Mark Zuckerberg: creators and publishers ‘overestimate the value’ of their work
Zuckerberg continues in this article…’If they demanded that we don’t use their content, then we just wouldn’t use their content.’.
This statement comes after they have scraped all of the music in the world.
And there is more that reveals his perspective… ‘When you put something out in the world, to what degree do you still get to control it and own it and license it?’
It is easy to be outraged, shocked at these statements, but it informs us that we have bought into a future that is controlled by the network rather than the creator. This will not end, it is (past) time for musicians to exercise deliberate control over their art.
Have AI music generators been trained on your music? (Clovis McElvoy, Music Radar)
‘The outputs are positioned to compete commercially with the very songs they were trained on”: We speak with artists, lawyers, and campaigners about the music industry's battle with AI song generators’
Nick Cave speaks to the power of music on The Late Show
This interview goes deep, a pleasant surprise in today’s entertainment world. Starting at 1:30, Nick Cave speaks of music:
‘It is one of the last legitimate opportunities we have for a transcendent experience’
His interesting take is to defend the creative experience itself. While we speak of the album as something of lasting importance, we learn from Cave that the process of making the album is just as important to humanity.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8qmV6MYCF4
“Its intent is to completely sidestep the sort of inconvenience of the artistic struggle, going straight to the commodity...
We don’t make things any more. We just consume stuff. It’s frightening”: Nick Cave lambasts use of AI in music (again)
(Will Simpson, Music Radar) | Full Article
Sabrina Carpenter isn’t an industry plant – she’s worse (The Spectator)
The singer is a symptom of a larger problem…
‘The problem with algorithmically-selected art is how algorithms work in the first place. They’re predictive, which means that they work on the basis of what has gone before. This cycle promotes the same content, creating that homogenisation. This might explain why Dua Lipa is now getting parts in Hollywood blockbusters, despite an obvious lack of talent, or why social media influencers have replaced journalists as interviewers on red carpets. It’s why the movie industry is only willing to produce remakes and sequels and it’s why artists like Sabrina Carpenter, a musician who writes forgettable, sugar-rush tunes, finds success. Carpenter isn’t an industry plant, she’s something much worse: an artist who only knows how to do one thing. ‘
Jack White subverts streaming…
Jack White has been a visionary who gains and holds ground for independent musicians. His impact on the vinyl resurgence cannot be understated, as he was an early advocate when everyone had doubts. And now we see him doing more than making a statement about the streaming economy, but actually taking action. This article explains how he gave way physical copies and encouraged his fans to copy the album and share it with friends. From another artist, this would be a publicity stunt; from White it is a glimpse of the future.
Have streaming and social media killed the album? (Harold Heath, Music Radar)
A solid article with frank comments from several seasoned artists.
‘You get a whole spectrum of what an artist is able to do music-wise… on an album you can show also a different side of yourself, or really show what you can do in the studio’ (Cinthie)
‘Would Fleetwood Mac have been able to create Rumours if they were having to spend all their time trying to make content?’ (Miri)
‘Albums give you a story! Singles don’t let you illustrate a coherent journey the way albums do’ (Miri)
Same Old Song: Private Equity Is Destroying Our Music Ecosystem(Marc Hogan Guest Essay | The New York Times)
Marc outlines private equity moves and their effect on the music ecosystem.
’The presence of Wall Street didn’t start the systematic devaluation of music, but it did bring this dismal reality into stark relief.’
Taylor Swift’s Music Is Streamed More In The Us Than The Entire Jazz And Classical Genres (Murray Stassen | Music Business Worldwide)
A great thing for Taylor, but a perfect example of the inequities of the streaming marketplace. It is quite clear that musicians who create meaningful, lasting contributions to the culture need support from outside the commercial market.
‘The future they are now selling us… Is a Lie.’ (Jonathan Taplin, Vanity Fair)
Peter Thiel, Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, and Marc Andreessen—are creating a world where “nothing is true and all is spectacle.” If we are to inquire how we got to a place of radical income inequality, post-truth reality, and the looming potential for a second American Civil War, we need look no further than these four—“the biggest wallets,” to paraphrase historian Timothy Snyder, “paying for the most blinding lights.”
Vanity Fair | Full Article
‘the temptation of the technology is to smooth everything out’ (Brian Eno)
Though Eno is himself masterful with technology, he articulates and even predicts the problems that arise when tech is over used.
The article contains a great video interview with Brian Eno and a couple of classic tracks as examples of his point.
