Money 4 Nothing

This week? Heavy Hitters. As you may (or may not) have heard,  journalist/Daniel Ek tormenter/friend-of-the-pod Liz Pelly is making waves with her wonderful new book “Mood Machine: The Rise of Spotify and the Costs of the Perfect Playlist.” It's easily the best thing yet written about the company at the center of modern music, insightfully reconstructing how Spotify's shifting interests and policies have remade how we listen, who we listen to, and what they get paid. To get a deeper perspective on both the book and the histories it emerges from, we also called up David Turner—of the late (lamented) Penny Fractions—pulling him out of retirement for one last big music + capitalism score. Together Liz, David, and Sam dive into everything from the economics of ghost artists and the aesthetics of vibes-based listening to the intentional destruction of cultural context in the streaming age. It's a conversation that helps clarify the singularity of Spotify culture—and allows us to better detach its operations from the meaning of digital music. Come for the playlists. Stay for what they've done to you.   Buy Liz Pelly's book "Mood Machine" Subscribe to our Newsletter!  

Look. Times are dark. So this week, we decided to tackle a somewhat lighter topic and look into Drake's remarkably tone-deaf lawsuit against Universal Music Group—the label to which both he and (beef opponent) Kendrick Lamar are signed. In essence, Drake alleges that UMG used all their influence to make Kendrick's Grammy-winning diss track “Not Like Us” a viral mega-hit. Which, like…yeah. Of course they did. They are in the business of producing viral mega-hits.   While the context of the lawsuit—namely, multiple violent attacks on Drake's house—is quite serious, it's hard not to find the whole thing ridiculous. After over a decade of industry machinations, Aubrey really had the nerve to sue UMG for…hurting his feelings? [Yes, it's actually for defamation of character, but in the court of public opinion, those two are pretty much synonymous] Despite this, the actual content of the legal filing is fascinating—offering readers a guided tour of exactly what UMG is doing out there, hosted by someone who really knows how the sausage gets made. Payola? Selective copyright enforcement? Contract negotiation hardball? You betcha. THEN: Saxon and Sam get a little loose and take a jog through the Grammys. Album Of The Year? Sure. But also…who did you have for Immersive Audio?   Subscribe to our Newsletter!

The second Trump administration will impact pretty much everything, but we decided to take some time and focus on the specific conjecture of industry + culture + technology that is AI. After all, when Biden came to office, LLMs were just really starting to get going—while the last 12 months have seen a mind-bending set of developments, both in terms of corporate activity and technical possibility. Given the rate of both change and adoption, the next 4 years will almost certainly be crucial, potentially locking us into a long-term pathway with both these machines AND the companies that make them. So…what might happen? And how will it impact music, given the massive copyright lawsuits currently working their way through the courts? Saxon and Sam put on their tinfoil hats, got out their crystal ball, and…did their best. The resulting conversation moves from big (contradictory impulses between protectionism and libertarianism within the Trump coalition?) to bigger issues (War? Stock market crash?) to the generally intangible (shifting relationships between Americans and the ideologies of cultural authority?) Come for a connect-the-dots conversation that links Elon Musk and AGI to the possibility of earning a living by making art. Stay because at least we're all doomed together. Subscribe to our Newsletter! For more background, check our our episode on AI + Copyright Lawsuits in Music.

Well folks—here we are. And while the second Trump administration will impact pretty much everything, we decided to take some time and focus on the specific conjecture of industry + culture + technology that is AI. After all, when Biden came to office, LLMs were just really starting to get going—while the last 12 months have seen a mind-bending set of developments, both in terms of corporate activity and technical possibility. Given the rate of both change and adoption, the next 4 years will almost certainly be crucial, potentially locking us into a long-term pathway with both these machines AND the companies that make them. So…what might happen? And how will it impact music, given the massive copyright lawsuits currently working their way through the courts? Saxon and Sam put on their tinfoil hats, got out their crystal ball, and…did their best. The resulting conversation moves from big (contradictory impulses between protectionism and libertarianism within the Trump coalition?) to bigger (War? Stock market crash?) to the generally intangible (shifting relationships between Americans and the ideologies of cultural authority?) Come for a connect-the-dots conversation that links Elon Musk and AGI to the possibility of earning a living by making art. Stay because at least we're all doomed together. Subscribe to our Newsletter! For more background, check our our episode on AI + Copyright Lawsuits in Music.

As you might have noticed, we spend a...fair bit of time talking about the three labels at the heart of modern music—and tracking what their unprecedented centralization has done to the industry. And while that's important, it's only part of a far larger trend, one that cuts across pretty much all of the culture industries. Crucially, this is a process, not just of mergers or consolidation, but of financialization—a profit-driven effort to increase global capital's hold over the workers who create culture.   But…how did this happen? When did it happen? And how has it impacted not just the firms that produce music and films—but the actual music and films themselves? To help us through this complex history, we're joined by Andrew deWaard, author of “Derivative Media: How Wall Street Devours Culture,” taking us through a wide-ranging conversation about derivatives, the geopolitical implications of "financial discipline," mergers, acquisitions, board-member kickbacks, 30 Rock, play-listing Drake, modern cultural analysis, and more. Come for the doomerism you know and love. Stay for a better understanding of how our corporate overlords get it done.     If you want to read Andrew's book--it's free and open source here! Also some sick charts to accompany the discussion.   Subscribe to our Newsletter!   Music: Crumb - Ghostride

This past January, Universal Music went to war. Or at least, it tried to. Shocking both listeners AND artists, the major label announced that it was cutting ties with TikTok, the short-form giant, over payout rates and copyright infringement. Its artists (and publishing)—completely pulled from the platform. T-Swift viral dances? Tragically silenced. The breakup lasted until May, when (in a profoundly opaque statement), the two corporations suddenly announced they had come to terms. The fight was a massive gamble for both sides—a test to see, when push came to shove, who really had the leverage in one of social media's most important relationships. But…what actually happened? And what, if anything, was the fallout? To learn more, we talked to Kristin Robinson, a senior writer at Billboard, and the author of the excellent "Machine Learnings" newsletter. Fractured solidarity between artists and labels? The impenetrable veil of music biz secrecy? Slowed and reverbed copyright infringement? The crushing power of monopoly exerted, step by step, against indy labels? All that and more. Subscribe to our Newsletter! Music: Kyozo Nishioka - "Gypsy Song"

