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GRAMMYs

Salvador Santana and Asdru Seirra

Photo by J.A. Moreno

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Salvador Santana & Asdru Sierra Announce RMXKNZ exclusive-salvador-santana-and-ozomatli%E2%80%99s-asdru-sierra-announce-new-politically-charged

Exclusive: Salvador Santana And Ozomatli’s Asdru Sierra Announce New Politically Charged Project RMXKNZ

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With the duo's debut album set to be released this fall, the Recording Academy has your first listen to their joyful debut track, “Canvas”
Crystal Larsen
GRAMMYs
Jul 18, 2019 - 8:01 am

If you look back on decade’s past, you could say that some of the most trying times, whether for an individual or an entire nation, have produced some of the best music. For renowned producers, songwriters and musicians Salvador Santana (son of GRAMMY-winning guitarist Carlos Santana) and Asdrubal "Asdru" Sierra (lead vocalist, trumpeter, and pianist for GRAMMY winners Ozomatli), who have announced a new collaborative project titled RMXKNZ (pronounced "remix-icans") and will release their first album this fall, the point of inspiration was the turbulent aftermath of the 2016 U.S. presidential election. 

But what listeners shouldn't expect from the forthcoming self-titled, self-released album, due to drop during National Hispanic Heritage Month later this year, is a set of songs lamenting the state of the country. Instead, the songs on RMXKNZ serve to uplift, make you dance and inspire action. Santana and Sierra are using their new artistic platform not just to call out those to blame for the current contentious climate of society, but as a call-to-action for those who believe we can be the change we want to see.

The first song on the album, and the duo’s first-ever original song, "Canvas," is a funky, jazzy, hip-hop-tinged danceable track featuring the notable sound of Sierra’s trumpet that sounds like a call-to-action itself. Through the lyrics on "Canvas," the duo encourage listeners to look at their lives as a blank canvas with which they can design who they want to be. The coinciding music video further enhances the song's message, depicting the lively Latinx neighborhoods of East L.A. and Downtown Los Angeles and addressing the issues that affect it: women’s and abortion rights, LGBTQ+ rights, immigration rights, gender inclusivity and more.

“What we wanted to do was [not] just talk about the obvious and create more problems. … We decided that…we want to just wake people up to what is going on,” says Santana.

“Everyone has a blank canvas when they walk into this world,” adds Sierra. “You could draw on it and that’s what your world becomes. It’s really about walking the walk of what you believe. About being the change.”

The songs on the genre-blending debut address the issues that continue to affect the diverse communities of the duo’s city of residence—Los Angeles—including immigration, racism, social injustice, identity and humanity. As Santana and Sierra would say, RMXKNZ is music for the world.   

In an exclusive interview with the Recording Academy, Santana and Sierra discuss the making of RMXKNZ, the inspiration behind the songs and for whom the songs were written. Listen below for an exclusive first listen of the debut track "Canvas."

Let’s start from the beginning of RMXKNZ. How did you guys meet?

SALVADOR SANTANA: We met in 1999 on the Supernatural tour when Ozomatli—Asdru’s band—was touring with my father. It was in the summer, so, since I was in high school, I could go out and hang out with dad and the band. I got to meet Ozomatli, which, at the time—and still now—I was a huge fan of. … Meeting Asdru, and … just everybody that was part of Ozo, it felt like reuniting with a long-lost family. … From day one Asdru has been like an older brother to me.

ASDRU SIERRA: I remember being really young and my wife was pregnant with our first son. Obviously, there was a lot of fear and a lot of wondering what it was going to be like. A lot of [my] anxieties got calmed down when at the Gorge [Amphitheatre in Washington] I saw Sal when he was a teenager sitting in with his dad onstage. I was like, "Wow, that’s cool." … Everybody in the band had families and every time they would see us like all young in our early and mid-20s about to have babies—I guess we looked like babies to them—they all had their turn sitting us down and talking to us and letting us know what it’s like. And just helping us out.

It was actually Sal that introduced Ozomatli to his dad. He showed him the demo and that’s how we ended up hooking up with Carlos. It was all meant to be. Every time we work together, it’s like working with family.

It sounds like it was really an instant connection with you guys. How did the conversation start to work on the RMXKNZ project?

SS: It all just kind of happened organically and naturally. When I first moved into my house that I live in now—it was my new place—Asdru came over and we hung out. I just showed him what I was trying to build—my home studio and everything.

He was like, “Yo, man. I got these couple of demos that I’m working on. I think it’d be really dope if you mixed it up with some lyrics and piano stuff. Just put your fingerprints on it.”

The first song we wrote happens to be the first single, which is "Canvas." And he just played me the beat and I was just nodding my head. For Asdru and I, it either has to make [people] get up and dance. … Or it’s got to have that head nod factor. If you don’t want to dance, then you have to nod your head. So, if it doesn’t have any of those two ingredients, we don’t mess with it. Because it’s just not going to do anything for us, and that’s how we built our sound sonically was between those two things. And it started with "Canvas."

The songs on the album sound very happy and uplifting. Lyrically, there’s huge stories behind every song. What was the impetus for a lot of the songs? What was "Canvas" about and what’s the story behind that?

SS: Lyrically, at the time when we first started writing a lot of [the album], it was during and around the time of the 2016 elections. So, there was a lot on our minds. … We felt like we wanted to express how we were feeling, musically and lyrically.

