Now Hear This

As a longtime APPLE everything user who loves LOGIC, misses my circa-2005 ITUNES app and takes it for granted that if Apple had control over the electrical grid then the TV I bought it 2019 would no longer be compatible with the outlets in my apartment, I can't say I'm surprised that Apple Music's new hi-res streaming option isn't compatible with Apple's own high-end earbuds. I LOL'd when I read this and moved on with my day. The real electrical shocker in Apple's Monday morning announcement was the sticker price: zero dollars and zero cents, as in, Apple will begin offering streaming music in a variety of hi-res formats (as well as in DOLBY's "immersive" Dolby Atmos format) for not a penny more than its subscribers are already paying. The quality's going up; your monthly $9.99 bill is not. Less than an hour after Apple's announcement, AMAZON, which already offers hi-res streaming as a $5 premium add-on to its regular subscription, matched Apple by scrapping that add-on. Henceforth, hi-res streaming will be $9.99/month at Amazon, too.

This is great news for subscribers, or, at least, for subscribers with an external digital audio converter, the right earbuds (or speakers) and discriminating ears, which isn't everybody, but that's a different rantnrave for another day. Let's just stipulate for now that music sounds better when music *sounds* better, and that the equipment can be as confusing for some people as the nomenclature, in which "lossless" music and "hi-res" music are two different things and lossless is a matter of opinion, and hopefully the streaming services will lead the way in educating all of us.

But what kind of news is this for artists, who want listeners to be able to hear their music the way they intended it, as the cliché goes, but who also want them to pay for it? Those premiums, whether it's the $14.99 QOBUZ charges for its hi-res offering or the $19.99 TIDAL asks for its hi-fi tier, represent one of the most concrete ways out of the fractions-of-a-penny royalty system that artists have been complaining about more and more loudly in recent months. More money in the subscription pool means more money in the royalty pool. Streaming providers have steadfastly resisted raising prices for their standard services (though Spotify, in recent months, has been experimenting with small increases). Hi-res streaming has long been viewed as one of the ways they could justify higher prices.

Is this the end of that particular dream for artists (and songwriters), or just a detour as services try to lure new users in? Is the bet that a low-priced hi-res tier will grow their subscriber bases enough to offset the discount? Are there enough users who care about hi-res in the first place to make that bet pay off? Or is the bet that the real profits, in the long run, will come from the hardware that Apple and Amazon, for example, are both invested in, as Music Business Worldwide's TIM INGHAM suggests? Is lossless music just another loss leader? Can labels and publishers claim some of *that* money? Is there a lossless music/lossless royalties ad campaign in our future? Would *you* pay more for better quality? Or is $9.99 an inviolable double yellow line, never to be crossed, even for a chance to hear that one percussion detail you never heard before?

Also, what would it sound like in this room?

Preyers

The Washington Post's investigation into PETER, PAUL AND MARY member PETER YARROW's long-ago conviction for sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl and his quiet, barely-noticed-at-the-time pardon by PRESIDENT JIMMY CARTER—it turns out there were other allegations from other girls—is a horrifying reminder of what was happening in the shadows of music and other industries long before the #MeToo movement helped bring it into the light. As a reminder of how much more light is still needed, here's an accounting of headlines from the past three or four days: T.I. and his wife, TAMEKA "TINY" HARRIS, are under investigation by Los Angeles police after two women formally accused them of sexual assault and drugging; T.I. and Tiny have denied the charges... SAVES THE DAY singer CHRIS CONLEY has publicly confessed to abusing and sexually harassing a fan who was 12 when they first met (but Conley denies "grooming" the fan). He is "truly ashamed and embarrassed by my abhorrent behavior"... MINISTRY guitarist SIN QUIRIN has left the band to "focus on my health," a year after two women said he had sexual relationships with them when they were underage. He has denied the allegations... The Australian music industry is responding to a research report that sexual harassment and assault are widespread in the business there and in New Zealand.

Rest in Peace

Country songwriter PATSY BRUCE, best known for co-writing "MAMMAS DON'T LET YOUR BABIES GROW UP TO BE COWBOYS." Her then-husband and co-writer, ED BRUCE, who had the first hit with the song, died in January.