| While a lot of us did stupid things, once you're playing music, there's something special you've been given by the gods above, or whatever it is. I've heard people saying: 'No, he's not a good human being,' about some of the musicians I've known, but I never found that. Every one of them—Monk, Miles, Coltrane—was good to me, and I realized that they were all spiritual people and great human beings. |
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 | | Sonny Rollins backstage at the Berkeley Jazz Festival, Berkeley, Calif., May 1979. | | (Ed Perlstein/Redferns/Getty Images) | | |
| quote of the day |
| "While a lot of us did stupid things, once you're playing music, there's something special you've been given by the gods above, or whatever it is. I've heard people saying: 'No, he's not a good human being,' about some of the musicians I've known, but I never found that. Every one of them—Monk, Miles, Coltrane—was good to me, and I realized that they were all spiritual people and great human beings." | | - Sonny Rollins | |
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| rantnrave:// |
Battleground States
A bruising, five-years-plus battle between IRVING AZOFF's GLOBAL MUSIC RIGHTS and US radio stations is over, with a settlement under which the two sides have withdrawn antitrust suits against each other and a certain percentage of radio stations have agreed to a long-term license with the boutique performance rights organization. The settlement doesn't mean songs written by DRAKE, POST MALONE, BAD BUNNY, MALUMA, BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN and others can suddenly return to the radio—they were never off the radio, thanks to short-term deals negotiated while the suits proceeded—but it does mean radio stations can stop worrying about lawyers and Irving Azoff when they play them, while songwriters can thank Azoff for a now fully licensed and accepted alternative to the more established and regulated ASCAP and BMI. Neither the licensing terms nor the percentage of the 10,000 radio stations represented by the RADIO MUSIC LICENSING COMMITTEE that agreed to the deal have been made public. Any stations that haven't already agreed have until the end of March to sign onto the deal, or to negotiate direct deals with GMR if they want to keep playing "ROCKSTAR," "I LIKE IT" or "HUNGRY HEART."
So does anyone want to try launching GLOBAL STREAMING RIGHTS now? That would seem a more daunting project, as songwriters don't generally have the power to license songs to streaming companies and therefore aren't in a position to withhold them. But if ever someone were to try to figure that out, one imagines this might be the time. ARCADE FIRE's WILL BUTLER notes, in the last paragraph of an essay for the Atlantic about the "bleak" state of the music streaming economy, that, oh, by the way, his grandfather, a 1940s bandleader, "was part of a strike by the AMERICAN FEDERATION OF MUSICIANS for more than two years where nearly every instrumentalist in America refused to make records until the record companies changed their royalty rates and established a fund for live musicians put out of work by recorded music." "Just saying," he seems to be saying. Then again, in the following sentence, he says his "tired brain just can't see the mechanism for it in this era." Also, "in the end, technology will plow us over." So, um, anyone else up for trying?
NEIL YOUNG has a suggestion, too. In a new message on NEIL YOUNG ARCHIVES, he recommends SPOTIFY employees "get out of that place before it eats up your soul." Just saying.
Etc Etc Etc
Old punk IGGY POP and new-music group ENSEMBLE INTERCONTEMPORAIN are this year's winners of the prestigious POLAR MUSIC PRIZE. They'll receive their honors May 24 in Stockholm at the first Polar Music ceremony since 2019. Iggy is being honored for "blending together blues and free jazz influences with the roar of the Michigan automotive industry" while the Ensemble, founded by PIERRE BOULEZ in 1976, is "the STRADIVARIUS of modern music and has inspired the greatest composers of our time to create new masterpieces"... ADELE, ED SHEERAN, LITTLE SIMZ and DAVE are the top nominees at the BRIT AWARDS, which will be handed out today at London's O2 ARENA. It streams live on YOUTUBE at 3 pm ET. Comedian MO GILLIGAN hosts.... The Middle Eastern and North African music streamer ANGHAMI debuted on NASDAQ Friday, after merging with special purpose acquisition company VISTAS MEDIA. Trading volume soared on Monday and the stock closed up 62.5 percent, Billboard reports... Heard at the OLYMPICS: American figure skating star NATHAN CHEN set a world record in the men's short program Tuesday while skating to CHARLES AZNAVOUR's "LA BOHÈME." NINA SIMONE and MICHAEL BUBLÉ also got icy airplay Tuesday. The day before, American ice dancers MADISON CHOCK and EVAN BATES helped secure a team silver medal with the help of a DAFT PUNK medley.
Rest in Peace
Gospel choir conductor/arranger ALEXANDER HAMILTON, best known, thanks to the film "Amazing Grace," for his work with Aretha Franklin.
| | - Matty Karas (@troubledoll), curator | |
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 | | Trapital |
| | Spotify and the Neutral Platform Myth | | By Dan Runcie | | Big tech companies often tell the public they are platforms, not publishers. They remove the most extremely heinous content imaginable (e.g. child pornography) but give a pass to other problematic topics. | | |
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 | | HUCK Magazine |
| | Moses Boyd and Binker Golding share a hidden language | | By Ammar Kalia | | The drummer and saxophonist have been at the forefront of a new vanguard of London-based jazz musicians. Now, as they gear up for the release of their latest joint project, they're focused on sustaining the scene for future generations. | | |
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 | | The New Yorker |
| | Black Thought Takes the Stage | | By Dorothy Wickenden | | "I've spent most of my career with my sunglasses and my hat pulled down low, very many layers of defense," the Roots M.C. tells Jelani Cobb. "You're up there as a comedian, it's just you and your ideas and a microphone, no light show, no band... After having done this for over thirty years, what else can I do? How can I become a better storyteller?" | | |
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| what we're into |
 | | Music of the day | | "John S." | | Sonny Rollins | | From "The Bridge" (1962), with Jim Hall on guitar, Bob Cranshaw on bass and Ben Riley on drums. | | |
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| Music | Media | | | | | | 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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