The Worst National Anthem: Link Drop
Important stories, internet fights, and stupid debates
This is the monthly newsletter for paid subscribers where I round up important stories in the music world, argue about controversial topics, highlight some wild YouTube videos, and a whole lot more. I’ve been thinking about slightly reformatting this monthly missive to make it more fun and useful to you. This is my first try. Enjoy!
Copyright Always Wins
My views on copyright often confuse people. First, I think copyright terms should be dramatically shorter. This often makes people think that I’m anti-artist. I’m not. Long copyright terms have led to a variety of downsides and distorted incentives. That said, during the term, I think rights should be defined broadly and strongly. Music firms have been flexing that strength recently, especially in the world of AI.
The world of AI-generated audio is strange. As I detailed just a few days ago, despite intense backlash, artists are using the tools and listeners are sometimes enjoying the results. But it’s also leading to a slew of problems.
Deezer has noted that 50% of daily uploads (~90,000 tracks) are completely AI generated. Spotify has dealt with a similar issue, having to delete 75 million tracks of the same type. At Audiomack, a similar problem emerged last week. We saw a bunch of AI-generated uploads dumped on the platform, followed by a bunch of fake accounts being created to stream those songs.
This is where AI is a problem. From fake music by dead idols to the viral social media posts of nonexistent tours, it is being used to confuse listeners. At the same time, it is also being used to siphon royalties from legitimate artists. Of course, these problems existed prior to the advent of AI, but they are only becoming worse because of the speed and scale at which AI can operate.
But copyright, as I said, always wins. Labels, publishers, and advocacy groups have been fighting back hard against these forces, especially because it is affecting their bottom lines. And, slowly but surely, they are winning.
A German court recently ruled that Suno, the premiere AI music company, broke copyright rules at scale.
Anthropic just agreed to a $1.5 billion settlement to authors for infringing on copyright.
Albeit not related to AI, the major labels are finally taking action against Musi, the “'parasitic service [that] mimics licensed streaming platforms while pulling copyright-protected recordings from other services without permission.”
Should copyright terms be shorter? Absolutely. But I’m glad that those rights remain strong. They’re one of our best tools to fight back against the deluge of slop drowning the web.
What’s Worst Version of the American National Anthem?
Last week, Martha Reeves sang the national anthem at the inaugural game for the new women’s professional baseball league. Martha Reeves is a legend. The Alabama-born and Detroit-raised vocalist sang on many Motown classics, including “Dancing in the Street” and “(Love is Like a) Heatwave.” Sadly, her national anthem did not live up to those standards.
First, I don’t begrudge anyone who can’t pull off “The Star-Spangled Banner.” It’s a hard song to sing. Second, Martha Reeves is 85-years-old. Every vocalist, from Aretha Franklin to Paul McCartney, sees their voice change as they age. So, I want to give Reeves some grace. Even so, this was a horrible rendition of the national anthem.
I don’t really like the America national anthem. In fact, I’ve written about my distaste for “The Star-Spangled Banner” in this newsletter. But I still like to hear it sung well. If you’re going to sing a bad song, give me a Whitney Houston or Marvin Gaye rendition.
Still, I kind of love a bad national anthem. A few years ago, I got stuck in a YouTube rabbit hole of bad anthems. I like to believe that I’ve heard dramatically more “and the rockets’ red glare” than your average person. And I think that Ms. Reeves has been bested (worsted?).
So, who performed the worst version of the American national anthem?
