If you are having trouble viewing this email, click here.

Big Hit monetizes fandom. In some ways, it's not even the artist that is the product; it's the fan which is the product. It's almost like a crop: you keep harvesting and put in more fertilizer to see how much more you can grow.
Is this interest remix not displaying correctly? | View it in your browser.
A million K-pop years ago: BTS at the 2017 American Music Awards in Los Angeles. "Be" is out Friday on Big Hit/Columbia.
(Kevin Winter/Getty Images)
Thursday - November 19, 2020 Thu - 11/19/20
rantnrave:// I've been trying to formulate a coherent, helpful set of thoughts since KING VON was murdered during a melee in Atlanta two weeks ago and MO3 was chased down and killed on a Dallas freeway a few days later and BOOSIE BADAZZ was shot in the leg while in Dallas for MO3's funeral and BENNY THE BUTCHER was shot in the leg in Houston, and I keep coming up empty. There's rage and resignation in my heart that get in each other's way, and there are complexities in cities and scenes that I don't know nearly enough about. So I'm thankful for this thoughtful, clear-eyed essay from COMPLEX writer (and Substacker) ANDRE GEE, which calls out hip-hop fans—especially but not exclusively white hip-hop fans—and labels for their complicity in encouraging and rooting for "authentic" street personas, and for ignoring the real trauma and pain that underlies some of the toughest stories rappers tell. He also calls out politicians for not addressing the pre-existing conditions behind those stories. "We all agree that no one wants to see anyone get hurt, and we carry sympathy for artists who have been victims of violence," Gee writes, "but too many rap fans then revere the next artist for being an 'official' aggressor of the same acts. It’s time to detonate that dissonance." Hear, hear. Detonating dissonance seems like one place to start. I'm sure there are others, and I'm sure it's well past time to start... By this point, reports about the state of the live music business in 2020 come as no surprise, and it's easy to be numb to the numbers. But here's a beyond sobering prediction from UK MUSIC on the wreckage of this awful year: "In aggregate over 65% of music creators’ income will be lost as a direct consequence of Covid-19 and this could extend to over 80% for those most reliant on live performance." Damn... (By contrast, here's always-astute blogger DAVID TURNER on the recorded music and streaming sectors: "The 'record industry' is more than capable of surviving and thriving without much of the live music industry during this period." That's not meant as an optimistic outlook, in case that isn't clear)... This album-art-centric digital music player seems utterly impractical and kind of cool... Harmony in your head: Headphones, minus the headphones... RIP DAVID ZOLLER.
- Matty Karas (@troubledoll), curator
stop the violence
NPR Music
'Hitman' Bang Si-hyuk, The Brand-New Billionaire Behind BTS
by Haeryun Kang
Together with his team, Bang Si-hyuk, a short, bespectacled man nearing his fifties, has made "K-pop" a global household name, particularly in the U.S. But now, they are faced with having to recreate the BTS "miracle."
The Guardian
Map of the soul: how BTS rewrote the western pop rulebook
by Katie Hawthorne
Contrary to their dismissive framing as manufactured robots, South Korea’s BTS use social media, documentary and storytelling to make themselves into profoundly human stars.
Complex
Fans Demand Artists to Live Their Violent Raps. But at What Cost?
by Andre Gee
We all agree that no one wants to see anyone get hurt, and we carry sympathy for artists who have been victims of violence, but too many rap fans then revere the next artist for being an “official” aggressor of the same acts. It’s time to detonate that dissonance.
Listen to the Music
How do you find new music? With Susan Busch of Domino Records
by Courtney E. Smith
I asked Domino's director of A&R to talk to me about her career and everything *except* how she finds new music because if she told you it would make you want to curl up into a ball and die.
Water & Music
How Spotify’s recommendations UX might be pushing down per-stream royalty rates — even if total payouts increase
by Bas Grasmayer
Better performance on metrics that users and product teams care about means poorer performance on one of the metrics musicians care most about: The per-stream royalty rate.
Song Exploder
Song Exploder: Billie Eilish – 'Everything I Wanted'
by Hrishikesh Hirway, Billie Eilish and Finneas
