| Art-making is my self-care. It's what I do when I want to say something to someone but I know I shouldn't call them, or I want to readdress something but it's just too far in the past, or I want to secretly tell someone how I feel about them but not actually tell them to their face. For whatever reason, I feel this sense that the mail needs to be delivered. | | | | |  | Michelle Zauner, aka Japanese Breakfast. Her third album, "Jubilee," is out today.
(Peter Ash Lee/Grandstand Media) | | | | | "Art-making is my self-care. It's what I do when I want to say something to someone but I know I shouldn't call them, or I want to readdress something but it's just too far in the past, or I want to secretly tell someone how I feel about them but not actually tell them to their face. For whatever reason, I feel this sense that the mail needs to be delivered." | | | | SPAC Age Love Song
Ladies and gentlemen we are floating in SPAC. Four billion dollars worth of SPAC, if the deal between UNIVERSAL MUSIC GROUP and billionaire investor BILL ACKMAN's special purpose acquisition company, PERSHING SQUARE TONTINE HOLDINGS, reported Thursday by the Wall Street Journal (paywall), goes through in the coming weeks. Pershing Square would acquire 10 percent of UMG for $4 billion, giving the record company an eye-popping valuation of $40 billion in what the Journal says is "the largest SPAC transaction on record," and presumably help take the company public, as parent company VIVENDI has said it will do by the end of September. That valuation is about 10 percent over where UMG was valued when the Chinese internet company TENCENT completed its acquisition of a 20 percent stake six months ago. And nearly quintuple what the Japanese company SOFTBANK offered to buy UMG for just eight years ago (Vivendi turned that offer down). And more, oddly, than the entirety of Vivendi is worth. The first financial reaction to Thursday's news was negative, with shares in the SPAC falling in after-hours trading.
As a hedge-fund investor, Ackman has some giant wins and stunning losses on his résumé. He "commands a cult-like reverence," Billboard reports, and has a reputation for emphasizing long-term growth in his investments. His ideal investments, he has said, are "mature unicorns." One of *his* biggest investors is MICHAEL OVITZ, who's a Pershing Square director and owns 250,000 shares.
More to come, obviously. Stay tuned.
Etc Etc Etc
Two congressional committee chairs have questions about SPOTIFY's Discovery Mode, in which artists can change lower royalty rates for more promotion. "This may set in motion a 'race to the bottom' in which artists and labels feel compelled to accept lower royalties as a necessary way to break through an extremely crowded and competitive music environment," Reps. JERROLD NADLER (D-NY) and HANK JOHNSON JR. (D-Ga.), wrote in a letter to DANIEL EK... APPLE MUSIC paid more than $2 million to DJs and rights holders for streams of DJ mixes in the 12 months ending on March 31. Apple has been using "SHAZAM-like technology" to help clear mixes, Billboard's ALEXEI BARRIONUEVO reports... GARTH BROOKS, JOAN BAEZ and MIDORI are among the recipients of KENNEDY CENTER HONORS in an unusual ceremony taped over several days in May that airs at 8 pm ET Sunday on CBS.
It's Friday
And that means new music from the big lil team of LIL BABY & LIL DURK, who are joined by Young Thug, Rod Wave, Travis Scott and Meek MILL on THE VOICE OF THE HEROES... And one-woman-indie-pop-show JAPANESE BREAKFAST, whose ambitious third album, JUBILEE, comes on the heels of Michelle Zauner's New York Times-bestselling first book, "Crying in H Mart"... Electronic producer LORAINE JAMES' already acclaimed second album for Hyperdub is "post-rave-something-or-other as an album-length statement"... A rejuvenated LIZ PHAIR reunites with her original producer, Brad Wood, to "use the sounds that we had used on 'Exile in Guyville,' but with the added complexity of me now being fifty-plus years old"... British nu-soul singer GREENTEA PENG delivers "blissed-out" psychedelia on her full-length debut.
