A weekly update on all things music, advertising and technology coming straight to you from Anthony Vanger at MassiveMusic. #TWIM
ARTIST OF THE WEEK: GEORGIA
Glastonbury. The name conjures up images of huge crowds, monster acts and gobs of mud. This year, strike off the mud as the weather is supposed to be pretty good, but the other two elements will certainly apply. So which new artist playing at the iconic festival sneaked into the AOTW slot? We listened to quite a few of the new acts – but one artist kept on popping up. Georgia.
A former football player and drummer, Georgia grew up on the wrong side of the tracks in a housing co-op on Baker Street, London. She stands in front of an impressive array of electronic drums, cleanly and precisely drawing out the beat as the song evolves into a swirl of vocals, synths and four-on-the-floor kick drums. I feel that Georgia is a new kind of artist and one that we will see more of in the future. A self-sufficient army of one. Not needing unreliable drummers and guitar players. Just her and her gear that she plays at the flick of a switch. Of course, technology has been crucial in the evolution of this kind of musician, but it also requires imagination and courage to pull it off. Her midday slot at Glastonbury will cause quite a stir and give this exciting artist the boost her career deserves. Check out the end of the video where Georgia starts pounding the drums and singing. Are you ready Glastonbury?
AD OF THE WEEK: TACO BELL
American fast food giant creates mini-movie trailer.
Love this cheesy (no pun intended!) ad from American fast food giant Taco Bell. Tapping into the hot music biopic trend, Taco Bell and Deutsch have released a new mock-movie trailer entitled ‘Chasing Gold,’ featuring Golden Globe-winning actor Darren Criss and actor/comedian Chris Diamantopoulos. The trailer sets up the rise-and-fall of a singer who makes it big off Nacho Fries, only to learn that fame, just like Nacho Fries, is limited time only. Alongside the mock-trailer is a fully produced, original song written by Jingle Punks and sang by Darren Criss.https://www.linkedin.com/embeds/publishingEmbed.html?articleId=9055233061891132119
A really slick and brilliantly shot, acted and sung ad. Well done Taco Bell.
GLASTONBURY SET TO BE VERY HOT WITH MINIMAL MUD AND PLASTIC
This year Glastonbury is pioneering a plastic-free system, which means no single-use plastic can be bought on site. The aim is to save on clean-up costs, with the removal of rubbish from the site estimated at costing £785,000 and lasting six weeks. The last time the festival was held in 2017, visitors used 1.3m plastic bottles.
The festival has already banned food traders from using plastic cutlery and plates, insisting instead on compostable alternatives. Only paper straws are available on site, festival wristbands are made of cloth, and single-use plastic cups are not used in the bars.
A Met Office forecaster, said that the festival is likely to be 90% rain free with some showers predicted by Sunday. “You might still need your wellies because of the rain that’s fallen earlier in the week but mostly it’s looking dry and sunny – especially on Friday,” he said. The forecast is for sun, a few showers and balmy heat – with potential highs of 31C on Friday.
TAYLOR SWIFT’S ‘LOVER’ BREAKS DAY ONE RECORD FOR HIGHEST ‘PRE-ADS’ ON APPLE MUSIC
The most pre-added album by a female artist ever
A pre-add on Apple Music is the streaming era equivalent of a pre-order. Since opening pre-adds on Thursday, June 13, Lover has seen 222,400 pre-adds worldwide and that number continues to grow exponentially. Swift’s album has also set the record for the most pre-added pop album in its first day worldwide, the music streaming service has confirmed. Lover is released in all territories globally on August 23.
NAS IS RELEASING A CHILDREN’S BOOK CALLED ‘I KNOW I CAN’
The world-famous rapper and investor is taking his talents to the world of book writing.
I Know I Can is intended to be part of a series, the cumulative aim of which will be to provide children with the support and imagination they need to pursue their life goals. Nas hasn’t (and won’t) craft the book’s pictures, though the work’s illustrator hasn’t yet been revealed.
The rapper is regarded as one of the most legendary and pioneering artists in the genre, with Illmatic considered one of the greatest albums ever released.
SPOTIFY OFFICIALLY SIGNS ON TO SUPPORT FACEBOOK’S NEW CRYPTOCURRENCY — THE LIBRA
According to a leaked report, Spotify has signed on to support Facebook’s cryptocurrency project.
Facebook has formally introduced its new global subsidiary – the Calibra. The goal of the company is to provide financial services, allowing its 2.4 billion users and others to access and participate in the Libra network.
Calibra, the new digital wallet for the Libra, will purportedly help users save, send, and spend money. Using a smartphone, people can send the Libra “to almost anyone” with a smartphone with a simple text message. Partnering with over two dozen companies, Facebook wants people to pay bills “with the push of a single button,” buy a cup of coffee with a quick code scan, and even ride local public transportation “without needing to carry cash or a metro pass.”
Publishing its own blog post, Spotify explained the reason for joining the Libra Association. According to the music streaming company, executives have worked to create a platform where fans can directly access the audio they want “at any time, anywhere, and at the right price.” They also want to offer a service with economic viability.
OVER 250 MUSIC COMPANIES PLEDGE TO ACHIEVE 50/50 GENDER SPLIT BY 2022
The UK’s PRS Foundation has announced today (June 25) that it is extending its ‘Keychange 50/50′ festival pledge to the wider music business to achieve a better gender balance in the industry.
Keychange is an initiative led by PRS Foundation and supported by the Creative Europe program of the European Union. It aims to achieve a 50/50 gender split in the music industry by 2022.
Since the launch of the Keychange pledge in 2018, more than 190 festivals have signed up and committed to programming gender balanced line-ups by 2022.
Over 60 additional music industry organizations have now signed up to the pledge, including the BBC National Orchestra and Chorus of Wales, BBC Philharmonic, BBC Symphony Orchestra BDI Music, Bella Union and Bucks Music Group.
ROLI’S LUMI KEYBOARD TEACHES YOU TO PLAY MUSIC
Launching later this year following a successful Kickstarter campaign.
London-based music technology company ROLI is set to launch a new keyboard and app called LUMI later this year following a successful crowdfunding campaign.
The company says that the illuminated keyboard and accompanying app will make you “more musical in minutes”, giving you the opportunity to jam with the instrument and play along with tracks using a Guitar Hero-style system.
The app will give you scores based on how you played and you can pick certain parts of songs to play along with. The list of tracks available through the app has not yet been shared. As you get better, you can move on from the Guitar Hero-inspired system of illuminated falling blocks onto reading and playing along with sheet music.
shipping from October 2019 having been fully funded via a Kickstarter campaign launched by the company. You can watch a promo video below.
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