Category: music composition

Laura Karpman, the composer for the spinoff MCU series, talks about blending pre-existing themes while also making her own.

The release of the second season of What If…? is on the horizon, and MCU fans eagerly await more mind-bending conundrums. While not many details have been revealed yet, an interview with the composer of the series, Laura Karpman, reveals that we’ll hear a variety of musical styles. She spoke with Collider about the process, saying she draws from themes of other MCU films and adds something new:

“Listen, I’m working on three projects for Marvel. So on this one in particular, the kind of rules are “what are we working with? So are we working with a Marvel film? Are we working with the Avengers? Are we working with Guardians of Galaxy? Are we working with Black Panther? Are we working with a combination of them?” And then the second thought is, “Okay, if it’s a combination, what…” There was one where to T’Challa was StarLord, right? So what themes do we draw from? Do we draw from Black Panther? Do we draw from Guardians? Do we do something new? So that every single time you sit down with the creative executives on the show and the director Brian Andrews, you have to think about, “What is it we want to accomplish in this particular episode musically?” And then of course, we’ve got The Watcher and his whole world and his theme and everything that, that encompasses too.”

What If…? literally explores a multiverse of possibilities, such as “what if Ultron won?” Then, the story goes from there, in standalone episodes that are loosely connected by a mysterious being called The Watcher. While we don’t know the premise of all the episodes from season two, it’s likely that they will take inspiration from MCU films released after the first season, such as Eternals, Dr. Strange and the Multiverse of Madness, Spider-Man: No Way Home, and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. It’s been confirmed that Hela from Thor: Ragnarok will make an appearance in season two.

Related: Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania Will Be Akin to a Big Avengers Movie, Says Director Peyton Reed

What If…? Composer Says She Has One Main Rule

In a universe that breaks the rules of conventional storytelling, it makes sense that the composer has few rules. Kaufman’s only “monster rule” is to not look at sheet music when using themes from other MCU composers:

“There are materials that we can draw from if we choose to. So there are preexisting materials. If I want to use some of Ludwig [Göransson]’s music or Alan Silvestri music, or anybody who’s worked in the MCU, we think about how do we want to do it. And I only have one kind of monster rule for myself when it comes to using the great themes written by the composers, and that is that I don’t actually ever look at the sheet music. I do it all by ear because I think if it filters through my brain somehow, then it’ll feel like the show. Then it’ll feel like I’ve had my influence rather than just really drawing exactly from what was written. And I think it’s better for the show too, because then it feels somewhat new.”

What If…? season two is set to release in early 2023, on Disney Plus. The cast varies from episode to episode, but will likely see Jeffrey Wright return to voice The Watcher. The series is created by A.C. Bradley and directed by Bryan Andrews, with music by Laura Karpman. The first season began streaming on August 11th, 2021.

Justin Bieber is reportedly close to finalizing a $200 million deal to sell his music rights.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Bieber is in negotiations with Hipgnosis Songs Capital, a Blackstone-backed investment and song management company, in a deal that would value his rights at “around” $200 million.

The potential deal includes both Bieber’s publishing and recorded music catalog, the Journal noted, and represents the largest to-date acquisition for Hipgnosis, which purchased Justin Timberlake’s song catalog rights for a reported $100 million earlier this year.

Music publishing encompasses the copyrights for songwriting and composition, such as lyrics and melodies. Although publishing rights are often not worth as much as actual recordings, they can still lead to a significant amount of revenue over time with radio play, advertising, movie licensing, and more.

The news serves as the latest in what has been a series of similar deals done by artists over the years, as streaming services like Spotify (SPOT), Apple (AAPL) and Amazon (AMZN) increase the value of back catalogs.

In December 2021, Bruce Springsteen sold both his master recordings and publishing rights to Sony Music in a deal worth north of $500 million, according to multiple outlets. The Red Hot Chili Peppers sold the rights to its song catalog for a reported $150 million that same year.

In 2020, Bob Dylan sold over 600 copyrights to Universal Music Group in a deal reportedly valued at over $300 million. Prior to that, Stevie Nicks sold a majority stake in her songwriting for a reported $100 million.

“It gets to the point where there’s money coming from so many different places that you can’t go wrong on any type of deal like this,” Guillermo Page, a former record label executive who worked for Sony and Universal, previously told Yahoo Finance.

Page, who now teaches in the music program at the University of Miami, noted “streaming has provided stability.”

“The key is that the business has become predictable,” Page explained, adding: “[Investors] can trust in the future of the business because it’s growing. When you eliminate the uncertainty, it opens up a new door for investors to come in and snap those assets.”

Bieber’s reported deal signals how younger artists are beginning to cash in on the growing trend; although buyers are having more difficulty financing deals within the current interest rate environment — something the pandemic-era avoided amid ultra-low rates.

“You’re seeing all major acts from the 70s, 80s, and 90s that are riding the wave of streaming,” Page said, explaining artists can now “capture a ton of money” in ways they were not able to do in the past.

“It’s the perfect storm for artists who can now maximize their return on the sale of those assets.”

Alexandra is a Senior Entertainment and Media Reporter at Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter @alliecanal8193 and email her at alexandra.canal@yahoofinance.com

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Music composer Atul Gogavale talks about help he got from Riteish

Music composer Atul Gogavale talked about his bond with Bollywood actor Riteish Deshmukh and also revealed how the ‘Masti’ actor helped him and his brother Ajay by suggesting their names to the filmmakers.

Mumbai: Music composer Atul Gogavale talked about his bond with Bollywood actor Riteish Deshmukh and also revealed how the ‘Masti’ actor helped him and his brother Ajay by suggesting their names to the filmmakers.

Ajay-Atul appeared on ‘The Kapil Sharma Show’ as a celebrity guest along with Riteish Deshmukh and Genelia D’Souza to promote their film ‘Ved’.

Talking about their bond and strong friendship, Atul shared: “The way Riteish has supported us in our journey by suggesting our names to makers, we don’t think anyone else could have. I still remember it was between 2010-2011, Riteish used to go and suggest our name to producers and directors. He used to not only suggest our name but also make them hear our music and request that if they think we can do justice to their film, they should collaborate with us. And yes, we got the film ‘Agneepath’ because of our brother Riteish.”

Ajay-Atul has composed music for films like ‘Singham’, A’Bol Bachchan’, ‘Agneepath’, ‘Brothers’, and many more. Atul recalled how Riteish promoted their name in the industry. “Riteish recommended us to Dharma Productions, producer Karan Johar and director Karan Malhotra. He not only recommended but collected our music in a CD and sat there for half an hour and made them hear. We did a lot of films after that but Agneepath’s success is a different story. The recognition that we got through this film is commendable but to reach there our brother has helped us to sail through it,” he added.

Furthermore, Atul praised the host for his singing talent and said: “You genuinely sing really well, whenever we meet you here or outside your voice is amazing. When Archana (Puran Singh), shares reels of in-between breaks, we get to witness your singing, that time the cameras are not rolling still you amaze us with your vocals. The band will agree that you are an outstanding singer.”

Listening to this, Kapil reminded the musician duo that whenever they meet they just keep saying that they want to record a song with him and he looks forward to that day.

‘The Kapil Sharma Show’ airs on Sony Entertainment Television.

 
It’s that time again — time to celebrate the year’s end with some great music. The country’s concert halls are each holding their signature year end concerts, along with fireworks at the Seoul Arts Center and light shows at the Lotte Concert Hall, after great classical music performances.  
 
