By giving away free beer mats, John Smiths won't destroy capitalism, but it does challenge its dynamics. 
1 Mar 16 
Like Patri Friedman, Pitbull apparently associates freedom with being on a big boat. Also with an acid house cover of “I’m Free,” made famous of course by the Soup Dragons. Which turns out to be a pretty decent song, and Pitbull’s joyful drag parody of masculinity is as charming as ever. Read more↴
Marx is disturbed by the strong resemblance between the activity of the performing artist and the servile duties, which, thankless and frustrating as they are, do not produce surplus value, and thus return to the realm of non-productive labour (54). In A Grammar of the Multitude, Virno attempts to ground his own theory of virtuosity in work […]
Obviously all normal music coverage has been suspended in light of Beyoncé releasing a new single. But here are a few other records worth mentioning that I listened to last week.
When the first episode of iZombie opens Liv Moore is a perky, successful junior doctor planning her wedding. It only takes until the title sequence, though, and she’s single and spending all her time alone, doing nothing, except for when she’s at her dead-end job in the morgue. Liv Moore is a graduate without a future (she’s also been bitten […]
I mentioned Aubrie Sellers last week, and her album is now out. The “garage country” description might suggest an abrasive sound, but it’s more attractively scuzzy – in places it reminds me of REM’s accidental glam album, Monster. Aside from “Loveless Rolling Stone,” which I mentioned last week (and which is perhaps the apex of the “attractively […]
I found out last week that Willow Smith’s Ardipithecus is finally out in the UK, and it’s fantastic. The ambition and the diversity (of musical styles, of Willow’s vocal approaches, of lyrical themes) is so impressive; most impressive is how successful it is. It varies from the post-apocalyptic wilderness of “Drugz,” which kind of reminds me of […]
voyou on Servile work and the politics of reproduction
az on Servile work and the politics of reproduction
palmer1984 on The Official Chart for September 27
Tornike on Marx vs mathematical economics
George on Marx vs mathematical economics
I did some research on the contractual/financial particulars of Sony’s situation with Dr. Luke, after reading one too many news stories to the tune of “Kesha’s filing says that Dr. Luke raped and assaulted and even insulted her!” and “why doesn’t she just leave their contract anyway?” and such.
It’s a huge mess, basically, a huge mess with a lot of money wielded against a person suffering trauma. I believe you cannot change a thing until you address it by name. The current journalism climate is far more conducive to gossipy quick hits and opinion pieces than investigative and/or business reporting about the music industry, but this sort of reporting is crucial to knowing the extent of the apparatus that protects people like Dr. Luke. (I didn’t say “the full extent.” This is almost certainly just a small amount of it.)
(Content note: The piece is about the Kesha case, so it addresses the obvious; it mostly contains business details but there are a number of crappy apologist quotes by producers, artists and judges in it.)