Streaming
#MetallicaMondays: Watch Metallica’s 2014 “By Request” Peru Show
Metallica’s weekly concert-streaming series #MetallicaMondays continues with a March 2014 show from Lima, Peru, which took place as part of the band’s “By Request” tour. The outing allowed fans to help pick the set for each gig. The 2014 trek offered online song polls for each city, and the sets were determined by fan voting. While most of the 18-song setlist for the Lima show featured Metallica’s usual concert staples like “Master of Puppets” and “Enter Sandman”, there were a few surprises such “Fight Fire With Fire” from Ride the Lightning and the “Vote of the Day” selection “Hit the Lights” from the band’s 1983 debut, Kill ‘Em All. Last week, Metallica shared a show that took place in Chicago in August 1983, just a few weeks after they had released Kill ‘Em All. Overall, the #MetallicaM...
Netflix to Start Cancelling Inactive Customer Subscriptions
Sourced from Getty Images. Netflix says it will begin to ask customers who have not watched anything on the on-demand video streaming service in a year or more if they wish to maintain their subscription — and will cancel their membership if it does not hear back. The company says it has started to notify customers who haven’t watched anything on the platform in 12 months since they became a subscriber to check if they wish to keep their membership. The company is also reaching out to those who haven’t streamed anything in more than two years, it says. “You know that sinking feeling when you realize you signed up for something but haven’t used it in ages? At Netflix, the last thing we want is people paying for something they’re not using,” the company writes. This unusual move illustrates ...
Guns N’ Roses Launch “Not in This Lifetime Selects” Concert Streaming Series: Watch
Having just postponed their summer North American tour due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Guns N’ Roses are offering an alternative “live experience” for fans. The band has launched a new streaming series, dubbed “Not in This Lifetime Selects”, showing pro-shot footage from their mega-successful tour. The “Not in This Lifetime Tour” kicked off in 2016, with Slash and Duff McKagan rejoining Axl Rose in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame band. Over a four-year period, the extensive trek has earned $563 million, making it one of the highest-grossing tours of all time. The streaming series starts Thursday (May 21st) with select highlights from the band’s October 29th, 2019 show at the Vivint Smart Home Arena in Salt Lake City, Utah. That gig saw GN’R play 25 songs, including seven from their iconic d...
What Place Will Virtual Tipping Have in the Post-Pandemic Music Industry?
In China, virtual tipping provides a widespread, legitimate revenue stream for artists. Some think the pandemic will help (finally) normalize the practice Stateside. Andy Bothwell, a Brooklyn-based artist who performs under the moniker Astronautalis, has an online hub that lists links to his music, social media accounts and merch site. But after the coronavirus pandemic cut off the touring income he relies on to pay his bills, he added two new links to the top of the list: His Cash App and Venmo accounts, allowing fans to send him money directly. “I’m curious to see if I keep it there,” he says. His decision is more than a curiosity. As the pandemic has shut down economies across the globe, many artists are asking fans directly for cash — and music companies like SoundCloud and Spoti...
Virtual Joey Ramone Birthday Bash Features Members of Ramones, Green Day, Sex Pistols, More
The legendary Joey Ramone would have turned 69 today (May 19th), and the occasion is being marked with the annual “Birthday Bash” tribute in his honor. Only this time, due to the pandemic, it will be a virtual celebration, with members of Ramones, Green Day, Sex Pistols, and more performing. The “Joey Ramone Virtual Birthday Bash” kicks off tonight at 8:00 p.m. ET on the official Facebook page of the late punk icon. Among the performers are onetime Ramones members CJ Ramone and Richie Ramone, Sex Pistols bassist Glen Matlock, Dictators guitarist Andy Shernoff, David Bowie guitarist Earl Slick, and more. A late addition just announced this morning is a debut performance from Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong, who has reworked the Ramones’ “Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue” into “Now I Wanna Drink...
Clutch to Headline Virtual Show with Support from Crowbar and More
Clutch have announced that they’ll headline a full bill of rock and metal, albeit a streaming-only concert due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The veteran hard rockers will play a virtual show that will feature support from Crowbar, Blacktop Mojo, and Saul. For a ticket price of $9, fans will be able to enjoy four bands from the confines of their own homes. The May 27th concert begins at 4:00 p.m. ET with Saul, followed by Blacktop Mojo at 4:35 p.m., then Crowbar at 5:10 p.m., and finally Clutch at 5:55 p.m. A portion of the ticket proceeds will benefit the nonprofit organization Angel Flight West. The streaming show, dubbed “Live From the Doom Saloon Volume 1”, follows a series of informal mini-concerts that Clutch have been performing from their studio in Maryland. Those shows streamed live fo...
