There aren’t really music streaming services so much as there are tech streaming services. | | | | Stu Mackenzie of King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard in Milan, Italy, Oct. 15, 2019.
(Elena Di Vincenzo/Mondadori Portfolio/Getty Images) | | | | |  | “There aren’t really music streaming services so much as there are tech streaming services.”
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| | rantnrave:// You've gotta love a simple, low-tech solution to a difficult, high-tech problem. BILLBOARD's TAYLOR MIMS fills in some details on TEGAN AND SARA's novel assault on ticket resellers, which doesn't involve verifying fans, making tickets nontransferable, blocking bots or raising prices to match the bots. Instead, the sisters and their team started monitoring unsold tickets on STUBHUB and empty seats in the theaters where they're currently touring, and offering the same seats on a last-minute "pay what you can" basis to fans—many of whom, presumably, had been shut out of the initial on-sale. Basically, they're unilaterally reclaiming seats from scalpers and all but giving them away. All the money from the "rush seating" goes to Tegan and Sara's charitable foundation. And while one of their main goals was to avoid having to play to empty seats, there's been an unexpected benefit. When the tour started, tickets were being listed on StubHub for well over face value. As additional shows have been added and word of the rush seating has got around, the Tegan and Sara market on StubHub has crashed. Tickets worth $40 apparently are selling for $6. A StubHub rep tells Billboard the company "reached out to Tegan and Sara, as we consistently do with other artists to help them identify improved distribution solutions." But it's unclear if the duo is looking for help; they seem to have come up with an ingenious distribution solution on their own. "It absolutely works," says their co-manager, NICK BLASKO, whom Tegan credits with the original idea. Can it scale? Blasko has been sharing info with other artists. Tegan and Sara, meanwhile, are on tour through Nov 1. There are, of course, high-tech ideas out there, too, including TICKETMASTER's SafeTix and the startup DICE, which just scored a major coup for its all-mobile, non-resellable ticket technology: It will be the exclusive ticketer for next year's PRIMAVERA SOUND festival in Barcelona. More on Dice, which also has ambitions to be an online live music hub, soon... The deeply divided US government seems to have figured out how to come together over copyright and royalty legislation. Like the MUSIC MODERNIZATION ACT before it, the CASE ACT, which aims to set up a federal small-claims court for copyright disputes, passed the US House of Representatives by an overwhelming bipartisan majority Tuesday and now heads to the Senate. There is opposition, though—not from Democrats or Republicans, but from tech activists and the AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION, among others... More bad news for artists who are owed money by the failed fundraising platform PLEDGEMUSIC... "We made a mighty trio," says a heartbroken BONNIE RAITT of herself, producer DON WAS and Grammy-winning engineer ED CHERNEY, who died Tuesday at 69. Cherney's other clients included the ROLLING STONES, WILLIE NELSON, BOB DYLAN and QUEEN LATIFAH. RIP... RIP also RAYMOND LEPPARD, SONNY CURTIS and ARNOLD GOSEWICH. | | | - Matty Karas, curator |
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 | WIRED |
| The artist is intent on bringing real quality to streaming audio, whether you want it or not. | | |
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 | Afropunk |
| This is not the music of “darling, I will swim the deepest sea and climb the highest mountain,” but depictions of the scamming underbelly of rural townships, and of the tenets and effects of Choppa culture. Operating on the fringes of tradition, both musically and geographically, trap dancehall is the sound of now, carving its own place in history. | | |
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 | Billboard |
| The new concept allows fans priced out by the secondary market another chance to see the band at its run of underplay shows. | | |
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 | The Washington Post |
| A dispute between the breakout singer and two collaborators has prompted debate about what constitutes songwriting. | | |
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 | 1A |
| From Monie Love to Megan Thee Stallion, we trace the evolution of women in the game. | | |
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 | Rolling Stone |
| “One Sony” has always been a nice idea on paper. Now, it might actually be happening. | | |
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 | MEL Magazine |
| The genre has eluded our definitions for years -- but you always know it when you hear it. | | |
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 | Longreads |
| Loved and loathed in equal measure, one thing critics can’t take from this influential 90s band is their willingness to evolve musically. | | |
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 | PopMatters |
| "Sound," writes musician, author, and historian Ted Gioia, "is the ultimate source of genesis... A song can contain a cataclysm." Excerpted from "Music: A Subversive History." | | |
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| Billboard |
| Ed Cherney, Grammy-and-Emmy Award winning engineer, who worked on such seminal albums as Bonnie Raitt’s Nick of Time, Eric Clapton’s Tears in Heaven, the Rolling Stones’ Bridges to Babylon and hundreds more, died Tuesday from cancer. He was 69. | | |
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 | Okayplayer |
| Everyone from Kenny Beats and Kiefer to Genius and Mass Appeal are showing the different ways beatmaking videos can be used in the social media age. | | |
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 | Variety |
| Taz Taylor doesn't consider himself an overnight success, but he's definitely having a moment. "I've been doing this for almost 10 years," says the 27 year-old producer from Florida. "I come from humble beginnings and I know what it took to actually get here," he adds, referring to his hip-hop mogul-worthy mansion in the Hollywood Hills. | | |
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 | The Guardian |
| The Irish composer and conductor -- who’s worked with film director Gus Van Sant and on "World of Warcraft" -- talks passionately about making game music. | | |
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 | Resident Advisor |
| A rare interview with a pillar of the Detroit music and skating scenes. | | |
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 | BBC News |
| The Atlanta star has become his own genre; he is the sun king at the centre of rap’s solar system. | | |
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 | The Verge |
| And it’ll record you playing the chords. | | |
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 | WNYC |
| The story of Dolly's grand metamorphosis. This episode of "Dolly Parton's America" tells the story of the “Porter years,” the period during which Dolly arguably discovers her power - both as a performer and songwriter - and then makes the difficult (and radical for its time) decision to strike out on her own. | | |
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 | Los Angeles Times |
| How can "Baby Shark Live!" turn Pinkfong's viral hit into an 80-minute concert? With interactive dances, friendly puppets and a ton of visual stimuli. | | |
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 | Pitchfork |
| With her long-awaited new album "MAGDALENE," the experimental pop shapeshifter is mightier than ever. | | |
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 | Switched On Pop |
| Anil Dash is obsessed with Prince. Since he's the host of the tech podcast Function, he has a unique perspective on the Purple One's complicated relationship with technology. Anil joins the show to break down the many ways that Prince predicted the sound and science of modern pop, from drum machines to online distribution to internet culture. | | |
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 | YouTube |
| | | | | | From "Tell Ya Story," out now on Quality Control. |
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