Last week in music industry commentaryLast week, commentators in the thick of the industry shared their opinions and thoughts on AI challenging musicians, what’s wrong with copyright law, and more… Live streams won’t steal ticket. Continue reading
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Getting It Done: Last Week in D.I.Y. & Indie MusicLast week, our tips and advice for the independent do-it-yourselfers out there covered how to get music videos on VEVO, five fun giveaway ideas, and more… With ‘Fans,’ SoundCloud creators. Continue reading
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REWIND: The new music industry’s Week In ReviewA busy week by any definition, the music industry was no exception, with new noteworthy artists to check out, Google releasing a text-to-AI music creation tool, Ed Sheeran winning a. Continue reading
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Kubernik: Hall of Famer Link WrayLink Wray was made a posthumous inductee into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Class of 2023, in the "Musical Influence" category.  

Perhaps it's now time to re-visit Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked the World. The 2017 dazzling feature documentary from Montreal, Canada-based Rezolution pictures about the role of Native Americans in popular music history.

    The film’s title comes from the 1958 hit instrumental single “Rumble” by Link Ray & His Ray Men issued on Archie Blyer’s Cadence label.  

       Wray, born to Shawnee parents in North Carolina, was a major guitar influence on Jeff Beck, Pete Townshend, Jimmy Page, and many others.

    In the documentary It Might Get Loud, Page describes hearing “Rumble” as a turning point in his own love of the guitar.         

    “‘Rumble’ had the power to push me over the edge, and it did help me say: 'Fuck it, I'm gonna be a musician,” stressed Iggy Pop. “That was the rawest form of the kind of guitar that all of the guys that I listened to, that’s where it started,” confessed Slash of Guns ‘N Roses, while Steven Van Zandt of Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band recollected, “Here comes Link Wray with the theme song of juvenile delinquency…. I’m not surprised it was banned.”

  Further testimony is supplied by the MC5’s Wayne Kramer, “He was one of the first that really had a tone that pointed the way to the future.”

   “There might not be a Who, were there no Link Wray; there might not be a Jeff Beck Group, were there no Link Wray; there might not be a Led Zeppelin, if there were no Link Wray,” summarized Taylor Hawkins of the Foo Fighters.

   In Rumble, director and Rezolution co-founder Catherine Bainbridge and co-director and director of photography Alfonso Maiorama examine the journey of Native Americans on record and stage. They expose a critical and profound missing chapter, revealing how indigenous musicians helped influence audio culture.

   The on-screen participating contributors in Rumble are a list of music artists, historians, family members, and experts who acknowledge Native musicians that helped shape the soundtracks of their lives: Buffy Sainte-Marie, Robbie Robertson, Martin Scorsese, Tony Bennett, Steven Tyler, Iggy Pop, Buddy Guy, Taj Mahal, Cyril Neville, Ivan Neville, John Trudell, Steven Van Zandt, Corey Harris, Jesse Ed Davis, Alvin Youngblood Hart, David Fricke, Guy Davis, Monk Boudreaux,  Quincy Jones, Jackson Browne, Martha Redbone, James “Hutch” Hutchinson, Joy Harjo, as well as Pat Vegas (Redbone), Wayne Kramer (MC5), Slash (Guns ‘N’ Roses), Dan Auerbach (The Black Keys), Marky Ramone (The Ramones), Taylor Hawkins (Foo Fighters), Pura Fe Crescioni (Ulali), Rhiannon Giddens (Carolina Chocolate Drops), Mike Inez (Alice in Chains), George Clinton, Robert Trujillo (Metallica), and Taboo (Black Eyed Peas).

   Christina Fon, Stevie Salas and Catherine Bainbridge served as producers. Bainbridge and Neil Diamond previously helmed Reel Injun about the representations of Native Americans in Hollywood movies. 

     Rumble earned a Sundance special jury award for “masterful storytelling,” and the film also received best music documentary at the Boulder International Film Festival. The movie just had its U.S. theatrical premiere in late July at Film Forum in New York.

  “Rumble” has since been heard in Quentin Tarentino’s Pulp Fiction and in the surf documentary Riding Giants, directed by Stacy Peralta. It’s also been used in the HBO television show The Sopranos and additional movies, including Independence Day and Blow.

    “In Rumble, for the first time a film reveals a fascinating, and until now unknown, influence on the formation of rock and roll,” explained Bainbridge and Maiorama in their Director’s statement press notes. 

