The gigging lifestyle—where musicians are freelancing from one independent job to another—I don't know if that’s going to be around in New York after this. You'll probably see some 'Mad Max' scenario where the young guys claw their way to survival. | | | | D-Nice playing a drive-in show for first responders in Hallandale Beach, Fla., May 16, 2020.
(John Parra/Getty Images) | | | | | |  | “The gigging lifestyle—where musicians are freelancing from one independent job to another—I don't know if that’s going to be around in New York after this. You'll probably see some 'Mad Max' scenario where the young guys claw their way to survival.”
| | | | | | rantnrave:// A week after BTS' "LIFE GOES ON" became the first Korean-language song to hit #1 on the BILLBOARD HOT 100, BAD BUNNY's EL ÚLTIMO TOUR DEL MUNDO becomes the first all-Spanish-language album to top the magazine's albums chart and I feel a little better about America, or at least the part of America that listens to pop music. The album, a surprise Thanksgiving release, is as "unbound by genre" as pop fans are increasingly unbound by their native language. All they need to understand, in most cases, is the beat, or the melody, or the sound. That, at least, is what I choose to believe, and any bit of news that affirms that belief is music to my ears (even if radio programmers don't always play along). A quarter-century ago, SELENA's DREAMING OF YOU became the first album that was at least half in Spanish to top the Billboard 200. Think of Bad Bunny as one of the artists finishing the work she started. Think of BTS as another... There's been a lot of breathless writing about PAT THE MANAGER's multimillion dollar lawsuit against CHANCE THE RAPPER, who fired him in April, but all we have at the moment is one side of the story. So it might be best to withhold judgment on what the blockbuster filing says about Chance, or Pat, or the commercial and critical fortunes of Chance's 2019 album THE BIG DAY, or the pros and cons of life as a truly independent artist. For now, we have 20 pages of legal detail from the manager also known as PAT CORCORAN, who doesn't think much about "The Big Day" or Chance's recent decision-making, and who credits himself with the original decision to avoid major-label overtures. It makes for one hell of a read. And we have a short statement from Chance's lawyers calling the suit "self-serving," "fabricated" and "grossly offensive." Which is, of course, how big, bruising lawsuits often begin... DIONNE WARWICK has a question for Chance, too, and he didn't need to go through lawyers to respond to that one... HIPGNOSIS SONGS FUND says it has spent £1.18 billion acquiring publishing catalogs over the past two years and is now worth £1.25 billion... An underappreciated side of D-NICE's life as the unofficial pandemic DJ of INSTAGRAM is his Sunday morning gospel sets. This Jewish boy woke up Sunday to this followed by this followed by this, a mix whose precise spiritual foundation is exactly as clear to me as I imagine the precise meaning of a BTS song is to the average American pop fan. Which is to say, I completely felt it. I wouldn't complain if every day started just like that.
| | | - Matty Karas (@troubledoll), curator | | | |  | Complex | | Everyone is talking about Clubhouse, a new invite-only social media app. The music industry, specifically, has taken to it early. Here are its highs and lows. | | | |  | Rolling Stone | | From Taylor’s folk surprise to Bob Dylan’s best album in 20 years to cathartic country, indie-rock and pop releases, these great albums helped us power through a lonely year. | | | |  | The Independent | | From Miley Cyrus to Biffy Clyro, the cover song both good and bad has struck again this year. Roisin O'Connor speaks to artists Yungblud, Arlo Parks, Muna and Marika Hackman about how to get it right. | | | |  | The Washington Post | | Death makes the emotions we associate with the musician all the more real: everything from their personal struggles and values to their creativity. | | | |  | Variety | | It's one of the most coveted franchises on the world’s largest streaming service — and one that turns over completely every seven days. | | | |  | Vulture | | Rap’s anti-heroine on the transformative journey to her debut album, "Nightmare Vacation." | | | |  | Curbed | | With the closure of the Jazz Standard, the already frail jazz community feels a chill. | | | |  | Dada Strain | | TV Documentary: LA public television program 'Artbound' spends an hour with "The New West Coast Sound," showcasing the importance of great community music and community storytelling. | | | |  | SPIN | | We caught up with actors from classic Twisted Sister, Blind Melon, Soundgarden videos to hear how those gigs changed their lives, | | | | | Variety | | Pat Corcoran, who also goes by Pat the Manager, alleges that Chance ignored his advice and then blamed him for the poor performance of his 2019 album “The Big Day.” Corcoran also claims that Chance owes him $3 million in unpaid commissions on revenue from touring, streaming, album sales and merchandise. | | | |  | The New Yorker | | The White Stripes show the joy and the oddness of a collection of hit singles. | | | |  | The Ringer | | The legendary singer’s global impact can’t be overstated, as yet another generation is introduced to her by Netflix’s new show ‘Selena: The Series.’ | | | |  | Synchblog | | In this instalment of Money Moves we speak to Barry Massarsky, the economist behind the majority of valuations for the music acquisition and investment market. | | | |  | gal-dem | | Following the Megan Ryte, will.i.am and DJ Lag debacle we're reminded that, too often, Western music takes from Africa without credit. | | | |  | Billboard | | In 2020, holiday music performed by queer artists is seemingly everywhere. For fans of mainstream pop, indie, country, dance and more, LGBTQ artists are making their voices heard this season to help spread some holiday cheer on their own. | | | |  | NPR Music | | The defining disco diva of 2020 performs four songs from her album Future Nostalgia for our Tiny Desk quarantine series. | | | |  | Hollywood Reporter | | The Recording Industry Association of America runs into some pushback after objecting to a tool that creates permanent copies of YouTube content. | | | |  | Pollstar | | “I need a holiday. A proper, long holiday. I think everybody on the team deserves a holiday,” said Mark Davyd back in October, after the Music Venue Trust (MVT) had just helped 259 grassroots music venues in the UK successfully apply for the UK government’s COVID relief fund. The holiday, however, had to wait. | | | |  | Concrete Islands | | These are the seventy-five albums of 2020 that have meant the most to us at Concrete Islands, alongside our archive releases of the year. | | | |  | The Guardian | | On hiatus since 2017, the Music of Black Origin awards return with black British music stronger than ever -- but the industry still unequal. Its founder explains the work that needs to be done. | | | |  | The Conversation | | Centred around a Blues Party in London, the second film from the Small Axe anthology captured the excitement of setting up a party but missed things about sound system culture in the UK. | | | | |  | | YouTube | | | | | | | | | | | From "El Último Tour Del Mundo," out now on Rimas. | | | | | | | | © Copyright 2020, The REDEF Group | | |
