| That record just told me. ‘You can make whatever you want. You can create these collages of all the different genres that you listen to in your bedroom.' |
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| Arlo Parks at Shepherd's Bush Empire, London, Nov. 3, 2021. |
| (Matthew Baker/Getty Images) |
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| quote of the day |
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“That record just told me. ‘You can make whatever you want. You can create these collages of all the different genres that you listen to in your bedroom.'”
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- Arlo Parks, on Frank Ocean's "Channel Orange"
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| rantnrave:// |
Out With the New?
Reminder: One of the reasons classic catalogs from decades past are selling for hundreds of millions of dollars while current catalogs sometimes don't seem to be worth the tokens they're printed on is that most young hitmakers have nothing to sell because the music business is all but designed to make sure they don't own their work. BAD BUNNY and DUA LIPA can no more sell their catalogs in 2022 than BOB DYLAN could have sold his in 1964 or BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN in 1975. The catalogs aren't theirs to sell.
Not to mention, if you're a hedge fund or just a regular ol' billionaire looking to invest in copyrights and master recordings, you know exactly which ones from the '60s and '70s and '80s and '90s are going to have lasting value because they've already acquired and demonstrated that value. The wheat and the chaff from those eras have already been separated. The wheat and the chaff of 2020 and 2021, the only two years whose music the industry officially calls "current"—as opposed to "catalog"—exist side-by-side on playlists, radio and TIKTOK, and no one can tell you with 100 percent confidence which is which. It's too soon to know, and therefore, for many people, too soon to invest. (But guess who *is* investing? The labels, duh.)
And so Bob Dylan, who sold his publishing for somewhere in the area of $400 million a year ago, gets to add another $200 million or so to his bank account in exchange for his masters, and we all get to enjoy another round of stories about how all anyone cares about is oldies. This week's example: an essay from the normally soulful and insightful TED GIOIA asking, "Is Old Music Killing New Music?" Gioia posted it last week on his Substack and the Atlantic republished it over the weekend. Among his data points are streaming numbers showing that catalog music is responsible for about two-thirds of streaming consumption and the gap between catalog and new music consumption widened slightly between 2020 and 2021. But if you were measuring those numbers today, the "catalog" column would include one of the biggest pop hits in the world, GLASS ANIMALS' "HEAT WAVES," which came out in summer 2020 and is officially catalog since it's more than 18 months old. Occasionally, it takes a song that long just to become a hit in the first place. Also, we have no reliable way of comparing these numbers to what it was like in Dylan's and Springsteen's heydays because we've only had the ability to track real-time personal listening for the past decade or so. It's quite possible there's always been about two-thirds catalog and one-third new in our headphones.
Another data point: Steadily declining GRAMMY AWARDS ratings. But is that a measure of declining interest in new music or a measure of the declining power of network television? How are TIKTOK's ratings trending over the same period?
This thread by the FUTURE OF MUSIC COALITION delves a little deeper into the flaws in Gioia's old-music-murdering-new-music argument, while making the point, as I will again, that Gioia's is an important voice in music and this isn't about picking on him. There's been a choir of voices saying similar things for quite some time. And Gioia uses the latter part of his story to stick up for the quality of music that's being produced today, which is always important to remember.
In other old vs. new news, old-ish DAMON ALBARN used a Los Angeles Times interview to disparage young-ish TAYLOR SWIFT because "there's a big difference between a songwriter and a songwriter who co-writes," which is both a bonkers argument and a factually untrue description of what Taylor Swift does. And then, after Swift yelled at him on Twitter, Albarn took to Twitter himself to "apologise unreservedly and unconditionally" to her while trying to blame the newspaper, which had quoted him directly, for engaging in "clickbait." "I think I'm becoming old fashioned," he told a concert audience in Los Angeles Monday night, which is a perfectly good summation of the affair. I'm a fan of both parties, for what it's worth, but one conducted herself a little better than the other here.
