| Power pop is three Pauls and one Ringo. And occasionally you bring in shades of John or George. | | | | |  | Mitski in Berlin, Aug. 15, 2019. Her soundtrack to the graphic novel "This Is Where We Fall" is out now via Z2 Comics.
(Frank Hoensch/Redferns/Getty Images) | | | | | "Power pop is three Pauls and one Ringo. And occasionally you bring in shades of John or George." | | | | Courtney Love, on Wednesday's "Adam Schlesinger, a Music Celebration" livestream |
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| | | Long Music Covid
The wheels of government are grinding slowly for US venues still waiting for the federal relief promised five months ago when the SAVE OUR STAGES act was passed. On Wednesday, several outlets reported that the Small Business Administration is now saying the hardest hit venues—those whose revenues dropped at least 90 percent during the pandemic—can expect to see checks by the end of this May, with relief following in June or July for venues where the devastation wasn't quite as total. It's been an excruciating wait—venue owners couldn't even begin applying for aid until a week ago—and without the emergency funds, Variety's JEM ASWAD reports, many rooms can't rehire staff, book bands or do much of anything else that might help them reopen sooner rather than later. Which means the losses are going to continue piling up well into 2021, REV. MOOSE, executive director of the NATIONAL INDEPENDENT VENUE ASSOCIATION, tells him. In the UK, meanwhile, festival promoters continue to beg the government to step in and underwrite Covid cancellation insurance, which many if not most of them can't currently get. Without that insurance protection, the ASSOCIATION OF INDEPENDENT FESTIVALS reports, a quarter of the fests originally planned for summer 2021 have already thrown in the towel, and three-quarters of those that remain are likely to do the same before too long. That, too, would have future consequences: 72 percent of the association's members say if they cancel in 2021, they won't be able to stage a 2022 event without financial assistance. Think of it as another kind of long Covid, one which doctors and public health officials will have no cure for. This one's going to take cash.
There's certainly a hunger for venues and festivals to return, though. TRAVIS SCOTT's ASTROWORLD festival, scheduled for Nov. 5-6 in Houston—which *seems* plausible—sold out in less than an hour Wednesday. If my social feeds can be believed, GENESIS' "Last Domino?" reunion tour, scheduled for Ireland and the UK in September and October and North America in November and December—also plausible—will be seen by about 80 percent of Earth's population. And sounding more optimistic than other British festival promoters, READING & LEEDS' MELVIN BENN told NME last week, after a trial dance party in Liverpool that required ticketholders to have tested negative for Covid and allowed them to run free, that with proper testing "festival season really can happen."
Up and/or Down
Thumbs up to BILLBOARD's newest chart, which, through a partnership with TWITTER, will track songs based on how often they're being talked about on the social media site. ("WE ARE HUNTED, the sequel," quipped SPOTIFY's J HERSKOWITZ, accurately, on Twitter of course.) Easily #manipulated, but still, I can imagine, quite useful if they get it right. Thumbs down to the name, "The Billboard Hot Trending Powered by Twitter," which mostly makes me want to turn on my ad blocker... Thumbs down to STUBHUB's plan to finally allow customers holding tickets to canceled shows to get refunds. Previously, under a policy instituted at the beginning of the pandemic, they could only get credit. The twist is that the reselling giant is offering those refunds only to customers who bought tickets on or before March 25, 2020. Which was two weeks after the first lockdowns began. At the time, we were being told it would be over in a matter of weeks. The implication that anyone who bought a concert ticket on March 26 understood the risk they were taking is wrong at best, insulting at worst. (But thumbs up to the 14 states whose laws have required the company to give refunds to any of their residents who asked for them.)
Rest in Peace
NICK KAMEN, the British pop singer and model who collaborated with MADONNA in the 1980s.
