Record Labels are Way Too Big: Link Drop
A round-up of the most important stories in music right now
Can’t Get Much Higher’s link drop is a monthly series for paid subscribers where I discuss art, news, and stories that have gotten me thinking and laughing in the last 30 days. This month, we talk about the Latin music boom, Frankie Valli’s absurdly high voice, detecting AI-generated music, and so much more.
Musical Trends to Keep an Eye On
“How Record Labels Came Back from the Dead and Turned into Tech Platforms” by Matt Stoller (Big)
I frequently talk about how the music industry is dominated by a few giant companies. You might think this is less of a problem as recording and distribution has become democratized, but antitrust advocate
makes the case that monopoly power for the largest labels is still a big problem, especially as they’ve been involved in an endless thread of mergers and acquisitions:Expanding the scope of music that the majors control further enhances their ability to control how the wider music industry works. And what they dictate, according to artists and companies that are not part of their universe, comes at the expense of a more open and competitive industry. Not only should the major labels be broken up into smaller constituent labels, but every purchase they make should receive regulatory scrutiny.
“Luminate strikes music data partnership with Fortnite maker Epic Games” by Daniel Tencer (MusicBusinessWorldwide)
Luminate is the company that powers Billboard, the most important chart company in music. Recently, they announced that they would begin tracking music streams from within the popular video game Fortnite. I’ve never written about this, but video gaming is not only a huge industry — in fact, it’s much bigger than music in terms of revenue — but many young people find music from within games. It’s nice to see that Luminate will now be accounting for this.
“Latin Music History: Spanish-Language Albums Are Nos. 1 & 2 for the First Time on Billboard 200 Chart” by Keith Caulfiend (Billboard)
There’s always been a connection between Latin music and the American pop charts, but in the last decade that connection has become even stronger. The proof of that connection is the fact that two Spanish-language albums were at the top of Billboard’s album charts for the first time ever. I expect to see more of this in the coming years.
Musical History to Write Home About
Musora is a company that operates a variety of online music-learning platforms, including Drumeo and Pianote. They frequently pop up on my TikTok feed for making famous artists play along to songs that they’ve never heard before.
For example, you can hear Megadeth’s drummer create a track to a song he’s never heard before: The Killers’ “Mr. Brightside.” You can see the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Chad Smith do the same for a Wu-Tang Clan song. Nevertheless, my favorite of these videos is below. It features an insanely talented pianist named Jesus Molina making Nickelback sound like a jazz fusion band.
Last week, I somebody mused on Twitter, “Saw an HVAC unit that had ‘REZNOR’ branding and thought, ‘ha-ha, wouldn’t it be funny if Trent Reznor [of Nine Inch Nails] was an HVAC nepo kid whose industrial sound was inspired by high-output air conditioning units.’” Though I think we’ve begun applying the term “nepo baby” too widely, this is kind of true. Reznor’s grandfather started an industrial heating and cooling company that bears the family name.
In the middle of the 1960s, Frankie Valli & the Four Seasons recorded four songs under the name The Wonder Who? One of those songs was a cover of Bob Dylan’s “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right” where Valli sings so high that it sounds like the performance had to have been a joke. Some sources claim it was indeed a joke, but regardless of the seriousness, it is a thing to behold.
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