Just one last reminder if you’d like to pick up some chorus.fm merch with the limited edition pride logo, you should do it this week. I’ll be taking the design down on Friday.
Last Reminder for Pride Merch
Pre-Saving Albums Can Allow Labels to Track Users on Spotify
Users who “pre-save” an upcoming release to their Spotify accounts may be sharing more personal data with the act’s label than they realize.
To pre-save music, which adds a release to a user’s library as soon as it comes out, Spotify users click through and approve permissions that give the label far more account access than the streaming giant normally grants them — enough to track what they listen to, change what artists they follow and potentially even control their music streaming remotely.
Spotify Ending Beta Artist Upload Program
Spotify is ending their direct upload program:
Almost a year ago, we started to beta test a feature that lets independent artists upload their music directly to Spotify. Today, we notified participating artists about our decision to close the beta program, along with how we can help them migrate their music to other distributors over the next month.
Taylor Swift Opens Up About Her Master Recordings Being Purchased
Taylor Swift has posted on Tumblr about her masters being sold to Scooter Braun:
For years I asked, pleaded for a chance to own my work. Instead I was given an opportunity to sign back up to Big Machine Records and ‘earn’ one album back at a time, one for every new one I turned in. I walked away because I knew once I signed that contract, Scott Borchetta would sell the label, thereby selling me and my future. I had to make the excruciating choice to leave behind my past. Music I wrote on my bedroom floor and videos I dreamed up and paid for from the money I earned playing in bars, then clubs, then arenas, then stadiums. […]
This is my worst case scenario. This is what happens when you sign a deal at fifteen to someone for whom the term ‘loyalty’ is clearly just a contractual concept. And when that man says ‘Music has value’, he means its value is beholden to men who had no part in creating it.
Capitalism is destructive to most industries, but it’s always felt specifically exploitative to me in the arts.
Jony Ive Leaving Apple
Jony Ive, the famous designer at Apple, is leaving the company after thirty years. I thought Gruber’s take on the whole thing was pretty good:
Third: This may be good news. Ive is, to state the obvious, preternaturally talented. But in the post-Jobs era, with all of Apple design, hardware and software, under his control, we’ve seen the software design decline and the hardware go wonky. I don’t know the inside story, but it certainly seems like a good bet that MacBook keyboard fiasco we’re still in the midst of is the direct result of Jony Ive’s obsession with device thinness and minimalism. Today’s MacBooks are worse computers but more beautiful devices than the ones they replaced. Is that directly attributable to Jony Ive? With these keyboards in particular, I believe the answer is yes.
Sad Summer Fest Outlines Code of Conduct
Sad Summer Fest has outlined a code of conduct for the tour this summer.
Sad Summer Fest has a zero-tolerance policy for sexual assault and harassment of any kind. This includes, but is not limited to, intimidation, non-consensual photography or recording, stalking, physical assault or battery, rape, repeated disruption of festival events, unwelcome attention or physical contact, bathroom policing, and offensive language used as a method of violence directed at any individual due to, but not limited to, their sexual orientation, race, religion, appearance or physical attributes, disability, citizenship or nationality, gender, gender identity, gender presentation, or age.
The Black Keys Stream New Album
The Black Keys new album, Let’s Rock, is up for streaming on their fan site.
Hear Me Talk About ‘Jaws’
Yours truly is the latest guest on the Welcome to Geekdom podcast talking all about one of my favorite films of all time, Jaws.
Here Are Hundreds More Artists Whose Tapes Were Destroyed in the UMG Fire
Today, The Times is offering a broader look at that heritage, publishing an expanded list of artists who were thought by UMG officials to have lost master recordings in the fire. The list adds 700-plus names to the more than 100 artists cited in “The Day the Music Burned.”
Some notables: Blink-182, Weezer, Jawbreaker, and Jimmy Eat World.
‘The Office’ Leaving Netflix in 2020
The Office will be leaving Netflix in 2020:
In a statement Tuesday night, NBCUniversal has announced that it will remove the beloved 2000s sitcom from Netflix in 2021, and head exclusively to the company’s forthcoming and as yet unnamed streaming service.
“The Office has become a staple of pop-culture and is a rare gem whose relevance continues to grow at a time when fans have more entertainment choices than ever before,” Bonnie Hammer, chair of NBCUniversal’s digital enterprise, said in a statement. “We can’t wait to welcome the gang from Dunder Mifflin to NBCUniversal’s new streaming service.”
‘Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse’ Now on Netflix
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is now up on Netflix. If you haven’t seen it yet, you should.
Max Collins on New Podcast
Max Collins of Eve 6 and Fitness is the latest guest on UK podcast The Wasting Time Podcast. Max shares some candid stories about having a major label deal at young age and touring with giants like Third Eye Blind.
Madonna Tops the Billboard Charts
Madonna has the number one album in the country this week:
Madonna lands her ninth No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 chart as Madame X enters atop the tally. The set, released via Interscope Records on June 14, launches with 95,000 equivalent album units earned in the U.S. in the week ending June 20, according to Nielsen Music. Of that sum, 90,000 were in album sales.
The 1975 Still Working on New Album
The 1975 will be releasing new music before Reading, according to their manager:
“The record is coming together. We’ve had this recording studio tour bus on the American tour which has been great for productivity…The boys have been constantly working. I can’t say exactly when it will come, there are a few elements coming together, but we will be releasing music before Reading.”
He continued: “It feels like it will be a long record. Will it be a double album? I don’t know what that means any more, it’s definitely going to a long album but I can’t possibly commit to whether it will be a double album or not. That’s a decision that happens when everything is almost completed.
Julien Baker Working on New Album
Julien Baker talked with Uproxx about working on a new album:
I’m working on a new record through the end of this year. I’ve been making demos with friends in town, and traveling to visit friends who have studios in other places, and just taking my time on a record because the last two records that I put out were made in under a week because that’s the only way that I knew how to make records. So now I’m trying to accrue songs in a very organic way, and just see where it goes. But I’m probably going to be finishing up a record at the end of this year.