Money 4 Nothing

It’s mid-October, and by our calculations, musicians are STILL not getting paid. Live music has been off since March, and a major lobbying group is trying to #SaveOurStages. But does saving venues also mean a bailout for musicians? In the continued quest for artist revenue, Saxon and Sam explore some less obvious options. Could the platform OnlyFans hold the answer? Should musicians search for salvation in the high-end speaker-system/concert series Oda? Or are we all looking in the wrong places entirely?

This week we go deep (like really really deep) on the Music Modernization Act—a landmark, near-unanimous 2018 law that will reshape the legal landscape of American music when it kicks in early next year. Despite this, it has received little or no critical press attention since. Let’s face it though—the last time this scale of legislation passed was in the 1970’s, so it’s a good bet that we’ll be living with the MMA for a long, long time. We figure out what’s going on in the bill (easier said than done), who it helps (mostly the streaming services), and what it tells us about the power structures that define the music industry.

Ethnomusicologist Wayne Marshall joins Saxon Baird and Sam Backer to talk about his discovery of what he’s described as the the “American Clave”—a distinctive rhythm that unites everyone from Duke Ellington to Ray Charles, Elvis to Cardi B. We explore its origins from the Black artists who invented ragtime at the turn of the 20th century and then trace its evolution over a hundred years of styles and sounds including the black roots of country music to its appearance in popular party chants.

Read Marshall's article and hear his mega-mix: https://online.ucpress.edu/jpms/article/32/2/50/110768/Ragtime-CountryRhythmically-Recovering-Country-s

David Turner of Penny Fractions joins the show to make a case against the popular narrative that Napster, led by the precocious teen tech-head Shawn Fanning, single-handedly took down the record industry in the early aughts. Turner explains that what caused the music industry bubble to burst was actually a much more complex series of factors including record labels a little too high on its own supply. Also, those $19.99 CDs prices sure didn't help.   

Sam Backer talks to Brian Ward about his book ‘Just My Soul Responding’ to discuss  American R&B and the music industry in the 1950s. The two challenge some popular narratives and reveal how behind the music was a public arena where the fight for civil rights and equality was crucially fought.

Hipgnosis Song Fund and it's founder Merck Mercuriadis are making waves in the music industry by offering top dollar to buy out the catalogs of hit song makers. The approach is similar to valuing music and hit songs now something like an expensive painting bought less for its artistry and more as valuable asset to invest in. Heavily funded and having bought over 1,000 number one hits so far from such artists as Bruno Mars and Mark Ronson, the company has gone public and shows little signs of slowing down. Hosts Sam Backer and Saxon Baird breakdown the inner workings of the Hipgnosis approach and discuss what it means for artists and the music industry alike.

King Records may not be a household name like Motown, Stax, Chess or Sun Records, but it's music and legacy is just as important. As one of the first successful independent labels in America, the Cincinnati-based King Records became a key link to the popularity that r&b, rock 'n' roll and country would see during the '50s, '60s and beyond. Lead by the bullheaded, DIY attitude of its founder Syd Nathan, the label also became a radical innovator in racially integrating popular music when segregation was still widespread. They also happened to give James Brown his start.

John Hartley Fox, author of 'King of the Queen City,' discusses.

Mass unemployment, venues closed, economy in the dump and the stimulus set to run out at the end of July. What's an artist in America to do? On this episode of Money 4 Nothing, a podcast about music and capitalism, we talk to Professor Kenneth Bindas about the Federal Music Project of the 1930s. As part of FDR's New Deal and the Works Progress Administration, the project set out to employ musicians during the Great Depression while offering some affordable entertainment across the country. Seeing similarities between then and today, we discuss this extraordinary time period and imagine what a similar project could look like today.

Tekashi 6ix9ine called out the Billboard charts for being rigged by the return of pay for play....and he's kind of right. Everything you didn't know about payola in 2020 and getting a song on the radio. Plus, the joy of Future and the Atlanta rapper's sustained success. 

The man, the myth, the legend, the imitator, the symbol. Saxon Baird and Sam Backer delve into the myth of Prince, going beyond just his hits, to deconstruct all things related to one of the most unique and eccentric artists in recent history. Matt Thorne, writer and author of the book 'Prince: The Man and His Music,' joins the pod to discuss.