FYI | Diplo & Skrillex form Jack U duo
Posted by Middy on May 2, 2013
2 of the three creators of the Potato Will Eat You project, Diplo and Skrillex have decided to join forces and form a duo named Jack U. The name first came up on the lineup for the San Diego Mad Decent Block Party and caused a lot confusion, but Diplo cleared it up on twitter saying “Jack u… Means skrillex+diplo together..”. This is not their first time working together — their collaboration “Amplifire” gained buzz back in the summer of 2011, but nothing has come of it, possibly due to sample clearing issues, a hot button topic these days. They will be releasing music on the Potato Will Eat You Youtube channel and will do the occasional live show. The only show that is currently scheduled is for the San Diego edition of the Mad Decent Block Parties.
It is hard to imagine they will have the time to release that much music together since each of them have their own very busy solo careers, are already members of duos, Skrillex in Dog Blood and Diplo in Major Lazer, and tour 300+ days a year. It will be interesting to see what comes of this, but if their past innovative style is any indication, we should expect some really cool, unique music from Jack U.
FYI | will.i.am Responds to “Rebound” Theft Accusations
Posted by Middy on April 27, 2013
After admitting to the theft on the radio a few days ago, will.i.scam has gone on camera with the Associated Press in an interview about the issue. He attempts to deflect blame of the whole thing from himself by saying Arty in an email was “excited” and that this is an issue for the Interscope legal team. This purported email directly contradicts Arty’s statement that he and Anjunabeats had never been contacted for clearance, so I would be interested to see proof of it. He never says it is Arty in the interview, but he mentioned Arty in the Kiss FM interview and as of now Arty is credited as a writer for the song (illegally according to Arty). Will.i.am continues on to claim ignorance that he did not know there was another guy (Mat Zo) and that it was Arty’s job to notify him of a collaborator on the song and not will.i.am’s job as an “artist” to actually know the music he was stealing. He also passes the blame onto legal and its long bureaucratic processes, because those things just can’t be changed.
I don’t get it. I have searched the web for a version of “Rebound” that is just labeled as Arty and it simply does not exist. To claim ignorance that the song is just an Arty track is thinking that he can fool the world and we will not fall for it. “Rebound” is as much a Mat Zo track, as it is an Arty track. Making that claim just diminishes his plummeting status as an artist anyway. Will.i.am is pulling a Shaggy right now and trying to say it wasn’t me even though IT CLEARLY WAS. We caught you in your studio Will, hope you didn’t leave any spare keys around.
via Associated Press
FYI | will.i.am owns up to the Theft of Arty & Mat Zo’s “Rebound”
Posted by Middy on April 23, 2013
After the internet rightfully made a big fuss about will.i.scam’s theft and Chris Brown’s beat down of Mat Zo & Arty’s massive single “Rebound” without anybody’s permission, he took to the radio to comment on what he was thinking or not when he made the song. With a long history of ripping others off, deflecting these type of questions would be second nature to him, like a politician in a debate.
He went on Kiss FM to clear things up as to why he felt it was ok to take whole sections of another song and add them to his.
Arty is a dope producer so I wrote this song to Rebound this last year. I got in touch with Arty and showed it to him… but something happened and hopefully we can resolve the issue. It’s sad that it’s turned into a fiasco but hopefully it’s resolved, because I’m a fan of those guys. I contacted them last year and we’re fixing it now.
So I guess what this means is that if will.i.scam is a fan of your music, your tunes are totally free game for shameless “sampling”. If I was a producer, like Hardwell, I would conduct a stealth ninja mission and delete all of my music from his computer, back up hard drives and all USBs, and then Men in Black mind wipe him so he never knew your music existed. Then repeat again in a year. He STILL may get to your music in that time, but this seems like it would be the only way.
