jason hirschhorn's @MusicREDEF: 04/25/2023 - Thinking of Chords Out Loud, Hybe's Future Ambitions, Suga, Fred Again.., Lucinda Williams...

I have long doubted that the entities that create and produce music will remain human. I don't know how long human artists can be the only ones to satisfy human needs and human tastes. Open in browser Tuesday April 25, 2023 Harmonic convergence: boygenius' Phoebe Bridgers, Lucy Dacus and Julien Baker at Coachella, April 22, 2023. (Frazer Harrison/Getty Images) quote of the day "I have long doubted that the entities that create and produce music will remain human. I don't know how long human artists can be the only ones to satisfy human needs and human tastes." - Bang Si-hyuk, chairman, Hybe rantnrave:// Testifying Out Loud "There's only so many notes and very few chords used in pop music. Coincidence is bound to happen." So said ED SHEERAN a year ago this month, after beating a plagiarism case against his song "SHAPE OF YOU," whose similarities to a little-known song by the British artist SAMI SWITCH were very plausibly coincidental and almost certainly not worth the money it cost either party to argue the case in court. And yet here we go again. Sheeran is back in court, this time in New York, defending his "THINKING OUT LOUD" against a claim from the family of the late ED TOWNSEND, who co-wrote MARVIN GAYE's classic sex jam "LET'S GET IT ON," whose similarities to Sheeran's song are very plausibly *not* coincidental. Which is also OK if you're asking me, as opposed to, say, asking a lawyer. Pop is a wonderful and mysterious jumble of melodic, rhythmic, sonic and lyrical noncoincidences, the result of everyone working with the same 12 notes, the same basic rules of harmony, the same plug-ins and the same overlapping circles of cultural history and memory. In writing a song over a four-chord pattern that countless songwriters in countless genres in countless cultures have used, it wouldn't be unusual if Sheeran had subconsciously drawn on bits of a melody from one of the previous ones he'd heard dozens of times—possibly one that's much, much better than his—nor would it be strange if he also found himself subconsciously drawn to the rhythmic feel of one of the tunes floating in our collective air and/or lodged in his particular head. That's one of the ways songwriting works. Familiarity breeds content. If the songwriter figures out precisely where the melody (or some other borrowed element) came from and/or if it seems corny or on-the-nose, it might get quickly tossed or rewritten. But if it sounds great? Those are keepers. Call it influence, call it homage, call it collective consciousness, call it folk, call it pop, call it whatever you want. If it sounds familiar and new at the same time, our songwriter might be on to something. We listeners get the benefit, too. We get the new songs and we still get to listen to the old ones, while appreciating the similarities as well as the differences. If the similarities are so obvious, so egregious and so clearly purposeful that you don't need a judge or jury to decide, those are the cases, if you ask me, that warrant a court date. If the lines are a little, um, blurrier—if it's going to take a few years of legal discovery and a few weeks of expert testimony to make your case—maybe that isn't plagiarism, per se. Maybe that's just pop. And so maybe let's not get it on in court. This has been me, not a lawyer, thinking out loud. In kind of sort of related news, here are actual lawyers talking about the ex-girlfriend whose voice BAD BUNNY has sampled on two songs (she's suing for $40 million) and the (copy)rights of AI songwriters/producers. Etc Etc Etc LIZZO drags Tennessee... ADELE takes JAMES CORDEN and CARPOOL KARAOKE on a final spin... The British government proclaims royal skeptics the PROCLAIMERS unfit for KING CHARLES' coronation playlist... "I like the idea of open sourcing all art and and killing copyright," says GRIMES, who invites you to use her voice in your AI generated song for a 50/50 split (even though killing all copyright presumably means that split would be entirely up to you). Rest in Peace MARK STEWART, who fronted the skittery, funky, dubby, way-ahead-of-its-time post-punk band the Pop Group in the late 1970s and continued kicking down rock's (and reggae's and disco's and jazz's) invisible doors and walls for decades afterward with the New Age Steppers and Mark Stewart & the Maffia. "You know when bands walk on to stage and make a show of tuning their guitars and adjusting their drum stools and rearranging their crotches and stuff?," wrote Nick Cave, one of Stewart's many disciples. "Well, The Pop Group would have none of that. The Pop Group strode onto stage and ploughed into the opening song with such indomitable force and such sudden visceral rage that I could barely breathe. It was the most exciting and ferocious concert of my young life—everything changed at that moment"... ISAAC "IKE" WILEY, drummer for '70s and '80 funk group the Dazz Band... Country songwriter and session musician KEITH GATTIS. - Matty Karas, curator distant lover Billboard The Big Bang Theory: HYBE's Chairman on