If you haven’t seen, UMG has pulled their music catalog from TikTok, and shit is hitting the fan.
This is from Bloomberg’s ‘Soundbite‘ newsletter, from UMG country artist Cody Fry:
“I feel like I’m a person standing between two colliding planets,” he added. “It’s just hard — as a hard-working artist — to see a budding, viral trend with one of your songs that’s really awesome, in its infancy, just, like, get crushed by multi-billion dollar corporations.”
It sure sucks to be at the mercy of mega-corps who own the rights to your music, but… this is the way it is.
This is what we signed up for: letting massive apps be the arbiters of taste and culture by way of AI algorithms, with content created for free by users using music licensed from giant label catalogs.
I’ve followed Gary Vee from waaay back. He can be a bit much, but hey, that’s all of us.
I don’t know anybody on this episode – and I love how he mentions that some people in the chat (he live streams all day now, I guess) were like, OMG, “I can’t believe you’re in the room with them,” while some people were like “who the heck are they?”
That’s ALL OF US, and being around other people from other worlds is a GOOD THING.
I met someone in 2019 on a Zoom call during a cohort class, and we’ve literally been talking every week since, and they work in a MUCH DIFFERENT world than me. Like, they’re in rooms with pro sport CEOs and shit. That ain’t my world at all, but I’m better for it.
The internet is a big place. Build your circle with intention!
“If not Pitchfork, with more daily visitors than Vogue or Vanity Fair or the New Yorker – or GQ – then who in music journalism can possibly thrive in this economic environment. And if no one can… then all we’ll have left are streaming platforms, their algorithms, and the atomized consumer behavior they push on us. A self-checkout counter for music, with a scanner going beep – beep – beep –”
Black metal is extreme music: fast tempos, heavy guitar, screeching vocals – it’s not usually thought of as everyday, easy listening, that’s for sure. Black metal came to global prominence with its “second wave” in 1990s Scandinavia, and was associated with church burnings, Satanism, and acts of extreme violence. But those days are now largely (though not completely) over, and black metal musicians are increasingly singing in favor of environmental causes, social justice, and anti-racism, in the United States and across the world. Black metal is still noisy and aggressive and sometimes it is also pretty bleak. But black metal might just be for you. So come see what all the noise is about. Everyone (except the fascists) is welcome!
Black Metal Is For Everyone – Symposium and Concert, Feb 28-29, 2024 at Indiana University in Bloomington, IN
Additional support provided by the Office of the Vice President for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion; the College Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion; the College Arts and Humanities Institute; and the Media School. For more info, please contact Michael S. Dodson
“We’ll survive however we have to. We’ll continue writing about art. What I know now, that I didn’t then, is that fun and games are the entire point — the way we weather a world that’s largely indifferent to our joy.”
“That article reads as a kind of elegy to SoundCloud’s heyday, before multiple pivots through chaotic monetization and promotion. At least Bandcamp still works – for now. It’s a simultaneous reminder that we need to build something new, maybe this time not for the investors, but for the eu-IVs – for each other. For a reason to keep producing and uploading, and a place to do it. And, importantly, for listening.”
I love this so much: “a simultaneous reminder that we need to build something new, maybe this time not for the investors, but for the eu-IVs – for each other.”
WordPress can have a steep learning curve, but get a few friends together, figure it out, and we’ve got a new “media outlet.”
I’ve seen some music newsletters on Substack, but I fear shit like that can implode at any point, too. Sure, I’m sure as heck using it, but making sure this blog is updated, secure, and the domain name ain’t gonna lapse.
Like… we need need to stop waiting for the next MUSIC PUBLICATION to figure their shit out, and just make it ourselves, like we used to back in the day.
Our bands couldn’t play the big venues, so we rented VFWs and firehalls and made it happen.
Like, Spotify and Apple Music will not magically start paying artists more.
The big outlets aren’t going to feature you, and even if they do, it probably won’t amount to much because the big outlets have devolved into showcasing death and drama, turning their readership into gossip-hungry zombies.
I’m jaded as fuck at this ‘cuz I’ve seen it devolve for the past 20 years. The fix ain’t waiting for tech-bros to develop new platforms – the power is with the people on the streets and the bedrooms to make it happen.
Haven’t made any of these in a few years, but I’ve got a new laptop now, and some headspace for creative output, so here’s a little boop.
I make the music in Abelton Live. This is a fresh install, so it’s factory setting sounds and effects, but I’m happy with it. I need to bring over my plugins and such from my external HD.
When I went to look for videos on Pexels to use I was surprised to see Google DeepMind on there. They’ve got a bunch of videos and still images, so it looks like I’ve got a bunch of material to work with for future clips.
“I think it’s part of why I love running. It removes me from the internet for a bit. I listen to music. I can just think about the music for a while and have experiences with that. I can focus on one thing so it is not so fractured. I think it goes back to slowing things down. Slowing things down is a way to spend more time with stuff.”
“Condé Nast is merging Pitchfork, the digital music publication it bought in 2015, with men’s magazine GQ — a move that will result in layoffs at Pitchfork, including the exit of editor-in-chief Puja Patel.”
In the early 2000s we had music blogs, today we’ve got AI generated playlists.
Not sure how this gets any better.
ALSO:
“In 2017 Vulture called Spotify’s RapCaviar playlist “the most influential playlist in music.” Among other things, it’s credited for launching the career of Cardi B.
But as Ashley Carman reported at Bloomberg this month, even RapCaviar’s influence is now on the wane. The reason, of course, is artificial intelligence.”
Music blogs in the mid-2000s were a power (I was there). A good review could help sell a ton of albums.
After that, we ditched our iPods and piled onto social media and streaming playlists.
It’s all burning down.
I’m surprised how anyone is upset at this. Unlike popular DJs that would make radio shows, the people making these playlists were somewhat “hidden.” Yeah, sure, we knew who some of them were, but it’s not like the big prominent names and faces that we see in the world of radio, you know?
So how then are we surprised that they just replaced everyone with computers anyways?
None of these companies want to actually pay money for editorial discernment. If they did they’d have a full staff of amazing writers, like how Bandcamp used to operate.
Email lists and vinyl records will outlast social media, and I’m adding DSPs to that list now, too.
