It was a music community. Somebody told me it was like the new Tower Records, that you had to go in each week to see what was in the end caps. | | | | Nitti Gritti at Electric Daisy Carnival, Las Vegas, May 18, 2019.
(Steven Lawton/Getty Images) | | | | |  | “It was a music community. Somebody told me it was like the new Tower Records, that you had to go in each week to see what was in the end caps.”
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| | rantnrave:// This story involving a vintage DON BUCHLA modular synthesizer, GRATEFUL DEAD engineer OWSLEY STANLEY, a half-century-old dose of acid, some cleaning solvent and an unexpected nine-hour trip is the music story of the year. It is, of course, set in the Bay Area. If it isn't the subject of songs, documentaries and feature films soon, I'll be disappointed in all of you. Read it and/or option it now... There will, without a doubt, be documentaries about the rise and fall of PLEDGEMUSIC, the platform that promised to be more than a music crowdfunding platform and ended up being something less. On this episode of their MUSIC BIZ WEEKLY podcast, digital music marketers MICHAEL BRANDVOLD and JAY GILBERT do a good job of explaining what PledgeMusic promised to be, how it successfully pulled in musicians and fans, what it meant to those who used it and where it went wrong. The platform's unusual financial model, which involved a higher commission than other crowdfunding sites and a laddered payout system in which the company withheld money from the artists it had been pledged to until the artists completed the very milestones the money was supposed to pay for, perhaps should have been viewed more skeptically at the start. Instead it was seen as a sign that the company was developing artists and community rather than simply facilitating crowdfunding. In other words, PledgeMusic, created as an alternative to the traditional label model, was saluted for acting, in many ways, like the thing it was supposed to be disrupting. Only much later did some more obvious mistakes come to light, including, reportedly, using artist pledge money to help pay its own business expenses. While that may not have caused the company's failure, it made the failure a lot more catastrophic. Will artists and fans lose faith in crowdfunding? Will another company figure out a way to step in and move forward with PledgeMusic's best ideas? Was it, in fact, the best model? What happens when fans and artists make good on their pledges but the platform doesn't? MusicSET: "When Crowdfunding Goes Bad: The Rise and Fall of PledgeMusic"... Rock fashion don't: This t-shirt... Rock fashion do: These apparently controversial WRANGLER jeans... Five years ago, FUTURE ISLANDS tried to pull out of an Ohio festival to protest the booking of R. KELLY. According to FASHION MEETS MUSIC FESTIVAL founder BRET ADAMS, RED LIGHT MANAGEMENT and CAA, which both repped Kelly, "went to Future Islands and said, ‘You do this to us and you’re going to have a problem getting booked.'" In the end, Future Islands played. Kelly did not. A fascinating behind-the-scenes look at the strange business of booking Robert Kelly circa 2014... JAY-Z's 99 problems no longer include APPLE MUSIC... RIP "BONGO ROCK" percussionist PRESTON EPPS and metal album cover designers LARRY CARROLL and ROSŁAW SZAYBO. | | | - Matty Karas, curator |
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 | KPIX 5 |
| For years, an urban legend circulated online and in documentaries, purporting how a groundbreaking musical instrument stored at a Bay Area university was dipped in a psychedelic drug. | | |
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 | Penny Fractions |
| Not to throw Daniel Ek’s own words at his face, but when the founder said that he’d like millions of artists to make a living off Spotify, I’d like to get a straight answer on how musicians and podcasters could build sustainable careers from a single money-losing company. | | |
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 | REDEF |
| Fans pledged money. Artists pledged to bring fans inside the recording process. And then the money started disappearing. What happens when fans and artists make good on their pledges but the platform itself doesn't? | | |
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 | BuzzFeed News |
| As hip-hop and streaming change the power dynamics of musical celebrity, Jepsen and other artists making traditional pop have embraced a new kind of boutique stardom. | | |
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 | VICE News |
| Back in the heady days of 2015, when a Donald Trump presidency seemed even to Republicans little more than a Steve Bannon fever dream, O'Rourke and I would run into each other in the Capitol and talk about punk. | | |
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 | The Guardian |
| The US president had promised the Beach Boys that if they ever needed his help, he would be on hand. And when Dennis Wilson died, he started making some calls. | | |
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 | NPR |
| Singer-songwriter Jakob Dylan and director Andrew Slater talk about the documentary Echo In The Canyon about music from Laurel Canyon in LA that went on to influence a later generation. | | |
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 | Jacobs Media Strategies |
| One of the most common questions asked in research presentations is this: Is that a good number or a bad number? | | |
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 | Billboard |
| Music was in the air Tuesday night (May 21) at the ASCAP Foundation's 11th annual "We Write the Songs" event at the Library of Congress. | | |
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 | Red Bull Music Academy |
| Melissa A. Weber traces the rocky road that led to the making of George Clinton’s most memorable comeback. | | |
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 | Trapital |
| Drake’s guest verses are still viewed as a rite of passage in hip-hop, but they can’t always deliver the lasting impact that other rappers hope for. | | |
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 | Medium |
| The words of wisdom the world’s greatest punk band has about today’s music industry. | | |
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 | Columbus Alive |
| On the fifth anniversary of the first Fashion Meets Music Festival, new details surface in the decision to remove the controversial R&B singer. | | |
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 | Slate |
| A look at the latest dead-singer hologram tour technology. | | |
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 | The New Statesman |
| I’ve been to church three times this week. Once for sorrow, twice for joy. | | |
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 | The New York Times |
| The New York group was ready for a break when the director Mike Mills asked to collaborate. Contributions from Carin Besser, its lead singer’s wife, provided the spark. | | |
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 | Highsnobiety |
| In a career spanning two decades, Flying Lotus has left a huge mark on music, with his own productions, his Brainfeeder label, films, and more. | | |
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 | ADWEEK |
| The social music app has 40 million users and counts Disney and Warner Music among its partners. | | |
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| Billboard |
| With the new funds, Offer tells Billboard that the goal "is making sure that as we grow, we grow with grace, and that the events as they are today feel the same as they did when we started it." | | |
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 | Kerrang! |
| We look back on 20 years of Taking Back Sunday with the people that made it happen. | | |
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 | YouTube |
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