This year, the Lotte Concert Hall said it will go a step further by inviting dancers and a DJ for a “Hip and Hot” concert.  To the music of Pablo de Sarasate’s “Zigeunerweisen,” which will be performed by violinist Cho Jin-joo with Hankyung arte Philharmonic under the baton of maestro Choi Soo-yeoul, popular Korean dancer Lip J will show off her signature waacking dance style. If you’ve seen Lip J waacking, which is a form of street dance created in the LGBT clubs of Los Angeles during the 1970s disco era, it is hard to imagine what the dance that has rotational arm movements will look like alongside a piece of classical music inside a classical music concert hall. 
 
Violinist Cho is already known for her passionate, charismatic flair. She’s not a typical classical violinist with a glittering evening gown. Her stage presence is simply so electrifying that it has always surprised audience members. That is why many of Cho and Lip J’s fans are counting down to New Year’s eve for their collab on stage.  
 
Though her dance style is a popular one in America, it only became familiar to Koreans along with the dancer herself through Mnet’s dance competition show “Street Woman Fighter” (2021).  
 
To hear more about Lip J’s upcoming performance at the Lotte Concert Hall in southern Seoul, the Korea JoongAng Daily recently conducted an email interview with the dancer. The following are edited excerpts.  
 

 
A. One of the charms of street dance is that there are no strict boundaries to where or when it can be performed. Thanks to that, I think I’ve danced in a variety of venues for different events. Whether it’s for filming or performance, street dance can be staged anywhere, anytime — on the street, on stage, in an alleyway, in front of a city hall, by a riverside, and so on.  
However, this upcoming performance, where I will be collaborating with a violinist in a classical music hall is something I’ve never experienced as a street dancer. I am also looking forward to how it will turn out. It will be a memorable event to wrap up my year, and an enjoyable one for the audience.    
 

There will be an overarching concept and format with fixed choreography in certain areas but I’ll definitely dance freestyle. When I danced to the same music in Russia in 2017 I had prepared the choreography but in the end, most of the performance was done freestyle. Back then, I was focused more on showing the “texture” of the sound of the violin through my dance style known as waacking. But this time, since violinist Cho Jin-joo is going to be on stage with me and I’ll be dancing to a live violin performance, I think it will be a totally different performance to what I’ve done in Russia. I can’t wait to show the audience how we — a dancer and a musician — can sync perfectly on stage.  
 

 
It’s a judge’s demo clip for a Waacking Sharing event that gets held in Russia every year. It was my second solo performance at that event and during that time, Tyrone Proctor, the late waacking master who is one of the dancers that popularized the dance craze, was present. So I remember being so honored to see him and remember that day as a significant day in my waacking dance career because I met him in person. That is why I was quite hesitant to dance to “Zigeunerweisen” in front of him. Until the last minute, I was agonizing whether I should change to a disco song. But I just decided to stick with it because I know I’ve worked so hard on it and I really wanted to use classical music. It’s a personal reason, but my mother loves classical music and is a big fan of Korean violinist Chang Young-joo. And that day was my mother’s birthday. Though she couldn’t make it to Russia, I wanted to show her my performance at least through a video as a birthday gift. I wanted to perform to the music she can sympathize with because I know she wouldn’t been able to relate to my other performances. It was a big challenge for me as well.  
 

Just as we use a lot of gestures when we speak, waacking has the charm of showing the dramatic emotional expression and melody of music in a very direct way, which is felt in the fact that we use a lot of arm and hand movements. In that sense, waacking seems to convey its charm as the song’s expressiveness becomes more dramatic. The violin is the main protagonist in “Zigeunerweisen,” leading the entire song. In particular, the mood felt in this song is really captivating. For the whole eight minutes, it just draws you and then pushes you away, and then draws you back in. For example, it’s sad and lyrical at one point then becomes very intense, then suddenly very empty, then passionate and then cold, then romantic again. In this respect, I think “Zigeunerweisen” fits really well with the waacking dance style. Moreover, I think waacking dance moves are very similar to the sound of a string instrument.  
 
You’ll be able to witness the true nature of waacking when it’s done to a long piece of music. If you listen to underground disco music, which is the basis of waacking, there are many breaths similar to the narrative of classical music, only the tempo and composition are slightly different. Even in classical music, there are many songs that tell a dramatic story as the movement develops, and I felt it was similar to waacking.
 

I can’t say that I’ve listened to a lot of classic music, but when I first heard this piece, the intensity of it was similar to the dramatic aspect of waacking. I think this piece, in which the violin plays the main role, contains everything that can be expressed with the instrument. The violin player must be equipped with the technical skills to captivate the ears of the audience throughout. And I thought it would be really great if I could express and harmonize those captivating sounds with a crazy performance. When I found out later that the piece is a dance song filled with the energy of gypsies, it made me want to dance to the piece more.  
 

Because “Zigeunerweisen” is a very passionate song, I want to try something that is the opposite if I get the chance. Something calm, relaxing and peaceful — like Debussy’s “Moonlight.”
 

Violinist Cho Jin-joo [LOTTE CONCERT HALL]

 
The concert begins at 8 p.m. Tickets range from 60,000 won ($46.80) to 120,000 won.  
 

BY YIM SEUNG-HYE [yim.seunghye@joongang.co.kr]

A biweekly column from ICT with the latest news from the arts and entertainment world

Sandra Hale Schulman

Special to ICT

It’s been a busy year in the arts and entertainment world for Indigenous artists, filmmakers, actors, musicians and writers.

The Comanche girl-meets-alien Hulu film, “Prey,” broke streaming records, and hit series including “Reservation Dogs,” “Dark Winds,” “Rutherford Falls” and “The English” drew praise from critics and viewers alike.

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Indigenous art and artists were featured in major shows at museums coast to coast, and acclaimed musicians such as Buffy Sainte-Marie and Susan Aglukark took home top awards while new artists drew fresh attention to traditional works.

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The “Prey” movie, which started streaming in August 2022 on Hulu, features Amber Midthunder as the heroine. (Photo courtesy of Disney Studios)

And Indigenous fashion had a big year as well, with designer clothing featured in museum shows at The Metropolitan in New York City, at a buzzy show at the Museum of Contemporary Native Art in Santa Fe, and in the pages of Vogue magazine.

Here are some of the year’s highlights.

FILM: A breakthrough year

After decades of buildup, streaming services exploded with original Indigenous content, making stars of newcomers — Amber Midthunder, Fort Peck; Kiowa Gordon, Hualapai; Jessica Matten, Metis Cree — and giving veteran actors such as Wes Studi, Cherokee; Gary Farmer, Cayuga; and Tantoo Cardinal, Cree Métis — a chance to show them how it’s been done since the 1980s.

“Prey” was the big hit of the summer online, breaking records by taking a traditionally macho movie series and replacing a weapon-toting Arnold Schwarzenegger with a Comanche girl, played by Midthunder, and her dog.

Read more about films:

—Comanche Nation vs. Predator

—Jhane Myers Q&A

—‘Reservation Dogs’ fetches a sister act

—‘The English’ thrills with Pawnee authenticity

—Tribes open film studios to lure movie, TV productions

Loaded with fresh Indigenous faces, the film was guided by creative producer Jhane Myers, Comanche, who “just wanted to make a good film with a Native woman hero.” Indigenous actor-turned-politician Jesse Ventura, who starred in the original 1987 “Predator” film with Schwarzenegger, said “Prey” is a “thoughtful, creative and wonderful film.”

