Paramore Back in the Studio

Paramore are back in the studio and have talked a little with Rolling Stone about their progress:

Along with marking their first album in half a decade, Paramore’s next LP will also be the first Williams, Farro, and York have ever started and finished together as a trio. Noting he came in halfway through the making of After Laughter, Farro says, “It’s really exciting because the three of us have completely different strengths when it comes to creating. It’s making the music and just the whole process of making a Paramore album feel completely new.”

As for the album’s sound, Williams says she and York had been reminiscing on some of their earliest influences well before they began writing the LP. But she’s quick to note that that doesn’t necessarily mean the group is necessarily plotting a “comeback ‘emo’ record.”

“The music we were first excited by wasn’t exactly the kind of music we went on to make,” Williams says. “Our output has always been all over the place and with this project, it’s not that different. We’re still in the thick of it but some things have remained consistent from the start. 1) More emphasis back on the guitar, and 2) Zac should go as Animal as he wants with drum takes.”

‘Encanto’ Soundtrack Is the Top Selling Album

The Encanto soundtrack was the best selling album last week:

The soundtrack to the Walt Disney animated musical film Encanto surges to No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart (dated Jan. 15), as the set jumps 7-1 in its sixth week on the list. It’s the first soundtrack to hit No. 1 in more than two years – since Disney’s own Frozen II chilled atop the list for one week, on the chart dated Dec. 14, 2019.

CD Sales Are Up for the First Time in 17 Years

CD, Record Store

American Songwriter:

For the first time in 17 years, CD sales are… actually up. 

According to an annual report from MRC Data, sales of CDs went up from 40.16 million units in 2020 to 40.49 million in 2021. And we have big-name tentpole acts like BTS, Adele, and Taylor Swift to praise for it. 

Vinyl album sales volume increased a massive 50.4% in 2021, as well. That includes the single biggest volume sales week for vinyl album since 1991.

On Thursday (January 6), Billboard reported that Adele is a significant reason for the upward trend in 2021 CD sales (and music sales in general!). Her latest LP, 30, was last year’s top-selling record across all physical and digital platforms. It was also the top-selling CD in 2021, moving 898,000 units.

Thanks, Adele.

Nick Heer on Apple Music and Last.fm

Nick Heer nails what I’ve been thinking for a while about what Apple Music should learn from Last.fm:

So: Last.fm. There are a few things I like about it. First, it seems to take into account my entire listening history, though it does give greater weight to recency and frequency. Second, it shows me why it is recommending a particular artist or album. Something as simple as that helps me contextualize a recommendation. Third, its suggestions are a blend of artists I am familiar with in passing and those that I have never heard of.

Most importantly, it feels free of artificial limitations. Apple Music only shows a maximum of eight similar artists on my iPhone, but there are pages of recommendations on Last.fm. Echo and the Bunnymen has twenty-five pages with ten artists each. I can go back and see my entire listening history since I started my account there. Why can I only see the last forty things I listened to on Apple Music?

There are so many things Apple could learn from Last.fm’s recommendation approach, and I wish it would. Right now, its approach is somewhere between inconsequential and unhelpful. It does not have to be this way, and it should not be this way.

Maybe part of my appreciation comes from my nostalgia for the mid-2000s internet era. They are memories of shiny, colourful logos, wet floors everywhere, and new social networks for every conceivable interest. These websites encouraged centralization and many were ultimately destructive to privacy, but there were also gems like Last.fm. It was built around a simple premise: track your music listening history for better recommendations.

Sorry for quoting so generously, but this really gets to the heart of one of the reasons I dove back into Last.fm with such vigor last year. Being able to see what I’ve been listening to, get the stats behind it, visualize that data, and get recommendations based on my entire streaming history is a cherry on top of it helping me with my weekly newsletter. There’s a whole lot I think Apple Music should be doing to make their service better.

‘Nevermind’ Baby Lawsuit Dismissed

The Nevermind baby lawsuit has been dismissed.

Elden’s team had until 30 December to respond to Nirvana’s motion to dismiss, but missed the deadline.

As a result, Judge Fernando M Olguin dismissed the case “with leave to amend” – meaning his team have until 13 January to refile the case with appropriate changes.

