rant

Artificial Interference: The Rise of AI Music

/ James Fenney
Image source: pcmag uk

The latest fad within the tech world is spreading like wildfire; and unlike the volatile nature of environmentally irresponsible cryptocurrencies, the completely undesired push for the ‘metaverse’, and the blatant worthlessness of NFTs, this one actually has the potential to become part of the average person’s everyday life. For better or for worse, 2023 has seen a major push in the field of AI generated art. With the right program, anyone can input a brief prompt and be presented in mere moments with visuals or written content devised by a complex algorithm. It’s a technology fraught with caveats and controversies, moral quandaries and technical limitations, and before we’ve had the chance as a society to figure any of them out, the AI drive is already moving towards another artistic platform – music. What does this brave new world have in store? Continue reading →

Help Save The Music Industry #WeMakeEvents

/ James Fenney

Today we’re joining friends, colleagues and artists we admire in calling for urgent support from the UK government to stop the imminent collapse of our live events sector. Due to the ongoing Covid crisis the industry has been at a standstill since March, and there’s no way of knowing when things can begin to return to normal. Live events were the first industry to close due to preventative measures surrounding the virus, and will be among the last to reopen, and in the interim hundreds of thousands of people have been left out of work and without any sign of sufficient support from the government. It’s impossible to understate to potential damage that will be done by the government’s inaction, and how important it is that you join in making a stand and making your voices heard.

                                                                       #WeMakeEvents

Continue reading →

How Not to F*** Up a Festival

/ James Fenney

hope-and-gloryTo say that this year’s festival season has been a bit of a shambles would be a massive understatement. That’s like saying the Sahara Desert is “a bit warm”. Between Y Not being totally unprepared for rain (i.e. a normal British summer) to Hope and Glory being several thousand over capacity, it’s been one hell of a year for shamefully poor organisation… and the less said about the horror show that is Fyre Festival the better. All of them cut corners when it came to security and facilities, all of them showed utter disregard for their patron’s safety, enjoyment and well-being. Anyone who has been to a half decent festival will know that all these problems are easily avoided. Continue reading →

Cut and Paste Crisis: The problem with sampling

/ James Fenney

samplingIt’s no secret that when you look at the credits and personnel on certain albums, with hip hop, manufactured pop and modern R&B being the most notable culprits, you will see a long list of writers and producers. Albums from such artists as Beyoncé and Kanye West which have made big waves in the industry this past year seem to practically have an entire office block worth of people credited with making the music that made them famous. I imagine few of these people have made conscious contributions, many of them simply have had their work sampled. Continue reading →

Stagnant Streams: How streaming killed the charts

/ James Fenney

spotify-logo

Let’s be honest with ourselves, for as long as the charts have existed they have had to be taken with a pinch of salt. “Chart topping” music and good music rarely coincide, and any institution that gives Mr Blobby a number 1 single can’t be said to represent the best music in the country. Even so chart placings remain a source of pride for up and coming artists who rightly celebrate them as a milestone. However with the new rules in place to allow streaming figures to contribute to chart positions it could end up being the final nail in the coffin for this longstanding music institution. Continue reading →

Albums aren’t dead!

/ James Fenney

smashedrecord-600x400

Modern music media is quick to write off albums as a thing of the past, pointing at dwindling sales figures as a sign that the end is nigh. Industry moguls can often be found lamenting over the apparently fickle nature of modern consumers and the fact that people these days simply can’t be bothered to sit through an entire album. To paraphrase Mark Twain: the reports of their death have been greatly exaggerated, and I for one am fed up of this bleak and out of touch outlook. The truth is albums have more power now than they have done in a long time, you just need to know where to look. Continue reading →

Copyright Chaos

/ James Fenney

copyright

There is a new blight on the music industry that is working to besmirch the name of hardworking artists. There is a growing number of groundless copyright cases in recent years that have done their best to steal millions based off of simple musical coincidences. Cases have been raised against the likes of Sam Smith, Led Zeppelin and Ed Sheeran of so called copyright infringement based on very little evidence. There have been songs all throughout history that have had similarities, coincidence or otherwise: ZZ Top’s ‘La Grange’ riff is just a sped up ‘Spirit in the Sky’, Vanilla Ice stole the bass line for ‘Ice Ice Baby’ from Queen’s ‘Under Pressure’, The Phantom of the Opera theme was stolen from an excerpt of Pink Floyd’s ‘Echoes’ and almost all blues songs can trace their origins to Robert Johnson. Usually such similarities went unnoticed, but these days people are eager to exploit the slightest few notes in common. It’s a trend that needs to die out sooner rather than later, and to do so all you have to do is follow these three steps: Continue reading →

Led Zeppelin sued over Stairway To Heaven

/ James Fenney

stairway to heaven

Back making headlines the claim that Led Zeppelin’s magnum opus ‘Stairway To Heaven’ was stolen from the track ‘Taurus’ by Spirit, has been taken to court. A trial is scheduled for 10th May for supposed copyright infringement. The whole debacle is an absolute farce; the family of the deceased Spirit guitarist Randy California have decided to sue over 40 years since the song’s release, despite the fact that Randy himself never sought legal action. The two songs have nothing in common besides a very basic chord progression at the very beginning, something that occurs in innumerable songs. Any court with any sense should realise that the claim is a load of rubbish.

Best of British?: Diversity at the Brit Awards

/ James Fenney

brits diversity

The Brit Awards, or any awards ceremony for that matter, rarely stray too far from controversy. Following in the footsteps of the Oscars the Brits have been accused of being “blind to black British talent”, as well as being too safe and commercialised. A number of celebrities have criticised the lack of prominent Grime artists such as Skepta and Stormzy and have even gone so far as boycotting the ceremony. How big is the issue here and how much do the Brits need to change? Continue reading →