Press Release
Press Release
Third Way Cultural Alliance to Preserve and Champion the Album Format Through Socially Conscious Releases
Nonprofit founded by Ropeadope CEO and President will apply fine-arts patronage model to intelligent contemporary music
Has there ever been a more challenging time to be a working independent artist? Streaming payouts are abysmal — if you can even get your track streamed enough to qualify for a payout. Recording costs have become impossible for many, if not most, artists to recoup, and the deluge of tracks delivered to platforms daily makes breaking through in any meaningful way nearly impossible. What’s more, when an artist does manage to get a foot in the door, the impression is too often track- or soundbite-oriented — and utterly devoid of the expressive range and storytelling impact that the album format celebrates.
The end result means nothing less than the complete devaluation of music — of art — as well as the decline of a creative ecosystem that encouraged artists’ long-term growth, fostered enduring communities and supported social change. Without infrastructure, every aspiring singer, musician and composer needs to act as a social-media guru, a label manager, a publicist, a booking agent and a merch manager — whether or not they have the business mind and stomach for it. To pursue one’s love of music means entering into a manic online hustle, too often bereft of the joy of real-time collaboration and the time to think and write at album length. For creatives and audiences alike, the passion burns as brightly as it ever has, if not more so. But the indignities of digital commerce are hindering that devotion at every turn.
In 2024, how can inspired, adventurous artists with something to say deliver their message? How can they create with focus and intention?
Enter Third Way Cultural Alliance, a new 501(c)(3) dedicated to the furtherance of the album format, in jazz, rock, alternative hip-hop and soul, roots music, experimental and other contemporary music. By offering comprehensive funding for new album-length projects, Third Way will thrive on the axis between a cultural institution and an ethically-run, creatively-nurturing independent record label. Further, Third Way’s thoughtfully selected projects promise to explore issues of social justice and empowerment for disenfranchised communities.
Rooted in the endowment-funded model that has long fostered the preservation of fine arts and folk culture, Third Way will take that framework to contemporary music serving socially engaged audiences. At last, artists will be able to respond to our current sociopolitical moment with ambitious long-form works — away from the exploitation that overwhelms the current music industry. Through Third Way, musicians will also have access to a vast network of veteran artists, cultural and social organizations, and educational initiatives that share their convictions. “It’s about patronage for art, as opposed to getting caught up in the balance sheet and the profit-and-loss system,” says Ropeadope CEO Louis Marks, a Third Way co-founder and board member alongside musician and educator Joe Pignato and Ropeadope President Fabian Brown.
Without a doubt, Third Way’s mission presents a multitude of hurdles. But the roots of this emergent nonprofit lie in Ropeadope, among the most important and fearless defenders of independent music over the last quarter-century. With its legacy of innovation, artist advocacy and social consciousness, and its ability to foster genuine creativity within the profit-driven record industry, Ropeadope will provide as-needed label services to Third Way’s grant recipients. To say it again, Ropeadope is rarely suited to supporting the Third Way mission, because the company has in essence already been engaged in this work for decades.
Founded by entertainment lawyer and entrepreneur Andy Hurwitz in New York in 1999, and led today by Marks in Philadelphia, Ropeadope has more than 650 albums in its catalog, including a surplus of landmark LPs: the breakout recordings of fusion masters Snarky Puppy, the lauded final records by Ramsey Lewis and Col. Bruce Hampton, the futuristic roots of King Britt, game-changing jazz by Lakecia Benjamin and Yazz Ahmed, the visionary “Stretch Music” of Chief Adjuah, politically fiery projects from the Last Poets, Masta Ace and Antibalas, essential “sacred steel” recordings by the Campbell Brothers, and so many others.
Beyond the music itself, Ropeadope’s influence has quite possibly been even more profound. The company was among the earliest adopters of wholly artist-first deals that allowed musicians 50/50 profit-sharing, in addition to the ability to retain their publishing and masters. Ropeadope also pioneered a network of artist-run sublabels, among them Snarky Puppy’s GroundUP, the Black-woman-owned imprint Artists First and Chief Adjuah’s Stretch Music. The newly launched AfricArise, a partnership between Ropeadope and the advocacy organization City of Gold Arts, provides international distribution for artist-run labels producing the best jazz on the African continent. In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, a Ropeadope apparel initiative called “Renew Orleans” generated $90,000 for impacted musicians in the Crescent City.
Ultimately, the altruism that will define Third Way — elevating artists with a powerful message, while protecting the integrity of the album format — has been in practice at Ropeadope for 25 years. “We understand the landscape; we understand the ecosystem,” says Marks. “We can see what is wrong, and we have a clear path forward.”
To fulfill its mission, Third Way is building a strong collaborative team of ambassadors who are active within the organization. Jamaaladeen Tacuma, Todd Clouser, Wulf Müller, Shayna Steele, Chief Adjuah and Robert Sadin have all embraced the concept and are initiating their own powerful contributions in a variety of formats.