Link - PAGE 20

Former Eminem Employee Charged With Selling Unreleased Music

Eminem
Jason Tate

The FBI has charged a former Eminem employee for selling his unreleased songs for bitcoin:

In a statement shared with Variety, Eminem’s longtime spokesperson Dennis Dennehy said that the rapper is pleased with the latest development in the case. “Eminem and his team are very appreciative of the efforts by the FBI Detroit bureau for its thorough investigation which led to the charges against Joe Strange,” he said. “The significant damage caused by a trusted employee to Eminem’s artistic legacy and creative integrity cannot be overstated, let alone the enormous financial losses incurred by the many creators and collaborators that deserve protection for their decades of work. We will continue to take any and all steps necessary to protect Eminem’s art and will stop at nothing to do so.”

U.S. Reaches 100 Million Paid Music-Streaming Subscribers

Jason Tate

Variety, reporting on the RIAA’s 2024 data:

For the first time, paid streaming subscriptions hit the 100 million mark in the U.S. last year, while vinyl sales continued their nearly two-decade resurgence with $1.4 billion in sales, according to Recording Industry Association of America’s annual recorded-music revenue report.

Despite that milestone, streaming growth continues to slow — it was up just 4 million for the year, continuing a slowing trend over the past five years.

And:

Meanwhile, vinyl’s 18th straight year of growth scored nearly three-quarters of physical format revenue at $1.4 billion — the highest since 1984. For the third consecutive year, it outsold CDs, shipping 44 million vinyl records compared with 33 million CDs.

Vision Pro as Concert Device

Metallica
Jason Tate

M.G. Siegler, reviewing the new Metallica “Apple Immersive” concert (er, three songs) that was released for the Vision Pro:

It’s St. Patrick’s Day, 2025. It’s late, the family is asleep. I grab a beer and head out to watch a rock concert. But by “head out” I mean, put on the Vision Pro. Minutes later, I’m in Mexico City – over 5,000 miles away from my home in London – watching James Hetfield walk up to the stage. I’m right behind him. His cigar smoke wafting in my face. The crowd roars as he emerges into the stadium. 

It felt very close. Very real.

Honestly, I was blown away by the “Apple Immersive” Metallica concert that was released for the Vision Pro this past weekend. I like Metallica – like any red-blooded teenager in the 1990s, I grew up with ”The Black Album” – but I was more of a grunge kid. But my god, Apple (and the band) nailed this experience. It’s only about 30 minutes – just three songs – but I easily could have watched that for another few hours.

I’ve been ho-hum about the Vision Pro, mostly because for that price I see no real need in my life. This kind of immersive concert experience does sound fun though.

Lucy Dacus Talks with The New Yorker

Jason Tate

Lucy Dacus talked with The New Yorker about her upcoming album:

This spring, Dacus, who is twenty-nine, will release “Forever Is a Feeling,” her fourth solo record. It’s a gorgeous and tender album about falling in love—Dacus is now in a committed relationship with Baker—and how the tumult of that experience has forced her to reckon with the unknown. “This is bliss / This is Hell / Forever is a feeling / and I know it well,” Dacus sings on the title track. Her voice sounds pure and soft over a tangle of synthesizers, gamelan, harp, and drum machine. Dacus described the album as being partly about the idea of “coming to terms with change—of knowing that things aren’t forever,” and of finding freedom in the various ways we are asked, relentlessly and repeatedly, to reimagine ourselves and our lives

Matt Pinfield Survives Coma

Linked List
Jason Tate

Matt Pinfield has shared a health update after waking from a coma.

“Guys, I’m alive,” says Pinfield, 63. “I’m recovering and am going to come back swinging. I was unresponsive for two months. Friends were thinking they were coming to see me for the last time. The doctors never expected me to speak or to walk again.”

Rolling Stone Talks With Laura Jane Grace

Laura Jane Grace
Jason Tate

Rolling Stone talked with Laura Jane Grace about all the right-wing backlash to the new song “Your God.”

Grace says the song was well-received at the event, though, which was, essentially, a protest against the current state of America, which, under the Trump administration is apparently trying to erase trans people. “That song is the most relevant song I have right now to everything that’s going on,” Grace says, stressing that she ran the track by Sanders’ team first. “It’s a little profane, but out of all the songs I played, that was the one everyone connected with immediately. It’s a straight-up protest song. I don’t know what else that event was supposed to be other than a protest rally.”