But [we also wanted to keep] it palatable and not be too preachy. [We wanted to] make people dance. And if you don’t want to dance then just listen to the lyrics. Hopefully they uplift … and rearrange the narrative. At the end of the day, when people put on the record, we just want people to enjoy what we were able to create. 

AS: Watching in 2016, how the world is in that moment, instead of really having a fighting spirit about it, let’s have a realization moment, and understand that we have to be the change that we want to see in the world. … It’s us walking the world as an example for our children. That’s the best thing we can do is just to be that change even though things are a little crazy. Unless you’ve been living under a rock for a lifetime, it’s always been that struggle. It’s always been there. It’s just now there’s somebody out there that’s pretty blatantly being that way and it’s emboldening the evils that are in the world. The divisions rather than the similarities. 

We can put on the canvas the compassion that people need to remember and need to have for humanity before we start dehumanizing everything that we don’t understand. 

SS: We’re all blank canvases when we come to this planet. We’re born here. We have the opportunity to create exactly who we are. To define who we are with our canvases. … The key is to not allow anybody else to paint on your canvas and define who you are. … For us, what was inspiring about the elections and what was going on around that time … was that Asdru and I realized that it’s not about trying to control others, it’s about influencing. And what better way to influence than through music and through uplifting lyrics. 

It’s for the people. It’s for everybody out there that wants a positive distraction from all the craziness that’s going on.

There’s a song on there, "Make it Betta." It sounds like a call-to-action, like you’re giving people tools through music for how they can do their own part to make the world a better place. How do you think each of us can do our own part to make sure the future canvases that come into this world aren’t corrupt or negative, but peaceful and loving?

SS: Basically, we walk around with this flame. And every single person that we meet has a pilot light. Some people’s pilot lights are out. It’s not that they’re lost or forgotten. It’s just the pilot light is out. And they just need to be ignited. And that’s our job. Especially on songs like "Make it Betta." We’re not trying to tell people what to do. We’re just reminding them of what their purpose is and what we’re all here to do, collectively. And what better way to do that than through music? Through uplifting and conscious lyrics. That was our overall mindset with creating this whole album and that song in particular. 

AS: Martin Luther King [Jr.] had this quote about people that know that something is wrong, and they stay in silence just letting it happen without saying anything. …  The best way we can make it better is to be those lights in darkness. To speak up when these things are happening. It doesn’t necessarily mean to go out there and cause a fight. It’s not about fighting. But to hold accountable everything that we see in this world. If that means speaking up, that’s fine. Just let evil know that you see it because only the ugliest things happen in darkness. 

"Martin Luther King [Jr.] had this quote about people that know that something is wrong, and they stay in silence just letting it happen without saying anything. …  The best way we can make it better is to be those lights in darkness. To speak up when these things are happening."

I want to switch gears and talk about each of your upbringings. Sal, you were raised in San Francisco. And Asdru, you were raised in Los Angeles. How do you think the environment of the cities in which you were raised shaped the music you’re making today with RMXKNZ?

SS: I was always encouraged to just understand as much as you possibly can. There’s not just one culture. It’s one world but there’s so many people and cultures and beautiful things that people offer and make up, musically and sonically. For both Asdru and I, both in Los Angeles and San Francisco Bay Area, we just heard pretty much about everything. It’s not that we gravitated toward one music or one style or one sound, we just took a little bit from each so that we could create our own sound. And I think that’s what makes our album and collaboration so unique because you hear all of the sounds and music that inspired Asdru and I from all the cultures that make up both the San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles.

AS: I grew up in Glassell Park in L.A. It was a small town in Northeast L.A. But I was there in the '80s before all the gentrification and everything now. Back in those days there was a lot of gang violence, there was a lot of drugs, there was a lot of poverty, but for the most part it was like maybe 10 percent of the population was about the gangs. When you would watch the movies, it was everything else. On my block everyone was a hardworking homeowner. Latinos just trying to make the best they can in the world we lived in. But again, there was a lot of gang influences and that was something that we as a community tried to deal with, you know?

Through my community, that is what defines what I do with music. … It’s a trip because in my world when I was a kid there was a lot of things going on. But the only thing that I saw was a battleground. … I saw a lot of people get shot. I guess because we’re minorities it didn’t really matter to the news or something. But with that said, it’s all these neighborhoods in L.A. that the only way that I could speak up about it was with music. 

Other than preaching to the converted or singing to the same choir, we have to let somebody in the middle of America know what’s going on. The best way that I know how to do it is with music. Just to let them know that it’s just a stereotype they’re seeing. … There are a bunch of people that were cartoonists, that were artists, that were actors, that were people. What happened to the children of all these gang members? What kind of journey did they go through? The immigrants. It doesn’t always look like they’re out there trying to get your jobs. Other people are just trying to escape from whatever craziness is going on in the countries that they’re in and seeking asylum. There’s so many things going on in this world and the best way that I know how to explain it is by that same canvas. That same music. At the end of the day, I’m ultimately trying to reach the people that don’t understand it.

SS: [We want to] reach out to those that need to be woken up. They’re still asleep. They need to be awake to understand what we’re talking about. But also, to acknowledge those that want to say, what we have the opportunity to say with our platform, with our microphone and with our studio and with our ability to be able to express that.

Would you consider yourselves activists before musicians, or vice versa?

