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Jack Antonoff Enlists A-List Army to Fight Anti-LGBTQ Legislation in Texas

Bleachers
Jason Tate

Ray Rogers, writing for Billboard, talks with Jack Antonoff about his fight against anti-LGBTQ legislation in Texas:

It’s an issue happening in many areas, but we wanted to focus in specific places, and right now it’s what I would consider a crisis in Texas with Texas Senate Bill SB6 and House Bill HB1362, the so-called bathroom bills — they’re hate bills against the LGBTQ community. And after seeing what happened in North Carolina [with the HB2 “bathroom bill” signed into law last March], this is something that people really care about. It’s something that artists care about, artists who come through these areas and tour through them and local artists.

SoundSource: Taking Control of Your Mac’s Sound

Jason Tate

Rogue Amoeba has released their new Mac app SoundSource:

From SoundSource’s menu bar icon, you can instantly configure the audio devices your Mac uses for Input, Output and Sound Effects. In seconds, you can adjust the volume for each of your audio devices or switch between connected devices. SoundSource can also enable the soft play-thru of audio from input devices. Use the Play-Thru window to monitor any connected input, such as a microphone, right through your headphones or other output.

Against the Current’s Chrissy Costanza Talks About Reading & Leeds Lineup

Against the Current
Jason Tate

Against the Current’s Chrissy Costanza talked with Alternative Press about the gender disparity at this year’s Reading & Leeds Festival:

So I started looking into it a little bit more because I didn’t want to speak without knowing what I was talking about. And I saw one site posted, “Who else do you want to see added to the Reading & Leeds lineup?” and I scrolled through the comments. [In] literally 350-something comments, I think there was like a handful of Paramore’s, one PVRIS comment, and that was it as far as girls go. Everything else was male bands and I was like, “Well, we’re all screaming about how there’s no girls on this [festival] and it’s like, you guys, the girls, the fans—I’m watching you guys comment. None of you are asking for girls. None of you—you’re all asking for guys, like every single one of you.” So how is Reading & Leeds supposed to put girls in their festival if you aren’t even supporting each other at this point? If we can make up over half the fans, women are the ones who are most actively commenting on all these things, the most active presences on social media. We have so much power and we’re not using it.

Dear anyone looking to book great artists for your festivals: this thread is full of them.

Google Adds Sharable Location Lists in Maps

Google
Jason Tate

Google has launched sharable location lists in Google Maps:

The new feature adds another layer to the already-existing “save” option in Google Maps. Once you pinpoint a desired location, you can hit the “save” button to reveal a number of premade lists including “Want to Go,” “Starred,” and “Favorites.” Then you can choose the list you want the location to live in, or create a new list with a personalized title like “Vacation.” In Google Maps’ menu, you can find all your saved lists in the “Your Places” folder when you want to recall saved locations. Now each list will have a “share” button as well, which lets you grab its link to share with others or share it via different social networks. This should make it easier to share things like favorite restaurants and shopping locations with visiting out-of-town family and the like.

This is a really cool feature. I’ve used apps like Relay and Rego in the past to achieve something similar.

Facebook Tries to Offer Music Labels a YouTube Alternative

Facebook
Jason Tate

Lucas Shaw, writing for Bloomberg:

The world’s largest social network has redoubled its efforts to reach a broad accord with the industry, according to interviews with negotiators at labels, music publishers and trade associations. A deal would govern user-generated videos that include songs and potentially pave the way for Facebook to obtain more professional videos from the labels themselves.

Disney Severs Ties With PewDiePie Over Anti-Semitic Posts

YouTube
Jason Tate

Disney has severed ties with YouTube star PewDiePie after a series of anti-semitic posts. The Wall Street Journal reports:

Mr. Kjellberg said in a video a few days later that the Jan. 11 clip was a joke that went too far. Alphabet Inc.’s Google, which owns YouTube, pulled ads that run on its videos from the Jan. 11 video within days of its posting, before it was taken down this past weekend. YouTube hasn’t pulled any of the nine videos in question, though PewDiePie’s account took down three of them. Google hasn’t removed ads from any of Mr. Kjellberg’s other videos.

