jason hirschhorn's @MusicREDEF: 05/18/2023 - Divvying Up the Streaming Pie, MTV News Eulogy, Jody Gerson, Luh Tyler, Kassa Overall, Jason Moran...

Hardcore saved my life. Funny to say, but super unlistenable punk rock music made by total misfits got me better grades, got me off drugs, got me to quit smoking, become a vegetarian, live my life with purpose and eventually led to my career.
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Thursday May 18, 2023
REDEF
Luh Luh land: Luh Tyler at Rolling Loud, Inglewood, Calif., March 4, 2023.
(Scott Dudelson/Getty Images)
quote of the day
"Hardcore saved my life. Funny to say, but super unlistenable punk rock music made by total misfits got me better grades, got me off drugs, got me to quit smoking, become a vegetarian, live my life with purpose and eventually led to my career."
- Matt Pincus, co-founder and CEO, MUSIC, and bassist for the New York hardcore band Judge
rantnrave://
Pie v. Pie

Can we all get along? Music Business Worldwide takes a deep dive into indie label group IMPALA's own deep dive into the streaming music pie, and the NATIONAL MUSIC PUBLISHERS' ASSOCIATION takes an angry dip into both, and one can't help wonder why artists/labels and songwriters/publishers are still fighting *each other* over how to divvy up their smallish shares of 70-ish percent of the $9.99 you're paying to SPOTIFY or APPLE every month. Quick context: Artists/labels get significantly more of that 70-ish percent, in gross figures, than writers/publishers. But the former, per Impala's most recent report on streaming financials, thinks its net share is slipping. But why, in any case, is their beef with each other? Shouldn't artists and songwriters, who are sometimes the same people, be on the same side of the table? Shouldn't labels and publishers, who often are the same company, be sitting side-by-side, too? Do indie artists *want* indie labels to negotiate against their songwriter friends? Do you want your favorite football team's offensive line and wide receivers arguing salary with each other? Or do you envision them both arguing with the owners, and maybe even arguing together? Does it get worse or better when the overall pie they're arguing about (back to the music makers now) stops growing the way it's been growing for the past several years? Does it get worse of better when (see next item) another major source of streaming music income is suddenly in danger of going away?

Butte Out

More than half the states in the US have joined the federal government in banning TIKTOK from government devices, but Montana has become the first state to ban the app altogether. The bill, which takes effect Jan. 1, 2024, has been criticized as being both unenforceable and unconstitutional and will almost certainly be challenged in court. "I rarely see a bill that is this technically stupid," TARAH WHEELER, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, told the Atlantic in April. But Montana may go even further: GOV. GREG GIANFORTE has expressed support for legislation that would ban any app whose user data can be accessed by "a person or entity located within a country designated as a foreign adversary." The music industry, for its part, has had several years to prepare for this; attempts to ban TikTok in the US and elsewhere date back to at least 2019. And while there are plenty of people in the music biz who would be devastated by the video's disappearance, there are others who can think of other places where the money currently being poured into TikTok marketing campaigns might be better spent, for whatever that's worth.

Etc Etc Etc

Do musicians need to watch out for AI name/voice/likeness clauses in their contracts? (Do you even have to ask?)... AM radio is quickly disappearing from new cars, but a bipartisan group of US lawmakers, citing AM's importance during emergencies, is pushing back. The AM for Every Vehicle act was introduced Wednesday in both houses of Congress... WEEZER performed on the Hollywood writers' picket line outside the PARAMOUNT lot Wednesday afternoon... LEWIS CAPALDI performed at the TINY DESK... French Canadian singer DIANE DUFRESNE, jazz pianist OLIVER JONES, country singer TERRI CLARK and rock band TROOPER will be inducted into the CANADIAN MUSIC HALL OF FAME tonight in Calgary. The CBC will stream the ceremony here.

Rest in Peace

SHAWN "GUS" VITALE, longtime sound engineer at the 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C. "He was the first face folks see when they load-in for a show and the last when they load-out, and had the most welcoming smile every time," the club said.

