Is it classical, is it pop? I don’t really think about it that way. There’s a beat, there’s a rhythm. Who cares about those distinctions any more? I use the same musical building blocks whatever kind of piece I make... Radio 3 and 6 Music overlap in a way you’d never have imagined.
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Brass-erie: French horn section of the New York Philharmonic, December 1938.
(Margaret Bourke-White/The Life Picture Collection/Getty Images)
Monday - July 09, 2018 Mon - 07/09/18
rantnrave:// A quarter-century ago, when MIRANDA LAMBERT was in grade school and MAREN MORRIS was teething, a radio consultant set out to prove his theory that country radio listeners prefer a diet consisting of 85 percent men and 15 percent women. To do this, he ran a test at four of the stations he worked for that he thought were playing too many songs by women. He culled their playlists by removing the weakest-testing songs by all the women in their rotation and leaving only the strongest-testing ones, until he got the stations down to his magic 15 percent target. All of their ratings, not surprisingly, went up. He attributed this to the reduced number of female voices rather than to the reduced number of weaker tracks in rotation. He does not appear to have tried the reverse test, to see what would happen if he increased the percentage of women's voices on country radio by culling the weakest tracks by men. This is all according to his own blog, which is called the UnConsultant but might better be called Confirmation Bias (which would also be a good country song title; it rhymes, sort of, with "hey suits, play more tracks by us"). The consultant, KEITH HILL, is infamous in Nashville as the guy who started a scandal called SALADGATE a few years ago by pushing his 15 percent theory while describing women as the "tomatoes" in country music's salad and men as the "lettuce." Seriously. He said that. In the years since he tossed that awful metaphor, the percentage of women played on country radio has gotten worse, and Hill has stuck to his guns (or his mushrooms, if you will). He is now promoting the idea of hiring more women at country radio stations, which is a great idea, while advising them to play fewer women on the air, which is not. He places the blame for his theories squarely on female listeners, who allegedly get fatigued when they hear too many female voices. Think about that in the context of catfighting narratives that are all too common in our culture, and try not to cough up a hairball while you do. Think about that in the context of a radio industry that is consistently not exposing its audience to female voices, and then blaming the audience when those voices don’t get heard. Think about that in the context of this ROLLING STONE exposé on what women have to go through to get on country programmers' radar. Think about that in the context of this response to a woman actually having a major country radio hit in 2018. Keith Hill insists he is interested in nothing but ratings and profits, and frames his philosophy as giving people exactly what they want. In reality, though, he's telling people what they want, and then feeding exactly that to them. And there appear to be no substitutions allowed at this salad bar... Man walks into AVETT BROTHERS concert with a gun, tells security guards he's an out-of-state police officer, disappears into crowd. They cancel show. I would have, too... SONOS going public... An "APES***" tour of the LOUVRE... Best first-album, first-songs (what's missing?)... BET AWARDS on the move?... A beyond-classic BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN live recording gets its first official release, 40 years later... RIP VINCE MARTIN, BRET HOFFMAN and GARRY LOWE.
- Matty Karas, curator
double horn
The Guardian
Keep on moving: the bizarre dance epidemic of summer 1518
by John Waller
Five centuries ago, the world’s longest rave took place in Strasbourg - a ‘plague’ of dancing that was fatal for some. What caused it? Art, poetry and music of the time can provide some clues
Billboard
Millions of Followers? Yes, But Some Top Spotify Playlists Fall Short on Engagement
by Cherie Hu
But not all of Spotify’s biggest playlists do so well. Two Spotify-curated playlists can both have millions of followers each, but end up having drastically different impacts on an artist’s streams.
The New York Times
Bomba: The Enduring Anthem of Puerto Rico
by Rose Marie Cromwell, Lauren Du Graf and Eve Lyons
The resurgence of a traditional Afro-Puerto Rican musical genre owes something to formal experimentation. But some traditionalists fear that its roots are at risk.
CBC
How a White Stripes song became the biggest soccer anthem of all time
by Jennifer Van Evra
Even if you don’t know "Seven Nation Army," chances are you know the first seven notes.
Refinery29
The Man Who Thinks Women In Country Music Are “Tomatoes” Is At It Again
by Courtney E. Smith
Three years later, the guy who said women should be treated like "tomatoes" on country radio is doubling down, though women are down to 10% of airplay.
The Daily Beast
How the Riot Grrrl Movement Sold the World on Girl Power
by Allison Yarrow
The closer the music got to the mainstream, the more it got watered down, and yet somehow the loose collective's core message broke through. (Excerpted from "90s Bitch: Media, Culture, and the Failed Promise of Gender Equality" by Allison Yarrow.)
Music Business Worldwide
The music business just got spanked by Google. Surely it's now time to speak with one voice.
by Tim Ingham
Why did the music industry just lose a crucial vote? And why isn't anybody asking the question?
Esquire
How Bootleg Grateful Dead Tees Became a Legitimate Style Flex
by Isaac Wingold
The merch scene is shifting into full-blown tie-dye mode.
VICE News
Drake May Be Responsible For 5% Of Toronto's $8.8b Tourism Economy
by Dexter Thomas
Drake isn't a just rapper. He's a walking economic stimulus package.
UPROXX
In Praise Of John Mayer’s Unlikely Second Life As A Jam Band Hero
by Steven Hyden
When his pop career winded down, the singer-songwriter started playing Grateful Dead songs. For some reason, it totally worked.
triple horn
FYI Music News
The Perils Of A Cruise Ship Musician
by Bill King
Life as a musician at sea may sound glamorous, but not if you're working for a dictatorial Romanian diva. Bill King survived to tell the tale here, and he remains a lover of ocean travel.
Paper
Brendon Urie Lays It All Out
by Beatrice Hazlehurst
The Panic! At The Disco frontman opens up about #MeToo, pansexuality, and Mormonism.
The New York Times
XXXTentacion Signed $10 Million Album Deal Before His Death
by Ben Sisario and Joe Coscarelli
The rapper’s third record, which will come out on Empire, may not be released until October. Streams of his music have soared since his death in June.
Bloomberg
Wireless Speaker Pioneer Sonos Files for Public Offering
by Elizabeth Fournier
Sonos Inc. filed for a U.S. initial public offering as the wireless speaker pioneer gears up to take on increasing competition from Amazon, Google and Apple.
Music Business Worldwide
Did record labels already lose the fight to 'window' album releases?
by David Turner
Why Jay Z and Beyoncé's latest move didn't make industry ripples like it once might have.
Radio Survivor
Attention all classical radio stations: humans cough, deal with it
by Matthew Lasar
One of my favorite classical radio stations is making a meal over measures that one of my favorite conductors is taking to combat coughing in the music hall. San Francisco Symphony Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas now gives away cough drops at concerts.
Paper
Welcome to Tierra Whack's World
by Peyton Dix
Meet the rising rapper owning her weirdness.
Fact Magazine
Caterina Barbieri on synthesis, minimalism and creating living organisms out of sound
by Scott Wilson
The Italian composer discusses her creative process.
The Globe and Mail
How Canadian Arthur Fogel became the go-to tour promoter for U2, Lady Gaga and Madonna
by Dawn Calleja
The head of global touring for Live Nation dishes on digital disruption, ticket prices and his most disastrous decision ever.
Vice
Meet Vancouver's Dark Lord of Karaoke
by Cole Nowicki
When he stands at a microphone, Arcanabyss Brooks is beyond mortal. His fans even chant his name.
MUSIC OF THE DAY
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"Something New"
Taeyeon
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