In terms of this situation, unless Arty & Mat Zo are willing to fight Interscope to have the song pulled from the album, which seems pretty unrealistic since it was already released and in stores all over the country and soon the world, they will just have to settle for a FATA$$ paycheck.
via The Sun
FYI | Will.I.Am ft. Chris Brown “Let’s Go” Steals Mat Zo & Arty’s Rebound
Posted by Middy on April 16, 2013
I was seriously debating on giving this song any pub at all because it deserves to be relegated to bottom of the music totem pole without anybody noticing. But that is the problem, nobody notices and nobody cares that such a great song from two of the best up and coming producers was so wantonly stolen by will.I.am and his band of merry writers. But why this one, Pitbull “samples” songs all the time, Flo Rida the same, it is really nothing new in this climate of heavy sampling in modern pop music. But, when big money is tossed around to shut people up and the threat of big label lawyers coming down on a “small time” artist like Arty or Mat Zo, they are almost surely going to settle on this, instead of facing the reality of going after Interscope and all of their legal might.
Anjunabeats DID NOT clear the sample so there is a case against will if they want to fight him. Maybe it was another producer who snuck this one in there, but I really don’t see how a large sample like this could have snuck by everyone at such a large label on a release as big as this. They either felt they could get away with this, or thought they could bully Mat Zo and Arty out of their own music. It remains to be seen if that will happen, but as the day continues, it seems as though a fight is brewing and there may be some high powered lawyers joining the side of Arty & Mat Zo. I can see exactly why Mat Zo deleted his twitter account yesterday because would have gone apesh*t on will.i.am. Stream both tracks to hear the obvious theft and then after the jump hear ANOTHER theft of Sandro Silva & Quintino’s “Epic”, which is sadly kind of old news by now because it has been done so many times.
FYI | Rap Game Vine: Jody Highroller’s Greatest Hits
Posted by A on April 8, 2013
Everywhere you turn, there’s a new application popping up, looking to capture the hearts and minds of the blogosphere. Vine (recently acquired by Twitter) has arguably done just that, capturing a significant following by letting you, “create and share beautiful, short looping videos.” Critical to any application’s rise, Vine has been able to attract select power users that have propelled the application to new heights.
One power user in particular has taken the free service to new heights, sharing snippets of his new album, parties in progress, and general zest for life. That power user is Jody Highroller, who’s arguably the most exciting artist in the blogopshere to date. FreshNewTracks is proud to present… Rap Game Vine: Jody Highroller’s “Greatest Hits.”
FYI | Thou Shall Not- The Ten Blog Commandments
Posted by A on February 11, 2013
I’ve been in this blog game a long time. Too long, really. I’m basically the Brett Farve of blogging without the talent and Wrangler jeans endorsement. I just can’t help myself. These days, it takes a lot for me to sit down and write a post. I’ve had to put away childish blog pursuits in favor of paying my bills and laboring over which Roth IRA I should choose. The only time I blog is when something in the blogosphere makes me mad. It’s a shame, but I wanted to come down from blog Sinai to share with you some divinely inspired commandments which every manager, artist, and “unsigned hype” can benefit from. I present, “The Ten Blog Commandments.”
Featured, FYI | You, Me, and Avicii — The State of EDM in 2013
Posted by Spice on January 24, 2013
January 23, 2013. 12:13 p.m.
Up until five minutes ago I was having an utterly unremarkable day. In fact, had someone asked me about my day five minutes ago, I would have responded with something along the lines of, “well, you know, it’s really cold out.” Or, “I had soup for lunch.” In other words, up until five minutes ago, my day was filled with the mundane but generally inoffensive things that define the 9-to-5 hours.
But then the following tweet happened. And just like that, I became a bitter, angry person with a white-hot axe to grind against the world and everything in it:
Thank you so much for all the GREAT #aviciixyou basslines! Next up is the beat/rhythm! aviciixyou.com for more info! #networkedsociety
— Tim Bergling (@Avicii) January 23, 2013
Ugh.
For those of you who don’t follow the baby-faced Bieber of EDM, the man (boy? guy?) better known as Avicii recently launched a large scale initiative to crowdsource his next “hit single.” AVICII X YOU styles itself rather magnanimously as the first ever “global collaboration” in dance music, inviting You, The Aspiring Producer, to join forces with Tim Bergling in creating his next anthem.
Here’s how it works. You, The Aspiring Producer, dream up a melody and submit it to AVICIIXYOU.com. Then you wait on tenterhooks as everyone votes, but that’s all for show because in the end Avicii’s just going to pick his favorite. Then a bassline follows in the same manner, then percussion, then a break, and finally, on February 7th, “effects” (a truly vague delineation which I’m personally choosing to construe as more cowbell).
Thus, a song is born.
