jason hirschhorn's @MusicREDEF: 04/25/2022 - Vinyl the Creator, Game-Changing Managers, Drum 'n' Bass, Fontaines D.C., John Darnielle...

The responsibilities that artists are left to shoulder in this era are unprecedented and inhumane. Open in browser Monday April 25, 2022 Tyler, the Creator at Outside Lands, San Francisco, Oct. 29, 2021. (FilmMagic/Getty Images) quote of the day "The responsibilities that artists are left to shoulder in this era are unprecedented and inhumane." - Haley Fohr, aka Circuit des Yeux, "Betting and Losing with COVID-19" rantnrave:// Vinyl, the Creator Pop charts are weird and if anyone deserves to benefit from the weirdness, why not TYLER, THE CREATOR, whose Grammy-winning CALL ME IF YOU GET LOST returns to #1 on the BILLBOARD 200 this week, 10 months after debuting in the same spot and five months after falling off the chart completely. It wasn't the Grammy for Best Rap Album, which wasn't awarded on the main telecast, that did it. It was vinyl. Tyler first teased the possibility of a vinyl release of "Call Me If You Get Lost" almost as soon as the album was released last June, and it isn't out of the question that that's when the album was sent out to be pressed onto vinyl. Vinyl turnaround times have ballooned in recent years, thanks to factors including inadequate pressing plant capacity, a shortage of vinyl pellets and a flood of orders from major labels jumping on the vinyl trend. "Turnaround times for vinyl [are] currently leaning towards the length of a human pregnancy," JACK WHITE said a month ago in making a public plea to the three major labels to build pressing plants of their own. "Call Me If You Get Lost" had reappeared in recent months on the Billboard 200, and had been bouncing around the chart's bottom half. As of a week ago, it was officially the 120th best selling album in the US. Twenty other albums, two of them by TAYLOR SWIFT, had hit #1 since its lone week on top of the chart. And then the vinyl arrived, just about the length of a human pregnancy after the album's original release. It was a double vinyl album, available exclusively on Tyler's website for $35, and some 49,500 people snapped it up in a single week. According to Billboard, that's the biggest vinyl sales week for any hip-hop artist, as well as any solo male artist, since SOUNDSCAN (now LUMINATE) began tracking sales in 1991. The album's streaming numbers were down from the previous week, but those vinyl sales count a lot more than streams in Billboard/Luminate's chart formula. So on this Monday after RECORD STORE DAY we can officially report, for the 19th or 20th time, that vinyl is back. We can also note some irony in that timing. Since the vinyl is exclusive to Tyler's own site, no record store benefited from this particular vinyl bonanza. Record Store Day and record-setting vinyl week coincided but didn't meet. Also Charting In Slate, chart watcher CHRIS MOLANPHY explains why songs that debut at #1 on the HOT 100, such as JACK HARLOW's "FIRST CLASS" and HARRY STYLES' "AS IT WAS," may not prove as durable as songs that take longer to find their way to the top. "Songs that move quickly up the Hot 100 or even enter at No. 1," Molanphy writes, "may not be legacy hits. They are drafting off a prior success"... And in Billboard, JIM ASKER explores the problem that long-charting country radio hits, like DUSTIN LYNCH and MACKENZIE PORTER's "THINKING 'BOUT YOU," can cause for country labels. Since commercial radio playlists tend to be small, a long-running hit can literally block another song's path to substantial radio play. "When we leave songs in heavy [rotation] for 18 months," programming exec RANDY CHASE at SUMMITMEDIA tells Asker, "the next 'Thinking 'Bout You,' 'Famous Friends' [by CHRIS YOUNG and KANE BROWN] and 'If I Didn't Love You' [JASON ALDEAN and CARRIE UNDERWOOD] die a long, slow death in the middle of the chart." - Matty Karas (@troubledoll), curator wusyaname Billboard The Game-Changing Managers Who Shaped the Modern Music Industry By Fred Goodman The business was built by musicians and labels, but also these entrepreneurs who fought to give artists more leverage. Patreon Betting and Losing with COVID-19 By Circuit des Yeux Going on tour is gambling and I lost big time. The Guardian 'It's just good energy!' How TikTok and Covid made drum'n'bass hot again By Alexis Petridis The 90s genre is being freshened up by young, often female artists mixing hyper-fast breakbeats with soft vocals. But why is it so suited to our post-lockdown, attention-deficient era? NME Fontaines