“Reservation Dogs” made several best-of-the-year lists in mainstream media with its smart, cutting-edge depiction of contemporary life on the rez. Director/producer Sterlin Harjo, Seminole, cast new actors – D’Pharaoh Woon-a-Tai, Oji-Cree and Devery Jacobs, Mohawk First Nation – who shined alongside Gary Farmer’s pot-loving veteran Uncle Brownie and rival sculptor Bucky played by Oscar-winner Studi.

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Zahn McLarnon, Hunkpapa Lakota, exudes authority as Officer Joe Leaphorn in the series, “Dark Winds,” based on Tony Hillerman’s writings. The part was originally played more than 20 years ago by Oscar-winning actor Wes Studi. (Photo by Sandra Hale Schulman)

“Dark Winds” took an established series by author Tony Hillerman and blew fresh air through it with sharp storytelling and deep dives into characters. The Natives are not always the good guys or the victims — a plot thread that shows modern characters in the real world on and off of reservations.

Twenty years ago, Studi played Officer Jim Leaphorn and Adam Beach, Saulteaux, played Officer Jim Chee. Now Kiowa Gordon, Hualapai, is winning accolades for the Jim Chee role and Zahn McLarnon, Hunkpapa Lakota, exudes authority as the senior Leaphorn.

Tribes also ventured into the film business in a big way in 2022, with the Tesuque Pueblo opening Camel Rock Studio in a former casino in Santa Fe, where “Dark Winds” is filmed.

The Cherokee Nation opened a new virtual soundstage in Oklahoma and is offering major incentives for filming on its vast, scenic lands. The upcoming 2023 “Killers of the Flower Moon” was filmed there, and with major funding from Apple TV, recreated an entire 1920s village. The cast was filled out with Osage citizens.

And the Cherokee Nation Film Office won a British Academy of Film and Television Arts award for its groundbreaking directory featuring Native citizens, the only finalist from the United States to be nominated for the international honor.

MUSIC: Carrying on with Indigenous sounds

The legendary Buffy Sainte-Marie, Cree, was honored in September with a Tribute Award at the Toronto International Film Festival, which kicked off with the world premiere of a new documentary film, “Buffy Sainte-Marie: Carry it On,” examining her life as an Indigenous musician and activist.

And in May, Susan Aglukark – the most celebrated Inuit musical artist in Canadian history – received the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences’ Humanitarian Award for her charitable work with the Arctic Rose Foundation, which she founded in 2012 to support arts-based programming for Inuit, First Nations and Métis youth in Canada’s north. It was her fourth Juno award in 11 nominations.

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Legendary performer Buffy Sainte-Marie, Cree, was honored with the Tribute Award at the Toronto International Film Festival, which kicked off on Sept. 8, 2022, with a documentary about her life, “Buffy Sainte-Marie: Carry It On.” (Photo by Matt Barnes, courtesy of Eagle Vision & White Pine Pictures)

Among the new releases was a lilting collection of music, “Tokyo at Midnight,” released in September by flutist Cody Blackbird, Cherokee, featuring the late poet John Trudell reciting on three tracks. Trudell will be honored in a portrait show next year by his son, Wovoka Trudell, in New Mexico.

Read more about music:

—Toronto festival honors Buffy Sainte-Marie

—‘Arctic Rose’ Susan Aglukark continues her epic journey

—New radio show taps into Native youth culture

—World’s Ugliest Dog turns bleary eyes on helping rez dogs

And Wabanaki artist Mali Obomsawin released a new record, “Sweet Tooth,” that combined field recordings, old hymns, stories and Indigenous jazz.

The charming, animated Netflix series, “Spirit Rangers,” about three Indigenous siblings who use secret powers to turn into animals and protect the national forest where they live, has a lively musical score by Raye Zaragoza, Akimel O’otham.

And Navajo sibling band Sihasin had a busy year touring Peru as part of a cultural exchange, recording a radio show Indigenous YOUth Nation. And during her spare time, Sihasin bassist Jeneda Benally adopted an old unwanted pooch in Tuba City and made him globally famous as the World’s Ugliest Dog.

ART: Widespread recognition

It was a big year for Indigenous art and artists as well.

Brad Kahlhamer had a blockbuster year, with four decades of his work showcased at two museum exhibitions in Arizona — a deep and wide retrospective, “11:59 to Tucson,” at the Tucson Museum of Art, and “Swap Meet,” a wildly imaginative installation at the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art that featured a broken-down trailer retrofitted as a gallery/ performance space.

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Artist Brad Kahlhamer is shown here with a painting, “Buffalo Girl.” (Photo courtesy of Brad Kahlhamer)

He followed those up with a solo show of new, large-scale paintings at Garth Greenan Gallery in New York.

Read more about artists:

—New exhibits explore Native identity, myth, ceremony

—Pulitzer winner Chacon honored and humbled

—Museum of Graffiti features Taino art exhibit

His art is a search for self — he calls it “yondering,” since he was adopted at birth and blocked from knowing his tribe and his family. The void allows him free rein to imagine an Indigenous visual world he calls the third place.

Nanibah Chacon, Diné/Chicana, had her first museum show, “Spectrum,” at Site Santa Fe. The show had 10 newly commissioned large-scale paintings along with a survey of Chacon’s many public murals and her personal archive.

She draws inspiration from traditional Diné creation mythology stories involving spiders and hummingbirds. Her exquisitely rendered figures and geometric patterns use a lush palette in unexpected colors, giving new life to her hybrid border art.

Talent runs in the Chacon family. Her brother is Raven Chacon, a Pulitzer Prize-winning composer, performer and installation artist who was featured in the Whitney Museum Biennial.

He composed a series of 13 scores he called portraits dedicated to various contemporary Indigenous women working in the fields of music, composition and sound art.

Raven Chacon uses music as color in light and dark shades to create aural soundscapes that examine the ever-changing mood of the present. He performed live in July at the Whitney at a sold-out show.

Indigenous art even caught the attention of the Museum of Graffiti in Florida, which featured a show in March on the Puerto Rican Taino art.

FASHION: Taking center stage

Indigenous fashion was in the spotlight on several fronts, including the featured presentations at The Metropolitan in New York and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Santa Fe and in Vogue.

Top designer Jamie Okuma, La Jolla, was a crowd favorite at the Santa Fe Indian Market Fashion Show, as her smart, sophisticated designs for men and women graced the runway and the museum mannequins.

Read more about fashion:

—The Indigenous goddess we all need(ed)

—Model moves from runway to the boxing ring

—Osage artist uses AI technology for latest works

Lauren Good Day, Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation who is also Blackfeet and Plains Cree, mixed bright patterns in flowing dresses and sporty streetwear, and one of her models, Jayli Fimbres, also Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation, moved from modeling to boxing and back again.

Sky Eagle Collections artist/designer Dante Biss-Grayson hosted a blowout runway show at the La Fonda Hotel during Art Market Week, and his market booth sold out within hours on opening day. And Biss-Grayson then unveiled a new line of artwork using Artificial Intelligence.

Celebrity models at the various events included breakthrough model Quannah Chasinghorse, Hän Gwich’in and Oglala Lakota, with her tattooed face and nose rings; Eugene Braverock, Blackfoot, the tall lanky actor seen in “Dark Winds” and “Montana Story”; actor D’Pharaoh Woon-A Tai, Oji-Cree, of “Reservation Dogs” and IMG Models; Stephanie Big Eagle, Sioux, the hand-poke tattooist; and Ashley Callingbull, Enoch Cree, a former Mrs. Universe.

