When I started [conducting], I assumed there were going to be a lot of women doing it pretty soon. Five years went by, and then ten, and I was like, 'Where is everybody?' | | | | Marie Fredriksson and Per Gessle of Roxette, London, Nov. 11, 1990.
(Phil Dent/Redferns/Getty Images) | | | | | | “When I started [conducting], I assumed there were going to be a lot of women doing it pretty soon. Five years went by, and then ten, and I was like, 'Where is everybody?'”
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| | rantnrave:// Good news bad news for music biz accountants: Recorded music revenues keep trending up and, if MUSIC BUSINESS WORLDWIDE has it right, the three major labels will bring in $14 billion between them in 2019. Streaming will account for well over half of that, and UNIVERSAL, SONY and WARNER are heading quickly toward a point where they'll together be earning $1 million an hour from subscription services. Printing virtual money, as it were. The bad news: It's Christmas shopping season and there are fewer and fewer places to buy recorded music as a Christmas gift. MUSIC WEEK's MARK SUTHERLAND reports that the closure of HMV's flagship store in London leaves Christmas shoppers on Oxford Street with no options for buying music as a stocking stuffer, "bar a few vinyl albums on sale in URBAN OUTFITTERS." And JONATHAN LAMY, former EVP and spokesperson for the RIAA, chimes in to suggest that the very concept of buying music as a gift is "a dying art." Whither the fourth quarter? Will another quarter take its place? Or will another format—or another art—step in instead?... If you've got any pop critics on your Christmas list, may I suggest a LANA DEL REY, ANGEL OLSEN or FKA TWIGS album? The year-end lists are pouring in from all corners this week, and those names are showing up everywhere. Our ever-expanding MusicSET: "Best Music of 2019: The Year in Lists"... ROXETTE spent the late '80s and early '90s throwing the catchiest tropes from rock, new wave, dance-pop and power balladry into a Swedish blender lined with gated snare drums and whipping it all into immaculate, airtight pop songs with no visible seams and no parts that didn't sound like radio hooks. A bubblegum band for all time, in other words, except for the matter of the voice of MARIE FREDRIKSSON, which in its best moments broke through the hermetic seal of those productions to turn bandmate PER GESSLE's songs into raw human expressions of joy and heartache. The duo left behind four US #1 singles, reams of scathing reviews and one of the blueprints that successors in Sweden, the US and elsewhere used in building the next 30 years of pop. SPOTIFY would've loved them if Spotify were here back then. Fredriksson died Monday after a 17-year battle with cancer, during which there were solo albums, tours, a reunion with Gessle and a growing understanding that the two of them (along with producer CLARENCE ÖFWERMAN) had been on to something all along, and they were extremely good at it. RIP... Kudos to ASCAP for the launch of TUNEUP, a physical and mental wellness program that will provide recovery services, support groups and wellness discounts for its members. Creators need this, and every little bit helps... Love her, love the song, but I'm not sure her team knows what the word "prolific" means. | | | - Matty Karas, curator |
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| The question of the moment is the question of the decade: Are things just always bad, or are they historically bad? | | |
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| A new documentary and album, overseen by the late artist's mother, chronicle the fast rise and sudden death of influential emo-rapper Lil Peep. | | |
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| The artists who ruled the year, starring FKA twigs, Bon Iver, Kim Gordon, DaBaby, and more. | | |
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| Emerging as a major pop star in 2019, Eilish is emblematic of her moment: a rebel who is also a popular kid, a loud cultural presence emanating from a carefully maintained private place. | | |
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| We explore the data and the stories behind the success of five slow-burn hits including Lizzo's "Truth Hurts" and Post Malone's "White Iverson." | | |
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| TikTok owner ByteDance Inc. is testing a new music app in emerging markets as it tries to pull off another global sensation akin to its viral video-sharing service. | | |
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| By following the Motown blueprint of blending ecstatic music with agonised lyrics, Roxette created the ultimate breakup song -- and the late Marie Fredriksson delivered it perfectly. | | |
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| Gonna take my horse to the old town road, gonna... wait, what were we talking about? | | |
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| Canada and Mexico are one step closer to aligning their copyright laws with the U.S. on Tuesday after Sen. Nancy Pelosi and President Donald Trump reached an agreement to ratify the trilateral trade deal that will extend copyright term in Canada by 20 years and contains provisions on "Safe Harbor" copyright liability exemptions. | | |
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| It took months for the singer, songwriter and dancer FKA twigs to perfect the title track for her critically acclaimed new album. See how she got it right in the latest episode of Diary of a Song. | | |
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| Some of Broadway’s hottest musicals have been given a jolt of life by bootleg traders using YouTube and other sites. | | |
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| Some very impressive news for Universal, Sony and Warner... and a warning sign? | | |
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| Harder and faster techno is more popular than ever. Annabel Ross explores the phenomenon with VTSS, Héctor Oaks, Perc and Femanyst. | | |
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| Notes from a field where progress on the podium -- and in pieces played onstage -- has been woefully slow. | | |
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| Some of the biggest names in music lent songs to this intimate family drama, but convincing them took time. | | |
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| In May, post-punk legends The Raincoats announced a handful of shows across the UK and a performance at Le Guess Who? to celebrate the 40th anniversary of their seminal self-titled debut album. A couple of hours after hearing the news, I began looking at flights- and on November 10th, I attended the 40th anniversary celebration of at EartH Hackney in East London, the only gig in their hometown. | | |
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| In the 1960s, heavy use of reverb and echo helped form the sound of psychedelic rock. Four-on-the-floor beats came in during the 1970s with the rise of disco, and the ’80s saw the introduction of the synthesizer. Every decade has its own sonic quirks. | | |
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| In contrast to blissful summer days full of psychedelics, bralettes and Tinder "festival mode," Iceland Airwaves is held mid-fall in Reykjavik, when it's 30 degrees by nightfall. At Airwaves, you'll spend a lot of time peeling off sweaters as you enter crowded bars. | | |
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| The best moments of 2019 weren’t all that far from the worst moments of 2019. | | |
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| Music Row, a collection of businesses from Broadway to 16th Avenue South, has been a part of Nashville’s legacy since it became “Music City, USA”. It is home to recording studios, record labels, and more. Without Music Row, Nashville would be nowhere near the cultural epicenter it is today. | | |
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