Posts in category: Sunset Music MusicDish

Last week, an interview with M83 by Consequence went semi-viral after he shared his thoughts on the EDM community and respective DJs who regularly play his 2011 hit “Midnight City” in their sets.

To refresh your memory, he said, “For me, the struggle with being a successful artist with that album, Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming, and especially with that track, ‘Midnight City’, is that all of a sudden, I had this huge EDM following. EDM is probably one of the styles of music that I hate the most. All of a sudden, I have these bro EDM DJs playing my music, and I just can’t even care less. Sometimes I wish that I could erase that fan base but I don’t think it’s possible to do that.”

Yesterday, he shared a follow up on Instagram stories addressing the interview and the backlash he’s been receiving for his words. “I do not hate the EDM community, no!” he says. “I’m forever grateful for the love and support. I’m French and my English sucks so sometimes the journalist has to figure it out… and it often comes up wrong. Apologies for that.”

As part of the community, I appreciate the apology. However, the then doubles down on DJs, “What I do hate though is that community of DJs using my songs without any permission, waving their hands at the crowd and doing nothing but pressing a f****** button. This I truly find disrespectful and gross. […] When you use someone’s music maybe you can ask first, no?”

Part of M83’s hate for DJs playing his music appears to be a gross misunderstanding of how rights management and royalties work. Festivals, venues, even small bars and restaurants pay license fees to organizations like BMI and ASCAP who handle, among other things, performance royalties for artists. By holding these licenses, the original artists get paid for their work. No DJ has to ask to play a song (in the vast majority of circumstances), especially in an establishment or setting that holds one of these licenses.

“If I was a DJ playing in front of a huge audience I would like to ask before doing anything .. I would be too scared to offend artists,” he continues. “But maybe I live in a fantasy world … the story of my life.”

From an outside perspective, it’s hard to believe he doesn’t understand when French DJs like David Guetta, Daft Punk, Madeon, DJ Snake, Kavinsky, even legends like Laurent Garnier, have surely been in his sphere of observation at some point. But we also just don’t know. Hopefully this experience will be an educational moment for him as he tours his new album.

Photo by Rama via Wikimedia Commons

Lil Yachty, Soulja Boy, Ne-Yo and Akon have been charged by the Securities and Exchange Commission for illegally promoting cryptocurrency. The artists were accused of accepting money to tout the crypto asset securities Tronix and BitTorrent without disclosing that they were paid to do so or the amount they received. Other celebrities charged include Jake Paul, Lindsay Lohan, Austin Mahone, and adult film actress Kendra Lust. With the exception of Soulja Boy and Mahone, each agreed to pay more than $400,000 in “disgorgement, interest, and penalties” to settle the charges without admitting or denying the SEC’s findings. Pitchfork has reached out to representatives for Lil Yachty, Soulja Boy, Ne-Yo and Akon for comment.

The SEC announced the news alongside charges against cryptocurrency entrepreneur Justin Sun and three of his companies—Tron Foundation Limited, BitTorrent Foundation Ltd., and Rainberry Inc. (formerly BitTorrent Inc.)—for the unregistered offer and sale of Tronix and BitTorrent. Sun is charged with violating federal securities laws by orchestrating a scheme to artificially inflate Tronix’s trading volume. Sun then allegedly further induced investors to purchase Tronix and BitTorrent by paying celebrities with large social media followings to promote the company’s offerings while directing them to not disclose their compensation.

In a statement accompanying the announcement of the charges, the director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement said:

While we’re neutral about the technologies at issue, we’re anything but neutral when it comes to investor protection. As alleged in the complaint, Sun and others used an age-old playbook to mislead and harm investors by first offering securities without complying with registration and disclosure requirements and then manipulating the market for those very securities. At the same time, Sun paid celebrities with millions of social media followers to tout the unregistered offerings, while specifically directing that they not disclose their compensation. This is the very conduct that the federal securities laws were designed to protect against regardless of the labels Sun and others used.

Sun purchased BitTorrent Inc., the parent company behind the BitTorrent peer-to-peer file-sharing protocol, in 2018. Upon the sale BitTorrent author and company founder Bram Cohen left the company to start his own “green” cryptocurrency Chia.

In 2020, the SEC charged T.I. with promoting fraudulent initial coin offerings in connection with a company called FLiK. In 2018, the commission charged DJ Khaled with failing to disclose payments received for promoting an initial coin offering from a company called Centra Tech.

