I don't [say], 'Oh, let me make a South song because this s*** is selling, I'm on the chart.' I'm not going to anybody else's world. I'm going to make people come to mine... I still to this day have not been on the radio and don't even care to. | | | | YG speaking at a Black Lives Matter protest in Los Angeles, June 7, 2020. His album "My Life 4Hunnid" is out today on 400/Epic.
(Rick Fury/Getty Images) | | | | | | “I don't [say], 'Oh, let me make a South song because this s*** is selling, I'm on the chart.' I'm not going to anybody else's world. I'm going to make people come to mine... I still to this day have not been on the radio and don't even care to.”
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| | rantnrave:// Thoughts and data on music industry diversity from the RECORDING ACADEMY's CHANGE MUSIC summit, conducted via ZOOM and FACEBOOK Thursday afternoon. "The talent is mostly Black," former BET chief executive DEBRA LEE told HARVEY MASON JR., the Academy's CEO and interim president. "If you look at the revenues, 80 percent of it comes from Black artists." She might have been exaggerating slightly for effect. But only slightly. It's time, Lee said, "to demand more seats at the table, and demand fairer contracts for our artists and our executives." That's the Black Lives Matter challenge for the music industry in a nutshell, the internal work that needs to be done in addition to the external community activism the industry is eagerly promoting. Salvation lies within. At the Academy itself, the situation is reversed in a way. The in-house staff is diverse—"We have achieved gender, age, race and ethnicity parity," diversity and inclusion chief VALEISHA BUTTERFIELD JONES said—but the Academy's 21,000-strong membership, which includes the roughly 14,000 GRAMMY AWARD voters, is not. At least 69 percent of voting members are men, and there are twice as many "nondiverse" voters as "diverse" voters. "This is the work," according to Butterfield Jones. The Academy began addressing the disparity this year with its outreach for new members: 48% of this year's invitations went to women, and 37 percent went to diverse candidates. But is that enough? How long will it take for women to catch up to men on the Grammy voting rolls, where they're greatly outnumbered, if they receive half of new invitations each year? Is there a way to proactively speed that up? (Not mentioned, as far as I could tell, anytime on Thursday: Mason's predecessor as CEO, DEBORAH DUGAN, who aggressively sought reform, who has said she was repeatedly rebuffed, and whom the Academy seems intent on forgetting. Is it possible to truly move forward without acknowledging the past?). Mason on the music-specific twist the Academy has had to consider in diversifying its board: "Were we getting enough women? Were we getting enough people of color? Were we getting enough banjo players?" A funny soundbite. And a crucial concept. This, by the way, is how the Academy chief is envisioning next year's Grammy Awards, trying to implement changes that diversify the performers and winners while navigating a pandemic that will be nearly a year old when the ceremony takes place on Jan. 31. Mason is hoping for a limited live audience in Los Angeles and no pre-recorded performances. At the Latin Grammys, regional Mexican artists want to be recognized... TWITCH introduces a licensed music feature, SOUNDTRACK, with several indie deals but no major-label deals. There are concerns... Mail-in voting fraud or LOL perfection? AD-ROCK's ballot for ROLLING STONE's 500 Greatest Albums poll... FLEETWOOD MAC gets a dreamy TIKTOK boost... It's FRIDAY and that means new music from WESTSIDE GUNN, YG, BLACKPINK, DRIVE-BY TRUCKERS, SHAMIR, BRYSON TILLER, ALOE BLACC, MARIAH CAREY (rarities), RÓISÍN MURPHY, JÓNSI, GABRIEL GARZÓN-MONTANO, BARTEES STRANGE, MATT BERNINGER (NATIONAL frontman's solo debut), 21 SAVAGE & METRO BOOMIN, SMOKE DZA, SIMI, DOLLY PARTON (Christmas album), ELLA FITZGERALD (newly discovered 1962 live session), BRIANNA THOMAS BAND, DAYNA STEPHENS QUARTET, ANDREAS VOLLENWEIDER, PARRIS, ACE OF CUPS, BRENT COBB, JOACHIM COODER, EARTHEATER, COREY TAYLOR, AMARANTHE, LANY, LAURA JANE GRACE (released earlier in the week), DEERHOOF (covers album, also released earlier in the week), MELANIE C, SAVANNAH CRISTINA, SA-ROC, YUNG GRAVY, CARTALK, KURT VILE, MXMTOON, DAWES, the NUDE PARTY, DEATH VALLEY GIRLS and, last and quite possibly least, WILLIAM SHATNER... And a new MEGAN THEE STALLION ft. YOUNG THUG single and a new old JONI MITCHELL track—a 1965 demo of the first song she ever wrote... And the 77-track benefit comp GOOD MUSIC TO AVERT THE COLLAPSE OF AMERICAN DEMOCRACY, VOL. 2, featuring JASON ISBELL, FLEET FOXES, the POSTAL SERVICE, PEARL JAM, YOLA and dozens of others, is available for 24 hours only, today, via BANDCAMP. | | | - Matty Karas (@troubledoll), curator |
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| Burger Records was a garage rock record label in Orange County that built its brand on bringing rock and roll to teens and putting the spotlight on underground bands. In July, it became the first label to completely fold after allegations of sexual misconduct were made public on social media. Those accusations involved members of more than a dozen bands on the label. | | |
