We do not want to be the Congress that lets the music die. | | | | Khruangbin's Laura Lee at O2 Academy, London, Dec. 03, 2019.
(Burak Cingi/Redferns/Getty Images) | | | | | | “We do not want to be the Congress that lets the music die.”
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| | rantnrave:// There's nothing like hearing a song you love—or a song you're going to love—on the radio. Songs sound better on the radio, where they arrive by surprise, where you can't stop, skip or replay them, where you never know when you're going to hear them again, where you have no choice but to give into them in real time, to accept them and be with them. And where maybe, just maybe, you reach for the volume knob and turn it up, I mean, why wouldn't you?... Today's MusicREDEF is dedicated to RITA HOUSTON, a giant of New York radio, who died of cancer Tuesday. In a quarter-century at Fordham University's WFUV, she served as a key tastemaker for a certain corner of rock, folk and Americana music. She was also, as BRANDI CARLILE wrote on Instagram, "a soulful stabilizing force for so many of us"... Real-world bipartisanship in action: AMY KLOBUCHAR, Democratic senator from PRINCE's Minnesota and co-sponsor of the SAVE OUR STAGES bill with JOHN CORNYN, Republican senator from TRAVIS SCOTT's Texas, is telling her colleagues about the urgent need for the legislation, which would provide $10 billion in relief to independent music venues, and then MARSHA BLACKBURN, Republican senator from TAYLOR SWIFT's Tennessee, steps in and says well actually that's not going to be enough because the venues are only "the front-facing part of the industry" and there's a huge support system "behind the curtain" that also needs relief. From inside their apartments in Minneapolis, Houston, Nashville and beyond, you can all but hear musicians, roadies, bartenders, bookers, agents, managers, sound engineers, lighting designers, drivers and the rest of a shuttered ecosystem screaming yes, yes, yes. The occasion was a Tuesday morning hearing on the struggling live-event industry in advance of a vote expected later this week on the $900 billion pandemic relief package that, at least for now (this is Washington; things can change), includes the Save Our Stages money. "Please don't let the music die," ADAM HARTKE, owner of two venues in Wichita, Kan., told the senators. If the SOS bill passes, venues will be able to apply for up to $12 million to cover the costs of a lost year, and additional funds to cover expenses through the first half of 2021. The full relief package is split into two mega bills that also include money for vaccine distribution and small-business aid, and Klobuchar told Variety's JEM ASWAD that, while negotiations are continuing, she's confident the live-venue relief will be among the pieces of the bill that survive. The broader relief her colleague Blackburn is seeking "may take time," Klobuchar said. The two senators seem to be working somewhat at cross-purposes in the short term but with similar long-term goals, and their debate appears to be a cordial one. Klobuchar told Billboard's DAVE BROOKS (paywall) she's been working with a bipartisan coalition of 56 senators on the bill, and at the hearing she credited DAYNA FRANK of Minneapolis' FIRST AVENUE, who runs the NATIONAL INDEPENDENT VENUE ASSOCIATION. "The grassroot efforts were also key," she told Brooks. "This is about First Avenue in Minneapolis and the COTILLION in Wichita and the FARGO THEATER. It's about protecting independent venues that [are] critical to our communities"... $900 billion, for what it worth, is equivalent to about 2,500 BOB DYLAN publishing catalogs. Billboard's ED CHRISTMAN speculates on the possibility of more nine-figure Bob Dylan sales to come... QUESTLOVE's directorial debut, a documentary about the 1969 HARLEM CULTURAL FESTIVAL called SUMMER OF SOUL (…OR, WHEN THE REVOLUTION COULD NOT BE TELEVISED), is one of the films premiering on opening night of the SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL on Jan. 28. (Congratulations, JOSEPH PATEL!). Also on the slate for next year's festival, which will happen mostly online, is EDGAR WRIGHT's SPARKS documentary, THE SPARKS BROTHERS... CARTER RUBIN wins THE VOICE... BANDCAMP FRIDAYS have been extended until at least next May. Bandcamp says it's done over $40 million in business—with all of that going to artists and labels—in the once-a-month promotion, which began in March... RIP SAM JAYNE and RICHIE ROME. | | | - Matty Karas (@troubledoll), curator |
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| As society battles the pandemic, multiple rappers have spread anti-vaccine misinformation, aiding in the distrust Black people have for the health industry. | | |
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| They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. But when Jay-Z heard himself on the internet spitting iambic pentameter — Hamlet’s “To Be, or Not to Be” soliloquy, to be exact — “flattered” is hardly the word for how he responded. More like, furious. Because the voice wasn’t his. | | |
