| We have to stop taking art for granted. Many of the people who fill our lives with joy and creativity are also struggling to get by, and that's in large part because of how corporations have stacked the deck to enrich themselves at the expense of the people creating that art. |
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 | | Turnstile jumper: Singer Brendan Yates of Baltimore hardcore band Turnstile at the Slottsfjell fest, Tønsberg, Norway, July 14, 2022. | | (Per Ole Hagen/Redferns/Getty Images) | | |
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| rantnrave:// |
English Beat
UK newsflash: As the music streaming market becomes more and more saturated, a million streams per month will now earn an artist around £12,000 a year. It's hard out here for a middle class artist. But it's easier than ever for the consumers doing all that streaming, according to the UK's competition watchdog, the COMPETITION & MARKETS AUTHORITY, which released a preliminary report Tuesday after six months of study into the economics of the country's streaming music market. In a win for major labels and streaming services and a blow to artist and songwriter advocates and indie labels, the authority rejected calls for a full-blown investigation into the market. Although the market is dominated by three major labels and financial success is concentrated among a small group of artists "while the majority made no substantial earnings," the authority suggested the industry is broadly healthy, no tougher for artists than it ever has been, and consumers—the main focus of the authority's work—are being well served. Government interventions "are unlikely to drive significant improvements to artist and consumer outcomes" the report said, and, at best, "may help some types of artists, but in doing so, may risk the unintended consequence of redistributing revenues from one group of artists to another."
The BBC's SHIONA MCCALLUM does a good job summing up the report's findings and implications while noting the many objections to its conclusions from artists, songwriters and other stakeholders, and STUART DREDGE at Music Ally has highlighted a bunch of stats and other points of interest within. The Twitter feed of musician/activist TOM GRAY, founder of the #BrokenRecord campaign, one of the groups that pushed the authority to go further, is also worth a read.
A final report isn't due until next January and Gray promised to keep pushing between now and then. But any hopes for a different outcome may have been doomed from the start by the nature of the authority's work, which was to assure "competition is working well for consumers by delivering high-quality, innovative services for low prices."
"Rhapsody, the first streaming service, cost $9.99 in 2001," Gray told the BBC. "Streaming costs the same 21 years later. Obviously, that is a good deal for consumers—but is it destructive to the value of music itself? The answer ought to be, 'Yes.'"
The report doesn't suggest the answer is anything else. It suggests that wasn't the question.
American Pie
Meanwhile in the US: Congresswoman RASHIBA TLAIB, a Michigan Democrat, is proposing a resolution that would call on the federal government to create a statutory streaming royalty for musicians. It's the government's job, she says, to make sure musicians receive "reasonable remuneration through a royalty payment earned on a per-stream basis."
Summer Awards Season
Atoning, perhaps, for sister network BET's snub of LIL NAS X at this year's BET AWARDS, MTV has showered him with seven nominations for the VMAs. Lil Nas X is tied with his "INDUSTRY BABY" collaborator JACK HARLOW and KENDRICK LAMAR atop the nominations list for the Aug. 28 awards show. DOJA CAT and HARRY STYLES are also up for their share of Moon People... Styles can also be found on the shortlist for the prestigious MERCURY PRIZE, for the best album by a British or Irish artist. Other finalists for the prize, to be awarded Sept. 8, include WET LEG, LITTLE SIMZ, KOJEY RADICAL and YARD ACT... BILLY STRINGS, MOLLY TUTTLE, SISTER SADIE, the PO RAMBLIN' BOYS and DEL MCCOURY will compete for Entertainer of the Year at the IBMA BLUEGRASS MUSIC AWARDS on Sept. 29. Strings won the honor in 2021.
Etc Etc Etc
The euphoria of stumbling upon weird cover songs on SPOTIFY... Love letters to bands rescued by a janitor at the PAGEANT in St. Louis... What's with all the '90s alt-rock t-shirts in JORDAN PEELE's NOPE?
| | - Matty Karas (@troubledoll), curator | |
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 | | BBC News |
| | Music industry as tough as it has always been, watchdog says | | By Shiona McCallum | | The UK's competition watchdog has found streaming has made the music industry challenging for many artists. But it rejected calls for a full market investigation because "our initial findings have not identified any significant concerns in terms of consumer outcomes relating to music streaming". | | |
 | | Competition & Markets Authority |
| | Music and Streaming: Market Study Update [PDF] | | Our study assesses the impact streaming has had on the music sector and whether competition is working well for consumers by delivering high-quality, innovative services for low prices. We have also considered the position of songwriters and artists, to consider concerns raised by some stakeholders that the market is not serving creators' interests sufficiently. | | |
 | | The New York Times |
| | The Case of the $5,000 Springsteen Tickets | | By Ron Lieber | | Triumphant fans showed up in Ticketmaster's queue with special codes, only to encounter its "dynamic pricing" system. Was the Boss OK with that? | | |
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 | | The New Yorker |
| | The Age of Algorithmic Anxiety | | By Kyle Chayka | | Interacting online today means being besieged by system-generated recommendations. Do we want what the machines tell us we want? | | |
 | | The Ringer |
| | Meet the Man Trying to Move Emo Beyond Its 'Hair Metal' Past | | By Justin Sayles | | Think emo only refers to the four years you were in high school? Think again. We sat down with the person behind IsThisBandEmo.com and the 'Washed Up Emo' podcast to talk about the genre's long history and bright future. | | |
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 | | Egyptian Streets |
| | Shik Shak Shok: The Song That Empowers Young Egyptian Women | | By Salma Hamed | | A wedding, a henna (bachelorette party), a birthday party, a bedroom, or even during lunch breaks in abandoned middle-school classrooms: these are all places where the infamous sound of Shik Shak Shok rings as girls and women of all ages dance freely, unabashedly. | | |
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 | | theLAnd |
| | Welcome to the Jungles | | By Harley Geffner | | In just one year, the Baby Stone Gorillas have gone from Section 8 housing to L.A.'s biggest new rap group. | | |
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| what we're into |
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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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