It was very home-grown, very organic. Thinking big business? No way! We was just thinking, where’s the next party at? I didn’t realise that what I was doing on the turntables to create a musical bed so guys could talk on it would become rap. Who would even think that? | | | | The medium is the message: Grandmaster Flash circa 1980.
(Peter Noble/Redferns/Getty Images) | | | | |  | “It was very home-grown, very organic. Thinking big business? No way! We was just thinking, where’s the next party at? I didn’t realise that what I was doing on the turntables to create a musical bed so guys could talk on it would become rap. Who would even think that?”
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| | rantnrave:// Can the more-or-less industry-wide unity that produced the MUSIC MODERNIZATION ACT in 2018 hold for another year or two, or will it be more like DUKE basketball phenom ZION WILLIAMSON—one and done? There are signs of cracks in India, where SPOTIFY and WARNER MUSIC GROUP can't even agree on what a court said Tuesday about the latter's request for an injunction against the former's launch, and where Spotify went ahead and launched anyway this morning. And there are opportunities for cracks ahead in the US, where the WALL STREET JOURNAL (paywall) reports the JUSTICE DEPARTMENT is reviewing the longstanding consent decrees that govern ASCAP and BMI. The two performance-rights societies, and their writers and publishers, would welcome further, um, modernization in the name of freedom and flexibility on the creators' side. Broadcast companies and streaming services, not so much. Are there compromises that can please all sides? Can music prove to America, once again, that aisles are meant to be crossed, not feared?... In other negotiating news, it’s unclear where this fissure between DE LA SOUL and TOMMY BOY is heading but let's hope it shrinks before one of the major gaps in digital music gets filled in... Time for artists and songwriters to start thinking about search engine optimization, according to DIGITAL MUSIC NEWS' account of LUCIAN GRAINGE's remarks at the MOBILE WORLD CONGRESS in Barcelona. In short: If you want fans to be able to ask smart speakers to play your songs, "you need to have something as basic as the song title... in the chorus.“ Congratulations, RIHANNA. You've passed SEO 101. I have no doubt ALEXA would understand my request for that one. On the other hand: Titles matter. They're part of an artist's art. They're not metadata. I should be able to tell Alexa to play that long, operatic classic rock song with the funny-sounding words in the middle without either me knowing the title or FREDDIE MERCURY having to rise from the dead and change the title to "SCARAMOUCHE SCARAMOUCHE." According to every engineer and product manager I've heard talk about the subject, Alexa and everyone like her will soon be able to do that and a whole lot more. Let's let that happen, instead of telling GRETA VAN FLEET what to call its songs (this one, e.g., fails the SEO test). For the entirety of my childhood, I had no idea what this LED ZEPPELIN song was called, and I still have no idea how to pronounce it, which means I still don't know how to ask my smart speakers to summon it. And yet radio stations kept playing it and listeners kept requesting it. Why bend the creative for the benefit of the computer? Why not do the opposite? Also: What is APHEX TWIN supposed to call his songs? ... The death of TALK TALK's MARK HOLLIS, at age 64, was confirmed Tuesday morning, and it soon became clear how much he meant to a wide swath of musicians and fans, in case any doubt remained. It's tempting to describe the man who led Talk Talk toward '80s synth-pop stardom and then immediately away from it as a mystery wrapped in a musical riddle. But he was really just a talented, curious musician dedicated to following his own muse—and one of the most quietly influential musicians of the '80s and '90s. MusicSET: "Post-Pop: Talk Talk's Mark Hollis Turned On, Tuned In, Dropped Out"... RIP ANDY ANDERSON. | | | - Matty Karas, curator |
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 | CBC |
| Irritated Starbucks employees took to Reddit in a rage last month after being subjected to a constant loop of hits from the Broadway musical Hamilton. We ask whether the constant, repetitive music employees have to endure on the job - whether in restaurants, bars, or retail - should be a workers' rights issue, and what can be done to fix it. | | |
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 | The Daily Beast |
| Members of the legendary hip-hop group look back on one of the more curious chapters in their storied legacy. | | |
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 | The Washington Post |
| Some of what has happened was simply the power of how the story was told in the TV series, and whom it reached — a younger, more diverse audience than that of traditional journalism, told in text, whether on newsprint or online. | | |
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 | Mixmag |
| We talk to the artists and labels innovating with their output. | | |
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 | Pitchfork |
| Amid refunds for Adams’ "Big Colors," indie shops aren’t exactly mourning. Instead they’re questioning who else they sell. | | |
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 | Complex |
| Two days before his arrest, YNW Melly sat down with Complex to talk about his other personality 'Melvin,' his unique style, and hits like 'Murder on My Mind'. | | |
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 | Vulture |
| Pop stars cannot afford to go away, but Swedish artist Robyn has never been like any other pop star. "Honey" -- her eighth album, released last year -- was her first in eight years. In that time her fan base grew: Flocks of her most devoted acolytes would throw club nights of back-to-back Robyn songs, ceremoniously worshipping a still-alive but absent treasure. | | |
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 | NME |
| When The Who recently announced a one-off concert at Wembley Stadium with the Kaiser Chiefs and Eddie Vedder supporting, many fans were left reeling when they discovered even the nose bleed seats were nearly £80 while the best seats on the pitch were over £200 a pop. | | |
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 | Wired UK |
| Unreadable text, obscure and confusing icons and non-existent menus. TikTok, like Snapchat before it, is a brilliant design nightmare. | | |
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 | Noisey |
| The songwriting savant has brought us a lot more than “Gotta Get Up” from 'Russian Doll.' From 60 pop to 70 decadence, here’s a primer. | | |
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 | British GQ |
| A Michael Jackson fan faces up to the truth about the man behind the music. | | |
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 | GQ |
| The Migos rapper tells 'GQ' about his new album, 'Father of 4,' plus all things Cardi and the car crash that changed his life. | | |
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 | The Ringer |
| The ’90s alt-rock icons ditch their covers shtick and return this week with their self-titled "Black Album," their latest spreadsheet-generated offering that won’t get fans any closer to Rivers Cuomo and Co.’s true feelings. | | |
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| Pitchfork |
| How a signature look, state laws, and Soulja Boy made the AK-indebted semi-automatic pistol a hit with rappers. | | |
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| Vulture |
| The simplified Jai Paul narrative reads like a moralistic fairy tale: A miraculously talented singer appears out of thin air with songs like nothing anyone has heard before. But the greedy townspeople steal his masterpiece and sell it, and the shy genius disappears, leaving only two demo singles and the spectral mp3s of his unofficial debut. | | |
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 | The Inventory |
| MP3s are so 2006. In the age of streaming everything, Spotify has all but replaced the concept of buying music...but your huge, Spotify-connected phone will never be the ideal workout companion that your old MP3 player was. Enter the Mighty Vibe: an iPod Shuffle-like device that can play your favorite Spotify playlists, offline and ultra-portable, anywhere you go. | | |
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 | Medium |
| Why marketing to folks who haven’t heard you are most profitable. | | |
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 | The New York Times |
| Accusations against the star conductor raise questions about whether the era of the all-powerful maestro may be ending. | | |
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 | Red Bull Music Academy |
| The untold story of a 303 anthem. | | |
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 | Do the M@th |
| Ira was an insider with bebop coursing through his veins. He didn’t just cover the scene; he was deeply embedded within the scene. | | |
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 | YouTube |
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