Money 4 Nothing

The Great Music AI Contradiction (Live at Wavelengths Summit)

Everyone is talking about AI—and that includes the music biz. No one is disputing the wide-ranging potential of these new tools, but is our rapidly-approaching deep-fake future really (or at least, FULLY) being driven by technology? Sam and Saxon offer a dissenting voice to the cloud of excitement hovering around our up-and-coming machine overlords—arguing that the entertainment landscape we end up with isn't actually going to be determined by technology in and of itself. And if recent major disruptions in music tell us anything, it's that the actual power relations within the industry need to be considered when thinking about the new potentials of machine learning. Come for the skepticism, stay for the audience participation and pushback. Ignore the technical difficulties. Live from the Wavelengths Summit in Brooklyn, New York!

 

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Blurred Lines and the Future of Copyright

Five years ago, Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams finally lost the (musical) lawsuit of the century. Their song, “Blurred Lines,” had been an inescapable summertime hit, a wedding-DJ-standby, and the center of a very Obama-Era debate over whether it was creepy to have a song called “Blurred Lines” in the first place (it was.) Now, it was also found to have violated IP owned by Marvin Gaye’s estate, specifically the classic song “Got To Give It Up”—a brilliant track that VIBED a lot like “Blurred Lines” without sharing much, if any, direct musical DNA. It was a bombshell.

In the years since, the music industry has changed. Songwriters became more cautious, backroom deals were struck, catalogs got bought, and everyone accused Ed Sheeran of stealing their songs.  But why was the lawsuit actually decided in favor of Gaye? And what does that tell us about the legal structures that shape modern music? To get a better sense, Saxon and Sam dig into the details of the case, unpacking the epically unmoored nature of modern copyright, the invisible impact of sampling, the music biz negotiations that followed the ruling, and the AI possibilities hurtling at us all. Come to hear us try and remember what 2013 sounded like. Stay for some beautiful—and we mean beautiful—depositions.

Inside the Algorithm Factory: Music Recommendations (w/ Nick Seaver)

In the digital economy, recommendation algorithms get…a LOT of attention. To some, they’re the special sauce behind everything from Spotify’s personalized playlists to Tik Tok’s “For You” page. For others, they represent a dark, vibe-generating demiurge slowly sapping music’s social power. But for all the discussion of how these programs are transforming our world(s), there’s surprisingly little analysis of what—exactly—they are, or how they’re meant to work.

Answering these seemingly simple questions is the goal of Nick Seaver’s new book “Computing Taste,” which explores the identities, goals, and practices of the programmers behind these technologies. Far from Machiavellian manipulators, the coders he describes are surprisingly idealistic music-lovers, desperately trying to analyze an almost infinitely complex cultural practice. Their failures to do so—and the ideologies they adopted as a result—would have enormous implications for the development of digital music, remaking genres, redefining listening, and shaping the platforms at the heart of the modern industry. Put it this way—we’ll definitely never look at a "Discover Weekly" playlist the same way again.

Streaming in the Dark: No One Knows Anything (w/ Meredith Rose)

No one knows anything about the streaming economy. Not Really. That’s the stark message at the heart of Public Knowledge’s new whitepaper “Streaming in the Dark,” which catalogs the remarkable “wall of NDAs” operating at every level of the modern music industry. The relationship between labels and streaming services? NDA. The relationship between distributors and streaming services? NDA. and on and on and on. As a result, the most important questions about how the business works—for example... are artists making more or less money? They can’t even be posed, let alone answered. To learn more, we spoke with Meredith Rose, the lead author on the report. It’s a conversation that moves from the historical roots of our current mess (consent decrees anyone?) to what could be done to begin making a change. Come for wild facts about Lady Gaga’s contracts. Honestly—stay for them too. This system is nuts. 

Spotify Redux (Quiet Threats + Desperate Flailing)

For this episode, Saxon and Sam check in on Spotify, which is…not in great shape. Even in the best of times, the company was handcuffed to the majors, and threatened by mega-sized competitors like Apple & Amazon. And these, my friend, are no longer the best of times. But it’s okay! They’ll get...faster! And more efficient! And, um, remake their homepage? That’ll do it. Definitely. 

 

Meanwhile, the majors are starting to make noise about the need to change the streaming ecosystem. It used to be about the MUSIC, you know? Now it’s all playlists and independent distributors and fake musicians and false clicks…or something like that. But the more things change, the more things stay the same, financially speaking. We dig into why Universal Music is thinking about ripping up a system that it (more or less) set up in the first place, and what that tells us about the power structure of the industry—and where it might be heading. Come for Saxon’s love of Midnight Oil—stay for a discussion of how this weird, change-filled moment could open a potent space for artistic activism. 

