jason hirschhorn's @MusicREDEF: 02/28/2023 - Songwriters in the Kitchen, TikTok Lowers the Volume, Gracie Abrams, Lil Yachty, Keith Jarrett...

There needs to be a place where people can go where it's all about dancing and not about being pretentious and turning into a really chic kind of 'Cocktail House'—the lounge thing where it's all glamorous and everyone pretends they're in a Puffy video... I come from the place where you go out and you sweat and you dance and you close your eyes and you sing, throw your hands in the air and you scream and you take a ride with the DJ. Open in browser Tuesday February 28, 2023 Ultra Naté in Hyde Park, London, June 15, 1998. (Brian Rasic/Hulton Archive/Getty Images) quote of the day "There needs to be a place where people can go where it's all about dancing and not about being pretentious and turning into a really chic kind of 'Cocktail House'—the lounge thing where it's all glamorous and everyone pretends they're in a Puffy video... I come from the place where you go out and you sweat and you dance and you close your eyes and you sing, throw your hands in the air and you scream and you take a ride with the DJ." - Ultra Naté, 2007 rantnrave:// Hell's Kitchen One more story that slipped through the cracks here at MusicREDEF HQ while I was on the injured list: my friend BRIAN HIATT's report for Rolling Stone on songwriters squeezed between the changing (read: worsening) economics of writing in the streaming age and artists taking bites out of their ever-shrinking royalty pie in the form of dubious songwriting credits. A-list pop songwriter OAK FELDER tells Hiatt about a colleague who skipped out of a writing session after three hours to go to a restaurant. But not because he had a reservation: "He's like, 'No, no, I'm going to work... I work in the kitchen.'" DUA LIPA/CHAINSMOKERS collaborator EMILY WARREN mentions a Grammy-winning songwriter friend who's currently driving for UBER. KIMBERLY "KAYDENCE" KRYSIUK's says her first royalty check for an ARIANA GRANDE album track a few years back was $2,004.61. LUCIAN GRAINGE has put streaming economics at the front of the music biz agenda for 2023. He and UMG are working with TIDAL on an "updated" "artist-centric" model for streaming revenues, though they've been vague on what that might mean. In Australia, meanwhile, TIKTOK is experimenting with reducing the amount of licensed music users can incorporate in their own videos and hear in other users' videos. It's unclear what the company's endgame is, but there's understandable nervousness at labels that one of the most important platforms for music marketing and discovery may be looking for ways to share less of its revenues with the companies that supply the music. Songwriters aren't so much in the middle of all this as they are at the bottom. The very nature of their work tends to make them freelancers, but they've organized to protest outside SPOTIFY's offices and, as Hiatt notes, several prominent writers signed a pact two years pledging not to work for artists who ask for credits on songs they didn't write. They've had mixed results on both fronts, with the pact's signers, who still need the work, not all adhering to it. Publishers have made some headway in streaming royalty negotiations. But it seems fair to wonder what the writers' place will be in a new artist-centric economy, should it ever come to pass, and who will be their best advocates. Because a songwriter's place is most definitely not in the kitchen. Etc Etc Etc Can concert ticket fees really be killed? LIVE NATION's MICHAEL RAPINO says no way, though he and his company are pushing for legislation that would require those fees to be disclosed at the beginning, rather than the end, of a transaction (which I don't believe anyone is preventing Live Nation from doing, say, now)... The Trichordist's DAVID LOWERY explains how bills being considered in Georgia and other states to limit such fees are "Trojan horse" bills actually designed to restrict artists' ability to sell tickets directly to fans... Should your office have a soundtrack?... (Duh. Everything. Should. Have. A. Soundtrack)... LL COOL J eats spicy wings and makes platitudes like "humility's a superpower" sound deep... British rockers DRY CLEANING treat themselves to mani-pedis in Brooklyn... ROCK & ROLL HALL OF FAME ballots are in voters' hands. May I suggest you start at the bottom of this year's ballot, alphabetically speaking, and work your way up, my voting friends? Rest in Peace Italian club DJ and Ibiza regular RENATO "RENÈ" GIMANI... Artist manager BRETT RADIN, who most recently worked at Knitting Factory Management. - Matty Karas, curator if you could read my mind Billboard What's TikTok Trying to Prove by Turning Off Music in Australia? By Glenn Peoples The short-form video app known for breaking viral hits is using music in a different way Down Under. Rolling Stone She Spent Two Years Writing for an Acclaimed Album -- and Made Only $4,000 By Brian Hiatt Writing songs for top acts used to be a reliable source of income. Now, thanks to a rapidly changing industry, songwriters face trouble making