Plus new albums from SMOKE DZA, PETER ROSENBERG (the Hot 97 guy, with help from Westside Gunn, Method Man and others), LLOYD BANKS (first album in over a decade), CROWDED HOUSE (ditto), ROSTAM, RISE AGAINST, WOLF ALICE, BRETT YOUNG, BILLY GIBBONS, RAHEEM DEVAUGHN & APOLLO BROWN, MNDSGN, TOMORROW X TOGETHER (released earlier this week), GERALD CLEAVER, LENI STERN, CHRIS THILE, TINE THING HELSETH, POTÉ, REBECCA VASMANT, DOBET GNAHORÉ, CANDE Y PAULO, SEINABO SEY, BRUCE HARRIS, KEVIN HAYS/BEN STREET/BILLY HART, MICHAEL MAYO, RED FANG, ATREYU, DEAD HEAT, PAUL GILBERT, WE ARE THE UNION, MILITARIE GUN, CHILDREN OF ZEUS, HILDEGARD, GARY LOURIS, MARY HOTT WITH THE CARPENTER ANTS, QUINN SULLIVAN, CLEOPATRICK, SATSANG, SARAH KINSLEY, RILEY CLEMMONS, JAMES and ROCK & ROLL THIS, ROCK & ROLL THAT, a compilation of work by gay punk pioneer LANCE LOUD's band the MUMPS.
Rest in Peace
Longtime Columbia Records A&R exec MICKEY EICHNER.
| | | | Matty Karas (@troubledoll), curator |
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| | |  | | Variety |
| | Now That You've Bought a Multi-Million-Dollar Music Catalog, What Are You Going to Do With It? | | by Jem Aswad | | A song catalog is an asset much more complicated than, say, a Picasso or even many real estate properties, and some investors seem to enter the arena on the mistaken premise that all songs, or even all hit songs, are created equal. | |  | | Billboard |
| | Who Is Bill Ackman, UMG's New Anchor Investor? | | by Glenn Peoples and Dave Brooks | | The investor and hedge fund manager has made and lost billions making bold risk. He lost a billion-dollar bet shorting shares of Herbalife, was called an a**hole by Joe Biden following a joke gone awry and commands a cult-like reverence from retail investors who call their unflinching belief in his investment strategy "hopium." | |  | | NPR Music |
| | How Japanese Breakfast Builds An Album, Sound by Sound | | by Kira Grunenberg | | A look inside the dreamlike sonics of the new album "Jubilee," and the rare partnership of songwriter Michelle Zauner and producer Craig Hendrix, studio equals with a battle-tested chemistry. | |  | | Stereogum |
| | We've Got A File On You: Liz Phair | | by Rachel Brodsky | | In addition to talking "Soberish," Phair revisits three decades' worth of what she gamely calls "weirdo moments." These include, but are not limited to, a 2001 Apple commercial where she stood on a stage with George Clinton and Barry White, playing herself on "Charmed," getting the needle-drop treatment in "13 Going On 30," and much more. | |  | | The Stranger |
| | The Seattle Symphony Learns to Hear Itself Again | | by Rich Smith | | The pandemic broke up the city's big band. Now they're slowly getting back together. | |  | | Los Angeles Times |
| | Some people were just not buying 'Only You,' Spotify's attempt at flattery through data-mining | | by Suzy Exposito | | The music streamer rolled out features such as "Your Artist Pair" that purport to reveal the breadth of its listeners' tastes. | |  | | Pitchfork |
| | What Black Music Month Means Now | | by Nabil Ayers | | The annual June observance started more than 40 years ago, but a new generation is now offering fresh ways to celebrate Black Music Month's ideals of artistry and economic power. | |  | | The Daily Beast |
| | Jim Morrison's Sister Reveals His Last Wishes, From Wanting a Family to Quitting Music | | by Cheyenne Roundtree | | The Doors frontman's sister Anne Morrison Chewning helped compile hundreds of pages of his musings, poetry, and lyrics-honoring the singer's wish to be taken seriously as a writer. | |  | | i-D Magazine |
| | From 2000s nostalgia to Olivia Rodrigo, the emo revival is officially here | | by Beatrice Hazlehurst | | In the first week of lockdown, we turned to musicians for comfort. Dua Lipa submitted Future Nostalgia, Justin Bieber responded with the aptly titled Work From Home EP. But it was Machine Gun Kelly whose offering was most unexpected. | |  | | CBC |
