A weekly update on all things music, advertising, and technology coming straight to you from Anthony Vanger at MassiveMusic. #TWIM
ARTIST OF THE WEEK: SO PRECIOUS BY MOON BOOTS ft. KONA
It is not every day that an Ivy League graduate puts out the best dance record of the year. Peter Dougherty, 37,aka Moon Boots, is an American DJ and music producer from Brooklyn. His early influences include Daft Punk, Herbie Hancock and a Tribe Called Quest. He studied music composition at Princeton before heading out to the “house music epicenter” of Chicago where he immersed himself in French House and R&B-infused dance music. Once his street education was complete, he circled back to Brooklyn, signed to label Anjunadeep and released his debut album, First Landing in 2017. So Precious, featured this week, is the single off his sophomore album, Bimini Road.
What makes this track so special is the groove. Not sure why, because it is not complicated or especially original, but it just catches fire from bar one. If you don’t believe me, stick it on your sound system at your next party and watch what happens.
AD OF THE WEEK: THE MAN WITHOUT THE ANSWERS
You can’t believe anything you read online these days. Fake news. Trolls. Bots. Deliberate misinformation. Yext, a data management tools company that checks the veracity and accuracy of online content, has launched its first major campaign with a clever ad where online misinformation has been personified by a liar, a character called Todd Munion. This pathological prevaricator, who wilfully spreads erroneous facts and figures, seems unstoppable. But Yext can help companies neutralise the Todd Munions of this world.
The reveal tells us that “82% of online information about brands is unverified,” concluding: “Don’t let Todd ruin your business. Get Yext, and deliver brand-verified answers.” I checked the company online. It had $170m in revenue last year and over 900 employees. Pretty impressive.
By the way, this ad was the most expensive online ad ever made. Just kidding.
THE INTERNET IS NOW 50 YEARS OLD
The first message ever sent was thought to be a typo.
Looking at the Internet now is like looking at your teenage child and wondering where the sweet, innocent creature you once knew has gone.
Fifty years ago, on Oct. 29, 1969, two letters were transmitted online from UCLA to Stanford through ARPANET, the precursor to what we now know as the internet, forever altering the way that knowledge, information, and communication would be exchanged.
After that major milestone, the first web page was published in 1991 and many of the services and websites that define the modern internet were not created until years after its inception. Amazon didn’t begin selling products until 1995, not as a one-stop emporium but, rather, as a virtual bookstore, Google’s first search took place in 1998 and iTunes didn’t launch until 2003. Thinking back to the analogy of the proverbial teenager, what will the Internet look like in 10 years time? What does an adult Internet look like?
COUNTERFEIT VINYL – IT’S A THING!
Tommy Boy Records becomes a victim to fraud
Tommy Boy Records has discovered that Amazon is selling counterfeit vinyl of titles it did not press.
Following a recent study that found that 25% of CDs ‘fulfilled by Amazon’ are counterfeit, the revelation came during last week’s Making Vinyl Conference in Los Angeles.
The president of Tommy Boy Records – best known for launching the careers of De La Soul, Queen Latifah, Afrika Bambaataa and more – Rosie Lopez said, “Counterfeit is another issue altogether. Somehow records that Tommy Boy hasn’t pressed in — ever — are on sale on Amazon, that’s a little concerning.”
Last December, a counterfeit vinyl pressing plant was busted by authorities in Wales, UK.
SPOTIFY HITS 113M SUBSCRIBERS, UP 5M IN THREE MONTHS
The Spotify behemoth rolls on.
Spotify has announced that it ended the month of September with 113m subscribers and 248m total Monthly Active Users worldwide.
That subscriber number was up by 5m on the 108m subs base the platform hit at the end of June. The subscriber numbers were confirmed in a Q3 financial update today (October 28), in which SPOT confirmed that its premium subs count was up 31% year on year (on the same three months, to end of September, in 2018). The 113m is comfortably within the firm’s guidance range of 110-114m for Q3.
The firm said: “For the 8th consecutive quarter, free cash flow was positive. We continue to see exponential growth in podcast hours streamed (up approximately 39% Q/Q) and early indications that podcast engagement is driving a virtuous cycle of increased overall engagement and significantly increased conversion of free to paid users.
APPLE OFFICIALLY ANNOUNCES THE AIRPODS PRO
Retailing at £250
Wondering what to buy someone for Xmas. Search no further. Apple has officially announced its rumoured succession to its second-generation AirPods, the AirPods Pro, which is slated to arrive this week for £249.
Confirming many speculations on the new design, the AirPods Pro will feature more secure flexible ear tips that come with three varying sizes in the box, as well as a new Active Noise Cancellation mode. It also has a Transparency mode for users to hear music while still hearing the environment. Both can be switched seamlessly by utilising its new force sensors (which can be used to control music) or by using the volume slider in Control Center.
To learn about all the new features, visit the official AirPods Pro portal page.
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