We are planning to carry on and do another event in 2021, but how we’re going to do that I’m not entirely sure. | | | | SXSW, the early days: Beck at Emo's, Austin, Texas, March 17, 1994. He was opening for Johnny Cash.
(Catherine McGann/Hulton Archive/Getty Images) | | | | | | “We are planning to carry on and do another event in 2021, but how we’re going to do that I’m not entirely sure.”
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| | rantnrave:// And now, COACHELLA. There was no official announcement as of Monday night, but multiple sites were reporting that GOLDENVOICE is trying to move Coachella and STAGECOACH to October, and will likely cancel both if it can't make the move happen. Riverside County, where the Coachella grounds are located, has declared a public health emergency because of the coronavirus, which is wreaking havoc with the spring concert season around the world. MADONNA, PEARL JAM, MILEY CYRUS, MARIAH CAREY and GREEN DAY are among the growing list of artists who have postponed (or canceled) shows and tours. Add the WINTER MUSIC CONFERENCE and TOMORROWLAND to the list of scrapped major events. The dance-music community is rattled. The metal community is banging its head. And in Austin, maybe more consequentially than all of that, SXSW is fighting for its life. The losses from the cancellation of this year's conference and festival could cost SXSW tens of millions of dollars, CEO ROLAND SWENSON told the WALL STREET JOURNAL over the weekend, and the business is in danger of running out of money by summer. SXSW is vowing to return in 2021, and still exploring the possibility of a rescheduled event later this year, "but how we’re going to do that I’m not entirely sure," Swenson told the Journal's ELIZABETH FINDELL. On Monday, SXSW announced it had laid off a third of its full-time staff of 175 people. Nobody's at fault, obviously; this is somewhere in the realm of Act of God. But the devastation is real. Every canceled tour is countless canceled jobs: road managers, sound engineers, musicians, drivers, lighting people, riggers, etc. All the support staff beyond that. People for whom a lost month's work is a lost month's pay. People who likely don't have employer-paid health insurance (at a time when they could really use it). People who live from gig to gig. People who put the "live" in live music. And an awful lot of people in Austin, where seemingly everybody was supposed to be headed this week and next. It's going to be a little quieter this spring. When the noise eventually does return, which it will, may all their hands be back on the volume knobs. In the meantime, keep them in your thoughts and in your Rolodexes... Could the era of widespread music plagiarism suits be coming to an end? In affirming a ruling that LED ZEPPELIN's "STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN" did not rip off SPIRIT's "TAURUS," a federal appellate court put two new roadblocks in front of future copyright plaintiffs. It overturned the so-called inverse ratio rule, which holds that the more accessible a song is, the lower the standard of proof required to prove it's been plagiarized. The court said the rule "unfairly advantages" plaintiffs with more popular songs, and added that the streaming era has made the very idea of access a moot point. Everything is accessible. The appellate decision also puts a higher burden on plaintiffs whose copyright claim is based on common themes and elements. "I think [Monday's ruling] will put a pin in the floodgates that really started opening with 'BLURRED LINES,'" copyright lawyer ED MCPHERSON told the WSJ. Noted rock critic GEORGE CONWAY endorses the ruling... Here's another appellate court that songwriters might want to pay attention to today... Debuting at #2, BAD BUNNY's YHLQMDLG is the highest-charting Spanish-language album in the history of the BILLBOARD 200... QUIBI's music slate... Eleven essential MCCOY TYNER recordings... 4HIM, COMMISSIONED, the ISAACS and late CAPITOL exec BILL HEARN will be inducted into the GOSPEL MUSIC HALL OF FAME... RIP BIFF ADAM and SAM "THE MAN" BURNS. | | | - Matty Karas (@troubledoll), curator |
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| A man in California is haunted by the memory of a pop song from his youth. He can remember the lyrics and the melody. But the song itself has vanished, completely scrubbed from the internet. PJ takes on the Super Tech Support case. | | |
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| Austin American-Statesman |
| SXSW LLC, the company behind the South by Southwest festival held in Austin each year since 1987, is reeling financially from the city's decision to cancel the 2020 event over coronavirus fears, apparently putting its future in jeopardy as it scrambles to ascertain how much money it stands to lose. | | |
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| Tech giants will again face songwriters and music publishers in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. They hope to cut what you are paid by a third. | | |
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| SAG-AFTRA has accused Spanish Broadcasting System of mistreating workers at its two L.A. radio stations. Three years after joining the union, station employees face wage cuts. | | |
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| Get a primer on reggaeton, Latin trap, dembow and more. | | |
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| Mark Smotroff sees a silver lining amidst record business turmoil. | | |
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| VICE asked LA record store clerks for their review of the Zoë Kravitz-led reboot of the beloved 90s film about love and music snobbery. | | |
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| Riz Ahmed’s “The Long Goodbye” is the latest hip-hop album to address the state of Britain with deep sorrow and scorching anger. | | |
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| The global pandemic is about to hit the music business hard. With a lack of live shows, what can artists and their teams do to maintain a living? | | |
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| After a long talk with no one but myself, I've decided to go to SXSW. I'd already purchased a ticket to fly to the U.S. from Tel Aviv -- a stopover in Istanbul for a TED talk was canceled when flights were halted -- and when I return to Israel, I'll need to quarantine myself for 14 days. | | |
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| | | running on a dark race course |
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| Olivia and Dhani Harrison delve into the imprint’s complex history, and what they have planned for its latest phase. | | |
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| Tomas Wise on his company's rebrand and the future for music publishing. | | |
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| In Part 2 of our new 6MO: Breakthrough Artists report, we take a fresh look at the big playlist trends dominating four major streaming platforms from January to December 2019. | | |
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| The Scottish singer-songwriter has hit a billion streams for ‘Someone You Loved’ and reached No 1 in the UK and America. He talks to Roisin O'Connor about humour, heartbreak, his ex-girlfriend winning ‘Love Island’, and having a panic attack at the Grammys. | | |
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| Albums are now being released in stages -- is this the future of music or a patience-testing fad? | | |
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| "There were comments, horrible comments, telling me to go and kill myself." | | |
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| Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen's play tells the story of the 2010 Upper Big Branch Mine disaster in West Virginia. Songwriter Steve Earle used it as a creative challenge to write his forthcoming album, "Ghosts of West Virginia." | | |
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| Though she just has a handful of released songs, Tems has quickly become one of her country’s shining stars with a voice that’s hard to resist. | | |
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| Nazira is one of the hottest bookings in Europe’s club scene. She’s bringing the carefree spirit of the Continent’s dance floors home with her. | | |
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| Thinking about blues songs about disease. | | |
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