In our rush to adapt to the demands of the new world, business leaders have overcompensated to the extreme that anything carrying a whiff of analog is cast aside as hopelessly out of date, irrelevant to our future, and probably uncool to boot. As a wealthy venture capitalist once told me, 'It's gotta be all digital or it's not worth doing.' That's a big mistake. | | | | Natalie Prass at Electric Brixton, London, Nov. 8, 2018.
(Lorne Thomson/Redferns/Getty Images) | | | | |  | “In our rush to adapt to the demands of the new world, business leaders have overcompensated to the extreme that anything carrying a whiff of analog is cast aside as hopelessly out of date, irrelevant to our future, and probably uncool to boot. As a wealthy venture capitalist once told me, 'It's gotta be all digital or it's not worth doing.' That's a big mistake.”
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| | rantnrave:// The jury is out, perhaps permanently, on whether music and musicians can move the needle on a national election, but that doesn't mean there isn't honor in trying. I'm here for every honest effort, partisan or nonpartisan, to get people to register to vote and show up at the polls. Indie-rock managers KYLE FRENETTE and CHRISTOPHER MOON, who fall under the partisan (Democratic) umbrella, are getting into the race early with the launch of 46 FOR 46, which is seeking to stage 46 shows in 46 cities next year by locally based artists "in the states that matter most during the lead up to the 2020 election." They have commitments from artists including BON IVER—a former Frenette client—in Wisconsin, LISSIE in Iowa, SYLVAN ESSO in North Carolina and DASHBOARD CONFESSIONAL in Florida. And they're talking about it now, a year before they expect any concerts to take place, because they're in recruitment mode. “I’m a white guy, my partner’s a white guy,” Frenette tells BILLBOARD. “We need to diversify here"... File under the year's best music writing: BEN RATLIFF on what it means to play BACH's cello suites on viola, an oft-overlooked instrument and perhaps the wrong one to play those exact pieces, and how violist KIM KASHKASHIAN, in doing so, has produced an album that "more than any record I can think of... makes a listener consider what life actually feels like." After reading, you will want to hear the record, and you may also want to ask about borrowing the sound system that allowed Ratliff to hear everything he heard while listening to it... More great music writing, short-form division: PIOTR ORLOV (riffing on a wonderful essay he edited by MYLES E. JOHNSON) on the "universal humanity" of LIL NAS X and "OLD TOWN ROAD" and why the biggest pop hit of all-time is a perfect reflection of, and response to, the divided world of 2019... Speaking of divided worlds: Today is the 50th anniversary of ELVIS PRESLEY's return to the live stage after an eight-year absence, one of the most celebrated rock comebacks ever, and a kind of alternate universe shadow to that other summer 1969 rock event that happened two weeks later. He "not only revitalized his career, but changed the face of Las Vegas entertainment." An 11-CD box set, out next week, will commemorate the monthlong residency that began that night... Philadelphia rapper BANKROLL GAMBINO is at least the eighth musician murdered in 2019, seven of them (that I'm aware of) by gunfire. Please make this stop. RIP. | | | - Matty Karas, curator |
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 | Inc.com |
| I made a lot of enemies trying to make money by streaming live music. The better approach was to just let the music play. (Excerpted from "Indulge Your Senses: Scaling Intimacy in a Digital World .") | | |
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 | Dazed Digital |
| Blazing the trail for a new kind of cowboy, Lil Nas X is the viral star whose country-trap sound brought chaos to Nashville, and sent thunder through the internet. | | |
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 | Affidavit |
| A great work played on the wrong instrument? Thoughts on Kim Kashkashian, Bach, the idea of the viola and what seems to be the best record I’ve heard in my life. | | |
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 | MusicAlly |
| “I wonder whether we’re experiencing the death of content. Or rather, the fall of content and the rise of relationships," says TikTok's Tim Exile. | | |
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 | Quartzy |
| Bands like Metallica have had their tickets sold directly to the secondary market. Economics gives them a better choice, as TSwift has shown. | | |
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 | Milwaukee Journal Sentinel |
| The Kenosha-based Christian rock band's 10th album, "Victorious," should continue an impressive streak of gold or platinum-certified albums over the past decade. | | |
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 | Billboard |
| A song 30 years in the making that deftly combines an iconic voice with a contemporary star, Whitney Houston and Kygo’s cover of Steve Winwood’s 1986 No. 1 “Higher Love” recently became the legend’s first posthumous Hot 100 hit. | | |
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 | Refinery29 |
| Coachella, Bonnaroo, and Lollapalooza declared zero tolerance policies for sexual misconduct and campaigns for attendees to get help. Are they working? | | |
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 | The Atlantic |
| The viral music video for “No Guidance” signals the end of a beef between the two men, even as it papers over past misbehavior. | | |
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 | Variety |
| Time flies when female artists aren't catching much of a break. Maren Morris has reached No. 1 on Billboard's country airplay chart with the title song from her second album, "Girl" - and she's the first woman to do so since Kelsea Ballerina topped that chart with "Legends" in February 2018. | | |
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 | Pitchfork |
| We spoke with YouTubers and publicists about the mostly organic but increasingly bought boom of UK rap reaction videos. | | |
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 | Switched On Pop |
| Why is it that every hip restaurant plays the same music? When Eater restaurant editor Hillary Dixler Canavan kept hearing similar songs while dining for work assignments, she compiled a playlist of what she heard. It included songs by LCD Soundsystem, M83, Grimes, Biggie, Beck and the like. | | |
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 | Music Industry Blog |
| Regular followers of MIDiA will know that one of our flagship releases is our State of the Streaming Nation report. Now into its third year, this report is the definitive assessment of the streaming music market. | | |
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 | Paper |
| Meet Big Hit Entertainment's newest boy group. | | |
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 | Forbes |
| Deep inside a hilltop hideaway on the outskirts of Las Vegas, an elusive engine of perpetual motion thrums to a beat: not in mechanical form, but in the person of Steve Aoki. The 41-year-old DJ has just returned to his high-desert lair after a gig in Houston, one of 200-plus shows he's played over the past year. | | |
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 | Rolling Stone |
| To expand a bourgeoning career, new acts have to demonstrate growth on streaming services. The best place to find that might not be in the U.S. | | |
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 | The New York Times |
| President Trump, who has helped turn the rapper’s assault case into an international incident, sent a hostage-crisis diplomat to the courtroom. | | |
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| Billboard |
| Until very recently, the music industry had been starved for legislation to bring copyright law in line with digital realities. Now, humans and technology must work together to fix even more issues. | | |
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 | Los Angeles Times |
| Sen. Bernie Sanders teamed up with rapper Cardi B, a vocal supporter, for a sitdown and 2020 campaign video aimed at increasing young voter turnout. | | |
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| Forbes |
| Who doesn't enjoy a good music festival? From the 18th century's Three Choirs festival to 1969's iconic Woodstock to the modern-day Lollapalooza, music festivals have been bringing people together for an unforgettable experience. According to a Nielsen Music report, 52% of Americans attend a live music event each year. | | |
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