We put labels in a panic, where they had to adapt and allow artists to have the creative freedom to say, 'Hey, this is my project. I’m putting this out whether you guys sign off on it or not. This guy is on it, this guy is on it, and this guy produced it. You either help me clear it or I put it out myself.' We really forced labels to give artists back that freedom. | | | | Beyoncé and Kendrick Lamar at the BET Awards, Los Angeles, June 26, 2016.
(Kevin Winter/BET/Getty Images) | | | | |  | “We put labels in a panic, where they had to adapt and allow artists to have the creative freedom to say, 'Hey, this is my project. I’m putting this out whether you guys sign off on it or not. This guy is on it, this guy is on it, and this guy produced it. You either help me clear it or I put it out myself.' We really forced labels to give artists back that freedom.”
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| | rantnrave:// "It’s not every day, or even every decade, that a song will become platinum certified, Grammy recognized, street ratified, activist endorsed, and a new nominee for Black National Anthem," PITCHFORK writes in proclaiming KENDRICK LAMAR's "ALRIGHT" the song of the decade. (Yup, it's that time already.) (And it seems like just yesterday we were dancing to GNARLS BARKLEY, OUTKAST and the WHITE STRIPES.) (No, actually, it doesn't. Those best-of-last-decade candidates all seem like they were a century ago, don't they? Recognizable pop music from an unrecognizable world.) (So, yeah, it's time.) In an era when cultural consensus seems to have long flown out the window, Pitchfork's team of 70-ish writers went for a consensus choice, a movement song for a decade that's been screaming for movement songs for nine years and nine months by my rough count. Absolutely no complaints here, even if nowhere in Pitchfork's three-paragraph essay on the song of the decade does the site say if it actually likes it, or what it sounds like. For the record, it sounds like this. Hip-hop gospel, constructed on cut-up bits of soul, jazz and a churchy choir, with one of the decade's most ambitious artists preaching about a light at the end of the world's longest, darkest tunnel. A musically generous song of hope for a world that could use some. You believe, as it plays, that things really are gonna be alright. Pitchfork's #2 song, for the record, is GRIMES' much more personal and private dance-pop single "OBLIVION," which is also #1 on GORILLA VS. BEAR's end-of-decade list, which arrived a few hours later, heavy on indie-pop, indie-rock and Pitchfork shade. Its list, GvB said, was the result of "no spreadsheets, no meetings, no overwrought blurbs, and absolutely no voting" (which makes light of this). Some consensus already, based on exactly two lists: Grimes, ROBYN, LANA DEL REY, FRANK OCEAN, a CARLY RAE JEPSEN song that isn't "CALL ME MAYBE." Also, DRAKE shows up seven times on Pitchfork's list of 200 songs... ITUNES, as in the music organizing software, has officially died with APPLE's release of its CATALINA OS on Monday. It will not be missed. ITUNES, as in the store where you can still buy MP3s, lives on in some kind of MAC purgatory. If you subscribe to APPLE MUSIC, the music store will be invisible in your computer, but there's a way to restore it from your settings (have fun). If you don't subscribe, the store will be a tab on your new MUSIC app. If you have an IPHONE, the iTunes store lives on and sells both music and video. TL;DR version: Managing music on your Apple device will continue to be at least a little annoying. But would you want it any other way? MusicSET: "Notes on the Long Anticipated, Not Quite Death of iTunes"... Some record companies, meantime, are "nervous" about the prospect of Apple bundling music subscriptions with its upcoming video subscription service, TV+, presumably at a discount (original story, paywalled, in the FINANCIAL TIMES)... A legit reason to be angry at JOKER, thanks to some controversial music supervision... Lots of music history at this endangered spot on the New York radio dial... ANNA NASTY, who records as OLIVIA NEUTRON-JOHN, is searching for a new name because do you even have to ask?... RIP JEFF SILBERMAN. | | | - Matty Karas, curator |
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 | Complex |
| 15 years after its launch, DatPiff lives on. Vice president Kyle “KP” Reilly explains how the platform found its niche and remains an important hip-hop archive. | | |
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 | Pitchfork |
| The defining tracks of the decade, starring Robyn, Drake, Vampire Weekend, Daft Punk, SZA, and many more | | |
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 | 21CM |
| There are likely no more than 20 Americans who still make their living as music critics for daily newspapers. Their jobs aren’t simply to inform the public whether a musician played well or not, but to provide an intellectual record of a given place. | | |
