Records are prettier and bolder, individually grooved art pieces available for the mass market. And streams and downloads are the epitome of convenience, a moving at-the-fingertips library that lets you hopscotch between rabbit holes of subgenres... CDs split the difference, giving you the mobility and clarity of a digital file while giving you an object to grasp, to study, to treasure. | | | | Charley Pride makes his New York debut at the Felt Forum, Nov. 8, 1975—nearly a decade after his first major hits.
(Bettmann/Getty Images) | | | | |  | “Records are prettier and bolder, individually grooved art pieces available for the mass market. And streams and downloads are the epitome of convenience, a moving at-the-fingertips library that lets you hopscotch between rabbit holes of subgenres... CDs split the difference, giving you the mobility and clarity of a digital file while giving you an object to grasp, to study, to treasure.”
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| | rantnrave:// This is how you do it: If the music industry isn't developing enough female executives to fill your power lists or female artists to nominate for your awards show, you tell the industry, "Screw it, I'll develop them myself." That, essentially, is the idea behind KEYCHANGE, a public/private initiative to empower women in the European music industry, which has elicited commitments from 45 festivals to achieve a 50/50 gender balance by 2022, including bookings, commissions and panels. The commits, which extend beyond Europe, include ICELAND AIRWAVES, MIDEM, MUTEK, A2IM INDIE WEEK, BBC PROMS and many more. You won't find blockbuster names like COACHELLA, GLASTONBURY or BONNAROO on the list, but REFINERY 29's COURTNEY E. SMITH—one of my favorite reporters on women's issues in music—notes how a shift in the programming at that many festivals, many of which have cutting-edge appeal, could easily influence what happens at future Coachellas, which in turn could influence what happens everywhere else. In case you haven't noticed, festivals tend to borrow ideas, and artists, from each other. And that, Smith writes, "would completely change the livelihoods of many women in bands." And that, in turn, would encourage more women like ALICE GLASS, whose original goal was "to start a girl band like BRATMOBILE or SLEATER-KINNEY," to form bands of their own, which would make it that much easier to book all those festivals down the line, which would make those festivals better. Meantime, in case anyone needs female DJs to fulfill their 50/50 commitment—or just needs some great DJs—PAPER has suggestions... Giving back: BON IVER manager KYLE FRENETTE is running for CONGRESS in WISCONSIN in an effort "to use the success that JUSTIN [VERNON] and I have had to amplify a better voice." He seeks to unseat the incumbent, former THE REAL WORLD and ROAD RULES cast member SEAN DUFFY... Also giving back: JAY-Z is an executive producer of the upcoming documentary series REST IN POWER: THE TRAYVON MARTIN STORY, which will air in July on the PARAMOUNT NETWORK. Trailer here... In more immediate TV programming news, the 10-part series UNSOLVED: THE MURDERS OF TUPAC AND THE NOTORIOUS B.I.G. debuts tonight on USA. The NY TIMES' JON CARAMANICA says the series, which was underfunded, which didn't get the rights to either rapper's music and which is more of a "workmanlike" drama than a prestige one, still manages to pack quite a bit of power. "Myth," he writes, "has a way of enduring"... Country up-and-comer KANE BROWN tweeted—and deleted—that "some people in NASHVILLE who have pub(lishing) deals won’t write with me because I’m black"... SIRIUSXM CEO JIM MEYER has a bone to pick with the CLASSICS act recently introduced in Congress (to ensure digital royalties for pre-1972 recordings), and that bone is called terrestrial radio... MADONNA is not impressed by your songwriting camp. | | | - Matty Karas, curator |
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 | Pitchfork |
| An ode to the perfect travel companion of yore and the music I fell in love with again along the way. | | |
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 | The Fader |
| For a time, the Korean pop phenom’s U.S. crossover felt imminent. So what is standing in her way? | | |
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 | BBC |
| In 1997, legendary experimental writer Kathy Acker was sent by The Guardian to interview The Spice Girls. Acker, who emerged from the New York punk scene, was the author of Blood and Guts in High School, a work so extreme it was banned in several countries. The Spice Girls were at the height of their superstardom. What happened when they met? | | |
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 | Aeon Magazine |
| For Theodor Adorno, popular culture is not just bad art – it enslaves us to repetition and robs us of our aesthetic freedom. | | |
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 | The New York Times |
| A 10-part limited series on USA is a lightly fictionalized account of the various investigations into the two rappers’ deaths two decades ago. | | |
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 | TIME |
| The bassist for the Red Hot Chili Peppers reflects on how he overcame addiction. | | |
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 | Pigeons & Planes |
| We asked some music industry professionals what Black History Month means to them. | | |
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 | Complex |
| Quavo, Offset, Takeoff, Lil Yachty, Coach K and Pierre "Pee" Thomas sit down to discuss the early days of their label, discovering Migos and Lil Yachty, their paths to stardom. and their plans for world domination. | | |
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 | Texas Monthly |
| The country music provocateur and East Texas native talks growing up, ”getting weird” onstage, and taking risks with her new album. | | |
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 | Fools Rush In |
| A word of warning to those of you now using the internet; be careful mixing alcohol and the world-wide-web! You might soon find yourself in a foreign country, watching a band you once loved. | | |
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 | The New Yorker |
| The creator of “Atlanta” wants TV to tell hard truths. Is the audience ready? | | |
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 | Dazed Digital |
| Face has transcended viral rap infamy to become a leading voice in post-Soviet youth culture - and the conservative establishment aren’t happy about it. | | |
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 | Reddit |
| When I get asked “can you please sign this?” a complex chain of emotions and thoughts is triggered in me, every time. On the spot, in that moment, it is too much to try to get into these complexities with the asker, usually a sweet and embarrassed fan who has just purchased a record from me at the merchandise table at my concert. | | |
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 | Forbes |
| 88rising hasn't even celebrated its third birthday yet, but the company has already orchestrated two sold-out tours, landed a Sprite commercial and a late-night TV spot, and beaten major-label streaming records abroad. How did they do it? | | |
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| Pigeons & Planes |
| "I’ve been getting a lot more compliments on my music since generalizing my passengers by 1 of these 11 playlists." | | |
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 | gal-dem |
| Seun Kuti touches on influences, Zimbabwe and activism in this interview ahead of his new album with Egypt 80, "Black Times." | | |
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 | Billboard |
| SiriusXM has paid $2.2 billion for its use of post-1972 recordings; terrestrial radio has paid "nothing." | | |
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 | MUSIC • TECHNOLOGY • POLICY |
| Spotify is rigging the shareholder voting rights in its soon to be public stock and also rigging songwriters rights to statutory damages in the Music Modernization Act. But they can't stop shareholder derivative suits which may have them running for statutory damages at the end of the day. | | |
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 | Noisey |
| Forty years ago, a burst of bands like the Buzzcocks, the Ramones, and the Undertones led a burgeoning subgenre that rebelled against punk itself. | | |
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 | The Daily Beast |
| Stereo Williams takes a look back at 1988, a year that established the blueprint for the next thirty years of hip-hop. | | |
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 | YouTube |
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