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No Christmas season is complete without ‘Silent Night’. The traditional Christmas carol isn’t quite as old as its biblical implications might allude, with composer Franz Gruber (not to be confused with the Die Hard villain of a similar name) in Austria during the early 1800s. That might not seem modern compared to, say, ‘All I Want For Christmas Is You’, but it’s certainly not a traditional hymn as it would seem.

The more biblical edge came from the song’s lyrics, which were originally penned by an honest-to-god priest. Joseph Mohr was a hymn writer by trade, so when his friend Gruber invited him over one night to hear his new composition, Father Mohr was probably the best-qualified man to put lyrics to melody. Mohr composed the words to the song in just a few hours’ time, words that would be translated and echoed for centuries after he and Gruber were gone.

Almost immediately, ‘Silent Night’ became heavily associated with the Christmas season. The song itself is about the traditional birth of Christ, which makes it an appropriate carol for the holiday season. You don’t have to dig very far to find a version that fits your specific tastes, either.

Mariah Carey has a version because, of course, she does, but everyone from the King of Rock and Roll himself, Elvis Presley, to soul icons like Percy Sledge and The Temptations have recorded their own takes. Sinéad O’Connor, Josh Groban, and Nat King Cole all have notable versions of the track, but if your tastes lean more towards garage/punk/blues, then good news: The White Stripes recorded a version of ‘Silent Night’ as well.

Jack White has more than just a passing connection to the track’s religious origins. As the youngest of ten children, White was raised in a Catholic household, with both of his parents working for the Archdiocese of Detroit. White’s initial plan was to become a priest, but when he realised that the church wouldn’t allow him to bring his instruments with him, he baulked and decided to become an upholsterer, then a rock star, instead.

Slight Christian undercurrents could be picked up in The White Stripes’ music, even though White never preached or professed any specific affiliation. In fact, the closest that White ever came to acknowledging his religious background was recording ‘Silent Night’. In 2002, just after wrapping the sessions for Elephant, Jack and Meg White were asked to contribute a song to the Christmas compilation album Surprise Package Volume 2.

White wrote an original, ‘Candy Cane Children’, and the duo decided to put out a full Christmas single under the title Merry Christmas From… The White Stripes. On the B-side, Jack recorded a reading from the Gospel of Matthew while Meg sang an a Cappella version of ‘Silent Night’. At one point, Meg breaks when she can’t remember the words, and as the good son of a Christian that he was, Jack steps in to remind her of the verse.

Check out the reading and the version of ‘Silent Night’ down below.

Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript November 22, 2022

Warner Music Group Corp. beats earnings expectations. Reported EPS is $0.28, expectations were $0.13.

Operator: Good morning, and welcome to Warner Music Group’s fourth quarter earnings call for the period and fiscal year ended September 30, 2022. At the request of Warner Music Group, today’s call is being recorded for replay purposes, and if you object, you may disconnect at any time. Now, I would like to turn today’s call over to your host, Mr. Kareem Chin, Head of Investor Relations. You may begin.

Kareem Chin: Good morning, everyone. Welcome to Warner Music Group’s fiscal fourth quarter and full year earnings conference call. Please note that our earnings press release, earnings snapshot, and the Form 10-Q we filed this morning will be available on our website. On today’s call, we have our CEO, Steve Cooper; and our CFO, Eric Levin, who will take you through our results, and then we will answer your questions. Before our prepared remarks, I’d like to refer you to the second slide of the earnings snapshot to remind you that this communication includes forward-looking statements that reflect the current views of Warner Music Group about future events and financial performance. We plan to present certain non-GAAP results during this conference call and in our earnings snapshot slides, and have provided schedules reconciling these results to our GAAP results in our earnings press release.

All of these materials are posted on our website. Also, please note that all revenue figures and comparisons discussed today will be presented in constant currency, unless otherwise noted. All forward-looking statements are made as of today and we disclaim any duty to update such statements. Our expectations, beliefs, and projections are expressed in good faith, and we believe there is a reasonable basis for them. However, there can be no assurance that management’s expectations, beliefs and projections will result or be achieved. Investors should not rely on forward-looking statements because they are subject to a variety of risks, uncertainties, and other factors that can cause actual results to differ materially from our expectations. Information concerning factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements is contained in our filings with the SEC.

And with that, I’ll turn it over to Steve.

Steve Cooper: Thanks, Kareem. Good morning, everyone, and thanks for joining us. As you may know, I’ll be stepping down as CEO in January, so this is my last earnings call. I’ll have more to say about our leadership transition later, but let’s start by talking about what’s happening today. It’s no secret that we’ve been challenged on multiple fronts as we navigated the tumultuous macro environment. This includes financial volatility, rising interest rates, inflation, declines in online advertising spend, and currency headwinds. In addition, we’ve been navigating the complexities created by the pandemic and dealing with the impact of the war in Ukraine. Despite all these challenges, I’m pleased to say that we’ve had a very successful quarter.

Our total revenue in Q4 was $1.5 billion, representing year-over-year growth of 16%. Adjusted EBITDA also increased 16% to $276 million, with a margin of 18.4% compared to 17.2% in the prior year quarter. These results were driven by growth across all revenue lines, as well as the benefit from settling certain copyright infringement cases, as we discussed on our last earnings call. Recorded music revenue was $1.24 billion, an increase of 13%. Streaming revenue grew 10.4% when adjusted for the one-time impact of the DSP renewal we’ve been discussing since Q1. I’d like to remind everyone that Q4 was the final quarter impacted by this renewal. Q4’s uptick in subscription streaming growth, and the benefit from emerging streaming platform deal renewals, more than offset the decline in ad-supported revenue.

Artist services continued to recover in Q4, increasing by 33%, while licensing and physical were up by 38% and 6%, respectively. Publishing had another impressive quarter, with revenue of $254 million, reflecting exceptional growth of 32% plus. Digital and performance revenue stood out, growing 39% and 48%, respectively. As I look back on the last two and a half years since going public, it’s clear that we haven’t for a single day operated in a normal environment. So, it’s gratifying to report that our businesses continued to shine during fiscal ’22. For the full year, we delivered total revenue growth of 16% and adjusted OIBDA growth of 18%. Excluding one-time items, adjusted OIBDA grew 22%. We converted 65% of our adjusted OIBDA to operating cash flow for fiscal ’22, well in excess of the expectation we discussed last quarter of 50% to 60%.

As we look ahead, there’s tremendous momentum in both the short and long-term. I’ve consistently told you that streaming revenue would continue to have significant runway, that we would have price increases and ongoing subscriber growth, and that emerging platforms would continue to expand. We’re now seeing all these come to fruition. Most significantly, Apple and Deezer recently announced price increases. Making these announcements in the current economic environment, shows that music subscription services offer amazing value to consumers. Music remains undervalued, but we’re optimistic that there will be other increases to come. We’re also encouraged by reports of subscriber growth. Developed markets continue to grow in the double digits, while emerging markets are growing at higher percentages.