AS: I know activists. I know real ones that dedicate their lives to it. I play a little guitar but I’m not an activist. I like to say that I have been active. As activists, [people] have died, they’ve been shot at, they’ve been beaten by clubs by the police. … As a member of the human race I had to be involved somehow. When real activists would actually call me to support the cause I would show up. But it’s hard to call myself an activist. 

SS: Being an activist is not a part-time gig. You’re either in it or you’re not in it. For me, it’s just about being a musician and supporting activists that we know. … So as opposed to necessarily calling us activists, we are of service to those in the community to be of service.

We’re going to continue through our music to just wake people up and make sure that they stay woke because that’s really what it is at the end of the day.

The activists you’re talking about that are out there doing the work full-time need people like you who have the platform to be able to continue to spread that message in a different way.

SS: Exactly. Both of my grandfathers and Asdru’s were living in a different time and era where it was illegal just to be who you were. The skin tone, where you come from, and how you immigrated here. It was illegal just to be you and that is just crazy to me. For me at the end of the day that’s why I’m just so grateful to be able to use our platform, our talent, our passion, which is music, to be able to express and abolish that old way of thinking.

AS: We answered the call to arms. We show up at the marches. But calling ourselves activists, there’s a certain humility about that.

SS: We’re musicians that aspirer to inspire. That’s who we are.

What’s the meaning behind the name RMXKNZ?

AS: If you look at who we are—both Sal and I—we’re of Mexican descent. [But also] there’s Irish in my family. I have freckles. And obviously Salvador has African-American in him. Mexico is very similar to the U.S. in many ways. It’s not just the natives who are the original Mexicans. … It kind of plays into wordplay about doing remixes and stuff and the fact that we’re Mexicans, with the "mix." It kind of makes sense. The world is a lot bigger and smaller at the same time. 

SS: It’s paying homage to who we are and highlighting who we are. But at the same time, it’s also leaving room for how we’ve evolved. We’re not just Mexican. We’re a little bit of this; we’re a little bit of that. It shows in the music. It shows where we come from and our upbringing.

AS: We also don’t want to limit ourselves either, just because we’re of Latino/Mexican/Latinx decent. Just because we’re that doesn’t mean we only do Latin things. It could be from Africa. It could be from the Middle East. It could be Mongolian. 

It sounds like that ties in to what you were saying earlier about educating people. Letting them know there’s many different types of people all over the world. 

SS: We didn’t mean to, but I think in making this record, we stumbled upon a new genre of music. So, when people say, "What type of music is RMXKNZ?" Asdru and I, we play life. It’s life music. All the music that is in our lifetime that we have loved and just continued to dance to, nod our heads to, inspire to. Is life cumbia? Yeah. Is life Afrobeat? Yeah. Is life hip-hop? Yeah, it’s all that stuff. That’s what we play.

You’re calling this music for the people. It’s heavily influenced by the current climate of society. Who did you write these songs for?

AS: For me, and I think this resonates for Sal, everything we do echoes back to our children. Whatever we want to change is what we want to do. For me, I just want to create a world in which my children can live comfortably long after I’m gone.

SS: When my son was born, I literally watched the future being born. And like what Asdru’s saying, it makes us now as parents realize, man we gotta set up the future right. We gotta make sure we teach these kids right so that they’re good for whatever they’re going to encounter in the future. To make sure that they know that they can have either control or especially influence in what happens in the future. For me, that’s what it’s all about. 

Salvador Santana and Asdru Sierra are involved with the following causes and non-profit organizations: Change.org petition, and Letters of Love to Kids, along with Al Otro Lado and Haitian Bridge Alliance, two groups at the forefront of the crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border.

GRAMMYs
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Girls Make Beats: Training Future Artists Of Color how-girls-make-beats-making-music-industry-more-welcoming-place-girls-all-backgrounds

How Girls Make Beats Is Making The Music Industry A More Welcoming Place For Girls Of All Backgrounds

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The non-profit that's making music producing and engineering more accessible to young girls hasn't waited on the industry to solve the inequity problem, and it isn't going to start now
Jennifer Velez
GRAMMYs
Jul 29, 2020 - 9:16 am

Inside a rental house-turned-makeshift studio in Los Angeles’ Studio City neighborhood, Girls Make Beats has created another world.

It’s a sunny afternoon in mid-February, and glow-in-the dark stars projected over a walk-in closet’s walls and ceiling have set the mood for a universe of infinite possibilities. The cozy room with a mic set up at the center is now a recording booth where Miss Karissa B, Mak10, C Bleu, DJ JoJo, and Bailey—all between the ages of 7 and 14— will record vocals for an album. For some of these Girls Make Beats (GMB) L.A. chapter members, this won’t be their first rodeo.

Their names may not pop up on social media feeds yet, but these girls are building an impressive list of credits as DJs, producers, songwriters, rappers, and performers; some can already boast about getting industry guidance from popular music stars Janelle Monáe and Tinashe. And if you ask them, they’re just warming up.

GRAMMYs

L to R: Bailey, Miss Karissa B, C Bleu, DJ JoJo, and Mak10

Founded by recording artist, producer and engineer Tiffany Miranda, Girls Make Beats is the national organization giving girls between the ages of 5 and 17 the tools to become the industry’s next-generation DJs, engineers, and producers. Through mentorship, summer camps, networking events, workshops—including how to use Pro Tools, Launchpad and Ableton—and more, Miranda, along with other women professionals, are creating opportunities for girls to get real hands-on experience. 

