PapCaviar

The top story in today's mix, CHARLIE HARDING's reported essay for Vox on how playlists have all but swallowed albums—and quite possibly a few artists' careers—is a great read on the unintended, but very real, consequences of a seismic shift in music consumption. It's also a reminder of why some legacy formats that don't get much attention in our very online world remain crucial to the pop music economy. EMILY WARREN, an A-list songwriter, contrasts two kinds of pop success for Harding, who co-hosts the excellent SWITCHED ON POP podcast. Warren "told me that she knows songwriters with hundreds of millions of streams and Grammy nominations who still drive UBER for a living," Harding writes. "But she says that a songwriter with just two big radio hits is set up to retire." Is that the price of progress? Or the horrible cost of neglecting our infrastructure for a few beats too long?

'Brutal' Youth

It's unclear if the troubled prom queen photo OLIVIA RODRIGO used to promote her short film SOUR PROM is a homage to HOLE's 1994 album LIVE THROUGH THIS or to Hole's inspiration, BRIAN DE PALMA's 1976 horror film CARRIE, or if maybe Rodrigo, who's a little younger than "Live Through This" and a lot younger than "Carrie," is acknowledging/winking at both of them (or if she's doing a meta homage by copying Hole's gesture of copying De Palma). It also doesn’t completely matter. Either way, the "DRIVERS LICENSE" possessor and singer is honoring a long tradition of album covers and other pop artwork that serve as homage, parody or critique of imagery that came before. Sometimes the homage is openly acknowledged but often it is not, leaving fans to discover and draw connections for themselves, as they'll inevitably do.

Also sometimes, one of the (more or less) original sources will take offense, like Hole's COURTNEY LOVE, who took to both Instagram and Facebook to call out Rodrigo and to request flowers and a note of explanation from the teen pop star. That, too, is part of a long-running tradition of creators whose first instinct is to protect their creations, no matter their own sources. An understandable reaction. The raised eyebrows of the elders is a vibrant part of the pop ecosystem.

My favorite response in L'Affaire Sour Patch comes from ELVIS COSTELLO, who took to Twitter to chime in after a random tweeter piled on by calling out the obvious similarities between "BRUTAL," the opening track on SOUR the album, and Costello's "PUMP IT UP." "This is fine by me," Elvis wrote. "It’s how rock and roll works. You take the broken pieces of another thrill and make a brand new toy. That’s what I did. " He then used hashtags to succinctly praise/criticize himself for ripping off BOB DYLAN and Dylan for ripping off CHUCK BERRY. "Brutal," it's worth noting, sounds nothing like Berry's "TOO MUCH MONKEY BUSINESS." Borrow and re-borrow enough times and chances are you'll wind up with something original again. A copy may get you a call from a lawyer, or a snarky tweet. But a copy of a copy of a copy of a copy? That's how new art movements are born.

Etc Etc Etc

ARIANA GRANDE, in partnership with the portal BETTER HELP, is giving away $1 million in therapy—a small step, she herself acknowledges, but an important one for a culture that says it wants to be more proactive in administering mental health care... In a 24-hour auction that starts at 8 am ET today, A TRIBE CALLED QUEST is selling a 1.5% share in the sound recording royalties for its first five albums. It will be sold as an NFT, with a starting price of $35,000. ROYALTY EXCHANGE is hosting the auction... Did the WOMEN SONGWRITERS HALL OF FAME induct the wrong KLYMAXX?... A beginner's guide to vintage metal t-shirts.

Rest in Peace

Canadian songwriter/producer TIM THORNEY.