| | | | Matty Karas (@troubledoll), curator |
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| | |  | | Variety |
| | Indie Venues Grow Desperate as #SaveOurStages Grant Applications Move Slowly Through SBA | | by Jem Aswad | | The struggle that independent music venues have been undergoing for the past 14 months has gone on for so long that even supporters have begun to grow numb to it - but the reality is that the independent concert venues that up-and-coming musicians depend on keep seeing federal relief move farther and farther away. | |  | | Complex |
| | The Reality of Your Music Industry Dream Job | | by Tajah Ware | | We spoke with professionals in some of the music industry's most coveted jobs to pull back the curtain and give an honest and unfiltered look at each role. | |  | | The New York Times |
| | The Composer at the Frontier of Movie Music | | by Jamie Fisher | | Nicholas Britell's scores - for "Succession," "Moonlight" and "The Underground Railroad," among others - suggest whole new ways of writing for film and television. | |  | | VGC |
| | Composers tell us why developers still don't take game music seriously | | by Mat Ombler | | Incorrect credits and poor accessibility are just some of the issues still affecting composers in 2021. | |  | | Song Exploder |
| | Song Exploder: girl in red – 'Serotonin' | | by Hrishikesh Hirway and girl in red | | Marie Ulven is a singer, songwriter, and producer from Norway, who makes music under the name girl in red. She just released her debut album in April 2021, but she already has a big fanbase and she's gotten a lot of critical acclaim from two EPs and singles that she's released online, including a couple of songs that went gold. | |  | | ALL ARTS |
| | How summer music festivals are reopening in New York City during COVID-19 | | by Jessica Lipsky | | New York City's free outdoor summer music series are coming back, but doing so safely is a herculean effort. | |  | | The Guardian |
| | More than a quarter of UK music festivals cancelled over insurance fears | | by Tobi Thomas | | Independent festivals body says more events could be called off if action on policies is not reviewed. | |  | | Billboard |
| | Nashville Music Biz Begins Meeting In Person Again After Year Of COVID-19 | | by Tom Roland | | With country artists rolling out tour plans in anticipation of a receding pandemic, Nashville executives are beginning to make personal appearances again, too. | |  | | Music x |
| | Why fanbases need to be networks, rather than channels | | by Bas Grasmayer | | Channels are linear. You broadcast down them. You distribute through them one-directionally. The network model means that as an artist, instead of broadcasting down, you're placing yourself inside your community of fans. | |  | | The Ringer |
| | '60 Songs That Explain the '90s': 'Say It Ain't So,' Weezer, and the Teenager in All of Us | | by Rob Harvilla and Bobby Bones | | Talking Rivers Cuomo and Co. with help from Bobby Bones. | | |  | | Music Business Worldwide |
| | After Spotify's (slight) price hike, Warner Music Group boss Steve Cooper expects music streaming prices will begin 'closing the gap' on video services | | by Tim Ingham | | Steve Cooper, CEO of Warner Music Group, says he expects music streaming services will now begin closing price "gap" on the likes of Netflix. | | | | Variety |
| | LL Cool J's Rock the Bells Wants to Create Hip Hop's Version of Classic Rock | | by Cynthia Littleton | | LL Cool J's media and e-commerce venture Rock the Bells is poised for a growth spurt now that the company has raised $8 million from private investors. | |  | | Stereogum |
| | Polo G Climbs The Mountain | | by Tom Breihan | | How a deeply interior rapper way down the Rolling Loud poster made it to the top of the Hot 100. | |  | | iHeartRadio |
| | Questlove Supreme: Bowlegged Lou Part 1 | | by Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson and Bowlegged Lou | | Ok we know we have a tendency to say this, but THIS is a very special episode of Questlove Supreme. Bowlegged Lou also known as Quest's "personal hero" changed what we knew about Hip Hop and R&B. Lou and his collective of brothers also known as Full Force reinvented and redefined these genres. | |  | | Bloomberg |
| | Billboard Teams Up With Twitter to Create Chart for Most-Tweeted Songs | | by Lucas Shaw | | The ranking will be one of Billboard's first that doesn't measure how much people listen to music. | |  | | Penny Fractions |
| | UK Musicians Propose a New Record Industry | | by David Turner | | There is a great opportunity to introduce more permanent duties for the government to examine the record industry. There's little thought that the music industry is "fair" or is looking out for the best interest of artists, so why not solidify that music can be a strong industry *and* still not be above government reproach in this moment of heightened awareness? | |  | | NPR |
| | Man With A Mission: Miloš Seeks The Next Great Classical Guitar Showpiece | | by Tim Greiving | | Recovered from a career-threatening injury, Miloš Karadaglic has his sights set on two goals: finding the next great classical guitar concerto, and erasing the taboo of injuries among musicians. | |  | | The Creative Independent |
| | Composer Arooj Aftab on collaboration as an ongoing conversation | | by Brandon Stosuy and Arooj Aftab | | Composer Arooj Aftab discusses her open-ended process, genrelessness, the question of heritage, and finding the right people to bring her vision to life. | |  | | PopMatters |
| | Why Yoko Ono's Music Matters | | by Peter Piatkowski | | Yoko Ono's story is of a passionate and powerful songwriter and artist. A creative musician who worked doggedly to bring her avant-garde aesthetic to pop music. | |  | | A.V. Music |
| | If emo can be rehabbed, why not ska? | | by Ashley Naftule | | Using a mixture of autobiographical essays, music history, and interviews with ska scene veterans, Aaron Carnes' "In Defense Of Ska" makes a strong case for the genre's vitality. | | | |  | | | Music of the day | | "Pamphlets" | | Squid | | Rawk. From "Bright Green Fields," out Friday on Warp. |  | | YouTube |
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Rawk. From "Bright Green Fields," out Friday on Warp. | | | | | Music | Media | Sports | Fashion | Tech | | "REDEF is dedicated to my mother, who nurtured and encouraged my interest in
everything and slightly regrets the day she taught me to always ask 'why?'" | | |  | | | Jason Hirschhorn | | CEO & Chief Curator | | |  |
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