| | Dan Hill tells the whole truth about his biggest hit, 'Sometimes When we Touch' | | by Andrea Warner | | And why he still gets choked up talking about what was once Canada's most polarizing pop ballad. | | | a new refutation of time and spac |
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| | | Billboard |
| | As Chinese Regulators Hover, Tencent Music's Rivals Chip Away At Its Dominance | | by Alexei Barrionuevo | | Chinese competition regulators are considering a crackdown on Tencent Music Entertainment to bring the streaming giant down to size, but the company may already be losing its edge in the country's rapidly developing music market. | |  | | The New York Times |
| | The Toasts Are Mimed, but the Kennedy Center Honors Return | | by Emily Cochrane | | The pandemic made the ceremony, honoring Debbie Allen, Joan Baez, Garth Brooks, Midori and Dick Van Dyke and airing on TV Sunday, like no other. | |  | | Complex |
| | Inside the Push to Fix the Juno Awards' Rap Category | | by Rick Mele | | As the Junos Rap Recording of the Year Award turns 30, work is underway to fix the awards show's rocky relationship with the hip-hop community. | |  | | MusicRow |
| | NSAI Songwriters Respond To Criticism Of Decision Not To Challenge Physical Royalty Rates | | by LB Cantrell | | In a letter to its members, songwriters and board members of the Nashville Songwriters Association International, Steve Bogard, Lee Thomas Miller, and Liz Rose, address the recent criticism against the organization for its decision not to challenge the statutory royalty rate that record labels currently pay songwriters on physical products. | |  | | Music Tectonics |
| | How Imogen Heap Turns Frustration into Music Tech Innovation | | by Dmitri Vietze and Imogen Heap | | When Imogen Heap sees something she can't do, she makes it happen. As an award-winning singer songwriter, producer, audio engineer, and industry pioneer, Imogen is breaking down barriers for artists to take control of their data and create music in new ways. | |  | | iHeartRadio |
| | Questlove Supreme: The Jacksons | | by Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson, Tito Jackson, Jackie Jackson... | | This week's guests on Questlove Supreme are THE American Music Dynasty. Listen as Tito, Jackie and Marlon allow us into their world following the reissue of four of your favorite Jackson albums being released this year. Shhhhhhhh class is in session! | |  | | Music Business Worldwide |
| | 'When artists become entrepreneurs, their thinking changes; they understand the economics of the music business' | | by Amit Gurbaxani | | There are few people with as wide and deep a view of the Indian music industry as Tarsame Mittal. The founder of TM Ventures has interests in almost every aspect of the business. | |  | | The Guardian |
| | Beth Ditto: 'Seeing Boy George was like coming home' | | by Beth Ditto | | Growing up in the Bible Belt, MTV opened up a world that felt free for Beth Ditto. Here, the singer writes about queer visibility and why positive role models are still so vital. | | | | Complex |
| | Finding Paris Texas | | by Graham Corrigan | | California duo Paris Texas took inspiration from horror movies and hard times, and flipped it into the most fascinating debut project of the year. | |  | | JazzWax |
| | Dior and the Birth of the Cool | | by Marc Myers | | In 1945, at the end of World War II, the center of Western art, music and architecture shifted to New York. With Europe and Asia in shambles, new schools of creative thought took hold in America that emphasized individualism, freedom from the past and color. | | | | | Music | Media | Sports | Fashion | Tech | | "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 | | |  |
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