What would you do with a $15,000 advance or, say, a $15,000 bank loan if you were a little-known Australian rapper trying to get the world's attention? Studio time? Equipment? Expenses to live on while writing your first mixtape? A trip to LA? INSTAGRAM memes? Duh. It's the memes, and it isn't as easy as it sounds, as rapper YNG MARTYR explains to Rolling Stone's ELIAS LEIGHT. That initial spend was preceded by a year and a half of research during which Martyr reached out to Instagram meme accounts, figured out how much he'd have to spend and experimented with memes of his own. One of the payoffs, according to BLACK 17 MEDIA's TYLER BLATCHLEY, who signed Martyr as those debt-funded memes were turning into tens of millions of SPOTIFY streams: "We're not spending any money on advertising"... What would you do if you were a major label trying to drum up renewed interest for the world's reigning deceased pop star? A remix album? Movie syncs? Holograms? Just let nature take its course? Something something TIKTOK influencers? Duh. May I direct your attention to the first several clips under the #EPICRECORDSPARTNER hashtag on TIKTOK? H/T this story by Motherboard's GITA JACKSON on the newest hotspot for heritage artist promo and marketing. Man in the mirror dreaming of having the next DREAMS, it would appear. (Helpfully, TikTok remains legal in the US and hasn't been sold and, judging from recent court rulings, is going to stay that way even if the US government remembers that just a few months ago TikTok was one of America's greatest national security threats)... The RECORDING ACADEMY is far from the first TV or event producer to ask the hosts of its shows to work for free, but those other producers aren't the Recording Academy and they aren't public advocates for better pay for creators. This is a terrible look for the Academy. If radio stations and streaming services need to pay music creators better than they're currently paying, then doesn't the Recording Academy need to pay actors better than nothing at all for the work of hosting a three-hour livestreamed event where nearly all of next month's GRAMMY AWARDS will be given out?... NINES, MAHALIA and HEADIE ONE were among the winners at England's MOBO AWARDS, which returned Wednesday after a two-year hiatus... "DAVE GROHL (who is not Jewish) and FOO FIGHTERS producer GREG KURSTIN (who is Jewish)"—credit/blame SPIN for that introduction—will celebrate the eight nights of Hanukkah, which starts tonight, by releasing one cover per night of songs by artists who are Jewish... Long-running Hanukkah celebrant YO LA TENGO, which consists of one member who is Jewish and two members who are not Jewish, is stripping down its annual eight-night run of Hanukkah shows to a single show to be livestreamed from the GREENE SPACE in New York on Dec. 18. As usual, there'll be a surprise opening act, a surprise comedy set and, if all goes according to a tradition, a Jewish-themed encore. The ticketed livestream will benefit the NATIONAL INDEPENDENT VENUE ASSOCIATION... RIP JASON SLATER, MARGARET WRIGHT and SEAN MALONE.