With global smartphone penetration expected to increase meaningfully in the coming years, our conviction in streaming growth remains strong. Finally, the revenue growth curve of emerging streaming platforms continues to outpace more established formats. These new platforms are all heavily reliant on music. And as engagement continues to grow, we expect monetization to follow suit. In our recent deal with Meta, our annualized revenue from this category reached $370 million this quarter. We look forward to the continued evolution of our deals as these platforms harness the power of user-generated content, not just for music discovery, but for marketing and monetization. You’ve often heard me reference the four key pillars of our long-term strategy, music, globalization, innovation, and people.

So, I’d like to talk about how these pillars have shaped our culture over the last decade and how they continue to drive our results. Let’s start with the music. What distinguishes the Warner Music Group is our ability to identify and sign original artists at the beginning of their careers and develop them into the world’s most recognizable superstars. We discovered many of our biggest names like Ed Sheeran, Cardi B, Dua Lipa, Bruno Mars, and Anita, when they were just starting out. Q4 exemplified the impact of our multi-pronged approach. We had great carryover success from our key artists like Ed, Dua, and Silk Sonic. Newly minted superstars, Jack Harlow and Zach Bryan, had multimillion selling albums released in Q3. And Lizzo’s phenomenal singles were a precursor for her chart-topping album, Special, released in Q4.

We’ve also proved once again that music can come from anywhere and resonate everywhere. Not only do we develop Anglo blockbusters, but also superstars within their domestic regions. Local chart toppers, like Japan’s Aimyon, and South Korea’s Twice, and international superstars like France’s David Guetta, Argentina’s Paulo Londra, and Nigeria’s Burna Boy. In addition, given the growing consumption of catalog music, we placed even more emphasis on spotlighting our legendary artists. Recent highlights include great looks for Kate Bush, Fleetwood Mac, and Led Zeppelin. As we broadened and deepened our artist roster, and prioritized a global approach to domestic music, our revenue composition has evolved. A decade ago, our top five artists generated over 15% of our recorded music physical and digital revenue.

In 2022, they generated just over 5%. Our momentum will continue with a strong release slate in Q1, including new music from Paramore, Aya Nakamura, Cardi B, Peter Fox, Roddy Ricch, Joel Corry, and more. I should also mention our outstanding showing in the Grammy nominations announced last week. Recorded music picked up more than 80 nods, which included half of the album of the year contenders. Our top nominees were Elektra’s Brandi Carlile with seven, and six each for Atlantic’s Lizzo, and 300’s Mary J. Blige. We also had three best new artist nominations for Anita, Omar Apollo, and Molly Tuttle. And Warner Chappell had a great showing, highlighted by nominations for The Dream and Amy Allen in the brand-new category of songwriter of the Year.

Warner Chappell is also performing very well, delivering on its strategy of diversifying revenue streams, while providing wider opportunities for songwriters globally. Here are a few recent highlights. In the US, Daniel Caesar took home Song of the Year for Peaches at the 2022 BMI R&B and Hip Hop Awards. We signed pop sensation, Lauren Spencer-Smith, and breakout punk rock band, the Linda Lindas. We renewed our deal with eight-time Grammy Award winner, Chris Stapleton, and we entered into a license renewal with China-based social platform, Kuaishou, for our catalog across multiple Asia PAC countries. We constantly work to enhance the value of our songwriters’ catalogs. Our teams proactively find needle-moving placements to their music, which distinguishes us from passive right holders.

One recent example of this is the placement of George Michael’s Freedom, covered by Warner superstar Dua Lipa, in a Yves Saint Laurent campaign that launched in August. There’s been a lot of debate over the value of major labels and publishers in a world where artisan songwriters have any number of distribution alternatives. While distribution has been democratized, talent never will be. Genuine talent is rare and difficult to find, but discovery is just the beginning. True long-term success requires significant resources, including financial investment, global infrastructure, creative expertise, and the skills to navigate the changing tech landscape. It’s that combination, genuine talent backed by our considerable resources and skills, that builds careers for the long haul.

Over and over again, artists and songwriters not only stay, but grow their relationships with us in this fiercely competitive market. That’s when we know we’re on the right track. 10 years ago, we were an Anglocentric company. Today, we’re a truly global music entertainment company, operating in over 70 countries. The key to our successful global expansion has been in identifying markets on the brink of ignition. We’ve customized for each new territory market and presence-building strategies. A couple of examples from the past decade are, the 2014 acquisition of Gold Typhoon in China, and the critical mass we’ve built in MENA, the world’s fastest-growing market, through our investments in Qanawat, (indiscernible), and Rotana. We see Eastern Europe as a new and important growth area for music.

Consumption in the region, which has a population of some 160 million people, grew 20% in 2021. Seizing on this opportunity, we’ve made moves to grow our presence. Examples include, our recently announced investments in Grupa Step, and BIG Idea in Poland, Mascom Records in Serbia, and the launch of OUT OF ORDER, a new label that will elevate artists in Eastern Europe and other emerging markets. The expansion of our global footprint has been further complemented by entering into partnerships with more than 200 streaming services around the world. In the music entertainment business, new technologies and business innovations they’ve driven, have often been met with fear rather than excitement. But today, we see tech as providing us with incredible opportunities to enhance the world of music.

We’ve consistently been a first mover in investing across the digital landscape. Our early embracive streaming made us the first major to report it as our largest source of recorded music revenue back in 2016. Around that time, we also began our revenue diversification efforts. Since then, we’ve partnered with nearly every major social platform, including Instagram, Facebook, Snap, Twitch, TikTok, and most recently, Pinterest. In many cases, we were the first major to do so. These deals are empowering our artists to scale their communities, encouraging fans to share user-generated content, and delivering significant incremental value. We were also the first major to aggressively pursue opportunities in the Metaverse. While our work in Web3 space has accelerated over the last 12 months, our efforts started back in 2019 when we invested in leading blockchain company, Dapper Labs.

Our partnerships with Roblox, Fortnite, and Wave, have created innovative opportunities for virtual world-building, concerts, and other forums. This has allowed us to work with artists like Twenty One Pilots and Charli XCX, in pioneering new forms of fan engagement. Through our deal with Sandbox, we were the first major to plant a flag and build on virtual real estate. WMG Land, our current working title, is now Live in the Sandbox, and Atlantic’s Sueco, was the first artist to become part of the experience. I’m very proud of the progress we’ve made over the past 10 years. We’ve moved way beyond thinking in terms of singles, albums, and videos. We help artists create all forms of rich, immersive interactions with their music in both the real and virtual worlds.

As I look out on the next 10 years, I believe we’re at the doorstep of a new golden age of music. As the ecosystem becomes more complex and exciting new business models emerge, our role as the connective tissue between artists and fans, will only become more prominent and more important. Finally, our people are the driving force that will always take our company to the next level. Last month, we announced that Julie Greenwald had been elevated to Chair and CEO of the newly created Atlantic Music Group. Julie’s been with the company for 18 years, and it’s industry mavericks like her that are the backbone of our success. We’ve enhanced our focus around important areas like ESG and diversity. Last year, we hired a head of ESG and established an executive oversight committee.

On February 1 of €˜22, we released our first annual ESG report detailing our commitment to sustainability, equity, and social impact. Our second annual report will be published this coming January. In 2020, we hired a Global Head of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. We’ve since established global North Star commitments and launched our DE&I Institute. And we created the $100 million Warning Music Group Blavatnik Family Foundation Social Justice Fund, that invests in organizations and advances community initiatives around the globe. To date, the fund has already committed over $24 million in grants. On November 1, we published the Protect Black Art Open Letter in the New York Times and the Atlanta Journal Constitution. The letter urges legislators across the US to end the racially discriminatory practice of treating rap lyrics as criminal confession.

