It's not about being the next Kelly Clarkson. The music industry has changed so much [since the heyday of 'American Idol'] and a lot people want to be the next Kendrick Lamar. | | | | Pure pop for now people: Charli XCX in Auckland, New Zealand, on Dec. 5, 2017.
(Dave Simpson/WireImage/Getty Images) | | | | |  | “It's not about being the next Kelly Clarkson. The music industry has changed so much [since the heyday of 'American Idol'] and a lot people want to be the next Kendrick Lamar.”
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| | rantnrave:// A longtime knock on singing competitions like THE VOICE and AMERICAN IDOL is that they haven't done a great job of minting pop stars, which is weird because they're TV shows, not record companies, and their first, second and third obligation is to make great TV. Which, at their best, both shows have done, while minting their own judges as TV stars. ("Idol" did give us KELLY CLARKSON, CARRIE UNDERWOOD and sort of JENNIFER HUDSON—she finished in seventh place—in its first four seasons, but the going got rough after that.) THE FOUR, which premiered Thursday on FOX, has given itself a different task. It claims to *be* the record business, and it spent a good chunk of its first two hours telling us that's how it wants to be judged. That's a high bar. The reason most "Voice" and "Idol" winners haven't become major pop stars is that most pop singers don't become major pop stars, no matter who or what is behind them. Setting that high bar early on, REPUBLIC RECORDS president CHARLIE WALK told a contestant, "We're in the great business. You were good." That was 12 minutes into the show and it was the night's first zinger, and first interesting moment. Twelve minutes is a hella long time to wait for that, and that's the bar the show is going to have hit harder and quicker if it wants to be great TV. TV competitions aren't about results. They're about characters, drama and process. That's the stuff we watch for. Musically, the showrunners and judges—DJ KHALED, DIDDY and MEGHAN TRAINOR along with Walk—are looking for current hip-hop and R&B in a way that positions them younger and fresher than the competition. A rapper named LEX LU covering "WILD THOUGHTS" in front of Khaled was a nice touch. Now the show simply has to follow the advice Diddy gave to a contestant who was voted off: "You bought the drama but you didn't close the show. Once you get on your knees, you have to cry. You can't go on your knees and not cry." Get on your knees and bring that drama, please... Between SPOTIFY's imminent public listing, YOUTUBE's third-time's-the-charm push toward a subscription music offering and reports that JIMMY IOVINE will exit APPLE this summer, could we be headed for a year of upheaval in the subscription music space? Some overdue consolidation? Some overdue compensation? Proof that someone can make a profit? Better search tools? Or are we due less for upheaval and more for tweaks and adjustments? RECODE's PETER KAFKA notes that IOVINE, who never had a title at Apple, "has had a limited role within the company for some time," and wonders how essential he was to Apple Music's growth. YouTube's LYOR COHEN is telling artists and managers, "We're going to make you rich and famous," but his company has a shaky track record on that score and a couple not-so-notable music launches on its scorecard. Will the music guys be in charge a year from now? Or will it be the tech guys? Will you be sure you can tell which is which?... It's the first FRIDAY of 2018 and that means new music from CUPCAKKE, PROFLIGATE, ONE WEEK NOTICE, WATAIN, HOODRICH PABLO JUAN and a JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE single... RIP MAURICE PERESS.
| | | - Matty Karas, curator |
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 | Clash Magazine |
| How far should we be held accountable for the views and actions of our patrons? Do headline Coachella acts such as Beyoncé, St. Vincent, and Eminem have a responsibility to reject associations with figures like Philip Anschutz? | | |
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 | Bloomberg |
| If Lyor Cohen is successful, he could solidify YouTube’s place as one of the major tech companies shaping the music industry’s future. | | |
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 | The Ringer |
| "The Four" may not be the world’s next great singing competition-but it is an opportunity to watch Sean Combs interact with people | | |
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 | Resident Advisor |
| We attempt to unravel a house music enigma. | | |
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 | Variety |
| “A music placement could happen within days of the game." | | |
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 | NPR |
| Created as alternatives to the hit-making monoliths of commercial radio, AAA stations have pushed artists like Lorde into the mainstream. Now, the stations are facing pressure to pick tomorrow's hits. | | |
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 | Vulture |
| Music currently relies on the momentum of the surprise release. Artists like Beyoncé or Frank Ocean or Drake will drop a hint that something could be coming at some point, but won't say what or when or where. Some of the releases below are coming, for sure. Others are extremely educated guesses. | | |
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 | Advertising Age |
| The music business is back. You could argue it just finally caught up to the technology business. Or that the rise of technology has fueled better music profits. In fact, both are true. | | |
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 | TIME |
| Men can’t step back and leave it to women alone to clean up the mess we’ve made and are still making. Misogyny, violence and poverty are problems we can’t solve at half-strength, which is the way we’ve been operating for a few millennia now. | | |
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 | AL.com |
| Through his talent, instincts and relentless work ethic, Rick Hall – a farmer's son turned musician, songwriter, producer and studio owner – transformed a humble North Alabama area into a recording Mecca. Muscle Shoals became more than a place. It became a sound. An adjective. | | |
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 | The New Yorker |
| John Williams’s score for “The Last Jedi” is one of the most compelling of his “Star Wars” career, with intricate variations on his canon of melodies. | | |
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 | Noisey |
| At the risk of getting all 'wake up sheeple!!' I wonder what this new growth for the business really means for us, the music lovers. | | |
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 | Song Exploder |
| In this episode, Questlove tells the story of how the Roots made the song “It Ain’t Fair.” It was created for the film "Detroit," directed by oscar-winner Kathryn Bigelow. | | |
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 | DJBooth |
| “That’s a pretty f***ing fast year flew by.” | | |
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 | Billboard |
| Diddy, DJ Khaled, Meghan Trainor & Charlie Walk dish on the new show. | | |
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 | The Guardian |
| To find the novel I’d written was one of my hero’s favourites - and may now be chosen for his new book group - is an honour like no other, writes Rupert Thomson. | | |
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 | Flood Magazine |
| More than twenty years after a bitter dissolution, the modern punk legends have rejoined. Here, members of the Jawbreaker scene and story recount the saga and impact of one of the heaviest-and most literary-bands ever. | | |
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| Noisey |
| The mixtape, exec produced by PC Music's AG Cook, is a masterclass in turning pop on its head. | | |
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 | recode |
| Big investors TPG and Dragoneer get a nice return, and Tencent gets a piece of the streaming music company. Everybody happy? | | |
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 | The Washington Post |
| Ever listen to Unrest? Back in the early ’90s, they were indie rock’s most indomitable pinball — a band perpetually bouncing between weirdo love songs and lovely weirdo songs, delivering a gust of fresh air to the American underground. But to founder Mark Robinson, “It seemed like nothing was going on. Like nobody was paying attention.” | | |
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 | YouTube |
| | | | | | From the "Black Panther" soundtrack. |
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| © Copyright 2018, The REDEF Group |
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