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Spotify Editors See Rising Appetite for Underground Genres in Dance Music
A fascinating deep dive into dance music was recently published to Spotify‘s For the Record, a dedicated blog and podcast managed by the streaming giant. According to Spotify’s “The State of Dance Music” report, For The Record spoke with the company’s global dance curators about current and future trends they’re observing within the genre. This is the team responsible for providing listeners with playlist content for Crate Diggers, mint, and a plethora of other popular dance music playlists. The piece provides a prescient perspective into how these decision makers view the genre at large—and where we may be headed. Overall, the health of dance music’s immediate future received glowing remarks. Despite stagnation related to closed c...
Tencent Music Spared From Forced Sales in China Regulatory Crackdown
The government action is part of a broader attempt by Beijing to regulate its domestic technology sector, which grew rapidly after years of relatively little regulation. Since last December, regulators have fined 11 companies, including Tencent, Baidu, Alibaba and ByteDance, for failing to disclose past acquisitions and investments. News of the regulatory fines sent shares of Tencent Music Entertainment on the New York Stock Exchange down more than 10% on Wednesday and Thursday to $12.69 a share. Shares of other Chinese tech companies listed in the U.S., including JD.com, Alibaba and Pinduoduo, also slid. (TME rebounded slightly on Friday, up 1.5% to $12.88.) Still, despite the sweeping penalties enacted, the lack of forced divestitures seemed to allay investor concerns that Tencent Music ...
Copyright Office Recommends MLC’s Distribution of Pre-2021 Unmatched Royalties Not Occur for 5 Years
The MLC was created by the Music Modernization Act (MMA) to collect mechanical royalties from digital services and create a database matching recordings to rights owners. It is also tasked with collecting the right ownership information for each song and maintaining a database so that the correct rights owners and songwriters receive proper payments. Before the MLC was created and launched on Jan. 1 2021, this process was handled by the digital services and their consultants and resulted in some $424.3 million in unmatched royalties. Those funds have since been turned over to the MLC for distribution. The MLC must first try to match those royalties with the rightful owners of those songs, and it has three years to do so, according to the MMA. After that, if the correct rights owners can’t ...
Rick Rubin Picks the Brain of a Beatle in Hypnotic McCartney 3,2,1 Docuseries: Review
The Pitch: Ask any self-respecting millennial music dork which two people he’d like to have dinner with, living or dead, and chances are Rick Rubin and Paul McCartney are somewhere at the top of that list. Luckily, with Hulu’s new six-part docuseries McCartney 3,2,1, we get the closest possible thing, with Rubin and McCartney spending a long afternoon in a recording studio, the former grilling the latter about his history with the Beatles, his collaborations with John Lennon and George Martin, and taking apart some of his most famous tracks to see what they’re made of. The Notes That Like Each Other: One of the unexpected joys of Zachary Heinzerling’s docuseries is just how relaxed it is. There’s no pressure to use McCartney and Rubin’s time together as a comprehensive ...
Schmigadoon! Is Charming Catnip for Musical Theater Kids: Review
The Pitch: Josh (Keegan-Michael Key) and Melissa (Cecily Strong) have hit a roadblock in their relationship: he’s too aloof, she’s too controlling, and the pair are steamrolling towards an abrupt end. But on a last-ditch backpacking trip to rediscover their bliss, they stumble upon something stranger: A mysterious, brightly-lit town called Schmigadoon, where everything looks like a colorblind-cast version of a ’40s villa and the townspeople burst into song at the drop of a straw hat. Soon, they discover that they’re trapped in the cloyingly musical town until they can find “true love” — love that it seems they don’t have anymore (if they ever did). Will the two patch up and get out? Or will they have to find a way to adjust to this new, toe-tapping normal? Corn Puddin’, Corn Puddin’, ...
Netflix Drops Trailer for Masters of the Universe: Revelation: Watch
“I have the power!” Netflix has unveiled the first full-length trailer for its upcoming animated series Masters of the Universe: Revelation. The clip reintroduces fans to the world of Eternia, which is slowly losing its magic long after the events of the 1980s series He-Man and the Masters of the Universe. “I built a life of truth, away from magic. Now you want me to save magic?” Sarah Michelle Gellar’s Teela, captain of Eternia’s royal guard, demands as she angrily tosses her tiara-like helmet to the ground. The answer to Teela’s query appears to be ‘yes,’ as she joins forces once again with Prince Adam (voiced by The Vampire Diaries’ Chris Wood) to protect their planet from Mark Hamill’s villainous Skeletor. “Whatever became of Eternia, we’ll face it. Together. No one else dies,” the pri...