Billie Joe Armstrong Buys Stake in Minor League Baseball Team

Billie Joe Armstrong
Jason Tate

Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong has purchased a stake in Oakland’s minor league baseball team:

The Green Day icon is joining the ownership group of the Oakland Ballers, the new (and as of this coming season) only professional baseball team in Northern California’s East Bay. Armstrong and legendary Oakland rapper Too $hort are climbing aboard the independent Pioneer League team ahead of the 2025 campaign, giving a celebrity boost to a club that in its first season already attracted plenty of grassroots interest.

Coheed and Cambria Talk with Kerrang

Coheed and Cambria
Jason Tate

Coheed and Cambria talked with Kerrang about their upcoming album:

“It’s a self-brand,” he explains as he prepares to brave the cold streets of London. “I think about all of the years being the guy who’s in the concept rock band. It’s a brand on myself, a painful one and a proud one. But the title is also for the character of Vaxis, who’s at a place in the story where the world is his and he can create it as he chooses. Part of me sees myself more in that character than ever. The end of the band, or the end of the concept of The Amory Wars is around the corner. Do we continue to stay inside the concept? Because I know how to do that, but part of me wonders what a new creative life looks like. That’s something that Vaxis has the choice to do, and will probably do when the next two records are done. I see a conclusion that, to me, feels perfect.”

Microsoft Shutting Down Skype

Microsoft
Jason Tate

The Verge:

Microsoft is shutting down Skype in May and replacing it with the free version of Microsoft Teams for consumers. Existing Skype users will be able to log in to the Microsoft Teams app and have their message history, group chats, and contacts all automatically available without having to create another account, or they can choose to export their data instead. Microsoft is also phasing out support for calling domestic or international numbers.

The Future of the Internet Is Likely Smaller Communities

The Verge
Jason Tate

The Verge:

Smaller, purpose-driven communities are the future. The desire for smaller, more intimate communities is undeniable. People are abandoning massive platforms in favor of tight-knit groups where trust and shared values flourish and content is at the core. The future of community building is in going back to the basics. Brands and platforms that can foster these personal, human-scale interactions are going to be the winners.

Seems like a good idea; someone should try it. Maybe we could call these things … forums?

Judge Tosses Part of a Lawsuit Against The 1975

The 1975
Jason Tate

Associated Press:

Members of the British band The 1975 cannot be held personally liable for losses of a Malaysian music festival that was shut down by authorities after lead singer Matty Healy kissed a male bandmate on stage, a London judge ruled Monday. 

The organizer of the Good Vibes Festival is seeking 1.9 million pounds ($2.4 million) in losses after Healy criticized the country’s anti-homosexuality laws and then kissed bassist Ross MacDonald at the Kuala Lumpur show in July 2023.

Home Grown Talk About Reuniting and Next Steps

Home Grown
Jason Tate

Home Grown recently talked with Dying Scene about reuniting and the future:

 I don’t know what happened. I think it was like 2023, probably in the fall. Adam was poking around the idea and we were talking about it. It never came into fruition. Kind of like, we’ll talk next year because at the end of the year. You got a lot of stuff going on. We started getting offers from Something Corporate and asked us if we wanted to do a support tour with them. Then we just threw out a group text and asked if there was interest. We wanted to have a meeting first before we make anything official. We all met up and it was great. We literally didn’t talk about music or the band for like a good hour, hour and a half. Then we all started talking about what we all want for the band. We basically all met in the middle and here we are, reunited.

A Turntable and an iPad Home Dashboard

Apps
Jason Tate

I enjoyed this story from Niléane over at MacStories about combining a new found love of vinyl with technology:

Allow me to spoil the ending of this story for you: in the end, unboxing this turntable escalated into a legitimately awesome tech upgrade to our living room. It’s now equipped with a docked 11“ iPad Pro that acts as a shared dashboard for controlling our HomeKit devices, performing everyday tasks like consulting the weather and setting up timers, and of course, broadcasting our vinyls to any HomePod mini or Bluetooth device in the apartment. This setup is amazing, and it works perfectly; however, getting there was a tedious process that drastically reinforced my long-standing frustrations with Apple’s self-imposed software limitations.

The app that powers it, Quanta, is one I’ll have to check out.

Mark Hoppus Selling Banksy Painting

Mark Hoppus
Jason Tate

Mark Hoppus of Blink-182 is selling his Banksy:

“We loved this painting since the moment we saw it,” said Hoppus, who bought the artwork with his wife, Skye Everly, in 2011. He said the painting – “unmistakably Banksy, but different” – has hung in the family’s homes in London and Los Angeles.

Hoppus said he would use the proceeds of the sale to buy work by upcoming artists. Some will go to the California Fire Foundation, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles and Cedars Sinai Hematology Oncology Research.

Read More “Mark Hoppus Selling Banksy Painting”