Speaking to GRAMMY.com, Miranda says she founded the non-profit in order to fill a huge void she saw as an aspiring engineer. 

"When I took an initial interest in music production there was no sense of community for girls," Miranda recalls. "I literally had men telling me that girls don't make beats."

In 2020, going into a GMB studio session continues to be more like fantasy than reality. Walk into a professional studio and chances there won’t be several women in the room. While the digital age has made music-making more accessible than ever, breaking into—or being fully accepted by—the industry isn’t a given and women continue to be underrepresented throughout it.

According to the University of Southern California’s USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, out of all the performers credited on the 2019 Billboard Hot 100 Year-End chart, only 22.1 percent were female. Over an eight-year period, women have made up only 21.7 percent of artists credited on those charts. While the numbers show that over half of artists were women of color in 2019, it’s a different story for them behind the music.

"The music industry has virtually erased female producers, particularly women of color, from the popular charts," USC professor Stacy L. Smith said in a statement released with the study. "As producers fill a leading creative role, it’s essential to ensure that women from all backgrounds are being considered and hired throughout the industry."

Smith, who has been leading research on gender in music and film at the university, added that it is crucial for the industry to recognize the problem and make room for women in all areas of the business. A series of studies she has led reveals a slight rise in some areas for women in music, but the numbers continue to be concerning. The latest study shows 2.6 percent of women were credited as producers on the Billboard Hot 100 Year-End Charts from 2012 to 2019. Across an analysis of five years, only eight of the 29 producing credits by women analyzed belonged to women of color. Meanwhile, the ratio of men to underrepresented women in the industry is 133 to 1.

"I literally had men telling me that girls don't make beats."

When it comes to engineering, the numbers are worrisome as well. In a 2018 analysis, USC found that just 3 percent of mixing and mastering engineers were women. No information was available about how many of them were women of color.

The figures come from a greater study examining gender, race and ethnicity through 800 songs on the charts from 2012–2019. Eight years of GRAMMY Record of the Year, Album of the Year, Song of the Year, Producer of the Year, and Best New Artist nominations were also analyzed in the report.

Looking at the GRAMMYs, there has been a rise in female nominees. In 2020, 20.5 percent of nominees were female. In 2013, that number was at 7.9 percent. The Recording Academy launched its Task Force on Diversity and Inclusions in 2018 to address disparities among nominees. When it comes to Producer Of The Year, Non-Classical, nine women have received the nomination since the award show opened its curtains, according to the Associated Press. The Recording Academy’s Women In The Mix initiative launched in 2019 seeks to give more opportunities to female producers and engineers at the root by asking artists and music professionals to work with more women. Since then, artists like Selena Gomez have taken the pledge. The pop singer said it was important for her to feature women all around on her latest album Rare, which included female producers and engineers.  

Beyond lack of presence and opportunity, a 2018 survey by the Music Industry Research Association (MIRA)  showed that women, who made up roughly one-third of musicians, reported high rates of harassment—72 percent said they were discriminated against because of their gender and 67 percent said they had experienced sexual harassment. 

As the music industry looks to address problems based on racial inequality in the aftermath of George Floyd’s death, the lack of women of color across the industry is more relevant than ever.

Active since 2012, GirlsMakeBeats hasn't left the future of women of color in the industry’s hands and they aren’t going to start now. Every day the organization works towards empowering girls to become the engineers, producers, songwriters and performers the industry lacks. For any girl entering GMB’s spaces, they not only get to dream, but they get to actually create.

"I feel like when I’m working on my songs and my raps, I know what I’m doing," nine-year-old Mak10 says before her L.A. studio session begins. "This is cool. I can do this, nothing can stop me now."

GRAMMYs

Mak10 is just one of the girls already deeply shaped by the non-profit. Other girls in the program have DJ’d events for Spotify, the Los Angeles Clippers, ASCAP, and other big-name entities. Girls from the Miami chapter officially remixed Janet Jackson’s "Made For Now" featuring Daddy Yankee. A couple of months after their recording session in Los Angeles, Mak10 and DJ JoJo led a beat-making workshop at Santa Monica, Calif.’s Apple Store using one of Victoria  Monét's songs before the singer/songwriter participated in a Q&A session. GMB has even been recognized by ESSENCE.

Professional mentorship and guidance for women of color is a tool that can mean everything for their future in the industry. For parents, the program isn’t just an opportunity for their child to get one foot in the music door, but to build confidence before they become young women.

DJ JoJo's mother, Lanesha Jones, tells GRAMMY.com how her daughter was bullied because of her mixed racial background. But thanks to GMB, JoJo has overcome it. Jones now hopes that her daughter continues to gain confidence and, if she chooses to stay in the industry as an adult, joins in the effort to make space for girls like her.

"My daughter is going to be one of those young women showing other women that if this is your passion if this is your goal, this what we’re going to do. Not what we think we can do or what we’re hoping we can do. This is what we’re going to do," Jones says.

The mom adds that it makes a huge difference that her daughter is being taught by women: "A woman can relate more with a woman, and I feel more comfortable personally as a parent with my daughter being taught by a woman."

"We definitely want this to be a global movement of confidence for girls all over the world, whether it's expressing that through their music or whatever it is they choose to do," Miranda says. "[We want them to] know that they can break those barriers and do whatever they put their mind to and not be limited."

So far, more than 300 girls have been through one of GMB’s programs and events. 

