Zack O'Malley Greenburg's Blog, page 86

How Rap Genius Created News Genius At Disrupt NY

Rap Geniuses: Tom Lehman, Ilan Zechory and Mahbod Moghadam at Disrupt NY 2013.

Rap Genius started out in 2009 as a place where hip-hop fans could read and analyze their favorite rap lyrics, a cross between Wikipedia and Urban Dictionary.

Four years and more than $15 million in venture funding later, it still fits that description, but has expanded to include all sorts of other information. Users can now dissect rock lyrics, poetry, law cases, the bible, corporate letters to shareholders and jus...

Apple’s iTunes Store Turns 10 In Triumph, But Faces Uncertainty

Steve Jobs: The father of Apple's iTunes.

Apple‘s iTunes Store celebrated its 10th birthday yesterday, and what a decade it’s been. Within five years

of launch, iTunes was the top music retailer in the U.S.; last quarter alone, the store moved $2.4 billion in music, movies, apps and books.

That’s more than Universal Music Group paid to buy EMI Music last year–and an excellent illustration of how quickly the tables have turned in an industry still undergoing rapid reinvention.

But if Apple isn’t c...

Yoko Ono Comes Together With Musicians–Including Paul McCartney–Over Fracking

Yoko Ono imagines there's no fracking.

Yoko Ono and Paul McCartney’s relationship dates back about half a century. Famously, John Lennon’s widow and his former bandmate have had their share of differences over the years.

But in recent months, they’ve found something to agree on: That the drilling practice of hydraulic fracturing, better known as “fracking,” shouldn’t be allowed in New York State. So is it fair to say that they’ve “come together” over the issue?

“Well yeah, of course,” Ono told F...

Flaming Lips At 30: How The Music Business Has Changed

Wayne Coyne: Inside the bubble, outside the box.

When the Flaming Lips first formed as a band in 1983, Michael Jackson‘s Thrillerwas the top-selling album of the year, Toby Keith was still working in an Oklahoma oil field and Lady Gaga hadn’t even been born.

Even as Record Store Day brings on a new wave of nostalgia for decades past, the differences in the music industry itself are also stark. In the early 1980s, cassettes were just starting to overtake vinyl records as the medium of choice for...

Jay-Z Sells Nets Stake, Earns Warren Buffett-Like Return

Jay-Z and Buffett on the cover of Forbes in 2010.

Jay-Z is retiring again–this time not as a musician, but as a co-owner of the Brooklyn Nets.

The hip-hop mogul officially announced the news via his Web site, Life + Times:

Being a member of the Nets organization surpassed some of my greatest ambitions. It was never about an investment; it was about the NETS and Brooklyn. My job as an owner is over but as a fan it has just begun. I’m a Brooklyn Net forever.”

This shouldn’t come as a surprise to an...

The Flaming Lips Explain New Album ‘The Terror’

The Flaming Lips' Wayne Coyne and Steven Drozd: Keeping fans--and each other--guessing.

“The one song that was probably the peak of our insanity would be the song that goes for 24 hours,” says Flaming Lips frontman Wayne Coyne, perched on a purple couch in midtown Manhattan next to bandmate Steven Drozd. “And you can only get it packaged inside of an actual human skull.”

The song in question was a compromise of sorts for the Flaming Lips, who had initially considered writing and recording one t...

Inside One of Austin’s Anti-SXSW Music Festivals

The South by Southwest music festival in Austin, Texas wrapped up late last month, but here at FORBES, we’re bringing you one last video from the Lone Star State. Its subject: the Music Ranch, one of the “Anti-SXSW” festivals that now spring up every March.

Music Ranch owner Gino “G” Cavazos gave us a tour of his grounds, located just 12 miles from downtown Austin, and explained his business model. In exchange for permission to camp out at the ranch and a chance to showcase their work in front...

Why Paul McCartney Isn’t On The FORBES Billionaires List

Paul McCartney: Much closer to being a billionaire than he was in his Beatles days, but not there yet.

Paul McCartney has received many lofty titles over the course of his illustrious career. He’s been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Beatles, he’s been enshrined in the Guinness Book of World Records as the most successful songwriter of all time, and he’s even been knighted by Queen Elizabeth II.

But a billionaire he’s not. Consequently, his name isn’t listed alon...

Jay-Z Is In The Building: How He’ll Profit On Nets After Selling Stake

Brooklyn's Barclays Center: The house that Hov built -- and will continue to profit from.

Jay-Z may be selling his stake in the Nets, but he’ll still continue to cash in on the franchise he helped bring to Brooklyn.

Though FORBES first reported this last week, you don’t have to take our word for it–the rapper explained the situation in his own words on a new song called “Open Letter,” released via SoundCloud earlier today.

Would’ve brought the Nets to Brooklyn for free

Except I made millions off...

All I Need Is One Mag: Nas Invests In Mass Appeal Media

Nas: Returning to Mass Appeal magazine, this time as an owner.

Nas first appeared on the cover of Mass Appeal magazine in 2002. A decade later, he’s coming back—as an owner.

The Queens-born rapper tells FORBES that he has invested a “six-figure” sum in the publication, which re-emerged as a quarterly print product earlier this year after a five-year hiatus.

“I always liked what they represented,” says Nas. “They invested into the culture … I saw their vision for what they planned and I thought I...