From Houston to the World: The Political Economy of DJ Screw (with Lance Scott Walker)

In the '90s, a remarkable sound was being developed in Houston—its cavernous drums, booming, crawling vocals, and distinctive, hiccuping rhythms reflect the indelible influence of DJ Screw. During the latter half of the decade, the hardworking musician produced hundreds if not thousands of tapes, mixing regional classics with on-the-fly freestyles to develop a new template for southern rap. While Screw's life was cut tragically short, his musical style has lived on, influencing everything from Drake and A$AP Rocky to the entire "slowed and reverbed" digital community.

 

But what was it about Houston that made Screw's career possible? What was it about TAPES that made Screw's career possible? To find out more, we talked with Lance Scott Walker, whose astounding oral history, "DJ Screw: A LIfe in Slow Motion" stands as the definitive account of this sonic trailblazer. Digging into urban histories, analog theories, and business practices, this episode explores the world that made Screw—and the world that Screw made.

 

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Music: DJ Screw - "My Mind Went Blank"

Screwed Up Records

 

 

 

Metadata Errors in the Lime Green Lamborghini (With Kristin Robinson)

The success of YouTube has been inextricably linked to the music business. Initially a remarkably effective streaming pirate, recent years have seen the site pivot to industry ally, paying out millions in royalties for the copyrighted material played on its platform. But who gets the money? And how? And…who is making sure it goes to the right people?

These are the questions opened up by Billboard journalist Kristin Robinson in her fascinating discussion of a remarkable YouTube scam that saw a handful of little-known Phoenix producers claim millions of dollars in royalties from many of Latin music’s biggest names. The mere possibility of the scam reflects the opaque complexity of a mega-system that turns user eyeballs (and the ad dollars that follow them) into artist revenue—a machine that’s designed to keep the platforms wealthy, with little regard for anyone else. Come for the Lamborghini—stay for an exploration of how tech giants have managed to remake the world (of copyright, but ovbi not JUST of copyright) to fit their needs.

Read Kristin Robinson's article on Billboard

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Music: Sauna Youth - "Modern Living"

Reggaeton Gets Sued

It was revealed just this past week that basically all of Reggaeton is being sued. No, really. As you may or may not know, the massively popular genre from Latin-American and the Caribbean is actually based mostly on a few Jamaican riddims (the instrumental background or “rhythm” in contemporary Jamaican music). Now the production duo of Steely & Clevie, who wrote the riddim behind the massively popular early '90s hit "Dem Bow" by Shabba Ranks, want their bag for the riddim's use in Reggaeton over the last…oh…three-plus decades. The lawsuit includes Luis Fonsi’s “Despacito” (currently sitting as the most watched video on YouTube with a cool 8 billion plays), forty Daddy Yankee tracks, and a whole slew of other major Reggaeton hits including...Justin Bieber? So, Sam and Saxon thought they’d dive into all the reasons why this is a huge deal, and dig beyond just the big names being indicted, but consider things like when a very localized music and culture hits international markets and thus, a whole new set of laws around copyright. Also, the complexities of riddim culture in Jamaica, the role of streaming has played in Reggaeton's popularity, and why Dancehall never really reached the promised land of crossover success.

 

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A.I. in Der Klub (And Your Next Playlist)

The music industry is becoming increasingly disenchanted with Tik-Tok, finding it difficult to bend the wildly popular app for its own profitability...let alone find the next mega-star. Does that mean we might see the big three start to put the squeeze on Tik-Tok for dipping into its massive catalog without much of a payout? It worked well with Spotify for Lucian Grainge and co. But can the same sort of profit be siphoned? Also, Sam and Saxon dive into the the coming A.I. apocalypse. Well, okay, maybe its not doomsday but AI-generated music (and artists) are already here and will continue to be ever present. But what will it look like? Will it be perfectly crafted generated playlist to suit every mood? Or will AI beats be relegated to Big Room saturday nights at DER KLUB near you? If that's not enough we got a masked, AI-generated artist named MELON and a conspiracy involving The Cramps. We'll explain.

 

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Music: Ronnie Cook - "Goo Goo Muck"

 

What Taylor Swift Tells Us About the Billboard Charts

Taylor Swift made headlines recently by grabbing all top 10 spots on the Billboard Hot 100 chart — a first in its 64 year history — with the release of her latest record Midnights. Cool. Good for Taylor and her Swifties. But….what does that actually mean? You might think it's a simple answer, but actually the Billboard charts are a complex beast with a long and winding history that didn’t even start in music. On this episode, we ask how the charts help us narrativize music in a consumerist society, revealing that the reality it supposedly reflects has often been constructed by arbitrary calculations, new technologies and the manipulating fingers of the major labels. Along the way we think on what it can also tell us about the ruthless capitalist practices of the big box store, and how the charts have mirrored changing attitudes towards race in America. 

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Music: Chaz Jankel - Pretty Thing