I didn’t think [the case against R. Kelly] would be re-litigated. What I’d hoped for was what happened to Sea World after 'Blackfish.' I wanted people to turn away from him—to stop playing his music at weddings and barbecues, or at least for people to go to the DJ and make them answer to that. I wanted the music industry to answer to that. | | | | Jazz pianist/composer Mary Lou Williams listens to a playback, circa 1947.
(W. Eugene Smith/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images) | | | | | | “I didn’t think [the case against R. Kelly] would be re-litigated. What I’d hoped for was what happened to Sea World after 'Blackfish.' I wanted people to turn away from him—to stop playing his music at weddings and barbecues, or at least for people to go to the DJ and make them answer to that. I wanted the music industry to answer to that.”
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| | rantnrave:// The story of a number. A very large number. The number 150 million. In his blockbuster NEW YORK TIMES investigation of a 2008 fire that destroyed more than 100,000 items (another number for another day) at a UNIVERSAL MUSIC GROUP warehouse, JODY ROSEN quoted at length a man named RANDY ARONSON. Aronson was in charge of Universal's tape archives at the time of the fire and continued in that role until 2016, when he was let go. He was a principal source for Rosen's story. About a year after the fire, UMG had sued NBCUNIVERSAL, from which it rented the warehouse, for negligence. Aronson told Rosen he "recalls hearing" that UMG valued its losses at $150 million. The suit was settled out of court in 2013 for an undisclosed amount. Since Rosen's extensively researched, magazine-length story was published a month ago, that $150 million figure, which a former employee Universal employee remembered hearing from some unspecified other person, has become an article of faith. Lawyers representing SOUNDGARDEN, HOLE, STEVE EARLE and the estates of TUPAC SHAKUR and TOM PETTY cited it in a class-action suit seeking at least $100 million from UMG. Articles about the fire and the lawsuit continue to use the number, sometimes attributing it to the class-action, sometimes to the New York Times and sometimes to what we might call reported precedent. The number is slowly moving from hearsay to gospel truth through the power of repetition. As the class-action and perhaps other suits make their way through the courts, we may eventually learn if the number is accurate; for now, though, it's pretty clear that few if any people know. In a complicated story in which seemingly every major detail appears to be in dispute, this should matter. Something was lost. A lot may have been lost. We just don't know exactly what yet... Meanwhile, Universal, which has denied several of Rosen's most disturbing claims, is claiming it has so far identified only 22 masters by five artists that were lost in the fire (while seemingly confirming the shoddy archiving practices that have led to much of the confusion). Lawyers representing the artists in the class-action are not buying it. Nor is Rosen. The label is asking a judge to dismiss the class-action partly on the grounds that it, and not the artists, owns any physical master tapes that were lost in the fire even if the artists own, or will eventually own, the copyrights to the recordings on those tapes. Here's a key section from SOUNDGARDEN's 1988 deal with A&M RECORDS (which was absorbed into Universal a decade later) that might be worth a TED talk or two... SONY has consolidated its recording (Sony Music) and publishing (Sony/ATV) arms under the new umbrella org SONY MUSIC GROUP, which could be "a new industry superpower"... A smaller potential music superpower arrives via media mogul HAIM SABAN, who is pledging to invest $500 million in his new SABAN MUSIC GROUP. The Los Angeles label will have a Latin focus but its initial signings, including STATIC & BEN EL from Israel and MARIE MONTI from France, already go beyond that... KEN EHRLICH, who has clashed with women including ARIANA GRANDE and LORDE in recent years, will executive produce his 40th and final GRAMMY AWARDS next year. He'll be replaced by BEN WINSTON, the executive producer of LATE LATE SHOW WITH JAMES CORDEN (and co-creator of its CARPOOL KARAOKE and DROP THE MIC franchises). There is one and only one thing that doesn't have to be fixed at the awards ceremony, which seems to have gone out of its way to generate unwelcome controversy in recent years: ALICIA KEYS. Make her the permanent host, guys... JERRY FOXHOVEN, the 66-year-old director of Iowa's Department of Human Services, maybe was and maybe wasn't fired because of his penchant for talking about TUPAC SHAKUR in work emails, but he definitely is your (former) civil servant of the month.... RIP ALAN ROGAN. | | | - Matty Karas, curator |
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| | | when you dance with me we dance forever |
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| Electronic music hub Beatport’s announcement of a streaming service aimed at amateur and professional DJs alike has an industry fueled by downloads wondering what happens next. | | |
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| An internal Universal Music Group memo continued to downplay the potential losses suffered in a 2008 Universal Studios fire. | | |
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| MBW estimates that SMG will turn over more than $5bn each year, including Japan. | | |
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| The strummer’s 'No. 6 Collaborations Project' reveals the blend of sentimentality, humblebragging, and hip-hop swiping that has powered his success. | | |
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| "It's up to you how far you think you can go as a human being, or as someone from a historically marginalised background-you just have to break forward." | | |
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| Is streaming helping the producer? | | |
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| Steven Stone wonders if and why anthologies are still "a thing?" | | |
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| Country music is deeply rooted in the black American experience, and yet the genre hasn't quite lost its original racial designation. | | |
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| She was already an accomplished jazz bandleader when she began releasing pop albums for Elektra in 1978. A new best-of compilation looks back at her major-label career. | | |
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| Billie Eilish, the 17-year-old superstar who’s the epitome of a modern artist in the digital era -- with nearly 15 million followers online -- has, on more than one occasion, decried social media. “Don’t post your feelings” is the advice she’d give herself back when her Instagram follower count was 1.8% the size it is now. | | |
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| | | all night long to the latest song |
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| The Univision chairman is looking to get in on the “golden age of the music world” with a hefty investment in a new music company. | | |
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| Glasses Malone's new song and video is getting fans upset over its content. | | |
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| Blink-182's Travis Barker discusses his new project with 03 Greedo, touring to celebrate Enema of the State, and working with XXXTentacion. | | |
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| And how does the festival stack up against its peers on the sustainability front? | | |
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| With R. Kelly finally behind bars, the documentarian says that "it was love and currency from black people that avoided him facing consequences." | | |
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| Company founder Abe Batshon on Lil Nas X and how thousands of producers are making a living from his platform. | | |
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| We know it sounds sordid, but there's something missing in the 2019 version of Scar's bad-guy anthem -- and it's the very thing that made the mustache-twirling original so iconic. | | |
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| With the photorealistic remake of ‘The Lion King’ coming to theaters this week, we went back and made the case for the best songs that have ever been in a Mouse House animated film. | | |
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| Organizers behind Detroit's forthcoming AfroFuture Fest speak about the intent behind their pay model and what caused them to change it. | | |
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| Google re-introduced YouTube Music in May of last year before making it widely available to everyone in June. At the time, we were told to expect it to live alongside Google Play Music, but that Google really only wanted a single music app at some point down the road, rather than two. The future was going to be YouTube Music, that much was clear. | | |
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| | | | | | | Every band should have a song like this, or maybe they should just have this exact song. From "Actually" (1987). |
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| © Copyright 2019, The REDEF Group |
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