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| In a two-hour hearing on Tuesday morning, representatives for the concert industry, which has been ravaged by the pandemic shutdown, made a passionate and compelling case for federal aid before the U.S. Senate. “Please don’t let the music die,” said Adam Hartke, who owns two independent venues in Wichita, KS. “Please save our stages.” | | |
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| What the pandemic has made clear is the total lack of a safety net for anyone without a full-time job and benefits. | | |
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| The singer, who has left Little Mix to focus on her mental health, brought huge talent and charisma to the group -- but trolls turned abuse into a defining feature. | | |
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| Pressing play on her second album, I remember hearing “Watermark” (a spare piano instrumental), followed by “Cursum Perficio” (multiple backing Enyas chanting in Latin), and finally “On Your Shore,” in which her voice takes centre stage. This slow-motion rollout of the singer told me I was dealing with a visionary composer who also happened to have a voice for the ages. | | |
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| The Recording Academy paid $7,029,681 million in legal expenditures in 2018, according to the nonprofit’s most recent 990 filing with the IRS -- with 35.7% of that total going to two outside law firms accused by former chairman/CEO Deborah Dugan of receiving “exorbitant” fees. | | |
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| The endless stress of Covid and claustrophobia of lockdown has had a huge impact on our personal relationships with music, argues Daniel Dylan Wray. | | |
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| Albums that are sonically or topically turbulent. | | |
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| Creating and releasing art in the middle of a plague is hard work, but great music still shone through this year. | | |
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| Repetition. Shouting. Culture Vulture Remixes. A 50 billion dollar company based on a vast strata of underplayed musicians. Viral dances. Tik Tok has it all! For this episode, Pitchfork’s Cat Zhang brings us down the rabbit hole and into an app that is transforming how music functions, maybe forever. or…maybe it’s just another step towards the commodification of all social life? | | |
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| After a number of agencies and promoters agreed to cancel all shows for several weeks on March 12 to combat the spread of the novel coronavirus, there have been strings of hope that the pandemic might last only a few weeks, a few months, or maybe just the year. | | |
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| We spoke with the rapper/promoter about the 30th anniversary of his landmark censorship trial. | | |
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| Ivan Pavlovich, Director of Music at Rockstar Games, talks GTA Online's The Cayo Perico Heist update, their largest music update ever to 'Grand Theft Auto V'. | | |
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| Caleb Catlin speaks to the in-demand Compton rapper about wanting to get A$AP Yams and Suge Knight together, recording Christmas jams with his stepsister Grimes, and more. | | |
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| This year marks the 40th anniversary of Young Marble Giants’ landmark LP, "Colossal Youth." Joshua Minsoo Kim talked with singer Alison Statton about the band, the importance of communication, and how she thinks about death daily. | | |
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| Joshua Minsoo Kim talked with Welsh singer-songwriter Stuart Moxham about Young Marble Giants, working on a farm, how he ended up as a painter for "Who Framed Roger Rabbit," and more. | | |
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| Grab a flashlight, put on a pair of gloves, and make sure you've got a sturdy stomach - we're talkin' true crime. The Losers welcome Disgraceland host Jake Brennan to discuss a conspiracy in King's Dominion - one that involves the murder of John Lennon! | | |
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| It’s not enough to say he was first, that he was great, that he was an inspiration to Black people also wanting to believe in a career in country. | | |
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| Paul Robinson has worked for Warner for a quarter of a century -- with his latest year one of his most challenging yet. | | |
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| | | | | | | The original Lady A shouts it out loud. |
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