K-pop's Future, The BTS Model, AI Plans and More By Hannah Karp Bang Si-hyuk opens up in Seoul about his vision for the industry and global ambitions. Billboard Korean Music Companies Are Exporting More Than K-Pop: How They're Changing the Global Music Business By Glenn Peoples The next step in K-pop's growth may lie not in music itself, but in exporting K-pop's disciplined development, production and promotion model. Rolling Stone 'I Poured My Soul Into This Album:' How Suga Let Go of the Past and Stepped Into His Future By Michelle Hyun Kim The BTS multi-hyphenate describes the emotional process behind recording the final album in his Agust D series, finding freedom through music, and collaborating with his hero, the late Ryuichi Sakamoto. Musicologize "Let's Get It On" trial might be just these two things By Brian McBrearty Two easily understandable things, Thing 1 and Thing 2. Vulture I Found Mi Gente at Coachella By Reanna Cruz The festival's Latin takeover was long overdue. The New York Times How Fred again.. Jolted Dance Music By Jon Caramanica and Foster Kamer A conversation about the genre's new wave of big-tent ambition, and the whimsical British artist at the heart of it. The Washington Post Frank Ocean doesn't want to be here anymore By Chris Richards His fiasco at Coachella felt like a case study in pop star reluctance. Who wants to sit on top of a world that's spinning out of control? The New Yorker How Lucinda Williams Found Her Muse By Lucinda Williams In the late seventies, Williams fell in love with the poet Frank Stanford. His suicide would leave an indelible mark on her music. Okayplayer Record Store Day Can't Save The Record Store By Michael Eric Gonik Record Store Day was a vital vehicle for renewing interest in vinyl. But after more than a decade, the vinyl market's future seems untethered from the crate-digging holiday. The Guardian How Mark Stewart set the tone for post-punk protest music By Alexis Petridis The Pop Group's lead singer, who has died at 62, whipped political confrontation into a thrilling mix of avant-funk and crashing soundscapes. please stay (once you go away) VICE Inside the Discord Where Thousands of Rogue Producers Are Making AI Music By Chloe Xiang They released an entire album using an AI-generated copy of Travis Scott's voice, and labels are trying to kill it. The Company Man Drake, D.O.C. & Why Everyone's Wrong About A.I. By Justin L. Hunte From D.O.C to Holly Herndon, a look at the upside of the advent of A.I. in music. Rolling Stone LiveMixtapes Helped Launch a New Generation of Rappers, Now It's Preparing a Second Act By Andre Gee The founder of the site that hosted early mixtapes from rappers like Future and Gucci Mane discusses its legacy and upcoming relaunch. The Washington Post Camera in hand, Linda McCartney revealed life well beyond the Beatles By Karen Peterson She photographed nature and animals. She photographed fame. But above all, Linda McCartney photographed the "silly love song" that she and her famous Beatle spouse lived for nearly three decades. Pollstar Willie Nelson: The Nonagenarian Red-Headed Stranger Breaks New Ground At 90 By Ray Waddell Even Willie Nelson himself seems to marvel at the significance of the milestone. "The 'Big 9-0'," he muses over the phone, appropriately on the road again on the cusp of another busy year of live performances and more. "Who'da thought I'd make it?," he wonders with a laugh that warms across the miles. Music Business Worldwide 'There can be a lot of mystery and complexity around live music and I see our role as demystifying all of that' By Mark Sutherland Songkick General Manager Sarah Jones traces the evolution of the Warner Music-owned concert discovery platform and shares her views on the importance and future direction of live music. Decential Inside Catalog's Curation Strategy That's Hoping to Keep Web3 Music From Being Lost in a Sea of Noise By MacEagon Voyce Major record labels are responsible for only one of every 26 songs released today, making music curation more important than ever. Complex The Woman Suing Bad Bunny for $40 Million Might Have a Solid Case By Maria Sherman Benito allegedly used his ex-girlfriend's voice on two songs without her permission. What does it mean? What happens next? We asked a professional. WIRED Apple's New Classical Music App Ignores Most of the World By Parker Hall For those who love Western classical music, it's a godsend. But as a global app, Apple Music Classical barely scratches the surface. The Verge AI Drake is the future. The future is AI Drake By David Pierce Does this episode of The Vergecast feature several of the world's best-known rappers? That depends on how you define "feature," which turns out to be a pretty thorny question. This episode definitely features laser bongs and Snapchat bots, though. what we're into Music of the day "Snooze" Agust D (feat. Ryuichi Sakamoto and Woosung) Alter ego of Suga from BTS. From "D-Day," out now on Big Hit. Video of the day "Suga: Road to D-Day" Park Jun-soo Streaming on Disney Plus. 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?'" 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