INDUSTRY
Here are the Early Frontrunners for the 2020 Grammy Award for Best Dance Recording
With no ostensible light at the end of the COVID-19 tunnel and the 63rd annual Grammy Awards on the horizon, the music industry is abuzz with speculation about what the 2021 ceremony may look like. However, while there are many question marks surrounding the ceremony itself, the music that forms the bedrock of the event is ironclad. As the tentative August 31st eligibility deadline looms, we put together a list of the early frontrunners for the 2020 Grammy Award for Best Dance Recording. Check out the leading contenders below, in no specific order of probability. Duke Dumont – “Therapy” British super-producer Duke Dumont stunned with the release of his debut album Duality in April 2020 after the record’s scintillating lead sin...
Sony Purchases $250 Million Stake In Fortnite Developer Epic Games
Sony‘s latest strategic investment is sure to augment the already flourishing link between the music and gaming industries. The parent company of Sony Music has moved to acquire a $250 million minority stake in Epic Games, makers of the hit video game franchises Fortnite and Borderlands. The investment will enable the continued pursuit of crossover partnerships that have already begun to shakeup a rapidly shifting digital entertainment landscape. The two companies have already demonstrated record-setting synergy this year. In April, Travis Scott, a member of Sony’s Epic Records roster, drew in Fortnite’s single largest audience to date with his virtual Fortnite concert, pulling in over 12.3 million concurrent viewers. Kenichiro Yoshida, President and CEO of...
Apple Music Launches Africa Rising to Amplify the Continent’s Next Generation of Artists
Apple Music has announced a new artist discovery initiative that seeks to spotlight the emerging artists of the world’s second largest continent. The launch of the Africa Rising initiative sees the addition of a new playlist to the Apple Music ecosystem by the same name. The mission to uplift Africa’s next generation of stars arrives with Nigerian Afro-fusion artist and producer Omah Lay as the playlist’s first cover feature. Lay’s debut EP Get Layd was released in May, sparking several appearances for him on Nigeria’s Top 10 singles chart. The EP additionally netted him the top album on Apple Music Nigeria at the time. “I have always used Apple Music, seeing my favorite artists on playlist covers and features but here I am looking pretty as Ap...
UK Government Reveals £1.57 Billion Emergency COVID-19 Support Package for the Arts
The government of the United Kingdom announced that it will be delivering a £1.57 billion emergency support package to stimulate the country’s arts in the wake of COVID-19. Concert venues, movie theaters, and museums are among a wide range of establishments that will be able to receive either grants or loans to assist their operations in the difficult times created by the pandemic. The Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media, and Sport, Oliver Dowden, and Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak, went to the world-famous Shakespeare’s Globe playhouse and spoke about the emergency funding before sharing a clip from their visit on Twitter. In a quote obtained by NME, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Boris Johnson, spoke abou...
Here is What the UK’s Largest Music Companies are Paying Women Compared to Men
According to a report published in Music Business Worldwide, there was a sizable wage gap between men and women in some of the largest music companies in the UK this year. In the UK, companies with over 250 employees are legally required to report their gender pay gap stats by April 4th of each year, a mandate that has been in effect since 2017. However, after reporting deadlines were interrupted by the impact of COVID-19, many UK companies were not required to file their gender pay gap stats. Two of the three largest major music companies in the UK, Sony and Warner, did file their reports, though, in addition to a litany of others, including streaming behemoth Spotify. As of April 5th, 2019, the average gender pay gap at Sony Music UK was 26.0%, and 31.5% at Warner Music UK. Spotify UK re...
Carl Cox on Socially Distanced Nightlife: “It Defies the Ethos of What Brings Us Together”
Before COVID-19 funneled the nightlife industry into a metaphorical wood chipper, fabled DJ and producer Carl Cox was on his typical mission of delivering heart-pumping rave music to the masses. The house music legend has been doing so since the 80s, when he helped to usher in a new era of electronic music in the states. Having witnessed the unwavering ebb and flow in the EDM industry over the years, there is perhaps no one more qualified to assess the current musical zeitgeist than Cox, who recently aired a special performance that moonlighted as an ode to 90s rave music. Cox recently spoke to London-based outlet Evening Standard about the current nightlife landscape in the wake of COVID-19, and his outlook was markedly bleak. Socially distanced club nights are “reall...
