I find that jazz, a lot of it—at least a lot of it that gets critical acclaim—is what I like to call gluten-free jazz. You know, the healthy lifestyle has gone a little too far when it comes to the music. I need some Crisco in my jazz, you know? Some fatback. | | | | Christine and the Queens' "Chris" is out today on Because Music.
(Jo Hale/Redferns/Getty Images) | | | | | | “I find that jazz, a lot of it—at least a lot of it that gets critical acclaim—is what I like to call gluten-free jazz. You know, the healthy lifestyle has gone a little too far when it comes to the music. I need some Crisco in my jazz, you know? Some fatback.”
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| | rantnrave:// So about that still-unfolding TICKETMASTER story. It isn't breaking news that concert ticketing is messed up and that all the major players, from promoters to venues to ticketing agencies, share at least some blame for the mess. Withholding tickets? Manipulating prices? Profiting from secondary sales? You knew, or at least, suspected all that, even if you've never been sure who to point your fingers at. But there are two crucial new twists in the investigative series being rolled out jointly by the CBC and the TORONTO STAR. One, they're naming some names and detailing some details. Two, they're alleging that Ticketmaster is actively encouraging, recruiting and profiting from mass scalpers in ways that directly contradict the company's public statements and terms of service, through a little-known proprietary platform called TRADEDESK. Undercover reporters taped two TradeDesk employees on hidden cameras—one at a ticketing convention in Las Vegas, one in an online demo—selling a man they believed was a high-volume scalper on the benefits of the platform and saying they saw no problem with scalpers using multiple fake accounts to exceed standard ticket limits. You can watch it all play out here. In its initial response, Ticketmaster said little more than that the secondary ticket market is essential "as long as there is an imbalance between supply and demand in live event tickets," and "we believe it is our job to offer a marketplace that provides a safe and fair place for fans to shop, buy and sell tickets." Two days after the story appeared, the company strengthened its response, saying "we do not condone" what the undercover reporters were told and that an internal review of reselling practices is under way. Ticketmaster also "categorically" denied having "any program in place to enable resellers to acquire large volume of tickets," which, as the CBC noted, was not one of the allegations the reporters made. "This is going to be a public relations nightmare," journalist and radio host ALAN CROSS told the CBC. At the moment, that sounds like an understatement. Sports fans, theater fans and especially music fans have been looking for an identifiable villain in the ticketing business, beyond the nameless and faceless bots that get so much of the attention. Have the CBC and the Star found one?... You can count on one hand the number of SUPER BOWL halftime shows that have lived up to the hype and drama that inevitably accompanies the world's most notorious 12-minute gig. So here's why perhaps you shouldn't care either way that it's going to be MAROON 5 in 2019. And here, on the other hand, is why the entire city of Atlanta, for starters, has an absolute right to care... Last season's halftime performer, JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE, will get a little more than 12 minutes as part of the high-watt lineup at the IHEART RADIO MUSIC FESTIVAL, which is also bringing CHILDISH GAMBINO, CARRIE UNDERWOOD, SHAWN MENDES, FLEETWOOD MAC and, um, KELLY CLARKSON to Las Vegas this weekend. You can stream it at the CW's website and app, and watch it on TV on the CW two weeks later... The QUINCY JONES doc QUINCY premieres today on NETFLIX... WOLF ALICE wins the MERCURY MUSIC PRIZE... SUGE KNIGHT pleads no contest to voluntary manslaughter and faces 28 years behind bars... ADELE on LAURYN HILL... It's FRIDAY and that means you're listening to PRINCE's PIANO & A MICROPHONE 1983... I have no idea why anyone would care about anything else being released today, which is not meant as a knock on the French pop wonder CHRISTINE & THE QUEENS, not to mention BROCKHAMPTON, METRIC, the late RICHARD SWIFT, MACHINE GUN KELLY, CHRISTIAN SANDS, MAHALIA, THE FIELD, MACY GRAY, LUPE FIASCO, NOAH CYRUS, JOSH GROBAN, FATHER, SUMAC, SLASH WITH MYLES KENNEDY & THE CONSPIRATORS, SHA LA DAS, JOYCE MANOR, BILLY GIBBONS, BEAK, MOUNT EERIE, VILLAGERS, VOIVOD, AFRIKAN BOY, RYAN HEMSWORTH, THE LONDON SUEDE, MOUNTAIN MAN, MANDY BARNETT, LIARS, RICHARD REED PARRY, CARL BROEMEL, ST. LUCIA and TEXTONES... You're in our hearts, DICKEY BETTS. | | | - Matty Karas, curator |
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| Beyond running the official box office (and claiming to be anti-bot/anti-scalper), CBC reveals Ticketmaster's secret program for industrial-scale ticket re-sellers. Our Dave Seglins poses as a scalper… | | |
