“Even the word 'blog' sounds a little grandma-y now. This whole concept of buzz feels so dated. It’s really hard to even talk about the internet without seeming instantly corny.”

—Ezra Koenig tells it like it is in our new Vampire Weekend feature story by Carrie Battan.

#vampire weekend

“My BMI royalty check arrived recently, reporting songwriting earnings from the first quarter of 2012, and I was glad to see that our music is being listened to via services including Pandora and Spotify. Galaxie 500's 'Tugboat', for example, was played 7,800 times on Pandora that quarter, for which its three songwriters were paid a collective total of 21 cents, or seven cents each. Spotify pays better: For the 5,960 times 'Tugboat' was played there, Galaxie 500's songwriters went collectively into triple digits: $1.05 (35 cents each). To put this into perspective: Since we own our own recordings, by my calculation it would take songwriting royalties for roughly 312,000 plays on Pandora to earn us the profit of one-- one-- LP sale.”

—Damon Krukowski of Galaxie 500/Damon & Naomi breaks down just how little bands earn from streaming services— and details what the music business’ headlong quest for capital means for artists today— in our new feature, “Making Cents”.

#galaxie 500

Exclusive Early Look At Pitchfork's Best of 2012 List

Every year, the tastemakers at the popular music website, Pitchfork, grace the Internet with their much-anticipated Top 50 Albums Of The Year list. This year, we were lucky enough to get an exclusive early look at their list for 2012:

“A Very Kreayshawn Christmas”
SIRI responding to existential questions
NYC Police Scanner - August 21, 2012, 10:53 p.m. - 11:48 p.m.
Neil Young’s autobiography’s book proposal
“Animal Collective Reads The New Yorker in Pig Latin” (Remixed by Steve Aoki)
M.I.A.’s DVD commentary of The Wire, season 2
The creaking pipes in a Pitchfork writer’s studio apartment
“Forrest Gump: Original Movie Soundtrack” reissue
A five-year-old’s school play about the four food groups
Joy Division - ironic shirt (Japanese import)
Phil Collins’ remastered colonoscopy results
Dudes Who “Went to School” At Rhode Island School of Design - Laughing Blowfish 7”
Cat Power - “Farts on a Piano”
Lou Reed & Limp Bizkit - “Hip Hop Banana”
Crazy guy with a spoon - complete discography
R. Kelly - “Goodnight Moon” (audiobook)
Diplo’s “Selected Voicemails” (Asian Chicks Edition)
A hammer
“Hip Hop for White People: Volume 3”
Busker on the Nassau Ave G stop (Queens Plaza bound side)
Photoshopped nudes of Lana Del Ray
Half a cigarette found on the floor of LCD Soundsystem’s last show
A metal album
Lena Dunham’s cupcake farts
“The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn: Part 2: Official Movie Soundtrack”
An 8” x 10” photo of Jeff Magnum
Beck ordering pizza through the Bane voice changer app
The Bruno Mars episode of SNL
Valencia (Instagram filter)
DJ Hurricane Sandy - Remix
Stephen Malkmus’ laundry bill
“The History of Netflix” (VHS)
Skrillex’s fax transmissions album
Bruce Springsteen - “A Concert to Benefit White People” Live DVD
Wes Anderson messing around with a thumb piano at Pier 1
The Occupy Wall Street Drum Circle Band
Big Boi - grocery list
Pitchfork’s Various Nautical-Themed Artists Playlist featuring Best Coast, Beach House, Wavves, Frank Ocean
The scene in “Blue Valentine” where Ryan Gosling plays a ukelele
Grizzly Bear
A grizzly bear
Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein making shadowpuppets that look like Sonic Youth for 30 minutes
Pitchfork.com - “Best of 2009” list
The Weeknd, MGMT, Dntel - “Vwls Are Cmplt Bllsht”
Bone Iver - Bon Iver’s “Blood Bank EP” as reinterpreted by canines
Pitchfork.com - “Best of 2017” list
PJ Harvey - sex tape
M83 - Like, the album with all the lasers on it and stuff and it sounds like an album full of laser music, that one.
One Direction - “Take Me Home” (cassette)

Honorable mentions:

Boat shoes
“How To Listen To (And Review Positively!) Black Metal: A Beginner’s Guide” (audiobook)
“Mom-bahton Massive: Moombahton Lullabies for Infants”