Being a piece of shit is all the rage in 2017.

Big Sean Tops the Billboard Charts

Jason Tate

Big Sean has the number one album this week. Lady Gaga climbed all the way back to number two after her Super Bowl performance:

Big Sean nabs his second No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart, as I Decided. debuts atop the list, earning 151,000 equivalent album units in the week ending Feb. 9, according to Nielsen Music. Of that sum, 65,000 were in traditional album sales. I Decided. was released on Feb. 3 through G.O.O.D./Def Jam Recordings.

Passion Pit Frontman Launching Artist Support Company

Passion Pit
Jason Tate

Kerry Flynn, writing at Mashable:

Michael Angelakos, the frontman of Passion Pit, is launching a company to support musicians and provide them with legal, educational and healthcare services, Mashable has learned.

The New York City-based company, called The Wishart Group, has raised $250 million in funding, with contributions from big names in the music and tech industries. Angelakos, who declined to comment, is expected to publicly announce the project as early as this week.

The Wishart Group have a YouTube page with the new song “Inner Dialog” posted on it.

Sonny Moore Talks About From First to Last on Red Carpet

Skrillex
Jason Tate

Sonny Moore talked with Alternative Press on the Grammy red carpet about his return to From First to Last:

When Major asked him if was back in From First To Last “for good,” Moore said: “I left the band, but I would say I’m not left anymore.”

He continues: “I’m not stopping what I’m doing with Skrillex either, but I haven’t left anymore.”

On if a full album is on the way, Moore says: “We’ll see.”

Ryan Adams on Marc Maron’s Podcast

Ryan Adams
Jason Tate

Ryan Adams appeared on a the latest episode of Marc Maron’s WTF podcast:

Singer-songwriter Ryan Adams knows there’s a stark difference between the way he views the work throughout his career and the popular perception of it. Whether it’s his years in Whiskeytown or his song New York, New York becoming a rallying cry after 9-11, Ryan tells Marc why history has created a different narrative of these events than what he experienced at the time and how that guides what he’s doing today.

The Dillinger Escape Plan Cancel Tour Dates Following Bus Crash

The Dillinger Escape Plan
Jason Tate

The Dillinger Escape Plan were in a bus crash in Poland over the weekend:

A police spokeswoman in Poland says 13 people have been injured after a truck rammed into the bus carrying American band The Dillinger Escape Plan to a concert in Krakow.

Aneta Wlazlowska from the police in Radomsko said Sunday that band members were not seriously hurt but were taken for tests at the local hospital. A pregnant woman traveling with the band was not hurt.

The band has canceled the rest of their European tour dates:

All the gear is destroyed and there are injuries—we are unable to continue this tour right now. The band and crew would like to thank the fans and press around the world for their concern and the Polish police and medical staff for their handling of the situation. We hope to get back to Europe soon.

An Oral History of The Beatles’ First U.S. Concert

The Beatles
Jason Tate

This weekend marked the anniversary of The Beatles’ first U.S. concert, the Washington Post has an oral history:

I never was a screamer. It was all about the music for me. The concert started with some warm-up groups, and I was relieved because I had heard about the screaming that went on in England. And I thought: Nobody’s screaming. This is going to be nice; we’re going to be able to hear them. (Laughs.) When they started playing, you couldn’t hear a thing. It was unbelievably loud, like white noise. I remember the policeman near me stuck bullets in his ears.

Prince Albums Return to Streaming Services

Prince
Jason Tate

Prince’s Warner Music catalog has returned to a variety of streaming services, including Spotify and Apple Music:

The Purple One’s Warner Music catalog, including the albums “Purple Rain,” “1999” and “Sign O’ the Times,” will be available Feb. 12 on subscription-streaming services including Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon, Napster and iHeartRadio …