| An entire history of innovations in recorded music could be told through the lens of so-called musical mistakes. |
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| Percussionist Etienne Charles and pianist Sullivan Fortner during the premiere of Charles' "San Juan Hill" at David Geffen Hall, New York, Oct. 8, 2022. |
| (Alexi Rosenfeld/Getty Images) |
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| quote of the day |
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“An entire history of innovations in recorded music could be told through the lens of so-called musical mistakes.”
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- Piotr Orlov, "In Praise of Musical Mistakes"
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| rantnrave:// |
Profits and Losses
That vague feeling of anxiety you might have noticed in the collective musical conscience Wednesday was the sound of songwriters learning that BMI, the biggest performance rights org in the US, is switching to a for-profit model after nearly a century as a not-for-profit business. This follows BMI’s failed attempt to sell itself earlier this year at an asking price that Bloomberg reported was north of $1.5 billion. The change, which BMI announced to staff via email Wednesday morning, “gives us more financial flexibility” to invest in new technology and expand/diversify, possibly through acquisitions, the organization said. It won’t take money from songwriter/publisher royalty funds to pay for any of that, and its consent decree with the US government won’t be affected, BMI told reporters. But this summer, sources told Bloomberg’s LUCAS SHAW that BMI had suggested to potential buyers it might change *how* it doles out those royalties, possibly, for example, “paying [artists] less upfront in exchange for equity in the business.” It also floated the possibility of cost-cutting. Which is, perhaps, why a vague feeling of anxiety hangs in the air. More to come.
Dot Dot Dot
Speaking of profits and royalties: The Wall Street Journal (paywall) reports that TIKTOK’s parent company, BYTEDANCE, which operates the streaming music service RESSO in India, Indonesia and Brazil, is negotiating with record companies to expand to another dozen-plus markets (not including the US, at least not yet) in the hope of creating a self-contained global ecosystem where “users can discover songs on the short-form video app and then easily subscribe to music.” Sticking points in the negotiations, sources tell the Journal, include the poor rate of conversion from free to paid subscriptions in Resso’s existing markets and the usual arguments between the royalties the labels want and the “promotional value” the tech company says it’s providing. The labels have the negotiating advantage that they can just say no and walk away. ByteDance has the negotiating advantage that no one actually wants to say no and walk away from TikTok. Or, as MOTÖRHEAD might say, everything more of an upper hand than everything else... Electronic composer IKUE MORI, jazz cellist/composer TOMEKA REID and musician, scholar and activist MARTHA GONZALEZ are among this year’s recipients of MACARTHUR FOUNDATION “genius” grants. The prestigious awards, for which you can’t apply and which are chosen by an anonymous panel, come with no-strings-attached payouts that were increased this year to $800,000 over five years... Accidents will happen, sometimes not by accident. The lead story in today's mix is a beautiful essay by PIOTR ORLOV that zooms in on a theme in DAN CHARNAS' J DILLA biography, DILLA TIME, about musical mistakes that aren't in fact mistakes, and how sometimes what needs fixing/adjusting aren't the strange new sounds we're hearing but our expectations for how we hear them. And then it zooms out and asks what happens when data sets and algorithms discourage such mistakes in a mechanized, quantized world. An enlightening read on how music moves forward, and how to hear it when it does... WU-TANG meets rhythm and blues.
Rest in Peace
Artist manager GREG EPLER, best known for his long association with Fuel.
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| - Matty Karas (@troubledoll), curator |
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Pioneer Works |
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| In Praise of Musical Mistakes |
| By Piotr Orlov |
| On Dilla Time, deforming mastery, and a limitless question: at the level of intention, are errors ever actually errors? |
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WRTI |
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| What is viral jazz? |
| By Nate Chinen |
| Hard to define, for one thing. But in our disorienting digital age, these image-savvy, genre-fluid, proficient yet irreverent artists can seem like the only ones who've gleefully cracked the code. |
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The New York Times |
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| The Young Women Who Make TikTok Weep |
| By Jon Caramanica and Rachel Brodsky |
| Songwriters who have found success on the app via emotional catharsis have expanded its range, and piqued the music industry’s interest. |
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Vulture |
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| The Jon Brion Method |
| By Craig Jenkins |
| The super-producer has spent 30 years perfecting the art of collaboration with everyone from Beyoncé to Elliott Smith. |
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Norah Jones Is Playing Along: |
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| Norah Jones Is Playing Along: Tarriona 'Tank' Ball |
| By Norah Jones and Tarriona "Tank" Ball |
| Norah and Tank are by all means ‘friend goals’ so they cover everything from the news, to cooking, writing, attending the Grammys and of course love. The music in this episode takes some surprising turns while they play new versions of Tank and the Bangas songs, a collaboration with Norah titled ‘Playing Along’ and a new take on ‘Don’t Know Why.’ |
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Broken Record |
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| Broken Record: Bartees Strange |
| By Justin Richmond and Bartees Strange |
| Justin Richmond talks to Bartees Strange about his ascent into the upper echelon of indie rock. |
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| what we're into |
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| Music of the day |
| “Atemporal” |
| Lucrecia Dalt |
| From "¡Ay!," out Friday on RVNG Intl. |
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| Video of the day |
| “The Playlist” |
| Per-Olav Sørensen |
| Director Per-Olav Sørensen's six-part, fictionalized series about the birth of Spotify is out today on Netflix. |
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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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