| If you want to support us, just buy a ticket! That's how you can support us. | | | | |  | The look of live: Against Me!'s Laura Jane Grace at the Governors Ball Festival, New York, June 4, 2016.
(Jeff Kravitz/Getty Images) | | | | | "If you want to support us, just buy a ticket! That's how you can support us." | | | | Live Music 2.0(21)
It feels almost surreal to be in the middle of a global pandemic and coming out of a global pandemic at the same time. But that seems to be where we're at right now, variants of the virus competing for attention with variants of plans for getting everyone into rooms together for the first time in a year. Variant 1: The first performance in an American opera house in 15 months, vaccinated fans in the orchestra section wearing black wristbands, non-vaccinated (but negative-tested) fans in the balconies, everybody in masks, the LOS ANGELES OPERA spread out onstage performing a STRAVINSKY opera about a plague-infested Greek city. Variant 2: The ST. JAMES THEATER jumping in front of every other Broadway theater to announce that a summer-long revival of SPRINGSTEEN ON BROADWAY will reopen the Great White Way starting 18 days from now (tickets on sale today; good luck). You'll need proof of vaccination and a photo ID to get in (there are different rules for children under 16) and you'll have to fill out a survey the day of your performance attesting you've had no recent contact with anyone infected with Covid-19 and you have no symptoms. (Separate issue for another rant: Does Broadway really want to reopen, after being dark for more than a year in one of the hardest-hit cities in America, with a show with an average ticket price of more than $500? It's a spectacular show—deep, personal, moving—but what message does that send?) Variant 3: Open the club doors to a full-capacity crowd (after a month and a half of ramping up), masks encouraged but not required, rock on. So many other variants, inside, outside, masked, unmasked, distanced, crowded, soft, loud, in so many cities across the US and around the world, or at least the part of the world where vaccinations and public health make it possible, which, as a reminder, is not anywhere close to the entire world. So many questions, so many possibilities. What's changed? What hasn't changed? What should change? Are you ready? Is anybody really ready? MusicSET: "Live Music 2.0(21)."
The Umbrellas of Tribeca
Also coming back: movies. The TRIBECA FILM FESTIVAL opens Wednesday night with the world premiere of JON CHU's movie musical version of LIN-MANUEL MIRANDA's IN THE HEIGHTS, screening simultaneously in outdoor locations in all five New York boroughs. The entire fest will be held outdoors over the next two weeks, and the music films on the schedule include documentaries about A$AP ROCKY (focusing on his time in a Swedish prison), KISS, BLONDIE, BRIAN WILSON, RICK JAMES, BUDDY GUY, BEBE ZAHARA BENET, A-HA, LEONARD BERNSTEIN, early Rolling Stone writer/editor BEN FONG-TORRES, and HARRY BELAFONTE's groundbreaking stint guest-hosting THE TONIGHT SHOW for a week in 1968. Kiss and Blondie will perform at screenings of their films. Shoutout JANE ROSENTHAL, ROBERT DENIRO and the Tribeca team. And though these aren't music events, I should mention that REDEF CEO JASON HIRSCHHORN will be hosting panel discussions on "The Business of Documentaries/Entertainment" (June 12) and "The Future of Podcasting" (June 13) and interviewing director DOUG LIMAN (June 15), and I have a feeling music will come up at all three events anyway.
I'll Write You a Letter
The ROLLING STONES, TOM JONES and BARRY GIBB are among the artists adding their names to a letter asking British PRIME MINISTER BORIS JOHNSON to change the law governing streaming music royalties... ALICIA KEYS, PAUL MCCARTNEY, HALSEY, CHRISTINA AGUILERA, JENNIFER LOPEZ and dozens of other artists sign a letter asking the US Senate to "take action on background checks" for gun purchases, in a campaign organized by BILLBOARD... SONGWRITERS OF NORTH AMERICA, the MUSIC ARTISTS COALITION and the BLACK MUSIC ACTION COALITION are among a broad coalition of arts groups urging members of the AMERICAN LAW INSTITUTE to reject a controversial "Restatement" of copyright law, to be voted on today, that they say could prove devastating to individual creators.
