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FYI

Music Biz Headlines, Aug. 5, 2021

A documentary on Oscar Peterson (pictured) will premiere at TIFF, Holger Petersen is profiled, and bandmates seek to help Michael Kovrig. Also in the headlines are Ontario Place, Halifax Jazz Festival, Warner Music Group, Sony Music, The Offspring, DaBaby, Billie Eilish, Specialty Records, Newport Jazz, Tom Morello, and gospel music.

Music Biz Headlines, Aug. 5, 2021

By Kerry Doole

Oscar Peterson documentary will premiere at TIFF

Black + White, the Barry Avrich-directed feature-length documentary about the iconic jazz pianist, on Wednesday set its world premiere for this year’s Toronto Film Festival TIFF Docs lineup. A trailer for the feature-length “docu-concert” ahead of that September 12 bow is coming.  – Patrick Hipes, Deadline


Digging up roots: Holger Petersen has weathered 50 years in the Canadian music business

Back in the '70s, starting a record label in Canada wasn’t a road to fame or fortune. But Petersen didn’t care about any of that when he launched Stony Plain Records in 1976 with a focus on blues and roots music, two genres not tearing up the charts– Financial Post Magazine 

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‘Hold on, please, we’re gonna get you home’

Last month, Michael Kovrig’s former punk bandmates put out a song calling on all the governments involved to work toward his and Mr. Spavor’s release from detention in China. – James Griffith, Globe and Mail 

Halifax Jazz Festival’s live shows are just the summer fun we need

Local favourites like Asia & Nu Gruv perform at Grand Parade Aug 5-8. – Morgan Mullin, The Coast 

Ontario Place is going private – and that’s a problem

Ontario Place will no longer be a public place. The Ontario government’s Friday announcements made that clear. The provincially owned park, created in 1968, will soon be two-thirds privatized. Nobody knows what this will cost taxpayers – but be sure it’ll cost dearly to visit any of the new amenities. – Alex Bozikovoc, Globe and Mail

International

Warner made $192M YOY from streaming in calendar Q2

Warner Music Group just reported quarterly recorded music revenues of over a billion dollars for the third straight quarter. WMG’s fiscal results for the three months to end of June (its fiscal Q3, but calendar Q2), reveal that the company’s quarterly recorded music revenues – including streaming, digital and physical sales, plus ancillary income – hit $1.152B, up 34% year-on-year (or 27.6% in constant currency). – Murray Stassen, MBW

Sony's recorded music revenues jumped by$451M YOY in Calendar Q2

Sony Music’s quarterly recorded music revenues rose by 48.2% year-on-year in calendar Q2 2021 (the three months to end of June). They were up by a massive USD $451M versus the same period in 2020. This increase came off the back of an uncharacteristically soft quarter for Sony in calendar Q2 2020, when – hit by the effects of the pandemic – it turned over $936 million from recorded music. – Tim Ingham, MBW

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What would it take to decentralize the music industry?

Blockchain and decentralized technology is at a crossroads. It, along with related tech like cryptocurrencies and NFTs, has matured dramatically. Yet music blockchain companies have struggled to succeed, even as they promise (and occasionally deliver) real creativity and efficiency in areas where the music industry desperately needs it. – Music Business Worldwide

Drummer Pete Parada dropped from The Offspring for refusing Covid-19 vaccine

Parada announced Tuesday that he's been dropped from the American rock band over his failure to receive the Covid vaccine. "I've got some unfortunate and difficult news to share," Parada, 48, wrote in a statement posted to Instagram. "Since I am unable to comply with what is increasingly becoming an industry mandate, it has recently been decided that I am unsafe to be around, in the studio, and on tour." – Cydney Henderson, USA Today

DaBaby booted from Lollapalooza after homophobic comments at festival

 DaBaby was cut Aug. 1 from Lollapalooza's closing lineup following crude and homophobic remarks he made last week at a Miami-area music festival. The Grammy-nominated artist, whose name is Jonathan Kirk, had been scheduled as a closing act on the final night of the four-day music festival in downtown Chicago. NYC's Governors Ball also dumped him. – AP

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Review: Billie Eilish remains brilliant with sophomore album

Few people do complicated like Eilish and “Happier Than Ever” is a fascinating look at a messy, famous pop star’s life, as diaristic as Taylor Swift but more self-critical and emotionally candid. It’s a superb album, ambitious and mature — a young woman pulling the fire alarm while we all stare at the flames.–  Mark Kennedy, CP

Did Nazis change the universal music pitch to use against their enemies?

A popular meme on social media makes a series of allegations about the musical tune pitch A=432Hz and A=440Hz, including that the latter was a standard imposed by the Nazis to manipulate their enemies. Multiple experts discussed these allegations with Reuters. – Jerusalem Post

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Specialty Records turns 75

The story of Specialty Records, the most influential label of all time: “Songs never die” As it celebrates its 75th anniversary with a new compilation, Jordan Bassett explores the imprint that gave us Little Richard – and therefore The Beatles, Prince, David Bowie and so much more. – NME

Thom Yorke and Björk among singers with biggest vocabularies, new study finds

A new study has found that Thom Yorke, Björk and Lorde are among the singers with the biggest vocabularies, based on the number of different words they use in each song per 1,000. The likes of Billie Eilish, Lorde and Harry Styles also came out on top. – Jasmine Kent-Smith, Crack

Newport Jazz 2021: Day 1

The iconic event, slightly modified, returns to Fort Adams. – Mac Randall,  JazzTimes

Rage Against the Machine’s Tom Morello covers AC/DC’s “Highway to Hell” with Bruce Springsteen and Eddie Vedder

The Atlas Underground Fire features Phantogram, Chris Stapleton, Damian Marley, Mike Posner, and more. –  Matthew Strauss, Pitchfork

Gospel music guide- all you need to know 

Gospel music: what it is, how it evolved and some of the best gospel performers to listen to. As gloriously varied as it is hugely popular, gospel music is here to stay. Composer and conductor Ken Burton traces the genre’s history to its genesis. – BBC Music Magazine

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Hillside Festival poster
Artwork by Alyah Holmes

Hillside Festival poster

Concerts

Guelph, Ontario's Hillside Festival Gets Richard Thompson, Aysanabee, Patrick Watson for 2024 Edition

Running July 19-21, the Ontario summer favourite's eclectic lineup also featuresBry Webb, Lee Ranaldo (Sonic Youth) and Jim White.

Long one of the most popular Ontario summer music fests, Hillside returns to Guelph Lake Island, July 19-21. The just-announced lineup features artists from Australia, South Africa, Morocco, Benin and Cameroon as well as notable names from across Canada and the U.S.

Heading that list are British folk legend Richard Thompson, roots rock supertrio Blackie and the Rodeo Kings, with guests Daniel Lanois and Terra Lightfoot, the Polaris-winning Patrick Watson, Ashley MacIsaac, recent Juno winner Aysanabee, former Constantines frontman Bry Webb, long-running indie rock band Land of Talk, The Messthetics (which features Joe Lally and Brendan Canty from Fugazi) and American indie faves Lee Ranaldo (Sonic Youth) and Jim White.

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