   “The music that has become a part of who we are. We are so honoured to be able to tell this story about the influence of iconic Native American musicians speak about how these icons were an influence, you listen! Native American music – born of this land – was violently suppressed for many years as both American and Canadian governments outlawed Native ceremonies and rituals in a deliberate attempt to break the people.

     “As a result, the music was forced underground and found its expression in alternative ways. It is important to note that the primary drivers in the creation of blues and jazz and therefore rock were African Americans, but Native Americans, like Europeans , also played a part.

    “We feel that it is important for everyone, and especially Native youth who have so few pop culture role models, to have proof, through the icons we feature and the famous people that give our story credibility, that Indigenous cultures were an integral part of the evolution of popular music. The truth that we want to expose in Rumble is that the attempted erasure of Native American people, their culture, and their music, didn’t work. As Robbie Robertson said in one of our interviews with him ‘you wouldn't let me talk about it before, well now I'm going to talk real loud.’” 

   “One can’t help but notice the rhythms of—or the pulse that was here, that is here; been here. The feel of Native American is in a lot of rock 'n' roll,” suggested George Clinton.  “It’s interesting how much the Native American element just filters through,” offered Martin Scorsese, while Joy Harjo, a Muscogee-Creek musician and poet added, “Our peoples were part of the origin story of blues and jazz and rock of American music but we’re left out of the story consistently from the beginning.”

      During Rumble, half-Jewish, half-Mohawk, Robbie Robertson, co-founder of the Band, reflected in an interview, “My real guitar lessons were at the Six Nations Indian Reserve in Ontario. All my cousins, uncles – everybody -- seemed like they could play an instrument. If you considered yourself a real rock ’n’ roll guitar player, you had to learn ‘Rumble.’ It was raw and dirty, and had that rebellious spirit to it.”

    The influence of the Native American has never been lost on musician/actor/producer, Steven Van Zandt, whose production company is named Renegade Nation.

    Van Zandt further cited the impact of Robertson and the Band, whose commercially successful roots-music groundbreaking sound emerged in 1968 after a 1966 world tour backing Bob Dylan and 1967 Basement Tapes recording sessions with Dylan.  

    “The entire industry got right back to song writing, and Robbie Robertson, one of the great song writers of all time, had effectuated that change by his own sensibility, and the Band's sensibility.”

   Portions of this text were published in my 2020 book, Docs That Rock, Music That Matters. 

(Harvey Kubernik is the author of 20 books, including 2009’s Canyon Of Dreams: The Magic And The Music Of Laurel Canyon and 2014’s Turn Up The Radio! Rock, Pop and Roll In Los Angeles 1956-1972.   Sterling/Barnes and Noble in 2018 published Harvey and Kenneth Kubernik’s The Story Of The Band: From Big Pink To The Last Waltz. In2021 they wrote Jimi Hendrix: Voodoo Child for Sterling/Barnes and Noble. Otherworld Cottage Industries in 2020 published Harvey’s Docs That Rock, Music That Matters.

Kubernik’s writings are in several book anthologies. Most notably, The Rolling Stone Book Of The Beats and Drinking With Bukowski. Harvey wrote the liner notes to the CD re-releases of Carole King’s Tapestry, The Essential Carole King, Allen Ginsberg’s Kaddish, Elvis Presley The ’68 Comeback Special, The Ramones’ End of the Century and Big Brother & the Holding Company Captured Live at The Monterey International Pop Festival.  

    During 2006 Harvey spoke at the special hearings initiated by The Library of Congress held in Hollywood, California, discussing archiving practices and audiotape preservation.

   In 2017 Harvey Kubernik appeared at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio, as part of their Distinguished Speakers Series.

ALBUM REVIEWS: Billy Valentine (10/10)The Universal Truth 

Downtown Music / Direct Music Services(North America) Ace Music (elsewhere)

Producer: Bob Thiele, Jr.