After an eternity of millennial performers with a chokehold on the charts, we've finally seen the emergence of a new cohort of gen-z icons. Chappelle Roan and Sabrina Carpenter (building on the foundation laid by Billie + Olivia) are suddenly everywhere—headlining festivals, topping the charts, defining the zeitgeist. You might call it a moment of generational turnover…except for the fact that precisely zero cultural lines are being drawn. Instead, the newest wave of big-tent pop is, quite intentionally, for everyone—teens, college kids, aging millennials, gen x-ers still watching SNL, etc. To celebrate the return of the mainstream (and to suss out the role played by the major labels who had…started to miss it), we put on our media theory hats and start investigating. How do careers function now that new music doesn't need to be new? Has digitally based fragmentation started to produce its opposite? Is the culture industry—with all of its coercive power—back? Come for the socio-technical implications of the Chappelle timeline. Stay for what it says about the nature of post-post-modernity.

How did streaming change music? Not like how did it change the music industry (we talk about that plenty, obviously). And not how did it change bitrate. But how did streaming change the nature of the music that you listen to? How and why and does it matter that you now pay a limited rate for an unlimited amount of music? Within capitalism, how does it matter that "streaming" functions under a fundamentally different system of copyright and finance and technology than…say buying? And how does that all service data collection, listening habits, personalized feeds and everything else? These questions are at the heart of Eric Drott's wonderful new book “Streaming Music, Streaming Capital,” which starts to grapple with the fundamental questions of what streaming is exactly—and what it's done to us. Subscribe to our Newsletter! Buy Eric Drott's Book "Streaming Music, Streaming Capital"

NÜ metal sucks. Right? It's what critics have screamed ever since the taste-defying mashup of funk-metal, rap, industrial, and post-hardcore stormed onto the charts in the mid ‘90s. When bands like Slipknot, Linkin Park, System of a Down, Korn, or Limp Bizkit dominated the charts, the take was muted by raw success. But the second the acts slipped…the entire movement was (more or less) decried as tasteless trash—the worst of rockism, utterly beyond the pale. Why though? Could the last truly successful (from a chart perspective) rock movement REALLY have no redeeming qualities? And if it did…why hasn't anyone been thinking about them? Well—one hero has. It's Holiday Kirk, the “CEO of NÜ Metal,” whose remarkable twitter-project “crazy ass moments in nu metal history” has brought welcome attention back to the style—and shone a spotlight on a new generation of artists reimagining the sound. We talk to Holiday about why he fell (back) in love with the style, the mixture of dumb and brilliant that defines its output, And why Korn were the best sellouts of all time. Then we get heady, and try to think through the political implications of the genre's white male rage—and what it means that it was so thoroughly rejected by the tastemakers of the Obama era. Come for a validation of the musical trauma of throwing away your copy of Hybrid Theory. Stay for a discussion of the class, politics, taste, and the meaning of Rock in American history. Subscribe to our Newsletter Music: Uniform - "Permanent Embrace"    

This summer, the other shoe finally dropped on Ticketmaster/Live Nation. After decades of complaints by everybody from Pearl Jam to Zach Bryan (and after several years of increasingly intense Post-Swifty scrutiny), the Justice Department has filed a lawsuit accusing the massive firm of being a monopoly. In it, lawyers argue that the company is built around size and market-share—allowing it to harvest vast profits, prevent the emergence of meaningful competition, and damage the interests of both artists and fans. If the DOJ wins? That monopoly might get broken up. And what happens then is anybody's guess. Given the importance of live performance to the music industry, all of this is…a really big deal. Which is why we were delighted to talk all things restraint-of-trade with Kevin Erickson, the director of the Future of Music Coalition. Crucially, it's not just that any major regulatory move could shatter the long-standing, “convenience-fee”-driven status quo. Turns out, Ticketmaster/Live Nation has its fingers in a LOT of pies. Even the lawsuit itself could go a long way towards revealing the hidden influence that the powerful company has exerted on everything from touring schedules or merch practices to advertising cultures and venue sustainability. Discovery? Can't Wait. Come for platform monopolies slowly strangling your favorite local venue. Stay for…that too, because it's SUPER real. But also for a pragmatic perspective on our musical ecosystem—and the rare chance to change its trajectory for the better.   Subscribe to our Newsletter Music: King Tubby - "African Roots"

In recent months, AI companies like Suno and Udio have been in the news for the incredible promise of their text-to-tunes tech. Just type in a few phrases, and… an original piece of music of your very own, created in seconds. It's a revolution! At least that's the narrative being pushed by the world of venture capital, which has thrown hundreds of millions of dollars at the fledgling firms. To better understand what these companies are promising—and what they could do to the music industry—Saxon and Sam think through some possible futures, from the mind-bendingly good to the vast universe of echoing slop.     But even if the tech is there, the world might not follow along as smoothly as the CEOs would like. In particular, the major labels, incensed at what they believe was the wholesale theft of their copyrights, have launched a series of lawsuits aimed at kneecapping the wannabe unicorns. This past week, Suno and Udio responded in startling fashion. Yes, it turns out, they did indeed train their models on recorded music. But it wasn't stealing, because… the recordings were already online? At stake is more than just the future of not having to learn Garageband in order to make mediocre house. Instead, the battle over audio is shaping up to be a defining moment for generative AI more generally—a conflict with billions on the line. Come for our new theme song. Stay for the techno-social dynamics of copyright within sonic capitalism.

