Lupe Fiasco, Not a Fan of His Most Recent Release, LASERS
Posted: March 9, 2011 Filed under: Connor McGann, Music Industry, rap | Tags: all black everything, complex magazine, hates lasers, Interview: Lupe Fiasco Hates His Own Album, lupe fiasco, record label, words i never said Leave a comment
Lupe Fiasco dropped a pretty big bomb recently in an interview with Complex, when he said he didn’t like his own album, LASERS, and he’s pretty neutral to most of the tracks. According to Lupe, his label put together most of the tracks, and as he went about his business touring and vacationing, they would periodically send him tracks. Instead of asking if he liked the tracks they would say, “you’re making this song”. Apparently Lupe was going to shelve the album and leave the label, but he decided to release it for the fans. Songs like, “The Show Goes On”, according to Lupe, are merely record label fabrications, and not his own creations. While in the past he has poured his blood and sweat into songs and albums, his latest album was different.
Lupe explained that many of the messages are the same, such as on songs like “Words I Never Said”, which was originally supposed to be a Drake-esque love song with a bridge, but later became a statement on world affairs and terrorism. Lupe was able to get what he wanted to get across at times through his lyrics, but apparently, thats about it. This album was created by a major label, using Lupe as a tool and he doesn’t seem too happy about it.
This is what I’ve been saying, artists don’t create a lot of the music people are listening to these days and its a sad and disgusting state of affairs. I feel for Lupe, he just came out and said, look, this was less Lupe and more millionaires and execs. just trying to make some money. While lyrically, he is a fan of songs like “Words I Never Said” and “All Black Everything”, thats about as far as his affection for the album goes, besides that, it seems like he could care less, he seems to have been more a collaborator on his most recent release, then the artist behind it.
You can read the interview here.
Here’s “Words I Never Said” and “All Black Everything”.
All Black Everything – Lupe Fiasco
Words I Never Said – Lupe Fiasco
Courtney Love Tore Up the Industry
Posted: March 7, 2011 Filed under: Connor McGann, Music Industry | Tags: copyright, courtney love, doll parts, hole, music industry, www.salon.com Leave a commentCheck out Courtney Love’s surprisingly well-informed, intelligent and relevant rant against the music industry, and the way major labels treat artists. Although the article is over a decade old at this point, it still makes a lot of sense. Courtney Love, despite being occasionally insane and violent, really has her shit together when it comes to bashing the industry, or at least she did at one point.
Courtney Love does the Math on www.salon.com
Doll Parts – Hole
Pay-What-You-Want Music Label Opens In Detroit – hypebot
Posted: March 4, 2011 Filed under: Connor McGann, Music Industry | Tags: beehive recordings, label, pay, record, want, what, you Leave a comment“This Detroit music label is a great example of disruptive thinking. When thinking disruptively, the goal is to flip assumptions on their head.
Case in point: Beehive Recording.
All the music is free. All the recording and art services are free. Just donate what you can.
The new album won’t be released in three months; it will be released in three days. Fans create an account on the site and download all the music they want.
Just pay what you can.
Popularity is measured by downloads, not sales. Founder Stephen Nawara wants to put his city’s music on the map and ignite a tribe around the music he loves.
So he started a music label, thought disruptively, and flipped industry clichés around. Nawara releases one single a every week, twenty-five singles so far.
The site has 600 site members. 3,500 – 4,000 downloads have occured to date.
Artists get free distribution, recording, photography, and recognition, among other things. We realize this isn’t a new idea, but the interview below is interesting.”
-Kyle Bylin
via Pay-What-You-Want Music Label Opens In Detroit – hypebot.
Will Lady Gaga End The Music Business? (Again…) – hypebot
Posted: March 3, 2011 Filed under: Music Industry Leave a commentAn interesting write up on how the music industry is on the verge of death yet again, and what Lady GaGa represents, as rich, music execs. living in the past, and refusing to give in to anything revolutionary or hopeful, are trying to squeeze their final couple million out of her fame obsessed, music as a secondary factor, stint in the celebrity spotlight.
