| You don’t have to be radio-friendly to be cool. |
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| Willow at the Reading Festival, Reading, England, Aug. 28, 2022. |
| (Simone Joyner/Getty Images) |
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| quote of the day |
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“You don’t have to be radio-friendly to be cool.”
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- Willow Smith
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| rantnrave:// |
The Good, the Bad and the Maybe
If the real money is in touring, as music’s best accountants have been saying since long before most people reading this were born, then 2022 has been a really, really good year for ED SHEERAN, who Billboard says has sold more tickets than anybody else (and hasn’t invited lawsuits and investigations in the process), and BAD BUNNY, who grossed the most, $373.5 million, in the 12 months ending Oct. 31. LIVE NATION continued to be the dominant live music promoter and CAA the leading agency, and for the first time ever, the top 10 touring acts, who also included HARRY STYLES, the WEEKND and the double bill of DEF LEPPARD and MÖTLEY CRÜE, all grossed over $100 million.
But inflation and supply-chain issues (including the supply chain of humans amid waves of belt-tightening and layoffs) and the logistical nightmare of touring in a post-Covid world in which Covid still very much exists all conspired to put giant asterisks next to those achievements. In the lede of its story about how “From the Top, Touring Looks Better Than Ever”—note the hedge of those first three words—Billboard wonders if 2022 was “the worst ‘best year ever.’” Asked by Music Business Worldwide how things are looking as 2022 comes to a close, AEG PRESENTS boss JAY MARCIANO sounds like a man asked to predict what the stock market’s going to look like three weeks from next Thursday: “Anyone that tells you they know what’s going on is probably using the benefit of their experience in the last 24 hours. Ask them that question in seven days, they might answer differently!”
Rising costs are eating into the revenues. Fans remain reluctant to buy tickets too far in advance for all but the most blockbuster, sure-to-sell-out tours. Artists, the Sydney Morning Herald reports, feel like they have no choice but to raise ticket prices, but they also feel like they can’t because their fans can’t afford it. More than a quarter of music fans who attended festivals in summer 2022 expected to go into credit card debt to do so, 5 Magazine noted in a story about how the 2022 festival season was “brought to you by MASTERCARD.” CADENCE WEAPON says it’s awful out there. LORDE says it’s awful out there. Lots of indie musicians say it’s awful out there.
And then there’s Baltimore hardcore band TURNSTILE, who spent 2022 tearing through venues around North America and the world and watching its numbers go through the roof. “Touring’s been very long, but very rewarding,” guitarist PAT MCCRORY tells Pollstar. Though maybe that’s just because Pollstar asked him on a good day. Ask him again in seven days, or seven months. (Or maybe it’s just because the real music, as purists have been saying since long before you were born, is in touring. Or, as Turnstile singer BRENDAN YATES tells the mag, “You write a song and then touring is when you bring it to life.”)
As bad years go, it was a good year. Or was it the other way around?
Etc Etc Etc
This DAMON KRUKOWSKI essay about signal-to-noise ratio is more about ELON MUSK, TWITTER, high tech and media than it is about sound recording, but it’s a powerful argument about the importance of the noise in that equation, as well as the subjectivity of the very determination of what constitutes noise and what constitutes signal, which means it kind of is about sound recording anyway, and it's a crucial read whether you’re walking into a studio or into a social media rabbit hole... Hey APPLE MUSIC, please share this proprietary technology with APPLE TV so I can *raise* the level of the voices on movies and TV shows... Syncing the CRAMPS... Death metal singer or bat?
Rest in Peace
Canadian composer JOHN BECKWITH... German acoustic guitarist/composer STEFFEN BASHO-JUNGHANS... JANIS HUNTER GAYE, one-time wife of Marvin, inspiration for many of his songs, occasional backup singer, manager of their daughter Nona Gaye and one of the instigators of the landmark “Blurred Lines” plagiarism case.
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| - Matty Karas (@troubledoll), curator |
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Dada Drummer Almanach |
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| Everything I Was Worried About Then, I Am More Worried About Now (Part 2) |
| By Damon Krukowski |
| The elimination of noise in digital media represents a distortion of our offline perception of information. In analog environments, we derive meaning from both signal and noise. We constantly sort one from the other, and we are very good at shifting our attention, changing what is considered signal and what is considered noise.The definition is in flux, and up to you. |
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The Bitter Southerner |
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| The Best Southern Albums of 2022 |
| Anchored in dichotomies of anxiety and faith, nostalgia and momentum, so many of these records represent reimagined futures — an artist shapeshifting genres, a young musician reinterpreting references beyond their years, a group trying to make sense of our era’s senselessness, or an unsung singer-songwriter heard decades later. |
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Broken Record |
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| Broken Record: Stormzy |
| By Rick Rubin and Stormzy |
| Stormzy plays Rick songs from his new album, and explains why he decided to consider his audience last when recording it. And he talks about how a painful break-up and trusting God helped lead him to a new melodic, soulful sound. |
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Interview Magazine |
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| Ice Spice Is Rethinking Rap Stardom |
| By Erykah Badu and Puma Curry |
| No one has been more successful at dragging thirsty men while forcing them to sing along since the original B-girl Erykah Badu dropped her '90s ode to bummy broke boys "Tyrone." So when Badu's daughter Puma Curry put her mom on to Ice Spice, it made sense that the neo-soul legend recognized a kindred spirit. |
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Love is the Message |
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| Love is the Message: The 12" Single (Side B) |
| By Tim Lawrence and Jeremy Gilbert |
| In this week's episode Jeremy and Tim flip the record for Side B of our examination of the 12" single. The guys consider what was going on in Dub culture and the format in the mid-70s, talk dubplate spec, and give the proper meaning to the dub discomix. |
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| what we're into |
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| Music of the day |
| “A Mile in My Head” |
| Raw Poetic ft. Archie Shepp |
| From "Space Beyond the Solar System," out Friday on 22nd Century Sound. |
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| Video of the day |
| “George & Tammy” |
| Abe Sylvia/John Hillcoat |
| Stand by your miniseries: Michael Shannon is George Jones and Jessica Chastain is Tammy Wynette in the Showtime six-parter. |
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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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