Photo by Jonny Magowan

The Music Industry is a weekly column that dissects local and national music-business headlines with the help of local industry professionals and music fanatics.

This month, dark lords of alt-hip-hop Death Grips emerged from the shadows to thrill believers by leaking their latest album, NO LOVE DEEP WEB, online. The album's cover features a very NSFW shot of male genitalia  with the title scrawled on it in Sharpie, and inside, the record follows a sweaty band of punks from Sacramento as they commandeer the rap format and wipe the floor with their more commercial counterparts in the process.

Supposedly, their label Epic Records wasn't in on the decision, and they retaliated by pulling the band's website. Now, I'm a marketer by trade, and I can smell strategy a mile away. So, when casually interested bloggers and journos wondered timidly whether the Death Grips leak may have been a setup, I had to laugh.

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Remember when Bob Dylan went electric at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival? Gimme Noise wasn't born yet, but the intrigue of that event carries to this day. A ripple of arguably equal or greater importance is upon us today: All City Pages blogs have upgraded from Disqus to Livefyre for reader comments.

This new system is louder, faster, and more interactive, and there's nothing an axe-toting Pete Seeger can do about it -- except leave his reasoned thoughts and throw in a whole bunch of social network tags. Read more about Livefyre below.

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​What started as an LOL for music fans in Questlove's social network has turned into a roaring political migraine for NBC, as Michele Bachmann has gotten word of the "diss" the Roots delivered in the form of her walk-on music on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon on Monday night.More »

​On the heels of the Album Tacos fad comes our favorite internet meme of late, the Kitten Covers, which probably doesn't need much explanation beyond KITTENS! ON THE INTERNET, OF ALL PLACES!More »

Photo by Erik Hess

Phantogram at First Avenue last month

​Vice magazine's online video channel Noisey has been deploying journalists throughout the country to capture live footage of their favorite acts, and their newest video will be very familiar for local concertgoers: It's a feature on Phantogram's stop in town, and it features First Avenue and downtown Minneapolis almost as heavily as it does the rising dream-pop duo.
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Photo via FreeBieber.org

​First things first, can we all just take a moment and contemplate the fact that Justin Bieber and Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar have a beef? How did this even happen?More »

​RockStar Motel has the light on for weary bands trying to make their way in the music world and are struggling with promotion, not to mention their friends and fans frustrated about getting word out about artists they love beyond their network of friends.
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​Oh, Courtney. She just can't give a straight answer, can she? In an interview about the 20th anniversary of Nirvana's breakout music video for "Smells Like Teen Spirit," Courtney Love took the opportunity to divulge several intimate details about her and Kurt Cobain's first... how shall we say... sheet meetings. 
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​In a collaboration designed to make heads melt, Jack White's Third Man Records just announced a new project from the former White Stripes frontman. It turns out that "The music collaboration you have all been waiting for," according to a ridiculous promo video, is White's new partnership with Juggalo beacons Insane Clown Posse. And because that isn't outrageous enough, the new project is ICP "covering" an "undiscovered" (may as well just put everything in quotes here) Mozart canon called "Leck mich im Arsch."More »