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| In less than two years, Napster became a global sensation... and then record labels and multi-platinum artists brought it crashing down. But in its short lifespan, Napster transformed our ideas about how we consume music, and how much we're willing to pay for it. | | |
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| For one thing, music media may be becoming more like the music industry itself. | | |
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| How a 38-year-old rapper from Buffalo became one of music's most enticing stars. | | |
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| We also got his take on Kanye’s tweets about the way the record business operates. | | |
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| Dan Mackta of luxury music streaming and download service Qobuz explains why hi-res audio is an important piece of the music revenue equation, and he and Dmitri and Dan explore the dynamics of the music-loving audiophile market. | | |
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| The 30% cut comes exactly when Facebook is looking to tighten restrictions for music streams. | | |
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| Not to plead hardship, but trying to handicap what records might win Grammy nominations is unlike the guesswork for any other top entertainment awards show. Tens of thousands of potentially eligible new recordings are released every year, and then individual categories have their own nominating committees to winnow through preliminary voting, making sure that wild cards slip in and it’s never a pure popularity contest. | | |
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| Even before the pandemic, the 2021 Grammy Awards were going to be very different from previous shows. For the first time in 40 years, the show will not be produced by veteran Ken Ehrlich, who announced in 2019 he'd be stepping aside for longtime James Corden producer Ben Winston. | | |
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| Using loopholes to avoid paying musicians fairly. | | |
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| For many, quarantine has led to very creative ways to stay active, stay productive and stay positive in these strange times. With so many people using Zoom for video conferences, family check ins and interviews, rapper and entrepreneur Jim Jones elevated the game. | | |
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| The women who populated many of Helen Reddy's hit songs were outcasts and pariahs. A writer, then a young boy, found solace in them. | | |
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| The key to appreciating ambient entertainment during a pandemic is to always act surprised. Walk into a restaurant and say, "I had NO idea (fill in name of well-known Las Vegas performer) would be in here tonight!" Las Vegas adapts fast, we have been reminded during the COVID shutdown and lurching reopening. | | |
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| In a freewheeling and historical roundtable, the 9:30 Club celebrated its 40th anniversary with a power-packed livestreamed Pollstar Live! and VenuesNow Digital Session. | | |
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| The rapid global growth of Korean music over the past decade has puzzled non-fans (and even experts), and it seems that the size of K-pop groups might be a mystery, too. | | |
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| Inclusive and patriotic, with its roots in the radical left, Woody Guthrie’s enduring 1940s folk song offers an expansive vision for all Americans, writes Dorian Lynskey. | | |
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| On her latest orchestral masterwork, Maria Schneider worked to dramatize humanity’s (and her own) struggle between nature and technology. | | |
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| 88rising paved the way for Asian artists like Joji and Rich Brian, now the label has a new crop of young musicians from the Philippines exploring hip-hop, pop, and R&B. | | |
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| For years, Sym Gharial struggled reconciling his Sikh heritage with his love of rock & roll. Here he tells tQ how after years of poor mental health and recovering from addiction issue was able to find a new sense of himself with a new musical project, Primitive Ignorant | | |
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| The U.S. Cellular Center in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, has held what appears to be the first paid arena concert in North America since the COVID-19 shutdown, bringing some hope to the decimated live music industry. The arena played host to country artist Josh Turner on Sept. 18, the first such event since live entertainment venues closed down in March, according to Pollstar data. | | |
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| The historic hamlet of Canterbury birthed a scene defined by its jazz-influenced vibe, quirky lyrics, and refusal to take itself too seriously. | | |
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| Where's the Letterboxd of music? Replace 'movies' with 'music' and imagine a musical Letterboxd to discuss the albums we listen to. | | |
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| | | | | | | "Genres keep us in our boxes." From "Live Forever," out today on Memory Music. |
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| © Copyright 2020, The REDEF Group |
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