With Adam Goldstein’s untimely passing last week [click to read], artists within the Hip Hop community have been paying their respects to the man they had known behind the turntables as DJ AM.
Renowned deejay/producer Diplo stated, “DJ AM was the first guy that was a big deal that believed in me, and gave me props.” Best remembering AM for his friendliness, Diplo continued, “All u have when u pass away is the relationships u left behind. AM was still friends to everyone he met, and the king of us deejays.”
The Roots drummer ?uestlove has also honored Goldstein by writing a piece about his influential style. Describing him as “a maverick in the highest order,” ?uest explained, “[DJ AM] was one of my favorite teachers. With the exception of DJ Jazzy Jeff, you will rarely to NEVER catch me in the club unless I have to deejay myself. But EVERYTIME he was in town I came to learn.” You can read the full piece [here].
In other news, a congressional bill concerning radio spin royalties has received as much approval as it has dissension.
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Introduced earlier this year, the Performance Rights Act would require radio stations nationwide to pay for the records they play over their airwaves. Currently, internet, cable, and satellite radio stations do pay artists via the Sound Recordings Act passed in 1995.
U2 frontman Bono has been an advocate of the bill, stating, “There are many young recording artists out there who can no longer earn a living from the sale of their music or from touring or selling merchandise…yet they remain a vital part of radio playlists throughout the USA. They should not be denied their fair share.”
On the other side, people such as activist Al Sharpton have been vocal about their disapproval of the bill, calling it a “performance tax” that would put smaller market radio stations out of business.
“None of the radio stations in business now, particularly the black ones, were around back in the day when these artists had hits, so how can you say Radio One made money off the Four Tops when they weren’t around.”
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Seeing the bigger picture, he added, “This bill is geared too much toward the record labels that will control the money, so it’s really big business against big business.”
