Music Biz Headlines, Oct. 11, 2019
A feud with Trump boosts Nickelback (pictured), Drake at odds with his dad, and Canadian musicians discuss the election. Others in the headlines include Aaron Carter, Rihanna, POP Montreal, Black Keys, Audius, HMV, Aurora, Vulfpeck, Iceland, the business of celebrity, and Michael Jackson.
By FYI Staff
Nickelback sees record bump in music streams after meme-y Trump tweet
Donald Trump's doctored video targeting former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter, although removed by Twitter due to copyright infringement, has succeeded in generating a storm of response on social media, to Nickelback's benefit. – Svetlana Ekimenko, EinMusicNews
25 Canadian musicians tell us why they're voting this election
Jessie Reyez, Shad, Fred Penner, Darren Creech, Bif Naked, Rae Spoon and more on the issues that matter most. – Holly Gordon, CBC Music ·
Drake, patch things up with your dad — whether he’s right or not
Is there anything more depressing than celebrity family feuds? Enter Drake and Drake’s father, Dennis Graham. In a recent LA interview, the family patriarch disputed a central plank of Drake’s origin rap story, which is that the old man was MIA. – Vinay Menon, The Star
U.S. popster Aaron Carter claims he's moving to Canada, settling in Nova Scotia for a 'change in scenery'
On Monday, Carter posted a picture of himself and real estate agent Mike Randall posing in front of a sprawling property he alleges to have purchased in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia. –
How women musicians use persona to subvert gendered expectations
Saddled with gendered conceptions of authenticity, today’s singer/songwriters blend fact and fiction in new and interesting ways. – Sarah MacDonald, NOW
POP Montreal turns 18, but the irreverent music fest will never grow up
Even at the age of majority, POP continues to fight for underdogs of music. The 18th edition ran Sept. 25 to 29 and was headlined by the likes of Laurie Anderson and Mavis Staples. – T'Cha Dunlevy, Gazette
Jagmeet Singh & Rihanna's Instagram DMs actually exist
New Democratic Party leader Singh made headlines earlier this week, when it was revealed that pop-goddess Rihanna had become one of his 320,000 followers on Instagram. Shortly after, Drake also joined the NDP leaders’ following. – Narcity
Graham Rockingham: A walk through Hamilton’s punk history
Former Forgotten Rebel Chris (Pogo Au Gogo) Houston will guide you through some of The Hammer's punk music past this weekend. –Spectator
Planned Forks music festival a ‘love letter to Winnipeg’, say organizers
A new music festival is coming to The Forks. Ethero Events – involved in planning Table for 1200 More, Nuit Blanche Winnipeg, and the Winnipeg Santa Claus Parade – is set to launch Current Music Festival in August 2020. – Sam Thompson, Global News
Night Owl Festival keeps growing in a challenging year
The Toronto psych fest, now in its fifth year, is propelled by a community that's stepped up during a difficult time. It runs Oct. 10-12. – Olivia Bodnar, NOW
International
Canadian owner to relaunch HMV website, open U.K. stores
British music and film retailer HMV Group Plc will relaunch its online store on Nov. 1, as part of a turnaround plan under new Canadian owner Doug Putman. He said in a phone interview that he also plans to open several new stores in 2020, with a particular focus on London. – Greg Ritchie, Bloomberg
The Black Keys explain how to game the Billboard charts and get a #1 Album
Once upon a time, the band that sold the most albums topped the Billboard charts. Now, it’s a totally different game. Here’s a deal that the Black Keys decided to turn down. – Paul Resnikoff, Digital Music News
The strange evolution of viral music stardom
From Kitty Pryde to Lil Nas X, going viral has gone from a quirky phenomenon to the new normal. – Rawiya Kameir, Pitchfork
Tunecore challenges major labels in China with Tencent partnership
TuneCore has entered into a partnership with China-based Tencent Music Entertainment Group (TME) that will make TuneCore artists’ recordings available to TME’s massive listener base in China.TuneCore says that it now distributes over 250,000 artists. – Murray Stassen, MBW
SoundExchange website to let artists search and claim unmatched recordings
In a move to bring more transparency and potentially help reduce black-box royalties, SoundExchange is updating its website to allow artists and labels to now see all recordings currently associated with their accounts, as well as allowing them to search and claim recordings in the organization’s pending and unmatched database. The new features are expected to be available on the SoundExchange website in November. – Ed Christman, Billboard
How funk band Vulfpeck sold out Madison Square Garden without a manager or big label
One of the band's agents, Jackie Nalpant, calls the manager-and-label-less approach "pretty much an anomaly," but suggests other artists might be able to follow Vulfpeck's lead." – Steve Knopper, Billboard
New blockchain streaming service Audius is a copyright nightmare
New startup Audius says its blockchain-based music streaming service is the solution that finally pays attention to indie artists’ needs. It’s also full of pirated material. – The Verge
US musicians union calls for streaming residuals
Musicians claim they have been impacted by the transition to streaming, and unlike actors, musicians do not receive residuals for films and television shows made for streaming services. – Ian Courtney,CelebrityAccess
How Aurora reached 5M people on TikTok by asking people to hold hands
Aurora's UK label, Decca Records, teamed with Gen Z influencer company Fanbytes to promote a campaign, centred on the song, with “a positive message promoting mental health awareness” at its core. – MBW
Meek Mill and Van Jones have launched an organization to reform the broken probation system
After Mill’s high-profile case opened people’s eyes to issues with probation and parole, he’s working to fix it–alongside sports and entertainment luminaries like Jay-Z. – Fast Company
Iceland will pay 25% of artists' expenses if they record there
Iceland is now offering a 25% rebate on all recording expenses for international artists. The new government-backed initiative is called “Record in Iceland” and is conceived by Iceland Music, which is the country’s music export office. – Indie88
Why is being a celebrity such a big business?
Being a celebrity is really about having control over the economics of distribution of your creation. – Neil Senturia, San Diego Tribune
The 200 Best Songs of the 2010s
The defining tracks of the decade, starring Robyn, Drake, Vampire Weekend, Grimes, Daft Punk, SZA, and many more. – Pitchfork
Michael Jackson musical to open on Broadway next summer
The show, now called “MJ The Musical,” will begin previews July 6 at the Neil Simon Theater. – New York Times
How Quentin Tarantino got the ‘60s sound for ‘Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood’
For director and L.A. native Tarantino, all of his obsessions — vintage rock and roll, movie-business lore, darkly comic idylls cut through with horrific violence — wound through a property at the top of Cielo Drive. – August Brown LA Times
Starwatch Entertainment & Tigerspring partner with Believe on new ‘super-indie’ label, Lobster
Leading German music label Starwatch Entertainment, Denmark-based independent label and publisher Tigerspring, and Paris-based music distributor Believe have partnered to launch a new label called Lobster. it has already signed Danish pop star Mads Langer, US artists Jackson Penn and Patrick Martin, and UK artist Jack Curley. – Juliette Jagger, Celebrity Access
'Right here, right now': Fatboy Slim samples Greta Thunberg for live show
The dance artist electrifies crowd after mixing the climate activist’s UN speech slogan with his club favourite. – Kate Lyons, The Guardian