"[Our girls] are always hungry for more knowledge and more skills and opportunities in these career fields. So the fact that there haven't been women or girls in these fields for so long is really just mind-blowing and it goes to show you that a lot of that lies in if you can see it, you can be it."

GMB's programs make a point of creating opportunities for all girls, but with the awareness that girls of color face additional obstacles. Miranda wants to make the path easier for girls and works with other women through GMB to do just that.

"[I have] that common ground with other women that I see succeeding in their fields and knowing what they must have been through to get where they are and collectively working together to make a brighter future and empower this next generation of girls so that they don't have to face even half the challenges that we've gone through. If we've done that's a huge success for us," she says.

Before COVID-19, girls would host, DJ and perform at in-person studio sessions. Now, GMB, like much of the industry, has pivoted to virtual events. These include a series of MasterClass collaborations (including forthcoming classes in August) and a digital T.V. series that Janelle Monáe helped inaugurate and has also featured Tinashe as well as Chloe x Halle.

A few months after the studio session in L.A., Miranda reflects on how she’s had to change the way she builds community among the girls, who are like family to her, as she continues to lead a small team and wear several hats. To stay connected, the organization has begun to hold calls with girls around the country.

"On these calls, we have all of those girls from different parts of the U.S. [and] being that we're a small team, it was a little more challenging to do things like that when our efforts were in physical locations, working with a small group. So I think the plus side of it is, we're able to stay connected virtually in a larger capacity," she says.

As GMB continues to navigate the COVID-19 world, Miranda welcomes new collaborations for MasterClasses, their online T.V. show, podcasts and remix challenges.

"I think it's definitely more important than ever for the girls to have an outlet to be creative and inspired during these challenging times," she says. "Our girls often refer to music as being an escape and a form of expression. Our program is making a huge effort in providing the tools necessary for them to do so while also keeping our girls connected with one another."

The wave of conversations on race brought by Floyd’s death weeks into the pandemic has only cemented GMB's mission to make space for young girls of color. Miranda knows the challenges these girls are up against as a woman of color herself. "[There] is kind of a double-edged sword that we face as not just women, but as women of color, because it's not only [that] are we constantly being tested on the fact that we're girls and women and we have to prove ourselves, but on top of that, we also have the race card as well to have to go up against,” she explains during a Zoom call a few weeks after reflecting on navigating the pandemic.

"We are extremely passionate about trying to empower girls and women that have not been given the same opportunities as men, but even more so in communities that are typically underserved, which happens to deal with a lot of black and brown young girls."

GMB's programs are scholarship-based (the majority of the program is at no cost) and rely heavily on donations, grants and sponsorships, which help make it accessible to girls from economically disadvantaged backgrounds. This summer, almost 50 scholarships were awarded, thanks to composers Ben Salisbury and Geoff Barrow, Spotify, Airbit, and Facebook.

As the country looks inward on racial inequality and inequity, Miranda firmly validates what GMB has been doing all along: "We're actually doing the work. We're actually going there, we're actually going into underserved communities, we're actually working with girls who are underrepresented."

Baby Rose On Making Music Amid Protests

 

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Live To Tape: How To Safely Film Police Misconduct

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As racial justice protests continue to thrive across the country, the Recording Academy has compiled a list of ways to safely and ethically film incidents involving police misconduct
GRAMMYs
Jun 10, 2020 - 1:58 pm

Over the past few weeks, protests have been staged across the nation in response to the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, David McAtee and many other Black people at the hands of police. Due to increased police presence and the deployment of the National Guard to several major cities, thousands of protesters have been arrested, and many violent incidents involving the police have been filmed and subsequently gone viral. 

Palika Makam, who works at the human rights organization WITNESS as senior U.S. program coordinator, writes in Teen Vogue: "Using the camera in your pocket can be a valuable way to ensure the world bears witness to abusive policing and systemic racism, help hold authorities accountable, and advocate for the real safety of our communities."

As protests continue amid the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the Recording Academy has compiled a list of ways to safely and ethically film incidents involving police misconduct.

Record With The ACLU Mobile Justice App

Depending on which state you live in, you can download the ACLU’s Mobile Justice App (for example, in California, the app is called “Mobile Justice CA”). The ACLU’s app lets you record and report interactions with law enforcement, and all footage and reports submitted are sent immediately to your local ACLU affiliate.

Understand Your Rights

As WITNESS explains on its website, laws around filming authorities vary by country, so it helps to understand your rights before you hit “record.” In the U.S., you have a 1st Amendment right to record law enforcement in public spaces as long as you don’t interfere. Check out these tips from Makam:

  • Whether or not you are interfering is totally up to the police officer in the moment (and later up to a judge or jury), so it’s best to keep at least six feet of distance (or a car’s length) between you and the incident while filming, especially during social distancing.
  • If the police officer tells you to back up, comply with their orders. You can even film your feet as you’re backing up and say aloud, “I’m complying with orders.”
  • If the police officer tells you to stop filming, you can assert your right to film if you feel comfortable doing so.
  • You can stay safe and still film critical footage from a distance, like from a window, balcony, rooftop, or fire escape.

Verify That You Are The One Recording, And Where You Are

WITNESS recommends speaking into the camera to verify that it’s you doing the recording. “Alternately,” they write, “keep a written record with the original video file. If you need to be anonymous for security reasons, use a code name.”