D.C.: 'People are looking to me for answers. What the f*** do I know?' By Sophie Williams The five-piece, crowned Best Band in the World at the BandLab NME Awards 2022, share their "guilt" at leaving Ireland and reveal all about reputation-sealing new album 'Skinty Fia.' The New York Times Jeffrey Epstein, a Rare Cello and an Enduring Mystery By James B. Stewart A cello's strange odyssey helps explain how the notorious Mr. Epstein surrounded himself with the world's richest and most powerful men. NPR A Ukrainian jazz club provides joy in Odesa despite the invasion By Tim Mak In Odesa, a port city in southern Ukraine, one jazz club has continued to host performances despite the Russian invasion, providing a haven for joy and creativity. CBS Sunday Morning Mining music catalogs for gold By Kelefa Sanneh Correspondent Kelefa Sanneh looks at how music catalogs are becoming extremely valuable properties. He also talks with Graham Russell and Russell Hitchcock, of the band Air Supply, whose '80s hits, including "All Out of Love," are finding new life in unexpected ways. Slate Billboard's Latest No. 1 Hits Reiterate One Important Rule By Chris Molanphy More pop stars have an oddball, ultimately forgotten big single than you might think. Zogblog Vinyl Records Are Sneakers Now By Zack O'Malley Greenburg Record Store Day means a superfan frenzy over a bevy of limited-edition drops. Sound familiar? The New Yorker John Darnielle Wants to Tell You a Story By Helen Rosner The Mountain Goats front man and novelist discusses art as labor, the value of religious faith, the beauty of Chaucer, and, more or less, the secret to happiness. lumberjack Billboard Touring Returned From the Pandemic Greener Than Ever By Taylor Mims Acts like Coldplay, Billie Eilish and Justin Bieber are paving the way for a more environmentally conscious concert business. Music Declares Emergency Music Industry Climate Pack [PDF] An accessible guide to greening the music industry, for businesses, artists and fans. Pitchfork What Does It Take for a Band to Make Sustainable Merch? By Quinn Moreland Organic vs. recycled cotton, water-based vs. plastic ink, $5 vs. $25-for most touring musicians, eco-conscious T-shirts are an unsustainable investment. A band shirt wont make or break an artist's bottom line, but it sure can help in the dismal economic landscape that is the indie music industry. VIBE Magazine How Amazon Music Became A Home For Hip-Hop Livestreams By Austin Williams A Black man from Compton joined the most ubiquitous brand on earth and brought the culture with him. Andscape Isaiah Rashad's Coachella performance displayed a strength he shouldn't have needed By David Dennis Jr. Rapper's powerful set illustrated how far hip-hop has come and how much further the genre has to go. NPR Music Rosalía is unafraid to pull from every corner of the world By Anamaria Sayre The genre-bending star talks her new album "Motomami," expressing sexuality in music and her global approach to pop. The Guardian South Korea split in row over military service for BTS By Justin McCurry and Raphael Rashid The K-pop superstars add billions to the economy, so should they be exempt from conscription? Music Business Worldwide Amy Thomson: How I'd Fix The Music Industry In 3 Easy Steps By Tim Ingham and Amy Thomson  "I think that the service of record labels for 99% of artists since 2006 has been absolutely shocking," Hipgnosis' chief catalog officer says. Cabbages Notes On A Unified Theory Of Pusha T And billy woods By Gary Suarez Pusha T polarizes hip-hop heads. Ye loyalists and Drizzy devotees stay largely entrenched in their starf***er camps, forming hardened positions about the G.O.O.D. Music president based largely on factionalization and less on substance. Outside of those comically predictable circles, a longstanding debate over the erstwhile Clipse rapper's status persists. The New York Times Your Son Will Come Out Tomorrow: Randy Rainbow's Memoir of Love, Turmoil and Trump By Judith Newman Rainbow made the nation laugh by setting witty political commentary to Broadway tunes. Now he has a memoir on his rise from theater kid lip-syncing in his bedroom to social media star. what we're into Music of the day "Remorseless" billy woods From "Aethiopes," out now on Backwoodz Studioz. Video of the day "Vinyl Nation" Kevin Smokler and Christopher Boone Kevin Smokler and Christopher Boone's lullaby to the vinyl industry is now available via video on demand. 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. 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