Irreconcilable Dissonances

When is a license not a license, a sale not a sale, a stream not a stream, a synch not a synch and radio not radio? When someone has to pay for them, obviously. In his Dada Drummer Almanach, DAMON KRUKOWSKI lines up all the conflicting ways companies like TIKTOK, SPOTIFY, DOMINO RECORDING CO. and their lawyers have tried to explain what a stream could not (and must not) possibly be, and his head explodes. Actually, it doesn’t explode. Instead, he calmly suggests “we need a new streaming royalty for this new technology.” But your head, I make no promises. A short, simple, confusing, maddening, essential read on an industry’s irreconcilable dissonances.

Up for the Down Stroke

More funny math, but at least this one makes sense: NETFLIX’s loss (nearly 1 million subscribers in Q2 2002) is actually Netflix’s gain (that’s a lot fewer lost subs than the company expected), and it’s also, it appears, the music streaming industry’s gain. While music executives have taken pains to point out the fundamental differences between TV/movie streaming and music streaming, which is generally based on non-exclusive content intended for repeat listening, investors have been more likely to link the two. And after the release of Netflix’s good bad news, Spotify’s stock went up 2.9% in after hours trading, Billboard reports. SPOT shares are still down significantly year-to-date.

Dot Dot Dot

More mid-year numbers: R&B/hip-hop remained the dominant sector in the US market in the first half of 2022, based on “equivalent album units” as measured by LUMINATE. It has a 27.64% market share, slightly lower than its market share a year ago. But the fastest-growing genres are Latin, children, new age and what Luminate calls “world”... You know who *does* pay a decent royalty to songwriters/composers? TV shows and the networks that carry them. In Monday’s episode of BETTER CALL SAUL (this is not a spoiler), GUS FRING walks into an upscale restaurant bar where an unseen pianist is playing what turns out to be a 36-year-old piece by TED GIOIA, the jazz critic, author and “Honest Broker” whose essays we frequently share here. Good sync for a deserving human... Would it be asking too much to leave BEYONCÉ’s album sequencing alone? Yes, of course it would. H/T JOE COSCARELLI of the New York Times for digging up an album-listening annoyance that isn’t completely unique to streaming but which streaming makes a little too easy and a lot too annoying. At least you can still find the original sequencing of Bey’s B’DAY at streaming services along with the re-ordered “Deluxe” version. Good luck finding the original version of 4, though. (Also apparently being surreptitiously edited after the fact: episodes of STRANGER THINGS)... Wait, what?!? GRAMMY voters are instructed to consider "the artist's performance" above all else when voting for Best New Artist. Songwriting is to be "a secondary consideration," and an optional one at that. And production is to be ignored. Seriously... Coming to Texas in spring 2023: “the world's first ever university course on the work of HARRY STYLES.”

Rest in Peace

Jazz/R&B bassist MICHAEL HENDERSON was touring with Stevie Wonder in 1970 when Miles Davis saw him onstage and told Wonder, “I’m taking your f***ing bassist.” Henderson, who had never heard of Davis, spent the next six years as a core member of his band on classic albums including “Jack Johnson,” “On the Corner” and “Agharta.” A true crossover star, he would go on from there to a gig as the bassist and lead singer on jazz fusion drummer Norman Connors’ 1976 album “You Are My Starship” and its R&B hit title song; the same year, he launched a solo career as an R&B crooner that produced a long string of hits of his own including “Take Me I’m Yours” and “Wide Receiver." He died Tuesday in Atlanta... Cuban pianist and songwriter CÉSAR "PUPY" PEDROSO (Spanish-language link), who co-founded the iconic Cuban dance band Los Van Van; in later years, he led the group Pupy y los que Son, Son... Mexican experimental rock singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist VALIS ORTÍZ, whose bands included Manitas Nerviosas and Bam Bam... Nashville rock singer NOLAN NEAL, who competed on "The Voice" and "America’s Got Talent."