Music
Wazupnaija – Naija Entertainment blogs & Forums – Entertainment – Music
ACE FREHLEY Looks Back On KISS’s Infamous ‘Tomorrow Show’ Interview: GENE SIMMONS ‘Didn’t Seem Too Thrilled About It’
In a brand new interview with “Paltrocast With Darren Paltrowitz”, former KISS guitarist Ace Frehley was asked about the band’s infamous October 1979 appearance on Tom Snyder‘s “The Tomorrow Show” when a visibly irritated Paul Stanley (guitar, vocals) and Gene Simmons (bass) tried to contain the bombastic (and drunk) Frehley, whose nonstop laughter and joking overshadowed the rest of the group. He said (hear audio below): “It’s a funny interview. Obviously, I was slightly inebriated. [Laughs] But I had fun with Tom, and Tom had fun with me. And I pretty much upstaged the rest of the guys in the band, especially Gene, who didn’t seem too thrilled about it. But it was a live show; there was nothing they could do about it. I was really ner...
This Tech Start-Up That’s Using AI To Combat Counterfeit Merch Online
Stopping the e-commerce sales of knockoff T-shirts and other memorabilia on Amazon, eBay and other major platforms is a game of whack-a-mole, but CounterFind, which was co-founded by former Dallas Cowboys safety Darren Woodson, has become an effective hammer for the music industry When a suicide bomber killed 22 people and injured hundreds following an Ariana Grande concert at the Manchester Arena in England in May 2017, the singer and her agent wasted no time in setting up a June 4 One Love Manchester benefit concert — with a lineup that included Katy Perry, Justin Bieber, Coldplay and Miley Cyrus — to aid the victims and their families. And counterfeiters wasted no time in knocking off the merch that was sold as part of the fundraiser. Bootlegged T-shirts, hats, stickers and other produc...
Know Thy Customers: How Shopify’s Analytics Are Changing the Game
Everyone wants to work with the site that is growing artists into brands — and informing how the merch industry can grow, too What do fans of Beyoncé, the Foo Fighters, Lauv and Mac DeMarco secretly have in common? Though they’d never know it, they all order their merchandise through the same Canadian e-commerce company, Shopify. The 14-year-old Ontario-based business has grown into a global giant over the last six years since it launched Shopify Plus, the enterprise version of its software. Smooth setup — and robust data — make it a favorite of not just the music industry, but retailers like Staples, Heinz, Allbirds and more. It’s a Wall Street favorite as well. In 2019, Shopify hit $1.6 billion in total revenue, a 47% year-over-year increase, and during the pandemic, its stock price has ...
These Artists Are Moving Merch In A World Without Concerts
From puzzles to sweatpants to a unisex fragrance, artists are maximizing online merch sales for fans shut in by the pandemic Perusing the more than 275 artist storefronts at online retailer Hello Merch is like visiting a music merchandise wonderland: Diet Cig is selling branded playing cards, Tori Amos has turned T-shirts into handmade face masks, and Low Cut Connie is offering an all-natural fragrance, among other unusual finds. The choices haven’t always been as wide-ranging. Prior to the pandemic, merch was “second, third or fourth on artists’ minds,” says Mike Lentz, who handles artist relations for Hello Merch. But now, “they’re worried about getting through their tour, playing shows every night [and are] too busy to have the time to deal with it.” A T-shirt will never replace a conce...
StockX: Merch’s New Billion-Dollar Player
How a sneakerhead site created a secondary market for some of music’s biggest stars — and how they can deal themselves in When The Weeknd’s fourth album, After Hours, debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 in March, merchandise was at the heart of the biggest first sales week of 2020 to date. Over half of the total 444,000 album equivalent units — 275,000 — were album sales, according to Nielsen Music/MRC Data, spurred on by merch and ticket bundles, with The Weeknd packaging After Hours with more than 80 items. Fans could buy the album alongside everything from hoodies, T-shirts and face masks to flasks, playing cards and ash trays, most available for just 24 hours. But for those who failed to act before that 24-hour window slammed shut, within a day many of the items were available for sa...
Run the Jewels to Perform RTJ4 on First-Ever Adult Swim Music Broadcast
Run the Jewels want you to vote. And they’re about to make history to make it happen. On Monday, Killer Mike and El-P announced that their critically acclaimed rap group will put on Adult Swim’s first-ever musical broadcast as they perform their new record RTJ4. The “Holy Calamavote” performance — brought together by Adult Swim and Ben & Jerry’s — will see the duo run through the entirety of the record on Oct. 10 at 12 a.m. “We’re proud to be a part of this initiative to encourage and enable voting and can’t wait to finally perform our album RTJ4. This will be fun,” the pair said in a joint statement. The main goal of the performance isn’t to necessarily share the tracks live for the first time, it’s to get fans to cast ballots on Nov. 3. “Adult Swim is honored to be a p...