Live music continues to evolve in our post-covid, pre-bird flu world—and nothing even approaching a new normal has yet to appear. To try and get a handle on the complexities of a constantly-moving situation, Saxon and Sam decided to go...both big and small. By small, we're talking about the ticket sales for the Black Keys (very canceled) stadium tour—one of a raft of recent underselling events (lookin' at you Coachella) that have kicked up all manner of concern among the music press. What's happening? Well, it's some combination of the internet, the resale market, rapacious monopolies, inflation, and...mimetic vibes? That all? We discuss. And if that's not heady enough, we try to wrap our heads (if not our eyes) around The Sphere—James Dolan's energy-draining, future-baiting, Knicks-helping monstrosity in Las Vegas. Is it the logical endpoint of digital-age concerts? Berghain for Baby Boomers? A utopian use of finance capital in a dark age? An inevitable tax write-off? And...who can actually fill it? Come for The Sphere in the age of mechanical distraction. Stay for The Orb.   Subscribe to our Newsletter  

Although rap currently stands at the center of American music, for much of the genre's history, its relationship to the charts was...fraught. Radio was notoriously reluctant to play the brash new style, and major labels took over a decade to embrace its commercial potential. So how did hip hop make it? How did it grow from a regional fluke into a global phenomenon? To learn more, we spoke to Amy Coddington, the author of "How Hip Hop Became Hit Pop: Radio, Rap, and Race." Her work recovers rap's tortuous path through the financialized complexity of the '80s music industry—navigating around established Black radio stations that refused to play it, as a key part of multi-racial dance music coalitions, and through eye-catching MTV videos that reimagined the white-coded mainstream. The results push past the "authentic-or-not" dichotomy that defines hip hop history, revealing how rap was shaped—and driven forward—as much by pop trifles as hardcore truth tellers. After all...you STILL can't touch this.

Sure—Fans have always driven popular music. That's what it means to be popular in the first place, you know? To have fans? But if you look around today's sonic landscape, it feels…different out there. Forget clubs and message boards. Fandoms now have entire worlds, complete with enemies, economic strategies, and complex referential mythologies—dense communities increasingly integrated into the major label money machine. To try to understand what has changed, Sam talks with Monia Ali, from the excellent Fandom Exile newsletter. They explore the cultural genealogy of contemporary fans, tracking how a set of practices built around conventions, Buffy, and shipping percolated into the musical universe, reshaping what it means to listen—or to love—your favorite artist. The difference between Revealed and Experienced Truth? The political economy of fan fiction? The centrality of LiveJournal? It's all there—from One Direction to the world or, at the very least, a Swiftie near you.    Subscribe to our Newsletter Subscribe to Fandom Exile Music: Jon McKiel - "Still Life" 

Drake vs. Kendrick was about more than personal insults or verbal one-upmanship—it was a referendum on the most dominant figure of the last decade of rap (Drake), as narrated by the only classicist with the critical clout and popular cred to issue the judgement. But while the conflict was ultra-current, the chosen forum dates back to the very beginning of rap, a symbolically charged space tied deep to its genetic code. What does a rap battle mean? How has it evolved? And why does it carry so much importance? To explore the question, Saxon and Sam go through the history of rap beef, tracing changing conventions and their relationship to both the music industry and the aesthetic structures of feeling that surround it. Then, they try to figure out what made this battle so intense—moving from Drake as 21st century Bowie to the "contentification" of music in the social media era. The Bridge to Gucci to the Grahams….with a few detours.    Subscribe to our Newsletter!      

This past March, Shigeichi Negishi passed away at 100. While you might not know his name, you've certainly enjoyed the musical world he helped create. Negishi has long been credited as the inventor of Karaoke—pulling together consumer electronics, post-work drinking culture, and a love of pop tunes into an era-defining mix. A deeper dive, however, makes the story more complex (and honestly more interesting). Negishi was actually just one of a handful of simultaneous inventors. Far from a distinct commercial product, Karaoke might be better understood as the necessary, albeit somewhat-off-key, shadow of the modern music business. To celebrate this legacy, Saxon and Sam dig into one of the most fascinating elements of our contemporary musical…practice? Industry? Culture? Karaoke has a way of blurring all those the lines. And so, in addition to the history, we explore the big questions: What does it mean to imagine yourself a star? Why do we want to perform Katy Perry songs in front of friends and strangers? How has Karaoke's meaning in American culture changed over time? Where does all this fit into the history of folk music—and what does it mean for our social-media future? A first pass, and definitely not a final say. Just hoolllddd onttooo that feeeellinnnnn....   Subscribe to our Newsletter

Dear Listener, Have you found yourself coming down with more consistent cases of nostalgia lately? Do you consider yourself a millennial? Well, if so, you might be soon buying a pricey concert ticket to one of the hottest trends in live music: The 20 year Anniversary Album Tour. Yes, your favorite album of 2004 (or perhaps 2014) can soon be heard live, in its entirety, front to back at a concert venue near you. But why is this becoming such a trend? Is it the pre-packaged social media ready presentation? Or that Millennials got deeper pockets now and will shell out big bucks on tickets (and a babysitter) to hear their favorite album played live? Or is it just Hollywood risk-aversion bleeding into the touring industry? As a jumping-off point, Saxon and Sam discuss an excellent recent article on Passion of the Weiss wondering on this very subject and then suss out whether Earl Sweatshirt really is touring ...too...much?    Read: We Outside: Congrats, Your Favorite Album is Old Enough to Go on Tour by Pravash Trewn   Subscribe to our Newsletter!      

