Music, by its very nature, invites us to unify. We should let it. More than that, we should empower it. Let’s take out the earbuds and turn up the speakers again—at least from time to time. Sing in a choir. Jam. Launch a fan club for your favorite band. Start a sing-along at your next dinner party. | | | | Still standing six-feet-one: Liz Phair at Primavera Sound, Barcelona, May 31, 2019.
(Xavi Torrent/WireImage/Getty Images) | | | | | | “Music, by its very nature, invites us to unify. We should let it. More than that, we should empower it. Let’s take out the earbuds and turn up the speakers again—at least from time to time. Sing in a choir. Jam. Launch a fan club for your favorite band. Start a sing-along at your next dinner party.”
|
| |
| | rantnrave:// VOICE coach advice of the week: KELLY CLARKSON suggests TAYLOR SWIFT "re-record all the songs that U don’t own the masters on exactly how U did them but put brand new art." Clarkson's Saturday afternoon tweet viralled its way around the web over the weekend and became the latest talking point in the war between Swift, her old label, BIG MACHINE, and the man who has agreed to buy it, SCOOTER BRAUN. Can she effectively reclaim ownership of her first six albums and outmaneuver Braun, who controls the masters, by remaking them from scratch? Would an artist who once told Big Machine founder SCOTT BORCHETTA she'd rather "bet on the future" than "bet on my past" even want to do that? VARIETY poured some cold water on the first question, suggesting that "most major-label contracts specifically stipulate re-recording restrictions, disallowing any such re-records for years after the artist’s deal expires." (Is that true? What about live records? Can a label stop an artist from putting her own songs on a live album? Can it tell her the live versions can't copy the original versions? Those are actual questions. I don't know the answers.) As for the other question, what's the last time you went on SPOTIFY, found a "re-recorded" version of a favorite song or album, and said to yourself, "That sounds like a good idea"? What's the last time you intentionally hit the play button on one of those? Kudos to Kelly Clarkson for looking out for a younger artist. Kudos in advance to Taylor Swift for saying, I'm going to assume, "Thanks, but"... Seconding this. There is no aesthetic reason why rock radio shouldn't be playing the hell out of this song. (Then again, I can't think of any aesthetic reason why rock radio shouldn't be playing the hell out of this song, so listen to me at your own peril)... Concern over A$AP ROCKY's continuing detention in Sweden has reached the highest levels of the US State Department, aka Secretary of State MIKE POMPEO... British music biz declares climate emergency... Voir dire question of the week: Did you ever have a MYSPACE page?... RIP JERRY LAWSON, RUSSELL SMITH, GARY LEMEL and LAUREN VALENCIA. | | | - Matty Karas, curator |
|
|
| | | rolling blackouts coastal fever |
|
| Today, someone with no formal musical background or industry connections can produce, distribute, monetize and market a song from scratch, within 48 hours, for little to no cost. Is this democratization a positive or negative force for professional artists? | | |
|
| Tracing the influence of a female producer who was wrongly written out of dance-music history. | | |
|
| A new song from pop icon Ed Sheeran is testing the waters at Rock Radio stations. | | |
|
| R. Kelly now faces charges in three separate jurisdictions across the country and faces the possibility of significant prison time. What is next for his cases? | | |
|
| Kelly ‘undermined the integrity’ of his 2008 child porn trial by paying people off and bullying witnesses, prosecutors alleged in a court filing. They added: "Not anymore." | | |
|
| It was "a funeral where everyone could keep hanging out." For now. | | |
|
| Some of the biggest pop stars in the world -- Ed Sheeran, G-Eazy, and Justin Bieber, among others -- are looking to the blockbuster posse cut for guaranteed success. | | |
|
| A copyright infringement trial over Katy Perry's "Dark Horse" is set to begin next week, and defendants want to ask potential jurors about their Myspace pages. | | |
|
| The new Showtime docuseries “Shangri-La,” premiering July 12th, explores how Rick Rubin made so many artists--Beastie Boys, Jay-Z, Slayer, etc.--realize their full potential. | | |
|
| A strange thing happened to jazz and classical music in New York amidst the countless pronouncements that they were getting old, losing audiences and cultural relevance: they’ve experienced an aesthetic union. If there is a name for it, they call it “new music” and “creative music.” It has roots in a previous New York music culture of the 1970s. | | |
|
| 658 million people are growing their part of global music industry faster than anyone else in the world. | | |
|
| The well-documented troubles of crowdfunding platform PledgeMusic have left a number of artists waiting to find out if the company will be rescued. | | |
|
| Ed Sheeran sits down with Charlamagne Tha God to discuss his "No.6 Collaborations Project." | | |
|
| Hailu Mergia was one of the leaders of a revolution in Ethiopian music in the 1960s and '70s. There was a moment which began with the failed coup against Emperor Haile Selassie in 1960 and ended with the successful coup by the totalitarian Derg government in 1974, when Addis Ababa was swinging to the beat of freedom and modernization along with the rest of the Western world. | | |
|
| From K-pop stars to Beyoncé, the issue of colourism remains rife in the music industry. | | |
|
| Vague promises of ‘exposure’ used as cover for poor pay and insecure working conditions, "Guardian" told. | | |
|
| We think of fandom as collective, but it’s also a means of privacy. | | |
|
| We sat down with veteran rapper billy woods. He talked about making Hiding places with Kenny Segal, his writing process, and indie-rap's lost movement. | | |
|
| The singer-songwriter on privilege, toxic band environments and why picking up a guitar helped her finally get the songs out of her head. | | |
|
| I was thinking about Frank Zappa last night. I couldn't stand the guy, and he couldn't stand me. The only time I ever liked him was when he appeared on Crossfire with a gaggle of goons who loathed him on sight and described the USA as a fascist theocracy. | | |
|
| © Copyright 2019, The REDEF Group |
|
|