Jason Isbell, Amanda Shires Mock Van Morrison, Share ‘Into the Mystic’ Cover
Jason Isbell and Amanda Shires shared a new Van Morrison cover… but not before giving a warning first. The married musicians opted for a cover of Morrison’s “Into The Mystic” on Isbell’s I So Lounging show on the Sept. 18 live stream. Given Morrison’s recent behavior — including releasing three anti-lockdown protest songs to the press last week — it was only fitting that Isbell shared a little disclaimer. “There was a time in the past when our dear Van Morrison had such beautiful music, such beautiful songs, that everyone paid attention to him,” Isbell said. “Now that time has passed, and I fear that our dear Van Morrison is still desirous of the attention that he once received. So now he likes to say things, like the government asking you to not give everyone the COVID-19 v...
Blizzard of Ozz Turns 40: Musicians Pay Tribute to Ozzy Osbourne’s First Solo Album
Twenty-three years before he’d achieve cult icon status as the affable patriarch of one of reality television’s most profane families, things were looking fairly bleak for Ozzy Osbourne. Freshly booted from Black Sabbath — the groundbreaking band he co-founded — Ozzy was in the throes of heavy addiction, drowning himself in booze with his musical aspirations seemingly on the brink of collapse. Fortunately, Ozzy’s future father-in-law didn’t let that happen. Instead, Don Arden signed the zoophagic rocker to his label, Jet Records, and Ozzy assembled a majestic band of his own. Boasting Quiet Riot guitarist Randy Rhoads and late Uriah Heep drummer Lee Kerslake, along with Rainbow bassist, Bob Daisley, and keyboardist, Don Airey, the band was christened Blizzard of Ozz. However, Jet’s marketi...
Weezer, Fall Out Boy Face Off On Celebrity Family Feud
This summer’s Hella Mega Tour, featuring Weezer, Green Day, and Fall Out Boy, was slated to be 2020’s biggest rock expedition. But with cancellations being the new norm, the guys nonetheless found a way to give us a showdown. Before the Emmy Awards on Sunday (Sept. 20), during what can now be known as one of the most punk-rock game show moments ever, Weezer and Fall Out Boy put their familial bonds to the test with host Steve Harvey on a new episode of Celebrity Family Feud. Interestingly enough, the band members weren’t the only guys competing. Actor Seth Green — who appeared in the music video for “This Ain’t A Scene, It’s An Arms Race,” played alongside Pete Wentz and Patrick Stump. Both crews also promised to donate their winnings to a charity of their choice: For FOB, that w...
The Lemon Twigs on Their Brotherly Balance, Unorthodox Love Songs, Elton John Praise
Brian D’Addario, 23, and his brother Michael, 21, were still teenagers when they signed with legendary indie label 4AD and released their debut album as The Lemon Twigs, co-produced by Foxygen’s Jonathan Rado. The Long Island siblings are both singer-songwriters and multi-instrumentalists who expertly evoke the sound and spirit of ‘60s and ‘70s rock at its most melodic — and they’ve already impressed heroes like Todd Rundgren and Elton John. But their recently issued third album, Songs for the General Public, is the kind of confident step into a brighter spotlight that its title implies — the sound of former teen prodigies now in the prime of their talents. Brian D’Addario spoke to SPIN about how their new album contrasts with their last effort, the whimsical 2018 rock opera Go To School, ...
Fleet Foxes Announce Shore, First Album in Three Years
Fleet Foxes will release their fourth album, Shore, alongside a 55-minute, Super-16mm companion art film by Los Angeles filmmaker Kersti Jan Werdal, on Tuesday at 6:31 am PST/9:31 am EST. The release will coincide with the autumnal equinox instead of for the standard “new music Friday” when albums traditionally release. The video will be available at fleetfoxes.co. Frontman Robin Pecknold dropped a hint on his Instagram account, via an IG video with footage of flowers backed with acoustic guitar strumming, and the word “Shore.” The post’s caption is “Tuesday.” <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" data-wp-preserve="%3Cscript%20async%20src%3D%22%2F%2Fwww.instagram.com%2Fembed.js%22%3E%3C%2Fscript%3E" data-m...
The Late Toots Hibbert on His New Album, Telling the Truth
The world lost reggae legend Toots Hibbert on Sept. 11 (though no cause of death has been listed, he had been hospitalized with COVID symptoms prior to his death). One of the more unfortunate things, though, is that the 77-year-old Hibbert was celebrating the release of Got To Be Tough, his first album in a decade, released Aug. 28, which showed that he wasn’t slowing down creatively. Ahead of the new album, Hibbert did a select few American interviews. I was one of those fortunate ones; we spoke on Zoom on Aug. 4, a few weeks before his hospitalization. Seated at the mixing board at his studio in Jamaica, Mr. Hibbert — as his handler who brought him to his mixing board desk where Mr. Hibbert sat for the duration of the 30-minute Zoom call, addressed him — showcased his trademark spirit an...