This week, we take a roundabout tour of the platform power that drives our musical landscape. First up is Neil Young, whose one-man stand against Spotify for its support of Joe Rogan just ended in….well…total defeat. We explore why Ol' Neil was unable to escape the musical monopsony that defines our streaming age (with a few detours into the terrors of lo-fidelity audio and the dream that was Pono). Then, we look at what Universal Music has been up to, more specifically, by examining a set of recently announced partnerships with Spotify (they have videos now?) and K-Pop powerhouse Hybe (everyone, quick, into the WeVerse!) If platforms were already inescapable, what does it mean when the major labels start doubling down on them? Come for the secret, dollar-drenched sound of Scooter Braun and Taylor Swift burying the hatchet. Stay for how we LOST THE UNIVERSE. Subscribe to our newsletter! Music: Chromatics - Fade to Black

Much of the time, it feels like almost nothing could shake up the streaming status-quo. This isn't one of those times. Over the past week, Congressperson Rashida Tlaib (with support from the Union of Musicians and Allied Workers) released the Living Wage for Musicians Act—a fascinating piece of legislation that (if passed) would completely transform the contemporary music industry. Like…really REALLY change things, in ways both obvious and subtle. While it's hard to see an immediate path towards it being signed into law, the act demonstrates a genuine hunger for large-scale structural change—and helps to lay out an imaginative framework for what that could look like. We dig into the details, but also explore what this newfound sense of possibilities might mean for the future—a question that also connects to current, racially-coded attempts to ban music-biz-hotbed Tik Tok. Connecting such seemingly disparate events, we wonder what this emergent energy means, and where it could go next. Come for the 12-Million Stream Cap—stay for the beautiful dream of major label transparency.   Subscribe to our newsletter! Music: La Sécurité - "K9 Freaks Mix (Freak Heat Waves Remix)"  

Is rock dead? Not according to Imagine Dragons. You know the band with 10 different billion-streamed songs? The one that's sold 46 million records? You've definitely heard of them, but....have you ever really HEARD them? Probably not. And that's because despite being the most successful band of the past 25 years, Imagine Dragons has received next to no critical attention. Not even a proper 0.6 take-down, let alone a serious examination.  And that's honestly a mistake. Because the group has a tremendous amount to tell us—about our changing musical tastes, about the psychic landscape of modern America, and about the trajectory of rock in a post-genre future. Come for Sam listening to the entirety of the ID catalog for the sake of science. Stay for a new perspective on the merits—and singular focus—of an act that's defined an era of angst.   Subscribe to our newsletter! Follow us on Twitter!

This past week, negotiations broke down between Universal Music—the biggest and most powerful of the three major labels—and Tik Tok, the world's most viral social media platform. The result: Universal's music has been pulled—almost entirely—from the mimetic app. It's a show of raw muscle the likes of which we haven't seen for years, and the implications are fascinating. But how did it come to this? Why are two of the biggest forces in the music business in a battle that neither should have wanted? To better understand the story, we dig into the payout structures that define the conflict, the inter-sectoral strategies that shaped it, and the negotiations that led to everything falling apart. Once again, it's a fight about the future of sound—and which type of business is going to own it. Come for everyone talking about AI without anyone talking about AI. Stay for a KILLER data-science research project.   Subscribe to our newsletter! Follow us on Twitter!

Like the rest of the increasingly small world of music criticism, we were shaken by the news that Pitchfork had not only been more-or-less gutted by publisher Conde Nast, but pulled into GQ. Gentleman's Quarterly. Of all possible things. G-freaking-Q...? We're not gonna lie—this one feels grim. But, what kind of grim? Events split the team, with Saxon spinning out a narrative of corporate confusion and brand-based failure, while Sam tried to pull some (desperate) fragments of sense from the seemingly nonsensical plan. Is music criticism lifestyle reporting? Is there an economic base for the record review? Will a thousand newsletter flowers bloom? This week we have questions, not answers. And definitely no good vibes. Insert your own "Wintour is the cruelest season" joke here.   Subscribe to our newsletter! Follow us on Twitter!

New year, same old music business. To get things kicked off right, we circle back to check in on two of our favorite industry players, and things….well, we hate to tell you, but things aren't GREAT, you know? Regarding Hipgnosis, the once high-flying music fund is very much in hot water—conflicts of interest flying, shareholders revolting, and board-members unceremoniously shown the door. Who could have possibly seen this coming? Certainly not us… And then Spotify, where the times—or at least the streaming payout structure—are a-changin'. On the surface, new rules regarding monetization (under 1000 plays? No cash for you!) might seem relatively minor, but they reflect a more fundamental set of shifts within the power-structures of the industry. Everyone is gearing up for a fight about the next 25 years of music—moves like this are the first steps towards a new world order. And if recent events are any indication, Spotify doesn't seem like it'll be the one calling the shots… Music: Black Lips - "Bone Marrow" Subscribe to our newsletter! Follow us on Twitter!

When we heard that BMI, an organization designed to collect money on behalf of songwriters, had decided (on its own?) to drop its non-profit status and go for the cash, our response was confusion. Like—can they even do that? What does that even MEAN? But then BMI sold themselves to a private equity fund. Backed by Google. And now...we're concerned.   To get a better sense of what's going on, we dig into the history of BMI—exploring how it emerged from battles between publishers, Hollywood, and the rising forces of radio, and what role it has played in the  industry ever since. A fair and neutral arbiter, with no interests of its own...but of course. Then we try to understand what impact the privatization might have on the future of music. Bundling other people's copyrights? Maybe. A foot in the door for AI legislation? Probably. Come for an argument about why songwriters should borrow tactics from the mob. Stay for tomorrow's IP battles today.    Re-Listen: "Consent Decrees" Episode    Subscribe to our newsletter!   Follow us on Twitter!

This time Sam and David Turner dig into the financially rocky patch in which Patreon—the name that launched a thousand podcasts—has recently found itself. Looking at the longer trajectory of the fan-funding platform, they try to piece together how it moved from a replacement for YouTube ads to a supposed panacea for the value collapse of musical (and cultural) production—and try to understand the broader implications of the division it (implicitly) draws between the filthy-lucre of commerce and the pure connection of community. Come for Sam not knowing the basics of indy-streamer cultology. Stay for the fundamental question of whether fandom is a zero-sum game.    Subscribe to our newsletter!   Follow us on Twitter!   Subscribe to Penny Fractions!