- Matty Karas, curator
french montana
Variety
A Eulogy for MTV News: Former Head Dave Sirulnick on Covering Madonna, Kurt Cobain's Death and Bringing Politics to Young People
By Dave Sirulnick
I walked into MTV's offices at 1775 Broadway in May 1987, having been hired as a producer to create and develop a weekly show for the MTV News department. I was 22.
Music Business Worldwide
Indie labels are questioning the percentage of streaming royalties paid to publishers and songwriters vs. artists and record companies
By Murray Stassen
A new report from indie label group Impala asks if recorded music should have seen its share of the streaming pie grow faster.
rantnrave:// Same-day followup on the above story.
Music Business Worldwide
'Irresponsible and offensive': NMPA's David Israelite does not like IMPALA's new report on the 'music streaming pie'. At all
By Murray Stassen
Publishers' association chief calls report questioning slices of revenue pie "irresponsible and offensive."
HITS Daily Double
Jody Gerson: The Hits Interview (Part 1)
By Lenny Beer and Simon Glickman
"Because financial companies, their investors and so many people have taken an interest in music publishing as an asset class, people have lost the sense of what a true music publisher is. It's about identifying it early and believing in it, creating value."
Pollstar
From Hardcore to Hardcore MUSIC Investor: Q's With Matt Pincus
By Andy Gensler
Pincus' venture MUSIC has invested $105M of equity capital in businesses including music tech company Splice and ticketing company Dice, and holds a controlling stake in Kobalt. He gives us his take on today's music business environment, building teams, investment strategies and how his hardcore band Judge helped transform his life.
XXL
Luh Tyler Is the New Kid on the Block in Hip-Hop
By Robby Seabrook III
The 17-year-old Florida native's claim to fame is his track "Law & Order." The song loops part of the well-known intro from the legendary TV show of the same name.
The New York Times
Kassa Overall Knows Artists Feel Pressure. His New Album Explores It
By Marcus J. Moore
The drummer whose genre-crossing work has brought acclaim here and abroad returns with "Animals," an LP of jazz, rap and soul inspired by the struggle to be OK.
Pitchfork
When Right-Wing Extremists Crashed the French Drone Festival
By Philip Sherburne
Set among ruins that predate Stonehenge, You Origin festival reshaped the work of Sunn O)))'s Stephen O'Malley, Kali Malone, and more around meditative surroundings-despite some unexpected guests.
Variety
Bose CEO Lila Snyder on the Business of Sound and Silence
By Shirley Halperin, Cynthia Littleton and Andrew Wallenstein
Bose is searching for the perfect software algorithm to evaluate the sounds around you and cancel out what you don't want to hear. As CEO Lila Snyder describes it: "It's almost tuning the dial on the volume of your life — which things you wanna turn up, which things you wanna turn down."
The Ringer
'60 Songs That Explain the '90s': "Smells Like Teen Spirit" with Courtney Love
By Rob Harvilla and Courtney Love
Rob is back and ready to share his inner most thoughts on Batman movies, hearing Nirvana for the first time, and more as he looks back at quite possibly the most inescapable song of the '90s. Later he is joined by  Rockstar, singer of Hole, and wife of Kurt Cobain, Courtney Love.
patsy montana
Decential
Music as Experience, the Looming AI Battle and Time
By MacEagon Voyce
Universal's CEO changes his tune on the role of AI in music.
Billboard
Music Streaming Revenue Growth Expected to Fall to 3% by 2029, Says MIDiA Research
By Kristin Robinson
In a presentation at the Music Biz conference, the firm's Tatiana Cirisano said services like Spotify will lose "cultural capital" against competitors like TikTok.
The Guardian
When chess meets hip-hop: Wu-Tang Clan's GZA and an unlikely blend of cultures
By Jo Khan
A restored church in Melbourne's north was the venue this week for a speed chess tournament hosted by the rapper.
Don't Rock the Inbox
The ACMs try to escape parody
By Natalie Weiner
And fail in the most predictable ways.
The Honest Broker
A Conversation with Jason Moran
By Ted Panken
The celebrated pianist, composer, and Artistic Director for Jazz at the Kennedy Center talks with Ted Panken.
CNN
The Prince Mixtape: Nothing But The Funk
By Nichole Perkins, Patrice Rushen, Kat Okedeyi...
What made Prince such a unique performer? Musician and Prince muse Patrice Rushen, professor Kat Okedeyi, and writer Anil Dash explore how funk infused Prince's performance style, including his Super Bowl Halftime Show and one of his last concerts ever.
Billboard
The Music Business Is Finally Starting to Pay Attention to Streaming Fraud
By Elias Leight
The Music Biz conference in Nashville devoted three panels to the issue, which attorney Mona Simonian said is "financially impacting everyone in the industry."
Tape Op
Next Big Thing In Music Production?
By David Barbe and Larry Crane
A curious reader who wanted to know, "What do you see as the next big thing in music production?" I passed this on to various Tape Op contributors and people we've interviewed to see what they envision. Here are some thoughts about the future of recording music!
VAN Magazine
First Canceled, then Celebrated
By Nika Parhomovska
For decades, he embodied the classical jet set. Then he became persona non grata around the world. What happened to Valery Gergiev?
The New Yorker
Joan Baez Is Still Doing Beautiful, Cool Stuff
By Amanda Petrusich
At eighty-two, the folk singer has a new book of drawings and sleeps on a mattress in a tree.
what we're into
Music of the day
"Can't Move Wrong"
Luh Tyler (ft. Trapland Pat)
From "My Vision," out now on Motion Music/Atlantic.
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