When we first started, we didn’t want anybody to hear our music at all so it was, like, signed, sealed and delivered. But the more we’ve grown as a band, the more we’ve found that you can learn from other people. | | | | | Phantogram in Chicago, 2015. (Edward Stojakovic) | | | | | | “When we first started, we didn’t want anybody to hear our music at all so it was, like, signed, sealed and delivered. But the more we’ve grown as a band, the more we’ve found that you can learn from other people.”
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| | rantnrave:// OK this isn't exactly breaking news, but reading STEVE KNOPPER in BILLBOARD about streaming services' rush to hire executive talent away from major labels, and then seeing TIM INGHAM's line-by-line accounting of 57 such hires, seems to serve as final confirmation of something you have either assumed or feared (or possibly both). Streaming IS the music business. Period. Sort of. And it's quite possible that, as much as the SPOTIFYs and YOUTUBEs need that major-label talent to negotiate with the very companies whose corner offices they're raiding, the execs need those jobs because, y'know, that's where the jobs are... Or, alternatively: Maybe it's 1992 all over again and APPLE and TIDAL are the major labels and LYOR COHEN, TROY CARTER, SAM BERGER, SCOTT SEVIOUR and all their colleagues are every band that ever owned a flannel shirt and maybe it will turn out that signing TAD and 7 YEAR BITCH to your major label wasn't the world's greatest idea. #FeedingFrenzy... In either case, my friend JON MAPLES, who knows his way around digital music services and their products, offers some advice for label lifers going online for the first time. This is key: "[A]rtists are vital for services, but if push comes to shove, product development, not artist development, wins"... Mother of four is appalled by the VINCE STAPLES song she heard on the car radio, but says she's "not bashing the DJs... and I'm not bashing people that listen to that music." Staples responds by unconditionally supporting her. I love everything about this story, and I wish he and the mom would debate on national TV this Sunday instead of those other two people... Speaking of Staples, here he is his chatting with PHANTOGRAM for INTERVIEW... OLDCHELLA starts tonight, and while everyone else was searching for the proper thinkpiece to honor it (spoiler: everyone wrote more or less the same one), VULTURE zeros in on the one angle that matters: "Which Oldchella Headliners Can Still Hit Their High Notes?"... It's FRIDAY and that means new music from GREEN DAY, PHANTOGRAM, PITBULL, [HI:EMOTIONS] (aka DVA), GAME, PHISH, JULIA JACKLIN, NORAH JONES, BARRY GIBB, CONOR OBERST, MESHUGGAH, BALANCE AND COMPOSURE, MELISSA ETHERIDGE and ONEREPUBLIC. | | | - Matty Karas, curator |
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| Andreas Hale breaks down the evolution of Solange's music and how she's the yin to Beyonce's yang. | | |
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| The rapper is utterly frank about his struggle with depression and suicidal thoughts, and it makes him one of the most vaulable voices in hip-hop. | | |
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| The Music Managers Forum's intention in publishing ‘Dissecting The Digital Dollar – Part One’ and this sequel has been to explore how the modern streaming ecosystem operates, what the issues are and what the potential solutions might be. | | |
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| Over the course of a singer’s career, millions of collisions can leave the vocal cords scarred and stiff. If you want to get a feeling for what it’s like to sing through that level of damage, try plucking a few notes on an ancient rubber band. | | |
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| Mr. Staples said a woman who posted a video slamming one of his songs and its effect on her children had the right to say whatever she wanted. | | |
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| The traditional music business is in danger of being hit by a 'brain drain' as streaming services raid top executive talent. A long line of senior label execs have been poached by the likes of Spotify, Apple Musicand YouTube – and it’s a trend which is increasing in intensity. Here, MBW presents a extensive run-down of who’s gone where. | | |
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| After years of struggle, the country trailblazer has found success on his own terms. But he's not letting Nashville off the hook. | | |
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| The pianist and saxophone player talk about how their bond goes beyond music and the issues they have faced as pioneering Indian Americans finding their way in jazz. | | |
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| Pitbull, the self-made son of Cuban emigrants, talks to Jessica Barrett about his meeting with Trump, his community projects in Miami - and whether there are actually any hidden messages about climate change in his dance hits. | | |
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| Goldenvoice's Paul Tollett on how the rock mega-concert became a two-weekend reality. | | |
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| For better or worse, there might not be anyone in the history of rock and roll as beloved by his fans as Bruce Springsteen is in 2016. | | |
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| When Marc first saw Hutch Harris perform live with his band The Thermals, he was won over immediately and invented a whole mythology around who Hutch Harris must be. But as Hutch tells Marc, he was just a kid who wanted to start a band and did it with talent, timing, a lot of gumption and a little luck. | | |
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| "These are stories about my family," singer says of 'Joanne' after intimate Nashville gig. "My relationships with men, my failures." | | |
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| Course Requirements: Access to a Spotify account and/or a know-it-all older brother, cousin, uncle, or girlfriend/boyfriend of your mother may also be helpful. | | |
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| "Music’s Biggest Night” faces what may be an insurmountable challenge: holding on to millennial TV viewers who are cutting the cord in increasing numbers. | | |
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| Making sense of Top 40’s reigning teen idol. | | |
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| Record industy execs like Lyor Cohen are joining Digital Music heavyweights to help with their perception of fairness. Is this a good thing? | | |
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| Chance the Rapper joining up with Kit-Kat and singing their new jingle sounds like career suicide but somehow, he pulls it off. He’s not the only one. | | |
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| The piano is as much a defining sound of Cuban music as percussion. This week on Alt.Latino, we cover the way the country interprets Africa through the keyboard. | | |
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| Where techno reigns and the limits of decadence are pushed. | | |
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| | from "Three," out today on Republic Records |
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| © Copyright 2016, The REDEF Group |
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