Crypto Is the Most Uncool Thing You Could Possibly Rap About

Publishing a book through Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing turned out to be both easier and harder than I thought.

After tearing my hair out at first, I discovered Amazon’s template for a 5-by-8-inch paperback. I also noticed a lengthy guide and a long video tutorial, but I can never sit through those. So whenever I had a question, I hit the chat button and got a live person. They didn’t always know the answer but kept me moving right along, encouraging me to skip design elements I didn’t need. Besides texting, I could have talked on the phone or emailed them. Each time, they were available within seconds.

I’m working on a historical novella for a retired professor of Korean studies. Though I got paid to edit it, I threw in the publishing part for free. For an earlier book, the professor paid a guy thousands of dollars to get it published on Amazon, but she could have found an expert to do it for much less by searching the phrase “Format Your Book, Ready for Upload to Amazon KDP Print.” At PeoplePerHour, for example, “Chris M” will do it for $130. I might hire him if I run into a snag. He gets great reviews.

So far, the trickiest part has been getting the jacket cover right. You can click to have Amazon create one for you, but you may not like the results any more than I did. To upload your own cover images, you’ll need one for the front, one for the spine and one for the back. After using a free template I found by searching for “Design Free Book Covers Online, Adobe Express,” I asked a friend to stitch my three images together for me using Photoshop Elements. I also used a free online calculator to figure out the width of the spine.

The KDP publishing process is cheap and you get to keep 70% of the royalties you earn. For ebooks, you can select your own sale price, anywhere from $3 to $10. For e-delivery, it’s 15 cents per megabyte. For paperbacks, Amazon prints on demand and subtracts the printing cost from your royalties. For a paperback with premium color, for example, it’s 85 cents per book and 7 cents for each additional page over 828. You can order a proof version of the paperback for $11.

FUN ON THE PLANE

For the first time in years, I watched a movie on the plane, listened to music and enjoyed some silence while reading a book. Anker’s Q30 headset, $80 on Amazon, literally put me on cloud nine.

The Q30’s noise-canceling technology claims to filter out 95% of low-frequency ambient sound. Though I could still hear conversations, the hum of the engine was so reduced that it didn’t interfere with my listening pleasure. The movie music sounded wonderful and the dialogue was clear. When I took off the headset for an instant, I couldn’t believe how loud the engine was. But the Q30 is so comfortable I left it on until I landed.

DEATH BY BATTERY

You’ve probably seen those scary lithium ion battery warnings on packages containing electronics. Are they necessary?

In a test by theVerge, experts from the iFixit repair franchise stabbed a near-empty battery in an iPhone 12 Pro Max until it gave out a tiny puff of smoke and a few sparks. After trying the experiment on a full battery, they got a fiery explosion. The lesson: Discharge your electronics before you ship them.

TOY NEWS

The new Tron action figure has your face and voice and costs $90. But to get it, you have to go to Walt Disney World’s new Tron Lightcycle/Run attraction, which opens April 4.

Once your face is scanned, your action figure will display a holographic version of your face as its face. You also get to record six lines of dialogue. It all goes onto a memory card that can be swapped into another toy. And unlike Hasbro’s 3-D printed $60 Selfie Series figurines, your action figure will be ready 60 minutes after the 20-minute customization process.

TACKLING GOOGLE DRIVE

I subscribe to Google One for $20 a year, which gives me 100 gigabytes worth of storage space. How is it possible that I’m already two-thirds full?

To find out, I went to drive.google.com and clicked “Storage.” It lists the biggest space hogs at the top. To get rid of junk, all I had to do was click on a file, then click the trash can icon or tap the delete key. I also use the free “Google Drive for Desktop,” which keeps everything in sync on my computer.

GOLD IN THEM THAR HILLS

I have friends who cashed in on the internet in its early days by buying domain names and reselling them. If you can think of one that hasn’t been taken yet, or is available for cheap, you might be able to hit pay dirt, too.

Voice.com was sold for $30 million in 2019, according to Hostinger, a web-hosting provider. NFTs.com sold for $15 million in 2022. Tesla.com went for $11 million in 2014. Fund.com went for $12 million in 2008.

INTERNUT

“Flying Boat Electric Candela.” Search that phrase to see a remarkable hydrofoil boat, the C-8 from Candela. It uses 80% less energy than traditional boats.

Joy Schwabach can be reached by email at joy.schwabach@gmail.com.

