Hi music industry: Read BILL WERDE's BILLBOARD column on what it might mean—and what it already does mean—to be in partnership with China in light of what's been going on this week with the NBA, BLIZZARD and SOUTH PARK. China is a big music market with potential to be much bigger, and Chinese giant TENCENT reportedly is in talks to buy a significant stake of UNIVERSAL MUSIC GROUP at the same time it's sanctioning the NBA over a tweet. That hostile basketball diplomacy "should be a massive wake-up call," the director of SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY's Bandier program writes. "What will Universal do when LADY GAGA decides to share her thoughts on human rights violations in China and Tencent plays hardball?" There may be no bigger opportunity, and no bigger quandary, facing the global music market in the next several years, and Werde does a nice job of laying out the complicated stakes. A crucial read... P.S. And what happens when, say, Lady Gaga records another LGBTQ anthem? Chinese-owned TIKTOK has a checkered history with LGBTQ content... On day two of its look back on the decade in music, PITCHFORK turns its focus to long players and, perhaps, anoints FRANK OCEAN artist of the decade, with two albums in the top 10 including poll-topper BLOND(E). Hip-hop's AOR kings, KANYE WEST and KENDRICK LAMAR, each have two in the top 20. You are neither surprised nor mad. You may, however, find yourself wondering, after perusing the list, if anyone made metal, jazz or country records in the past 10 years. You may also wonder if it’s a tad soon to call that (very good) LANA DEL REY album that came out six weeks ago the 19th best album of the 2010s; on the other hand, the whole list is going to need a do-over in four or five years anyway (see also: all lists of anything), so why not? But on this I'd like to think we can agree: RIHANNA's ANTI, at #12, is 10 or 11 places too low... UPROXX checks in on the decade, too, and places Kanye, Kendrick and Frank in the top four, with a woman named TAYLOR in their company... NETFLIX today drops the first four episodes of its hip-hop competition show RHYTHM + FLOW, which, unlike any other major music talent show, is looking for artists who can both write and perform (and, while they're at it, make videos). Think of "Rhythm + Flow" as AMERICAN IDOL but recorded inside clubs (in LA, New York, Chicago and Atlanta) with contestants who are competing to be actual American idols circa 2019, and with judges who are CARDI B, CHANCE THE RAPPER and T.I. (as opposed to, say, NICK JONAS, who has just been announced as the newest judge on THE VOICE). Congrats to our friend JEFF POLLACK, who's an executive producer... Imagine if APPLE controlled the electrical outlets in your house and every couple years you had to replace all your lamps. And your refrigerator. And TV. And toaster. And mixer. And turntables... Always always always go for the long-term royalties over the upfront cash... Oh my god I love this story about the "World's Greatest Soul Record Dealer," JOHN ANDERSON, who died last week at age 70. The Glaswegian got his start in the '60s by traveling to the US and buying 60,000 obscure soul singles to ship back home, and spent the rest of his life trawling for unwanted vinyl in the US and selling it in the UK, where it was very much wanted. "There’s no real way to emphasize just how much present-day collections world-wide and the knowledge of America’s soul recordings would otherwise be lost or diminished," writes the DAILY BEAST's MICHAEL ROBINSON... RIP also MOLLY DUNCAN, BEVERLY WATKINS and PAUL BADURA-SKODA.