'Artist' is a word I feel is pretty holy. I’m an entertainer. If somebody else thinks I’m an artist, that’s the highest compliment. | | | | 2 Chainz at the BET Hip Hop Awards, October 2020. His album "So Help Me God" is out today on Def Jam.
(2020HHA/Getty Images) | | | | | |  | “'Artist' is a word I feel is pretty holy. I’m an entertainer. If somebody else thinks I’m an artist, that’s the highest compliment.”
| | | | | | rantnrave:// Setting the record straight on a BILLBOARD story, shared here Thursday, which said TICKETMASTER is developing protocols that will allow it to restrict entry to concerts to people who've been vaccinated or tested negative for Covid-19: The ticketing giant says that's only one of several potential ideas it's exploring for how to eventually bring back live concerts, and it doesn't have the power, on its own, to decide who can and can't enter venues. Promoters and event organizers have the final say. So consider that a clarification but not a denial of an idea that has caused some consternation among fans and artists including, um, RIGHT SAID FRED. It isn't an unreasonable idea if you ask me, but it raises questions that are going to need some exploring and debating before anyone tries to implement it. Hashtag privacy. Hashtag freedom. Hashtag but don't forget health and safety. One imagines, the more one thinks about it, there will be some venues and some promoters and some fans in some cities/states/countries who aren't going to want to mingle with unvaccinated/untested people a year or so from now. One also imagines that other venues, promoters and fans in other cities, states and countries will be ready to rip off their masks and not worry about anything else. Maybe LADY GAGA's next tour will use a new version of Ticketmaster's SAFETIX program—let's call it ReallyReallySafeTix—and maybe MORGAN WALLEN will be so sick of everything by then that you won't even need a ticket to get into his shows. Maybe it's too soon for anyone to say because while it's almost certain that the world is going to work a little different than it used to when we emerge from this pandemic, it's too soon to know exactly how. But any ticketing company that isn't at least exploring new protocols, including potentially severe ones, would be crazy... The WEEKND will be the halftime headliner at SUPER BOWL LV, scheduled for February in Tampa, Fla. It's the second Super Bowl halftime of the JAY-Z era and Jay is now two-for-two, booking-wise. It'll be the first Super Bowl of the Covid era, which will definitely mean fewer fans in the stadium and will probably mean fewer or no fans on the field during halftime. It's an opportunity for someone to reimagine the basic idea for the world's biggest televised concert, which, for all its starpower and inventive staging, has basically followed a single formula for the past couple decades. Also, a question: How do you set up a stadium stage in six minutes when everyone involved needs to be socially distanced from each other?... A day after the CMA AWARDS staged a three-hour awards show without so much as uttering the names JOHN PRINE, BILLY JOE SHAVER and JERRY JEFF WALKER, two prominent artists said they're returning their membership cards. "I doubt anyone will care," tweeted JASON ISBELL, who's quitting the Country Music Association along with his wife, AMANDA SHIRES, "but we cared a lot about our heroes"... A three-hour benefit for the New Orleans club TIPITINA's on Saturday will feature performances, some new, some old, by FATS DOMINO, WILLIE NELSON, DR. JOHN, BIG FREEDIA, JUVENILE, GALACTIC and dozens of others. Like virtually every other music venue everywhere, Tipitina's is struggling to survive in the face of the pandemic; of all the clubs that absolutely must be saved, it's high on the list... ROUND HILL's royalty investment fund goes public on the London Stock Exchange today... SONOS enters the subscription radio market... Somewhat insane fact: Almost every label that produces classical CDs nowdays apparently asks their artists to pay them for the privilege. This story is about a really bad example... It's FRIDAY and that means new music from DAVIDO, 2 CHAINZ, CHRIS STAPLETON, FUTURE & LIL UZI VERT, AC/DC, PA SALIEU, WILLIAM BASINSKI, BENEE, STAR FEMININE BAND (released earlier this week), DANILEIGH, LIL TRACY, GOODIE MOB, PINK SIIFU & FLY ANAKIN, AMAARAE, PARIS JACKSON, TOLD SLANT, MARIKA HACKMAN, TRICKY, JAM CITY, DAN KYE (alter ego for JORDAN RAKEI), TSHA, EMILY A. SPRAGUE, LAMBCHOP, BEYRIES, TV