Post Malone has the number one album in the country this week:
The set opens with 489,000 equivalent album units earned in the week ending Sept. 12 in the U.S., according to Nielsen Music — the second-biggest week of 2019 for any album. Of that total unit sum, 200,000 were in album sales.
Some of our community members are putting together a fun Halloween compilation of original performances, and they’d like to bring in some new blood to make this extra spooky. (These are their words, I would never use such puns.)
If you’d like to get involved, all the information can be found in this post in our forums.
Sarah Perez, writing for TechCrunch:
YouTube will no longer allow paid views and advertising to influence its YouTube Music Charts, the company announced this morning. Instead, it will calculate its rankings based only on view counts coming from organic plays. In addition, it’s changing its methodology for reporting on 24-hour record debuts to also only count views from organic sources, including direct links to the video, search results, Watch Next and Trending — but not video advertising.
Spotify today took another step in its efforts to build out services for artists to help diversify itself away from a business model predicated on paying music streaming royalties to labels: it has acquired SoundBetter, a music production marketplace for artists, producers, and musicians to connect on specific projects; and for people who are looking to distribute music tracks to those who want to license them.
Gary Larson’s The Far Side website has been updated with new art and a caption that reads, “A new online era of The Far Side is coming!” It’s hard to tell whether or not this is teasing new strips or just online versions of the originals, but I’m excited nonetheless.
Ric Ocasek, the frontman for The Cars, passed away over the weekend.
Ric Ocasek, the songwriter, rhythm guitarist and lead singer for the Cars, was found dead on Sunday afternoon at his townhouse in Manhattan.
The New York Police Department confirmed the death but did not give a cause. Sources have differed on Mr. Ocasek’s age — some saying he was 70 — but a few public records and previous articles about him suggest that he was 75.
Larry Fitzmaurice, writing at Fader:
And she won’t be the last: Healy intends to log studio time with indie-centric artists like Phoebe Bridgers, as well as Dirty Hit-signed artists beabadoobee and The Japanese House, when the band returns to the studio later in the year to finish Notes. The ostensibly 22-song album is very much still in the early stages of creation, with four songs total in completion or close to it; besides “The 1975” and “People,” there’s the dusky, acoustic “The Birthday Party,” and “Frail State of Mind,” a 2step-driven slice of pop recalling UK producer Burial with Healy’s gorgeous, cloudy sigh weaving in and out of the beat.
Chris Payne, writing at Billboard:
Masterminding the operation is Crush Music, the New York- and L.A.-based company that manages all three acts: Fall Out Boy since 2002 (the band has helped Crush grow as much as Crush helped it), Weezer since 2016 (Crush’s label arm has released the band’s last four albums with Atlantic) and Green Day since 2017 (when the group parted ways with its manager of 21 years, Pat Magnarella). “I asked Green Day what their goals were because they have already achieved almost every goal a band has,” recalls Crush co-founder Jonathan Daniel. “And Mike said, ‘Well, we want to play stadiums.’”
Laura Jane Grace of Against Me! is the latest guest on the LSQ podcast.
Apple’s September event is currently live. If you’re watching, come join is in the Apple thread.
Hawthorne Heights’ Fragile Future has been pressed to vinyl for the first time.
Tool have the number one album in the country this week:
The band’s third No. 1 bows with 270,000 equivalent album units earned in the week ending Sept. 5 in the U.S., according to Nielsen Music. Of that sum, 248,000 were in album sales.
Lana Del Rey covered Ariana Grande’s “Break Up With Your Girlfriend, I’m Bored” for BBC Radio 1’s Live Lounge.
You can stream the new album from Teenage Bubblegums over at PunkNews.
Against Me! will be re-issuing Reinventing Axl Rose via Fat Wreck Chords on September 27th.