Wesley Verhoeve is always a good writer with interesting angles, and this reading list definitely reflects that. Some of these titles may be familiar to you, but there’s enough curveballs to keep it interesting…

This is an amazingly thorough article. It should have been titled “All the Shit You Need to Get Together for Your Next Album,” because of the sheer scope of what’s covered here. Really quality material.

Good article from Tyler Hakes about the many factors behind vinyl sales making such a strong — and mostly unexpected — comeback in the past 10 years.

Essential reading from one of hip hop’s most intelligent and honest voices — here, he’s responding to the annual accusation that he “sold out” or something. This goes way beyond a simple response…it’s a beautifully written take on his struggle and his vision.

Amir Said’s “BeatTips” blog has become my absolute favorite source for hip hop production news and shop talk, and this article was especially damn good. Important stuff.

I’ve only listened to this album about 10,000 times…so this was an awesome read. Great oral history approach to laying out the story behind a classic album. The music biz is beautifully random.

Duck Down is a crucial case study in Doing It Right as an independent label. This is an in-depth look at their history, and no matter what you think of their music there is a LOT to learn from here. Study up…

Sure, he’s called “Diddy” these days, but I’ll do Sean Combs a favor and pretend he never did that to himself. This is a great post from Paul Cantor outlining what Combs talked about in his speech at Peter Rosenberg’s “Noisemakers” conference. Like him or not, Combs is an integral part of NYC hip hop history and this is WAY more interesting that just another list of “business tips.”

This is a perfect example of what makes Music Think Tank awesome…a great article that gets exponentially better with lots of detailed and differing comments. We could all be better at business, right?

As usual, Wendy Day takes on an important subject and totally kills it — she digs deep and offers decades worth of experience here. Must-read status.

That rare tutorial article that really delivers the goods. If this subject isn’t important to you, I cannot fathom what the fuck you’re doing on this website in the first place.

Really good thinkpiece from Refe @ Creative Deconstruction. An important antidote to social media hype.

Wendy Day drops some SERIOUS science about the modern 360 deal…definitely THE best article on this subject you’re going to find.

Julia Beverly breaking down the criminal activity behind an infamous “music management” team…some must-read material.

Great essay by Kyle Bylin on the cultural impact of digital music and instant access to everything…