I was forever being approached with material that would have done me no service. Songs that people assured me would be hits. I’d tell them, 'Give it to a brother who wants a hit!’ | | | | Not brought to you by Xerox: Gil Scott-Heron circa 1974.
(Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images) | | | | | | “I was forever being approached with material that would have done me no service. Songs that people assured me would be hits. I’d tell them, 'Give it to a brother who wants a hit!’”
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| | rantnrave:// You have a number of options when you're asked to vacate your warehouse-sized store in the middle of Hollywood that traffics in CDs, vinyl albums, DVDs, books and magazines, five categories that—excuse me for a minute while I do a little research—no one buys, and even if they do, they certainly don't do it by driving to a store and navigating a maze of shelving. You could, for example, give up and go out of business. Or become an internet brand. Or pivot to backpacks and sneakers. So let's raise a glass to AMOEBA MUSIC, which followed through on its promise to stay in Los Angeles with an announcement this week that it will simply be moving a few blocks away to Hollywood Boulevard later this year. Amoeba wasn't exactly gentrified out of Sunset Boulevard—it sold its own building for $34 million five years ago to the developer that's kicking it out—but it's in a business that's been all but gentrified and technologied out of existence. And it's made the case that you can still make a really good business out of selling records and CDs and all that other legacy media if you overzealously commit to it, if you live and breathe it and if you stock that maze of shelves really, really well. Which, give or take a detail or two, is the exact same case you need to make if you want to *create* records and CDs in 2020. Or tour. Or have a label. Or a guitar store. Of course if you want to do in the middle of Hollywood, it also helps to have a parking garage. "And we’ll validate for the first 75 minutes with any in-store purchase," Amoeba promises. I'll drink to that, too... Elsewhere in California: WARNER MUSIC GROUP is planning to go public, again, a decade after billionaire LEN BLAVATNIK bought it and took it private. The smallest by market share of the three major labels reported record revenues in Q4 2019, and optimism is running high throughout the recorded music business. And CARDI B (BLOOMBERG headline: "Cardi B's Record Label Warner Music Files for Share Sale") is working on her second album, so yet more record revenues may lay ahead. Timing and details of the IPO are unknown... BILLBOARD reports that California Attorney General XAVIER BECERRA isn't formally investigating the RECORDING ACADEMY but is "taking a closer look" in the wake of a blistering complaint by the Academy's suspended CEO, DEBORAH DUGAN, that alleges sexual harassment, conflicts of interest and GRAMMY AWARD voting irregularities. The magazine cites unnamed sources; Academy officials say they "have not been contacted about any such review"... The author of California's controversial gig-economy law, AB5, says she's working on amendments that will "address the unique situation regarding musicians," many of whom have said the law, as written and passed, could make it impossible to keep doing business in the state. Assemblywoman LORENA S. GONZALEZ is also promising to change the 35-articles-per-outlet-per-year limit for freelance journalists that has already caused significant upheaval and lost work... KESHA defamed DR. LUKE when she claimed, in a text message to LADY GAGA, that Luke had raped KATY PERRY, a New York judge ruled Thursday in a partial summary judgment in the ongoing legal battle between the singer and producer. "There is no evidence whatsoever" for the charge, which Perry herself disputed, JUDGE JENNIFER G. SCHECHTER wrote. Kesha's lawyers say they will appeal... It's FRIDAY and that means new music from MAKAYA MCCRAVEN/GIL SCOTT-HERON, WILEY, KHRUANGBIN & LEON BRIDGES, GREEN DAY, D SMOKE, BEATRICE DILLON, STEVE SPACEK, LA ROUX, KAT EDMONSON, POP SMOKE, DENZEL CURRY & KENNY BEATS, PRINCE ROYCE, SONS OF YUSUF, ENVY, BOLDY JAMES & ALCHEMIST, V DON, CHRISTIAN MCBRIDE, SHOPPING, WEDNESDAY, KAZUYA NAGAYA, ANTIBALAS, WILLIAM PRINCE, the STEELDRIVERS, AUBRIE SELLERS, the CADILLAC THREE, the LONE BELLOW, BEN WILLIAMS, JOHN MORELAND, BEN WILLIAMS, SEPULTURA, LOATHE, DELAIN, TRILOK GURTU, STONE TEMPLE PILOTS, SPANISH LOVE SONGS, NADA SURF, HAMERKOP, ROZWELL KID & SLEEPING BAG, the HOMESICK, FRANKIE VALET, RICHARD MARX, the 2 CHAINZ T.R.U. label comp. JUNG JAE-IL's PARASITE score and the BIRDS OF PREY soundtrack featuring NONAME, MEGAN THEE STALLION, HALSEY and more... BILLIE EILISH, JANELLE MONÁE, ELTON JOHN and CYNTHIA ERIVO are among the musical performers at the ACADEMY AWARDS Sunday night on ABC... RIP DIEGO FARIAS, STEVEN CAGAN and JOHN BURKE. | | | - Matty Karas, curator |
