| This should be the most fun job on the planet. And if it's not, you've got problems. |
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| Hot Pink New Year: Doja Cat at the Fountainbeu, Miami Beach, Fla., Dec. 31, 2021. |
| Photo by (Romain Maurice/Getty Images) |
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| quote of the day |
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“This should be the most fun job on the planet. And if it's not, you've got problems.”
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- Sturgill Simpson
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| rantnrave:// |
Always Crashing in the Same Car
And we start 2022 pretty much like we started 2021, knee deep in a pandemic, live music in perpetual doubt and the GRAMMY AWARDS reportedly about to be postponed. "Looking likely," a source tells Billboard. The RECORDING ACADEMY says no decision has been made, which means the OLIVIA RODRIGO vs. JON BATISTE Grammys are still officially on for Jan. 31, which would be exactly 365 days after last year's Grammys weren't held. Last year's were pushed back to March and moved across town from the STAPLES CENTER to the LOS ANGELES CONVENTION CENTER, and if the same thing happens this year, not a single soul who's paying attention to the spread of the virus, which someone you know probably has, would have the slightest reason to complain. It isn't only about keeping the industry literally healthy. It's also about setting a responsible example and not forcing artists, their teams and everyone else in the business to make decisions they might not want to make. If you're asking me. Which you probably aren't.
(Also, if the ceremony gets moved across town again and no one has to say the phrase "CRYPTO.COM ARENA" at any point during the show, I have it on good authority that not a soul in the industry will complain about that either.)
(Though I could be wrong about that, po$$ibly.)
In other déjà vu news, add the estate of DAVID BOWIE to the list of music's nine-figure sellers, with WARNER CHAPPELL MUSIC paying a reported $250 million for the entirety of Bowie's publishing catalog, including three or four of the greatest songs ever written about Mars, which seems to make it a good long-term bet for anyone thinking about the sync market three or four centuries down the line. Last year at this time, BOB DYLAN's then-recent publishing selloff, which yielded a few dollars more, was in the news. Warner Chappell, coincidentally, can now call itself the owner of Bowie's 1971 "SONG FOR BOB DYLAN," but not, say, his 1973 version of "GROWIN' UP," whose writer famously sold both his publishing and his masters to SONY at the end of 2021, also for a few dollars more.
There will be more such sales, probably a lot more, in 2022, but stay away from DIANE WARREN, people. One of the many cool things about owning your copyrights is that you can sell them for whatever the market will bear whenever the time comes—or you can tell the market to go away.
Rest in Peace
Bluegrass banjo legend J.D. CROWE... SANDRA JAFFE, who founded Preservation Hall with her husband, Allan, in 1961... Bay Area hyphy pioneer TRAXAMILLION... Jazz guitarist NICK COLIONNE... Bassist JAY WEAVER of contemporary Christian band Big Daddy Weave... "Sesame Street" and "Free to Be You and Me" composer STEPHEN J. LAWRENCE... Nigerian pop singer SLIM JOE... Longtime BBC radio DJ and "Top of the Pops" host JANICE LONG... TIFFINI HALE, one of several "All New Mickey Mouse Club" cast members who reunited in the '90s Disney pop group the Party... RAYSEAN AUTRY, blogger and co-founder of hip-hop site Kollege Kidd... Film producer DENIS O'DELL, who worked frequently with the Beatles and ran the film division of Apple Corps...
And "LIL DEVIN" SWAIN, an aspiring rapper and mentor to other rappers in Anderson, Ind. He was murdered in what his family described as a home invasion during a New Year's Eve party, making him at least the 29th hip-hop artist murdered in the US in 2021. Twenty-seven of them were murdered with guns. This isn't a Chicago or New York or LA problem. It's an Anderson, Indiana, problem. A Columbus, Ohio, problem. A York County, South Carolina, problem. A Houston problem. A San Diego problem. An America problem. A gun problem. Stop the violence. Please.
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| - Matty Karas (@troubledoll), curator |
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The Limnal Space |
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| The Crypto Music Industry |
| By Dan Fowler |
| A framework to understand what a Crypto Music Industry could look like and how it could evolve. |
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| rantnrave:// This set has been greatly expanded since we last met |
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REDEF |
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| REDEF MusicSET: Best Music of 2021: The Year in Lists |
| By Matty Karas |
| Where to start in this long, dark, disquieting year? Grab your driver's license and come along for the ride. Our annual running list of top 10s, top 40s, top 50s and top whatevers from around the music universe. |
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The New York Times |
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| Watching My Mother Watch Music |
| By Jon Caramanica |
| Our pop music critic remembers going to concerts with his mom, who died last year. |
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CBS Sunday Morning |
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| The transformation of Lil Nas X |
| By Tracy Smith and Lil Nas X |
| He had a hit with his breakout single "Old Town Road," about a horse-loving hip hop cowboy. But for his debut album, "Montero," the multiple-Grammy-nominee wrote songs about his real life as a gay man. |
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JazzTimes |
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| The Harp in Jazz |
| By Geoffrey Himes |
| From Harpo Marx to Brandee Younger, the harp has a distinguished but rarely told history in the genre. |
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The Idol Cast and other writings |
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| Chinese hackers launch 'virtual jihad' against South Korea boy band fans |
| By Filmi Girl, Krish Raghav and Yan Cong |
| In this episode we cover a range of topics from popular music in China, what Western media doesn’t get right about popular music in China, the growth of the indie rock scene in Beijing, and the dangers of buying too much yoghurt in order to support your favorite boy band member. |
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Culture Notes of an Honest Broker |
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| The Final Days of Bill Evans |
| By Ted Gioia |
| I only saw Bill Evans in the flesh on one occasion--and it was just ten days before he died. |
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| what we're into |
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| Music of the day |
| “6 Hour Layover in Denver” | | RXK Nephew | | "I was broke last year but now the broke days is over." The final release of 2021 by 2021's most prolific artist. (As of Monday night, his 2022 output was four songs, but Monday night was a long time ago.) |
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| Video of the day |
| “The Power of the Dog” | | Jane Campion | | One of three new Jonny Greenwood scores currently in theaters and/or online. Moody, tense, beautiful. |
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| Music | Media |
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Suggest a link  |
| “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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