| | | | Matty Karas (@troubledoll), curator |
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| | Heaven's Metal: An Oral History of the Genesis of Christian Metal | | by Andrew Voigt | | When rock emerged from blues and 'heavy metal' began to surface, faith-based metal acts also rose to start their own journeys. Initially shunned by both believers and non-believers, they were fighting for their spot at the table, ultimately building a legacy that would go on to change the genre forever. | |  | | Culture Notes of an Honest Broker |
| | The Man Who Put Out Fires with Music | | by Ted Gioia | | My inquiry into the strange case of Charles Kellogg, the nature singer. | |  | | REDEF |
| | REDEF MusicSET: Live Music 2.0(21) | | by Matty Karas | | It's almost over. We're almost back. Bands, fans and everybody else. So how exactly does this work? What's changed? What hasn't changed? What should change? | |  | | Billboard |
| | Bill Ackman's UMG Play: A Bad Deal or Just Too Confusing for Investors? | | by Glenn Peoples | | Investors are either confused or concerned by the announcement that hedge fund manager Bill Ackman intends to acquire a 10% stake in Universal Music Group. | |  | | Variety |
| | BTS' 'Butter': The Origin Story of the Band's Summer Smash | | by Shirley Halperin | | As hit songs often go, BTS' "Butter" started with a simple hook. Jenna Andrews, the seasoned songwriter-producer-publisher-A&R executive and all-around industry badass, played it for Columbia Records chairman Ron Perry, who immediately thought of Michael Jackson's "Smooth Criminal" and a smash was born. | |  | | Stereogum |
| | Lorde Is Returning To A Pop Mainstream Made In Her Own Image. Where's She Been In The Meantime? | | by Chris DeVille | | If anyone doubts Lorde's influence, listen closely to the young women currently ruling pop music. Billie Eilish is probably her most obvious descendant, but you can hear the grandly spectral choruses of "Team" and "Perfect Places" echoing back in songs like Olivia Rodrigo's smash "drivers license" and even bits and pieces of Taylor Swift's more recent catalog. | |  | | Sounding Out! |
| | Listening in Plain Sight: The Enduring Influence of U.S. Air Guitar | | by Byrd McDaniel | | The mention of "air guitar" might conjure images of Bill and Ted. Or "Risky Business." Or maybe even Joe Cocker at Woodstock. When you hear there's an annual U.S. Air Guitar competition, you might imagine an entirely superficial practice without any artistic merit. In all honesty, I did. | |  | | SPIN |
| | DJ Marley Marl's New Podcast 'Legendize' Sets the Record Straight | | by Candace McDuffie | | "I just had to do this podcast because there's too much misinformation out there--and misinformation is very popular." | |  | | Complex |
| | The Internet Is Escalating Violence Through Viral Rap Beef | | by Andre Gee | | In the social media era, rap's most violent, disrespectful, and shocking songs (like "Who I Smoke") are going viral, fanning the flames of local beefs. | |  | | SFGate |
| | The history of the Bay Area's most notorious '90s rave warehouse | | by Dianne de Guzman | | If you were looking for an underground, all-night party in the Bay Area in the early 1990s, your night likely started with a call to an anonymously run phone number called the BuzzLine. Dialing the BuzzLine would lead to a recording of that night's events, along with a set of directives. | | | | | Billboard |
| | Billboard's 2021 Indie Power Players | | by Trevor Anderson, Rania Aniftos, Chuck Arnold... | | Billboard's Indie Power Players recognizes industry leaders — nominated by their companies and peers and selected by our editors — at independent labels and distributors. This year's list particularly reflects the strength of independent R&B and hip-hop labels. | |  | | Bloomberg |
| | NFTs Shift Power to Artists as the Music Business Evolves | | by Matthew Leising | | The $1 million musician/producer RAC has made so far is nice, but the bigger mission is to "rebuild the music industry." | |  | | 60 Minutes Australia |
| | Crowded House reunited: the incredible story behind the band's reunion | | by Tom Steinfort | | When Crowded House played their farewell concert on the steps of the Sydney Opera House 25 years ago, tears were shed all over the world, especially in New Zealand and Australia. The music Neil Finn, Nick Seymour and Paul Hester made was so well loved that knowing it was over was tough to take. But for Crowded House fans, the pain is about to end. | |  | | The Daily Beast |
| | The Beach Boys' Brian Wilson Bares His Soul at Tribeca | | by Nick Schager | | The reclusive musical maestro features in the doc 'Brian Wilson: Long Promised Road.' At the Tribeca Film Festival, he dished on the film and how he was "jealous" of The Beatles. | |  | | Music Business Worldwide |
| | Hipgnosis Songs Fund now owns a music catalog worth over $2.2 billion | | by Tim Ingham | | Three things you need to know from the UK-listed company's latest numbers. | |  | | Audiofemme |
| | Tr38cho of Old City on How to Be a Man (Read: Good Person) in DIY Communities | | by Suzannah Weiss | | Tr38cho elaborates on the pro-women-in-punk message behind "Class Act," the latest single from Old City, featuring Shawna Potter of War on Women. | | | | Billboard |
| | How New Zealand's Six60 Became the World's Biggest Live Act This Year | | by Lars Brandle | | New Zealand's Six60 has emerged as the biggest touring act in the world in 2021, mostly by exploiting their country's extra-low number of COVID-19 virus cases. | |  | | Recording Academy |
| | Anthony Braxton On New Music & American Standards | | by Morgan Enos | | The preeminent composer, improviser and saxophonist Anthony Braxton has two new releases on the way: 12 Comp (ZIM) 2017 and Quartet (Standards) 2020. At 76, he's at no loss for words about the American songbook-and those who threaten to undermine the Great Experiment. | |  | | Money 4 Nothing |
| | Gangsta Rap Origins and Los Angeles with Felicia Angeja Viator | | by Saxon Baird, Sam Backer and Felicia Angeja Viator | | When talking about West Coast gangster rap, the focus is usually on the era-defining stars who reigned during 1990s—Dr. Dre, Tupac, and Snoop Dogg among them. In her book "To Live and Defy in LA: How Gangster Rap Changed America," Professor Felicia Angeja Viator argues that starting with them leaves out half the story. | |  | | Backseat Freestyle |
| | The Inexact Science of Ranking Rappers | | by Jayson Rodriguez | | RapCaviar set off a debate two weeks ago with a social media post asking "Who takes the fourth spot on Mount Rushmore of the 2010s?" | |  | | British GQ |
| | How George Michael helped me come out | | by Paul Flynn | | At 13, Paul Flynn couldn't quite work out why his school creative writing assignments had him metamorphosing into the more soulful half of Wham! But here, in an extract from Jack Guinness' The Queer Bible, Flynn recalls how George Michael was a proud early model for who, deep down, he knew himself to be. | | | | | 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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