A weekly update on all things music, advertising, and technology coming straight to you from Anthony Vanger at MassiveMusic. #TWIM
ARTIST OF THE WEEK: JAMES MASSIAH
Ride for Me, the debut single from South London-born poet/rapper James Massiah and accompanying video from Ian Pons Jewel is a great example of how to create a stark warning for climate change doubters. Set in a nondescript urban center, the action zeroes in on people struggling to go about their daily lives in apocalyptic heat – so hot that you can fry an egg on the pavement.
In stark contrast, the track is as cool as the video is sweltering: Massiah delivers his message over a hypnotic sound, with icy-cold synth lines repeated over beats that borrow from eski (a type of Grime), dancehall and acid house. One of the best tracks of the year.
AD OF THE WEEK: TIUNE BACK IN | BRITAIN GET TALKING
Talking together and listening can build our mental wellness.
I saw this ad last night and was surprised at how much it moved me. I have been thinking about how much the sharing of ideas through talking lies at the core of who we are. Anxiety and depression are formidable foes. Drugs, therapy, and meditation can sometimes hold them at bay, but even when defeated, they are always lurking in the shadows. What does seem to work is talking, which is free and so easy to do once it starts. Well done ITV for taking the fight against depression into our living rooms and well done for the creatives who came up with this ingenious ad.
Britain Get Talking. An ITV Mental Wellness Initiative to help families get closer supported by Young Minds and MIND.
For more information visit: itv.com/BritainGetTalking
YOUTUBE PARTNERS WITH MERCHANDISE PLATFORM MERCHBAR
YouTube has partnered with Merchbar to allow artists with an Official Artist Channel to ‘surface’ their official merchandise and vinyl alongside their videos. Carrying over 1 million items from 35,000 artists, Merchbar is one of the largest music merchandise aggregator providers globally.
Official Artist Channels will display a shelf with the artist’s own branded merchandise, which can then be bought after clicking through to Merchbar’s website. Eligible artists with an Official Artist Channel and a Merchbar store with US fulfillment enabled can sign up for the merch shelf in YouTube Studio.
YouTube says that it’ll be rolling out the feature in the US first and are working to expand globally in the near future.
Spotify also partnered with Merchbar to integrate its retail listings into the streaming platform in 2016
WORLD’S LARGEST SEQUENCER AT AMSTERDAM DANCE EVENT (ADE)
The world’s largest sequencer, the RBMA-20, will be available to practice on at Amsterdam Dance Event this year. There will be live performances from the likes of Legowelt, Egyptian Lover and Colin Benders. The sequencer will be set up near Amsterdam Centraal, the main train station at the heart of the city, with an open session for the general public from October 15th to October 19th, from 4 pm till 9 pm every day. See it in action below.
The sequencer was originally installed outside Tresor in Berlin last year to celebrate Red Bull Music Academy’s 20th anniversary, and although the Academy has since pared back its operations, it’s bringing the 10-metre-long, two-metre-high sequencer to the popular Amsterdam conference. No RSVP or signup is needed, just show up to IJ-Passage, Stationsplein 39 and start jamming.
GUNS N’ ROSES’ SWEET CHILD O’ MINE BECOMES FIRST MUSIC VIDEO FROM THE ’80S TO HIT 1 BILLION VIEWS ON YOUTUBE
YouTube has confirmed that Guns ‘N Roses’ No. 1 single Sweet Child O’ Mine is now officially the first music video from the ‘80s to enter the platform’s Billion Views Club.
According to an official press release, Guns N’ Roses’ Sweet Child O’ Mine video caps an ‘80s Top 5 comprised of A-ha – Take On Me (943M), Cyndi Lauper – Girls Just Want To Have Fun (786M), The Police – Every Breath You Take (699M) and Michael Jackson – Billie Jean (694M).
To mark the milestone YouTube have released some stats on Guns N’ Roses’ performance on the platform. The group have more than 6.7 million YouTube and were one of the top 200 most viewed artists of 2019 globally on YouTube. Daily views of Guns N’ Roses have averaged 3.1M in 2019, moreover they have already earned over 895M views in 2019, earning massive numbers in countries like the United States (163M), Brazil (117M), Mexico (112M), Argentina (48M), and Colombia (37M).
The official music video for Sweet Child O’ Mine has seen an average of 590K daily views in 2019.
SONY’S 360 REALITY AUDIO LAUNCHES THIS FALL WITH 1,000 TRACKS
Today, the electronics giant announced that 360 Reality Audio, its immersive listening technology that debuted at CES, is officially launching this fall. There will be around 1,000 tracks to start from the likes of Billy Joel and Bob Dylan. You’ll be able to access 360 Reality songs via Tidal, Amazon Music HD, Deezer and nugs.net (which is a real service, we checked) on their respective iOS and Android apps.
Sony is basically trying to recreate the experience of listening to live music with 360 Reality Audio. Think of it like a step beyond stereo, you’d ideally be able to pick out where an instrument is being played on a sound field that completely surrounds you.
While Sony says the format supports high res audio, it will initially roll out with streaming-level quality. Sony says you’ll be able to listen to 360 Reality Audio tracks on any headphones and the participating streaming apps on Android and iOS. Tidal reps tell us its app will get 360 Reality support on October 28th.
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