For the Love of Money

Four billion dollars here, 16 billion dollars there, but is there enough to go around? It's not as if the music economy, like so many other economies, wasn't deeply divided before Covid, but the pandemic has done a hell of a job of bringing various divides into relief. The recorded music economy in general, and the streaming economy in particular, has had a booming year, while the live music economy has been hanging by a .010-gauge guitar string. But even within the latter sector, now that federal relief funds are finally trickling out to live venues (after an interminable wait), there are concerns that road crews are still being left behind. Veteran roadie SANDY ESPINOZA to Billboard: "We wear black on the stages so nobody sees us. That's great during a show that we're invisible. It's not so great during a pandemic." And now here comes YOUTUBE music chief LYOR COHEN with the news that his company paid out a mind-boggling $4 billion in royalties in the 12 months ending in March—but exactly how boggled your mind is will depend on how much of that $4 billion is headed in your direction. Cohen doesn’t break it down in his open letter; he says only that "artists, songwriters, and rights-holders" are the recipients. (Hint: R-H >>> A > S.) "The music business," EAMONN FORDE writes in Forbes, "will have more questions than YouTube has given answers for here." Here's one such question from a lengthy report on Artists in the Digital Music Marketplace, issued a day earlier by the WORLD INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY ORGANIZATION, a United Nations agency tasked with the protection and promotion of intellectual property: "Why does everyone in the streaming economy seem to be prospering except performers whose work drives it all?" The report, written by CHRIS CASTLE and CLAUDIO FEIJÓO, comes down squarely on the side of the creators, and recommends a new streaming music royalty that would be paid directly to "performers (and potentially to producers)" without going through labels or publishers. While it's hard to imagine that specific idea gaining much traction in real life, maybe it's meant more as fuel for a growing discussion on inequities in streaming remuneration, which has been the subject of a parliamentary inquiry in the UK and a robust online campaign called #BROKENRECORD. Is there a better way to divvy up the $4 billion pot of gold at the end of that fan-made video? Is $4 billion enough? What's the value of a song, and how does it compare to the value of the companies and platforms it makes possible?

Etc Etc Etc

The history of recorded sound in 3 minutes, narrated by singer/songwriter CERYS MATTHEWS, I promise you this is wonderful... Atlanta producer and licensing exec TAMMY HURT has been elected chair of the RECORDING ACADEMY's board of trustees, replacing HARVEY MASON JR., who stepped down when he became the Academy's president and CEO... What's the exact source of this spot-on '80s homage JOHN MAYER artwork and why can't you pin it down even though you're sure you know? Parallel Twitter threads courtesy NPR's POP CULTURE HAPPY HOUR and REDEF boss JASON HIRSCHHORN venture deep down a RICK SPRINGFIELD/RICHARD MARX/DON JOHNSON rabbit hole. Question #2: What's the last time you looked at an album cover? ... Has the NFT market collapsed?... SINÉAD O'CONNOR on her infamous appearance on SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE 29 years ago: "A lot of people say or think that tearing up the pope’s photo derailed my career.I feel that having a number-one record derailed my career and my tearing the photo put me back on the right track." (Plus an amusing and heartwarming story about two men who threw eggs at her as she walked out of 30 Rock that night, which did not end the way such things normally end).

Rest in Peace

Dallas singer/songwriter DARREN EUBANK... KRISHNASWAMI RAMACHANDRAN AZAD, drummer for the Denver bands Brothers of Brass and Stop Motion.