The songwriters and the publishers and the digital music companies and the broadcasters and the record labels decided to work together over the last two or three years on what they agree on instead of what they disagree on. | | | | Julian Gosin and Paul Robertson of the Soul Rebels at Grandoozy, Denver, Sept. 15, 2018.
(Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic/Getty Images) | | | | | | “The songwriters and the publishers and the digital music companies and the broadcasters and the record labels decided to work together over the last two or three years on what they agree on instead of what they disagree on.”
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| | rantnrave:// Putting an exclamation point on years of complaints from artists and songwriters who got 17 million plays and earned 17 cents in royalties, LAMAR ALEXANDER outed himself on the floor of the US SENATE Tuesday as one of those songwriters. The Tennessee senator, who's an accomplished pianist (I'm pretty sure literally every living human in Tennessee is a musician), did a tiny bit better than 17 cents for his quarter share of LEE BRICE's "FALLING APART TOGETHER." The song, as he informed his Senate colleagues shortly after they unanimously approved the MUSIC MODERNIZATION ACT, was inspired by a conversation he had with an "older couple sitting in a pickup truck" (I did mention this was Tennessee, right?). He told Brice, who was working on his debut album at Alexander's house (see previous parentheses), about the encounter, and before you could say "BLUEBIRD CAFE," it was a song. "You'd think those royalties would add up and give me a nice income in addition to my salary as United States senator," Alexander said. "I checked, and in 2016 I reported on my ethics form that I file each year that my royalties only added up to $101.75. That's for one-fourth of a record that's played on an album of a pretty well known singer and writer. If you're a songwriter in Nashville or anywhere else, you can't make a living on that." Quick background check: It was Brice's moderate-selling debut album, it wasn't a single and several years have passed. But still. Point made, this time by a man with the power to directly do something about it. Alexander was a key force in bringing together the various corners of the music biz to shape what is now officially called the ORRIN G. HATCH Music Modernization Act, in honor of another senator/songwriter who played a key role. The songwriting and publishing communities, led by tireless advocates like ROSS GOLAN—who has co-written with ARIANA GRANDE, JUSTIN BIEBER and NICKI MINAJ and has a great podcast on the craft—played huge roles, too, bringing immense pressure on the bill's opponents. Alexander said its passage was still "in doubt" Tuesday afternoon. A last-minute compromise with SIRIUSXM reportedly sealed it. Senator Hatch—who apparently has one platinum and one gold record to his name—said the bill "will enhance songwriting in America." Here's what the bill does. It still has to go back to the HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, which approved a slightly different version, for final passage, and then it will need PRESIDENT TRUMP's signature. The bill's backers sound confident it will go smoothly and quickly. May the royalties and licenses and collaborations and business opportunities and swimming pools come smoothly and quickly, too, for all who stand to benefit. And may Lamar Alexander's next copyright net him a few dollars more... The team behind the MORE PERFECT podcast is responsible for this fantastic project that dropped Tuesday, in which artists including DOLLY PARTON, DEVENDRA BANHART, TORRES and CHERRY GLAZERR have written and recorded 27 songs to accompany discussions of the 27 amendments to the US CONSTITUTION... Also arriving Tuesday: BHAD BHABIE's debut mixtape, titled "15." And, no, it sounds nothing like ADELE despite following the same naming convention... Only days after JOAN JETT's complete catalog was finally made available for streaming, BIKINI KILL has put its catalog online, too, and the internet is suddenly rocking a little harder than it used to... MusicREDEF is taking a day off in observance of YOM KIPPUR. We'll be back in your inbox Friday morning. | | | - Matty Karas, curator |
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| | | like a record that's skipping |
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| Buying a ticket for Saturday's Bruno Mars concert in Toronto was probably never going to be cheap, but what many of the star's 17,000 fans who scored a seat might not realize is it wasn't just scalpers driving up prices. | | |
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| Dorothy Carvello's “Anything for a Hit: An A&R Woman's Story of Surviving the Music Industry” was years in the making but finally hit the market Sept. 4. The book, which sheds light on some shady business practices and heinous behavior that women in the music business have endured, comes as the #MeToo movement continues to build. | | |
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| We invited some of the best musicians in the world to create songs inspired by each of the 27 amendments; a kind of “Schoolhouse Rock!” for the 21st Century. | | |
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| Stakeholders representing virtually every corner of the music industry backed the legislation, which received rare bipartisan support from a bitterly partisan Congress. The legislation has been championed by everyone from Paul McCartney to Maren Morris for the promise of improving the licensing system and increasing digital royalty payouts to songwriters. | | |
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| On the tenth anniversary of "Dear Science," Wilbert L. Cooper reflects on discovering the seminal Brooklyn band as an angsty black youth in Ohio. | | |
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| As a growing number of Instagram-friendly burger and fried chicken joints pay homage to the US subculture, some are finding the marketing gimmick hard to stomach. | | |
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| The terrible art of figuring life out and the search for peace -- whether one is famous, or not -- has not changed. | | |
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| A journey from Jamaica to California, via England. | | |
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| Would we get attacked or showered in love? There was only one way to find out -- jumping in the van and hitting the road. | | |
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| We must fight for the quarter of a billion young people still denied an education by conflict, poverty, sexism and bad policy, says artist and philanthropist Rihanna. | | |
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| The stars of Afrobeats combine local and global styles in a riot of new sounds. | | |
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| Raw and simplistic Prince album to be released Friday (Sep. 21). | | |
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| The myth of sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll is still often seen as an acceptable excuse for abusive behavior. | | |
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| Anuel AA's new track "Bebe" features 6ix9ine, and opens up a whole can of worms. | | |
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| Christine and the Queens is back with her new album Chris, and she's more electric than ever before. | | |
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| We chat with Kathleen Hanna about why Bikini Kill is still so vital today. | | |
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| In what should be the pivotal scene of Paul Weitz's "Bel Canto," an American soprano played by Julianne Moore stands at the balcony of a mansion that's been seized by left-wing guerrillas in an unnamed Latin American country, and sings "Vissi d'arte" from Puccini's Tosca out to the masses nearby. | | |
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| The Maryland rapper’s live show is a raucous release of punk rock angst, from mosh pits to flying wigs. | | |
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| “I made a commitment to feel-good music,” the hip-hop artist said before a show at MoMA PS1. “I had to show my belly a lot of attention, a lot of love.” | | |
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| Home to artists like Ramon Sender, Pauline Oliveros, Morton Subotnick, and others, the SFTMC was at the forefront of ’60s experimental music. | | |
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