A Deeper Listen

The book, “Got to Be Something Here: The Rise of the Minneapolis Sound” by Andrea Swensson explores Minneapolis’ segregated music scenes and the systemic racism historically at play in the city. 

Swensson speaks with KEXP DJ Kevin Cole about the overlooked bands and artists who shaped the city’s sound, the Highway Act that split largely-Black neighborhoods in Minneapolis and how Black artists, bands and venues were scrutinized by police and the local music industry. Swensson says Black artists told her they had to form racially integrated bands with white musicians as a form of survival.

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A legal battle over the name "Lady A" has brought up questions around white privilege and racism in the music industry. Amid global protests against police brutality and systemic racism, the country group Lady Antebellum said they would change their name to Lady A. That’s because the word Antebellum, which in Latin translates to “before the war,’ is associated with the US Civil War and the Confederacy. However, there’s already a Lady A. She’s a Black blues singer based in Seattle who’s gone by the name Lady A for more than 20 years. Lady Antebellum, an all-white band is now suing Seattle’s Lady A for the trademark over the name.

Seattle’s Lady A says that since the rebranding of Lady Antebellum to Lady A, her music has become buried on social media and music streaming sites. But she says her fight over her stage name isn’t just about music, it’s about the significance of a name from a historical perspective. She says white people have been taking from Black and Indigenous people for centuries, including their names. “When we came to this country, they [white people] took our names from us and gave us their names,” Lady A says. “This is about every Black, Indigenous person of this land and person of color who has had something taken from them– their land, their artistry, their culture, their language and their name.”

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Billboard announced this week that artists can no longer bundle album sales. Bundling is where an artist adds on, or “bundles” an album to a sale of a concert ticket or merch. For example, a fan would buy a ticket to a concert or an artist T-shirt and the artist adds in an album to that purchase. The idea was to game the billboard chart and count that sale of a ticket or sweatshirt as an album sale. The more album sales, the better your chances are of charting on billboard. Chris Molanphy is a pop critic, chart analyst and host of Slate’s Hit Parade Podcast. He says bundling was a response to the streaming era of music.

“The reason the industry has been eager to do this bundling tactic is that a traditional sale of an album counts far more for the chart than a stream does,” Molanphy says.

However, Billboard is pushing back against the practice of musicians giving away albums for free when fans purchase tickets or merch.

“Where the bundling thing just got shady was it was largely industry gamesmanship and it really, in Billboards own words, was not capturing consumer intent. Really the consumer went to buy a ticket or they went to buy a t-shirt, they didn’t go to buy an album, the album was an afterthought and now they are trying the best they can to measure consumer intent with these rule changes,” Molanphy says.

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Seattle hip hop artist Draze released a single called "Building Black Wealth." The message was simple—build Black wealth by buying from Black-owned businesses. Draze discusses the single and its message.

To understand the landscape of being a Black business owner in Seattle, Arif Gursel of the workspace, The Union, as well as Frank Ulwenya, the owner of Rumba Notes Lounge, talk about their experiences.

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In light of the news that Kanye West said he would run for president, we talk with another musician who went into politics. It’s Martha Reeves of Motown’s Martha Reeves and the Vandellas who had the hits, “Heat Wave” and “Dancing in the Streets”. She talks about her time as a Detroit City Councilwoman as well as Motown’s sound and how it united people when racial tensions were high in America. 

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