Last week, an interview with M83 by Consequence went semi-viral after he shared his thoughts on the EDM community and respective DJs who regularly play his 2011 hit “Midnight City” in their sets.

To refresh your memory, he said, “For me, the struggle with being a successful artist with that album, Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming, and especially with that track, ‘Midnight City’, is that all of a sudden, I had this huge EDM following. EDM is probably one of the styles of music that I hate the most. All of a sudden, I have these bro EDM DJs playing my music, and I just can’t even care less. Sometimes I wish that I could erase that fan base but I don’t think it’s possible to do that.”

Yesterday, he shared a follow up on Instagram stories addressing the interview and the backlash he’s been receiving for his words. “I do not hate the EDM community, no!” he says. “I’m forever grateful for the love and support. I’m French and my English sucks so sometimes the journalist has to figure it out… and it often comes up wrong. Apologies for that.”

As part of the community, I appreciate the apology. However, the then doubles down on DJs, “What I do hate though is that community of DJs using my songs without any permission, waving their hands at the crowd and doing nothing but pressing a f****** button. This I truly find disrespectful and gross. […] When you use someone’s music maybe you can ask first, no?”

Part of M83’s hate for DJs playing his music appears to be a gross misunderstanding of how rights management and royalties work. Festivals, venues, even small bars and restaurants pay license fees to organizations like BMI and ASCAP who handle, among other things, performance royalties for artists. By holding these licenses, the original artists get paid for their work. No DJ has to ask to play a song (in the vast majority of circumstances), especially in an establishment or setting that holds one of these licenses.

“If I was a DJ playing in front of a huge audience I would like to ask before doing anything .. I would be too scared to offend artists,” he continues. “But maybe I live in a fantasy world … the story of my life.”

From an outside perspective, it’s hard to believe he doesn’t understand when French DJs like David Guetta, Daft Punk, Madeon, DJ Snake, Kavinsky, even legends like Laurent Garnier, have surely been in his sphere of observation at some point. But we also just don’t know. Hopefully this experience will be an educational moment for him as he tours his new album.

Photo by Rama via Wikimedia Commons

Rudolph Isley has sued his brother, Ronald Isley, claiming he improperly registered the trademark for “The Isley Brothers” as a sole individual, excluding him from an asset in a partnership in which they are equal members, documents viewed by Pitchfork confirm. The suit seeks a declaration that the mark “The Isley Brothers” is jointly owned by each brother and an asset in which they “sole and equal members.” Rudolph Isley also asserts that he is “unaware of the degree to which Ronald exploited the Mark, the licenses and/or other transactions that Ronald entered into,” and he seeks a judgement forcing Ronald to account for and pay his 50 percent share of the proceeds he’s collected on the trademark.

When reached by Pitchfork, a representative shared the following statement from Ronald Isley: “This is an unfortunate family matter that will get resolved in litigation.” Pitchfork has also reached out to Rudolph Isley’s attorney, Steven P. Mandell, for comment.

Documents obtained from the United States Patent and Trademark Office show that on November 2, 2021, Ronald Isley applied to register exclusive rights to “The Isley Brothers” trademark for “Visual recordings and audiovisual recordings featuring music and animation” as a sole individual. The USPTO registered the trademark on August 16, 2022.

Rudolph and Ronald Isley co-founded the Isley Brothers with their brother, O’Kelly, in 1954. Rudolph claims that after O’Kelly’s death in 1986 he and Ronald each held 50 percent share of ownership in the group and “The Isley Brothers” trademark. Both parties agree Rudolph retired from performing and recording with the band in 1989. Rudolph asserts in his suit that he “remained active in promoting and managing the Group’s properties,” citing a 2018 publishing deal and a recent sync of “Shout” in a 2023 Super Bowl commercial.

The current lineup of the Isley Brothers includes Ronald and Ernie Isley; they shared a re-work of their 1975 hit “Make Me Say It Again Girl, Pts. 1 & 2,” featuring Beyoncé, in August, and, a year earlier, appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live! to perform “Friends and Family” with Snoop Dogg. In April 2021, Ronald and Ernie Isley squared off against surviving members of Earth, Wind, & Fire in a Steve Harvey–hosted Easter special Verzuz battle. 

