Month: May 2018

Ameer Vann of Brockhampton Responds to Allegations of Sexual Misconduct

Brockhampton
Jason Tate

Ameer Vann of Brockhampton has responded to allegations of sexual misconduct:

In a series of tweets on May 12, Vann addressed the allegations levied against him. Find those below. “I’ve been in relationships where I’ve fucked up and disrespected my partners. I’ve cheated and been dismissive to my exes,” he wrote. “In response to the claims of emotional and sexual abuse: although my behavior has been selfish, childish, and unkind, I have never criminally harmed anyone or disrespected their boundaries. I have never had relations with a minor or violated anybody’s consent.”

Ben Gibbard Reflects on ‘Narrow Stairs’

Death Cab for Cutie
Jason Tate

Stereogum sat down with Death Cab For Cutie’s Ben Gibbard to talk about the ten year anniversary of Narrow Stairs:

I look back at that period of writing and it was really a much more personal, confessional period, even in relation to the albums on either side of it. To put it in context, we had made Transatlanticism, The O.C. happened, the band’s profile kind of grew exponentially very quickly, and then we signed to a major label. That process and that period of change and growth, having a whole new group of new people we were putting records out with at Atlantic Records versus the four people that worked at Barsuk, it was a stressful time. We signed to Atlantic because we wanted to reach more people. We worked harder than we’d ever worked before, we toured more than we’d ever toured before, we were doing so much press, the profile of the band had just really blown up.

The Smith Street Band Cancel Show

The Smith Street Band
Jason Tate

The Smith Street Band have canceled an upcoming show after a crowd member was groped at a recent show:

We’re sorry but we’re gonna be cancelling today’s show in Castlemaine. At the moment I feel like I never want to play a show again. We played an under 18 show yesterday that felt lovely and wholesome and special. Then after I found out someone groped someone in the crowd and was apprehended and arrested. Out of respect to the situation, I won’t go into that further. But I’ve been playing shows for about ten years now. Anyone who’s seen me perform a few times over that journey knows how seriously I take this and how much it fucking kills me.

Apple Music and Pandora No Longer Promoting R. Kelly

Jason Tate

Apple Music and Pandora have also stopped promoting R. Kelly on their platforms:

Now, a source close to the matter tells Pitchfork that Apple Music also begun to stop promoting R. Kelly in featured playlists over the past several weeks. The decision was made quietly, and it pre-dates Spotify’s announcement. Kelly’s music has been pulled from Apple Music-curated playlists such as “Best Slow Jams of the 90s, Vol. 1” and Vol. 2. (Kelly is prominently featured in the artwork for the playlists, but his music is no longer in them.)

I want a “block artist” button on Apple Music (and Spotify). Something that I can click to keep an artist from ever showing up at all, anywhere, on the platform. Maybe even granular control so you could check one box to just block that artist everywhere, and another if you still want their “features” to appear in the tracklists for albums you listen to.

I also think that these services should start looking into informing listeners on artist pages about things that someone may want to know before listening to an artist. These pages already have biographies on them, why not include the facts about abuse allegations as well?

A Conversation Adam Silver

Basketball
Jason Tate

Adam Silver, the commissioner of the NBA, talked with Strategy Business:

We promote the posting of our highlights. The highlights are identified through YouTube’s software, and when ads are sold against them, we share in the revenue. We analogize our strategy to snacks versus meals. If we provide those snacks to our fans on a free basis, they’re still going to want to eat meals — which are our games. There is no substitute for the live game experience. We believe that greater fan engagement through social media helps drive television ratings.

This is a really good interview that dives into how the NBA is using data and the internet to grow their product. Very forward thinking.