The shock has faded, and the long scary slog has set in. How can artists sustain themselves over the course of a pandemic that could last well into next year? Today, we look at ways people in the music world are struggling to keep their heads above water.
Every once in a while for the Rock and Roll Book Club, we set new titles aside and go back to spotlight a classic. There are few music books more essential than Amiri Baraka's 1963 'Blues People: Negro Music in White America.'
Sophia Eris, Lady Midnight, and DJ Keezy have launched a $5 million crowdfunding campaign to open what would be the only professional music venue in Minneapolis owned by women of color. The proposed venue’s name: Auntie’s. “With the recent uprising ignited from the murder of George Floyd combined with accusations of abuse in the music…
America, the band, have now drifted through a half-century of music history, releasing some indelible hits and a lot more perfectly pleasant music besides. Author/fan Jude Warne chronicles the story of a trio who became some of their generation's most amiable musical companions.
Changing their name to the Chicks, the band formerly known as the Dixie Chicks have declared that they want to 'meet this moment.' Is this the moment when country music finally faces a reckoning that will unseat the genre's longstanding racial exclusion?
Rhymesayers Entertainment has dropped Prof and deM atlaS from its roster as accounts of abuse and manipulation involving members of the Minnesota music community have filled social media in recent days. In a statement, the hip-hop label wrote that “we were complicit in promoting and marketing music that perpetuates misogyny. Effective immediately we have decided…
Dayna Frank, owner of First Avenue, has long been a leader in the Minnesota music community. Now, with First Avenue and all independent music venues in crisis due to the coronavirus pandemic, Frank is stepping into a national leadership role by spearheading the founding of a new association advocating for suddenly vulnerable clubs and theaters…
Over the past two days, Prince fans have been abuzz with news that leaked via an inadvertent Amazon posting and has now been officially confirmed: the artist’s seminal 1987 album Sign O’ the Times is getting the expanded reissue treatment, with a new release featuring over 60 newly available audio tracks and two complete concert recordings…
In 'Glitter Up the Dark,' Sasha Geffen tells a history of pop music that centers music challenging the gender binary. It's a richer vein than you may have realized, and it goes much deeper than just David Bowie and Boy George.
As the music world confronts institutional racism and white supremacy, individual artists are wondering what steps they can take to establish a new, more equitable norm. Jeff Tweedy and Fiona Apple are sharing revenue, Patterson Hood is acknowledging 'the bad name I gave my band,' and the Beths are wondering about the responsibilities of white artists releasing new music.
As music venues continue to fight for their survival during the coronavirus pandemic, artists are getting creative. We talk to the company behind Garth Brooks's upcoming drive-in streaming show, look at what went wrong during the U.K. 'quarantine raves,' and consider the risk Live Nation is now asking artists to assume.
Nabil Ayers is the U.S. general manager for the record label 4AD. He's also a musician and a writer, and recently in the New York Times, he had an interview with Ed Eckstine, who was the first black person to be appointed head of a major label in the U.S. He talked about that conversation, and about all the conversations happening in the music industry around Blackout Tuesday.
In a very, very long overdue biography, Ian Zack celebrates the staggering accomplishments of Odetta: a Folk Revival icon who made more music than you know.
In the wake of Blackout Tuesday, will real change come to the music world? The Grammys are changing their use of the word 'urban' and the band formerly known as Lady Antebellum are now 'Lady A,' while BMG is looking at its historic contracts to root out inequities.
Most epidemiologists say that at this point, they won't feel comfortable attending a concert for over a year. Even as the United States start to reopen from coronavirus lockdown, the financial crisis for the concert industry is deepening, with a potentially devastating round of permanent venue closures looming.
From Laurie Anderson to Frank Zappa, Robert Dimery writes about 50 challenging artists who've made singular music entirely on their own terms.
As protests of a scale not seen in decades spread around the world in the wake of George Floyd's killing, musicians released both new songs and songs of continuing relevance.
An album of newly-recorded tracks, compiled by local guitarist Matt Sowell and released via San Francisco’s Tompkins Square record label, is available now with proceeds going to benefit black-owned businesses and Native youth in Minneapolis. Out of the Ashes: A Benefit Album for Minneapolis is available exclusively on Bandcamp. The tracks include Siama Matuzungidi and Dallas…
On the day marking 62 years since Prince was born in Minneapolis, 26 collaborators spanning his career have collaborated, remotely, on a cover of “The Cross.” Created under the auspices of Kirk Johnson’s KAJ Productions, the recording is “dedicated to Minneapolis,” according to a title card. According to a press release: Kirk Johnson of Minneapolis…
As the world turned its eyes to Minneapolis this week, it found Tony Zaccardi. A member of Romantica and a longtime bartender at Grumpy’s NE, Zaccardi bought Palmer’s Bar in 2018. The bar, a hub of the legendary West Bank music scene, became the site of live broadcasts across the country and beyond as Zaccardi…