Bitching about the rock and roll hall of fame has been around so long that I think it’s eligible to be inducted this year. | | | | K-pop supergroup SuperM performing outside the Capitol Records tower, Los Angeles, Oct. 5, 2019.
(Rich Polk/Getty Images) | | | | | | “Bitching about the rock and roll hall of fame has been around so long that I think it’s eligible to be inducted this year.”
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| | rantnrave:// Metadata matters, probably more now than ever, and hallelujah if this works and if everyone uses its 4,500-row spreadsheet with space for time signatures and tempos and vocal registers and opus numbers and pronunciations and reviews and and and, all of which sounds awesome except maybe the rows in the spreadsheet that pertain to "focus tracks," which has nothing to do with the music or the making of the music or the sound of the music and which is one piece of information that, all things being equal, I don't want ALEXA to have in her pocket. Because then my smart speaker is just another corporate radio DJ except she doesn't get the benefit of the payola, so it's lose-lose for both her and me. When I say, "Alexa, play some BRITTANY HOWARD," I want Alexa to act as my assistant and queue up an appropriate selection of music for *me* rather than acting like an assistant at Brittany Howard's label with its own ideas of what I should hear because then I'm just doing the label's bidding and now I'm going to want some payola myself. I don't want payola, just a good, smart playlist. Maybe Alexa, left to her own devices, would start with the current focus track anyway, which is fine, but I want the choice to be hers, not the label's. If I want a corporate hard sell, I'll ask Alexa to play the radio, thank you very much. Alexa and her colleagues in the smart speaker world are the very reason that metadata standards have become urgent for an industry that had ignored them for years. Lots and lots of easily digestible and shareable metadata is needed to help those speakers do their jobs when their owners ask for "morning music" or "'90s East Coast hip-hop" or "jazz to do my taxes to." It's inevitable, of course, that that data is eventually going to get corrupted with label business priorities because that's how the world works but let's not start that way. Let's not *plan* for it. Because otherwise we appear to be going in a great direction here. Next step: Once we've standardized all the data, let's make proofreaders standard, too... Sixty merchandise/album bundles! For one seven-song EP! I don't begrudge SUPERM its place atop this week's BILLBOARD 200, which the group and its label, SM, worked hard for, but I wonder if Billboard might one day decide that streaming numbers, ironically, are a more trustworthy accounting of who's actually listening than CD sales are... Music publishers pile on TIKTOK... AMAZON has a music festival because "of course"... RIP JULIE GIBSON. | | | - Matty Karas, curator |
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| Earlier this month, the music industry standards body DDEX released a new metadata standard that’s likely to catch on where many other such efforts have failed. The standard is called MEAD (for Media Enrichment And Description), and it could lead to a breakthrough in making music easier to find. | | |
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| The NYPD sent a letter asking for five New York rappers to be removed from Rolling Loud, and those artists might be missing future shows. Is it legal? | | |
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| When K-pop super label SM Entertainment was deciding where to launch its new all-star boy band, it settled on an emerging growth market for the genre: the U.S. Now at the top of the Billboard charts, the group may have revealed a path for other Korean acts to follow. | | |
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| Sulli wasn't afraid to defend herself against online bullies, or advocate for women's rights in South Korea - a relative rarity. Now, after her death, the country is looking inward. | | |
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| Every autumn here at Stereogum, we look long and hard at the previous year and pinpoint which new artists make us excited about the future of music. We then organize those artists into our annual Best New Bands list, celebrating what they've already accomplished and highlighting them as someone to keep an eye on moving forward. | | |
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| In New Order and Joy Division, he wrote some of the most iconic songs of the 80s. Now he tells VICE what it's like to share them with the band that dumped him. | | |
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| Discovered after decades of obscurity, the polyglot musician’s work is perfect for the times. | | |
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| How Ashnikko is proving that there is "no longer a ‘normal’ route to success" | | |
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| After years honing her craft in the UK, Yola finally lands with her beautiful album, "Walk Through Fire." Produced by the Black Keys' Dan Auerbach, the album combines classic country, soul and rock and roll. Bruce Headlam talks to Yola about her journey to this album. | | |
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| Terry Butler and Chase Mason talk killer riffs and the genre's “race to get more extreme.” | | |
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| Baby Rave is the Bay Area's wildly popular pre-nap dance party for children under 4. Although not advertised, the affordable monthly soiree put on by the Bay Area Children's Theatre sells out in minutes. Now in its third year, the ball is older than most of its tiny dancers. | | |
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| Critics have skewered evangelicals for their steadfast support of President Trump, a man some say has flouted Christian values. But one group of evangelical leaders have largely escaped scrutiny: stars of contemporary Christian music, also known as CCM. | | |
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| Though Mitchell is deeply beloved for her music, she has consistently defined herself as a visual artist. | | |
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| We trace the evolution of the genre from Aretha Franklin to Ella Mai. | | |
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| Sometimes success is so overwhelming it makes you forget the toll it can take. Granted, this may sound like an over-dramatic intro to a music industry feature about artist bookings, but it’s not hyperbole. The live business as a whole is doing so well that promoters and agents have been forced to lock in tour dates and festival slots increasingly earlier. | | |
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| Each brand takes a different approach, but all revolve around the growing value of your ears. | | |
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| It's early on a Monday morning in Hollywood, and Howard Stern is sitting behind a desk sipping hot water in the airy revamped performance space of SiriusXM 's glistening new West Coast digs. The 26,000-square-foot studio on Sycamore Avenue is appropriately located for the self-proclaimed King of All Media - in the heart of the Media District. | | |
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| This record is the sound of a man whose whole being has been altered, possessed even, by what has happened. | | |
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| Robert Hunter and Jerry Garcia were one of rock’s great creative duos. | | |
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| Twelve years ago, someone from MTV called me and asked me to come into their office. I went. I met Ashton Kutcher in the lobby. It was weird. This particular MTV person was working on a new reality show, tentatively titled Rapping With The Stars. The idea: A bunch of celebrities would try to learn how to rap. They would have celebrity coaches. They would have judges. | | |
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| | | | | | | Warning: High sugar content. From "The 1st Mini Album 'SuperM,'" out now on SM/Capitol. |
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| © Copyright 2019, The REDEF Group |
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