Special Series: Streaming As The New Reality; Plus, Chance The Rapper’s Debut Album
Plus our Newport Folk preview and The Rolling Stones' Rock and Roll Circus
Tang Yau Hoong/Getty Images/Ikon Images
A few years ago, we published a series called “Streaming at the Tipping Point” that took a hard look at the then-nascent world of music streaming as it rapidly and dramatically shifted listeners’ — and artists’ — relationships to music. Since then, a lot has changed: Entire platforms, business models and artists’ careers have skyrocketed and perished on the whims of the streaming ecosystem.
This week, we published a new series that considers the state of streaming today. As our colleague Andrew Flanagan writes in the series-opening editor’s note: “Most of the time, we're scrambling just to keep up, balancing the wonder and the costs of our new lives. But it's important to interrogate what we've signed up for and where it may take us. What have we gotten into? How deep are we already? And what's the temperature?”
For some artists (like Khalid, one of the most listened-to artists in the world thanks in part to Spotify) the playlist era has offered a path from bedroom production to the top of the charts. But how well has Spotify actually been able to balance being artist-friendly while also functioning as a global digital brand?
Our series also looks to the past — including elegies for bygone formats and platforms like cassettes, music Tumblr and Audiogalaxy — and to the future. What are the alternatives to our current music ecosystem? And what might listening and music technology look like in 20, 30 or 50 years?
There’s a lot at stake, and there are no simple answers or easy solutions. But one thing is clear: The way we listen has fundamentally changed. We’d love to hear how streaming has impacted your listening life, too. Have you embraced streaming as the new norm, or are you seeking a way around the realities of the cloud? Are you a vinyl-only type, or do you prefer Bandcamp? Let us know by using the email option at the end of this week’s newsletter.
The Big Day is finally here: Chance the Rapper released his debut album (which, you know, follows his three previously released mixtapes). Clocking in at nearly an hour and 20 minutes, the album is an earnest, ambitious, sometimes comical and often euphoric sonic journey.
In 1985, country legends Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings and Kris Kristofferson formed the Highwaymen. Now, in the year 2019, Natalie Hemby, Brandi Carlile, Maren Morris and Amanda Shires have given us the Highwomen. Stream the supergroup’s first single, “Redesigning Women.”
The year is 2027. Every song on the Hot 100 is a variation of "Old Town Road." The yeehaw agenda is now law. But in all seriousness, yes, this week brought yet another “Old Town Road” remix: Hear “Seoul Town Road” featuring KM of BTS. It might help the song break the record for the longest run atop the Hot 100.
This week’s roséwave playlist is a vintage varietal: Our Summer of ‘69 mix offers a sweet mélange of soul, jazz, rock, proto-funk and Latin music that’s the perfect soundtrack for a laid-back summertime house party.
Featuring
This week, opera star David Daniels was indicted in Texas on a felony charge of sexual assault. 53-year-old Daniels was, until last year, one of the world's most highly sought-after opera singers, performing as a countertenor. His husband, Scott Walters, was indicted on the same charge.
Over the two-day lifespan of the Rock and Roll Circus, the Rolling Stones recorded performances by the era's most celebrated artists, including the Who, John Lennon and Eric Clapton. But the Stones wanted some re-shoots, production lost momentum and the film never aired. Then the film stock went missing. But now there’s a remastered, restored version to behold.
The Newport Folk Festival has been attracting folk-minded audience members for over six decades. On the latest episode of All Songs Considered, festival veteran Bob Boilen talks to Jay Sweet, the festival's executive producer, about how he picked this year's lineup.
Woodstock 50, the music festival intended as a celebration of the era-defining 1969 concert, has instead spent months unravelling in public. Now, if it takes place at all, it won’t be a festival, and it won’t be in New York.
Tinariwen, a band of Tuareg guitarists whose fans and collaborators include Robert Plant, Thom Yorke of Radiohead, Bono of U2 and Nels Cline of Wilco, has fought extremism in their home country of Mali and been victims themselves. But ahead of a September show in Winston-Salem, N.C., social media commenters are leveling violent, racist attacks against the musicians.
Tiny Desk
Claire Harbage/NPR
Singer, producer and multi-instrumentalist Masego has a name for the music he makes: TrapHouseJazz. The genre-originator’s five-song set at the Tiny Desk was full of both showmanship and practical jokes. The whole thing wound up feeling something like a jam session – props and surprise guests included.
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