Lana Del Rey and controversy go together like oil and vinegar. Why? I have no idea because she really isn’t a polarizing artist. Regardless, she was heavily trolled and accused of racial insensitivity for naming stars including like Doja Cat, Nicki Minaj as having had hits about “wearing no clothes and cheating with full acceptance, while she has been “crucified” for penning lyrics that dealt with abusive relationships.

Who helps her through tough times? Management…
“Where do I even begin to pinpoint how they’ve most helped me?” she shared. “I think the way they’ve primarily helped me the most is by seeing me as a real person with unique challenges and unique gifts. They’ve understood that I have a real sensitivity about me and that that’s what makes the music pretty, but it’s what makes certain processes more challenging.”
“Honestly, weekly… My challenges have never involved creating a record or putting out music or how to do that. I need them as much for emotional support as I do for a career guidance. We have experienced highs and lows together, mostly me having anxiety! But, of course, everybody’s life is happening in between the records.

Over 1,500 artist have come together and are demanding money from the government. Experts agree that there needs to be real solution. Cash injections won’t save the “live business”. We need a strategy to get the venues up and running again.
Regardless, Radiohead, The Cure, Nick Cave, PJ Harvey, Primal Scream, Paul McCartney, Dua Lipa, The Rolling Stones and Coldplay have signed an open letter to the government for the #LetTheMusicPlay campaign – demanding immediate action to prevent “catastrophic damage” to the music industry in the wake of the coronavirus lockdown.
The Music Venue Trust demanded a 50million cash injection to save venues. Reports claim that 92% of festival businesses are at risk of collapse and called for government support to “make it to next year without being wiped out”.

“Amazing gigs don’t happen without an amazing team behind the stage, but they’ll all be out of jobs unless we can get back out there doing what we love,” said Gallagher.

The world is divided in two categories. Mask On vs. Mask Off. Stay Inside vs Open Up. This is a fine example of Darwin’s ‘survival of the fittest’ – the preservation of the human race in the struggle for life.

With that, the world’s first “herd immunity festival” is taking place next month in July – a 3 day festival in Wisconsin. But you know what? It’s a rock festival. Performing are Static-X, Nonpoint, Dope, Bobaflex, and Royal Bliss. Those acts don’t care about status quo because rock isn’t on the forefront of popular culture. Rock still has die hard fans though and fans will show up. Those acts don’t have handlers asking them to post memes and jumping on a weekly bandwagon. If they receive backlash, they don’t care.
The event makes no mention of social distancing measures which means people won’t socially distance. This may be a good ice breaker for future music festivals. Also, when tens of thousands of protestors gathered in West Hollywood it didn’t create a spike in new Cov19 cases. The organizers definitely looked at the data.

Newsweek: ‘No Evidence’ Black Lives Matter Protests Caused COVID-19 Spike: Study

C’mon, Herd Immunity Festival? That’s clever marketing. You are inviting people to contract the virus.
The “herd immunity” theory allows the virus to spread through the population quickly. That’s Sweden’s approach – no lockdown measures, no social distancing – let’s all get this and get this thing over with.
Who knows? Maybe it will be rock that kills the virus.

As AC/DC pointed out…
Rock ‘n’ roll ain’t noise pollution
Rock ‘n’ roll ain’t gonna die
Rock ‘n’ roll ain’t noise pollution
Rock ‘n’ roll it will survive (yes it will)

So you heard that Republic Records has cancelled the word Urban. It will “remove ‘urban’ from the label’s verbiage in describing departments, employee titles and music genres. Oddly, Latin categories including the term were excluded from reconsideration.

Gail Mitchell, executive director of R&B and hip-hop at Billboard says she’s on the fence about losing “urban” as an umbrella term, because it may erase the historical legacy of Black music.

Also, top black executives at parent company Universal Music said the move was taken without their endorsement. Senior Universal executives Jeff Harleston and Ethiopia Habtemariam who lead an internal task force on diversity, took issue with the decision.
Will Warner Music cancel Urban? According to sources they are talking with employees who hold a wide range of views and no decision has been made.

Removing the urban departments from labels carry a cost. Urban departments are funded and stacked with employees that find and develop their own artists. What happens to these departments?
Mr Harleston chief executive of Def Jam says, “If you’re a group of people at an urban department, and you sign and develop an artist that goes on to be one of the biggest . . . you’re proud. That’s something the urban department did. There is ownership that goes with it.”

Ms Habtemariam, president of Motown records, said: “People kind of jumped the gun in throwing it out there, more as a headline in my opinion, and not really understanding the real implications.”
In 2018, Mark Pitts President of RCA Urban Music Department and who managed the The Notorious B.I.G. defended the use and said, “I put on urban as a badge of honor”.

Lady Antebellum changed its name after learning the history of Antebellum. I have no idea what Antebellum means to be honest. The dictionary definition of antebellum literally means “before the war,” coming from the Latin phrase, ante bellum. But to further break it down Antebellum is also an aesthetic – architecture and fashion. The issue is that it was created by slave labor.
The band says, “We are regretful and embarrassed to say that we did not take into account the associations that weigh down this word referring to the period of history before the Civil War, which includes slavery,” Lady A wrote, of the band’s blind spots at the time.
We also hear the discussion is moving in many directions. Some are calling that the rock band Guns N’s Roses drops Guns as before the Civil War ended, state “Slave Codes” prohibited slaves from owning guns. The crowd is urging DSP’s to pull tracks that subjugate women from both male and female artists because slavery brought women under control and dominance. How far will this go? What I do know is that blackout is moving beyond Tuesday.