jason hirschhorn's @MusicREDEF: 04/12/2022 - It Ain't Over, Mechanical Royalties Battle, Pusha T, Sharon Van Etten, Orville Peck...

There's a lot to say for being a rat bag on the outskirts of show business because show business has always sucked and always will. I'm kind of happy being in the prairie on the outside. Open in browser Tuesday April 12, 2022 Crossroads: Jimmie Allen and Monica (3rd and 4th from left) and Little Big Town at the CMT Music Awards, Nashville, April 11, 2022. (Theo Wargo/Getty Images) quote of the day "There's a lot to say for being a rat bag on the outskirts of show business because show business has always sucked and always will. I'm kind of happy being in the prairie on the outside." - Chris Bailey, 1957 – 2022, lead singer, Australian punk pioneers the Saints rantnrave:// How Many Times Did We Give Up? Reminders that it isn't over: "CMT MUSIC AWARDS Co-Host KELSEA BALLERINI Tests Positive for Covid." (She ended up hosting a handful of segments on Monday's show by video from her living room and performing a new song live from her backyard, separated from her band by a curtain). "Madison! Our show tonight was cancelled due to positive Covid tests in both bands." (Long-running Minneapolis rock duo LOW and Australian instrumental metal band DIVIDE & DISSOLVE, that is.) "SUPERCHUNK postpone shows with TORRES after JON WURSTER tests positive for Covid." "The [BOSTON SYMPHONY] said 31 onstage musicians have been affected by the recent surge in COVID-19 cases." "MAMMOTH WVH Cancel Dates After Band + Crew Test Positive for COVID-19." "CIRCLE JERKS postpone 3 East Coast shows (KEITH MORRIS got Covid)." "Covid has now found The [MERCURY REV] camp and out of abundance of caution we will not be performing any shows through Minneapolis." Random news stories and social media posts, all from the past six days. "Touring sucks right now," Superchunk tweeted Monday. "This is not sustainable," chimed in longtime indie label exec (and musician) MAGGIE VAIL. "Are musicians just supposed to get covid over and over again now to make a living?" The answer to that last question, according to the observable music universe, appears to be yes. Musicians, having already lost the better part of two years of touring income, which for a lot of them means two years of income, period, are by and large being thrown back into the wild with little or no protection. It ain't over 'til it's over, a wise man once said, but that was back when we all seemed to agree what "over" means. I went out Sunday night to see a friend perform at the MERCURY LOUNGE in New York, a blue singer/songwriter singing for a blue-ish crowd in one of the bluest cities in the US, which has already been pummeled hard by Covid and where case numbers are rising again. The club's stated policy was "Proof of Covid-19 vaccination required for entry. Masks are strongly recommended." No one was checking vaccination records and I counted exactly four masks in the room, including mine. And that's what music fans on the political left are doing. Multiple that by dozens of clubs x scores of bands x scores of cities—blue, red and in between—and this is how we end up with a barrage of headlines like those in the first paragraph above. Is there an over/under on how many acts cancel on Coachella because of positive tests? Is there any space to be found between everyone wear masks all the time and no one wear masks ever? Is there a world where, if only out of the desire to keep our favorite performers on the road and give them a chance to make a decent living, we freely go out and drink and dance and listen and sing along but also have a mask in our pocket to put on whenever we can? Is there an audience for that? Is there the will for that? Because it isn't only about catching a virus, which could prove devastating for some people and no big deal for others. It's also about touring artists' livelihoods. The road is their office, and one positive test shuts the entire office down. As fans, and as friends, what's our responsibility when we step into that office? Is it our job, at least in part, to help make touring suck a little less? Etc Etc Etc A look at the curious (or maybe not so curious) allegiances and rifts between labels, publishers and songwriters as the US COPYRIGHT ROYALTY BOARD considers mechanical royalty rates for vinyl and CDs. Nice work from Music Business Worldwide's TIM INGHAM... SONOS buys MAYHT, an innovative Dutch speaker startup, for $100 million (and I start wondering when the Sonos app and my Sonos hardware are going to become incompatible again)...Comparing first-year sales and streams of FEARLESS (TAYLOR'S VERSION) and FEARLESS (Taylor's former version)... BRITNEY SPEARS announcing her pregnancy four months after a judge dissolved the conservatorship that, among other things, Spears said had blocked her from having a child, is a particularly sobering reminder of how cruel that conservatorship was. Rest in Peace DANIEL SAHAD, lead singer of Austin funk-rock band Nané... PASTELLE LEBLANC, singer and multi-instumentalist in Vishtèn, an Acadian folk band group from Prince Edward Island... FRAN LA MAINA, longtime president of Dick Clark Productions. - Matty Karas (@troubledoll), curator justified Music Business Worldwide Judges in the US have hinted that the mechanical royalty rate paid to publishers and songwriters for vinyl sales should rise. The major labels' lawyers have come out swinging. By Tim Ingham MBW brings you the blow-by-blow of an extraordinary legal battle taking place in the US. Billboard Why Are There So Few New Hits in 2022? By Andrew Unterberger Prior to Harry Styles' "As It Was" hitting the Billboard Hot 100, only a handful of songs released this year have made a major impact on the chart. Charlamagne Tha God A Conversation with