Over the summer, New York's premier EDM festival Electric Zoo descended deep into the Fyre Fest zone—that magical place combining blatant rip-off and profoundly unsafe conditions. Purchased by by owners of Brooklyn mega-club Avant Gardner the previous year, the latest edition of the three-day rave took the Bold and Forward Thinking step of mixing abrupt cancellations and incredibly poor crowd control with rampant overselling, producing a potentially deadly crowd-crush and an NYPD investigation. Fascinated and horrified, we decided to dig a bit deeper to figure out…who ARE these guys? And what in the name of Frankie Knuckles is their deal? As we dug into the often insane specifics (Superfund Halloween Rave, Best Friends With Mayoral Staffers, Etc.), we realized that the question shed light on a deeper issue: as dance music and nightlife become big business, how do are events and venues balancing the desire for profits and the demand for safety? And could the finance money pouring into the space change things for the worse? Read:  Clubbing is Becoming Big Business. What Does This Mean for Dance Music?  - Resident Advisor    Subscribe to our newsletter!   Follow us on Twitter!   Subscribe to Penny Fractions!

Hi folks! As part of our collaboration with Penny Fractions, we are bringing you the first episode of a new format—David, Saxon, and Sam, thinking through our moment in an off-the-cuff convo about current events. We hope you like it!  The music industry was recently shaken by news around beloved marketplace/web-magazine Bandcamp, where half of the staff was recently let go (or, as press release from definitely-not-shady new owners Songtradr put it "After a comprehensive evaluation...50% of Bandcamp employees have accepted offers to join Songtradr”). It's…not great. Unfortunately, it's also not entirely unexpected. To try to get our heads around what's happening, we talk union-busting, the decline of music criticism, the death of tech optimism, the rise of the influencer economy, the zombie-like survival of grifting, and what the future might hold for a synch-happy tech-bro Bandcamp. Somedays, it feels like it's their world, and we just live in it. Today might be one of those days.  Subscribe to our newsletter! Follow us on Twitter! Subscribe to Penny Fractions!

First off—big news in Money 4 Nothing-land. We've just OFFICIALLY joined forces with the amazing Penny Fractions newsletter to create a new and almighty Voltron (Sailors Moon?) of critical coverage on the music industry. We'll be rolling out exciting new projects over the next few months, so please stay tuned! And now, on with the show…    When news broke that a wave of Scott “Scooter" Braun's clients were leaving him—including mega-names like Ariana Grande and Justin Bieber—it seemed like it might be the beginning of the end for the most successful music manager of the 2010s. But…who is Scooter exactly? And why should anyone care?   While most know Braun for his era-defining beef with Taylor Swift, we decided to go a bit deeper, exploring his remarkable ascent amid the shell-shocked chaos of the music biz during the early Obama Era. As we dug in, we realized that Scooter's success actually provided a fascinating vantage-point through which to understand the distinctive era that ran from early Youtube to the launch of Tik Tok—a moment of disruption, change, and platform power that we might just be coming out of. Come for the Asher Roth (yeah, THAT Asher Roth). Stay for the T-Swift conspiracies.    Subscribe to our newsletter! Follow us on Twitter! Subscribe to Penny Fractions!

If you listen to essentially any piece of contemporary music, you're likely—more than likely—to hear the influence of Bob Moog. Moog invented the first modular synthesizer, a device for creating electronic sound simultaneously more powerful and more accessible than anything that had come before. Initially adopted by the avant-garde, Moogs were quickly scooped up by the elite of rock and pop, laying a heavy sonic signature on the 1970s—and pretty much much everything that has come since. Think...Floyd. Think Stevie.    To learn more, we talked to Albert Glinsky, the author of “Switched On: Bob Moog and the Synthesizer Revolution,” the definitive biography of the man behind the tones. And the story? It's wild. Featured topics include: home-grown Theremins, electronics stolen from Con-Ed, Japanese industrial conglomerates, hippy rip-off albums about the zodiac, open-faced breadboards, John Cage & Co, and the determinative power of the keyboard. How an inveterate tinkerer, ensconced in upstate New York, remade the world.      Subscribe to our newsletter! Follow us on Twitter! Music - Panic Girl - "Washed Ashore"

Machine Learning. It's in the news, and increasingly, it's in our tunes. Somehow. Maybe? Given the ravenous hype cycles of tech, it can be extremely difficult to separate the real, the potentially real, the squint-and-maybe-you-can-see it, and “the SEC wants to speak to you now” of it all. To try and get a better sense of how AI is factoring into the present-day music industry as it actually, you know, exists, we talked with Cherie Hu of Water and Music. We discuss production tools, major label plots, social media possibilities, and push-button production, and tried to figure out the ways these technologies could be revolutionary—or more of the same. To put it another way? Come for the change—stay for the continuity.  subscribe to our newsletter!   Follow us on Twitter!   Music - Man Rei - "I Don't Want Money"

On Nov 5th, 2021, the first night of Travis Scott's Astroworld festival collapsed into horror—a terrible crowd crush at the Houston event killed 10, and reportedly injured thousands. In the wake of the catastrophe, fingers were pointed at Scott, at Live Nation, at the Police, at Rap music, at “the kids.” And then? Silence. We didn't really know what happened, and no details emerged for a long, long time. Until now. Coinciding (suspiciously, perhaps) with the release of Scott's new album “Utopia,” a grand jury decided that no one was criminally liable for the deaths—and the Houston PD released their entire investigative report. How did this happen? Who was at fault? And what would stop it from happening again? To try and answer these questions, Sam and Saxon dug deep into the documentation, trying to understand the fatal breakdown. And the answers…well...they aren't reassuring. Far from a riot or a panic, Astroworld seems like it mostly went according to plan. The problem was that the plan was fundamentally flawed—dependent on inexperienced workers, unfamiliar collaborators, and shaped by a fear of the crowd it was supposed to protect. Ultimately, Astroworld seems increasingly like a microcosm of the rotten, financialized state of American life. And while a slight sliver of hope might exist in antitrust activity, it doesn't seem like things are going to get better anytime soon. The opposite of Utopia.   subscribe to our newsletter! Follow us on Twitter!    

