I'm going to make you feel like you are that b****. Because you're already that b****—you somehow just need it stirred up for you. It's like, when you put the Kool-Aid in the water and it all fall to the bottom. But when you mix it up with the sugar, now it's Kool-Aid. You just need somebody to stir it up for you. That's me. | | | | The Giannis of pop? Taylor Swift at the ACM Awards, Nashville, September 2020.
(ACMA2020/Getty Images) | | | | | | “I'm going to make you feel like you are that b****. Because you're already that b****—you somehow just need it stirred up for you. It's like, when you put the Kool-Aid in the water and it all fall to the bottom. But when you mix it up with the sugar, now it's Kool-Aid. You just need somebody to stir it up for you. That's me.”
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| | rantnrave:// On Monday we learned basketball superstar JAMES HARDEN, who has three years left on his contract with the HOUSTON ROCKETS, has told the team he'd rather not. He wants to play for the BROOKLYN NETS instead, and he's asked the Rockets to make it happen, and to put their counteroffer of more than $50 million a year back in their pocket. The MILWAUKEE BUCKS, meanwhile, are about to trade away their future for one player who might make their own superstar, GIANNIS ANTETOKOUNMPO, happy today, in the hope he won't walk away when his contract expires next summer. Basketball's superstars have leverage and they're going to use it. Why wouldn't they? No one's coming to the TOYOTA CENTER in Houston or the FISERV FORUM in Milwaukee to watch the owners own or the coaches coach. They're coming to watch (apologies in advance for this) the players play, play, play. So, anyway, about SCOOTER and TAYLOR. Because we also learned on Monday that Scooter Braun has sold Taylor Swift's masters less than a year and a half after buying them, and that she once again is not impressed. Two other things we might have learned: Scooter, who reportedly paid a little over $300 million for an entire label, including those masters, and who sold just the masters for, reportedly, a little over $300 million, may have got one hell of a deal a year ago, his public battle with Swift and her promise to make life miserable for him notwithstanding. And/or we might now know that the label, BIG MACHINE, was all but worthless without Taylor and its other artists, but mostly without Taylor. This is something artists have been trying to explain for years: They don't only bring the noise; they bring the value. It doesn't take much back-of-the-envelope math to conclude that Big Machine's worth to buyers wasn't in its brand or its A&R department or the occupants of its C-suite. Some $300-million-plus of that $300-million-plus value apparently belonged to a single artist's master recordings. This, again, is what you might call leverage. (It's also kind of amazing.) Shortly after Variety's SHIRLEY HALPERIN broke the news of the purchase by an unnamed private equity company, Swift took to Twitter to name the buyer—SHAMROCK CAPITAL—and provide some details that had yet to be reported, the bottom line of which is she appears to be much more fond of the people at Shamrock Capital than she is of Braun but she isn't going to cooperate with them either because, according to her, the deal allows Braun to keep profiting off her recordings. She's going to continue with her project, which she says she's already started, of rerecording her Big Machine albums, in the hope fans will stream, and music supervisors will license, the versions she owns instead of the versions that would funnel money elsewhere. Some people think this is petty of her. She certainly has a personal score to settle. But it's her music and she isn't deceiving anyone. Shamrock Capital knows exactly what it's getting and what it isn't getting, and it spoke highly of Swift in a public statement to the New York Times and other outlets: "We made this investment because we believe in the immense value and opportunity that comes with her work. We fully respect and support her decision and, while we hoped to formally partner, we also knew this was a possible outcome that we considered." It's unclear where exactly Shamrock sees the value in the catalog of an artist intent on playing the role of hostile witness, but it clearly does see value. And in a friendly note to the investors that she shared in her tweet, Swift expressed eagerness to work with them "if your firm is ever completely independent from Scooter Braun and his associates." I have a feeling that sentence will be worth remembering. Braun and his partners, for their part, appear to be getting their entire investment back while still owning a label whose catalog includes albums—though not necessarily the most commercially valuable ones—by FLORIDA GEORGIA LINE, LADY A and TIM MCGRAW. He was reluctant to talk publicly after last year's transaction and he isn't talking this week, so far, either. But there may be no actual losers here. And, in the sense of controlling both her own work and the public conversation thereof, one winner... Another winner (or three): LIL NAS X performed four virtual shows over the weekend in the video game ROBLOX in which he debuted a new Christmas song and earned 33 million views. That's good news for Roblox, proving it can compete with FORTNITE as a major music destination; for the music business, which can use every destination it can find right now; and, last but not least, for Lil Nas X, who, nearly two years after he released the wonder that is "OLD TOWN ROAD," has 33 million arguments that he might not be the one-hit wonder you thought he was... RIP ALEXANDER VEDERNIKOV. | | | - Matty Karas (@troubledoll), curator |
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| Inside the exuberant and empowering rise of Megan Thee Stallion—the irreverent and magnetic rap sensation who’s here to stay. | | |
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| The music manager acquired the rights to the pop superstar’s first six albums as part of a deal with her former label, Big Machine. Now he has sold them to the investment firm Shamrock Capital. | | |
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| We're all here tonight because Threadgill’s will be gone next month. It’s not just an old-timer’s exasperated conjecture: The venerable building actually will be bulldozed and apartments really will be built right here. Perhaps a year from now, some kid from Kansas City will be obliviously living on top of where Janis Joplin started to stretch her wings. | | |
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| This year J Balvin made Latin Grammys history as the first artist to garner 13 nominations in one year. The artist has already won four Latin Grammys in his career, but this year’s recognition carries a special significance. | | |
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| They, too, plan on holding an in-person awards show during a pandemic this week. | | |
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| The creators of the online tool explain how they’re shining a light on the infamously shady music industry. | | |
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| After a few false starts, the country hitmaker returned to Nashville’s RCA Studio A to record his fourth full-length, ‘Starting Over.’ The results are stunning. | | |
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| New results shine light on BTS label's progress in IPO year. | | |
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| Wondering where to start ahead of their forthcoming album 'BE' later this month? Let us help you. | | |
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| Why have the vocalists become almost invisible in dance music coverage these days? The answer (probably won't) surprise you. | | |
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| | | they assume you know nothing |
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| The BBC Radiophonic Workshop made the famous science fiction theme tune and worked with the Beatles. Now it is preparing to make history | | |
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| “I was thinking about the homie. I was thinking about Nip.” | | |
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| An interview with Dave Macli, co-founder and CEO of Audiomack, a music streaming provider built for artists. | | |
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| Synchtank Founder Joel T. Jordan is a punk rock music entrepreneur connecting movies, TV, and video games with music through music synchronization tech. | | |
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| #FreeBritney is either an unhinged celeb conspiracy theory or a grassroots social justice movement, depending on how you look at it. | | |
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| Many young artists see no choice but to leave Lebanon. | | |
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| The music sector supports two million jobs and contributes €81.9 billion ($97 billion) gross value added annually to the GDPs of the 27 European Union member countries and the U.K., a new study has found. | | |
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| By keeping the twang but weaving in soft rock, Garth turned country into “town and country” music--kicking open the door for singers from Wynonna to Shania. | | |
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| A look back at the late legend's timeless masterwork. | | |
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| Music publishers were expecting to win huge damages in a five-year copyright battle over concert recordings. Did a health pandemic ruin these plans? | | |
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| | | | | | | From "Now Then," out now on Tao Forms. |
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| © Copyright 2020, The REDEF Group |
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