Signatories included companies such as Universal, Sony Music, Spotify, and TikTok, organizations such as the ACLU, Color of Change, the Recording Academy, and the RIAA, and artists such as Alicia Keys, Coldplay, Drake, Megan the Stallion, and Post Malone, among many others. I’m pleased to see us creating new opportunities in our local communities using our resources to express our values and taking a stand on important issues. At the end of September, we announced that Robert Kyncl will become CEO during January ’23, and then CEO on February 1. As an entrepreneurial leader, Robert has an impressive track record of championing change at companies like YouTube and Netflix. He’s a pioneer of the creator economy, whose command of technology will enable us to unlock new opportunities for our company, our artists, and our songwriters.

I have the utmost confidence that he’ll build upon our strong foundation and bring us into a new era of how music lives in the world. With that, I’ll turn it over to Eric.

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Eric Levin: Thank you, Steve, and good morning, everyone. Against a backdrop of currency fluctuations, the weak ad market, inflation, and war, our 2022 results truly highlight the resilience and diversified nature of our business. Despite the many macro challenges, we delivered double-digit growth for Q4 and the full year across a number of key metrics, including, total revenue on a constant currency basis, adjusted OIBDA, and operating cash flow, which, as Steve mentioned, exceeded our full year expectations. Let me provide some detail on our results in Q4. Total revenue grew 16%, reflecting growth across recorded music and music publishing. I want to note that our revenue includes the benefit from settling certain copyright infringement cases, as we discussed on our last earnings call.

The $38 million impact is reflected in downloads and other digital revenue. Adjusted OIBDA increased 32.5%, with a margin of 17.7%, compared to 15.5% in the prior year quarter. These increases were primarily due to strong operating performance, as well as $29 million from the copyright settlement. Adjusted OIBDA and margin growth were impacted by foreign exchange rates, as well as two one-time items. These were the copyright settlement I just mentioned, and the impact of a DSP renewal we’ve been discussing since our earnings call since Q1. Excluding these items, constant currency adjusted OIBDA grew 33%, and margin would have increased 200 basis points. Adjusted EBITDA increased 16.5%, with margins increasing from 17.2% to 18.4%. You can find our adjusted EBITDA reconciliation in our earnings press release.

Recorded music revenue grew 13.1%. Streaming revenue increased 5%, reflecting continued growth in subscription streaming, and a recent deal with Meta, partially offset by the market-related slowdown in ad-supported revenue, and the impact of the DSP renewal. Adjusting for the DSP renewal, which had a $38 million impact in the quarter, streaming revenue grew by 10.4%. This growth was highlighted by subscription streaming growth in the low teens, a sequential improvement from Q3. However, ad-supported streaming revenue, which does not include revenue from emerging streaming platforms, saw increasing pressure and declined by high single digits. Adjusting for the impacts of the DSP renewal and the copyright settlement, recorded music revenue grew by 14.2%.

Artist services and expanded rights revenue increased by 33%, driven by merchandising and concert promotion. Physical revenue also increased, with growth of 6%, primarily driven by higher sales of final products and strong performance in Japan. Licensing revenue grew by 38% due to higher broadcast fees, synchronization, and other activity. Recorded music adjusted OIBDA increased by 20%, with margin improving from 17.2% in the prior quarter to 18.2%, primarily due to strong operating performance, as well as a $15 million impact from the copyright settlement. Excluding the one-time items detailed earlier, adjusted OIBDA grew 26% on a constant currency basis, and margin improvement would have been approximately 170 basis points. Music publishing continues to deliver impressive results, hosting 32% growth.

Digital revenue grew 39%, reflecting solid momentum in streaming, which increased 37%. Digital revenue includes a $7 million benefit in downloads and other digital revenue from the copyright settlement. Excluding this benefit, digital revenue increased 33%. Performance revenue increased by 48%, as revenue from bars, restaurants, concerts, and live events, continued to grow. We saw particularly strong recovery in Brazil, UK, Germany, and the US. Sync and mechanical revenue both increased by over 8%. Music publishing adjusted OIBDA increased 33% to $60 million, with margin increasing modestly. Excluding the impact of the copyright settlement, adjusted OIBDA would have increased 31% on a constant currency basis, and margin would have increased 50 basis points.

Moving to our full year results, total revenue grew 16%, driven by double-digit growth in both recorded music and music publishing. This translated to a healthy adjusted OIBDA growth of 18%, with a margin of 19.4%, up from 19.1% in the prior year. Excluding one-time items, the details of which can be found in our earnings press release, constant currency adjusted OIBDA increased 21.6%, and margin increased 70 basis points to 18.6%. Full year adjusted EBITDA increased 9.7%, with margin decreasing from 20.6% to 20.2%. Recorded music revenue increased by 13.6% or 15.2% when normalized for one-time items. Within recorded music, streaming revenue grew 9.5% or 13.5% on a normalized basis. Adjusted OIBDA increased by 12%, with margin declining by 30 basis points to 21.1%.

Excluding the one-time items, adjusted OIBDA increased 17% on a constant currency basis, with margin increasing 30 basis points to 20.4%. Music publishing revenue increased by 30% or 27% when normalized for one-time items. Adjusted OIBDA increased by 35%, with margin increasing from 23.4% to 24.3%. Excluding the one-time items, adjusted OIBDA increased 32% on a constant currency basis, with margin increasing 100 basis points. In line with our expectations, Q4 CapEx increased to $38 million as compared to $35 million in the prior year quarter, mainly due to investments in IT infrastructure. I want to note that our financial transformation program has encountered a delay as a result of the disruption of COVID-19. In addition, the size and scale of this global system implementation, requires us to invest more time performing the rigorous system testing and data validation to ensure go live readiness.

We expect the program to meaningfully roll out in 2024 and expand globally in the following couple of years. The program is still expected to deliver annualized run rate savings of $35 million to $40 million once fully implemented. However, the delay will result in a reduction in pro forma impact of cost savings that we account for in our adjusted EBITDA reconciliation in fiscal €˜22 and ’23. We saw very strong operating and free cash flow growth and conversion in Q4. Operating cash flow increased 78% to $406 million, from $228 million in the prior year quarter. Free cash flow increases 91% to $368 million, from $193 million in the prior year quarter. For the full year, operating cash flow increased 16% to $742 million, and free cash flow increased 11% to $607 million.

We delivered operating cash flow conversion, calculated as the ratio of operating cash flow to adjusted OIBDA of 65% for the full year. This was well above our expectation of 50% to 60% that we discussed last quarter. The over-delivery was largely driven by our strong operating performance in Q4, higher recruitments, and the timing of A&R investment and deal renewals. I want to emphasize that some of our Q4 over-delivery was the impact of timing. While we believe that our targets are reasonable, we view them as a multiyear period, and there will be lumpiness in working capital that will impact our operating cash flow to adjusted OIBDA conversion rates from quarter to quarter. As of September 30, we have a cash balance of $584 million, total debt of $3.7 billion, and net debt of $3.1 billion.

Our weighted average cost of debt is 3.5%, and our nearest maturity date is in 2028. Fiscal €˜23 is already off to a very solid start, even as the challenging macro environment persists. While there is still softness in the online ad market, we believe it is a temporary dislocation, and that we will be well positioned to capitalize on the inevitable recovery. We are excited about the recent price increases announced by several of our digital partners, as well as the opportunity for more to come. The runway for streaming growth remains strong as global penetration continues to increase, and the next wave of emerging opportunities take shape. Music is no longer reliant on any one format or distribution channel. It is an essential part of every form of entertainment.