ends meet. VICE Inside the Secret Shady World of Corporate Concerts By Kyle MacNeill From Beyoncé to Flo Rida, bookers spill the wildest stories of the shady, high-paying private gig industry. The Nelson George Mixtape How Defunding The School Systems Shaped Hip-Hop Culture By Nelson George The miseducation of America has helped define our current culture. Andscape From the street to the stage: Hip-hop is reinventing itself with the help of symphony orchestras By Christopher A. Daniel Rappers and classical musicians are increasingly eager to collaborate. Music Ally How do you clear the samples for De La Soul's '3 Feet High & Rising'? (and for Drake, Wu Tang Clan, etc.) By Joe Sparrow and Deborah Mannis-Gardner Deborah Mannis-Gardner of DMG Clearances helped pull off something that many thought may never happen: getting the many samples on De La Soul's groundbreaking albums cleared so that they can finally appear on streaming services. Leveling Up Universal's Push for Higher Streaming Payouts By Jimmy Stone Why & how UMG is seeking to redefine the commercial terms with streaming platforms. Dazed Digital Gracie Abrams, the songwriter giving you full access to her journal By Habi Diallo The LA-based singer-songwriter -- and original inspiration for Olivia Rodrigo -- catches up with us ahead of the release of her long-awaited debut album, "Good Riddance." The Cadence Could Something As Dumb As Vertical Scrolling Save Spotify? The new feature might mean more than Gen Z pandering. Rick Beato The Keith Jarrett Interview By Rick Beato and Keith Jarrett Keith Jarrett is an American jazz pianist and composer born in Allentown, Pennsylvania in 1945. He is considered one of the most influential and accomplished jazz musicians of his generation. This is my interview with him. love's the only drug Music Business Worldwide Why a US legal ruling over an AI-generated cartoon has major implications for music's future. By Barry Scannell AI legal expert Barry Scannell analyzes a new decision in the US that could have consequences for the future. Music Ally The Long Tail's Sting: The political battle over content moderation and music's dilemma By Tristra Newyear Yeager Tristra Newyear Yeager of music/tech PR firm Rock Paper Scissors joins the dots between some potentially meaningful and high-profile legal cases taking place in the US, and the consequences they may have on music streaming platforms globally.  Rap Radar Rap Radar Podcast: Lil Yachty By Elliott Wilson, Brian "B.Dot" Miller and Lil Yachty Lil Yachty isn't afraid to experiment. After taking the wock to Poland and a two-year hiatus, the Atlanta rapper returned this year with his alternative album, "Let's Start Here." JazzTimes Favorite Number: Four Decades of Stories From New York's 55 Bar By Shaun Brady The story of the 55 Bar dates back to Prohibition, when the underground West Village watering hole opened as a speakeasy. It entered jazz lore in 1983, when the late bassist Jeff Andrews approached then-owner Peter Williams about performing there.  The Ringer The Science of How Music Hits Have Changed in the Last 60 Years By Derek Thompson and Chris Dalla Riva How does technology shape art? Why has songwriting become more of a visual skill in the 21st century? Why are today's hit songs shorter than songs from any period since the Beatles? What happened to the guitar solo intro-and the classic rock genre in general? How did rap and hip-hop take over the charts? Toronto Star In hidden letters, she discovered her grandmother's horrifying past. Now she's helping share her experiences in song By Sarah Laing A Toronto concert on March 1 will feature songs based on the stories of women who survived Nazi ghettoes and concentration camps. Billboard For the Record: Amid Wave of Antisemitism, Labels Should Look at Acts With Care By Robert Levine After recent stories about UMG and BMG dropping acts over extremist views, music companies might want to reexamine their sign-first-ask-later approach. The Guardian Men often ignore women musicians' stories. I'm determined to let them finally be heard By Jessica Hopper Even now, female artists end up having their experience devalued or effaced. So I decided to start recording them. SPIN How One Music Venue Uses Discord By Colin Kirkland Brooklyn's Elsewhere started using the platform during the pandemic. Very smart move. The Sydney Morning Herald Sticky situation: The prime minister and the controversial band that blew up Bluesfest By Thomas Mitchell From using his political muscle to help the band tour overseas to playing their music at DJ gigs, Anthony Albanese has a long history with Sticky Fingers. what we're into Music of the day "Free" Ultra Naté Ultra Naté on her 1997 house classic: "I wanted guitars, because I was really into REM's 'Losing My Religion.' We wanted a rock song that would work in clubs. It was intentionally very different from what was happening in dance music." Video of the day "The Forgotten Black and Queer History of House Music" Roy Wood Jr./The Daily Show 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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