You think Dr. Doom is still a virgin?
To Apple, Love Taylor
I write this to explain why I’ll be holding back my album, 1989, from the new streaming service, Apple Music. I feel this deserves an explanation because Apple has been and will continue to be one of my best partners in selling music and creating ways for me to connect with my fans. I respect the company and the truly ingenious minds that have created a legacy based on innovation and pushing the right boundaries.
I’m sure you are aware that Apple Music will be offering a free 3 month trial to anyone who signs up for the service. I’m not sure you know that Apple Music will not be paying writers, producers, or artists for those three months. I find it to be shocking, disappointing, and completely unlike this historically progressive and generous company.
This is not about me. Thankfully I am on my fifth album and can support myself, my band, crew, and entire management team by playing live shows. This is about the new artist or band that has just released their first single and will not be paid for its success. This is about the young songwriter who just got his or her first cut and thought that the royalties from that would get them out of debt. This is about the producer who works tirelessly to innovate and create, just like the innovators and creators at Apple are pioneering in their field…but will not get paid for a quarter of a year’s worth of plays on his or her songs.These are not the complaints of a spoiled, petulant child. These are the echoed sentiments of every artist, writer and producer in my social circles who are afraid to speak up publicly because we admire and respect Apple so much. We simply do not respect this particular call.
I realize that Apple is working towards a goal of paid streaming. I think that is beautiful progress. We know how astronomically successful Apple has been and we know that this incredible company has the money to pay artists, writers and producers for the 3 month trial period… even if it is free for the fans trying it out.
Three months is a long time to go unpaid, and it is unfair to ask anyone to work for nothing. I say this with love, reverence, and admiration for everything else Apple has done. I hope that soon I can join them in the progression towards a streaming model that seems fair to those who create this music. I think this could be the platform that gets it right.
But I say to Apple with all due respect, it’s not too late to change this policy and change the minds of those in the music industry who will be deeply and gravely affected by this. We don’t ask you for free iPhones. Please don’t ask us to provide you with our music for no compensation.
Taylor
Studies by Joseph Christian Leyendecker (American, 1874-1951)
Re-reblogging this just to point out how what this tells you about the racial landscape in art back in his time, and how he (among several other Golden Age illustrator contemporaries) portrayed black folks as ‘the help’. Between the butlers and the mammy figures, this was a really well-meaning way to reinforce black adults as second-class citizens.
Yes, I agree that the social norms of this era were to portray Black People as second class citizens. That does not mean that the artwork is of less merit. It is a bad part of our shared history, and Leyendecker - as a professional illustrator - was not often in a financial position to challenge those norms. He usually had to paint what he was asked to, and that often meant portraying non-white people as being less than their white counter-parts. It sucks, but it is not necessarily an intentionally racist action. People are the product of their environment and their genetics. Nature AND Nurture. Consequently, society’s mores change slowly and it usually takes place over the course of several generations.
The Ancient Greeks had a system of Mathematics that had accurately gauged the circumference of the Earth, and Homosexuality was not only embraced, it was a completely accepted and normal aspect of society. 800 years later, and in the same part of the world no less, Leonardo da Vinci and a male partner were arrested and tried for sodomy in an Italian village. Da Vinci escaped prosecution because of his patrons, but his partner was not so lucky …And pretty much everyone thought the Earth was flat.
Sixty years ago, it was completely normal for professional sports teams to have ZERO black athletes on their rosters. Jackie Robinson shocked the hell out of EVERYONE by playing baseball in the Major Leagues.
It was another decade after Leyendecker died before Dr. King was marching in Selma.
Ask your grandparents or great-grandparents about race at some point. Seriously, I dare you to open THAT can of worms. By the way, I would suggest you do so in a private, quiet room.
And lastly, look really closely at the black figures that Leyendecker painted. Those are drawn from life. That woman making the chicken has a warm, happy smile on her face. That was painted by a guy that tasted the love in her cooking. And the facial expression on the guy with a newspaper is priceless.
Daaaaaaaayaaaaaamn
You could try a story where Hank repeatedly slaps himself?
AnonymousIsn’t that every Hank story since 1982?
Thats all stories involving anyone named Hank.
Bone Music: How Banned Western Music in the Soviet Union Was Printed on Repurposed X-Ray Records
From an interview with author Anya von Bremzen via NPR: “They would cut the X-ray into a crude circle with manicure scissors and use a cigarette to burn a hole. You’d have Elvis on the lungs, Duke Ellington on Aunt Masha’s brain scan—forbidden Western music captured on the interiors of Soviet citizens.”
