Some think ads are the death of the music industry. Ads are not death. Death is death. Irrelevance is death. Fans not being exposed to new music is death. | | | | A$AP Ferg's mixtape "Still Striving" is out today on A$AP Worldwide/RCA.
(Christopher Polk/Getty Images) | | | | | | “Some think ads are the death of the music industry. Ads are not death. Death is death. Irrelevance is death. Fans not being exposed to new music is death.”
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| | rantnrave:// It's hard to argue with SPOTIFY's decision to eject two or three dozen white-power bands from its catalog this week, a move that appears to have been echoed by TIDAL, DEEZER and PANDORA. (APPLE rid itself of a lot of the bands long before the tragedy in CHARLOTTESVILLE turned white nationalism into front-page news. Many are still on YOUTUBE.) A lot of the music is as hateful as it is patently offensive, and a streaming service is no more obligated to host white-metal band WHITE KNUCKLE DRIVER or the Aryan sister band PRUSSIAN BLUE than a record company is to sign them or a radio station is to play them or a record store is to stock them. "[D]emanding that streaming services don’t circulate or profit from [Nazi speech] feels like the bare minimum that reasonable human beings can do," PITCHFORK's MARC HOGAN writes, reasonably. But. This is art we're talking about, and art will defy almost any attempt to define it or put fences around it. Would White Knuckle Driver be more acceptable if its lyricist was a little more subtle or learned how to use metaphors? Spotify says it won't tolerate "material that favors hatred or incites violence against race, religion, sexuality or the like." Which means what exactly? "[W]ill it apply the same standards to all songs in the future?," asks QUARTZ's AMY X. WANG. "Who will judge?" Where are the lines between observation, anger and incitement? Is Spotify going to start policing XXXTENTACION lyrics? Does Spotify understand what every underground metal band is saying? (ANTI-DEFAMATION LEAGUE researcher to NY TIMES: "Identifying National Socialist black metal from regular black metal is not always easy.") Where do you slot this number from the great BROADWAY musical BLOODY BLOODY ANDREW JACKSON? Every one of these songs and artists is deeply offensive to someone; none is in SKREWDRIVER's league when it comes to patent offensiveness. Says me. And, I'd like to think, says any sane, straight-thinking human. But can you codify that into rules that an internet music provider can follow? And do you want to? Do you want to send White Knuckle Driver's audience into hiding or leave it out in the open, in the sunlight?... Also: Is Spotify aware of the irony of using the occasion to push a new playlist called PATRIOTIC PASSION that features 2 LIVE CREW's "BANNED IN THE USA," originally recorded to protest a court declaring the group's music obscene?... JOHNNY CASH's family speaks truth to white power... MTV unplugs yet again... LYOR COHEN swears YouTube is a force for both economic good and artistic good. Also, he had a lot to do with that GOOGLE DOODLE... It's FRIDAY and that means new music from GRIZZLY BEAR, GHOSTPOET, THE BLIND BOYS OF ALABAMA, SHELBY LYNNE & ALLISON MOORER, PHORA, DAVE EAST, A$AP FERG, UNKLE, KMFDM, STEVEN WILSON, RAY WYLIE HUBBARD, RAINER MARIA, KODAK BLACK and THE ACCIDENTALS... And yesterday was THURSDAY, which brought brand new music from BRAND NEW (!) and JUSTIN BIEBER... RIP PAUL OLIVER. | | | - Matty Karas, curator |
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| Custom playlists on the streaming site can bring unknown artists to millions. But are they altering how songs get written? | | |
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| I joined Google and YouTube because I saw a great opportunity to bring tech and music together and do right by artists, the industry and fans. Eight months in, I’m more optimistic than ever that YouTube can do that, but the truth is there’s still a disconnect between YouTube and the rest of the industry. | | |
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| I hear color. Eh...sort of. I have grapheme-color synesthesia, which is a common form of sensory pairing. Being a musician, and understanding what semantics go into understanding and learning music add a whole dimension to the idea of metaphor, perception and language. | | |
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| "Fader" and Cornerstone were early pioneers of the magazine/agency model, but continue to evolve with new talent and a laser focus on creating culture. | | |
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| How did the jazz train go off the tracks? A listen to two musicians’ performances from one night in New York City--August 17, 1967--offers a few clues. | | |
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| The 25-year-old prodigy from the 'burbs gives a rare interview. | | |
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| The vulnerable songwriter is making pop a weirder place. | | |
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| In light of Charlottesville, streaming services like Spotify and Apple Music are starting to pull music from white supremacist bands. Their peers must follow suit. | | |
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| We talk to civil rights attorney Lisa Bloom, who has represented accusers against Bill O’Reilly, Bill Cosby, and Donald Trump, about what is needed, what happens, and what is at stake when trying sexual harassment and assault. | | |
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| One-hit wonders are a common phenomenon in the music business, and most of them have a fan base that insists their other songs are just as good. It's rarer, though, to see a well established band break through with a surprise pop hit more than a decade into its career, "She Don't Use Jelly" style. | | |
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| Hip-hop and the fashion industry have long been intertwined, but in recent years, that relationship has become so much more. | | |
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| You'll soon be able to rave from your bedroom in a more immersive way than just turning the speakers up. | | |
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| How one DIY musician found her audience through music streaming. I remember as a kid, my mom had a bunch of records by legendary pianist George Winston in our family room's vinyl bin. For some reason we also owned those exact same albums on CD. | | |
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| The War on Drugs’ last album made front man Adam Granduciel a star. But does he want to stay that way? | | |
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| 75 essential Jay Z verses, picked from 13 studio albums, remixes, radio freestyles, and other classic ephemera. | | |
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| The big-budget return of American Idol has led to a rush of similar shows in its wake, but the genre is less relevant than ever. | | |
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| Looking back at three seminal compilations, it's possible to imagine a world where the genre stuck to its roots and avoided the bros. | | |
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| DiS spoke to Exodus singer Steve "Zetro" Sousa about the band's legacy and forthcoming 11th album. | | |
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| Sex is such an inextricable part of pop music, it's easy to overlook, but NPR Music critic Ann Powers rectifies that in her new book, a portrait of America's obsession with sex as it manifests in pop. | | |
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| American hip-hop festivals are more poular than ever. Is the rest of the world ready? | | |
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