A weekly update on all things music, advertising, and technology coming straight to you from Anthony Vanger at MassiveMusic. #TWIM
ARTIST OF THE WEEK: THE 1975
There is a lot to like about this band. They write great pop songs. The singer is star. The drummer and the rest of the band are fantastic so that the tracks always pulse with energy. They are also going through growing pains, trying to figure out who they want to be and what they want to look like and that can always be interesting musically and aesthetically. Success has always come fast (and easy?) to lead singer Matthew Healy and his band with four Number 1 albums in the UK and one in the US, but the success came at a price. Healey, 29, has spoken openly about his battle to overcome heroin addiction and most of the songs on the last album were about that struggle, so it is refreshing to hear their new album, Notes on a Conditional Form, take the band in a new more positive direction and check out the sax solo. Like one of the comments on YouTube said: “Sax never died, it was just sleeping ready to be awoken.”
AD OF THE WEEK: THE TALK
P&G’s ‘The Look’ Examines The Everyday Prejudice Black Men Experience
Most ads last for a few days. Some become classics. Time to dust off this classic, “The Look” from P&G in the series of ads launched each year. Originally debuted in 2019, “The Look” watches as a black man suffers the silent looks of prejudice. Not one, not two, but three store clerks eye him as he shops. He races to an elevator and everybody stares straight at him as they let the door slam closed in his face. At a luncheonette, a couple comes in and obviously chooses to sit away from him. Whether conscious or not, this video suggests, black men see this every day. The collective effect is suffocating, but it is with the ending that the ad really packs a punch.
BTS STANS ARE THE NEW CROWDFUNDING GIANTS
On Thursday, K-pop group BTS ended five days of Twitter silence by signing into their account to issue a rare political statement. “We stand against racial discrimination. We condemn violence. You, I and we all have the right to be respected. We will stand together,” they wrote, punctuating those four sentences with the #BlackLivesMatter hashtag.
The group and its record label, Big Hit Entertainment, followed up by making a $1 million donation to Black Lives Matter. “Black people all over the world are in pain at this moment from the trauma of centuries of oppression,” Kailee Scales, a managing director for Black Lives Matter told Variety. “We are moved by the generosity of BTS and allies all over the world who stand in solidarity in the fight for Black lives.”
TWITCH USERS FACE POTENTIAL CHANNEL BANS FOLLOWING PLATFORM’S ‘SUDDEN INFLUX OF DMCA MUSIC TAKEDOWN REQUESTS’
Amazon-owned live streaming platform Twitch has become an increasingly useful tool for artists looking to reach their fans in the absence of live music during the COVID-19 quarantine.
Various prominent Twitch users reported to have received copyright infringement notices from Twitch for music used in clips posted on their channels over the past year, with the company threatening to terminate the accounts of “repeat infringers.”
According to Twitch, the action being taken against its users follows “a sudden influx of DMCA takedown requests for clips with background music from 2017-19”.
It adds: “To avoid any further copyright strikes, please take a moment to clear your account of any potentially infringing content and refrain from sharing any unauthorised content on Twitch in the future. If this is your third strike, your account is now terminated.”
AN AVICII MUSEUM IS OPENING IN SWEDEN
A museum dedicated to Tim Bergling aka Avicii is due to open in the Swedish capital of Stockholm in 2021.
The ‘Avicii Experience’ will be dedicated to the Swedish artist’s life and music, with exhibits showcasing memorabilia, and photographs and videos that have never been seen publicly before. Avicii collaborator Nile Rodgers said: “Avicii has quite rightly been celebrated as one of the greatest DJ’s of all time and as an important artist who made massively successful records, but what I will remember the most is that Tim was one of the finest songwriters I ever worked with.
‘DANCEFAIR’ LAUNCH WORLD’S BIGGEST VIRTUAL MUSIC CONFERENCE
The online conference will be free with 16 virtual ‘rooms’
Dancefair has announced the world’s biggest virtual music conference taking place on September 5th and 6th 2020. The virtual event will be free of charge and feature 16 ‘rooms’ with over 200 programmed panels, workshops, events and branded spaces.
There’ll be artist masterclasses showing how artists make their music, 1-on-1 sessions with A&Rs and demo drops, panels discussing industry issues and chat rooms for the attendees to communicate. Dancefair is in its ninth year, and previously held masterclasses from Martin Garrix, Armin van Buuren, Hardwell, DJ Sneak and Pan-pot.
The program for the virtual conference has yet to be announced. Watch the video below to get an idea of how the conference will work and visit their website for more info.
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