This week, the crew digs into two timely stories providing some new perspective on this crazy little thing called music. First, they dig into the rising influence of so-called “super fans”: folks who consume content from their favorite artists along 5 or more distinct channels. According to recent research they are not just a thing—they're increasingly driving the industry. What does this rampant physical consumption tell us about the digital world? Does it follow the endless trend for infinitely increasing commodification? Or does its very irrationality suggest…an off ramp? THEN, a discussion of one of the biggest labor stories in a year full of them: the Hollywood strikes! Saxon and Sam dissect some of the macroeconomic forces behind demands from writers and actors, and try to puzzle out why this all went down now. More topically, they also wonder whether anything like this could ever happen for music—and think through what a lack of labor representation means for the industry shaping conversations of the future.   Music: Lona Mesa - "Spaceman"    "Time to Break Up Hollywood"  - Matt Stoller   subscribe to our newsletter! Follow us on Twitter!      

"Ambient Music" has seen a renewed interest for reasons that we can only speculate. 2016 election? Increased atomization of individuals? The multi-headed hell-scape of pandemic + climate change + economic woes? Sure. Whatever the reason, the past decade as seen a revival of soundscapes and synths that is both helping us escape from the toils of our everyday and also, more darkly, making us more functional subjects in the service of Capital. Starting from the conceptual ideas of John Cage and Eno's late modernist visions illustrated by 'Music for Airports,' Sam and Saxon attempt to trace a history of contemporary Ambient with a look towards alternative possibilities and potentials that go beyond chill-out rooms and curated mood playlists. Also discussed: the merits of 17th century Harp Music, homemade iPhone field recordings, and the liberating benefits of being inefficient.   Music: Emily Sprague - "Water Memory" Subscribe to our newsletter! Follow us on Twitter!      

Early this year, K-pop was the site of some truly Succession level drama, as Hybe (the company that launched BTS) attempted to steal SM Entertainment (a longtime mainstay of the industry) out from under Kakao (a Facebook + Spotify level media conglomerate). The story had it all: legendary businessman refusing to go quietly, alleged stock market manipulation, patricidal nephews, alleged corruption, Wall Street know-it-alls in WAY over their head, and at least one climactic stock-offering battle.    Now that the smoke has cleared, what did all the fuss tell us about Kpop? To learn more, we called Kara, host of the Idolcast, and our resident expert in all things K & J Pop. With her help, we explore the roots of this story, from Korea's Bobby Brown being arrested on stage to the SM production machine that launched generations of dazzling stars. Ultimately, we tease out a picture of an industry in transition, as a world-conquering cultural model begins to look for the next thing—as its current structure starts to show its age. Come for the incredible saga of Lee Soo-man, our new favorite media mogul. Stay for the commoditized communities coming soon to a fandom near you.   Music: James K - "Ultra Facial"    subscribe to our newsletter! Follow us on Twitter!    

It used to be so simple. There were the major labels (all 6 of them, or whatever) and there were the independents or "the indies." Over the 80's and 90s, a position initially adopted out of economic necessity grew into a distinctive cultural mode, with a host of aesthetic and political dimensions. Now things have changed and being "indie" no longer means the same. To understand this shift, we take a look at the Merlin Network, powerful grouping of independent labels that banded together to grab a seat (or at least, a half-a seat) at the streaming table. Now responsible for roughly 15 percent of the modern music economy, Merlin has been a tremendous success, allowing independent labels like XL, Domino, Beggers Group and others spanning the globe to continue to thrive in an increasingly hyper-concentrated, almost entirely digital industry. But at what cost? We think through what independence can even mean within platform capitalism—and how the lessons of the past can be repurposed (if at all) to our multi-media future.  Subscribe to our newsletter! Follow us on Twitter!  

Everyone is talking about AI—and that includes the music biz. No one is disputing the wide-ranging potential of these new tools, but is our rapidly-approaching deep-fake future really (or at least, FULLY) being driven by technology? Sam and Saxon offer a dissenting voice to the cloud of excitement hovering around our up-and-coming machine overlords—arguing that the entertainment landscape we end up with isn't actually going to be determined by technology in and of itself. And if recent major disruptions in music tell us anything, it's that the actual power relations within the industry need to be considered when thinking about the new potentials of machine learning. Come for the skepticism, stay for the audience participation and pushback. Ignore the technical difficulties. Live from the Wavelengths Summit in Brooklyn, New York!   Subscribe to our newsletter! Follow us on Twitter!

Five years ago, Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams finally lost the (musical) lawsuit of the century. Their song, “Blurred Lines,” had been an inescapable summertime hit, a wedding-DJ-standby, and the center of a very Obama-Era debate over whether it was creepy to have a song called “Blurred Lines” in the first place (it was.) Now, it was also found to have violated IP owned by Marvin Gaye's estate, specifically the classic song “Got To Give It Up”—a brilliant track that VIBED a lot like “Blurred Lines” without sharing much, if any, direct musical DNA. It was a bombshell. In the years since, the music industry has changed. Songwriters became more cautious, backroom deals were struck, catalogs got bought, and everyone accused Ed Sheeran of stealing their songs.  But why was the lawsuit actually decided in favor of Gaye? And what does that tell us about the legal structures that shape modern music? To get a better sense, Saxon and Sam dig into the details of the case, unpacking the epically unmoored nature of modern copyright, the invisible impact of sampling, the music biz negotiations that followed the ruling, and the AI possibilities hurtling at us all. Come to hear us try and remember what 2013 sounded like. Stay for some beautiful—and we mean beautiful—depositions.

