| Artists are usually incredibly smart about themselves. They know more than we do. |
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Lady Gaga sings the national anthem at the presidential inauguration in Washington, D.C., Jan 20, 2021.
(Rob Carr/Getty Images)
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“Artists are usually incredibly smart about themselves. They know more than we do.”
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I Hear America Singing
Happy Thursday. New day, new president and vice president, new soundtrack in Washington, D.C. On Wednesday, some people were thinking about new senators and cabinet appointees. Others were waiting for the strange spectacle of a real live press briefing. Some were at home wondering what unity means. Me, I found myself glued to CNN and tearing up, repeatedly, at the simple pleasure of live music. The star-spangled melismas and daring choices of LADY GAGA. The singalong spirituality of GARTH BROOKS. The Latin pop joy of OZUNA and LUIS FONSI. Not to mention the stunning melody and rhymes of AMANDA GORMAN's inaugural poem, "THE HILL WE CLIMB."
Covid-19 may have stolen a year of live music from most of us, but the White House had gone silent long before that. White House concerts are a grand American tradition, a celebration not only of artists but of the very fact that music matters, that it has value, that it's an essential part of who we are and how we express ourselves. RONALD REAGAN hosted legends from the BEACH BOYS to JESSYE NORMAN to FRANK SINATRA. BILL CLINTON, a musician himself, welcomed the likes of ARETHA FRANKLIN and B.B. KING. JAMES BROWN and ITZHAK PEARLMAN played for GEORGE W. BUSH, while for BARACK OBAMA it was JAMES TAYLOR and QUEEN LATIFAH and the cast of HAMILTON.
And then... silence. A handful of musicians including KANYE WEST and KID ROCK walked through the doors of DONALD TRUMP's White House but if they played any music there, it wasn't in public. Trump shunned the annual KENNEDY CENTER HONORS (missing the chance, over the years, to pay his official respects to GLORIA ESTEFAN, CHER, REBA MCENTIRE, WAYNE SHORTER and LINDA RONSTADT, among others). One literature professor suggested he may have "musical anhedonia, an inability to enjoy music."
Trump did express a fondness for a small collection of classic-rock, pop and disco recordings, which were played repeatedly, at earsplitting volume, at his rallies over the years. He headed home to Florida Wednesday morning to the sounds of "DON'T STOP BELIEVIN'," "YMCA" (why?) and "TINY DANCER," played with awkward stops and starts by an unseen DJ as he arrived at and departed Andrews Air Force Base. They were played in a strange order. How do you not use "Don't Stop Believin'," awkward stop and all, as the finale for this show?
And then his successor arrived with a daylong festival of adult A-list pop (with a little B-plus cool thrown in): Gaga, Garth, J.LO, BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN, DEMI LOVATO, BLACK PUMAS, JOHN LEGEND, ANDRA DAY, KATY PERRY, etc. etc. A not-so-random '90s rock reunion that had special resonance for both President JOE BIDEN and Second Gentleman DOUG EMHOFF. Drumlines from the alma maters of Biden and Vice President KAMALA HARRIS. Performances from Nashville, from Austin, Texas, from Los Angeles. A celebration of American music, of hopes and dreams, of spirituality, of purpose, of uplift, of joy. A soundtrack to a party. An expression of our soul. But above all, I'd like to believe, a reset, a re-assertion of the notion that without art, without poetry, without music, there'd be nothing to fight for. The music may be the soundtrack, but it's also, in a crucial way, the point.
Re-Make/Re-Model
And, yes, you're reading a redesigned MusicREDEF, a streamlined 2021 version aimed at easier reading and navigation and featuring, for the first time in REDEF history, paragraph breaks.
Crazy, right?
It's a work in progress. We've been listening to reader feedback, and we'll keep doing so. Expect more changes to come. And look out for the return of JASON HIRSCHHORN and MediaREDEF, which will be back soon.
And thanks to our old pal, REDEF employee #1 MARCUS SMITH, for helping bring the new REDEF to life.
Dot Dot Dot
Did BOB DYLAN neglect to pay a songwriting collaborator when he sold his songs to UNIVERSAL MUSIC for hundreds of millions of dollars? The widow of the late JACQUES LEVY, co-writer of seven songs on 1976's DESIRE, is suing Dylan for $7.25 million... Long-running music production forum GEARSLUTZ is changing its name, in response to an online petition... NAMM, virtually... Five of the artists who performed on inaugural day have headlined Super Bowl halftime shows. In case anyone wants to bet on the WEEKND for a 2024 inauguration slot.
Rest in Peace
Memphis rapper BABY CEO and EDGAR "GEMINI" PORTER of the R&B group MEN AT LARGE.