Disney’s Kevin Mayer to Become TikTok CEO
Disney veteran Rebecca Campbell will succeed him as chairman of director-to-consumer and international. Kevin Mayer, the Disney executive who oversaw the launch of the streaming service Disney+, is leaving his post at the entertainment giant to become CEO of the fast-growing social media app TikTok. Disney veteran Rebecca Campbell will succeed him as chairman of director-to-consumer and international. “I am very proud of what our extraordinarily talented direct-to-consumer and international team has accomplished in creating and delivering a world-class portfolio of streaming services, particularly Disney+,” Mayer said Monday in a statement. Mayer joins TikTok at a pivotal moment for the app, which is owned by Chinese conglomerate ByteDance. Less than three years old, it has bee...
Gojira to Stream “Live at Red Rocks” Concert as They Wrap Up New Album
Gojira are completing work on their forthcoming seventh studio album. To tide fans over, the band is streaming its previously unreleased 2017 concert at Red Rocks Amphitheater in Morrison, Colorado. The show, at which Gojira opened for headliners Opeth, came in the midst of the French metal act’s tour in support of 2016’s Magma album. The open air venue is nestled in the side of a mountain, 10 miles west of Denver — surroundings that the band considered worthy of hiring a professional film crew to shoot the show. The 11-song setlist drew mostly from Magma and 2005’s From Mars to Sirius. The band will also be selling limited-edition merchandise to commemorate the show, including a special edition t-shirt and poster. The apparel and memorabilia will be available during the stream, which will...
#MetallicaMondays: Watch a Young Metallica Play Kill ‘Em All in Chicago in 1983
Metallica are offering up an extra-special treat for the latest installment of their weekly #MetallicaMondays streaming series. This evening (May 18th), the band is airing an August 1983 show from The Metro in Chicago, filmed a few weeks after the thrash masters released their now-legendary debut album, Kill ‘Em All. To put the show in perspective, James Hetfield and Kirk Hammett were both 20 years old; Lars Ulrich was 19; and the late, great Cliff Burton was 21. The entire show was comprised of nine songs from Kill ‘Em All, including classics like “Hit the Lights” and “Seek and Destroy”. Plus it featured a guitar solo that ended with fans grabbing and destroying the instrument. Two of the Metro performances — “No Remorse” and “Metal Militia” — were featured on Metallica’s Cliff ‘Em All ho...
Powderfinger Are Reuniting For a Fundraising Virtual Concert
BRISBANE — They’re back. Powderfinger, arguably Australia’s biggest guitar band of the century, are reuniting for a one-off fundraising virtual concert. Dubbed One Night Lonely, the gig will stream Saturday, May 23 on YouTube and will raise much needed money for Support Act, the national charity that helps artists, roadies and music workers in crisis, and Beyond Blue, an organization that provides advice and support on mental health issues. Rumors of a Powderfinger reunion are as regular as a hot Australian summer. A teaser on social media Wednesday confirmed something was up, and the official announcement dropped early Thursday. Testing… is this thing on? — Powderfinger (@powderfinger_au) May 13, 2020 It’s been a decade since the five-piece from Brisbane were an active outfit....
Those Slick Quarantine Band Performances Are Harder to Pull Off Than You Think
From Dua Lipa to Blue Oyster Cult to Joan Jett & The Blackhearts, bands have been figuring out how to perform remotely during the pandemic. Blue Öyster Cult has played its rampaging-beast classic “Godzilla” 2,270 times, in theaters and casinos, at state fairs and festivals — the first time at the Maple Leaf Gardens, in Toronto, on June 21, 1977, and the last time at Robins Theatre, in Warren, Ohio, on March 8. But until late April, the pioneering hard-rock band’s five members had never done it remotely from their homes, during quarantine, mixed together into a YouTube grid of separate rectangular boxes. “We basically treated it like a gig,” says Richie Castellano, the band’s guitarist and keyboardist, who produced the “lock-down” ve...
SiriusXM CFO Says Satellite Radio Faces Uncertain Coronavirus Impact
Even if people aren’t commuting in their cars as much while they shelter in their homes during the coronavirus pandemic, satellite radio powerhouse and Pandora owner SiriusXM has yet to take a big hit to its bottom line judging by its recently released first-quarter earnings. But while listening of Pandora and SiriusXM offerings is up for stay-at-home consumers, David Frear, senior executive vp and CFO of SiriusXM, warned Tuesday that his industry faces an uncertain future. “I haven’t talked to anybody who has a good picture of what the recovery will look like,” he told the J.P. Morgan Global Technology, Media and Communications Conference during a session that was webcast. Frear said the COVID-19 crisis has driven new- and used-car sales down sharply, relative to y...