Will Lady Gaga End The Music Business? (Again…) – hypebot.
Humanitarian/Singer-Songwriter Skyler Jett Talks Preserving Music for Future Generations
Posted: February 28, 2011 Filed under: Connor McGann, Music Industry | Tags: future, generations, hypebot, industry, music, preserve, skyler jett Leave a commentI found this article posted by hypebot.com intern Hisham Dahud, which features Skyler Jett, who has worked with artists such as Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder and Whitney Houston, discussing how to preserve music for future generations. Jett has become disenchanted with the focus on image in music industry, lack of music education and the strong digitalization of the music composition process. Personally, I love electronic instrumentation, but I wouldn’t complain if some straight up guitar, bass and drums rock’n’roll took over the charts.
Jett has an idealistic, and different approach to the preservation of the music industry which steps away from all the hysteria of free downloads and record label models and corporations, back to the basic foundations of instruments, pure talent, and education. Read his discussion on preserving music on hypebot, here.
You Want A Good Awards Show, Check Out NME
Posted: February 25, 2011 Filed under: Music Industry | Tags: NME, winners Leave a commentHere’s a list of this years winners…
The full list of winners is as follows:
Best British Band: Muse
Best International Band: My Chemical Romance
Best Solo Artist: Laura Marling
Best Live Band: Biffy Clyro
Best New Band: Hurts
Best Album: Arcade Fire – The Suburbs
Best Track: Foals – Spanish Sahara
Best Video: My Chemical Romance – Na Na Na (Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na)
Best Festival: Glastonbury
Best Dancefloor Filler: Professor Green – Jungle
Best TV Show: Skins
Philip Hall Radar Award: The Naked & Famous
Teenage Cancer Trust Outstanding Contribution To Music: PJ Harvey
John Peel Award For Innovation: Crystal Castles
Godlike Genius: Dave Grohl
Best Film: Inception
Hero: Lady Gaga
Villain: (British Prime Minister) David Cameron
Most Stylish: Brandon Flowers (The Killers)
Least Stylish: Justin Bieber
Worst Album: Justin Bieber – My World 2.0
Worst Band: Jonas Brothers
Hottest Man: Matt Bellamy
Hottest Woman: Alison Mosshart (The Kills)
Best Album Artwork: Klaxons – Surfing The Void
Best Blog: Hayley Williams (Paramore)
Best Book: John Lydon – Mr Rotten’s Scrapbook
Music Industry Criticizes Performers for Accepting Money to Perform from Brutal Libyan Dictator
Posted: February 25, 2011 Filed under: Connor McGann, Controversy, Music Industry | Tags: Beyonce, blackface, dictator, french, lybia, magazine, mariah carey, million, new years eve, paid, perform, photoshoot, qaddafi, usher Leave a comment
If you were a millionaire, possibly a billionaire, would you take a million more, to entertain the family of a brutal dictator and murderer?
In part due to Wikileaks, information recently came out connecting artists such as Beyonce, Usher and Mariah Carey to the brutal Libyan dictator Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, through a series of shows and parties for his family and friends. For example, in 2009, Carey recieved $1 million to perform 4 songs for Qaddafi’s four sons during New Years Eve on the Caribbean island of St. Barts.
The following year, Beyonce and Usher each performed on the dictator’s payroll, for undisclosed amounts. The Lybian dictator has been stepping up the brutality as of late, ordering soldiers to open fire on innocent civilian protesters, possibly killing as many as “thousands” according to a UN official.
Recently, prominent members of the music industry have been stepping up and criticizing the artists who performed for Qaddafi and his family in the past. The Rolling Stone’s online article on music industry reactions to the news can be found here.
Beyonce has also been criticized lately for her “blackface” photo shoot for French magazine L’Officiel Paris in a tribute to Nigerian musician Fela Kut.