The Weeknd to Write, Produce, and Star In New HBO Series From Euphoria’s Sam Levinson
Soon, The Weeknd’s acting resume will consist of more than his perfect cameo in Uncut Gems: the singer born Abel Tesfaye is set to star in, co-write, and executive produce a new show coming to HBO Max. Titled The Idol, the upcoming drama comes from co-creator Sam Levinson, known for his work on Euphoria and Malcolm & Marie. Deadline reports that The Idol will center around a female pop singer who begins romantically seeing a mysterious LA club owner, the latter of the two just so happening to lead a secret cult on the side. Tesfaye and Levinson created the series together alongside “nightlife entrepreneur-turned-writer” Reza Fahim. We don’t know much else about the series yet, but we’re excited. Stay tuned here for more info as we hear about it. Though it’s been over a year since the W...
Tenacious D, Rob Halford, Sammy Hagar, Lzzy Hale Join Ronnie James Dio Virtual Birthday Fundraiser
Tenacious D, Rob Halford, Sammy Hagar, and Lzzy Hale are among the new guests added to the Ronnie James Dio virtual birthday fundraiser. The stream goes live at 2 p.m. PT on July 10th. Metal luminaries, friends of the Dio family, and fans will partake in the global livestream celebration to raise funds and awareness for the Ronnie James Dio Stand Up and Shout Cancer Fund. This will include one-of-a-kind performances, birthday messages, and artist interviews celebrating the late singer’s life of heavy metal and philanthropy. Previously announced guests included Tony Iommi of Black Sabbath, members of Guns N’ Roses, and many more. In addition to the previously named guests, a plethora of others have also been added to the roster: Sebastian Bach, John Bush (Armored Saint); Mikkey Dee (Scorpio...
Tencent Increases Stake in Indian Streaming Giant Gaana with $40 Million in New Debt Funding
Indian streaming service Gaana has raised $40 million in debt funding from Tencent, the Chinese tech giant that owns 20% of Universal Music Group. Gaana, which is also backed by The Times Internet, the digital arm of India media conglomerate the Times Group, also passed a resolution to increase its commercial borrowing ceiling in order to get funds from Tencent Cloud Europe, according to a report at Entracker. Gaana previously raised $51 million in debt funding in September 2020 — $41 million from Tencent and $10 million from The Times Internet — and $115 million through an equity sale to Tencent in February 2018. Gaana leads the Indian music streaming market with 185 million monthly users, as ...
Babymetal Announce Budokan Live Album and Director’s Cut Livestream
Babymetal have announced a new live album, 10 Babymetal Budokan, recorded at the legendary Nippon Budokan in Tokyo, in addition to a director’s cut livestream of the performances. The album is out October 1st, while the streaming event goes live July 24th at 3 p.m. ET and will be viewable through July 25th at midnight PT. The Japanese pop-metal act began 2021 by continuing its 10th anniversary celebration with a series of 10 shows at Budokan. Those performances were culled into the “10 Babymetal Budokan World Premiere” livestream that recently aired. The director’s cut “encore” promises an alternate take on the initial concert film, with new cuts and visual edits. The Budokan shows followed meticulous COVID guidelines and safety restrictions, with Babymetal offering concertgoers “Saviour M...
Spotify’s ‘Discovery Mode’ Is Payola, Just Not the Bad Kind (Guest Op-Ed)
Anyone with an internet connection can post their music to YouTube or Spotify. The challenge now is getting people to listen to it. To reach audiences, aspiring musicians can hook up with TikTok influencers who will dance to their songs for money. Or they can pay the thousands of independent playlisters on Spotify to add their tunes to popular playlists. An entire subindustry of social media music promotion has sprung up specifically to assist musicians with these endeavors. Historically, the justifications for regulating payola were (i) that it harmed consumers, and (ii) that it harmed competition. But as we describe in a forthcoming law review article exploring the history of payola, in the 1950s and 1960s, these “harms” were often used as a cover for run-of-the-mil...
Nintendo Warns Against Co-Streaming E3 Showcase
While Microsoft encouraged co-streaming this year’s massive Twitch-hosted E3 showcase, Nintendo took a different approach in warning streamers against it. E3’s 2021 showcase took place mostly online, in light of concerns surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic. Nintendo opted out of co-streaming the event from the official Twitch platform, and warned that co-streamers may receive DMCA copyright strikes for streaming E3 due to licensing issues with the music that was used in this year’s festivities. Microsoft actually obtained retransmission rights for all of the music that was used in this year’s streamed event, though those rights will expire after one year. Should co-streamers not delete their VOD (video on demand) before that year-long period is up, they may rece...
