BONUS TRACKS: Joni at the Grammys, TikTok’s Music Feud, and More

Last week’s column brought you a preview of the presenters and performers of interest to roots music fans at the daytime Grammy Premiere Ceremony, and this week we learned who we’ll see at the main event this Sunday night. Probably the biggest news is a performance from Joni Mitchell, who is nominated for Best Folk Album for Joni Mitchell at Newport. It will be her first-ever performance at the Grammys. Another buzzy Grammy performance will come from Luke Combs, who is nominated in the Best Country Solo Performance category for his cover of Tracy Chapman’s 1988 hit “Fast Car.” Variety, citing unnamed sources, reported that Chapman is expected to join Combs at the awards show to perform a duet of the song. Other performers at the prime-time Grammy awards show include Billie Eilish, Dua Lipa, Billy Joel, U2, and Burna Boy. Hosted by Trevor Noah, the 66th Annual Grammy Awards prime-time ceremony will start Sunday at 8 p.m. ET and air on CBS and Paramount+. The Premiere Ceremony, which includes the American Roots categories, starts at 3:30 p.m. ET and can be livestreamed at live.grammy.com or the Recording Academy’s YouTube channel. Check out the list of roots music nominees in our previous coverage here, and find the entire list at Grammy.com. As always, we’ll bring you our roots-music-focused Grammy coverage on Sunday, dressed in our red-carpet finest. (OK, fine, sweatpants.)

I had the curious experience a few weeks ago of discovering a song via TikTok. Of course, that’s not at all a novel experience for generations younger than me, a Gen Xer. In fact, it’s a primary way that today’s young music fans learn about artists they love, either from a band’s account directly, or, even more commonly, when a song is used as background music for a video that catches their attention. So it’s a big deal that Universal Music Group pulled its artists’ songs from use on the platform this week, rendering some existing videos silent and blocking the songs’ use in new videos. Universal is the second largest music publisher in the world, releasing music from Taylor Swift, U2, Kacey Musgraves, Olivia Rodrigo, The Weeknd, Chris Stapleton, and BTS, among many others. The label was unhappy with the royalty payments it received from use of its songs on TikTok, which it claimed was less than it receives from other social media platforms. And it also cited TikTok’s tolerance for copyright infringement and AI-generated recordings, claiming the platform is “sponsoring artist replacement by AI.” TikTok defended its arrangement and insisted Universal is acting out of “greed” and should be grateful for the exposure the platform grants its artists. (Exposure! We love it!) The two sides were unable to work out an agreement by the time Universal’s existing contract with TikTok expired on Wednesday, so Universal walked. Whether the other major labels will follow is unclear, and how the move will affect the artists Universal represents also remains to be seen. Read more in this coverage from The New York Times. (And if you must know, the song I discovered on TikTok is this one.)

Alisa Amador – AmericanaFest 2022 – Photo by Jill Kettles

NPR Music’s famed Tiny Desk Contest has opened for 2024. The contest, now in its 10th year, asks unsigned musicians to record a video of themselves — involving a desk, though it doesn’t have to be tiny — playing a song they’ve written. Submissions are evaluated by a panel of judges that includes Tiny Desk producers, musicians who have been featured in Tiny Desk Concerts (including boygenius’ Julien Baker), and music industry professionals. Fans, for the first time, will get an opportunity to weigh in on select entries this spring. The winner will get to play a Tiny Desk Concert, be interviewed on All Things Considered, go on a tour sponsored by NPR Music, and — new this year — be paired with a music industry mentor. Previous winners have included Fantastic Negrito, Gaelynn Lea, Tank and the Bangas, and Alisa Amador. The deadline for submissions is Feb. 21; learn more about the contest here.

Joshua Ray Walker announced that recent surgery to remove cancer found in his colon was successful — but that doctors found more cancerous cells in his lymph nodes. “That means I need more treatment than we had hoped for post-surgery,” he explained in a social media post this week. “So the plan now is that I’ll be undergoing 6 months of chemo treatment for stage 3 colon cancer, starting in the next few weeks.” His doctors have expressed optimism about his treatment plan, however, and he said he plans to spend his time off the road “focusing on my health and staying creative.” To tide us over, he’s releasing a new album of acoustic versions of his songs, Thank You for Listening, on Valentine’s Day. Read Walker’s update and prognosis here, and please join us in wishing him the very best.

WHAT WE’RE LISTENING TO

Here’s a sampling of the songs, albums, bands, and sounds No Depression staffers have been into this week:

Odie Leigh – “No Doubt”
Gary Clark Jr. – “Maktub,” from his new album, JPEG RAW, coming in March
Drew & Ellie Holcomb – “Brick by Brick,” the title track from their new EP, coming on Valentine’s Day
Annie Bartholomew – Sisters of White Chapel
The Barr Brothers – Sleeping Operator
Lucius – Second Nature
Michael Marcagi – “Scared to Start”
Office Dog – Spiel
Humbird – “Right On,” the title track from her new album, coming in April
Leyla McCalla – “Scaled to Survive,” from her new album, Sun Without the Heat, coming in April