Milwaukee’s Summerfest — the largest music festival in the U.S. by attendance — has been canceled, festival organizers announced on Thursday. Originally scheduled to take place in June, the annual festival was pushed to late September back in March as the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic first hit the U.S., but continued …
Read More »Why Warner Records Is Still Releasing Big Albums Amid COVID-19 Lockdown
It was not on my list of expectations, when interviewing Los Angeles-based chairman and COO of Warner Records Tom Corson, to be greeted by a quote from the German soccer coach Jurgen Klopp. But these are, as those serotonin-sapping global headlines keep reminding us, unpredictable times. “Football is the most …
Read More »With Rappers Stuck at Home, the Hip-Hop Features Market Is Booming: 'Everybody's Offering Discounts'
Shows are canceled. Studios are shuttered. What’s a young rapper to do while sheltering in place? A lot of acts are turning to recording feature verses for other artists as a way to stay sharp, stave off boredom, and pad their bottom line during the quarantine caused by COVID-19. “The …
Read More »You Produced a Hit! Now Good Luck Getting Paid
On July 16, 2018, Drake’s “In My Feelings” was crowned as the biggest hit in the country. To have a hand in a Drake single is a life-changing event for a producer, but that change can come slowly — according to one industry source, the several million dollars in writing …
Read More »'The Culling Has Begun': Inside the iHeartMedia Layoffs
The largest radio conglomerate in the country, iHeartMedia, initiated a round of mass layoffs this week, cutting enough people that one former on-air host described Tuesday as “one of the worst days in on-air radio history.” The layoffs were concentrated in small and medium markets, where staffs had already been …
Read More »Future 25: Holly Herndon, Artist and Inventor of Spawn
Holly Herndon is not interested in creating her own replacement. The composer-musician saw the rise of machine intelligence in music as major labels and tech companies, hungry for cheap production, began pushing AI songwriters. But rather than fight it, Herndon decided to raise a robot bandmate herself. Herndon, who completed …
Read More »Are the Major Record Companies Signing Too Many Artists?
It’s the stat I just can’t get out of my head. In 2017, according to a report backed by the U.S. music trade group RIAA, major record companies signed a total of 658 acts — a number up 12 percent over 2014. In 2019, that figure (judging by the subsequent …
Read More »Music Is Finally Making More Money Than It Was In 2007
After weathering decades of decline, the global recorded music industry saw its fourth consecutive year of revenue growth in 2018, according to the latest annual review from the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI). The IFPI reports that music sales from around the world topped $19.1 billion last year …
Read More »All Spotify Premium Users Now Get Free Hulu
Amid the myriad of discounts that music-streaming services offer to entice new users (one month free! six months free!), Spotify‘s decision in 2017 to team up with video-streaming service Hulu to deliver bundled student subscriptions was unusual because it was one of the first times that two disparate entertainment services …
Read More »Behind the Scenes at the 61st Grammys With the Man Who Runs the Show
“Did you see that hug Cardi gave me?” Ken Ehrlich says, beaming. Ehrlich — 76 years old yet dashing back and forth all day between run-throughs for the 61st Grammy Awards at Los Angeles’ Staples Center and rehearsals for a separate Motown tribute show in an adjacent building — has …
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