So this week had me pulling my hair out, what with Taylor Swift lying through her teeth about the reasons she pulled her new album off of Spotify.  Worse still many people (including artists who will ultimately be hurt by this selfish move) who should know better not only believed her, they jumped on social media to tell the world.  Her reason had nothing to do with streaming services devaluing music (Taylor is doing a bang up job of that herself by  selling the entire album for 99¢).  No, the real reasons for the snub were (a) publicity, and (b) because her record label, which her family part-owns, is for sale and this move was designed to increase the value of the company thus increasing their bottom line when they cash out. Ms. Swift's decision (like the decision of some artists to publicly bitch about current payouts using misleading numbers comparing apples to Wombats and blaming streaming services for the shit deals they themselves signed with labels) undermines streaming, the only growing area of the recorded music business, and by extension, other artists who don't have the clout and/or greed to do the same.

In this era of the Faux News/hate radio/Murdoch newspapers echo chamber I shouldn't expect that truth still stands a chance of getting in the way of the lie, but I try.  Call me an optimist.  A perennially disappointed optimist.  

Back in the real world of tangible things you can actually hear and enjoy, today on  480 Minutes we will debut new music by Cool Ghouls (San Francisco, CA, @CoolGhouls), DRGN King (Philadelphia, PA, @DRGNkingDom),  Gazelle Twin (Brighton, England, @GazelleTwin),  King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard (Melbourne, Australia, @KingGizzardBand), Lisa LeBlanc (Rosaireville, NB, Canada,@LisaLeBlancYo), Meiko (Roberta, GA, @meiko),   Plain Speak (Norman, OK, @PlainSpeakMusic), Tesla Rossa (Nashville, TN, @TeslaRossa),  Thom Yorke ( Radiohead, Oxford, England, @ThomYorke), and ZKPR (Chicago, IL, @ZKPRband).

Please tune in to BAGeL Radio on Fridays from 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. Eastern U.S. Time for the award-winning, live-hosted 480 Minutes program.  The show is rebroadcast Friday evenings at 7 p.m., Saturdays 5 a.m. & 3 p.m., and Sundays at 1 a.m. ET: 

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