This Chicago Rooftop Bar is Hosting Laser Shows from the Minds Behind Illenium, Porter Robinson Concerts
After COVID-19 stomped on the sandcastles of the entire live music industry, the nation’s clubs, bars, arenas, and concert halls saw their businesses decimated and left vulnerable in its wake. Many of those venues are finding themselves rudderless, desperately picking up the pieces as their local governments navigate the painful process of reopening. In order to drum up business during these unprecedented and uncertain times, Chicago venue Whiskey Business is thinking outside the box. In collaboration with renowned laser artist Will Kent and his company Coherent Designs, the Wicker Park bar has installed a rig on its rooftop to host dazzling laser light shows as Illinois powers through its fourth phase of reopening. Kent, who has designed mind-bending light s...
Guests of Swiss Club to Quarantine for 10 Days Following COVID-19 Exposure
Around 300 guests who attended the Flamingo Club in Zurich last week have been ordered to quarantine following their exposure to COVID-19. The revelation that the club’s attendees had been exposed to the virus came after one man, who was at the club on June 21st, tested positive several days later on June 25th. A group of five others who attended the club with the man have also reportedly tested positive. The quarantine period for all guests and staff who were at the venue will be ten days. The news arrives less than a month after Switzerland’s nightlife industry began its long-awaited reopening. Upon reopening, venues were conditionally instructed to operate at limited capacity with a maximum of 300 attendees. Social distancing rules, however, have been rel...
“Let’s Make the Dance Music of the Future Inclusive”: Aluna Pens Open Letter to EDM Community
Earlier in the month of June, Aluna of esteemed musical duo AlunaGeorge courageously took to Instagram to share her experiences with racism in the EDM community and the music industry at large. In her message, Aluna detailed how she feels “practically invisible” despite her significant contributions to music from white collaborators. “Over the years I’ve accepted my role as the black accessory to white peoples dance music, internally bowing and scraping for these opportunities with no acknowledgement for my contribution because I’m just used to it,” she wrote. Aluna, who recently embarked on a solo career, today penned an open letter to the dance music community in which she outlines how the industry can initiate an urgent paradigm shift in its efforts to suppo...
Ownership Dispute Leaves Fans Confused About Vietnam’s Epizode Festival
Vietnamese concertgoers are stuck in the middle of an ownership dispute surrounding Epizode Festival and the recently announced “Epizode: Epilogue“ event. For those unfamiliar with the brand, Epizode Festival is a Vietnamese event that started back in 2016. Former performers include Carl Cox, Nina Kraviz, Dubfire, and Seth Troxler, among many others. Recently, a new event titled “Epizode: Epilogue” was announced by a different organization. After the announcement, the current owners of Epizode Festival took to its social media channels to release a statement claiming that “Epizode: Epilogue” is a fraud and is not related to their flagship festival. However, an “Epizode: Epilogue” spokesperson recently responded to the allegations an...
Here Is a Website with Over 2000 Black Artists and Labels to Support on Bandcamp
Following Bandcamp‘s monumental Juneteenth fundraiser, where the music platform donated 100% of its share of sales to the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, a group of anonymous volunteers have developed a website with over 2000 Black artists and labels to support. The website, called blackbandcamp.info, was developed as an easy way to sort and filter an expansive spreadsheet that was created earlier in the month of June, which featured over 1000 Black artists and labels and was shared prevalently throughout the industry. According to the site, the goal of the sheet is to “support Black artists, producers and labels through their Bandcamp links.” In addition to search filters by name, location, and genre, the platform enables users to use a “random s...
Fabled Denver Nightclub Beta Shut Down for Violating Social Distancing Guidelines
Fabled Lower Downtown Denver venue Beta Nightclub has been shut down indefinitely following reports of repeated violations of the city’s Safer-At-Home order, which was instated due to the impact of COVID-19. The Denver Department of Public Health and Environment pulled the plug on the nightclub following an event on June 20th, 2020 in which the venue was reportedly packed with people, who did not wear face coverings and partied with no semblance of social distancing. Video obtained by local FOX affiliate KDVR-TV seems to corroborate those claims. According to the news station, DDPHE had already issued a citation to Beta on June 16th for violating the Safer-At-Home order by operating as a bar. Following the slap on the wrist, the City of Denver received e...
