Simon Coates retweeted
EVENT: Banned Books: How Does it Feel to be Censored?

Our CEO @JFSteinfeld will today moderate a panel discussion on censorship in Hong Kong, hosted by @thecfhk

Speakers:
-@MarkLClifford
-@paulharrissc
-Justin Wong

See the link for more details:
thecfhk.org/event/banned-b…
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Simon Coates retweeted
If you're someone who's worked with Russell Brand either in Hollywood or elsewhere and feels an urge to talk about it, my email is amerlan@cir.org and my Signal username is annamerlan.30.
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Next weekend, my short film 'The Moon Is a Pyramid Under Water' will be screened as part of the 2026 episode of the NOIS//E interdisciplinary festival and symposium in Milan.

Entry is free - check the website for the full lineup and timings ➡️ noislashe.com
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Simon Coates retweeted
This is the worst idea anyone has ever had
Spotify just announced a feature that could either save the music industry or destroy it.

Starting as early as Q1 2027, Spotify Premium subscribers will be able to use AI to transform any participating artist’s song into a completely different version. Turn a folk ballad into a dance track. Make a hip-hop song sound acoustic. Generate a cover where one artist’s voice performs another artist’s song. Remix a pop hit into lo-fi study music. Create the version of your favorite song that only existed in your head until now.

The remixes will be uploaded directly to Spotify. They’ll appear in playlists. They’ll count toward the original song’s chart position. And most importantly the original artist will earn royalties every time someone listens to a fan-created remix of their work.

Spotify has already signed a landmark licensing deal with Universal Music Group the world’s largest record label. Negotiations with Sony Music and Warner Music are ongoing. The feature will cost an additional $4–$5/month on top of Spotify Premium. And analysts project 7–8% of American subscribers will adopt it by 2028.

This is not Suno or Udio generating music from text prompts. This is fans remixing real songs by real artists with the artists’ permission, on the world’s largest streaming platform, with royalties flowing back to the creators.

A music industry analyst who’s covered streaming economics for 15 years told her team something after reading the licensing agreement that reframed how she understood the future of recorded music.

“Spotify just turned 640 million listeners into 640 million potential remixers. The question isn’t whether people will use it they will. The question is whether paying artists for fan remixes solves the economics of streaming or creates a world where the original recording is worth less than the infinite remixes generated from it.”

Here’s what Spotify’s AI remix feature actually is, who wins, who loses, and why this might be the most consequential decision in the music industry since the launch of streaming itself 🧵
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After articles about Manila and Dhaka, my latest piece for The Wire magazine's Global Ear series takes a look at the experimental music scene in Colombo, Sri Lanka. The new issue of The Wire is out now, online and in stores 🔥
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Simon Coates retweeted
He’s been robbed of his youth. He’s being robbed of his future. All because he dared to dream and ask for freedom. It’s disgusting.
Joshua Wong is a hero of our times.

His incarceration - now for an extra 10 years - is a sign of Beijing's brutal attack on free speech in this once free city.

@frances_hui said they're trying to make him disappear. Don't let them get away with this.

indexoncensorship.org/2026/09/hong-k…
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Simon Coates retweeted
The Wire 514 is out now!

Stewart Lee meets Salford rock collective Gnod; plus The New Blockaders, Phil Durrant, Mali Obomsawin, Jay Mitta, Sarah Davachi’s Invisible Jukebox, 40 pages of reviews and much more.

Order your copy here: thewire.co.uk/shop/
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If you missed this last night, you can still watch it here > bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episod…
happy halloween 🖤
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happy halloween 🖤
For those little Pixies in the UK... tune into @CBeebiesHQ this evening at 6:50pm to watch Black Francis' Bedtime Story 🧟
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So sad
Killamanjaroのスタジオが、、、
また一つラガな場所が消えて行く。
ロッコンやラスタになる前のFantan Mojah、濃いアーティスト館がたむろう入り口から暗く細い通路を通ってスタジオ。裏にもコッテリ濃いアーティスト達がいてねぇ。日本人男性はまずカツアゲされそうな濃さがあった。
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Baffled and disappointed to see George / Nightmares On Wax is playing in the UAE, a country with one of the world's worst reputations for human rights and freedom of speech abuses. The UAE continues to use culturewashing as a way of diverting attention away from its horrors.
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In 2009, we saw Patrick Stewart in Waiting for Godot at London's Haymarket Theatre, alongside Ian McKellen, Simon Callow and Ronald Pickup. A riot, and still one of the best things I've ever seen in a theatre. RIP, Mr Stewart.
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Simon Coates retweeted
Tonight on @ResonanceFM and @ResonanceEXTRA, Joseph Stannard hosts The Wire's weekly radio show, playing tracks by Earthslayer, The Golden Corpse Of Midas, Allen Ravenstine (pictured), Ak'chamel and more.

Tune in from 9pm GMT extra.resonance.fm/schedule

📷 by Ann Ravenstine
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Simon Coates retweeted
Robert Del Naja of @MassiveAttackUK has co-curated a documentary following medics working in Gaza. ra.co/news/86303
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Simon Coates retweeted
✨ Come down to the ICA on 15 November for a one-day sale of archival film posters from our cinema, spanning decades of screenings and an eclectic history of film.

📍 ICA Theatre
🗓️ Sun 15 Nov, 12–6pm
🔗 Find out more: rb.gy/7l4789
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Simon Coates retweeted
The 2026 Freedom of Expression Awards shortlist is here!
Stay tuned as we announce the nominees for Arts, Campaigning and Journalism, recognising those who have had a significant impact fighting censorship around the world.
For more info go to indexoncensorship.org
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Simon Coates retweeted
To accompany his Global Ear feature in The Wire 513, Christiaan de Wit compiles an annotated playlist of tracks from the neighbouring Dutch cities

thewire.co.uk/audio/tracks/g…
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Simon Coates retweeted
Tonight on @ResonanceFM & @ResonanceEXTRA, Chris Bohn hosts The Wire's weekly show, visiting Joshua Burkett’s “Lost Cat City”, when he’s not searching out the origin of violence that has lost its source on the Source Unknown anthology; plus Wadada Leo Smith (pictured), Mona Mur, OtomQuintet, Satoko Fujii Orchestra, Radical Polish Arkestra and Vietnam’s Lý Trang, alongside archive tracks taking in Test Dept, Malaria!, Felix Kubin, and more.

Tune in at 9pm GMT+1 extra.resonance.fm/schedule

📷 Jeremy & Claire Weiss
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Simon Coates retweeted
🔐 For World Encryption Day, we're highlighting why secure communication matters.

For dissidents fleeing persecution, government surveillance can put their safety at risk.

Encryption helps protect those speaking out against repression, even beyond borders.

#WorldEncryptionDay
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Simon Coates retweeted
Inside The Wire 513: Edward George

In his Strangeness Of Dub and Black Atlas projects, the writer, broadcaster and historiographer decodes images, archive material and sound to make space for radical new futures.

By Francis Gooding. Photography by Daisy Gaston
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