In the digital economy, recommendation algorithms get…a LOT of attention. To some, they're the special sauce behind everything from Spotify's personalized playlists to Tik Tok's “For You” page. For others, they represent a dark, vibe-generating demiurge slowly sapping music's social power. But for all the discussion of how these programs are transforming our world(s), there's surprisingly little analysis of what—exactly—they are, or how they're meant to work. Answering these seemingly simple questions is the goal of Nick Seaver's new book “Computing Taste,” which explores the identities, goals, and practices of the programmers behind these technologies. Far from Machiavellian manipulators, the coders he describes are surprisingly idealistic music-lovers, desperately trying to analyze an almost infinitely complex cultural practice. Their failures to do so—and the ideologies they adopted as a result—would have enormous implications for the development of digital music, remaking genres, redefining listening, and shaping the platforms at the heart of the modern industry. Put it this way—we'll definitely never look at a "Discover Weekly" playlist the same way again.

No one knows anything about the streaming economy. Not Really. That's the stark message at the heart of Public Knowledge's new whitepaper “Streaming in the Dark,” which catalogs the remarkable “wall of NDAs” operating at every level of the modern music industry. The relationship between labels and streaming services? NDA. The relationship between distributors and streaming services? NDA. and on and on and on. As a result, the most important questions about how the business works—for example... are artists making more or less money? They can't even be posed, let alone answered. To learn more, we spoke with Meredith Rose, the lead author on the report. It's a conversation that moves from the historical roots of our current mess (consent decrees anyone?) to what could be done to begin making a change. Come for wild facts about Lady Gaga's contracts. Honestly—stay for them too. This system is nuts. 

For this episode, Saxon and Sam check in on Spotify, which is…not in great shape. Even in the best of times, the company was handcuffed to the majors, and threatened by mega-sized competitors like Apple & Amazon. And these, my friend, are no longer the best of times. But it's okay! They'll get...faster! And more efficient! And, um, remake their homepage? That'll do it. Definitely.    Meanwhile, the majors are starting to make noise about the need to change the streaming ecosystem. It used to be about the MUSIC, you know? Now it's all playlists and independent distributors and fake musicians and false clicks…or something like that. But the more things change, the more things stay the same, financially speaking. We dig into why Universal Music is thinking about ripping up a system that it (more or less) set up in the first place, and what that tells us about the power structure of the industry—and where it might be heading. Come for Saxon's love of Midnight Oil—stay for a discussion of how this weird, change-filled moment could open a potent space for artistic activism. 

In the '90s, a remarkable sound was being developed in Houston—its cavernous drums, booming, crawling vocals, and distinctive, hiccuping rhythms reflect the indelible influence of DJ Screw. During the latter half of the decade, the hardworking musician produced hundreds if not thousands of tapes, mixing regional classics with on-the-fly freestyles to develop a new template for southern rap. While Screw's life was cut tragically short, his musical style has lived on, influencing everything from Drake and A$AP Rocky to the entire "slowed and reverbed" digital community.   But what was it about Houston that made Screw's career possible? What was it about TAPES that made Screw's career possible? To find out more, we talked with Lance Scott Walker, whose astounding oral history, "DJ Screw: A LIfe in Slow Motion" stands as the definitive account of this sonic trailblazer. Digging into urban histories, analog theories, and business practices, this episode explores the world that made Screw—and the world that Screw made.   Subscribe to our newsletter! Follow us on Twitter! Music: DJ Screw - "My Mind Went Blank" Screwed Up Records      

The success of YouTube has been inextricably linked to the music business. Initially a remarkably effective streaming pirate, recent years have seen the site pivot to industry ally, paying out millions in royalties for the copyrighted material played on its platform. But who gets the money? And how? And…who is making sure it goes to the right people? These are the questions opened up by Billboard journalist Kristin Robinson in her fascinating discussion of a remarkable YouTube scam that saw a handful of little-known Phoenix producers claim millions of dollars in royalties from many of Latin music's biggest names. The mere possibility of the scam reflects the opaque complexity of a mega-system that turns user eyeballs (and the ad dollars that follow them) into artist revenue—a machine that's designed to keep the platforms wealthy, with little regard for anyone else. Come for the Lamborghini—stay for an exploration of how tech giants have managed to remake the world (of copyright, but ovbi not JUST of copyright) to fit their needs. Read Kristin Robinson's article on Billboard Subscribe to our newsletter! Follow us on Twitter! Music: Sauna Youth - "Modern Living"

It was revealed just this past week that basically all of Reggaeton is being sued. No, really. As you may or may not know, the massively popular genre from Latin-American and the Caribbean is actually based mostly on a few Jamaican riddims (the instrumental background or “rhythm” in contemporary Jamaican music). Now the production duo of Steely & Clevie, who wrote the riddim behind the massively popular early '90s hit "Dem Bow" by Shabba Ranks, want their bag for the riddim's use in Reggaeton over the last…oh…three-plus decades. The lawsuit includes Luis Fonsi's “Despacito” (currently sitting as the most watched video on YouTube with a cool 8 billion plays), forty Daddy Yankee tracks, and a whole slew of other major Reggaeton hits including...Justin Bieber? So, Sam and Saxon thought they'd dive into all the reasons why this is a huge deal, and dig beyond just the big names being indicted, but consider things like when a very localized music and culture hits international markets and thus, a whole new set of laws around copyright. Also, the complexities of riddim culture in Jamaica, the role of streaming has played in Reggaeton's popularity, and why Dancehall never really reached the promised land of crossover success.   Subscribe to our newsletter! Follow us on Twitter!

