If you’re overly precious about something you’ll kill it.
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Miles Davis circa 1970.
(Express Newspapers/Archive Photos/Getty Images)
Tuesday - February 06, 2018 Tue - 02/06/18
rantnrave:// Twenty-plus years ago, when THE NOTORIOUS B.I.G., NAS and the WU-TANG CLAN ruled the boroughs of NEW YORK, when SUPER BOWL halftime meant PATTI LABELLE, DIANA ROSS or (I kid you not) the BLUES BROTHERS, and when people bought records at record stores, I got what I believe qualifies as my first job in the music industry, at MUZE. We supplied the kiosks where people at those record stores could find out which MILES DAVIS album(s) "FOOTPRINTS" was on and who played drums on it. The info was there because someone at Muze literally typed every name on every album into our system. Shoutout to all my amazing friends—musicians, writers, indie label founders, coders—who passed through those cubicles. We cracked a lot of CD booklets. We followed strict rules. Acoustic instruments before electric instruments. High strings before low strings. We argued details. We double-checked each other's work. We took mandatory one-hour lunches so the data could be backed up every day. And we wound up with more raw information about the people who make records, as far as I can tell, than any record company or anyone else in the biz had. But we didn't capture songwriter information at first, so we eventually embarked on an overtime project to double back and type into the system who wrote, like, every song ever. You can imagine how quixotic that enterprise was, and if you can't, trust me, it was worse than that. Frustrating, too. Reliable songwriting info doesn't grow on trees and it didn't grow on CD booklets either. Who was this L. JORDAN guy? How were we supposed to know he was the same as that other L. JORDAN? Or if this "NY STATE OF MIND" was the same as that "NY STATE OF MIND"? Why hadn't anyone put this info on the WORLD WIDE WEB yet? What was the World Wide Web? Would anyone *ever* put this on the WWW? I think about those days every time someone talks about collecting all these names in a connected database on the blockchain or in SPOTIFY or anywhere else, or when a service like Spotify actually goes ahead and tries to do it. The stakes are greater in the digital era, where reliable, cross-referenced songwriter data is crucial to the L. Jordans of the world getting properly paid. Various interested parties are trying to make it happen, or asking other interested parties to make it happen. Yet it still doesn't exist. Which is why it still seems like we can never be certain who wrote this FRANK OCEAN song or that IGGY AZALEA song. Do the people cutting the checks know? Do their labels? Do the artists? Is there a group of people from every corner of the business sitting in a dark underground room right now trying to make it happen? Is there a style guide? Is there a deadline?... Make your own SPOTIFY recommendation algorithm... This RHYE song... Everything that's wrong with TICKETMASTER's VERIFIED FAN ticketing, according to (oops, the article neglected to mention this) the executive director of the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF TICKET BROKERS... Homeward bound: PAUL SIMON bids farewell to the road... RIP DJ TANGO.
- Matty Karas, curator
crash into me
Pacific Standard
The Underground Punks of Yangon
by Michael Isaac Stein
In Myanmar, a thriving punk scene has emerged in response to an authoritarian government.
NPR Music
Making Sense Of The Super Bowl's Musical Moments
by Andrew Flanagan, Ann Powers and Sidney Madden
A strained "Star-Spangled Banner," a decaf flat white of a halftime show and, of course, the advertisements: Super Bowl LII's musical moments were legion, if often little else.
UPROXX
In Defense Of Justin Timberlake And His Corny New Album
by Steven Hyden
The pop star has taken a beating from critics for the mawkish (but totally fine!) ’Man Of The Woods.’’
The New York Times
Top Female Music Executives Send Rebuke to Grammys Leadership
by Ben Sisario
A letter to the Recording Academy’s board of trustees signed by six of the industry’s most powerful women calls the organization “woefully out of touch.”
Lenny
The 35-Year-Old Punk-Rock Feminist Film Relevant Today
by Sabrina Cooper
"Ladies and Gentlemen, the Fabulous Stains" has a young heart, a bold attitude, and an enduring message of resistance.
Pitchfork
Don’t Give Spotify Too Much Credit for Adding Credits
by Marc Hogan
The move spotlights one of streaming’s biggest problems: how to identify and pay songwriters and producers.
Electronic Beats
War Against The Machines: How AI Is Changing The Way We Make Music
by Chloé Lula
We went to the premiere of ‘Hello World’, the first album written and produced by Artificial Intelligence.
Billboard
Chinese Music Industry Reacts to Government's Hip-Hop Ban
by Rob Schwartz
After a government crackdown on hip-hop culture and tattoos on Chinese television, the music industry in China reacts with cautious optimism.
The Guardian
Hidden tracks: the unreleased music from major stars we may never hear
by Jemayel Khawaja
News of ‘mind-blowing’ Prince music on the way isn’t the first time rumors of posthumous unheard songs have been teased from beyond the grave.
The Ringer
Meek Mill's 'Dreams and Nightmares' Embodied the Eagles' Underdog Win
by Micah Peters
Hold up, wait a minute … the Eagles were never finished once they adopted the jailed rapper’s communal anthem
always crashing in the same car
Vulture
After a Very Big Year, Mary J. Blige Is Seeing Herself Anew
by Carl Swanson
“I learned that I’m a powerful woman because I don’t have to say much to be heard.”
Billboard
Toto's 'Africa': The Oral History of '80s Pop's Most-Spoofed Megahit
by Andrew Unterberger
In 1981, a band of six studio musicians from North Hollywood tried to record an album's worth of hits to save their flailing relationship with their label, Columbia Records. It worked: "Toto IV," released in April 1982, went triple-Platinum, generated the band's first top 10 hits on the Hot 100 since their 1977 debut, and helped Toto win a stunning six awards at the 1983 Grammys.
Slate
Drake's Latest No. 1 Was a Foregone Conclusion. Is There Anything Left for Him to Prove?
by Chris Molanphy
The Beach Boys' " God Only Knows" is now considered one of the greatest recordings in rock history, but when it was released in 1966, it never climbed higher than No. 39 on Billboard's Hot 100.
The Daily Beast
For People Who Hate Loud Noises, There's a New Therapy
by Jeanette Beebe
Up to now, a way to help those with misophonia--a sensitivity to sound--wasn’t available. Now researchers think they might have found a solution in cognitive behavioral therapy.
Slate
Papa Was a Rolling Stone
by Kurt Andersen
The musical children of pop stars.
TOWN Magazine
Finding Bertis Downs
by Scott Gould
Athens, Georgia, is famous for a few things: The Bulldogs, The National, and a musical legacy that has transformed the city from a sleepy college town to a cultural mecca. And this man is at the right place, at the right time.
Village Voice
No Age Are Finally Ready to Be a Rock Band
by Dan Weiss
(Now that rock bands are out of style.)
Touré Show
Black Thought: How To MC
by Touré and Black Thought
He’s one of the greatest MCs of all time. How'd he become such a monstrous talent? What are his favorite words? What makes Thought who he is? I dig into all of that and more.
Red Bull Music Academy
David Van Koevering and the Island of Electronicus
by Connor Towne O'Neill
Part salesman, part evangelist, David Van Koevering did more than perhaps any other to spread the gospel of Moog synthesizers.
Interview Magazine
Porches and Shamir talk about scamming the pop system
by Ezra Marcus
The synth-pop singer talks to his friend and fellow DIY star about finding a place for himself and the authenticity of Bhad Bhabie.
MUSIC OF THE DAY
YouTube
"Wall Street Blues"
Lee Hunter
Written by W.C. Handy and Margaret Gregory in 1929.
“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?’”
@JasonHirschhorn


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