You can squeeze another dollar out of anything, but that’s not what makes a record company run profitably. This business is about freedom and creative control. Open in browser Friday September 16, 2022 Mo Ostin, the artist-friendliest exec who ever ran a major label, with *the* Artist, Los Angeles, June 25, 1977. (Gary Leonard/Corbis/Getty Images) quote of the day “You can squeeze another dollar out of anything, but that’s not what makes a record company run profitably. This business is about freedom and creative control.” - Mo Ostin (1927 – 2022), who joined Warner Bros. Records in 1963 and ran it from 1970 to 1994 rantnrave:// It’s Friday And it’s an especially crowded one for new releases, even by 2022 standards, so kudos to K-pop queens BLACKPINK for only asking for about 25 minutes of your time for the entirety of their second album, BORN PINK. Rolling Stone pop maven Rob Sheffield is proclaiming it “the great pop album they’ve always had in them” while dropping the names Poison and Mötley Crüe as potential points of reference. “Born Pink” starts with its two lead singles, neon-lit K-pop hip-hop EDM productions covered wall-to-wall in hooks, one of them borrowed from Niccolò Paganini. All rose and no thorn, as it were. And then what follows is a sugar rush of new wave, slow jams and more than a few F-bombs that suggests the four women in Blackpink have no interest in being tied down to any particular idea of who they should be, not on record and not in life. “I say ‘F*** it’ when I feel it,” goes the opening line of one tune. Welcome back Jisoo, Jennie, Rosé and Lisa... RINA SAWAYAMA’s second album, HOLD THE GIRL, is the weightier and slightly more classicist side of pop, befitting an album she says was born in intense therapy sessions. “I’m trying to infiltrate therapy into pop music,” she tells them.’s Michelle Hyun Kim. The arrangements regularly swing for the pop—and country-pop—fences. In the glorious single "This Hell," Sawayama's lyrics bounce back off the arena walls in solidarity: "F*** what they did to Britney, to Lady Di and Whitney"... TERRI LYNE CARRINGTON’s NEW STANDARDS, VOL. 1 features her versions of 11 jazz compositions by women including Marilyn Crispell, Abbey Lincoln and Brandee Younger; they're among 101 pieces included in Carrington’s book “New Standards: 101 Lead Sheets by Women Composers,” also out today. The book, which covers a century’s worth of music, is Carrington's attempt to address the glaring lack of women in the collections of sheet music that have largely defined the jazz canon. An editor she was working with on the book asked her early on “Are there really 100 women composers?” “Yes,” Carrington told the New York Times, “and this is why we’re doing this book”... Also today: New albums from NCT 127, Whitney, the Mars Volta (their first in 10 years), Symba, Pink Siifu & Real Bad Man, Michelle Branch, Noah Cyrus, Little Big Town, LeAnn Rimes, Gogol Bordello, Fletcher, Ka$hdami, EST Gee, Julian Lage, Samara Joy, Jessica Pavone/Lukas Koenig/Matt Mottel, Butcher Brown, Roxana Amed, Titan to Tachyons (instrumental jazz/metal band led by guitarist/composer Sally Gates), Claire Rousay (released earlier this week; benefiting the Trevor Project), Gloria de Oliveira & Dean Hurley, Death Cab for Cutie, the Beths, Mura Masa, Blood Orange, Lissie, Jesca Hoop, Ondara, Djo (aka Joe Keery of “Stranger Things”), Sumerlands, Mindforce, Behemoth, Innumerable Forms, the Devil Wears Prada, Clutch, Black Angels, the London Suede, Starcrawler, No Devotion (feat. Geoff Rickly of Thursday), Disco Doom, No Age, the Brazen Youth, Marcus Mumford (his solo debut), Mitchell Tenpenny, Adam Hood, Molly Lewis, Feid, Horace Andy, Steve Aoki, Ela Minus & DJ Python, Maggie Lindemann, Bazzi, Harlem Gospel Travelers, We the Kingdom, Lang Lang, the House of Love, Lyzza, Cosey Fanni Tutti, Marina Allen, Tenka, No Age, Crack Cloud, Hauser and PJ Western... And notable archival releases from Miles Davis, Lou Reed, Joe Strummer and Creedence Clearwater Revival. Video/Radio Stars And speaking of the archives, today also brings BRETT MORGEN’s DAVID BOWIE documentary, MOONAGE DAYDREAM, to theaters... And SONOS RADIO drops AMERICA’S DEAD, a 10-episode podcast on the GRATEFUL DEAD. - Matty Karas (@troubledoll), curator pink venom Chicago Reader Reading house’s history from its used records By Leor Galil Vinyl owned by DJs in the 80s and 90s is still circulating in Chicago shops, and it offers a unique window into the ways house music came alive. Billboard Is Music Really Recession-Proof? Some Sectors Are Showing Signs of Stress The economic storm clouds that have triggered layoffs and deep cuts to investment budgets at companies like Netflix, Snap and Apple are coming to the music business. Music Business Worldwide Steve Cooper: Warner Music is becoming less financially dependent on superstar artists -- and