A weekly update on all things music, advertising and technology coming straight to you from Anthony Vanger at MassiveMusic. #TWIM
ARTIST OF THE WEEK: JESSE WARE
Love this artist. Luscious voice, great songwriting and hyper cool production. Ware has been kicking around for a while now and has achieved significant success. Her first album Devotion (2012) peaked at number five on the UK Albums Chart and was nominated for a Mercury Prize. Her second album, Tough Love, charted at #9 in the UK and her third, Glasshouse, hit #3 in the UK. She has also penned songs for Nicki Minaj and Ed Sheeran. Yet despite all these significant achievements, she has somehow not hit the mainstream. Perhaps this latest effort – a single called Adore – might be the tipping point. I love the stripped back arrangement and the confidence in her delivery. Ware sounds like an artist in her prime.
AD OF THE WEEK: MOVISTAR “DOOR”
Movistar uses the company’s platform to talk about issues of domestic violence and abuse.
This ad cleverly and effectively demonstrates what the telco giant is doing to address issues of domestic violence. The tense film encourages viewers to talk about gender violence and promotes the use of the line 144 in Argentina of the National Ministry of Health and Social Development that helps women that are going through situations of violence. Calling this number is confidential and has no cost.
Ed note: Numbers in the UK: 0808 2000 247 24. All other numbers can be found on Google. Helplines are 24/7 and free to call.
WARNER SUES SPOTIFY IN INDIA
Warner Music Group has filed an injunction against Spotify in a Mumbai court. Spotify had tried to obtain rights to stream Warner’s catalogue through a controversial amendment to the Indian copyright act that allows for broadcasters to obtain licenses without the copyright owner’s consent.
A Warner statement released to Music Business Weekly, an online publication dedicated to music news, claimed that “After months of negotiations, Spotify abruptly changed course and has falsely asserted a statutory license for our songwriters’ music publishing rights in India. We had no choice but to ask an Indian court for an injunction to prevent this. It’s our goal to hammer out a deal that works for everyone. We hope this is just a speed bump in the expansion of our long and successful global partnership.”
Reports today that nearly 150 million people in India are already using music streaming services, the competition is heating up. Spotify may decide to launch without Warner, betting that it can carry the day without one of the ‘Big Three’.
UPDATE: Bombay’s high court said that Spotify would still be allowed to launch for now, according to The Times of India, and it appears Spotify wasted no time in doing just that. It seems that if Spotify chooses to stream Warner’s music in the meantime, Spotify will be required to track usage of Warner’s music and set aside money to pay royalties while the case continues through the courts. For now, Spotify is live in India, but without the Warner/Chappell Music catalog, which hosts many of the world’s biggest artists.
YOUTUBE POWERS BRITS 2019 TO RECORD LIVESTREAM FIGURES
Huge numbers signal a paradigm shift in how viewers watch tentpole events
YouTube’s livestream of the BRIT Awards pulled in a phenomenal 3.98 million unique views – almost as many as watched the show on terrestrial TV.
The figure was up from last year’s 1.5m viewers and set a new livestream record for the event as the BRITs posted a host of impressive digital figures that illustrate the event’s growing international appeal.
It’s that livestream figure that will really catch the eye of the industry, falling just short of the live TV audience of 4.1m and justifying the BPI’s partnership with YouTube Music as the official music app of the event, despite the chequered history between the two companies.
DE LA SOUL CLAIM THEY’LL GET JUST 10% OF STREAMING REVENUE FROM CLASSIC ALBUMS
Good news! De La Soul’s back catalog is finally coming to streaming services. The Bad news? De La Soul isn’t happy with the terms of the deal.
Members Posdnuos, Trugoy, and Maseo have since gone to social media claiming they will not be fairly compensated. De la Soul said it will only receive 10 percent of the profits, with the other 90 percent going to its former label Tommy Boy Records. Asked whether they’ve ever received any royalties from the albums, De la Soul says, “Pennies, compared to what Tommy Boy was receiving.” The group gets into greater detail about these, and happier matters in the 45-minute interview below.https://www.linkedin.com/embeds/publishingEmbed.html?articleId=8526797070182544744
TEENAGE ENGINEERING DEBUTS AN AFFORDABLE ENTRY INTO MODULAR SYNTHESIS
A do-it-yourself synth
Swedish audio company Teenage Engineering is expanding their popular Pocket Operator synth line with a new line of self-assembly modular units called the 16, the 170, and the 400.
Meant to be a more affordable entry point into modular synthesis than most Eurorack modules — which can easily balloon into thousands of dollars — Teenage Engineering says their goal was to create a “poor man’s modular.”
To keep the price down, all the systems come in flat pack kits, so light assembly is required. Each chassis is made of thin, bendable aluminium sheet metal, and you’ll have to fold panels and tabs into place to create the frame, pop the corresponding system into it, attach knobs, and then screw everything into place.
A SOMETHING EXTRA
Here is a little something someone sent me. No reason to put it up here other than it put me in a really good mood. Enjoy!
Written by Anthony Vanger
Additional reporting by Adam “Badger” Woolf
Artwork by Gustav Balderdash
To join This Week In Music please send me an email: anthonyvanger@gmail.com