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Month: August 2016

Lorde Working on New Album

Lorde
Jason Tate

Lorde’s new album is written and currently in the production stages. Because the internet is, well, the internet … we learned this after a “fan” posted on Lorde’s Instagram page asking, “Do you think we will ever get another album or should we just give up on you as an artist?” Lorde then responded:

give up on me if you want to! I’m an artist, I write a record when I have enough special stories to tell, and it’s all me, every melody every lyric, not some team who just start the machine up every eighteen months like clockwork. the record is written, we’re in the production stages now. I’ve worked like a dog for a year making this thing great for you guys

It’s only been three years since the last one. Try being a Brand New fan.

Three Arrested, 7 Ticketed at Blink-182 Concert

Blink-182
Jason Tate

WKWB Buffalo:

The Genesee County Sheriff’s Office arrested three people and ticketed seven more at the Blink 182 concert at Darien Lake Performing Arts Center on Wednesday, including one man being held on $1,500 bail.

Deputies arrested 23-year-old Brandon Robinson of Amherst, charging him with harassment, criminal trespass, and resisting arrest. Deputies say Robinson jumped a fence to get into the concert, then fought with security guards trying to apprehend him. He was arraigned in Darien Town Court and taken to jail on $1,500 bail.

Apple Announce Music Festival Lineup

Jason Tate

Apple has announced their Apple Music Festival lineup: Alicia Keys, Bastille, Britney Spears, Calvin Harris, Chance the Rapper, Elton John, Michael Bublé, OneRepublic, Robbie Williams, and The 1975.

The full lineup was announced today by Julie Adenuga, the London voice of Beats 1, an Apple Music radio station that celebrates the best new music every day. Apple Music lets fans get even closer to their favorite performers during the Apple Music Festival with exclusive playlists, artist news and backstage interviews throughout September. The 10 spectacular nights of live performances will be made available live and on-demand to Apple Music members in 100 countries on their iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac, PC, Apple TV and Android phones.

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Reports: SpinMedia on the Block Looking to Sell

Money
Jason Tate

NY Post:

Perpetually struggling SpinMedia, the collection of music and pop culture websites once known as Buzz Media, is officially on the block, sources tell Media Ink.

The company, which snapped up both Vibe and Spin and promptly converted the music magazines to all-digital sites, has retained the investment bank Petsky Prunier to shop for a buyer.

The websites, which also include The Friskly, Idolator, Go Fug Yourself, Celebuzz, Buzznet, Death & Taxes and others, is estimated to be losing at least $5 million a year on revenues of around $18 million, sources said.

I feel bad because a lot of people I know are probably going to lose their jobs. But the writing has been on the wall for half a decade, at least.

A GIF of Aly Raisman’s Floor Routine Got Someone Banned From Twitter

Twitter
Jason Tate

Jim Weber, writing on LinkedIn:

I had read that the IOC was banning the press from using GIFs but I didn’t see how that applied to me. Sure, I didn’t have the rights to any footage at the Olympics — just like countless blogs and users don’t have rights to the NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL and NCAA footage that they create GIFs out of and profit from every day.

But I figured the worst thing that would happen is the GIF would be deleted from my account, as Twitter often does in these situations.

Boy was I wrong.

Frank Ocean’s Album Is the Straw That Broke Universal Music’s Back

Frank Ocean
Jason Tate

Dan Rys, writing at Billboard, about how Frank Ocean’s latest release is causing all kinds of headaches over at Universal:

After an interminable wait (in music industry standards, at least), Ocean fulfilled his contractual obligations, sources tell Billboard, and increased his potential profit share from 14 percent to 70 percent of total revenues from Blond within a 24-hour period, seemingly pulling a fast one on the biggest music company in the world in the process. Def Jam and its parent Universal, stuck with an overshadowed visual album that isn’t for sale, and cut out of any revenue from the “proper” album that’s headed to the top of the charts on the strength of 225,000 to 250,000 equivalent album units earned in the week ending Aug. 25, were left with what amounts to a very long music video and without one of their marquee artists.

Spotify Looking to Fine-Tune Music Rights

Jason Tate

Hannah Karp, writing at The Wall Street Journal:

Spotify is now operating on short-term extensions of its old contracts with all three major record companies, having been on a month-to-month basis with at least one of the labels for nearly a year. It is negotiating new deals that would make its finances more attractive to investors.

Spotify, which saw its net loss increase to roughly $200 million last year even as revenue doubled to more than $2 billion, wants to pay a smaller share than the nearly 55% of its revenue that it currently pays to record labels and artists, according to people familiar with the matter.

It pays roughly an additional 15% to music publishers and songwriters.

But some major label executives want Spotify to pay them as much as 58% of revenue from both its free and paid tiers. That is what Apple Inc. pays for Apple Music subscribers who aren’t on free trials, people familiar with the matter said. Apple has more than 5 million users on free trials, they said.

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For the Colonel, It Was Finger-Lickin’ Bad

Food
Jason Tate

From The New York Times archives, Colonel Sanders visits a KFC in 1976 and is pissed:

And when told that many Kentucky Fried Chicken salesclerks packed hot chicken in buckets well in advance of its sale, he almost fumed. If they do that, he said, the chicken will have a terrible smell.

“You know, that company is just too big to control now,” he said, “I’m sorry I sold it back in 1964. It would have been smaller now, but a lot better. People see me up there doing those commercials and they wonder how I could ever let such products bear my name. It’s downright embarrassing.”

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