This piece is part of Rolling Stone‘s second annual Grammy special issue, released ahead of the start of first-round voting on October 22nd. For the issue, we spoke to some of the year’s biggest artists about the albums and singles that could earn them a statue come January, delved into …
Read More »UnitedMasters' Latest Selling Point: Cash Advances and Paying Artists On Time
Independent music distribution service UnitedMasters is adding advances and instant royalty payments to its artists, the company tells Rolling Stone, bringing in two significant financial tools for music creators to get money quicker to help fund their projects. UnitedMasters has partnered up with music financial tech companies beatBread to bring …
Read More »Portishead Release ABBA Cover Through SoundCloud's Fan-Powered Royalty System
Portishead are commercially releasing their 2016 cover of ABBA‘s “SOS” for the first time, exclusively through SoundCloud‘s fan-powered royalties, the two groups tell Rolling Stone. The influential trip-hop act originally recorded their version of the Swedish pop hit for a film soundtrack; until now, it could only be found on …
Read More »Here's How White and Male the Execs of the Music Business Are
The University of Southern California (USC)’s Annenberg Institute, which conducts annual research on gender and race in the music business, released a new report on Tuesday. It details the gender and race makeup of executive-level managers across the music business — and unsurprisingly, the Institute’s findings suggest significant room for …
Read More »One Year Later, Anita 'Lady A' White Is Still Looking for Justice
Anita “Lady A” White was worried she was going to be erased. Now she worries it’s already happened. One year ago, the black Seattle blues singer had to enter an unexpected battle over her own name when the country trio formerly known as Lady Antebellum announced they’d change their name …
Read More »A Boxing Startup Is Turning Ariana Grande Bops Into 'Punch Tracks'
2 Chainz is standing on the deck of an 82-foot yacht off the coast of Miami, beating the shit out of something. It’s a futuristic-looking heavy bag one might expect to see in the gym of an alien spaceship. The stunt, filmed last month, appears in new content for Liteboxer …
Read More »Ryan Tedder on NFTs: 'I'm Doing the Exact Opposite of What I've Done My Entire Career'
Ryan Tedder is launching a series of non-fungible tokens Tuesday, making him the latest high-profile musician to jump on the booming trend. Tedder, the OneRepublic frontman and a prolific songwriter for the likes of Beyoncé, Adele, and Taylor Swift, partnered with Swiss street artist Bustart on his NFT drop. Bustart …
Read More »'It Rescued Our Entire Plan Overnight.' How Joe Biden Will Help Rockers Retire
Last month, bassist Tony Garnier was worried — and not just because there were still no 2021 tour dates on the books with Bob Dylan, his boss of more than 30 years. Garnier, who’s been a member of the American Federation of Musicians since 1973, had heard — correctly — …
Read More »All the Weird Music Cameos in 2021 Super Bowl Ads (So Far)
Mike Myers and Dana Carvey may be rock heroes in the Wayne’s World universe, but they’re not the only party-starters to nab key roles in Super Bowl commercials this year. In the concert-less pandemic era, many artists are eager to strike brand deals — and several of them scored big …
Read More »Universal's Bob Dylan Catalog Buy Is About Survival
In the 24 hours since Bob Dylan sold his peerless songwriting catalog to Universal Music Group for a nine-figure sum, discussion has, understandably, centered on Dylan himself. I keep hearing the same two questions: Will this affect the way fans digest his music? (No, but expect to hear his hits …
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