Brian Mansfield
@brianmansfield.bsky.social
Storyteller. “An inveterate collector”—Variety. Managing Editor, Country Insider. He/him.
This was why I loved being at USA Today during its peak years: We avoided the worst of those power struggles.
I recall with fondness a publicist threatening we’d never interview her artist again. I said, “That’s fine. We can always go talk to Lady Gaga instead.” Last time she tried that with us.
I recall with fondness a publicist threatening we’d never interview her artist again. I said, “That’s fine. We can always go talk to Lady Gaga instead.” Last time she tried that with us.
August 30, 2025 at 8:23 PM
This was why I loved being at USA Today during its peak years: We avoided the worst of those power struggles.
I recall with fondness a publicist threatening we’d never interview her artist again. I said, “That’s fine. We can always go talk to Lady Gaga instead.” Last time she tried that with us.
I recall with fondness a publicist threatening we’d never interview her artist again. I said, “That’s fine. We can always go talk to Lady Gaga instead.” Last time she tried that with us.
I remember that book. Think I read it. Would've been right up my alley at the time.
June 29, 2025 at 2:11 AM
I remember that book. Think I read it. Would've been right up my alley at the time.
One of my greatest collecting regrets is throwing away hundreds of copies of each title in a pretty significant catalog about 15-20 years ago because I didn't have a place to store them and couldn't imagine how I'd ever get rid of that many copies. I did keep one or two of everything, though.
June 25, 2025 at 4:12 AM
One of my greatest collecting regrets is throwing away hundreds of copies of each title in a pretty significant catalog about 15-20 years ago because I didn't have a place to store them and couldn't imagine how I'd ever get rid of that many copies. I did keep one or two of everything, though.
Tiffany at an Erasure concert in Nashville was so wild!
June 13, 2025 at 5:11 PM
Tiffany at an Erasure concert in Nashville was so wild!
One of the best. And such a great guy.
June 12, 2025 at 5:38 PM
One of the best. And such a great guy.
I once spent two days in the studio with the Beach Boys. At one point, Brian Wilson was in the control room talking about why the group's records sounded the way they did. Because he was deaf in his right ear, he explained, he was trying to create the illusion of stereo for one ear.
June 11, 2025 at 8:59 PM
I once spent two days in the studio with the Beach Boys. At one point, Brian Wilson was in the control room talking about why the group's records sounded the way they did. Because he was deaf in his right ear, he explained, he was trying to create the illusion of stereo for one ear.
I should probably discontinue my "Write this in the style of Nina Melechen" prompt, then.
June 10, 2025 at 8:58 PM
I should probably discontinue my "Write this in the style of Nina Melechen" prompt, then.
I play with LLMs a lot, and I've started adding prompts along the lines of "Now doublecheck this and fix everything you got wrong" as a matter of routine.
June 10, 2025 at 8:56 PM
I play with LLMs a lot, and I've started adding prompts along the lines of "Now doublecheck this and fix everything you got wrong" as a matter of routine.
AI LLM tools don't do everything well, but they do come in handy when it comes to transcripts. If you know what you want them to do and can tell them, it might be worth giving one of them a shot.
June 9, 2025 at 5:15 PM
AI LLM tools don't do everything well, but they do come in handy when it comes to transcripts. If you know what you want them to do and can tell them, it might be worth giving one of them a shot.
That's what makes this story interesting. They *weren't* planning on doing that for country (just arbitrary hoops for Top 40/Hot AC). They changed their tune when three stations played it 30+ times the first weekend, then four more added it after that. Now UMGN's working it because of radio play.
March 25, 2025 at 9:07 PM
That's what makes this story interesting. They *weren't* planning on doing that for country (just arbitrary hoops for Top 40/Hot AC). They changed their tune when three stations played it 30+ times the first weekend, then four more added it after that. Now UMGN's working it because of radio play.
Especially after a few beers.
March 25, 2025 at 8:45 PM
Especially after a few beers.
Plausible deniability goes a long way when it comes to catchy songs.
March 25, 2025 at 8:45 PM
Plausible deniability goes a long way when it comes to catchy songs.
Oh, the people that could do that are the ones who already know the content. It's the people who listen to the radio who probably don't know and probably don't care. Only two things can hold the record back at radio: her lack of history at the format & probably unfounded concern about the lyrics.
March 25, 2025 at 8:35 PM
Oh, the people that could do that are the ones who already know the content. It's the people who listen to the radio who probably don't know and probably don't care. Only two things can hold the record back at radio: her lack of history at the format & probably unfounded concern about the lyrics.
The interesting thing is that the only people who seem to know (or care) are media gatekeeper-types (be they in favor of opening or closing this particular gate) and Chappell's fans.
March 25, 2025 at 7:36 PM
The interesting thing is that the only people who seem to know (or care) are media gatekeeper-types (be they in favor of opening or closing this particular gate) and Chappell's fans.