I love it when I'm listening to someone DJ and I can just see on their faces they're on a top buzz because they're playing whatever they want and however they want, and they're not judging themselves in that moment. If you are kind to yourself, people hear it. | | | | Cindy Wilson of the B-52's at the Classic Theater, Athens, Ga., May 20, 1978.
(Tom Hill/WireImage/Getty Images) | | | | |  | “I love it when I'm listening to someone DJ and I can just see on their faces they're on a top buzz because they're playing whatever they want and however they want, and they're not judging themselves in that moment. If you are kind to yourself, people hear it.”
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| | rantnrave:// Hello from Athens, GA., where it's the last sort-of-quiet weekend before 30,000 university students move back into town, where figs are in season, and where your weather app is lying through its virtual teeth when it tells you it only feels like 101 degrees Fahrenheit in the early evening. And where I'm reasonably sure every single person knows every single other person, including the guy behind the counter at WUXTRY RECORDS who used to be in the OLIVIA TREMOR CONTROL and now plays in more projects than either you or he can count, and the high-school student selling guitars at the music store around the corner (but not TEENAGE ENGINEERING gear, much to his chagrin) who's reminding his older co-worker about the time their bands shared a bill even though he's still too young to legally get in the club, and the 60 musicians thrown together into 20 random trios for the ATHENS FACE/OFF show at the 40 WATT, and the two dozen singers taking their turn at TOM PETTY songs with a crack live band at HENDERSHOT'S, one of whom may or may not be me, who only knows half the people in town, having only been here for a weekend, and one of whom is definitely my most gracious host, BERTIS DOWNS (thank you!). This is a perfect Southern music town, one that of course has had a few gigantic moments over the years. There are bigger and more consequential Southern music towns, including one about 70 miles southwest of here and another 300 miles to the northwest. But there's a community and a camaraderie and a sweetness and a stillness and a humanity and a history here that makes you immediately understand why so many people are picking up guitars in their teens and still playing them 30 or 40 or 50 years later, and why musicians still make pilgrimages here, and why every so often a sonic tornado blows through that stillness. Come here sometime and remember why you play, or listen to, or work in, music. And have the summer salad at the NATIONAL if it's in season... Missing at the LOS ANGELES TIMES: a staff music critic dedicated to Latin music. USC ANNENBERG professor JOSH KUN points out the glaring hole, and at least three current Times music staffers and two former ones nod their heads in emphatic agreement. An important TWITTER thread, in multiple pieces, that happens to be about the Times, whose hometown is half Latino, but which carries a crucial message to any publication or platform covering music in America in 2019... NEIL YOUNG released an album called THE MONSANTO YEARS in 2015 and it turns out MONSANTO, the giant agrochemical company, investigated the album's lyrics and social media impact so it would be prepared to attack him if necessary. Funny but not in the haha way. But kudos to Mr. Young for making the company waste its time on that... BTS taking a break for some R&R... BEATPORT shaking some excess hair off its long tail... RIP PAUL GRACE and BOB WILBER. | | | - Matty Karas, curator |
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 | TechCrunch |
| How did a Swedish saxophonist from the 1980s transform into a leading entrepreneur in music’s digital transformation? Why are top technology VCs pouring money into a company that represents a roster of musicians? And how has the rise of music streaming created an opening for Kobalt to architect a new approach to the way the industry works? | | |
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 | CNBC |
| Despite facing attacks from CDs, cassettes, and digital downloads in the past three decades, radio still reaches over 90% of adults in the U.S. If you think FM music could be dead within a decade, as some experts argue, iHeartMedia CEO Bob Pittman says you're missing the point. | | |
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 | Rock And Roll Globe |
| Those of us at MTV News in the 1980s thought of ourselves as the conscience of the network. We really did. We were the annoying over-chatty boyfriends of the nation, insisting on telling you about B-sides and Syd Barrett solo albums when all you wanted to do was enjoy your dinner. | | |
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 | Los Angeles Times |
| Two musicians performed their song outside of the Walmart where 22 were killed, continuing a long tradition of politically charged Latin folk balladry. | | |
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 | NPR |
| In El Paso, the song "Amor Eterno" has taken on a new poignancy as it's played at vigils and memorials. | | |
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 | Billboard |
| If completed, Vivendi's deal with Tencent — which owns three music streaming services in China as well as a 10% stake in Spotify through its Tencent Music division — would reverse the current dynamics between the digital services and the major labels from which they license music. | | |
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 | Highsnobiety |
| We catch up with Jason Davidson, the budding producer who paid less than 50 cents to get Lil B on one of his beats. | | |
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 | The Alternative |
| Kayla Carmicheal explains her experience as a person of color in the punk scene, why it matters if no one playing is black, and what we can do as a whole to lessen these experiences. | | |
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 | Rolling Stone |
| The Harlem Cultural Festival attracted everyone from Stevie Wonder and Nina Simone to RFK and Jesse Jackson, but quickly faded into obscurity. Fifty years later, a rediscovery is finally underway. | | |
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 | Milwaukee Journal Sentinel |
| Business reporter Rick Romell got sick of the mud, missed most of the music but still has a great story from the 1969 festival. | | |
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 | VICE |
| Upon the release of his highly anticipated album 'Port of Miami 2,' the Miami veteran reflects on the decade he's spent running rap. | | |
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 | Synchblog |
| Artist manager Mark Tavern takes a look at the details involved in a little-known aspect of artist contracts: re-recording restrictions, and examines what they mean for the artist-label relationship moving forward. | | |
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 | The Daily Beast |
| The punk rock legend sounds off on the state of the nation, and discusses a new book about the history of L.A. punk. | | |
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 | Water and Music |
| Amidst the rocky downfall of direct-to-fan music platform PledgeMusic, the phrase “music crowdfunding” understandably leaves a sour aftertaste in some people’s mouths. But PledgeMusic’s fiasco is arguably a matter of poor management, and isn’t necessarily indicative of the underlying business model itself being faulty. | | |
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 | The Washington Post |
| What the documentary film highlighting a recording session by Aretha Franklin tells us about faith and Christianity. | | |
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 | Aleteia |
| Nathan Feuerstein, or NF, is a 28-year-old rapper who just released his fourth studio album, 'The Search.' | | |
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| Rolling Stone |
| We're seeing a clear commercial emboldening of "middle-tier"' musicians at the expense of megastars. Here's why. | | |
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 | CBS News |
| Alma Deutscher was playing piano and violin by the time she was 3 years old and wrote her first opera at 10. For her, making music seems as natural as breathing. | | |
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 | WNYC |
| A man inspired by joy writes a song, then he discovers it’s become a weapon. | | |
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 | Bandcamp Daily |
| Shirley Tetteh's not even 30, and she's rapidly becoming one of the most important jazz musicians in the UK. | | |
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 | YouTube |
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