Item A: The "global value of music copyright" continued climbing, to $28 billion, in 2017, a year whose figures have just come into focus, which seems about right for an industry that likes to pay out next year for last year's work. The figure comes courtesy of SPOTIFY's chief economist, and depending on which side of the room you're sitting in, you could argue this is proof that songwriters and publishers are well served by the way the music biz works right now, or, conversely, that songwriters and publishers have more leverage than they've ever had to change the way things work right now. This is the chicken and the egg of good times in the music biz. The egg is made of drum machines and the chicken is learning how to dance. Item B: While Spotify and other streaming companies paid artists and labels more in 2018 than ever before, they did so while paying them a slightly lower percentage of revenues, which is to say, they kept more for themselves, according to some complicated calculations by TIM INGHAM of MUSIC BUSINESS WORLDWIDE and ROLLING STONE. No matter which side of the room you're sitting in, you'll disagree with some of those calculations and you'll be at least a little angry. Item C: In an open letter that's unusually personal in tone, several generations of songwriters, from NILE RODGERS and BABYFACE to MURDA BEATZ, FRANK DUKES and LUDWIG GÖRANSSON, say Spotify has "used us and tried to divide us" in its attempt to challenge increased royalties for songwriters in the US. This emotional plea comes on the heels of a #CancelSpotify hashtag that a group of songwriters has taken to social media, and it's another sign, says VARIETY, of "how badly the PR war is going" for Spotify. In the past couple of years, songwriters have united and mobilized in a very public way, and they've achieved some important victories, including the passage of the MUSIC MODERNIZATION ACT last year. If you thought that was the end of a long battle, you may have underestimated the movement. It was the beginning. Does Spotify, whose leverage is more than 200 million users worldwide, at least some of whom think that app on their phone is where all music comes from, have an equally emotional response up its sleeve? Does it back down and save its leverage for a bigger fight? Is this fight bigger than we've given it credit for? How worrisome are the streaming company's current profit margins? How promising are its future ones? Sometimes, like the lawyer my mother wishes I had become, I ask these questions even though I already know the answers. Not this time. I'm sincerely asking... "OLD TOWN ROAD" has entered BILLBOARD's Country Airplay chart, thanks largely to BOBBY BONES' morning show. And the painted ponies, or horses if you will, go up and down... This duet between BEN HARPER and AMERICAN IDOL contestant ALEJANDRO ARANDA—a lifelong fan and regular customer of Harper's family's guitar shop in Claremont, Calif.—is palpably different from any performance I've seen on "Idol." I like it for a million reasons, but what immediately struck me is how Aranda, a gifted singer and guitarist, doesn't sound like he's competing for attention, for points, for notes, or for anything. He lets Harper take the lead for most of the song, and adds harmonies and guitar fillips where he can—like an actual duet partner. It's organic and beautiful. They could be busking. More like this, please... The most interesting thing about this story, if you ask me, isn't that SIMPSONS producers found the real-life NED FLANDERS metal band, but that there's a real-life Ned Flanders metal band. (Also, "Okilly Dokilly" is a terrible spelling. BART SIMPSON would be proud)... RIP WOWAKA.