We were searching for a singer and we didn’t find one—we tested many, but couldn’t find anyone—so I thought: 'Why not look to the radio for someone instead. The man inside the radio does not hear us, but we hear him.' | | | | Victoria Ruiz of Downtown Boys at Coachella, April 22, 2017.
(Emma McIntyre/Getty Images) | | | | |  | “We were searching for a singer and we didn’t find one—we tested many, but couldn’t find anyone—so I thought: 'Why not look to the radio for someone instead. The man inside the radio does not hear us, but we hear him.'”
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| | rantnrave:// How is it possible that, in 2017, there's still an opening in the market for someone to create an IMDB for music? Do the passengers in the gas-guzzling ride that carries the music industry ever ask who's driving? Or do they kinda like the idea of just driving around aimlessly? Or—please don't answer—is it beneficial to them for some things to never be figured out, for some data to not quite be accessible? My old employer MUZE had the idea way back when but not the long-range vision. ALLMUSIC had the firepower for a while but never quite hit the target. For her THE FUTURE OF WHAT podcast, KILL ROCK STARS president PORTIA SABIN interviews the brain trust behind the soon-to-launch JAXSTA, which is next in line. They lay out the case for why data (a fancy high-tech word, in this case, for what used to be called "credits") matters, from licensing to payments to engaging fans to facilitating collaborations. Here's another use case they bring up: Writers, musicians, engineers, etc., could use Jaxsta to prove they have enough credits to become voting members of the RECORDING ACADEMY. Weird, right? Surely no one who's playing on STURGILL SIMPSON albums needs a new website to do that? But surely no one working in HOLLYWOOD needed one either. Except that they did. Launch it and maybe they will come... Some quick Q&As: The RIAA sued popular stream-ripping site YOUTUBE-MP3 and put it out of business. Why didn't YOUTUBE, whose own service was being literally ripped, do the suing? Why don't streaming services, which have been repeatedly sued by songwriters and publishers for mis-managing mechanical-royalty payments, require the labels who supply their music to also supply the necessary publishing information? And does SPOTIFY seriously believe it doesn't have to pay mechanical royalties in the first place? You're only allowed to use "I don't know" on your answer sheet once. Good luck... A&E's authorized doc "BIGGIE: THE LIFE OF NOTORIOUS B.I.G.," which premiered Monday, is available in full here (a big juicy congrats to my old VH1 bosses BRAD ABRAMSON and SHELLY TATRO) ... Thank you, Spotify, for your "No Moment for Silence" DREAMERS playlist, featuring pro-DACA messages from DEMI LOVATO, DADDY YANKEE, CAMILA CABELLO and more... RAMI MALEK will rock you... "LOOK WHAT YOU MADE ME DO" dethrones "DESPACITO" atop the BILLBOARD HOT 100, ending the LUIS FONSI/Daddy Yankee track's record-tying 16-week run at #1 (look out for the calculator remix though)... Eight months after the death of CAN drummer JAKI LIEBEZEIT, news comes of the passing of HOLGER CZUKAY, the other half of one of the 20th century's most influential rhythm sections. Czukay, who studied with KARLHEINZ STOCKHAUSEN and went on to work with the likes of BRIAN ENO and JAH WOBBLE, was also an electronic-music early-adopter. In addition to playing bass, he engineered CAN's albums, manipulated tape, played short-wave radio and here he is experimenting with sampling in 1979. RIP. | | | - Matty Karas, curator |
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 | The Future of What |
| What if there were an IMDB for music? Not only would fans be able to dig deeper into their favorite albums, but producers, artists, and other collaborators could catalog their contributions, labels could track data more easily, and businesses would have all of the information they need to license a song right at their fingertips. | | |
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 | The New York Times |
| These singers and musicians, working just below the mainstream, are making music about tactile emotion, rousing politics and far more. We spoke with them about why they make the music they do, and what obstacles the industry, and society at large, have thrown in their paths. | | |
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 | Dancing Astronaut |
| From ghost producers to celebrity button pushers to seasoned vets finally getting their shot, we explore one of the industry's most misunderstood figures. | | |
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 | Pitchfork |
| Though the idea of therapy has generally been shunned for decades within the world of rap, artists including Jay-Z and Logic are now espousing its benefits. | | |
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 | Fact Magazine |
| As Can undergo lavish reissue treatment, their figurehead recalls the band's origins, and much else besides. | | |
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 | DJ Mag |
| As a crusader for social justice, Germany’s Monika Kruse brings much more than techno to the global dancefloor. From Munich to Miami, her mission to give back has left a trail of fervent fans in its wake, eager to share in her music, her motives and her open heart. | | |
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 | VinePair |
| Why do craft lagers, pilsners and IPAs pair so well with crunchy grooves? Brewers and music historians weigh in on the craft beer and jam band connection. | | |
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 | Billboard |
| Does Spotify need mechanical licenses to stream music? | | |
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 | KQED Arts |
| Amidst the cultural revolution of late-'60s San Francisco, five women reimagined the “girl band” in drastic fashion -- which might be why you haven't heard of them. | | |
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 | Los Angeles Times |
| A&E’s 'Biggie: The Life of Notorious B.I.G.' is the first biopic to be authorized by the mother and widow of the famed rapper. | | |
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| | | dreaming with a broken heart |
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 | Medium |
| As listening shifts online, broadcast radio’s advertising, worth $15 to $17 billion annually, is a gold mine for ad-supported streaming services like Pandora. | | |
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 | LA Weekly |
| Rappers have a long history of revering their mothers. But Earl's relationship with his mom is messy, complicated and a far more honest depiction of mother-son dynamics in black America. | | |
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 | Afropop Worldwide |
| Life in the music business has its ups and downs-especially in Haiti-and Serge Ternier (A.K.A. Powersurge) has lived both extremes. As a producer he makes his living from recorded music, not from concerts, and so many of those ups and downs have revolved around the question of copyright: a legal system for controlling who can copy, record and perform a piece of music. | | |
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| Los Angeles Times |
| Fresh from his lawsuit against the estate of his longtime friend Michael Jackson, Quincy Jones doesn't hold anything back and checks into the Hollywood Bowl for a look at his storied career. | | |
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 | MusicAlly |
| Will hi-res audio be more than a niche for audiophile music fans? The three major labels hope so, as they explained during a panel at this month's IFA show. | | |
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 | Vulture |
| If Jay-Z had his way back in 1996, this list would be too brief to warrant compiling. The skinny kid from Brooklyn's Marcy Projects intended to drop just one album - a musical I was here statement - before partnering with a major label and falling back into a comfy executive role, becoming a vessel to launch hopeful Roc-A-Fella acts like Memphis Bleek and Christión into orbit. | | |
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 | Village Voice |
| In 1999, a DJ named Stéphane Pompougnac launched a compilation series named after his workplace, the Hôtel Costes. The actual hotel is exclusive in the way that everything expensive is exclusive; 700 euros a night is the starting price for a "classic room." | | |
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 | The New Yorker |
| Carvings of Robert E. Lee, Jefferson Davis, and Stonewall Jackson occupy nearly two acres of Stone Mountain. A petition proposed a new addition. | | |
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 | The Fader |
| The German producer tells the story behind “Stay” with Alessia Cara, and how he feels about making “polarizing” music. | | |
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 | ESPN |
| Theo Fleury, a seven-time All-Star who won a Stanley Cup with the Flames, has given voice to fellow survivors of abuse and addiction -- and found new purpose on a different stage. | | |
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| | | | | K'naan feat. Residente, Riz MC & Snow Tha Product |
| | From "The Hamilton Mixtape." |
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