The momentum in the music entertainment business is strong, and we continue to position ourselves for long-term success and growth. We’re excited about the next chapter, and we look forward to having Robert on board to lead us into new frontiers. Finally, Steve. Steve, and I, have been doing these calls together for the past eight years. It’s been a true joy to share the mic with him. On behalf of everyone at the company, I want to thank Steve for an amazing decade of growth and success. He’s led this company brilliantly through an era of incredible change, both in our industry and the world at large. Steve, thank you so much. And thank you to everyone for joining us today. We’ll now open the call for questions.

Q&A Session

Operator: Our first question comes from the line of Benjamin Swinburne with Morgan Stanley. Your line is no open.

Benjamin Swinburne: Thank you. Good morning. A couple of questions. Maybe just to start with, Steve, stepping back, you’ve been there and watched the industry go from declining to growing during your tenure as CEO. When you step back and think about your time at Warner Music, what’s been the biggest change for the industry, the company, the one you think will have the biggest impact as we all look forward over the next five to 10 years?

Steve Cooper: Well, thanks for the question, Ben. Happy Thanksgiving. I think the easy answer is streaming, but at least what I believe at Warner, it’s really been for us a shift in our mindset, and that shift has been driven by our evolution from an Anglo-American music company to a global music entertainment platform, from thinking about our business in terms of rigid formats, to really moving to offering fans access to unlimited, ubiquitous music in every way, shape, and form in the real land and the virtual worlds. We moved from a narrow set of artists deals to expanding our definitions of artists and partnerships and offering much broader suites of services. And the mind shift has really been built on a foundation of running Warner as one company and one team with a common set of goals.

And I think that, at least for us, that as the ecosystem becomes more and more complex, that by having that mind shift, and by working as one team, that that connected tissue that we provide between artists and fans, and what we do to move the value of music to its appropriate place, will just become more and more apparent as time goes by. And I’m happy to say that with my colleagues, I played a part in creating that mind shift, and I’m very confident that we will continue to embrace, adapt and adopt, adapt and adopt, as the world of music continues to evolve.

Benjamin Swinburne: Thank you, Steven. All the best in the next chapter for you. Eric, could you just help us think about the emerging streaming opportunity in fiscal €˜23? Obviously, you’re always at work trying to get music valued appropriately, but I think it’s potentially a busy year for you in terms of contract renewals. And in particular, given what’s happening with YouTube and ad-supported streaming, TikTok is one of kind of paramount import for your business because they seem to be taking share from YouTube and others. So, could you just help frame sort of the year ahead on the emerging streaming front of what we should be focused on, on our end?

Eric Levin: Sure. So, thanks, Ben, and nice hearing from you. So, again, don’t want to get into specific deals, but broadly the category. So, you’re right, Ben. So, in fiscal €˜21, we had a series of deals that we did or renewed. And generally, we do deals in two to three-year cycles. So, €˜23, we would expect to be the start of that process. Broadly, that category consists of more and more licenses, with growing consumption. We see that category as a growing category for the long, long term to come. Each deal and each contract will be negotiated individually. Some of the companies within that category have been highly successful and scaled, and others have had more challenges. So, each deal will meet where that partner is, but it’s our objective deal by deal to get the full and appropriate value of music, and we’ll be negotiating for each deal assertively to make sure each deal is valued properly.

M

y memories of Christmas almost all take place in one particular setting: the first floor of the Minneapolis house I lived in for my entire childhood. My parents bought that house a year before I was born, and I still think of it as home — even if our playroom in the basement is now full of exercise equipment, our den now my dad’s office, and my bedroom has become my mom’s music room. Our memories still inhabit these rooms, even if none of our furniture does.

When I was a kid, the whole family gathered in the living room for Christmas, every year. We opened presents in the morning, then in the afternoon the kids played while the adults napped, the smell of turkey, stuffing and pumpkin pie filling the house. Now that we’re adults, my parents’ house is still Christmas Day headquarters, and as the years have gone by we’ve watched our kids grow from exuberant toddlers exclaiming over presents to long-legged teens who want gift cards. We all change and grow, but the space is still there.

My whole life, I have spent Christmas Day with my family at that house — until 2020, of course. That year, my partner and son and I went around to everyone’s house to wave from a distance and drop off presents and many pies, then we spent the day playing “Mario Party” and consuming still yet more pie.

We hoped it would be just one year, and indeed for a while there seemed to be hope for a normal Christmas in 2021. Then the Grinch came, dropping new variants into chimneys at houses around the country — including my brothers’. As for Jordan, Dash and I, we were asked over for a brief visit, masked and distanced. We sat on the couch and chatted while Dash methodically built a Lego Avengers mech, my parents sitting across from in stiff-backed chairs as if they’d glued themselves there, arms propped on the hard wooden arms, faces obscured by KN95s. I texted a picture of the scene to my brother who responded, “What dystopian hellscape is this?”

My parents had done their best, of course. There was still a tree, the colored lights casting their gentle glow across the room while the air was suffused with its scent. There was still the same Christmas music, including, of course, the best Christmas album ever: “John Denver and the Muppets: A Christmas Together.” And while I wasn’t there, I know the previous night my dad sat in his reading chair next to the stereo and listened to the recording of “A Christmas Carol” that he had taped off MPR years ago, because he does that every year.

As we sat in the living room on Christmas morning, my dad, voice muffled by the mask, asked, “So, what do you remember most about our past Christmases?”

I’m not great with memory; it frustrates me how I can remember pretty much every embarrassing thing I’ve ever done and, of course, every mean thing anyone said to me in middle school, but so much of the other stuff has been eroded away by time. My early Christmas memories look a lot like the 8mm films my dad shot; when we were growing up my parents would set up a projector in the living room and we’d watch our family movies, birthday parties and baby ducks, and the yearly Christmas footage of two happy little kids in footed pajamas opening presents. It was the ’70s, and there was a lot of mustard and green in the living room, and a lot of plastic “Sesame Street” and “Star Wars” items under the tree. The tree itself was also plastic; every year we’d build it, piece by piece, sticking the pegs of the smooth but itchy branches into the metal trunk.

Later, the living room changed, the wallpaper replaced with paint, the carpet with hardwood floors and the mustard and green couch replaced with one covered in more jubilant red and blues. The gold curtains were simply taken down, because some things should not be replaced. And the plastic Christmas tree disappeared in favor of a real one, so now we knew what Christmas actually was supposed to smell like. Our family grew; my aunt and cousin moved to Minneapolis and were folded into our family Christmas.

I remember my dad outside in his winter coat and work gloves, breath coming out in puffs, winding garlands on the stair rails and lights on the bushes in front of our house. I remember my mom’s table-decorating phase, and her Print Shop-designed gift certificate phase, and I remember the spread of muffins and cookies from Wuollet’s, every year. I remember sitting in the living room, the Muppets singing in the background, the fire dancing in the fireplace — my whole family, together.

We grew up, we moved out. My mom decided it was finally safe to buy a white couch. For a while I lived out of state, but still every year I came home for Christmas; every year the family gathered in the same spot, the same smells and lighting schemes and the same muffins and cookies. And then the new generation arrived — my nieces and my own son, and Christmas changed again. Now we were the ones taking afternoon naps.

