My music is always going to make a woman feel like a bad b****. When you make a woman feel like she’s the baddest b**** in the room, to me, that’s female empowerment. | | | | The soundtrack of a certain vice presidential candidate's college years: Salt-N-Pepa in the early 1980s.
(Al Pereira/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images) | | | | | |  | “My music is always going to make a woman feel like a bad b****. When you make a woman feel like she’s the baddest b**** in the room, to me, that’s female empowerment.”
| | | | | | rantnrave:// Good morning here's your KAMALA HARRIS mood mix for the day. Song she grew up with: ARETHA FRANKLIN's version of "YOUNG, GIFTED AND BLACK." Song she went to college with: SALT-N-PEPA's "PUSH IT." "Presidential" song: FUNKADELIC's "ONE NATION UNDER A GROOVE." Caveat: If you're reading this first thing in the morning, there's no music in her ears right now because she's working out ("every morning") and watching MORNING JOE... Transcribe this: A federal judge in New York didn't decide whether GOOGLE and LYRICFIND cribbed some of GENIUS' song lyric transcriptions by cutting-and-pasting them—Genius has made a compelling case that *someone* did—but she threw out Genius' $50 million lawsuit Monday, ruling that the company has no standing to sue because it doesn't own the underlying content of its own transcriptions. Can't sue for digital thievery and can't sue for unfair competition either without those copyrights, JUDGE MARGO K. BRODIE wrote in a 36-page ruling that goes deep into the weeds of US copyright law while coming to a seemingly easy decision. But do Google and LyricFind still have some out-of-court explaining to do? A strange thing about internet song lyrics is that music publishers license the lyrics to a variety of services, but in many if not most cases they don't actually provide the lyrics. It's up to the services to source them on their own. Imagine a record company licensing songs to streaming services but not sending the music. Picture an army of musicians crowdsourcing perfect replicas of every song in existence. Genius and other lyric sites do that, but just with the lyrics. A lot of Genius' transcriptions are the work of an unpaid social community (which raises different issues, which I've raised before); some come directly from the songwriters and artists, who often add their own annotations. The transcriptions are Genius' meat; the annotations—fans do those, too—are its differentiator. Judge Brodie's ruling suggests the meat is fair game for anyone else to swipe, but who does that? Legal or not, it's someone else's work. What media company goes to another media company's site and copies the content onto its own site, en masse? (Please don't answer that. I mean legit media companies, and I still don't want to know the answer.) Lost between the lines of the ruling is the smart, vibrant community of music fans that Genius has built. That's its real business. And what's lost if you Google, for example, "JACK HARLOW WHATS POPPIN lyrics" and stop at the first result is the rich context that that community provides. That first search result is a Google information box with the song lyric, licensed from LyricFind, and songwriter credits (with no links). Most searchers will stop there (which was at the heart of Genius' unfair competition claim). Below that box is a row of videos, and below that, if you bother to look for it, is a link to Genius' page for the same song, which includes Harlow's own line-by-line commentary (the line "I'ma spend this holiday locked in" links to a first-person account of what Harlow was doing in and around Christmas 2019) and linked producer credits. That should be the first page a pure search engine takes you to because it's the best and most relevant link for "Whats Poppin" lyrics. You obviously can't go to a federal judge and ask for a ruling on that. But you should be able to go to Google for it, shouldn't you?... Harlow is one of the 12 members of XXL's new FRESHMAN CLASS, along with FIVIO FOREIGN, POLO G, LIL KEED, MULATTO and more... NEIL YOUNG has his own issues with Google (and FACEBOOK)...RIP TRINI LOPEZ. | | | - Matty Karas (@troubledoll), curator | | | |  | DJ Mag | | With music venues shuttered across the nation, and no timeframe for reopening, the future looks bleak for UK clubbing. DJ Mag speaks to venue owners, promoters and ravers about their hopes and fears regarding government funding, illegal raves and the grassroots scene. | | | |  | ELLE | | She isn’t perfect, nor does she claim to be, but the rapper is learning, growing, and proving with her sophomore album that she and her powerful voice are here to stay. | | | |  | Rolling Stone | | Digitally savvy companies like Against the Grain (ATG) are becoming increasingly influential by “owning the pipelines to fans.” | | | |  | Variety | | Back in 2015, songwriter, producer and artist Pharrell Williams had all the reasons in the world to be smiling. His infectious hit song "Happy" was the previous year's top seller in the U.S., an international smash and soon to be a major Grammy moment. | | | |  | Hollywood Reporter | | Google may have been caught "redhanded," but a federal judge rules that Genius hasn't alleged any viable claims not be preempted by copyright law. | | | |  | Billboard | | "The decrees are not broken," writes Garrett Levin, president and CEO of digital services trade group DiMA. | | | |  | New Republic | | Space aliens are having a moment in America, thanks to the Blink-182 frontman’s E.T.-hunting A-team. But what’s his real plan? | | | |  | The Independent | | At a time when social media platforms offer open access to artists’ lives, it seems as though it’s practically impossible for a musician to fade into obscurity, writes Jumi Akinfenwa. | | | |  | iHeartRadio | | It's a tale tainted by scandal: accusations of organized crime, plagiarism and betrayal. And it's told by the artists who lived it: early South Bronx innovator Grandmaster Caz and The Sugarhill Gang's Wonder Mike and Master Gee. | | | |  | Muse by Clio | | My struggle with nearly infinite options. | | | |  | The New York Times | | Especially during a pandemic, the graying of audiences has been seen as a sign of precariousness. But maybe these older listeners are a lifeline. | | | | | DJ Mag | | Mick Wilson investigates Black and non-Black POC representation in the music tech sector, and what industry leaders are doing to address the imbalance. | | | |  | The Line of Best Fit | | Victoria Monét has risen to become one of the most in-demand pop songwriters around - and now she's stepping into the spotlight with her first solo project Jaguar. She tells Grace Easton about the journey from studio to stage. | | | | | Rolling Stone | | J Balvin, Pitbull, Karol G to perform under strict safety precautions at this year’s Premios Juventud. | | | |  | Electronic Beats | | After a wave of criticism of outdoor parties, Nathan Ma gathers perspectives from organizers, party goers and Berlin’s Club Commission. | | | | | Variety | | August is traditionally a vibrant period for India's music industry, with myriad music festivals announced from October through February and tour dates booked for international artists - all of which provides a crucial boost for the independent community operating outside the film arena. | | | |  | First Floor | | a.k.a. The futility of trying to repair a system that was never meant for independent music. | | | | | The New York Times | | When the Canadian musician was in a dark spot, a friend jokingly suggested she change paths. It ended up being the detour she needed to find her way back to songwriting. | | | |  | DownBeat | | Since emerging with the septet Nérija in 2016, saxophonist and composer Nubya Garcia has worked to inject fresh energy into the UK jazz scene. | | | |  | The Common Reader | | How Elvis Presley shaped American popular culture—for better and for worse. | | | | |  | | YouTube | | | | | | | | | | | "She's telepathic / Call it Black girl magic / Yeah she scares the government / Déjà vu of Tubman." | | | | | | | | © Copyright 2020, The REDEF Group | | |
