Music Biz Headlines, April 15, 2020
Rihanna (pictured) digs deep, Drake gets dissed, and ticketing firms change refund policies. Others in the headlines include Live Nation, #CanadaPerforms, Justin Trudeau, Andrea Bocelli, Johnny Clegg, Yoko One, Eddie Kramer, Neil Young, Billie Eilish, Hipgnosis, and Apple Music.
By FYI Staff
Close to 40% of Canada’s artists and artistic orgs need more from government to survive Covid-19: survey
A majority of artists and arts organizations served by the Canada Council for the Arts believe that they will get through the COVID-19 crisis with the support of emergency measures announced by the federal government. But 39 percent of survey respondents – primarily self-employed artists and smaller organizations that rely on them – say they will need help beyond the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) and the Canadian Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS) in order to make it the other side of the pandemic. – J. Kelly Nestruck, The Globe and Mail
Drake's quarantine content is tone-deaf
He chose to give a house tour to the world when a lot of his fans are struggling financially to make ends meet, reflecting his lack of moralism and reality. – Vinney Wong, The Toronto Star
Playlist: Twain, McLauchlan and others suggest songs that calm and inspire
In times of trouble, music can bring a sense of tranquility. Asked to identify their go-to songs these days, Shania Twain, Murray McLauchlan, Laila Biali and Hannah Georgas picked tunes and pieces of music that console and relax. Mad Mad World rocker Tom Cochrane, on the other hand, chose songs of defiance. – Brad Wheeler, The Globe and Mail
Ticketmaster, StubHub, Eventbrite have all changed their refund policies
It’s bad enough we don’t have any shows to go to now. But the bleakest, most anger-inducing part of all of this? Ticketmaster, StubHub and Eventbrite have changed their refund policies, making it even harder for concertgoers to get their money back at a time when they might really need it. – Amber Healy, A Journal of Musical Things
Justin Trudeau saying ‘Moistly’ was auto-tuned. Now there are acoustic covers
Can anything bring Canadians together quite like the auto-tune remix of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau saying, “moistly”? “Speaking Moistly” was made without a whole lot of thought. Edmonton musician Brock Tyler is speaking humbly about how his Auto-Tuned video of Justin Trudeau’s turn of phrase earned over 2.3 million views on YouTube and a few acoustic covers. Six years ago Tyler’s similar salute to “Ford Nation” was a modest success. – Huffington Post
National Arts Centre, Facebook give musicians funds for livestreaming
Victoria-raised country-rocker Leeroy Stagger will perform on April 20 as part of the relief fund #CanadaPerforms, which pays Canadian authors, artists and ensembles for their online performances. – Mike Devlin, Times Colonist
Beauts and the beats
Change is here: perhaps Beaut’s deeply listenable Dalliance is the perfect soundtrack for it. – Sam Gillett, The Coast
International
Live Nation secures a new line of credit, announces cost-saving measures including exec salary reductions
Live Nation Entertainment, Inc. on Monday announced that they have amended an existing credit agreement, suspending their net leverage coverage under its existing senior secured credit agreement for the second and third quarters of 2020. As well, Live Nation has secured a new $120 million revolving credit facility which will extend the company’s unused available credit. – Ian Courtney, Celebrity Access
Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino gives up salary, top execs take pay cuts in belt-tightening
The Canadian-born concert mogul will forego his 2020 salary and top execs will take pay cuts amid other cost-cutting moves due to Covid-19. – Variety
New data shows how entertainment consumption is changing
Billboard and Nielsen Music (an MRC Data service) have teamed up to monitor consumer behaviour and attitudes. The results are fascinating, and we anticipate the trends we discover over time will be even more so. Below are some of the highlights from the first study fielded. – Gabriella Mirabelli, Billboard
A Music Industry post-2020 depression recovery plan
After the obvious “When will this end?” pondering what comes next is the question haunting every member of the music industry. This essay digs into the data to find some answers. – Jesse Kirshbaum, CEO of NUE Agency & Clayton Durant, CEO of CAD Management from Linkedin (via Hypebot)
These are the musicians being listened to more (and less) during the pandemic
Covid-19 is disrupting the world of music streaming. Mostly for the worse. But not every artist’s streams are suffering equally. The rapper Cardi B has been among the major artists to see their streams take the largest dip. – Dan Kopf Quartz
Andrea Bocelli’s 'Music for Hope’ on Easter Sunday draws over 26M views on YouTube
Bocelli’s concert at an empty Duomo of Milan streamed live on Easter Sunday The concert, titled Music for Hope, premiered at the opera singer’s YouTube channel, and is the No. 1 trending video on the online platform. Bocelli’s participation was done pro bono, Universal Music confirmed. The ongoing coronavirus pandemic has kept millions out of churches. – Stephanie Nolasco, Fox News
Rihanna donates $2.1M for domestic violence victims in coronavirus lockdown
Rihanna is joining forces with Twitter Chief Executive Jack Dorsey to help victims of domestic violence living in Los Angeles during the coronavirus pandemic. On Thursday, the artist’s Clara Lionel Foundation announced that the duo is co-funding a $4.2-million grant to the Mayor’s Fund for L.A. “to address a surge in domestic violence” in the city amid the coronavirus crisis. – Christi Carras, LA Times
Hipgnosis now has $188m more to spend, via loan facility from banks including JP Morgan
The company, run by Merck Mercuriadis, has secured a new £150 million (approx $188m) revolving credit facility (RCF) via its subsidiary. The money is being put up by a syndication of seven banks, including JP Morgan. Hipgnosis has spent more than $650m to date, on a catalog of over 11,000 songs. – MBW
What does Apple Music’s $50 Million Covid-19 Fund mean for indie labels?
