With the rollout of iOS 15 this week, along with significant updates to apps like FaceTime and Safari, Apple quietly released background sounds — a nifty new feature that allows iPhone users to turn on classic ambient noises like rain, ocean waves and the trickling of a river stream, to …
Read More »Portrait of the Artist as a Mother
I. It was right after a glorious six-week European tour, in the middle of talks with a new management team about a big release for her newly finished album On My Own, that singer-songwriter Lera Lynn first felt it. Something in her body was off. She was getting nauseous on …
Read More »Music Distribution Is Getting More Transparent. It's About Damn Time
Crack your knuckles and rub those palms together, artists and music-loving onlookers. Here comes one of the biggest buzzwords of the past decade in record label antics: Transparency! Last year, when it was impossible to tour and ridiculously tough to nab a record deal, Stem — the music distribution and …
Read More »Ant Taylor, the Savior of Concert Ticketing — Future 25
This story appears in Rolling Stone‘s 2021 Future of Music issue, a special project delving into the next era of the multibillion-dollar hitmaking business. Read the other stories here. Ant Taylor was at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London when he realized that he wanted to revolutionize the ticketing business. …
Read More »Peloton and Verzuz Are Making Musical 'Face-Off' Workouts
Home workouts, as great as they are, often lack the sense of camaraderie that studio-goers take away from the in-person class experience. Peloton thinks it can change that: The fitness company just partnered with Verzuz — the web series that throws together producers and artists in battles over catalog strength …
Read More »Ethiopia Habtemariam, Motown Records' New CEO, on Recentering Black Music in Culture
There’s perhaps no one in the music industry more well-positioned for leadership than Ethiopia Habtemariam, who became chairman and CEO of Motown Records last week. Habtemariam, 41, has worked in music since she was a teenager, interning for LaFace and Elektra. She forwent a college education and worked up the …
Read More »Marvel's New 'Black Panther' Stories Will Amplify Def Jam Artists
Like a vigilante, Saint Bodhi had to fight through darkness before rising up and into the limelight. Two years ago, the singer/songwriter from Los Angeles’ South Central neighborhood was homeless and struggling to navigate a community where many women are pressured into drug usage, undervalued, or mistreated as sex objects. …
Read More »Still Without Concerts, Live Nation Revenue Dropped 95% in Its Third Quarter
Facing nearly eight months of no live music now, ticketing and promotion giant Live Nation Entertainment reported a 95% drop in revenue in its third quarter compared to the same time last year, the company said in its earnings report on Thursday. The stark figure, though somewhat expected, signals yet …
Read More »Hit Songwriter Nija Charles — Future 25
At 23, Nija Charles has already established herself as one of the most sought-after songwriters in hip-hop and R&B, penning tracks for Beyoncé, Cardi B, Megan Thee Stallion, and Summer Walker. Even as the walls between genres are becoming more porous in the streaming era, professional songwriting can often be …
Read More »An Indie Artist Covered Corinne Bailey Rae — and Scored a Record Deal
20-year-old Jack Rutter has an alter ego. The Salt Lake City native moonlights asRitt Momney — a musical project that started out as an indie rock band with high-school friends, before its other members dispersed to follow Mormon missions.As a solo artist, Rutter turned inward to record a 13-song LP, …
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