Bruce Springsteen sang about ‘Murder Incorporated.’ You, Mr. Hernandez, essentially joined Murder Incorporated. | | | | Big Thief's Adrianne Lenker at the Roundhouse, London, May 23, 2019.
(Burak Cingi/Redferns/Getty Images) | | | | |  | “Bruce Springsteen sang about ‘Murder Incorporated.’ You, Mr. Hernandez, essentially joined Murder Incorporated.”
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| | rantnrave:// To "disrupt," meaning to break apart, throw into disorder or interrupt, isn't always a positive thing. Sometimes breaking things apart just leaves them broken. Which will it be for EPIDEMIC SOUND, a Swedish production music house that finds itself near the center of a brewing controversy over how royalties are paid, or not paid, for licensed music? In the US, the controversy has played out around reports that NETFLIX and DISCOVERY are aggressively pursuing buy-out deals from TV composers that would deny them back-end royalties for their work (imagine a network trying that with its screenwriters). Discovery has gone a step further by reportedly asking composers to relinquish royalties for all their previous shows, too, if they wish to do any more work with any of Discovery's channels. Composers are angry and organizing against the networks. In Europe, Epidemic Sound has come under fire from the EUROPEAN COMPOSER AND SONGWRITER ALLIANCE (ECSA) for its practice of only working with composers who aren't members of ASCAP, BMI or any other performance rights organization, buying their music outright and selling it royalty-free to TV and video producers. ECSA called those buy-out deals "malpractices from another age." To which Epidemic Sound CEO OSCAR HOGLUND told MUSIC BUSINESS WORLDWIDE, "It is not so surprising that they took this viewpoint as they come from a more traditional part of the industry, which we’re disrupting.” Disrupting what exactly, though? The negotiations and paperwork that come with buying or licensing someone else's work? The money it costs to license music? The money that composers use to buy microphones and pay rent? Is the model causing a new problem for music producers by solving an old one for TV producers? There's a particular fear in Europe, writes COMPLETE MUSIC UPDATE's CHRIS COOKE, of American tech and media giants trying to "force the US system" on the continent, where industry conventions and copyright laws currently offer some protection for composers in these situations. On the other hand, Cooke asks, some composers might be OK with Epidemic's model, "and why should industry conventions and/or copyright law seek to interfere with that?" Fair question. But what if the model interferes with everybody else's ability to sell their music? What if it devalues everybody else's work? ECSA has one other issue with Epidemic Sound. At least some of the shows that use its music credit the company on-screen instead of the composers—devaluing them further by making them invisible. Epidemic, it turns out, is also known for providing fake artists (real musicians rendered invisible behind pseudonyms) who can be found all over mood playlists on streaming services and whose masters and publishing are wholly owned by the production house. After all these years worrying about the future of record companies, should we be more scared of a future that has record companies but no artists? And film and TV music but no film and TV composers?... BILLBOARD parent VALENCE MEDIA buys NIELSEN MUSIC—"as data is taking on an increasingly outsize role in the music industry," as the WALL STREET JOURNAL's ANNE STEELE puts it (paywall)... TEKASHI 6IX9INE sentenced to two years, with credit for 13 months already served, in a racketeering case in which he testified against gang members in the Nine Trey Gangsta Bloods... The FOX, whose voice is legitimately foxy and whose real last name isn't FOXX, wins season 2 of THE MASKED SINGER over the ROTTWEILER, who fared better here than he did on AMERICAN IDOL many dog years ago. Somehow they both beat PATTI LABELLE, MICHELLE WILLIAMS and SEAL, who lost their masks earlier in the season... RIP RUTH ANDERSON and KENNY LYNCH. | | | - Matty Karas, curator |
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 | Penny Fractions |
| The broader goals of these companies are so divergent from one another that it’d be hard to claim that they’re competing for the same audience | | |
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 | Los Angeles Times |
| Meek Mill's "Championships" is nominated for best rap album, the culmination of a year in which he was finally freed from a harrowing ordeal with the judicial system. | | |
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 | Complete Music Update |
| There has been lots of chatter about the way songwriters and composers get paid when their work is used in TV programmes, prompted - in the main - by moves at the Discovery Network to change the way it licenses music for its US telly channels. Yesterday songwriter groups in Europe hit out at the innovative production music company Epidemic Sound. | | |
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 | The New York Times |
| The social-media sensei and advertising executive has found a side hustle playing both mentor and middleman between hip-hop artists and brands. | | |
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 | The FADER |
| NYC drill firebrand Pop Smoke has the whole city behind him, and he’s just getting started. | | |
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 | Variety |
| With "The Rise of Skywalker," set to open Dec. 20, composer John Williams closes the book on his 42-year history with "Star Wars" after nine films and more than 20 hours of some of the most lavish and memorable symphonic accompaniment in the history of movies. | | |
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 | VICE |
| 2019 yielded an abundance of slappers beyond just "Old Town Road." Here are our favorites. | | |
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 | Billboard |
| Of all the fantastic music moments in 2019 movies, these were the ten best. | | |
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 | Reuters |
| Tencent Holdings Ltd has turned to Singapore's state investor GIC and other sovereign funds to help rescue a deal to buy a stake in Vivendi's Universal Music after major buyout funds quit the negotiating table, sources said. | | |
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 | Slate |
| The new adaptation of the hit musical understands that the uncoolness is the point. | | |
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 | Music Business Worldwide |
| Spinnin' celebrated its 20th birthday in 2019. Here, CEO Roger de Graaf tells MBW about his career in the music industry and the challenges of marketing dance music today. | | |
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 | Complex |
| Tekashi 6ix9ine received a 24-month sentence in his RICO case. Complex was in the courtroom and spoke to the rapper's lawyer and biological father. | | |
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 | Highsnobiety |
| In the visual-oriented 2010s, music videos are crucial to shaping an artist’s public aesthetic. | | |
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| Billboard |
| With live ticket sales reportedly on track to reach $25 billion by 2023, now more than ever is the opportune time for legacy acts to get a piece of the pie. | | |
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 | Chicago Magazine |
| The CD "No Other Love" honors the South and West Sides’ vibrant small-label scene. For many, it’s also unearthed rich cross-generational connections. | | |
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 | Texas Monthly |
| Forget the tortured artist clichés. Bill Callahan began making the best music of his life when he settled in Texas and decided to try being happy. | | |
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| Variety |
| Christmas is a time when things often become difficult for divorced parents. That seems to hold true for Mariah Carey and Walter Afanasieff, the mother and father of "All I Want for Christmas Is You," which is arguably the most popular holiday song in the world right now, and certainly the most favored one to have come about in the last 50 years. | | |
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 | Songwriter Universe |
| "When you open up Qobuz, the first thing you see is the new albums. And [you see] music from genres like jazz and classical that are important to audiophiles…that’s where we shine." | | |
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| Slate |
| 2019 saw artists from Billie Eilish to Lana Del Rey to Vampire Weekend to Megan Thee Stallion grappling with the warming planet. | | |
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 | Longreads |
| Combining island sounds with stylish clothes and an unforgettable stage presence, one of New York City’s most original bands helped influence 1980s pop culture, and they never sacrificed their unclassifiable artistic vision. | | |
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 | YouTube |
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