WITNESS also recommends that you document where and when the incident is occurring. “Your media is easier to verify if you capture the date, time and location of your footage. If possible, turn on automatic date, time and GPS location capturing features. Alternately, film newspapers, intersections, street signs and landmarks.”

Prepare Your Device

If your phone does not have a six-digit passcode, it would be wise to set one up—in addition to a touch ID, face ID and/or pattern lock. As Makam writes, “You have a 5th Amendment constitutional right to not give up your cell phone passcode during a legal search. But that right is murkier when it comes to touch ID, face ID, or pattern lock, and courts have ruled both ways in the past. So it’s safest to just stick with a six-digit passcode for now.”

Also, Makam recommends that you set your phone to automatically back itself up to the cloud, be it Dropbox or Google Drive. Therefore if you were to lose or break your device, anything you record won’t be lost.

Know The Right Tools To Bring

WITNESS recommends a checklist of tools for capturing your surroundings, should you be out at a protest: an external microphone to potentially record interviews, extra memory cards, headphones, a tripod, a notebook and pen for recording dates, times and locations, and an extra battery and charger.  

Have Help Readily Available

WITNESS also recommends bringing a partner or friend with you to protests to help keep you safe and watch out for important situations to document. “Memorize emergency contact information, or keep it written in a secure location,” they write on their site. “Use a camera strap or tie your camera to your wrist. Know your equipment. If you can’t run with it, don’t bring it.”

For more information for how to safely and ethically film police misconduct, visit WITNESS’ site, the ACLU or read Makam’s Teen Vogue piece in full. 

Want To Support Protesters And Black Lives Matter Groups? Here’s How

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The Best Apps & Tools For Recording And Monetizing Music In The COVID-19 Era

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Here's a rundown of some easy-to-use apps and tools for recording and monetizing your music in the COVID-19 era
GRAMMYs
Jun 9, 2020 - 3:04 pm

We are currently living in an unprecedented era around music creation and touring. Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, all business has been forced to become remote, making it difficult for artists to maintain their usual level of activity. Of course, though the music landscape looks totally different right now, artists are finding new and innovative ways to get their music heard, be it through livestreams, engaging with fans via social media or launching subscription models that offer exclusive content to fans. To that end, here's a rundown of some exciting new apps and tools for recording and monetizing your music in the COVID-19 era. 

Recording Tools

There are plenty of social media options for getting your work out there: Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok and Twitch are just some of the possible platforms you can use to capture your recording. 

There's also a new all-in-one app called RMusic, which allows songwriters to collaboratively write music on the go. Not only does RMusic let you to record ideas directly onto a virtual project file, but you can punch in new lines, edit takes, invite other collaborators from your address book, type lyrics, undo takes and communicate with project members from within the app.

Live Broadcast & Streaming Channels

Facebook: According to a new Remote Musicians Handbook put together by the Berklee College of Music, Facebook is the best venue for livestreaming if your audience skews a little older. 

Instagram: Meanwhile, Instagram, which has a feature that allows other people to join your live stream as guests, is ideal for younger audiences. "Based on your social media engagement on each platform, you can make an informed decision about which platform will be best for your fans," the handbook writes. "Both of these are well-suited for unannounced livestreams as notifications will go out to engaged fans, as well as letting your fans know ahead of time when you will be streaming."

YouTube: Then there's YouTube, which offers a number of monetization options and scheduling tools, such as pre-stream and in-stream ads, donations and merch sales. YouTube will even notify your followers when you go live and will allow you to schedule a live stream ahead of time. And as the stream takes place, YouTube lets viewers ask questions and interact with the streamer. 

TikTok: If you're on the super music-friendly app TikTok, did you know that you can activate a live stream if you have more than 1,000 followers? Once watching your livestream, viewers can purchase stickers, and a portion of the money is donated to the streamer. According to the aforementioned handbook, on TikTok these purchases are made using "coins." Coins start at $0.99 for 65 coins and go up to $99.99 for 6,697 coins. In turn, users can buy stickers, called "Virtual Gifts," for anywhere from 1 to 100 coins.
     
Twitch: The video game streaming platform can be useful for engaging new fans. Because this app hosts as many as 4 million viewers at once (according to TwitchTracker) actively encourages discovering new streamers, artists can show up under Twitch's "Music & Performing Arts" section (with 2.3 million followers). Here, according to the handbook, "the music ranges from metal to violin covers to singer-songwriters, and is generally more diverse genre-wise than more mainstream platforms."

If you want to monetize your work on Twitch, know that streamers get paid when new subscribers follow them and viewers donate to the streamer. Some streamers use new followers and donations as mechanisms to unlock new content or segments. Some will take requests at certain follower count or donation levels, others run merch giveaways, or give followers access to exclusive content.

OBS Software: OBS (Open Broadcaster Software) is free and open source software for video recording and live streaming. Stream to Twitch, YouTube and many other providers.

Nugs.net: Get live music on demand. Nugs.net offers a collection of more than 15,000 full-length concert recordings from the likes of Pearl Jam, Widespread Panic, Umphrey’s McGee, Dead & Company and more. Try it free with a 30-day trial.

Houseparty: This social networking service enables group video chatting through mobile and desktop apps. Users receive a notification when friends are online and available to group video chat. 

StageIt: Founded in 2009, Stageit is a web-based performance venue that hosts paid livestreamed performances. Artists choose when they want to perform, for how long, and how much they want to charge. 