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| Ticketmaster has launched an internal review of its ticket reseller accounts after employees told undercover journalists the company turns a blind eye to how resellers acquire tickets. | | |
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| The megamix is a variegated mural, with flashes of color -- neon pink, chartreuse, head-gash red -- popping off chipped concrete, an amalgamation of flavor so fresh it strains the vision, so vivid it glows. | | |
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| Overall market trends in the first half of 2018 continued to reflect the music industry’s rapid transition from unit based physical and digital sales towards streaming music sources. Total revenues from recorded music in the United States grew 10% to $4.6 billion at retail in 1H 2018. Streaming music accounted for 3/4 of industry revenues. At wholesale value, revenues rose 10% to $ 3.1 billion. | | |
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| They had four guitarists, a s***ty name and they wanted you to fall in love with Iron Maiden, Blink-182 and Sugar Ray all over again. Somehow, it worked. A fond farewell to unlikely punk-pop legends who finally, um, stopped pooping in 2018. | | |
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| Time's up on #Tomatogate. | | |
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| Towards the end of a fruitful afternoon shopping in Paris with Tyler, the Creator, the hip-hop polymath reaches for his phone and reads aloud from the dream diary he keeps occasionally. | | |
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| Tucked away deep inside a maximum-security storage facility in Hollywood, the contents of Prince's storied vault are being pored over daily in one of the most laborious research jobs in modern pop culture. | | |
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| Héloïse Letissier continues to make pop’s brashest, queerest records. | | |
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| The story of the Velvet Underground’s fourth album that almost never was. | | |
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| When confronting a challenging problem, it's sometimes useful to listen to someone who looks at it from an entirely different angle. That's why I found it fascinating to talk about the rise of populism and nativism with Bono last weekend at a summit in Kiev. | | |
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| And rappers? There hasn’t been a single rapper to headline a halftime show. Ever. | | |
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| Greatest day of my life,” declared Christian McBride without a hint of hyperbole. Even for a six-time Grammy-winner who’s shared stages and studios with dozens of jazz, pop and r&b luminaries, few experiences can top his first meeting with one of his childhood heroes: Funk legend Bootsy Collins. | | |
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| The recently passed Music Modernization Act and EU Copyright Directive show how the music business can still wield some influence in Washington and Brussels. | | |
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| Dissecting the Slim Shady-MGK beef and what it explains about being a white MC in 2018. | | |
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| Could AI really replace songwriters? Sorting fact from science-fiction with Holly Herndon, Mat Dryhurst, Ash Koosha and more. | | |
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| Next year, Linda Perry says she'll revolutionize the music business. Today, she'll settle for tearing it a new one. | | |
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| "There's, like, 100 years’ worth of material in that vault," Coleman tells "Billboard." | | |
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| The image of the tortured creative male genius--a musician, an artist, an alcoholic writer--is usually accompanied not only by their vice of choice, but by their silent, steady parter: a woman who carries the weight. If the tortured genius ends up perishing at the hands of his own vice or addiction, the woman is often to blame. | | |
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| Ambassador Osayomore Joseph is a living legend of Edo highlife music, well known and respected in Benin City for a long career of creative music and activism, so his kidnapping in October 2017 was particularly shocking to his fans. Producer Morgan Greenstreet brings us the story of Osayomore's ordeal, in the Ambassador's own words. | | |
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| | | | | | | From "Piano & a Microphone 1983," out today on Warner Bros. |
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| © Copyright 2018, The REDEF Group |
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