The music industry is becoming increasingly disenchanted with Tik-Tok, finding it difficult to bend the wildly popular app for its own profitability...let alone find the next mega-star. Does that mean we might see the big three start to put the squeeze on Tik-Tok for dipping into its massive catalog without much of a payout? It worked well with Spotify for Lucian Grainge and co. But can the same sort of profit be siphoned? Also, Sam and Saxon dive into the the coming A.I. apocalypse. Well, okay, maybe its not doomsday but AI-generated music (and artists) are already here and will continue to be ever present. But what will it look like? Will it be perfectly crafted generated playlist to suit every mood? Or will AI beats be relegated to Big Room saturday nights at DER KLUB near you? If that's not enough we got a masked, AI-generated artist named MELON and a conspiracy involving The Cramps. We'll explain.   Subscribe to our newsletter! Follow us on Twitter! Music: Ronnie Cook - "Goo Goo Muck"  

Taylor Swift made headlines recently by grabbing all top 10 spots on the Billboard Hot 100 chart — a first in its 64 year history — with the release of her latest record Midnights. Cool. Good for Taylor and her Swifties. But….what does that actually mean? You might think it's a simple answer, but actually the Billboard charts are a complex beast with a long and winding history that didn't even start in music. On this episode, we ask how the charts help us narrativize music in a consumerist society, revealing that the reality it supposedly reflects has often been constructed by arbitrary calculations, new technologies and the manipulating fingers of the major labels. Along the way we think on what it can also tell us about the ruthless capitalist practices of the big box store, and how the charts have mirrored changing attitudes towards race in America.  Subscribe to our newsletter! Follow us on Twitter! Music: Chaz Jankel - Pretty Thing  

The modern music industry is defined, in large part, by major labels and centralized digital services. To try and imagine a world without (or at least around them), we've been looking backwards to the 1980s, when a thriving underground economy enabled a remarkable flood of American rock. If one label could be said to define that moment, it would be LA's SST Records. Founded in Hermosa Beach by Black Flag guitarist Greg Ginn, SST would spend the decade releasing an unbeatable string of albums from acts like Hüsker Dü, the Minutemen, Soundgarden, Sonic Youth, St. Vitus, and Meat Puppets. To try and understand how SST did it—and why it more or less vanished by the turn of the 90s, we talk to Jim Ruland author of Corporate Rock Sucks: The Rise and Fall of SST Records. Come for discussion of Spot, the best punk producer of all time. Stay for a takes on semi-thriving undefground economies , megalomania, and “weeding out.”

Our good friend David Turner celebrated five years of Penny Fractions earlier this month with a live show at Nowadays. On stage, David was joined by our very own Sam Backer along side heavy-hitters Liz Pelly and Cherie Hu. Enjoy this live recording from the show as the crew run through everything you'd expect from a M4N discussion on the current state of the music industry: criticisms, hot takes, laughs, shade, shout-outs...oh and lollipops. Subscribe to our newsletter! Follow us on Twitter!

It's a tale as old as Nirvana. A band (ideally punk or punk influenced) forms and gets some buzz. Major labels swarm. The kids sign on the dotted line…and are promptly thrown to the wolves. Fade to black. And while that often-repeated story isn't exactly false, it doesn't do much to capture the shifting dynamics that shaped the economies of rock over the 90's and 2000's—an era when the relationship between independent artists and the major label mainstream was central to American musical culture. Luckily for us, we have Dan Ozzi, whose excellent book “Sell Out: The Major Label Feeding Frenzy that Swept Punk, Emo, and Hardcore, 1994-2007” is a vital guide to a complex and frequently oversimplified moment. We talk Green Day and At The Drive In, Thursday and Jimmy Eat World as we try to figure out why major labels threw so much money at emotionally-literate post-hardcore bands when there was still a bumper crop of Nu Metal—and how those practices shifted as the internet began to remake the industry. Talk about understanding in a car crash, amirite?   Subscribe to our newsletter! Follow us on Twitter! Music: Jets to Brazil - "Chinatown"    

In the past few months, the insane flood of money that has been flowing into the purchase of music rights (and really, into financial and tech related firms of pretty much all stripes) has begun to slow down. Crazy what rising interest rates will do, huh? These changes have prompted a wave of takes about the potential collapse of a host of music rights firms that overpromised, overpaid, and now seem poised to underdeliver—Hipgnosis, the industry leader, first among them. But…is all lost for these companies? We dig into the ways in which, profitable business model be damned, the sheer weight of capital in this sector may have already begun to bend the industry in its direction—and explore the mechanics that ensure the money probably won't dry up anytime soon. PLUS: Future sold his catalog? What does THAT mean? Can it tell us something about the…uhhh…future...of songwriters, major artists and the alternatives it could create for a music career?     Subscribe to our newsletter! Follow us on Twitter! Music: 2003 Toyota Corolla - "2008 Toyota Corolla"    

You might know Damon Krukowski from his role in the groundbreaking indy band Galaxie 500. Or maybe you've listened to his podcast, “Ways of Hearing” or read his excellent newsletter, or his widespread journalism.  More recently, however, he's put on another hat, as an influential rabble rouser for Union of Musicians and Allied Workers. A new group that emerged from the disruptions of Covid, UMAW has worked to change the conversation about everything from streaming and touring to major label contracts. To get a sense of how the organization started—and where it's going—we spoke with Damon, exploring how the monopolies that control the music industry have begun to force artists to collaborate, and what that newfound solidarity might allow them to accomplish. Come for a new understanding of how the structures of Spotify threaten activism. Hang around for a reconceptualization of the digital factory floor.   This is the first in a mini-series tracing the rise and fall (and rise and fall and rise) of Music Unions in the U.S.--so be sure to stay tuned for more.   Subscribe to our newsletter! Follow us on Twitter! Music: Geoffrey Landers - "Camilla"      

A foolproof way to hit number 1 is what the Time Lords—AKA the JAMS, AKA the KLF—promised the readers of “The Manual,” their 1988 book. After all, they had just done it, with the insipid brilliance of their Gary Glitter Meets Dr. Who mashup “Doctorin' the Tardis.” And if they could do hack it, so could you, right? But if you did…would it even matter? Today, we're talking through the careers of Jimmy Cauty and Bill Drummond, following them on their remarkable journey into the dark heart of pop music as they moved from fake-rap pirates to stadium-ambient pioneers. And yet, even as the duo found fame, fortune and respect for their work, they discovered that all was (quite literally) ashes and dust, ultimately retreating into silence. Were they right? It's a beyond-wild true story that asks a terrifying question: What if music isn't enough?    Subscribe to our newsletter! Follow us on Twitter! Read "The KLF: Chaos, magic and the band who burned a million pounds" by John Higgs