PRIEST, JESU, GEORGE BENSON, TANI TABBAL TRIO, SUSAN ALCORN, WILL VINSON/ANTONIO SANCHEZ/GILAD HEKSELMAN, the ROYAL BOPSTERS, the NELS CLINE SINGERS, SEBA KAAPSTAD, ANDREA BOCELLI, GILLIAN WELCH, SPENCER CULLUM, the BATS, JULES SHEAR, PALOMA FAITH... RIP ROSANNA CARTERI and ADRIAN CIONCO. | | | - Matty Karas (@troubledoll), curator | | | |  | Rolling Stone | | More than 15 current and former employees and musicians allege troubling incidents involving senior execs at the performing-rights organization, which distributed more than $1 billion in royalties. | | | |  | Los Angeles Times | | A tiny tribe of passionate collectors have dedicated themselves to preserving early musical recordings on wax cylinders. | | | |  | Billboard | | In a year that brought both a pandemic and racial-justice reckoning, the genres continued to thrive, thanks to the executives on Billboard’s annual list. | | | |  | Loud And Quiet | | Revisiting the launch of music streaming service Tidal - an ill-judged and entertaining get together of some of the biggest names in songwriting. | | | |  | The New York Times | | Unlike violinists or trumpeters, piano players rarely get to perform on their own instruments and must be adaptable. | | | |  | BBC News | | While Ticketmaster is exploring such an idea, it said there will be "absolutely no requirement" for mandated vaccines. "We are not forcing anyone to do anything," the company said. | | | |  | Vulture | | “I play things that are probably extremely contrary to whatever people think I am.” | | | |  | Pitchfork | | After releasing three classic, prophetic albums, the reclusive rapper is now the conscience of hip-hop. His next project is certain to be timely, but it will arrive on his own terms. | | | |  | Trapital | | The ringtone era is long gone, but it set a precedent in hip-hop that's as strong as ever. | | | |  | Stereogum | | The interesting ones are the cases where you can pretty much tell something’s up, yet nobody went so far as to actually try to prove it in court — the nagging suspicions that start debates that rarely actually get settled. | | | |  | British GQ | | In 1995, Brian Eno kept a year-long diary. The result was published in book form a year later, and now, 25 years down the line, Eno has revisited it. | | | |  | The Guardian | | The bassist quit, the singer lost his hearing, the drummer was under house arrest and founder member Malcolm Young died from dementia. But somehow AC/DC are back (in black). | | | |  | Hollywood Reporter | | His presidential campaign asks a New York judge to dismiss a lawsuit brought by Eddy Grant over use of "Electric Avenue" as listeners will understand the "comedic, political purpose." | | | |  | The Forty-Five | | Doja doing nu metal at the MTV EMAs was more than just a fun twist on her song -- it was a statement about women of colour's place in a genre that favours white men. | | | | | Billboard | | Jhené Aiko, Kehlani, Teyana Taylor and Summer Walker are powering an R&B renaissance with their lyrics and new sounds, but they're hitting industry roadblocks. | | | |  | VAN Magazine | | Almost all record labels producing classical music CDs today require artists to pay them, as companies are unlikely to earn enough profit on sales to cover their costs. But even considering the conditions in the recording industry today, Orpheus Classical’s business model is unusual. | | | |  | DJ Mag | | A DJ Mag investigation reveals multiple women with reports of sexual assault and harassment against Detroit DJ and producer Derrick May. "I have no interest in legitimizing these distortions," May says. | | | |  | Mixmag | | A woman with over 20 years experience in the music industry tells Annabel Ross about the coercion, bribery and harassment she's faced in her career. | | | | | Pitchfork | | McFadden & Whitehead’s “Ain’t No Stoppin’ Us Now” reverberated from the Pennsylvania Convention Center last week, filling the streets with dancing revelers who know the song’s power. | | | |  | Broken Record | | In this interview with Rick Rubin, Sturgill explains why his bluegrass album is the purest expression of his work, why it bothers him that people often overlook the stories in his songs, and why being classified as a country artist has been, perhaps, the biggest detriment to his career. | | | | |  | | YouTube | | | | | | | | | | | One of the songs soundtracking Nigeria's #EndSARS protest movement. From "A Better Time," out today on DMW/RCA/Sony. | | | | | | | | © Copyright 2020, The REDEF Group | | |