Sharing classics made famous by Curtis Mayfield, Stevie Wonder, Gilbert Scott-Heron, Prince, and more, Valentine gathers heavyweights, including Pino Palladino, Jeff Parker, Larry Goldings, and Abe Rounds, for soulful jazz with a timely message. Elegantly recorded, mixed and mastered by Dave Way and Chris Allen, Valentine’s incredible vocals render the listener entranced and breathless, and leave the powerful, emotive lyrics to pull at their soul. Pure exquisite magic. The vocal masterclass. – Andrea Beenham

From Google’s AI music generator to Robert Kyncl on music streaming’s payout and pricing models… it’s MBW’s Weekly Round-UpThe biggest music biz headlines from the past week, all in one place
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Only 42% think creators should be paid when AI uses their musicAccording to a new survey, just 42% of Americans beleive that songwriters and other creators should be compensated when AI uses their work. While creators and rightsholders will consider 42%. Continue reading
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How fictional band Daisy Jones the Six became a streaming successFrom a popular novel to a hot new Amazon Prime Video series, Daisy Jones & the Six – a band that never existed – has become a major success across. Continue reading
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How musicians can use grow their fanbase with value-based contentLearn what kind of content musicians should be creating to help grow and maintain a significant fanbase… by Johnny Papan from the Bandzoogle blog Even though the rise of social. Continue reading
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DiMA recruiting for new President and CEO, as Garrett Levin confirms exitThe Digital Media Association represents streaming services including Apple Music, Amazon, Pandora, Spotify and YouTube
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Jake Shimabukuro at the Canyon ClubBy Jonathan Widran and Jessica Taylor

Sometime during Jake Shimabukuro’s stylistically diverse, 90-minute-set, my insightful, musically attuned friend, caught up in the emotion of the moment, exclaimed, “Not only is he an amazing musician, he’s a magician.” The words perfectly captured the ukulele master’s essence and the gentle yet powerful impact he made on his audience as he embarked on a thrilling range of genre-hopping adventures and transformed his instrument into a flamenco guitar, electric guitar and even the koto, a traditional Japanese instrument.  

As he vibes intuitively off the subtle and upbeat grooves of bass guitarist Jackson Waldhoff – a Japanese born musician who attended the same high school in Hawaii– Jake is always a one-man ukulele orchestra, proverbially pulling fresh sonic textures and possibilities out of the hat while turning his instrument into a palette of unexpected, often surreal sounds, depending on the mood or theme of the tune.

With most artists, this kind of praise would mean simply appreciating the wondrous expression they bring to their instruments. With Jake, it’s also about the way he eases so effortlessly from showing graceful heartfelt affection for the music of his Japanese heritage to creating a lively, fast-paced spin through the timeless melody of The Beatles’ “Eleanor Rigby.”

One minute he’s soothing the audience with the easy swaying native Aloha spirit, and the next minute he’s paying tribute to the recently departed Jeff Beck with his otherworldly version of “’Cause We’ve Ended as Lovers,” which Stevie Wonder penned for the legendary guitarist. For that song, Jake used a fascinating technique that’s become one of his trademarks. He uses floor pedals to create backing loops from what he already played to seamlessly modulate from a soft-spoken acoustic vibe to a distorted electric guitar sound, expanding the tune into improvisational rock fusion territory. Building on that energy, he later shared the infectious cross-cultural jam “Dragon,” his rockin’ response to a question he once asked himself: “What would happen if Bruce Lee and Eddie Van Halen got together and composed a song for the ukulele?”

Artfully balancing these high energy tunes, the emotional core of the evening was Jake’s delicate and intricate performance of one of his grandmother’s favorites, the traditional Japanese folk song ““Sakura, Sakura.” Translating to “cherry blossoms, cherry blossoms,” it pays loving homage to his cultural background. Jake introduced the beautiful song by telling the audience that it’s traditionally played on the koto, which has 13 strings – and that in his younger days, he would sit in his room for hours trying to figure out ways to play it on the uke.

Jake’s been working his one-of-a-kind magic since the early 2000s, when he became the first ukulele player from Hawaii to sign with Epic Record International. A few albums into his career, as he was gaining popularity in Hawaii and Japan, he achieved international fame. A video emerged of him playing a flawless version of the George Harrison Beatles classic “When My Guitar Gently Weeps” that showcased his sensitivity, precision and speed. Posted on YouTube without his knowledge, it became one of the first viral videos on the platform and to date has 17.6M+ views.

In the thousands of shows he’s done throughout the world since, “Gently Weeps” has been the crowd pleaser audiences wait for. The way Jake segues from breezy, laid-back strumming to his trademark athletic, high-octane jamming continues to fascinate no matter how many times we may have listened to it live, on CD/streaming or online. On this night, he and Waldhoff paved its way with a distorted guitar driven, rock concert worthy medley featuring segments of “We Will Rock You,” “Sunshine of Your Love,” “Smoke on the Water” and even ZZ Top’s “La Grange.”

