As labels big and small attempt to gain traction in the world’s largest market, they’re learning that selling pop is never simple in the epicenter of piracy.

Being off the grid suits Kurt Vile just fine. Sitting on the wraparound porch in jeans and a green T-shirt he got at the Ramones Museum in Berlin, unruly curls falling well below his shoulders, the 38-year-old Philadelphia singer-guitarist squirts several drops of a tincture labeled “Calm Mind” into a plastic water bottle and gives it a thorough swish. “Ayurvedic herbs,” he explains after gulping down his concoction. “It’s like nature’s Xanax.” He doesn’t sound entirely convinced.

A profile of a “49-year-old man whose father has just yelled at him,” Frank Sinatra Jr., a son living under the longest shadow.

A profile.

On the relationship between rivalry and creativity.

An in-depth history of the most important pop innovation of the last 20 years, from Cher’s “Believe” to Kanye West to Migos.

Skinny, sober, happily married, and seemingly full of radiant light, Gucci's become an improbably inspiring public figure, a beacon of serenity and gratitude for positivity-starved times.

“It is not so difficult to get Paul McCartney to talk about the past, and this can be a problem. Anyone who has read more than a few interviews with him knows that he has a series of anecdotes, mostly Beatles-related, primed and ready to roll out in situations like these. Pretty good stories, some of them, too. But my goal is to guide McCartney to some less manicured memories—in part because I hope they'll be fascinating in themselves, but also because I hope that if I can lure him off the most well-beaten tracks, that might prod him to genuinely think about, and reflect upon, his life.

And so that is how—and why—we spend most of the next hour talking about killing frogs, taking acid, and the pros and cons of drilling holes in one's skull.”

A profile of rapper Mac Miller published on September 6, the day before he died.

From 1968-1973, the three teenage Wiggin sisters, guided by a domineering father, played their strange music at New Hampshire ballrooms and recorded a single album. The Philosophy of the World LP goes for over $500 today, but the intervening decades have not been kind to the Wiggins.

A profile of Aretha Franklin.

“Success for us will be determined by our ability to move faster than everyone else in this space.”

The story of pianist Bill Evans and his lifelong obsession with a single song.

Remembering Amy Winehouse.

A strange and bittersweet ballad of kidnapping, stolen identity and unlikely stardom.

The singer is more uncompromising than ever.

When the music of Vivaldi and Mozart are used to repel the homeless from sidewalks and Burger Kings, does it still glorify the dignity of humanity?

His rise to the top of the Billboard charts coincides with a list of criminal charges, including domestic battery by strangulation, false imprisonment, and aggravated battery of a pregnant woman.

Introduced to the world as an inescapable meme, Danielle Bregoli was only supposed to have 15 minutes of fame. But reborn as Bhad Bhabie, the 15-year-old rapper is letting the world know that she’s got more time on the clock.

A profile of the Talking Heads frontman.

The wondrous—and occasionally weird—relationship between the children’s-music superstar, his fans, and the man he used to be.

What Kanye West really wants.

Twenty-five years after her career-making album, Liz Phair is still writing songs first and foremost for herself.

A profile of the pop star.