Music is not a bad way to look at how [political leaders] are doing with our country. Jimi Hendrix’s famous and tortured rendition of 'The Star Spangled Banner' in 1969 would have been as meaningless to a country reassured by and enamored of President Kennedy as it was necessary for a nation under Nixon. | | | | Rock and roll: Gary Clark Jr. + Gibson SG + black leather jacket at Amoeba Music, Los Angeles, Feb. 21, 2019.
(Scott Dudelson/Getty Images) | | | | | | “Music is not a bad way to look at how [political leaders] are doing with our country. Jimi Hendrix’s famous and tortured rendition of 'The Star Spangled Banner' in 1969 would have been as meaningless to a country reassured by and enamored of President Kennedy as it was necessary for a nation under Nixon.”
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| | rantnrave:// As far as I can recall, I've had exactly one sip of RED BULL in my life and I neither liked it nor disliked it, and then, having sated my extremely mild curiosity, I resumed my life of neither consuming nor thinking about energy drinks. I have, on the other hand, attended a variety of Red Bull-sponsored concerts, read and watched countless stories and videos on the RED BULL MUSIC ACADEMY's invaluable online platform, and have been continually amazed by the caliber of artists—and the kind of artists—who have gone through the actual academy part of the academy. Experimental, adventurous, avant-garde, interesting. As far as I'm concerned, Red Bull is a music brand, same as, say, PITCHFORK or LIVE NATION or COACHELLA, and it's far less pop-facing than any of them. How exactly this benefits the company has been a source of both speculation and wonder over the years; for many of us, it elicits all sorts of goodwill and thanks even as we ignore the company's commercial product. But it's a very, very good music brand. A very, very good brand that's about to get a lot smaller with Wednesday's news that it will shutter the Academy and the associated RED BULL RADIO on Oct. 31. Red Bull and YADASTAR, a consulting firm that has run the Academy since its founding 21 years ago, are parting ways. The energy drink company says it will continue supporting "promising and cutting-edge artists" through music festivals and other activities, but "will be moving away from a strongly centralized approach, will gradually phase out the existing structure and will implement a new setup which empowers existing Red Bull country teams and utilizes local expertise." The electronic and hip-hop communities, who have been central to the Academy's improbable mission, spent less time trying to parse that vague promise than they spent accepting the significance of the loss and saying their goodbyes. "They have been a starting point for many of our artists," the label BRAINFEEDER tweeted. "The shows, recordings, lectures were fundamental to the current independent musical landscape." Indie publicist JUDY MILLER SILVERMAN (who's a friend) wrote, "It will greatly impact left of center musicians & all sectors of the music community as this beautiful benefactor fades." "Life changing," Academy graduate NINA KRAVIZ wrote in a public FACEBOOK post. The Academy has been a haven for music journalism via its RBMA DAILY website and various spaces beyond; it published a daily print newspaper (edited by my friend PIOTR ORLOV) during a monthlong run in New York in 2013. A haven for music education, too, through its immense library of lectures and master classes. Will all of this be archived or will it disappear without even a cloud of smoke come October? Is it Red Bull's responsibility to make sure the archiving is done? (Short answer: Yes. Full argument coming soon, as Red Bull is far from the only corporate owner with the power to make years of online content disappear just like that.) The other question on a lot of musicians' and journalists' minds right now: Who, if anyone, will fill this hole? What other brand has the money, time and left-of-center heart to commit to the future dreams of the Nina Kraviz or FLYING LOTUS or OBJEKT or all of us? And if not a brand, then who, or what?... IHEARTMEDIA prepping for possible IPO... INTERNET ARCHIVE recovers some lost MYSPACE songs... YG is pushing back a surprise album he was planning to drop next week out of respect for his late friend NIPSEY HUSSLE... RIP JIM RISSMILLER. | | | - Matty Karas, curator |
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| From customs holding up CD and vinyl deliveries to visa issues putting roadies out of work, the UK music industry is nervous about what Brexit may bring. | | |
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| Apple Music loves artists...well some artists. | | |
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| Red Bull have announced the end of their well-loved music platform RBMA, after over 20 years of operation. Ed Gillett looks at how this decision fits into a wider pattern of narrowing, frailty and loss across digital music communities. | | |
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| In his lecture at the Red Bull Music Academy New York City 2013, Eno shared insights from his four decades of work in the music industry and exploration of the creative process. | | |
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| In a rare public lecture at the 2010 Red Bull Music Academy, Kenny Dixon Jr., aka Moodymann, discusses growing up in Detroit, his love of vinyl, his notoriously wild live shows, and more. | | |
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| Carina del Valle Schorske traces a lineage of Puerto Rican backup dancers in American entertainment from Rita Moreno to JLo. | | |
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| If 'Amidst the Chaos' marks Sara Bareilles' return to autobiographical pop songwriting, it also reflects a shift in approach for an artist whose friendly early work demonstrated her reliance on gloss and economy. | | |
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| The largest radio broadcaster in the United States says radio offers “companionship” to compete against streaming music services. | | |
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| On April 21, Yezus will walk again at Coachella when Kanye West brings his Sunday Service to the Southern California festival for a special Easter presentation. | | |
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| Where's my f'ing mixtape? MySpace just "lost" 12 years of music, but whole sectors of electronic music history are vanishing from the internet. | | |
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| In October 2017, Brian Beattie, an excitable Austin music producer who has worked with Bill Callahan, Okkervil River, and the Dead Milkmen, set off in his beige 2005 Toyota Sienna minivan, dubbed the Golden Rocket, on a mission to break an old pal free from the shackles of creative oppression. | | |
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| The IFPI has reported that global recorded music revenues have hit $19.1 billion, which means that MIDiA’s own estimates published in March were within 1.6% of the actual results. This revenue growth story is strong and sustained but the market itself is undergoing dramatic change. | | |
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| The Beatle loved Monty Python so much, he set up HandMade Films to make Life of Brian - and rehabilitated the UK movie industry. But the studio’s fun couldn’t last. | | |
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| Nipsey Hussle's mission was still in progress, but luckily he left his playbook behind. | | |
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| Even by rappers’ standards, Fly Mac was full of braggadocio. His Instagram handle was “ima_god_in_da_streetz.” He sang of body bags, “38 gun blasts” and bloody homicides. | | |
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| For J.J. Kramer, the chance to produce a documentary about "Creem" -- the made-in-Detroit publication founded in 1969 that cheekily billed itself as "America's Only Rock 'n' Roll Magazine" -- wasn't just a way to learn more about something that came long before his time. | | |
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| A racially charged drama set in London’s sound system subculture, Franco Rosso’s "Babylon" scared off U.S. distributors for far too long. | | |
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| In recent months the music publishing community has been increasingly vocal about a number of disputes. Eamonn Forde examines the main issues at stake and why silence is not always golden. | | |
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| The country music legend also spoke about her 16th time hosting the ACM Awards, which is set to air Sunday on CBS. | | |
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| The video runs two hours so unless you are masochistic, you might want to watch in shorter segments but covering 100 LPs took time! Plus there are the usual fun stories interspersed throughout. | | |
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| | | | | | | From "On the Line," out now on Warner Bros. |
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| © Copyright 2019, The REDEF Group |
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