Another rock classic Jake’s brought his own uniqueness creativity to is Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody.” Subtly encouraging the crowd, he turned it into a whimsical singalong, with wild shouts from audience members. He also brought his own creativity to originals like the Carlos Montoya influenced, flamenco fired “Let’s Dance” and the uplifting “Sonny Days Ahead” - originally a duet with “King of Slydeco” Sonny Landreth on Jake’s 2021 all-star collaboration album Jake & Friends. He also strummed an original ballad titled “Ichigo Ichie,” whose title in Japanese means “once in a lifetime.” As Jake explained, it’s about being grateful and present as we experience something that will never quite happen the same way again.  

Jake’s high-spirited pop/jazz closer “Kawika” – a song written for a Hawaiian king known as “The Merrie Monarch” and originally recorded by The Sunday Manoa – was his way of honoring his home in Hawaii while sharing the Aloha spirit. I think we all left with a warm “ohana” feeling, which translates to “family” in Hawaiian.    

King & Prince just sold 1.2m physical copies of their latest album ‘Mr.5’ in its first week in Japan, becoming the market’s fastest-selling album this yearUniversal Music Japan and King & Prince have set the record for 2023’s fastest selling album in Japan
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Haim Saban appointed Non-Executive Director at Universal Music GroupMedia mogul was elected to the role at UMG's AGM on Thursday, May 11
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The global dance music industry grew by 34% in 2022Last week I was the International Music Summit in Ibiza, the annual music industry business event. This year MIDiA compiled the annual IMS Music Business Report and I presented the findings at the opening of the event. The full report is available here for download and you can view a video of the presentation here. Here are some of the key findings of the report.

The dance music industry has long been among the first music genres to be shaped by emerging technologies, not least because technology plays such an integral role in the production and performance of dance music. This has helped ensure that dance music has ridden the waves of music industry change. But it has also always been a genre built around performance, DJing especially. So when the pandemic came, dance music felt the impact particularly keenly, with festivals, clubs and bars all being hard hit. 2020 and 2021 were thus fallow years for dance music revenues, years in which DJs struggled to perform and the global industry looked much more towards its other revenue streams. With the global opening up of 2022, the dance music industry not only grew, but ended up bigger than pre-pandemic, pointing to the growing cultural reach and impact that dance music has in today’s global music business.

All of the key elements of the dance music business were up in 2022:

Recorded music up 11% to $1.5 billion

Publishing up 22% to $0.4 billion

Music hardware, software, sounds and services up 4% to $2.8 billion

Live up 78% to $4.5 billion

The result was that the total revenue of the global dance music industry rose 34% in 2022 to hit $10.2 billion. 

Hardware and software

Music hardware, software, sounds and services represents one of dance music’s super powers. Dance music producers have always relied on these tools, but now they are becoming the mainstay of the wider music creator economy. With music software used more across all genres, dance music sounds and techniques will influence all genres

Skills sharing and learning grew fastest, and it was worth $108 million in 2022. Plus, demand will increase still, due to fast evolving production techniques and new software

This will be a long-term growth area for dance music, with producers constantly seeking to upskill to the fast changing world of music production tech and techniques

Live

In live, Ibiza club ticketing revenue reached €124 million in 2022, up 55% from the €80 million registered in 2019. This was underpinned by increases in the number of events per venue, average ticket prices, and the total number of tickets sold going from 2 million in 2019 to 2.5 million in 2022

Globally, the top 100 DJs saw their 2022 bookings grow by around threefold on the pandemic hit 2021, though male DJs grew bookings more than half faster than their female counterparts. Female DJs represented 15% of all top 100 DJ bookings in 2022. Building popularity and getting bookings is a virtuous circle, but if female DJs are losing share of bookings to male counterparts, then the virtuous circle becomes a vicious circle.

A bright, diversified future

Finally, the dance music industry has shaken off the effects of the pandemic, coming out the other side, bigger, better, stronger and more relevant than ever. The pandemic shone a harsh light on the industry’s heavy-reliance on live. Now, that reliance is even higher because of live’s huge growth. There are two key differences from 2019: 1) a resurgent creator tools sector; and 2) a music publishing business that is finally beginning to find its share. The future is bright, with the rise of creator culture, bringing ever more people into dance music, both as fans and creators, with the creator-fan set to be at the centre of tomorrow’s dance music world.

Google launches AI text to music creation tool MusicLMGoogle has launched MusicLM, a new experimental AI tool that turns text descriptions into music. It’s still in beta, but starting today, you can sign up to try it in Google’s AI. Continue reading
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