Crowdcast: This video platform hosts live video Q&As, interviews, summits, webinars and more.

Streamlabs: This streaming platform can stream audio to Twitch, YouTube and Facebook. 

BandsInTown: Use BandsInTown to promote your live stream shows. You can even engage new fans and monetize shows through BandsInTown's Twitch partnership.

Fan & Membership Platforms

Patreon: Patreon gives fans access to exclusive artist content for a monthly fee, might be the first option that comes to mind when it comes to fan and membership platforms. But Patreon is only the beginning. Gumroad lets creators offer digital and physical products for sale, while its dashboard provides insight into how your sales are doing and how fans are consuming your content.

Squarespace: Offers subscription products in their store, integrating directly with your website and can be sold alongside your other merch products. 

Shopify: For $40/month, Shopify offers apps that allow you to offer subscriptions from your Shopify ecommerce store, which is helpful if you are offering physical goods as part of your subscription. 

Bandzoogle: Sell music, merch, downloads  and tickets, commission-free. Once you add a store, you can start selling music, downloads, tickets and band merch. Monthly fees start at $8.29.

Ghost: With Ghost, which is free to join, you can publish content online, grow an audience with email newsletters and make money from premium memberships.

Memberful: Memberful helps independent publishers, educators, and creators sell memberships to their audience and build sustainable businesses. You can integrate with Wordpress, send email newsletters, create private podcasts and more. Pricing is free to start and goes up to $25 or $100 per month.

Digital Production Marketplaces, including licensing and sell music, samples, and custom sounds:

Splice: Splice Studio gives you access to millions of royalty-free samples, MIDI and presets on mobile, web and desktop for $7.99/mo. 

ScoreAScore: This music production, licensing and supervision company puts producers in need of original music directly in contact with the composers who create it.

Beatstars: Beatstars is an online marketplace to buy and sell beats.

Putting The Plan Into Action

Now that you have the tools, all you need is to put a plan into action. The Remote Musicians Handbook suggests that you first analyze your audience to get a sense of their social media profiles. Then, you may want to run an unnanounced test live stream, just to get a sense of who's showing up. Then, schedule a series of announced live streams on the platform(s) of your choice. Once livestreams are part of your routine, consider partnering with artist friends on YouTube where you can cross-promote each other's work. From there, consider monetizing your work on Patreon with exclusive content. All the while, to engage new fans, hop on music-discovery tools TikTok and Twitch.

Now that you have the resources to build a fully functional music online platform from the safety and comfort of your home, the rest is up to you. Good luck!   

How Musicians Are Staying Positive & Productive Amidst A Pandemic

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How Bandcamp's Fee Waiver Days Are Supporting Musicians In The Pandemic

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"It sounds simple, but we’ve always believed that the best way to support artists is to buy their music and merch directly," Bandcamp COO Josh Kim tells the Recording Academy
Noah Berlatsky
GRAMMYs
Jun 3, 2020 - 9:36 am

Like most musicians, Belgian ambient synthscape vaporwave artist Sebastian Dessauvage, a.k.a. Zer0 れい, has been struggling since the coronavirus pandemic began. Belgium has been in lockdown for two months and summer festivals have all been canceled. He's lost tour dates in Amsterdam and London. His day job in retail laid him off as well, and while he still gets 70% of his salary through government unemployment, making ends meet has been rough. That's especially true since his beloved cat, Cthulhu, suffered acute kidney failure right before the lockdown. Dessauvage tells the Recording Academy that he was faced with "a hefty set of bills, in total a very solid four-figure sum which promptly annihilated all our savings."

The story of opportunities closing and unexpected expenses mounting is a chillingly familiar one for many people over the last couple of months. There was one bright spot for Dessauvage, though: a substantial boost from Bandcamp. The online music platform suspended its fees on March 20 in order to help artists during the pandemic. Dessauvage put out a collection of 13 unreleased and compilation tracks for the occasion; the album serves as a eerily suitable soundtrack for a lonely apocalypse of staring into the computer screen and feeling it also staring into you. On the day of the Bandcamp promotion, Dessauvage saw a substantial spike in sales as fans rushed to support artists directly. He made several hundred dollars—enough to pay for Cthulhu's final round of antibiotics.

It wasn't just Dessauvage who benefited. The Bandcamp fee waiver promotion was astonishingly successful. Overall, fans and music listeners spent $4.3 million on March 20 to support Bandcamp artists—about 15 times what the site raises on a typical Friday. With fees waived, all of that money went directly to labels and musicians. Some were able to pay their mortgage for the month off the proceeds.

"We know our fan community cares deeply about supporting artists in general," Josh Kim, Bandcamp's COO, tells the Recording Academy. "Even before March 20th we were already seeing huge numbers of fans use Bandcamp to support artists who were seeing tours canceled. So we wanted to highlight that even more and engage as an entire community, and also encourage more fans to continue supporting artists until things are recovered."

Bandcamp's approach has always been to make it easy for independent artists and small labels to reach fans directly, and that has made the Covid promotion a natural evolution. "It sounds simple, but we’ve always believed that the best way to support artists is to buy their music and merch directly," Kim says.