Billie Eilish and her brother Finneas started writing “Everything I Wanted” when Billie was in a dark place, and they almost didn’t finish it. In this episode, they tell the story of how their relationship as siblings was key to seeing it through.
DJ TechTools
Mixcloud founder: here's what DJs need to know about music copyright
by Nico Perez
DJs around the world are becoming increasingly aware of copyright rules due to takedowns and mutings online - but the complex nature of music means that things aren't always as clear as they could be. Today, I hope to shed some light on this space that has been something of a gray area for many artists.
Highsnobiety
Lil Nas X Has Broken the Internet & the World Is Next
by Sydney Gore
Lil Nas X insists that he’s mostly been winging it, but all the evidence proves that he’s clearly a natural-born social media savant with his finger on the pulse of pop culture.
The Forty-Five
Decaydance Records: an oral history told by Pete Wentz, Travie McCoy, Gabe Saporta, Spencer Smith and more
by Marianne Eloise
In the mid 00s Pete Wentz was on a mission to create a family of misfits – bands with a certain energy but no obvious home. Marianne Eloise gets the story of this dorky-yet-definitive era.
Los Angeles Times
In this, the year of our 'WAP,' raunch rap doyennes City Girls return to stake their claim
by Suzy Exposito
The Miami rap duo has survived prison and a pandemic to take its place alongside hip-hop peers Megan Thee Stallion and Cardi B.
you must learn
i-D Magazine
Britney Spears is greater than her tabloid headlines
by Alim Kheraj
As Britney’s battle to reclaim her life and career from her conservatorship continues, remember that there’s an iconic artist behind it all.
The New York Times
Who Will Control Britney Spears’s Future?
by Jon Caramanica, Joe Coscarelli and Vanessa Grigoriadis
While her father remains the head of her estate for now, the pop star has signaled she’s ready for change.
Beatportal
For an Industry Ravaged by COVID, There's One Shining, Bright Spot
by Shawn Reynaldo
With record sales remaining buoyant since March, record labels and distributors are a lone bright spot in an industry ravaged by COVID.
Hypebot
The State Of Streaming Music with Garrett Levin Of Digital Media Association
by Michael Brandvold, Jay Gilbert and Garrett Levin
DiMA's members - Amazon, Apple Music, Google/YouTube, Pandora, and Spotify - sit at the center of the modern music ecosystem, connecting all facets of the industry. Garrett Levin has earned a reputation as one of the foremost copyright policy minds working in Washington today.
NPR Music
OutKast's 'Stankonia' Threw Us To The Wilderness
by Regina Bradley, Christina Lee and Gavin Godfrey
Experience the mayhem of what it means to create something new. Three Southern rap experts revisit the 20-year-old classic.
Los Angeles Times
Philip Glass and 'Einstein on the Beach': How one opera changed everything
by Mark Swed
The 1976 Philip Glass-Robert Wilson “Einstein on the Beach” changed how we think about opera, theater, time, the composer and even Einstein.
Leo Weekly
Music instrument shops adapt to survive: Boredom, stimulus checks and technology helped
by Scott Recker
Throughout the pandemic, music shops have had an unpredictable mixture of highs and lows.
KCRW
LA Opera’s first COVID-era production: ‘The Anonymous Lover’ by an 18th century Black composer
by Madeleine Brand
Bruce Lemon Jr., who's directing LA Opera's production, talks about composer Joseph Bologne’s background, and how cast and crew members took up safety precautions to make this show possible, including regular Covid tests, wearing masks and face shields, and maintaining extra distance.
Tidal
Buffalo Boom Bap: A Griselda Primer
by William E. Ketchum III
An introduction to the crew and their essential recordings.
The Guardian
'He'll make your head explode': sax stars on the genius and tragedy of Charlie Parker
by Kate Hutchinson
He was nicknamed Bird and he soared in his music -- if not in his life. For the centenary of the saxophonist who redefined jazz, today’s players reveal how his dizzying speed and spirituality changed their lives.
Vulture
I Wrote One Song With Jeff Tweedy
by Grayson Haver Currin
Putting the Wilco leader’s new book, a songwriting manual of sorts, to the test with the man himself.
MUSIC OF THE DAY
YouTube
"feel good"
Tierra Whack
A 85-second anthem for a very different holiday season.
“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?’”
@JasonHirschhorn


REDEF, Inc.
NY - LA - EVERYWHERE

redef.com
YOU DON'T GET IT?
Subscribe
Unsubscribe/Manage My Subscription
FOLLOW REDEF ON
© Copyright 2020, The REDEF Group