I don't have a video or pictures to prove how awesome the atmosphere has been at these shows. Ultimately, that is the point. All I can say is that the interaction between audience members, the connections to the music, and the reaction to those moments has been overwhelming. | | | | | 1959 Gretsch 6124 "Single" Anniversary. (Freebird/Flickr) | | | | |  | “I don't have a video or pictures to prove how awesome the atmosphere has been at these shows. Ultimately, that is the point. All I can say is that the interaction between audience members, the connections to the music, and the reaction to those moments has been overwhelming.”
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| | rantnrave:// If you've ever wondered why you can't find most of AALIYAH's music on SPOTIFY, ITUNES or anywhere else (except, thank the user-generated internet gods, YOUTUBE) here's the depressing, lawsuit-riddled story of the reclusive 70-year-old who appears to be responsible. BARRY HANKERSON was Aaliyah's uncle, manager and founder of BLACKGROUND RECORDS, which he appears to have left in ruins. Most of the rest of the Blackground catalog is missing from the digital domain, too—TIMBALAND & MAGOO, anybody?—but writer STEPHEN WITT makes the case that the absence of Aaliyah is especially criminal, putting "her entire musical legacy at risk of fading from memory." While that's almost certainly overstating the case—she was one of the most beloved artists of the '90s, and her influence remains quite visible—her absence makes your streaming subscription a little less valuable than it should be. It also serves as a harsh reminder that the universal library of streaming music, the celestial jukebox if you will, continues to have glaring holes. And the more streaming becomes the norm, the more in danger we are of marginalizing the music, both old and new, that isn't there for myriad reasons that are often beyond the artists' control. Which is to say, Witt may not be overstating the case quite as much as I wish he were... But also worth keeping in mind: This was true before streaming, too. Songs, albums and even artists have gone missing with alarming regularity since the beginning of recorded time... APHEX TWIN played his first US show in eight years Saturday night at the DAY FOR NIGHT festival in HOUSTON... CEELO GREEN fooled countless entertainment news sites over the weekend into believing he had seriously hurt himself with an exploding SAMSUNG GALAXY NOTE 7, because what could possibly be funnier than taking advantage of a recent corporate disaster to spread some fake news about your own death in the waning days of 2016? It turned out to have been a viral stunt for some project of his that I have no particular interest in naming or ever mentioning again. Dear everybody else: Your fake news enables everybody else's fake news. So please don't... If it feels like year-end best-of lists are showing up earlier and earlier every year, that's because they are. JOHN NORRIS investigates the continuing "backwards creep" of the online music besticle... What was the greatest five-year creative run in pop history? SLATE's JACK HAMILTON makes the case for one particular run of genius that began circa 1971 (in one of seven essays Slate published Sunday about the man behind that run, with more planned throughout the week) ... A TEXAS man was arrested FRIDAY for allegedly shooting his girlfriend's TV with a .COLT 45 during a heated argument over a country music video. The real crime here is that police claim they don't know what video it was... RIP BOB COBURN. | | | - Matty Karas, curator |
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 | Complex |
| The digital discography of the late R&B legend is unavailable and incomplete. Only Aaliyah's uncle, music industry exec Barry Hankerson, knows why. | | |
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 | Billboard |
| It’s mid-December and the year is over. At least when it comes to "Best of 2016" lists (including our own). | | |
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 | Hazlitt |
| Modern music streaming services are rigorously quality-controlled from the instant the songs are uploaded by labels and artists--there’s no longer any room for happy accidents. | | |
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 | Los Angeles Times |
| Post Malone has heard all the criticisms. He's a white "culture vulture," as he put it, cynically appropriating African American culture. He's received more attention than his meager talent deserves. He's a rich kid whose parents essentially paid his way into music. | | |
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 | The Muse |
| All I want for Christmas is for people to edit their f***ing track lists. | | |
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 | WSJ |
| Amid dominance of curated playlists, record label revives old cash-cow formula for multiple platforms. | | |
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 | The Guardian |
| Rapper Mykki Blanco is the latest LGBT artist to confront the age restrictions being added to music videos. He will not be silenced, he says. | | |
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 | Toronto Star |
| VIEWS, Rihanna, basketball, birthdays - just a few of the many highlights from another very, very busy year for hometown hitmaker Aubrey Drake Graham. | | |
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 | 9to5Mac |
| As AirPods finally start shipping to customers this evening, a handful of new videos from reviewers have gone live. While early reviews were first posted back in September, these reviews go into a bit more detail and show off the final, consumer-ready version of Apple’s truly wireless earbuds. | | |
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 | BBC Radio 4 |
| Listen in pop-out playerKirsty Young's castaway this week is Bruce Springsteen. | | |
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 | BuzzFeed |
| Mariah Carey’s kitschiness has long confounded critics. But with her new reality show, she can finally embrace the in-betweenness that is her complex legacy. | | |
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 | The Associated Press |
| High price to pay for songwriters who fail to recognize 'inspiration' behind their work. | | |
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 | The New York Times |
| The joyful, fiery performance drew a classic Gotham crowd: a mix of those in the know, those with friends in the know and those lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time. | | |
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| Billboard |
| Spotify's Troy Carter weighs in on Drake's latest streaming achievement. | | |
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 | Remezcla |
| The Tracks are subverting indie rock norms by simply existing. | | |
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 | NPR |
| Despite her anonymity, the R&B singer and songwriter has already made waves with her debut EP, H.E.R. Volume 1. | | |
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| WSJ |
| YouTube invests in marketing efforts to boost artists’ fan bases--which can increase video and ad views on its site. | | |
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 | Office of Copyright |
| An idea that has been bandied about for some time is now closer to becoming a reality: the Copyright Small Claims Court. This was first proposed by the Copyright Office itself back in 2013, followed by a bill proposed by Representative Jeffries and Marino in July of 2016. | | |
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 | MTV News |
| Why can’t the internet make up its mind on J. Cole? | | |
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 | Thump |
| The deep house producer and DJ breaks down why he prefers to play without smartphones and cameras in the audience. | | |
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 | via YouTube |
| | | | Stevie Wonder and Andra Day |
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