wants to see ‘regular’ streaming price rises By Tim Ingham "The value proposition [in music streaming] is unbelievable. That leads us to conclude that – particularly with the stickiness and almost non-existent churn – [music streaming] services can easily raise their monthly subscription by a fraction and they can do it on a regularized basis." Variety Blackpink’s Rebel Yell: ‘Pink Venom’ Collaborators on Making the K-Pop Stars’ Liberating and Defiant New Album By Mike Wass The reigning queens of K-pop would be forgiven for playing it safe on their sophomore album, but they defy expectations on "Pink Venom" by touching on timely topics, adding a certain F-word to their vocabulary, and sprinkling in slow jams. Assisting Jisoo, Jennie, Rosé and Lisa with the pivot is an eclectic batch of collaborators. Vulture Channeling David Bowie’s Light into 'Moonage Daydream' By Chris Lee A near-death experience turned Bowie’s musings on art, alienation and existence into a “resurrection” for director Brett Morgen. NPR Music The Man From Everywhere By Natalie Weiner How Charley Crockett makes new music sound old (and old music sound brand new). Los Angeles Times How Sheryl Lee Ralph and Dianne Reeves pulled off the Emmys' 'best acceptance speech. Ever' By Yvonne Villarreal The 'Abbott Elementary' actor's knockout rendition of 'Endangered Species' was 33 years in the making. Ralph and Reeves joined The Times to break it down. The New York Times 5 Russian Bullets Dashed an Opera Singer’s Dreams. Then He Reclaimed His Voice By Erika Solomon While on a rescue mission in Ukraine, Sergiy Ivanchuk was shot in the lungs, apparently ending his chance at opera stardom. His recovery is a marvel of medicine, chance and his own spirit. Nashville Scene Lucy’s Record Shop Left a Deep Impact on Nashville By P.J. Kinzer Few events in my life stand out as paradigm shifts on par with finding out about Lucy’s Record Shop.  Los Angeles Times RETRO READ: Quotations From Chairman Mo By Robert Hilburn and Chuck Philips Mo Ostin let his artists do the talking for him his whole career. Now the record-biz legend steps out of the shadows and takes us on a tour from Ol' Blue Eyes to Red Hot Chili Peppers. shut down Michael Corcoran's Overserved Ivory Ghosts: Charles Brown and Amos Milburn By Michael Corcoran Texas R&B piano greats influenced rock 'n' roll, which steamrolled their careers. Vulture Pop Music Is Regurgitating Itself Faster Than Ever By Charlie Harding Publishers are pumping up the value of their expansive -- and expensive -- catalogues by feeding artists old hits to regurgitate as new ones. Rolling Stone Is It Too Late to Make the Music Industry Sustainable? By Jake Blount Climate change is reshaping the reality of the touring business. This musician says a radical response is needed. Variety With Allison Russell’s Big Win, the Americana Awards Get Right What the Grammys Couldn’t By Chris Willman In Americana, it has been the year (or a couple of years) of the Black woman. The New York Times The Perseverance of Megan Thee Stallion By Jon Caramanica, Mankaprr Conteh and Heven Haile The rapper’s rise has been accompanied by outside noise. How has she grown on record, and how have extra-musical narratives shaped her career? Music x A not so Awesome Merch story By Maarten Walraven When you invest in a company at an early stage, there’s a risk there won’t be a return. When you’re a band or a label using a merch company you expect them to deliver and you aim for transparent communication. GQ What It's Like to Make a Podcast With Björk By Raymond Ang The avant-garde icon tapped philosopher Oddný Eir and musicologist Ásmundur Jónsson to make “Sonic Symbolism,” her new career-spanning podcast. Afropop Worldwide Journeys with the Kora By Banning Eyre The 21-string harp, the kora, is a signature instrument of West Africa. Kora music was long the exclusive domain of griots, musical historians by heritage. But once recordings began to circulate in the 1970s, the instrument went international, finding its way into jazz, pop, rock and even classical and religious settings. The Daily Beast K-Pop Superstar Jackson Wang Is Unsatisfied: ‘I’m Trying to Kill the Previous Me’ By Madeline Roth The Chinese singer and K-pop group member tells us about his new solo album “Magic Man,” his friendship with Michelle Yeoh, and why he’s still “not good enough.” Billboard Meet Maluma the Mogul: From Selling Sandwiches to Running an Empire By Neena Rouhani Entering a new chapter of his musical career, he is launching a record label, managing multiple businesses and thinking bigger than ever. what we're into Music of the day “Yeah Yeah Yeah” Blackpink Yeah! From "Born Pink," out today on YG Entertainment/Interscope. Video of the day “Moonage Daydream” Brett Morgen Brett Morgen's David Bowie doc, in theaters today. 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