Reps from Saddle Creek, Partisan, Don Giovanni and others have mixed feelings about the tech giant's relief effort. – Marc Hogan, Pitchfork
Six nights on tour, and never leaving their house
How the L.A. band Sure Sure is making the best of quarantine. – August Brown, LA Times
Yoko Ono sings on city streets to ensure NYC residents stay inside
At the urging of New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, Yoko Ono has agreed to sing, to keep residents off of city streets. Cuomo stated “Yoko will be used strategically wherever and whenever a crowd forms. Just today we deployed Ms. Ono to Crown Heights, Brooklyn, where a wedding was taking place. There were 300 guests congregating and within 3 minutes, the streets were completely empty. – Madhouse
The Beatles' handwritten 'Hey Jude' lyrics sell for US$910,000 at auction
Paul McCartney’s handwritten lyrics to The Beatles’ hit song Hey Jude sold for US$910,000 on Friday, nine times its original estimate, auction house Julien’s Auctions said. – Reuter's
Ticketmaster has quietly changed its refund policy (You’re not getting your money back)
A couple of weeks back, news surfaced that secondary market ticket sellers like StubHub and Viagogo were suffering a severe cash shortage and that they were planning on petitioning the government for a bailout. Now it seems that primary ticketing companies such as Ticketmaster are also struggling to meet the demand of customers who want their money back so they’ve changed their policy to make it more difficult for fans seeking refunds. – Vince Neilstein, Metalsucks
Eddie Kramer, engineer for Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin and ‘Woodstock,’ set to get his own rock doc
Joe Berlinger ("Metallica: Some Kind of Monster"), Spencer Proffer (“Chasing Trane”) and Rolling Stone magazine are behind the documentary about Kramer, who also worked with the Beatles, Stones and KISS. – Chris Willman, Variety
Neil Young’s call to action, and 14 more new songs
Hear tracks by Laura Marling, Frank Ocean, Charli XCX and others. – The New York Times
'Treated us like simpletons': Pedro Almodóvar criticises Madonna over documentary
The Spanish film director says the pop star treated him and Antonio Banderas disrespectfully during the filming of the 1990s Madonna: Truth or Dare. – Ben Beaumont-Thomas, The Guardian
Record Stores: Coronavirus ‘could be the death knell’ for indie retailers
Most shops were already scraping by, but many look for hope as the pandemic forces their doors closed. – Kory Grow, Rolling Stone
5 tax write-offs every musician should know about
Tax season (delayed though it may be) is an important time to remember that, for all its artistry, music is still a business. Fortunately, there are a number of industry expenses that artists can list as deductible write-offs when filing their taxes. Here we look five which every musician should be aware of. – Hypebot
South African rugby team pays a moving tribute to Johnny Clegg
Johnny Clegg's The Crossing was selected because of his iconic status and the song's message of uniting people as we move forward into a new world. The players -- in collaboration with some famous musicians -- paid homage to one of South Africa's favourite sons before the lockdown started. – E News Channel Africa
Billie Eilish gets interviewed by a robot
18-year-old pop superstar Billie Eilish swept the 2020 Grammy Awards, and now, she celebrates her Vogue cover by sitting down with the toughest interviewer of all; an AI bot. – ThatEricAlper
Jazz musicians find a new source of standards: The Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame
When rock ’n’ roll replaced show tunes as America’s most popular music in the ’60s, jazz musicians should have replaced show tunes with rock ’n’ roll in their repertoire. But they didn’t. – Geoffrey Himes, Paste
Gun-toting, mask-wearing, Rascal Flatts-crooning sensation RMR signs with Warner Records
Here’s a look at how the deal came to be. – Shirley Halperin, Variety
Apple Music's ‘Stream Local’ initiative to support Indian musicians
The lockdown has led to the entertainment industry ushering in new ways to keep artistes thriving and audiences uplifted in these trying times; one of these avenues is Apple Music’s new initiative ‘Stream Local’ which launched on April 11. Stream Local is also available in South Africa and other parts of Africa, as well as Australia. – Divya Kala Bhavani, The Hindu