Pusha T By Charlamagne Tha God and Pusha T As Pusha T prepares to release "It's Almost Dry," he sits with Charlamagne Tha God to discuss grieving the loss of his parents, fatherhood, being married and the evolution of an era of rap music. Pitchfork Sharon Van Etten Is an Institution Now By Madison Bloom After more than a decade as an indie-rock fixture, and with her sixth album on the way, the singer-songwriter is resolute amid a world spiraling into chaos. NPR He shields his identity with a mask, but country music lets Orville Peck be himself By Ailsa Chang, Jonaki Mehta and Patrick Jarenwattananon NPR's Ailsa Chang talks with Orville Peck, the country musician whose identity is kept secret behind a fringed mask, about his second full-length album "Bronco." Variety Why the Music Industry Must Remove the Racist Term 'Master Recording' From Its Vocabulary -- Now By Dina LaPolt The terms "master" and "slaves" have long been used to distinguish between a source recording and subsequent copies made, which has led to a pervasive use of both terms in industry contracts. The Quietus Addicted To Plastic? Eco-Vinyl And The Impact Of Our Listening Habits By Jono Podmore As vinyl is once again outselling CDs in the UK serious questions have been asked about the sustainability of this environment destroying format. There is a greener alternative. Trapital How Summer Walker's Experience Will Help Future Artists By Dan Runcie Summer Walker is in a select group of artists whose true popularity outweighs their perceived popularity to casual music fans. They have plenty of die-hard fans who love their music, but fewer casual fans. Their songs don't get played on pop radio and they have yet to perform at the Grammys. Their artist funnel is narrower than most artists at their level. Music In Africa Afrobeats deserved a Grammy this year By Gabriel Myers Hansen For all of its intentions to reward outstanding musical work regardless of commercial acclaim, it appears that the Grammys will continue to be criticised as a scheme that simply doesn't get it. Ars Technica An old music industry scheme, revived for the Spotify era By Tim De Chant The promise of exposure can lead artists to sign deals they otherwise wouldn't consider. ancient The Conversation 'A gentleman with the mad soul of an Irish convict poet': remembering Chris Bailey, and the blazing comet that was The Saints By John Willsteed Inala in the early 70s was bleak. A Brisbane suburb of wide dusty streets, treeless and bland. A planned community, meant to grow over time. Austerity, accented by the cheap houses - weatherboard, red brick, concrete - stifled the suburb like a blanket on a hot February night. It was boring. NPR Voices tell stories in music. They're not always the singer's own By Sasha Geffen Throughout "Warm Chris," New Zealand songwriter Aldous Harding is a chameleonic presence, pulling off one mask only to reveal another underneath. Complete Music Update Cancelled shows and massive debates: artists start to report on the reality of post-Brexit touring By Chris Cooke With European touring getting properly going again following the relaxation of COVID restrictions, the UK music industry is now fully dealing with the realities of Brexit and the new bureaucracy touring musicians face. Variety It Pays to Be VLAD: How a Ukrainian Software Engineer Became a Top Name in Hip-Hop News By Shirley Ju As VLAD TV, a go-to source for hip-hop news and hard-hitting interviews, approaches its 15th anniversary, founder Vlad Lyubovny has to curb his enthusiasm slightly. Los Angeles Times The first rule to understanding Vince Staples? Don't even try By Julian Kimble 'People aren't meant to be understood,' says Long Beach rapper Vince Staples, whose latest album is a love letter to his Ramona Park neighborhood. Complex Fivio Foreign Says the 'King of New York' Title Doesn't Matter. He's Aiming Higher By Jessica McKinney Fivio Foreign wants to elevate Brooklyn drill with his debut album 'B.I.B.L.E.,' and he's eyeing something even bigger than the 'King of New York' throne. HipHopMadness How New York Hip Hop Lost Its Cool Little by little, New York's position as the point of origin for hip-hop seemed to hold less and less weight as it was overshadowed by other regional scenes that'd dispossess them of their crown. Pitchfork 'Queer Country' Rewrites the Narrative of a Complicated Genre By Will Groff We talk to Shana Goldin-Perschbacher, author of a new book on the rise of LGBTQ+ country musicians, about k.d. lang, Lil Nas X, and "queer sincerity." Rest of World How Anitta megafans gamed Spotify to help create Brazil's first global chart-topper By Marília Marasciulo Fans skirted terms and conditions, but a strategy from the singer's team came close to the streaming platform's limit. Los Angeles Times Putting Yoko Ono back in the frame By Jessica Ferri In 'Yoko Ono: An Artful Life,' Donald Brackett works to correct the record on an influential artist -- not just the woman who 'broke up the Beatles.' NPR Music The Linda Lindas: Tiny Desk (Home) Concert By Marissa Lorusso and The Linda Lindas After going viral just a year ago, the teen punk band returns to "blow the roof off" the library. what we're into Music of the day "Can't Be Us" Fivio Foreign "I keep my feelings to myself / I do this music, though." From "B.I.B.L.E.," out now on RichFish/Columbia. Video of the day "Who Killed the KLF?" Chris Atkins Made without the provocative British duo's cooperation and against its wishes. But the KLF has since come around, at least according to the filmmaker. Widely available on streaming services. Music | Media SUBSCRIBE Suggest a link "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 HOME | ABOUT | SETS | PRESS Redef Group Inc. LA - NY - Everywhere Copyright ©2021 UNSUBSCRIBE or MANAGE MY SUBSCRIPTION