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Selena Gomez Tops the Charts

Selena Gomez
Jason Tate

Selena Gomez has the top album in the country:

Selena Gomez earns her third No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 chart, as Rare launches atop the tally. The set, which was released Jan. 10 via Interscope Records, starts with 112,000 equivalent album units earned in the U.S. in the week ending Jan. 16, according to Nielsen Music.

Craig Finn Scoring New Musical Dramedy

Jason Tate

Craig Finn will be scoring a new dramedy from AMC:

A musical dramedy following a family who, after falling down the ladder of American life, needs to figure out what actually makes life worth living. Burns (The Report, The Laundromat) is writing and executive producing along with Mark Johnson (Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul). Craig Finn of The Hold Steady will write original music, and T Bone Burnett will be the music producer.

Sum 41 Cancel Paris Concert

Sum 41
Jason Tate

Sum 41 had to cancel their show in Paris after an “explosive device” was detonated outside of the venue. No injuries have been reported. The manager of the venue believes it was firecrackers from a nearby protest:

Vincent Le Gall, the manager of the venue, said that the supposed explosion was merely firecrackers set off by “yellow vests” in ongoing protests in the city, the Daily Mail said, citing local reports.

Boys and Girls Club Gets New Studio Thanks to Brendon Urie

Brendon Urie
Jason Tate

Jeremy Chen, writing for KTNV:

The Boys and Girls Club in Henderson unveiled a generous gift Sunday, allowing kids there to explore their musical passions, thanks to Las Vegas local Brendon Urie of Panic! at the Disco.

“It’s like an expensive new toy,” said Demelle Cooley, who attends the club. “I just can’t wait to unwrap it and start playing with it. It’s something different, it’s revolutionary.”

Anti-Flag Talk New Album

Anti-Flag
Jason Tate

Anti-Flag sat down with Alt Press to talk about their new album:

Our previous record had come out not that long ago, and it really wasn’t on any of our minds to sit down and write another record so quickly. I just think seeing the xenophobia with the way that Trump was talking about asylum seekers in Central America and Mexico, obviously with the separation of the children from their parents [and] keeping children in prisons and cages and the religious discrimination with the Muslim ban caused it all to snowball to the point where the songs were starting to be written. We just felt like when we look back on history, we wanted people to know during this time where we stood and that we didn’t just stay silent. And we also wanted an opportunity to write our own future, you know? Our record is not just a criticism of Donald Trump, although it’s definitely that, but we also try to offer a lot of optimism with the record. When we organize against these things that are obviously crimes against humanity and crimes against our planet, we can write to share them, and we can point things in a positive direction. So when you look at our songs like “Unbreakable” or “20/20 Vision,” you know that “20/20 Vision” is a song about where we could go. And it’s a very different direction than the current administration.

Stereogum Sold Back to Founder

Stereogum
Jason Tate

Stereogum has been sold back to founder Scott Lapatine.

“It’s been a privilege to watch Stereogum grow over the past 18 years — the site saw record traffic in 2019 — and I’m thrilled about our next chapter as an independent, music-only publication. Also, launching later this year, a robust new user experience will be sure to delight and infuriate Stereogum’s dedicated commentariat in equal measure,” Lapatine said.

Congratulations Scott!

Taylor Swift to Release New Documentary This Month

Taylor Swift
Jason Tate

Taylor Swift’s new documentary, Miss Americana, will arrive on Netflix on January 31st.

Miss Americana, directed by Lana Wilson, looks at Swift’s career and is “a raw and emotionally revealing look at one of the most iconic artists of our time during a transformational period in her life as she learns to embrace her role not only as a songwriter and performer but as a woman harnessing the full power of her voice,” according to a statement.

U.S. Music Streams Topped a Trillion in 2019

Jason Tate

Anne Steele, writing for the Wall Street Journal:

U.S. music streams on services like Spotify Technology AB, Apple Music and YouTube rose 30% last year to top one trillion for the first time, according to Nielsen Music’s annual report, fueled by big releases from artists like Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish and Post Malone.

Streaming services have upended how people listen to and pay for music, and now account for 82% of music consumption in the U.S., according to Nielsen. Sales of physical albums, meanwhile, dropped off 19% in 2019 and now make up just 9% of overall music consumption.

How Music Copyright Lawsuits Are Scaring Away New Hits

Legal
Jason Tate

Amy X. Wang, writing for Rolling Stone:

In the five years since a court ruled that “Blurred Lines” infringed on Marvin Gaye’s 1977 “Got to Give It Up,” demanding that Thicke and Williams fork over $5 million to the Gaye estate for straying too close to the older song’s “vibe,” the once-sleepy realm of music copyright law has turned into a minefield. Chart-topping musicians have been slapped with infringement lawsuits like never before, and stars like Ed Sheeran and Katy Perry are being asked to pay millions in cases that have many experts scratching their heads. Across genres, artists are putting out new music with the same question in the backs of their minds: Will this song get me sued?

And:

Lucas Keller — the founder of music management company Milk and Honey, which represents writers and producers who’ve worked with everyone from Alessia Cara and Carrie Underwood to 5 Seconds of Summer and Muse — recently began encouraging all his songwriter clients to purchase errors-and-omissions insurance, which protects creative professionals from legal challenges to their intellectual property.

Cool system we got here.