In his suit, Rudolph Isley included a letter as evidence written by Navarro W. Gray, an attorney representing his brother Ronald, in response to a letter sent by Rudolph’s attorney Brian D. Caplan. The letter addresses several claims: That Ronald repaid a $2 million loan from Rudolph with his share of a tax credit for the Isley Brothers, LLC; that Ronald did not “set up a separate entity to receive Isley Brothers related revenue” but to do business solely related to his own career; that “fake sites” not affiliated with Ronald Isley are selling unauthorized merch; and that SoundExchange, the rights management firm charged with distributing the Isley Brothers royalties, has always issued payments in equal share and no corrections to royalty payouts need to be made.

The letter also directly disputes Rudolph’s claim that he owns 50 percent of the group’s name and trademark, since “There has always been more than two (2) members in the Isley Brother’s [sic] Group.” It cites the Trademark Act §1, 15 U.S.C. §1051, claiming that the owner of the trademark is the person “who is actually and actively using the mark in commerce during or near the time of registration,” and that Rudolph “has not used the mark in approximately 36 years.”

Last week, an interview with M83 by Consequence went semi-viral after he shared his thoughts on the EDM community and respective DJs who regularly play his 2011 hit “Midnight City” in their sets.

To refresh your memory, he said, “For me, the struggle with being a successful artist with that album, Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming, and especially with that track, ‘Midnight City’, is that all of a sudden, I had this huge EDM following. EDM is probably one of the styles of music that I hate the most. All of a sudden, I have these bro EDM DJs playing my music, and I just can’t even care less. Sometimes I wish that I could erase that fan base but I don’t think it’s possible to do that.”

Yesterday, he shared a follow up on Instagram stories addressing the interview and the backlash he’s been receiving for his words. “I do not hate the EDM community, no!” he says. “I’m forever grateful for the love and support. I’m French and my English sucks so sometimes the journalist has to figure it out… and it often comes up wrong. Apologies for that.”

As part of the community, I appreciate the apology. However, the then doubles down on DJs, “What I do hate though is that community of DJs using my songs without any permission, waving their hands at the crowd and doing nothing but pressing a f****** button. This I truly find disrespectful and gross. […] When you use someone’s music maybe you can ask first, no?”

Part of M83’s hate for DJs playing his music appears to be a gross misunderstanding of how rights management and royalties work. Festivals, venues, even small bars and restaurants pay license fees to organizations like BMI and ASCAP who handle, among other things, performance royalties for artists. By holding these licenses, the original artists get paid for their work. No DJ has to ask to play a song (in the vast majority of circumstances), especially in an establishment or setting that holds one of these licenses.

“If I was a DJ playing in front of a huge audience I would like to ask before doing anything .. I would be too scared to offend artists,” he continues. “But maybe I live in a fantasy world … the story of my life.”

From an outside perspective, it’s hard to believe he doesn’t understand when French DJs like David Guetta, Daft Punk, Madeon, DJ Snake, Kavinsky, even legends like Laurent Garnier, have surely been in his sphere of observation at some point. But we also just don’t know. Hopefully this experience will be an educational moment for him as he tours his new album.

Photo by Rama via Wikimedia Commons

Last week, an interview with M83 by Consequence went semi-viral after he shared his thoughts on the EDM community and respective DJs who regularly play his 2011 hit “Midnight City” in their sets.

To refresh your memory, he said, “For me, the struggle with being a successful artist with that album, Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming, and especially with that track, ‘Midnight City’, is that all of a sudden, I had this huge EDM following. EDM is probably one of the styles of music that I hate the most. All of a sudden, I have these bro EDM DJs playing my music, and I just can’t even care less. Sometimes I wish that I could erase that fan base but I don’t think it’s possible to do that.”

Yesterday, he shared a follow up on Instagram stories addressing the interview and the backlash he’s been receiving for his words. “I do not hate the EDM community, no!” he says. “I’m forever grateful for the love and support. I’m French and my English sucks so sometimes the journalist has to figure it out… and it often comes up wrong. Apologies for that.”

As part of the community, I appreciate the apology. However, the then doubles down on DJs, “What I do hate though is that community of DJs using my songs without any permission, waving their hands at the crowd and doing nothing but pressing a f****** button. This I truly find disrespectful and gross. […] When you use someone’s music maybe you can ask first, no?”

Part of M83’s hate for DJs playing his music appears to be a gross misunderstanding of how rights management and royalties work. Festivals, venues, even small bars and restaurants pay license fees to organizations like BMI and ASCAP who handle, among other things, performance royalties for artists. By holding these licenses, the original artists get paid for their work. No DJ has to ask to play a song (in the vast majority of circumstances), especially in an establishment or setting that holds one of these licenses.

