I looked for a sound the guitar couldn't make in a guitar‚ that is how I learned to play the guitar. | | | | Liz Phair at the Metro in Chicago, Jan. 22, 2011.
(Lyle A. Waisman/Getty Images) | | | | |  | “I looked for a sound the guitar couldn't make in a guitar‚ that is how I learned to play the guitar.”
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| | rantnrave:// Will you soon need a subscription to read reconsiderations of KATE BUSH's THE SENSUAL WORLD (score: 9.4), original considerations of TORO Y MOI's OUTER PEACE (7.4) and explorations of whether EARL SWEATSHIRT exists or not (score pending a definitive answer)? That was the buzz across the music media universe after the WALL STREET JOURNAL, reporting from behind the financial security of its own paywall, reported that CONDÉ NAST "will put all its titles behind paywalls by the end of the year." That presumably includes PITCHFORK, which has been a Condé Nast title since 2015. "game changer on metrics and views and importance. this will change the landscape as we know it," tweeted indie publicist (and friend) JUDY MILLER SILVERMAN, whose MOTORMOUTH MEDIA represents such Pitchfork staples as SOPHIE, ANIMAL COLLECTIVE and DEERHUNTER. "I just won’t look at it anymore, unfortunately," wrote BRANDON STOSUY, Pitchfork's former director of editorial operations, who left after the Condé Nast sale and founded THE CREATIVE INDEPENDENT. That's a hell of an ouch, but the open question is whether anyone else will look at it anymore. On one hand, it's 2019, we're used to paying for content and we have a good understanding of how difficult it is for any media company to stay in business. As readers, I'd like to think, we're sympathetic. We get it. On the other hand, it's been a while since any major music site has tried this. There are plenty of general news, sports and fashion sites that have persuaded their readers to pay for access (and some that have failed to make the case). But there isn't a single major consumer music news site currently requiring readers to pay, and it won't be an easy case to make. To a lot of consumers, music reviews have become less interesting as music itself has become increasingly accessible and the marginal cost of listening to any given record has approached zero. I know the value of a well-thought-out review and I don't doubt you do, too. But to the average reader, it's a tough sell. Also, music news/review sites are uniquely dependent on relationships with record companies and publicists, who in turn are dependent on the eyes and ears those sites deliver. What happens to that math when a wall goes up? Condé Nast, which has metered paywalls (you can read a small number of stories for free each month) at a handful of sites, says it hasn't decided what the new paywalls will look like, and they'll differ from site to site. Maybe the reviews will be free but you'll have to pay for longform content. Maybe breaking news will be free but you'll have to pay for reviews. Maybe there'll be an option for a single Condé Nast-wide subscription. Maybe STEREOGUM and CONSEQUENCE OF SOUND are lying in wait. Just please don't do something like this, Pitchfork. That, for me, would be the deal killer for any music site... JAY-Z and MEEK MILL team up with owners of the NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS, PHILADELPHIA 76ERS and BROOKLYN NETS to take on criminal justice reform.... Indie music vs. LIVE NATION gentrification in Chicago... Thursday morning surprise #1: There's a new WEEZER album... Thursday morning surprise #2: And a new album by PHOEBE BRIDGERS and CONOR OBERST, doing business as BETTER OBLIVION COMMUNITY CENTER... MICHAEL JACKSON musical headed to Second City first, first city second... KIRK WEBSTER "is ready to put the negativity behind him," according to the TENNESSEAN's account of the disgraced country music publicist's first tentative steps toward returning to the business. I'm not so sure the choice is his, though. I'm quite sure, in fact: It isn't... RIP OLIVER MTUKUDZI and JONAS MEKAS. | | | - Matty Karas, curator |
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 | Chicago Reader |
| The Chicago Independent Venue League shouldn’t have to push back against the Live Nation handouts in the Lincoln Yards development--but the city doesn’t protect its own treasures. | | |
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 | The Baffler |
| A new $5 billion development threatens the livelihood of one of Chicago’s most beloved independent music venues-and much more. | | |
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 | MTV News |
| The weird YouTube channel has rode this millennium's demented logic to viral success | | |
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 | Complex |
| Without using expensive videos or cheap viral tricks, YoungBoy "Never Broke Again" consistently sits at No. 1 on the YouTube Music chart. | | |
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 | Penny Fractions |
| My focus this week this week is on these two oft forgotten music streaming services to help contextualize the persistent conflict between artists and labels that continues to define the struggles of music streaming. | | |
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 | Lefsetz Letter |
| Fastball can't get paid. I got a call from their manager Ron Stone today. The band was due their 20k on 1/1, Pledge said to wait a while, they'd dribble it out over time. And then when Ron pushed for the money, Pledge went silent, it's been three weeks now without a return phone call. | | |
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 | Vice |
| As Cortana Blue, she’s a top-ranking camgirl. As Laika, she’s a synth-pop artist carving out more space for sex workers in mainstream culture. | | |
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 | The Cut |
| The legend of Lil Tay, the foul-mouthed preteen who swept Instagram. | | |
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 | Billboard |
| Artificial intelligence is poised to transform creative dynamics, moving from fixed ownership to licensing and works created over a series of ongoing transformations. | | |
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 | Vulture |
| On Wednesday morning (Jan. 23), the published the article that had been whispered about for months: a year-in-the-making exposé of director Bryan Singer, in which multiple men accused the filmmaker of sexual assault and statutory rape. | | |
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 | Slate |
| For burgeoning artists, streaming services can be both salt and salve. | | |
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 | Yahoo! Music |
| When the Killers recently dedicated "All These Things I've Done" to the injured Pinfield, few fans at the concert knew the VJ's deep connection to the "Hot Fuss" classic. | | |
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| Complex |
| From ALLBLACK to Yungeen Ace, Melii, and Lil TJay, these are 20 up-and-coming rap artists to watch out for in 2019. | | |
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 | Pitchfork |
| "FYRE" and "FYRE FRAUD" have bizarrely differing views of the real culprit behind the festival disaster. | | |
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| Vulture |
| No matter what happens in the world, we can always distract ourselves by seeking refuge in the Magic 8-Ball of petty celebrity feuds. Who will be next?! And what will prove to be the catalyst of such succulent beef?! | | |
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 | MusicAlly |
| The music industry may be enjoying its return to growth fuelled by streaming subscriptions, but it should not get carried away. | | |
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 | Variety |
| “Seventeen artists, six days, one incredible album full of new music.” That was the description used by Def Jam Records to introduce the label’s “Rap Camp” concept, whichyielded the compilation album “Undisputed” designed to introduce the roster’s slate of hip-hop newcomers. | | |
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 | Pollstar |
| Ronnie Milsap has always blurred lines and pushed boundaries. Whether showing up as a white kid with a Top 5 R&B hit (“Never Had It So Good” on Scepter Records), to the surprise of the regulars at the Howard Theater, or bringing a steamy soulful undertow to country music in the ’70s and ’80s, the six-time Grammy winner and Country Music Hall of Fame member has always gone where the music was. | | |
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 | Afropunk |
| I hope Chris Brown is in therapy. I say that about everyone because no one comes into this world knowing exactly how to maneuver it, which is why it seems like a lot of people are playing fast and loose with their own lives and well as the lives of others. | | |
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| Billboard |
| Twenty years ago, the must-see film at Sundance's opening night was a movie about punks in the Mormon-heavy city of Salt Lake City: "SLC Punk!" | | |
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 | YouTube |
| | | | | | From "Goes West," out tomorrow on Merge. |
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| © Copyright 2019, The REDEF Group |
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