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 | Music Business Worldwide |
| Mr Eazi never planned on being an artist. "When I finished high school, I just wanted to be rich," he jokes, speaking to Music Business Worldwide over the phone from Dubai. "I thought I would either be a pilot or an engineer." | | |
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 | Mpls.St.Paul Magazine |
| Lizzo came to Minneapolis as an indie rapper and left to become a world-conquering music star and personality. Her friends and collaborators tell the story of how Lizzo made her career and image here. (Apparently, at one point, Lizzo was... shy?!) | | |
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 | Rolling Stone |
| The Black Crowes are back, better -- and still brawling. | | |
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 | Digital Trends |
| Playlists to focus, sleep, and relax are booming on streaming platforms. Similarly, a host of smart home products aim to affect your wellbeing in similar ways. Endel has a vision to unify these in a way that's always unique to you. Companies like Apple and Warner Music, as well as Toro y Moi see it too. | | |
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 | Twenty Thousand Hertz |
| In part 2 of the story of mastering, we explore the consequences of the Loudness War and call out some of the worst offenders. We’ll also hear about the artists and mastering engineers who have been fighting back, and learn how modern listening habits might finally put an end to this sonic arms race. | | |
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 | GQ |
| The musical mastermind discusses fatherhood, how he thinks about success, and why jumpsuits are sexy. | | |
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 | The Independent |
| ‘In the Court of the Crimson King’ was released 50 years ago -- Pink Floyd, Yes and Genesis could never have sounded like they did without it, says Simon Hardeman. | | |
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 | Los Angeles Times |
| Athletes as rappers is nothing new, but Portland Trail Blazers guard Damian Lillard, a.k.a. Dame D.O.L.L.A., has a commitment to the craft that sets him apart. He has his own label, Front Page Music, and in August released his third commercial album, “Big D.O.L.L.A.,” which features popular… | | |
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 | Variety |
| It's a new dawn for Tanya Tucker, who, while most of the world wasn't looking, went from being a teen country superstar who sounded 13-going-on-60 to, you know, actually being 60. Tucker is now getting the kind of career reappraisal she's been due ever since she grew into that voice, which now, as then, rings -- or rasps -- with the maturity and mischief of the ages. | | |
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 | Music Industry Blog |
| Streaming is not yet everything, by a long stretch. | | |
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| Complex |
| The rap styles coming out of Atlanta have dominated mainstream music over the past years, but things are starting to shift. Here's what's next. | | |
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| Rolling Stone |
| Despite our fears of deepfakes hijacking the political process, a new study shows they’re overwhelmingly being used to hurt women. | | |
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 | Music Tech Solutions |
| Marc Hogan has an interesting post on Pitchfork about "user centric" royalties. ("Is There a Fairer Way for Streaming Services to Pay Artists?") He echoes the common arguments about user centric. These theories are mostly about comparisons to the current model of the “big pool” and its hyper-efficient market share distribution of streaming service revenues. | | |
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 | Chicago Magazine |
| The singer-songwriter discusses her new memoir in advance of an appearance at Chicago Ideas Week. | | |
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 | Garage Magazine |
| On the eve of the release of her first solo album, "No Home Record," the artist talks California, "Socialist Realism," and why she doesn't want to be a "celebrity artist." | | |
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 | The Tennessean |
| Music publishers must ensure their own metadata is of the highest possible quality and compatible with every global digital distribution standard. | | |
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 | VAN Magazine |
| The high-stress, low-reward world of the page turner. | | |
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 | YouTube |
| | | | | | Pitchfork's #3 song of the 2010s: "A lodestar for so much of this decade’s pop." |
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