“If I was a DJ playing in front of a huge audience I would like to ask before doing anything .. I would be too scared to offend artists,” he continues. “But maybe I live in a fantasy world … the story of my life.”

From an outside perspective, it’s hard to believe he doesn’t understand when French DJs like David Guetta, Daft Punk, Madeon, DJ Snake, Kavinsky, even legends like Laurent Garnier, have surely been in his sphere of observation at some point. But we also just don’t know. Hopefully this experience will be an educational moment for him as he tours his new album.

Photo by Rama via Wikimedia Commons

While the reveal of J-Hope‘s newest single “on the street” with J. Cole was coupled with the news that the BTS rapper-singer would begin the process for his South Korean military enlistment process, the song marked a full-circle moment for him both professionally and personally.

Before BTS even officially made their debut into the music industry, the members were showing their love and appreciation for J. Cole. One of the first musical moments with youngest member Jung Kook came via a J. Cole performance back in 2013, and the seven BTS members continued to share their admiration for the Dreamville Records founder. Whether it’s been covers, musical shoutouts, sharing lyrics or playlisting, BTS members J-Hope, RM, Suga, Jin, V, Jimin and Jung Kook shared their affection on multiple platforms. Meanwhile, Cole and his team also showed and returned that mutual respect.

Upon release of J-Hope’s “on the street” with J. Cole at the top of March this year, the song debuted at No. 60 on the Hot 100 to become J-Hope’s highest entry on the chart to date and marked J. Cole’s best showing since 2021. The track also gave J-Hope first entires on several of Billboard‘s R&B/Hip-Hop and Rap charts, including his first No. 1 on the R&B/Hip-Hop Digital Song Sales and second No. 1 on Rap Digital Song Sales. The dynamic duo spend a second week atop both those charts as well. Plus, “on the street” earned J-Hope his first entries on both the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and Hot Rap Songs charts.

Beyond chart accomplishments, “on the street” shows two socially conscious and message-driven MCs coming together to collaborate in a way that highlighted the best of their separate but similar worlds. Read on for how Cole World and Hope World came together.

Lil Yachty, Soulja Boy, Ne-Yo and Akon have been charged by the Securities and Exchange Commission for illegally promoting cryptocurrency. The artists were accused of accepting money to tout the crypto asset securities Tronix and BitTorrent without disclosing that they were paid to do so or the amount they received. Other celebrities charged include Jake Paul, Lindsay Lohan, Austin Mahone, and adult film actress Kendra Lust. With the exception of Soulja Boy and Mahone, each agreed to pay more than $400,000 in “disgorgement, interest, and penalties” to settle the charges without admitting or denying the SEC’s findings. Pitchfork has reached out to representatives for Lil Yachty, Soulja Boy, Ne-Yo and Akon for comment.

The SEC announced the news alongside charges against cryptocurrency entrepreneur Justin Sun and three of his companies—Tron Foundation Limited, BitTorrent Foundation Ltd., and Rainberry Inc. (formerly BitTorrent Inc.)—for the unregistered offer and sale of Tronix and BitTorrent. Sun is charged with violating federal securities laws by orchestrating a scheme to artificially inflate Tronix’s trading volume. Sun then allegedly further induced investors to purchase Tronix and BitTorrent by paying celebrities with large social media followings to promote the company’s offerings while directing them to not disclose their compensation.

In a statement accompanying the announcement of the charges, the director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement said:

While we’re neutral about the technologies at issue, we’re anything but neutral when it comes to investor protection. As alleged in the complaint, Sun and others used an age-old playbook to mislead and harm investors by first offering securities without complying with registration and disclosure requirements and then manipulating the market for those very securities. At the same time, Sun paid celebrities with millions of social media followers to tout the unregistered offerings, while specifically directing that they not disclose their compensation. This is the very conduct that the federal securities laws were designed to protect against regardless of the labels Sun and others used.

Sun purchased BitTorrent Inc., the parent company behind the BitTorrent peer-to-peer file-sharing protocol, in 2018. Upon the sale BitTorrent author and company founder Bram Cohen left the company to start his own “green” cryptocurrency Chia.

In 2020, the SEC charged T.I. with promoting fraudulent initial coin offerings in connection with a company called FLiK. In 2018, the commission charged DJ Khaled with failing to disclose payments received for promoting an initial coin offering from a company called Centra Tech.

Crypto Is the Most Uncool Thing You Could Possibly Rap About