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| Matty Karas (@troubledoll), curator |
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| you've got the music in you |
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Los Angeles Magazine |
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| How Mo Ostin Turned a Faltering Record Label into the Powerhouse of Rock |
| by Peter Ames Carlin |
| In the late ’60s, the beloved Warner/Reprise exec signed culture-bending artists from Jimi Hendrix to Fleetwood Mac. His secret? Stop trying to make hit records. (Excerpted from Peter Ames Carlin's "Sonic Boom: The Impossible Rise of Warner Bros. Records, from Hendrix to Fleetwood Mac to Madonna to Prince." |
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Variety |
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| Katy Perry, Bruce Springsteen, J.Lo and Garth Brooks Go Gaga for America in Epic Day of Inaugural Tunes: Music Review |
| by Chris Willman |
| Lady Gaga's national anthem and performances by Springsteen and Andra Day were among the highlights of a three-tiered day of televised performances. |
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The Washington Post |
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| Our national anthem ends with a question. Lady Gaga answered it as best she could |
| by Chris Richards |
| Pomp flirted with camp, and familiar words unfolded at irregular rhythms, and our eyes weren’t allowed to glaze over, and neither were our ears. |
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The Verge |
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| Microsoft killed the Zune, but Zune-heads are still here |
| by Luke Winkie |
| Zune eternal. |
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Ars Technica |
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| How one musician took on the world’s biggest TV network over copyright—and won |
| by Chris Stokel-Walker |
| “The torrent they got the music from was just called like 123456.mp3." |
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Music Business Worldwide |
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| How Should the Music Streaming Revenue Pie Be Split? |
| by David Israelite |
| Beware of op-eds that seem encouraging but actually serve to misinform, blame and divide the music industry. |
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MUSIC • TECHNOLOGY • POLICY |
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| When Do I Get Paid by The MLC? |
| by Chris Castle |
| If you look for payment information in the much ballyhooed Music Modernization Act, you won’t find it. |
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Pollstar |
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| Rock & Roll Presidents: Jimmy Carter, Inaugurations & Live Music’s Return To The White House |
| by Andy Gensler |
| The presidency impacts the country's arts and culture in both policies and funding terms and, perhaps most importantly, the tone it sets for the nation. This is made abundantly clear in the fantastic new CNN documentary “Jimmy Carter: Rock And Roll President." |
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Variety |
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| What Is ‘American Anthem,’ the Song President Biden Quoted in His Inaugural Address? |
| by Jem Aswad |
| Of all the songs President Joe Biden might have quoted during his inaugural address on Wednesday (Jan 20), a song that many people know as a Norah Jones track from a Ken Burns documentary might not have been the first guess. |
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HipHopDX |
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| Suge Knight, C-Murder, YNW Melly & Bobby Shmurda: Rap Figures Donald Trump Didn't Pardon |
| by Kyle Eustice |
| There were a few notable names left off the list that caught rap fans' attention, some who'd been lobbying for a pardon or commutation for years. |
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| this world is gonna pull through |
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The New Yorker |
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| Keep Beethoven Weird |
| by Alex Ross |
| We’ve put the scowling composer in a box. |
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SFChronicle Datebook |
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| Esa-Pekka Salonen and S.F. Symphony to debut a streaming service meant to go on beyond pandemic |
| by Joshua Kosman |
| Like all performing arts organizations in the age of COVID, the San Francisco Symphony has been compelled to move its activities online ever since the first lockdown orders in March last year ruled out in-person gatherings. |
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The Huffington Post UK |
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| How To Get Back Into New Music -- And Why It's So Good For You |
| by Adam Bloodworth |
| Many of us stop listening to new music at 30, studies show -- but here's why you shouldn't. |
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The Moment with Brian Koppelman |
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| The Moment with Brian Koppelman: Rick Rubin -- 01/19/21 |
| by Brian Koppelman and Rick Rubin |
| Rick Rubin, legendary record producer, on the mysteries of the creative process. |
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The Guardian |
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| Guns N' Roses: how they soundtracked my last gasp of pre-teen freedom |
| by Rebecca Nicholson |
| In the first of a new series on the artists who had a formative influence on our writers, Rebecca Nicholson celebrates the hysterical melodrama of Axl Rose and co. |
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Genius |
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| The Evolution of 'GTA' Radio |
| by Jacques Morel Jr. |
| “The radio sets the mood for Grand Theft Auto.” |
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Music Industry Blog |
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| Music has developed an attention dependency |
| by Mark Mulligan |
| The increasingly fierce competition for consumers’ attention is becoming corrosive, with clickbait, autoplay and content farms degrading both content and culture. |
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Chicago Reader |
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| Finding ways to play through the pandemic |
| by Bill Meyer |
| Chicago improvisers Tim Daisy and Matt Piet have responded to the challenges of COVID by learning new ways to record alone. |
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The Trichordist |
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| Songwriters Alarmed Biden Admin Looking at Google/Amazon Attorney for Antitrust Chief |
| by David C. Lowery |
| The Intercept is reporting that the Biden administration is considering appointing Renata Hesse as Assistant Attorney General for Antitrust. The potential appointment has raised eyebrows in the press since Hesse in private practice worked on antitrust cases on behalf of both Google and Amazon. |
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VICE |
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| Country Music’s Culture War Is Playing Out on the Inauguration Stage |
| by Josh Terry |
| The historical tensions plaguing the genre are more heightened than ever in the wake of the Trump administration. |
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Covering a Nina Simone hit to celebrate the inauguration of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.
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| Music | Media | Sports | Fashion | Tech |
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“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?’” |
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| Jason Hirschhorn |
| CEO & Chief Curator |
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