Just because I sing in a heavy metal band while spinning my head in circles and getting paid to do it, why can't I run for government? | | | | Playboi Carti stepping up at the Camp Flog Gnaw Carnival, Los Angeles, Oct. 29, 2017.
(Frazer Harrison/Getty Images) | | | | |  | “Just because I sing in a heavy metal band while spinning my head in circles and getting paid to do it, why can't I run for government?”
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| | rantnrave:// If pop music can't be streamed in 2017, does it exist? We've asked this question before (see: 2016, 2015, 2014...), but as streaming continues its inevitable creep from significant mode of consumption to dominant mode of consumption to only mode of consumption (have you even seen your CD player lately?), the range of answers to the basic question is getting smaller and smaller. The streaming singularity approaches. But wait, you say, KENNY CHESNEY sold 205,000 CD copies of his new live album last week! But wait, BILLBOARD reminds you, close to 200,000 of them went to fans redeeming coupons for a free CD that came with tickets for his 2018 stadium tour. So. Back to the singularity, and the single question about it: Will she or won't she? It's Wednesday, and while the consensus appears to be that TAYLOR SWIFT's sixth album won't be available for streaming when it's released on Friday, neither she nor any of the major streaming services has said a word about it on the record. Industry insiders polled by VARIETY predict she'll keep her REPUTATION away from streaming for anywhere from a few weeks to several months, though one says it's always possible she'll accept a huge last-minute cash offer for a streaming exclusive. BLOOMBERG's sources say at least a week, definitely. Tipping its hand, perhaps, SPOTIFY left Swift's "CALL IT WHAT YOU WANT" off its NEW MUSIC FRIDAY playlist last week, even though "Call It," like all her new singles, is streamable. "Our policy is to work with artists and managers who want to work with us," Spotify spox GRAHAM JAMES told the NY TIMES. Fair and sensible and ouch. The remaining mystery: How much does holding out pay in 2017? Will "Reputation" put up ADELE (or, hey, Taylor Swift) numbers? Kenny Chesney numbers? Or is there a new standard yet to be set?... Rock and roll pols: DANICA ROEM, elected Tuesday to VIRGINIA's HOUSE OF DELEGATES, will be the first openly transgender state legislator in the US. She will also be the first working thrash-metal singer to hold such a position. That's her taking the stage with her band, CAB RIDE HOME, around 0:45 here. And six hours to the north via AMTRAK, hardcore-guitarist-turned-activist JUSTIN BRANNAN appeared on his way to election to the NEW YORK CITY COUNCIL as of early this morning... Did the judge who sentenced MEEK MILL to two-to-four years in prison ask him to cover a BOYZ II MEN song and namedrop her in it? And did she also try to get him to dump ROC NATION and take on a friend of the judge's as his manager? Those are the jaw-dropping accusations the rapper's lawyer is making after the judge jailed his client against the recommendations of both a prosecutor and a probation officer... A look back at the unnecessarily bumpy road to the CMA AWARDS, which BRAD PAISLEY and CARRIE UNDERWOOD host starting at 8 pm ET tonight on ABC... Pure, unadulterated gospel joy. | | | - Matty Karas, curator |
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 | Atlas Obscura |
| It's not all finding secret notes from Keith Richards... but some of it is. | | |
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 | Noisey |
| Luc Sante remembers the 1970s New York City music scene, which we have to thank for everything. | | |
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 | The Atlantic |
| She's making a show of staying silent, but some issues merit comment. | | |
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 | The New York Times |
| It’s an A above high C -- the equivalent of a pole vault to the sun. Few performers can hit it, but it’s a requirement in “The Exterminating Angel.” | | |
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 | USA TODAY |
| As harassment scandals continue to rock Hollywood, two of music's most toxic men just made a song together. | | |
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 | Business Insider |
| Marvel really had to work hard to get Led Zeppelin's "Immigrant Song" in "Thor: Ragnarok." | | |
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 | Quartz |
| By charging market rate for the best seats, Jiggaman is leaving little room for sellers on the secondhand market to swoop in. | | |
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 | The Guardian |
| Before this year’s ceremony, the CMA threatened to remove journalists asking about the Las Vegas shooting. Despite a reversal, it raises questions about the industry’s close connections with the NRA. | | |
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 | DJBooth |
| Always listen to your gut. | | |
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 | Metro Weekly |
| “I’m a stepmom, a heavy metal vocalist, a vegetarian. I have a lot of other identifiers, but two words — ‘transgender candidate’ — have dominated when it comes to media coverage.” | | |
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 | Detroit Metro Times |
| First a clarification about that "shock headline." Lots and lots of people care about whether the MC5 are inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Love it or hate it, the Cleveland museum's pantheon has become a one-stop validation station for rock, pop, and even rap greats down the years. | | |
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| Noisey |
| There's a new generation of ax-slingers celebrating female sexuality with hot licks and explicit lyrics, and I'm here for it. | | |
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 | Salon |
| After a blogger received legal threats from Taylor Swift, the ACLU stepped in. | | |
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 | Pigeons & Planes |
| “We have tried to make the anthology an organic whole, with music, words and images complementing each other to tell the story of hip-hop and rap.” | | |
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 | The Quietus |
| Jacques Brel and David Bowie had more in common than just their genius. Jeremy Allen revisits Brel’s final album Les Marquises and notices some parallels with the latter’s latter days. | | |
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 | Digiday |
| Musical.ly is not yet ready to build an advertising business, but brands have already started testing influencer marketing on the platform anyway. | | |
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| The New York Times |
| As he marks the 40th anniversary of his band’s influential album, Richard Hell is more focused on writing, both his own and that of the literary figures he admires. | | |
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 | Rolling Stone |
| Joining a protest at California's Adelanto Detention Facility, the singer reflects on his role in 2017 America | | |
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 | gal-dem |
| We cannot continue to ignore the lack of support for the LGBTQ+ community in the dancehall scene. | | |
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 | Bandcamp Daily |
| Her latest soundtrack for a VR-only game plays cat-and-mouse with restrained melodies and choral arrangements in an imagined alien language. | | |
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 | YouTube |
| | | | Brian Eno with Kevin Shields |
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