We think that there are bad notes and good notes. But they're just notes. And I'm finding that as soon as I release something as being wrong or right, it just *becomes*. And then I can make it beautiful. | | | | Whisky a Go-Go's: The Go-Go's rocking the Sunset Strip in 1980 with original bassist Margot Olavarria.
(Donna Santisi/Redferns/Getty Images) | | | | | | “We think that there are bad notes and good notes. But they're just notes. And I'm finding that as soon as I release something as being wrong or right, it just *becomes*. And then I can make it beautiful.”
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| | rantnrave:// Here's a different kind of value gap than the one record companies are used to talking about. The global music business is booming, according to the IFPI's annual report on recorded music sales. Those sales totaled $19.1 billion last year. It was the fourth straight year of growth and best year since 2006. Literal sales, as in downloads and CDs, continued free-falling, but streaming revenues, especially from paid subscriptions, reached new heights. Streaming now accounts for 47 percent of the business, with no signs of slowing and plenty of room for growth. There is caution amid the optimism ("There is always another round of disruption coming around the corner," SONY MUSIC EVP STU BONDELL told MUSIC ALLY), but mostly there is optimism. Meanwhile... It's no secret that artists, songwriters and producers don't always share in all that growth, especially those who aren't in the top 5 or 10 percent. But here's a newish twist. Established artists like Grammy winner STEPHEN MARLEY and songwriter/producer SEAN GARRETT, who's worked with USHER, BEYONCÉ and NICKI MINAJ, are increasingly seeking cash advances from outside interests to cover their expenses in the long months between royalty checks. Not wanting to sell their copyrights, more and more are turning to a company called SOUND ROYALTIES that pays advances against future royalties. It's not widely known, BLOOMBERG reports, that the company is owned by hedge fund manager JAMIE DINAN and that its opaque, complicated contracts can lead to artists paying interest rates as high as 30 percent. Or more. And if the royalties aren't as high as expected during the contract term and the artist still owes money to the patron, the rates can go up. MILES WEISS' article explaining exactly how the scheme works (and it does sound like a scheme), why it's as legal as it is outrageous, and why it's been successful, is today's must-read. In the middle of it, Weiss slips in a reminder that musicians "regularly live paycheck-to-paycheck for months at a time." Even when their record companies are basking in a $19 billion year... This GOOGLE spreadsheet of '80s and '90s alt/indie bands covering other '80s and '90s alt/indie bands, with YOUTUBE links and footnotes, may be the best thing that's happened on the internet so far this spring. It's the work of the NY TIMES MAGAZINE's NITSUH ABEBE, who writes that he wanted to document "the way so many bands used covers to stake out a whole audience and canon and set of shared references around what was still called 'alternative' music." PAVEMENT, meet the WEDDING PRESENT. PALE SAINTS, meet RIDE. Thank you, Mr. Abebe... KAMASI WASHINGTON's new short film, now available at APPLE MUSIC... TROY CARTER's new venture... RIP KIM ENGLISH, JENNY PAGLIARO and MAGGIE LEWIS WARWICK. | | | - Matty Karas, curator |
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| In a few short years, Sound Royalties, a West Palm Beach firm, has become ubiquitous in the music industry. Proudly billing itself as “artist friendly,” it offers cash advances to musicians, who often have to tide themselves over between royalty checks that can take months to arrive. There's just one catch. | | |
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| In 2018, the global recorded music market grew by 9.7%. It is the fourth consecutive year of global growth and the highest rate of growth since IFPI began tracking the number in 1997. | | |
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| Instead of leaving South L.A. when he became famous, Nipsey Hussle stayed and invested, making plans to buy multiple commercial and residential properties to counteract a coming tide of gentrification. | | |
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| Tucked away in a modest East LA neighborhood, among trinkets, sketches, Murakami pillows, and a sweetheart dog named Pepper, there’s a 21-year-old digging through the Logic stems of a chorus you might just recognize. Step inside and watch. | | |
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| We posed 7 specific music queries to Alexa, Google and Siri and discovered which ones have more consistent answers. They could get the easy ones. | | |
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| The rapper, along with state representatives, announced draft legislation Tuesday to reform probation in Pennsylvania. | | |
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| With his mystical new short film, L.A.’s preeminent tenor sax continues to push his music into different platforms-and different stratospheres. | | |
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| Since her tribute to the track star Usain Bolt went viral, Koffee has shown she has staying power. | | |
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| Four years of global growth is something to swell the record industry’s heart, and the 9.7% rise in 2018 means it is approaching double-digit growth. | | |
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| For 10 days, Dreamville took over hip-hop with rap camp: the recording of 'Revenge of the Dreamers III'. XXL compiles an oral history of the historic affair. | | |
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| In the last week, members of a Discord server have crowdfunded thousands of dollars to purchase unreleased Lil Uzi Vert songs from hackers. | | |
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| Don Felder of the Eagles was sweating as he picked up the double-necked Les Paul, and who could blame him when Jimmy Page -- the man whose playing made it famous -- was about to watch him play it from ten feet away? | | |
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| Lee Bains III and the Glory Fires are out to smite and bury every small-minded inclination in Dixie. | | |
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| Not exactly being the type of artist who's all about the braggadocio, Kacey Musgraves surely didn't title her most recent album "Golden Hour" to be some sort of self-fulfilling career prophecy. | | |
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| Bob Moczydlowsky (or simply Bob Moz) is a familiar name for anyone working with music startups. The Managing Director of Techstars Music, Bob started his career in tech at 32 as an intern at Yahoo to become one of the minds shaping the future of the industry just a decade later. A perfect "opening act" for our interview series! | | |
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| Four turntables and a 909: Will Lynch talks shop with one of the very best. | | |
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| The artist formerly known as Mos Def released "Negus" at Art Basel in Hong Kong--but you could only listen to it if you were there. As I perused through the art-filled booths of Art Basel in Hong Kong on its Private View Day--the preview day reserved for collectors, media, and other assorted VIPs--a fellow journalist told me the most random thing. | | |
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| I was a closeted Midwesterner in the 90s. Listening to Nirvana changed my life. | | |
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| The legendary British singer who fell in love with American R&B was also a queer icon; an aspect of her identity that is often overlooked. | | |
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| As demonstrations against Brexit occurred, “La Forza del Destino” was performed to acclaim in London, showing how Europe, united on élite culture, is divided in the sphere of mass politics. | | |
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| | | | | Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah |
| | From "Ancestral Recall," out now on Stretch Music/Ropeadope. |
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