Spotify Studies Weather and Music Relationship; Builds “Climatune”

Spotify has teamed up with AccuWeather to build Climatune:

[W]e conducted a comprehensive study into the connection between music and weather. We partnered with AccuWeather, to gather data from hundreds of weather stations around the world. This included a year’s worth of data mapped to six different web toys: sun, cloud, rain, snow, wind, and clear night. We then correlated this with 85 billion anonymized, aggregated streams in over 900 cities, to uncover any patterns.

Dashboard Confessional Talks New Music

Dashboard Confessional

Chris Carrabba talked with Billboard about the upcoming Dashboard Confessional album:

“It’s probably not savvy to say this, but I’ve begun to admit that I like my older records better — and I know why,” he explains. “As time went on, people came along with good and different ideas, and one thing I kept hearing a lot is that lyrics don’t matter — and I think I’m not the right guy to say that to. They might be completely right, but that’s why I write songs. So this (upcoming) record, to me, is very much like the first three and a half records, where it’s just like — I have something to say, not just a nice thing to sing.”

Migos Tops the Charts This Week

Migos has the number one album this week:

Culture’s debut was driven by streams of its songs, as streaming equivalent album units accounted for 59 percent of the set’s first-week total (77,000 of 131,000). The album sold 44,000 in traditional album sales and earned 10,000 in track equivalent album units.

Technology Industry Teams Up for Amicus Brief

Legal

Apple, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, and 93 other technology companies have filed an amicus brief opposing Trump’s immigration ban. From The Washington Post:

On Sunday night, technology giants Apple, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Netflix, Twitter, Uber and many others filed a legal brief opposing the administration’s contentious entry ban, according to people familiar with the matter. The move represents a rare coordinated action across a broad swath of the industry — 97 companies in total— and demonstrates the depth of animosity toward the Trump ban.

The amicus brief was filed with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, which is expected to rule within a few days on an appeal by the administration after a federal judge in Seattle issued late Friday a temporary restraining order putting the entry ban on hold. The brief comes at the end of a week of nationwide protests against the plan — as well as a flurry of activity in Silicon Valley, a region that sees immigration as central to its identity as an innovation hub.

For those curious what an amicus brief is:

Amicus briefs are legal documents filed in appellate court cases by non-litigants with a strong interest in the subject matter. The briefs advise the court of relevant, additional information or arguments that the court might wish to consider. Briefs can also focus the court’s attention on the implications of a potential holding on an industry, group, or jurisdiction not represented by the parties.

All Time Low’s Alex Gaskarth Talks Immigration Ban & ACLU T-Shirt Campaign

All Time Low’s Alex Gaskarth talks with Billboard about the band releasing a t-shirt with the proceeds going to the ACLU and Trump’s immigration ban:

“But then Jack, our guitar player was born in Lebanon, born in the Middle East, which is even closer to this sweeping ban that is taking place. So it’s really close to home within the band,” he continues. “Jack’s parents both live in Lebanon, and it’s only a few degrees of separation between what is happening and directly affecting us. Then from there, we have friends and family who this is directly affecting who are devastated.”

It’s been great to see so many bands and artists speak up about this over the past week.

Bill Simmons Talks About the First Year of the Ringer

The Ringer

Recode sat down to talk with Bill Simmons about first year of The Ringer, ESPN, and his canceled HBO show:

We talked to Yahoo. We talked to Vice a little bit. But the thing about my ESPN experience — that I was terrified to replicate — was you align yourself with somebody — and really, you’re aligning yourself with one or two people — that just believes in you and your idea and what you do. If those people go away, or those people change, now you’re stuck with different people who might not believe in what you want to do. I just didn’t want to go through that again.

It sounds like his podcasting network, for the most part, is what’s bringing in the money while the website continues to find its footing. That fits my own habits: I don’t read the website at all, thought the TV show sucked, and listen to quite a few of the podcasts.1


  1. Although with the Patriots winning the Super Bowl that may make those unlistenable for a little while.

An Update on Bandcamp’s ACLU Fundraising

Bandcamp

Bandcamp has posted an update on their Friday fundraising for the ACLU:

With several hours remaining, we estimate that fans will have bought just over $1,000,000 worth of music today, which is 550% more than a normal Friday (already our biggest sales day of the week). All of our share of that (~12%) goes directly to the ACLU. The other 88% (less transaction fees) goes directly to the labels and artists, more than 400 of whom have pledged to donate their share of sales today as well.