The evolution of the drummer kind of goes like a wave, between a very tight, intricate approach to a very loose, creative, melodic approach... Right now, I think we're at the tail end of the tight. | | | | Kassa Overall at London's Royal Festival Hall, Nov 15, 2014.
(Andy Sheppard/Redferns/Getty Images) | | | | | |  | "The evolution of the drummer kind of goes like a wave, between a very tight, intricate approach to a very loose, creative, melodic approach... Right now, I think we're at the tail end of the tight."
| | | | | | rantnrave:// Is there a worse time to sign a record deal than when artists seemingly need it the most—when they're just starting out, when their future is unknown, when they have no money and not a lot of leverage, and when they may find themselves signing away ownership of their work for the better part of their productive lives? But what if you could have your advance cake and eat your masters, too, so to speak? That's the premise behind SCALE, a new service from innovative Los Angeles startup STEM, which is offering cash advances to artists and indie labels without asking for an ownership interest in return. The money is a revolving credit line, with a flat fee rather than interest, that gives artists flexibility in setting the terms of the loan—the amount, how long they want to take to pay it back and what percentage of their earnings they want to use to do so. And it lets them keep their music. Rapper LIL DONALD, for example, borrowed $100,000, partly to finance a TIKTOK marketing campaign, and will give Scale 75% of his streaming revenue until the loan is paid off. "We want to completely change the way artists can access capital," Stem CEO MILANA RABKIN LEWIS tells BLOOMBERG. The service is backed by an investment from COVENTURE and expects to offer more than $100 million worth of advances. A related service, STEM CHECK, uses data to help artists forecast the economics of any proposed deal. This would seem to be a different approach than the tried-and-true one of basically throwing a million deals against the wall and seeing what sticks. Scale, whose name appears to be a triple entendre, could be seen as a direct challenge to that model and the labels that offer them. But you might also look at it as a complementary offering that could benefit everyone in the long run, including the labels Scale is now presumably competing with. When an artist like TAYLOR SWIFT complains about not owning her masters even after serving as a profit center for her label for years, the response, either explicit or implied, is that most artists don't stick to the proverbial wall and don't earn their money back. For the labels, therefore, it's a high-risk, high-reward business, and the Taylor Swifts of the world are their reward. But if an artist approaches a label after doing one or more deals with Scale, everyone would potentially arrive at the negotiating table with a concrete track record and lots of data. The artist would have leverage. And the label wouldn't have to guess. High-prisk investments might now become prudent ones—and form the basis of a new kind of a business you just might be able to, you know, scale... Music publishers have settled out of court with PELOTON, which they accused of not paying for much of the music that fuels the exercise company's workouts... PLÁCIDO DOMINGO is not quite as sorry for his behavior as he was a few days ago... "Friendagers" is a terrible word for the phenomenon of artists putting their affairs in the hands of their friends rather than seasoned managers. May a suggest fanager?... It's FRIDAY and that means new music from LIL BABY, KASSA OVERALL, BEST COAST, SOCCER MOMMY, CARIBOU, REAL ESTATE, ANGELICA GARCIA, WASTED SHIRT (TY SEGALL and BRIAN CHIPPENDALE), CHARLES LLOYD, JAMES TAYLOR, the SECRET SISTERS, G HERBO, JADAKISS, PRINCESS NOKIA (two albums released Wednesday), DISCLOSURE, TYCHO, WAJATTA, TERRACE MARTIN, RATBOYS, the JACKA, SMOKE DZA, the ORIELLES, FLUISTERAARS, TOMBS, FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH, JUICEBOXXX, MONDO GENERATOR, JOHN DOLMAYAN, SERGIO MENDES, WARREN WOLF, WOLFGANG HAFFNER, LISA LOEB, SIERRA HULL, KYSHONA, GORD SINCLAIR, ROBERT CRAY BAND, DANIEL DAVIES and LI YILEI... Plus: That LADY GAGA single... That TAYLOR SWIFT video. | | | - Matty Karas, curator | | | |  | Bloomberg | | Stem Disintermedia offers alternative to deals with labels. Musicians can select how much they want to borrow, and when. | | | |  | Pitchfork | | Hayley Williams, Moses Sumney, and Bill Callahan are among the musicians trying a new strategy to hold listeners' attention in the age of streaming. | | | |  | Rolling Stone | | Spotify's playlist submission tool, which has spotlighted more than 70,000 new artists, is the music-streaming service's attempt to democratize music releases in a radically unfair landscape. | | | |  | Los Angeles Times | | As summer festival season ramps up, many musicians will face the travails of travel to perform: visa issues, lost bags and the challenges of getting their gear across borders. | | | |  | Billboard | | Sold-out concerts have scammers hacking in and reselling Taylor Swift tickets right before their eyes. But with a resale platform so profitable, does Ticketmaster have the motivation to beef up their security? | | | |  | The Tennessean | | When the bones are good, the nominations come rolling in. | | | | | Rolling Stone | | She built herself into rap's boldest, brashest new voice - all while mourning her mom and chasing a degree. | | | |  | NPR Music | | Dancing to the mariachi horns of "Ciega, Sordomuda," one young Latina found a deep, unwavering love staring her in the face. It just took a song about being blinded by emotion to see it clearly. | | | |  | The New York Times | | A new marketing message tells people they are big fans of certain artists. But why? | | | |  | Chicago Reader | | Chicago's concert venues have made welcome advances in accessibility, but a regulatory gray area lets them fall short of what they should be. | | | |  | Music Business Worldwide | | This patented tech can predict the potential success of new and unknown songs, says HITLAB. | | | |  | Music Industry Blog | | As it enters the third decade of the millennium, the recorded music business is in rude health. Revenues are about to enter the second half of a decade of annual growth, streaming is booming and investment is pouring in. | | | |  | Complex | | Hip-hop has evolved each year since its birth, not only lyrically, but sonically. Here are the best hip-hop producers, from the genre's beginnings to today. | | | |  | Highsnobiety | | Despite being successful within their field, rappers often come under fire for supposedly lacking the articulation needed to partake in political discourse. | | | | | The New York Times | | "I have never behaved aggressively," the opera star said, just days after apologizing to his accusers. | | | |  | Austin Chronicle | | Leaving the music promotions empire he helped build, Jones begins his new events company, Four Leaf. | | | | | Billboard | | Nashville is already known as Music City, but a new wave of music being recorded there for video games, TV shows and movies could earn it a new title as Soundtrack City.The city has a reputation for high quality studio musicians that can play just about any genre, including country, pop, rock, gospel and more. | | | |  | British GQ | | If you think of Germans as cool, clinical and logical, you have Kraftwerk to thank. | | | |  | Mixmag | | Fat Tony has been operating since the 80s, having been active during the Wag club era of Soho and then becoming a central player on the acid house scene. He threw parties, DJ'd on the same line-ups as Danny Rampling, Andrew Weatherall and Sasha and fell in with club kids and would-be celebs like Kate Moss. He was the prince of London and made an impact on New York. | | | |  | Music Tectonics | | Host Dmitri Vietze has been closely watching the seismic shifts shaking up the music industry as a result of tech and innovation. Dig deeper into the 20 music tech phenomena that Dmitri's watching for 2020. He lays out what he thinks could be next for Spotify, the indie music sector, AI music creation, music's role in the changing geopolitical landscape, and more. | | | | |  | | YouTube | | | | | | | | Kassa Overall ft. J Hoard & Angela Davis | | | | From "I Think I'm Good," out today on Brownswood Recordings. | | | | | | | | © Copyright 2020, The REDEF Group | | |
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