David Bowie’s Catalog Acquired by Warner Chappell Music

David Bowie

Jem Aswad, writing for Variety:

After months of negotiations, David Bowie’s estate has sold the singer’s formidable publishing catalog to Warner Chappell Music for a price upwards of $250 million, sources confirm to Variety. The catalog spans six decades and includes such songs as “Heroes,” “Changes,” “Space Oddity,” “Fame,” “Let’s Dance,” “Rebel Rebel,” “Golden Years,” “Ziggy Stardust,” “All the Young Dudes,” his 1981 collaboration with Queen “Under Pressure” and hundreds more.

The agreement comprises songs from the 26 David Bowie studio albums released during his lifetime, as well as the posthumous studio album release, “Toy,” which comes out on Friday. It also includes the two studio albums from Tin Machine, along with tracks released as singles from soundtracks and other projects.

Weekly U.S. Vinyl Album Sales Break Modern-Era Record

Billboard:

Weekly U.S. vinyl album sales hit a modern-era record high, as 2.11 million vinyl albums were sold in the week ending Dec. 23 according to MRC Data. It’s the single-largest sales week for vinyl albums.

Pitchfork:

Adele’s 30 has continued to sell well on vinyl, becoming the best-selling vinyl album of the year30 was also the top-selling vinyl album during the record-breaking week, moving 59,000 copies, according to Billboard.

Adele Still #1

Adele still has the number one album in the country:

Adele’s 30 racks up a third straight and total week at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart. The set earned 193,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in the week ending Dec. 9, according to MRC Data (down 33% compared to the previous week).

The Vinyl Resurgence Continues

Zachary Crockett, writing at The Hustle:

For modern-day indie artists, it’s a welcome boom. A vinyl record costs ~$7 to manufacture, and a band typically sells it directly to fans for $25, good for $18 in profit. By contrast, streaming services only pay out a fraction of a penny for each listen. A band would have to amass 450k streams on Spotify to match the profit of 100 vinyl sales.

TIDAL Has Unveiled New Membership Options

Tidal

Tidal:

TIDAL now offers three membership options for you to choose from: TIDAL FreeTIDAL HiFi, and TIDAL HiFi Plus. With access to the same catalog of over 80 million songs, each membership has its own set of perks to empower your music experience.

And, one of the more interesting portions:

Not only does TIDAL HiFi Plus offer access to innovative listening experiences, but through the Direct Artist Payout program, it also allocates up to 10% of your monthly subscription towards your most-streamed artist. This means that your top-streamed artist of the month can benefit immediately and directly from the success of their work on TIDAL

Colin Farrell to Reprise Penguin Role in ‘The Batman’ Spinoff Series for HBO Max

The Batman

Variety:

Colin Farrell has officially signed on to star in and executive produce a series spinoff of “The Batman” in which he would again play The Penguin, Variety has learned exclusively from sources.

Farrell will first portray the villainous character in “The Batman” starring Robert Pattinson, which is due to be released on March 4, 2022. The series would then reportedly delve into The Penguin’s rise to power in the Gotham criminal underworld. Variety first reported the series was in development back in September, though Farrell was not attached at that time.

Adele Still Tops the Charts

Adele still has the number one album in the country:

Adele’s 30 spends a second week atop the Billboard 200 albums chart, as the set earned 288,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in the week ending Dec. 2, according to MRC Data. That’s down 66% compared to its chart-topping debut sum of 839,000 units a week earlier.

Tom DeLonge Reflects on ‘Neighborhoods’

Blink-182

Tom DeLonge talked with ABC Audio:

DeLonge now feels that he may have been “too heavy-handed” in trying to change Blink’s sound for Neighborhoods, something he admits Barker and Hoppus were “probably rightfully hesitant” to do. Should he ever return to the band, though, DeLonge believes he’d be able to strike a better balance between what all band members want from a Blink record.

“Knowing that I’ve gotten so much out of my system with this type of music with Angels & Airwaves, I don’t need Blink to land here, like I might’ve 10 years ago,” he says.

Keith Buckley Profiled in Revolver

There’s a new profile of Keith Buckley of Every Time I Die in Revolver:

Spoiler: The hero lives. But the last half-decade of Buckley’s life that Radicalchronicles — spiritually dying only to be resuscitated, then rejuvenated and finally built back stronger than ever — really begins at the start of it all. Buckley’s unique upbringing in Western New York, the trajectory of his life throughout his teens and twenties, and how he lost himself in his thirties only to rediscover his purpose just when he thought all hope was already in the rearview. This is Keith Buckley’s life story.