Individual memories are still thin, though. Our family’s most memorable Christmas event came when my mom was going through her wrapping phase, and as my dad struggled with a particularly well-tied ribbon, his hand flew back and smacked my brother in the jaw, hard. Fortunately, one of my brother’s best friends was in medical school at the time, and also was Jewish, so he didn’t mind making house calls on Christmas.

Mostly, what remains for me is the feeling of Christmas at my parents’ house, not year by year, but the every-yearness of it. That house contains the ghosts of almost 50 Christmases past and they are all with me, every December 25th — even if I spend the whole day at my own house playing “Mario Party” and eating pie.

So when my dad asked what I remember about past Christmases, I said, “I remember this space.” Not just the place itself, but the space they created for our family, the lights and the smells and the music and the fire in the fireplace, the bakery-bought muffins and homemade pies, the routines of the day that came to feel like our own family rituals. And of course, most of all, the way it embraced and defined our family unit, even as it grew and changed.

I know my childhood home won’t be physically there forever, that that place and the memories it holds will belong to another family, who will create their own spaces there. But the feeling of the space my parents made for our family — the warmth, the comfort, the routines and rituals — will always be there, and it’s a space we can always return to in our heads and our hearts.

So I try to build these routines throughout the year, things my son can always count on, things he will always remember. On December 23rd (-ish) we have what we still call Dashie and Mommy Christmas, with our own rituals and routines — we get doughnuts, we build a gingerbread house from a kit, we try to put costumes on the cats. It started as just the two of us, then we folded Jordan in. We had room.

This is what Christmas is to me; the feeling my parents created for us, the feeling I try to create for my son. Everything they did, every year, showed us that we were loved, we were safe, we were home.

And that, to me, is Christmas.

Anne Ursu is a writer in Minneapolis.

There’s jazz and there’s JAZZ. Charles Mingus encompasses both. His basslines transcend the staff they’re nominally written in, the two dots in the clef mere symbols of where the music might begin. In 1972, Mingus had a lineup arguably as formidable as any other group of musicians he ascended the stage with. A young Jon Faddis on trumpet, a seasoned Charles McPherson who had played alto sax on and off with Mingus since 1960, an even older Bobby Jones on tenor sax and clarinet, John Foster on piano and veteran percussionist Roy Brooks on drums and musical saw. Yes. Musical saw. That ensemble recorded two nights at Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club in London on August 14th and 15th, 1972. Those recordings were finally released earlier this year; 2022 being the centenary of Mingus’ birth. It is an understatement to say the music here approaches some of his best work. As most who appreciate jazz know, live performances are where the music truly soars. That statement is not meant to diminish studio work with its overdubs and mixing best takes. Nor is it meant to diminish other forms of music like blues or rock. It’s just a statement of fact. Improvisation tends to achieve its greatest synchronicity when musicians are called on to create in front of an audience, especially one already engrossed by the potential in the performance they are about to be a part of. The music on this set of discs illustrates that statement completely. More than that (if such a thing is possible) are Mingus’ sentiments commenting on Black oppression and Black celebration, reflected in his composition nominally about Arkansas governor Orval Faubus of Little Rock Nine infamy “Fable of Faubus” and the tribute to Louis Armstrong titled “Pops” that follows.

In 1976, Patti Smith and her group played three shows in Washington, DC. The first two were at the cozy club on Georgetown’s M Street called the Cellar Door. It seated less than two hundred. Consequently, most of the seats for those shows went to people in the know–reviewers, DJs, industry folks and a couple lucky fans and hangers–on. The shows were also broadcast on the syndicated King Biscuit Radio Hour. Later that year, Smith and her band played at Georgetown University’s McDonough Arena. The latter venue was essentially a basketball court. Bleachers lined the sides, the floors were made of wood and on hot days it smelled like a gym locker room. It was a perfect place to see down and dirty and raw rock and roll. In 1976, the Patti Smith Group played that kind of music. I went to the Georgetown concert with a friend of mine. The opener was a newish group called Bebop Deluxe. To say the least, the pairing was interesting. Most attendees were there to see Patti and her guys. By the midpoint of their set, there were only a handful of folks sitting down. Everyone else was on their feet, shaking their bones and sweating in the overheated gymnasium. Patti’s oversize t-shirt hung off her slender frame, dripping with sweat. So did mine. When the band kicked into the song “Horses”, the crowd sang along on the refrain “Horses, horses, horses….” Lenny Kaye’s guitar crescendoed up, up, up with the vocals of the crowd and Smith jumped like a frenzied wildcat, her fist pumping the air in a challenge to the gods.

Anyhow, a recording was recently released of the two Cellar Door shows. The energy of the McDonough Arena show is present and barely contained. My guess is this is because of the cramped space the Cellar Door must surely have been that night. This is Patti Smith and her band near its garage band best, wedding three-chord rock with poetry, physical energy and just enough sarcasm (in the best tradition of Bob Dylan) directed at the industry representatives and their money and overpriced haircuts. In other words, it is rock music in the 1970s, with all its contradictions, energy, despair and delight. Punk and poetry. Desire and dollar bills.

When I lived in the San Francisco Bay Area in the late 1970s and 1980s there were two harmonica players I used to catch as often as I could. The first was Will Scarlett, perhaps best known for his work with the rock blues combo known as Hot Tuna. I would catch him in bars around town, sitting in with various bands. He also played at free concerts in Berkeley’s People’s Park–when the police didn’t shut them down.

The other harpist was the bluesman Charlie Musselwhite, who has played with everyone from Howlin’ Wolf to John Hammond. Musselwhite moved to the Bay Area in the mid-1960s after his influential Vanguard release Stand Back! Here Comes Charley Musselwhite’s South Side Band gave him some well-deserved notice. He quickly became a popular sideman in the burgeoning San Francisco music scene and a friend of the accompanying counterculture. One particular performance I remember that featured Musselwhite was at a campaign fundraiser for Gus Newport, a CPUSA member running for re-election as Berkeley’s mayor. I don’t remember who was in his band, but I do remember his harp playing.

In the spring of 2021, Musselwhite and a group calling themselves the New Moon Jelly Roll Freedom Rockers released their second disc, titled Volume 2. The group includes Cody and Luther Dickinson and Chris Chew of the North Mississippi All Stars, plus the (now deceased) Jim Dickinson on piano, Alvin Hart Youngblood, Squirrel Nut Zippers ‘ Jimbo Mathus, and washtub bassist Paul Taylor. According to various sources, the name came from something Luther Dickinson said while Musselwhite and he were on tour. The music is the product of a few days of playing and jamming in 2007. Although Jim Dickinson had finished the production work before his death in 2009, the tapes were left in storage. After some studio work in the early months of the COVID shutdown, Volume 1 was released in 2020, with volume 2 following.

The music here is the blues. Some of the songs are rock tunes with a blues take, while others are straight-out blues. From the frolicking “She’s About a Mover” to “Greens and Ham” and a half dozen or so more, the tunes lure the listener in and don’t let go. Simultaneously casual and polished, the music is the proof of these folks’ abilities, talents and years of playing. Although every song here gets my feet tapping, my tongue singing and my soul stirring, the one that sticks with me the most is actually a reworking of jazz composer Charles Mingus’ “Oh Lord, Don’t Let Them Drop That Atomic Bomb On Me.”

Enough said.