Read More: Bandcamp Will Continue To Waive Its Revenue Shares On May 1, June 5 & July 3

It's hard to remember, but back in March there was some hope that the shutdown would only last a few weeks. Instead, the pandemic has escalated, and while some states have started to roll back stay-at-home orders, the official death count went over 100,000 as recently as Memorial Day. With a deadly contagious pandemic still claiming lives at a terrifying rate, it's difficult to imagine that people are going to be eager to gather in large or moderate sized crowds to see live music anytime soon, and few venues are going to feel comfortable taking on the liability of a potential outbreak.

In response, Bandcamp has decided to repeat its fee waiver program on the first Friday of each month through July. The May 1 fee waiver raised 7.1 million—more than twice as much as the March promotion. There will be another fee free day this Friday, June 5, and another on July 3. (In solidarity with the recent protests, Bandcamp is also going to donate 100% of its share of sales to the NAACP Legal Defense Fund on June 19, or Juneteenth, commemorating the abolition of slavery.)

As Bandcamp has turned the fee waivers into a recurring promotion, artists and labels have started to coordinate their releases to better take advantage of the publicity and fan enthusiasm. For example, the venerable Seattle indie label Sub Pop released not one, but two albums by Oregon indie-rock duo Helio Sequence on May 5. They've also been passing through 100% of digital sales Bandcamp revenue to their artists on the fee waiver days, according to Rebecca Sicile-Kira, Sub Pop's Online Sales Manager.

Nathan Cross, the label owner of Austin-based experimental jazz label Astral Spirits, says that he didn't time any album releases to the first promotion in March. The date just so happened to coincide with pre-orders for a marvelous and much-anticipated new album by the Chicago Underground Quartet. For May, June and July, though, Cross says he's tried to time pre-order announcements to take advantage of the fee waivers.

"I've seen folks say that it's driving people to create albums/products specifically for the aim of these dates rather than creating work that is true to itself," Cross told the Recording Academy. "I can understand this to an extent—I have definitely quickly planned a couple different releases that I probably would have waited longer to do without the Bandcamp fee waiver days." When the floodwaters are coming for you, you can hardly blame them for trying to take a shortcut or two to try to get to higher ground. "I think it's a little unfair to place ulterior motives considering the situation and how fast this has all happened, for artists, labels and Bandcamp," Cross says.

Chicago-born, L.A.-based rapper Lando Chill and his producer/collaborator the Lasso were among the many independent artists who released excellent material to take advantage of the promotion. The two made their 2018 album LANDOLASSO available on the platform for the first time. They also added bonus tracks, including "FUTUREGONE," with lyrics about dreams dying and a woozy hook that is unsettlingly on point for the current moment. Chill tells us they sold more than 30 copies of the album—a substantial increase over a typical day's sales. At $8 a piece, with no platform fees, it was enough to pay for a couple rounds of groceries.

Chill had been organizing an event series called "At the Ardmore"; he'd been doing work with the music publishing company Defend Records. Coronavirus put an end to those projects, and more. The extra income from Bandcamp doesn't make up for that or the loss of touring. But it still helps.

"Bandcamp has been a beacon—or a lighthouse during a storm," Chill says. "It really is. It doesn't mean the storm has ended. It doesn't mean the problems have ended; we're still wet. But that lighthouse provides a modicum of hope. And it really sets an example for other platforms." Spotify, for example, is doing charitable covid relief efforts and matching donations. But that doesn't allow people to contribute directly to musicians the way Bandcamp's model does. Patreon has offered grants and advice for those affected by Covid, but has not waived its fees. Neither has Amazon.

Artist earnings from the Bandcamp sales vary widely. Atlanta-based producer and DJ Leonce was able to pay rent in only a few hours from Bandcamp sales. "Releasing new music on those [fee waiver] days means hundreds of extra dollars in my pocket that I normally wouldn’t have gotten that I can use to go to my living costs," he says.

Other artists like trans activist and indie-rock musician Julia Serano have had more modest sales. "Most people know me as a writer and are less familiar with me being a musician," Serano says. She says she sold three to six extra albums on the fee waiver days. "Which isn't a lot, but it's more than I would have sold otherwise."

Part of the benefit of the fee waiver days isn't just the money—it's the chance to be seen and appreciated. Caroline White, a.k.a. indie-folk/pop artist Infinity Crush, earned half of her income as a nanny and a tutor and the other half touring before the coronavirus lockdown began. Now she's had to switch to childcare full-time. "Naturally it's hard to be creative and produce more art when I'm working seven days a week," she tells the Recording Academy. "But I'm lucky I have something I can fall back on."

With her schedule, White hasn't been able to release new music. But people have been sharing her albums, and she's been able to promote music from other artists. "I have been able to pay some bills with the extra money, and I feel humbled and grateful that anyone even takes the time to listen," she says. "It has helped, and the gesture is encouraging."

Many artists are finding themselves shut off from audiences and with little time or space for creation. "I really was hoping to do a full U.S. tour this summer, since the two tours I did were the most incredible and inspiring experiences, but it'll have to wait. Hopefully sometime in the future there is a place for live music again," White says. Until then, many performers appreciate that Bandcamp is giving fans an opportunity to show they still care about music and the people who make it.

Marching Six Feet Apart: How High School Marching Bands Are Coping With The Pandemic

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Some of the content on this site expresses viewpoints and opinions that are not those of the Recording Academy and its Affiliates. Responsibility for the accuracy of information provided in stories not written by or specifically prepared for the Academy and its Affiliates lies with the story's original source or writer. Content on this site does not reflect an endorsement or recommendation of any artist or music by the Recording Academy and its Affiliates.