Old-ish NEIL YOUNG publicly asked for his music to be pulled from young-ish SPOTIFY on account of its continuing to host middle-age-ish JOE ROGAN's pandemically problematic podcast. I'm 100 percent with Young, though I don't think anyone will have to struggle too hard with any decisions here. Young has always been ambivalent about having his music in Spotfy and would prefer fans hear his music on his own NEIL YOUNG ARCHIVES site anyway. He's not losing sleep over this. Nor is Spotify, which will choose its extremely popular podcaster over the classic rocker without breaking a sweat. (Though it's possible some of Young's multimillionaire classic-rock investors may be less than thrilled.) But only one of the three players here has a decent claim to the moral high ground, or even knows what that is, and it's worth asking what the calculus would be if someone like Taylor Swift or ADELE or DRAKE joined in on that protest. Or if, as BOB LEFSETZ proposes, the entire classic-rock community joined in. (See also: The recent decision by German producer SKEE MASK and his label, ILIAN TAPE, to pull their music from Spotify to protest low streaming rates but also, apparently, Spotify chief DANIEL EK's investment in European defense tech company HELSING.)
Rest in Peace
Jazz-rock multi-instrumentalist DICK HALLIGAN, a founding member of BLOOD, SWEAT & TEARS (he was originally the group's trombonist but quickly moved on to several other instruments) who later worked as a film composer... DON HECKMAN, longtime jazz and pop critic for the NY Times, LA Times and elsewhere. He died in November but it went unreported until this week... JAMES MARANISS, an Amherst College professor who wrote the libretto for "Life Is a Dream," an opera that won a Pulitzer Prize 22 years after it was completed and wasn't performed onstage until 10 years after that.
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| - Matty Karas (@troubledoll), curator |
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The FADER |
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| Earl Sweatshirt is in full control |
| By Brandon Callender |
| After a decade filled with twists and turns, Earl Sweatshirt still finds ways to surprise on his restorative new album "Sick!" |
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Pollstar |
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| What If The Beatles Had Toured In 1969 Instead Of Breaking Up? |
| By Andy Gensler |
| The Beatles’ final live performance, shown in the documentary "Get Back," was in 1969, the year that saw the beginnings of the modern touring industry. Concerts and how fans engaged with them were radically changing, with advances in performing, audio, lighting, transportation, security, finance, venues, merch and more. |
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DJ Mag |
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| Plastician’s guide to Web3, and re-writing the rule book for artists online |
| By Declan McGlynn |
| Upstart tech like blockchain has been dominating discourse around the music industry's next steps and has become one of the most divisive trends of the past 12 months. Declan McGlynn speaks to Plastician about why he believes it's the future for independent labels, promoters and artists. |
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Brooklyn Vegan |
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| 'Meet Me in the Bathroom' directors talk new 2000s NYC rock doc |
| By PSquaredmedia |
| 'Meet Me in the Bathroom,' the documentary adaptation of Lizzy Goodman‘s oral history of the early-'00s NYC music scene, just premiered at Sundance, and we talked to the directors about their approach to turning the sprawling book into 108 minute film. |
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Cadence Weapon |
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| Is the band shirt dead? |
| By Cadence Weapon |
| Have rumours of the band shirt's death been greatly exaggerated? |
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Northern Transmissions |
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| Yard Act Stay Vigilant |
| By Charles Brownstein |
| Like many of their contemporary punk compatriots, Leeds rockers Yard Act are reckoning with the divisive social and political issues plaguing England and beyond today. Brexit, the Conservative Party’s anti-refugee policies, and the government’s mishandling of the pandemic all fall in the band’s crosshairs on their spiky, slinky, and twisting full-length debut, "The Overload." |
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Lexical Tones |
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| Lexical Tones: Income Matrix |
| By Robert McClure and Jamie Leigh Sampson |
| ADJ•ective Co-owner and #ADJCC member Jamie Leigh Sampson introduces us to the entrepreneurial side of being a composer in the 21st century, while discussing various income streams within the context of an Income Matrix. |
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Tidal |
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| Jody Stephens on Big Star and the Legend of Ardent Studios |
| By Shaun Brady |
| One of the great recording facilities in rock, soul and roots history, Memphis’ Ardent Studios is perhaps best known as the house that Big Star built. Big Star drummer and Ardent manager Jody Stephens details the room’s illustrious past and considers its still-bustling present. |
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| what we're into |
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| Music | Media |
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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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