Music & Culture

Music & Culture

Congress has gotten involved in the Ticketmaster-Taylor Swift fiasco

6:58am November 18, 2022

NPR's Leila Fadel talks to Anne Steele of The Wall Street Journal about Ticketmaster bungling the ticket release for Swift's new tour. Questions are raised about the company's grip on the industry.

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Horace Andy performs a Tiny Desk (home) concert.

Music & Culture

Horace Andy: Tiny Desk (Home) Concert

6:21am November 18, 2022

by Bob Boilen

Horace Andy performs in his signature raspy, gruff tenor from the living room of producer Adrian Sherwood.

Music & Culture

Federal trademark board rules Mariah Carey is legally not the Queen of Christmas

5:51am November 18, 2022

Carey's 1994 hit "All I Want For Christmas is You" may be one of the most ubiquitous holiday tunes. Carey had asked to trademark the term "Queen of Christmas" for lotions, clothes and other products.

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Kevin Abstract reflects on BROCKHAMPTON on new song "The Ending."

Music & Culture

Heat Check Roundup: BROCKHAMPTON, $ilkmoney, LOLA and more

4:59pm November 17, 2022

In this week's Heat Check selects, Kevin Abstract says goodbye to BROCKHAMPTON (kind of?), $ilkmoney shrugs off virality, a singer synthesizes the sounds of the UK's contemporary R&B scene and more.

Taylor Swift, pictured at the 2022 MTV VMAs in August, will embark on her first tour in five years this coming March. Over two million people bought tickets to The Eras Tour on the first day of pre-sale, despite major technical issues.

The Taylor Swift ticket fiasco is refocusing a spotlight on Ticketmaster's dominance

3:57pm November 17, 2022

by Rachel Treisman

Ticketmaster says unprecedented demand caused tech issues, frustrating fans. Some Democrats say the problem is actually with the company's market power.

Music & Culture

Liv.e, 'Wild Animals'

3:51pm November 17, 2022

by Teresa Xie

The shape-shifting R&B artist places time in the palms of her hands, squeezing and stretching it as she sees fit.

BADBADNOTGOOD perform live at Brooklyn Steel.

Music & Culture

BADBADNOTGOOD steps into the psychedelic void

1:35pm November 17, 2022

More than a decade after BADBADNOTGOOD's viral debut upsetting the "jazz police" and carving their own niche playing rap covers, they take the stage in Brooklyn with a wildly psychedelic set.

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Music & Culture

Laraaji, 'Ocean'

1:15pm November 17, 2022

by Joshua Minsoo Kim

Laraaji's songs always drift with a patient, resplendent glory. From a forthcoming reissue, the shimmery "Ocean" attests to how he's always embodied these gargantuan bodies of water.

Brandi Carlile (by Neil Krug), Keb' Mo' (by Jeremy Cowart), Wet Leg (by Hollie Fernando)

Music & Culture

Hear 'World Cafe' interviews with 20 of the 2023 Grammy nominees

12:18pm November 17, 2022

by Bruce Warren

Listen back to performances and interviews from Brandi Carlile, The War on Drugs, Tank and the Bangas and more.

Daniel Bachman asked friends and family to chronicle the sound of pouring rain and strong winds to craft the personal palette for Almanac Behind.

Music & Culture

In the devastation of climate change, Daniel Bachman captures what's left behind

10:42am November 17, 2022

by Vanessa Ague

In field recordings and fingerstyle guitar, Bachman's diaristic Almanac Behind documents cataclysmic weather as it becomes a larger part of our lives.