Month: July 2020

Facebook to Launch Officially Licensed Music Videos Next Month

Facebook
Jason Tate

Sarah Perez, writing at TechCrunch:

Facebook is preparing to launch officially licensed music videos on its social network in the U.S. next month, in a direct challenge to YouTube. In materials reviewed by TechCrunch, Facebook informed Page owners linked to artists they’ll need to toggle on a new setting to add their music videos to their page ahead of an August 1st deadline, at which point Facebook will automatically create a page of their videos if no action had been taken.

Artists will not have to manually upload their videos or even provide links, Facebook told the artist Page admins. Instead, by enabling the new setting, artists are giving Facebook permission to add music videos to their Page, where they can be discovered by fans on the Page’s Videos tab. This library will include both the artist’s own official videos and those they’re featured in, Facebook explained in its marketing materials.

Review: Broadway Calls – Sad In The City

Broadway Calls - Sad in the City
Adam Grundy

On their fourth full-length studio album, the Oregon-based punk band Broadway Calls have put together their strongest collection of songs to date. Produced by a longtime admirer of the band in Scott Goodrich, Sad in the City is a record that does a good job of reacting to the world we live in right now. Lead vocalist and guitarist, Ty Vaughn had this to say about his latest record; “Sad In The City is about navigating the end of the most violent empire the world has ever seen. Making your way home to the ones you love while trying to avoid the police. Finding love and realizing how it still needs to be celebrated even as we burn the world. Dealing long overdue fatal blows to the state and the corporations they serve. It is a violent record for a violent time. This isn’t dystopian fiction. There’s a stain on the road, shaped like a kid. There’s a target on your back where it’s always been. And now everyone is Sad In The City.” With so much pent up aggression loaded into this record’s context, it’s no wonder why the album plays out as well as it does.

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Billboard Announces New Chart Rules: No More Merch & Ticket Bundles

Billboard
Jason Tate

Chris Eggertsen, writing for Billboard:

Billboard is changing the rules to its Billboard 200, Hot 100 and other album and song charts. The announcement comes in an effort to rectify how sales are counted with respect to album bundles with merchandise and concert tickets, as well as instant digital sales attached to purchases for physical albums delivered at a later date. […]

Now, Billboard — in an acknowledgement that those measures have fallen short of the intended goal of accurately reflecting consumer intent — has decided to eliminate the practice of counting albums bundled with merchandise and concert tickets on its album and song charts altogether.

Review: Ellie Goulding – EG.0

Ellie Goulding - "EG.0"
Garrett Lemons

Brightest Blue, the fourth album by British pop singer Ellie Goulding, out July 17th, has been five years in the making. She has described Blue as something that allows people “to immerse themselves into a world of hope despite everything being so bleak.” She says that it’s about “tear[ing] through your own demons” and “free[ing] yourself from toxic relationships.” 

This sounds exactly like the follow-up that her 2012 release Halcyon promised, though not the one that 2015’s Delirium delivered. Ellie described Halcyon as “very self-indulgent” and “the most honest record she’s ever written.” The album is a meshing of heart-wrenching storytelling and the moody electronic style that would be embodied by Billie Eilish a few years later. But Delirium went the opposite direction, embracing modern pop on the back of global number one “Love Me Like You Do.” 

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Pop Smoke Tops the Charts

Jason Tate

Pop Smoke has the number one album in the country this week:

The set was released on July 3 via Victor Victor Worldwide/Republic Records and bows with 251,000 equivalent album units earned in the U.S. in the week ending July 9, according to Nielsen Music/MRC Data.

The Hamilton soundtrack came in at number two:

With Hamilton surging to No. 2, and surpassing its previous high of No. 3, the cast album is the highest charting cast album since the original cast recording of Hair spent 13 weeks at No. 1 in 1969 (on the April 26 through July 19-dated charts). Until this week, Hamilton was tied with the original Broadway cast recording of The Book of Mormon as the highest charting cast album since 1969, as Mormon peaked at No. 3 in 2011.