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| How has data changed — or, more importantly, not changed — the business of being a booking agent? | | |
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| Last week, a conversation about fairness and ethics in record deals surfaced when first singer Kelis, then rapper Mase, called out what they consider injustices in their old contracts. | | |
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| Adrianne Lenker and Buck Meek speak on Big Thief's staggering 2019, recording 'Two Hands,' and what's to come. | | |
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| When Ballake Sissoko, a renowned kora player from Mali, looked in his case at his Paris home after flying from New York, he found that the instrument had been destroyed. | | |
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| The major label's decision follows a record quarter for the company as the recorded music industry has gained significant ground thanks to subscription services. | | |
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| We’re New Again, the Chicago jazz drummer’s take on I’m New Here, became all about family. | | |
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| The unlikely survival of Gil Scott-Heron. | | |
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| John Fenley bought them all for $6,000. | | |
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| Kevin Parker's fourth album is his best -- and most painful -- yet. He speaks to Esquire about forgiveness and why perfectionism is his cross to bear. | | |
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| A Washington, D.C., native started wearing cowboy boots and shares his reflections on gentrification, identity, and history as a self-proclaimed urban cowboy. | | |
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| | | from south africa to south carolina |
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| Yesterday, we talked about politics and radio - strange bedfellows, indeed. Today's post starts with a Senator from Ohio, Sherrod Brown (pictured below right) and an odd mashup with radio. Aside from considering a run for President this year (he wisely decided against it), Brown made some headlines of his own last week. | | |
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| Are popular songs today happier or sadder than they were 50 years ago? In recent years, the availability of large digital datasets online and the relative ease of processing them means that we can now give precise and informed answers to questions such as this. | | |
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| The indie rocker Bethany Cosentino got sober, broke her writer’s block and made a powerful new album, “Always Tomorrow.” | | |
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| U.K. prog-punks challenge, bewilder, and jam their way to success. | | |
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| Losing the emotional connection and sense of control that comes with having a physical copy of a song can be disconcerting. | | |
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| When you pay to avoid ads, brands should know that you don’t want to see ads. | | |
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| Penelope Spheeris jolted the cinema world with her debut feature "The Decline of Western Civilization" in 1981, a blistering look at the LA punk scene, and then continued that theme in "Suburbia" (1983), about abandoned kids living in abandoned houses in the LA area. She has gone on to write, produce and direct several more distinctive films, including the blockbuster "Wayne's World." | | |
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| “When they see us, everybody just assumes we’re a marching band...until they hear us.” | | |
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| Finding hope, grief, and the power to fight, from the back row of a women’s protest choir. | | |
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| Has technology made us more susceptible to misophonia, the inability to tolerate the sounds other people make? | | |
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| | | | | Gil Scott-Heron reimagined by Makaya McCraven |
| | From "We're New Again – A Reimagining by Makaya McCraven," out today on XL Recordings. |
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| © Copyright 2020, The REDEF Group |
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