Music Features

Instead of fostering new paths of musical expression, the Internet in many ways has done the opposite. But there's plenty of potential.

Music & Culture

Towards New Musics: What The Future Holds For Sound Creativity

6:00am July 26, 2019

Instead of fostering and clearing new paths for musical expression, the Internet has in many ways had the opposite effect. But there's plenty of potential, as two bright minds from MIT explain.

What's the logical endgame for streaming?

Hello, Brave New World!

6:00am July 26, 2019

by Cherie Hu

The advent of streaming has changed our relationship to music, but where is it taking us? What's the logical conclusion? The only way to know for sure is to ask the future — so we did.

Bad Bunny (holding flag), singer Ricky Martin (in black hat) and Residente (in blue hat) join demonstrators in protest against Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rosselló in Old San Juan.

Music & Culture

'Afilando Los Cuchillos' Soundtracks Puerto Rico's Social Movement In Real Time

1:38pm July 25, 2019

by Felix Contreras

"Puerto Ricans are waking up." We explore Residente, iLe and Bad Bunny's sharp-edged takedown of Gov. Ricardo Rosselló and its influence on the protesters in the streets.

Low Cut Connie performs at Battery Park City River & Blues Festival.

Music & Culture

Slingshot City Scenes: Free New York City Concerts

11:45am July 25, 2019

by Laura Fedele

The city offers a few hidden gems for music lovers looking to hear music for free. Check out five spots to explore for a fun summer night.

Spotify CEO and co-founder Daniel Ek, photographed in Tokyo on Sept. 29, 2016 on the occasion of his company's Japanese debut.

Music & Culture

The Green New Deal: Where Spotify Stands, And Where Artists Wish It Would

8:20am July 25, 2019

by Marissa R. Moss

Since launching stateside in 2011, the green logo of Spotify has come to be, almost like Kleenex, synonymous with the weird new world of streaming. So, dozens of billions of dollars later, what's up?

Adrian Quesada, photographed on June 3, 2014 in New York.

Music & Culture

The Many Threads And Generations Of Chicano Soul, All In One Place

7:11am July 25, 2019

by Joe Nick Patoski

This Saturday, a legendary group of musicians will converge on Lincoln Center to perform Look at My Soul, a project tying together the myriad musical influences that Chicano Soul has in its DNA.

The halcyon days of Audiogalaxy, an unsanctioned peer-to-peer music sharing platform from the Wild West days of the Internet, were short-lived but deeply impactful, writes Sam Hockley-Smith.

Music & Culture

A Requiem For Audiogalaxy, The Digital Wild West's Best Outlaw Record Store

6:19pm July 24, 2019

by Sam Hockley-Smith

In the wake of Napster's downfall, but before the iTunes Store began to legitimize digital music, Audiogalaxy emerged from the darkness to (illegally) fill the void.

"We wanted to do a record for the people who don't know the band as well," says Spoon singer Britt Daniel (center) of the reasoning behind its new greatest hits album, Everything Hits At Once.

Music & Culture

Everything Hits: Spoon Releases An Old School Greatest Hits Album Into A Digital Age

1:28pm July 24, 2019

by Matthew Perpetua

After nine albums, the veteran indie rock band Spoon is doing something that's become a rarity in the age of playlists: releasing a hand-picked collection of a dozen of its best-loved songs.

The cassette tape was the first mass-produced and widely adopted, portable and recordable audio format — and because of that, became foundational to the stories of many music fans... like the critic and author Ben Ratliff.

Music & Culture

The Language I Learned From Cassettes

12:38pm July 24, 2019

by Ben Ratliff

The author and critic Ben Ratliff came up in the halcyon days of cassette tapes, when they were as close to a streaming service as you could get.

Tumblr billed itself as a "microblogging platform," and due to its ease of use and broad range of users, became a communal space for a disparate group of music fans (and budding music writers), writes Mark Richardson.

Music & Culture

Remembering The Bottled Lightning Of 'Music Tumblr'

8:02am July 24, 2019

by Mark Richardson

For a brief moment, Tumblr played host to a tight-knit, but open-minded, community of music lovers who were thinking and writing deeply about music and its place in the world.