone |
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| Megan Thee Stallion Will Not Back Down |
| By Mankaprr Conteh |
| She's reigning over rap and pop culture while reeling from loss, violence, and a feeling of betrayal. Here, the superstar opens up about all of it like never before -- including her most detailed interview yet on the shooting and its aftermath. |
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Essence |
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| The Enigmatic Janet Jackson |
| By Gerrick D. Kennedy |
| As she prepares to take to the stage again, the music legend offers a tantalizing glimpse of the woman she is today.. |
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WBGO |
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| Meghan Stabile, promoter who united jazz and hip-hop, dead at 39 |
| By Nate Chinen |
| Meghan Stabile, a promoter, presenter and producer whose impassioned advocacy helped spark a resurgence of mainstream interest in jazz, particularly among young artists and audiences of color, died on Sunday, June 12 in Valrico, Fla. She was 39. |
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Variety |
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| The Ins and Outs of Music Catalog Sales, Explained by the Experts |
| By Shirley Halperin, Marc Cimino, Sherrese Clarke Soares... |
| For this week's edition of Variety's " Strictly Business" podcast. we're bringing you a panel discussion from the Milken Institute Global Conference in Beverly Hills on May 4. On the agenda: the booming business of catalog sales. |
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iHeartRadio |
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| Questlove Supreme: Rick Astley |
| By Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson and Rick Astley |
| Rick Astley tells Questlove Supreme about rekindling an appreciation for his biggest hit, "Never Gonna Give You Up." He also discusses leaving the industry for over a decade, saving money, and discovering the Rick-Roll from a friend. |
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DownBeat |
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| The Peoples Arkestra Speaks Out |
| By Aaron Cohen |
| When pianist Horace Tapscott saw a need for more performance opportunities in Los Angeles in 1961, he created the Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra, which became a crucial showcase for the city's jazz composers. |
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Billboard |
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| Joel Whitburn: An Appreciation of the Ultimate Chart Historian |
| By Steve Greenberg |
| Joel Whitburn had a major influence on the lives of so many people like me, interested in the many thousands of songs that rose and fell on the Billboard charts. His books provided the essential scaffolding upon which we could all build our knowledge of pop music history, enabling an understanding of which music was popular when, and how big for how long. |
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| what we're into |
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| Music of the day |
| “pour up” |
| Yaya Bey ft. DJ Nativesun |
| From "Remember Your North Star," out Friday on Big Dada. |
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| Music | Media |
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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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