Geoff Rickly on Surviving Martin Shkreli

Thursday

Gary Suarez, writing at Pitchfork, speaks with Geoff Rickly of Thursday on “surviving” Martin Shkreli. This is the first time I’ve seen Geoff publicly mention that Collect Records was originally going to put out that The Hotelier album:

We would talk about bands. He brought me the Hotelier. I didn’t know them, they were sort of a buzzy band already. But he was super into them. He was always like you’re not signing enough bands. For me, the situation was so good that I didn’t want to lose it. I probably should have pressured him to put more money into each band.

And:

I met with the Hotelier about their record, which is so good. I thought, “This is the record that could save our label, it’s so good. There’s this one song on it that’s so much better than the rest of the record that we finally have a single—a real single.” And they were like, “We can’t do it.” That meeting, I felt like somebody punched me in the stomach. And I didn’t feel like they were betraying me. I just felt like I was understanding there’s no saving it. This is it. This is done.

Billie Joe Takes on the Real American Idiot

Green Day

Green Day’s Billie Joe is, unsurprisingly, not a fan of Donald Trump. He speaks with Kerrang in their upcoming issue:

“The worst problem I see about Trump is who his followers are,” frontman Billie Joe Armstrong said. “I actually feel bad for them, because they’re poor, working-class people who can’t get a leg up. They’re pissed off and he’s preyed on their anger. He just said, ‘You have no options and I’m the only one, and I’m going to take care of it myself.’ I mean, that’s fucking Hitler, man!”

Pizza Hut Introduces Playable Pizza Box

Pizza Hut is launching “playable DJ pizza boxes” at select UK locations. For when you want your music to sound like your pizza tastes: like cardboard.

The pizza retailer has paired up with printed electronics company Novalia to create turntables out of the classic cardboard serving apparatus, printing two scratchable decks and controls for playback, pitch, volume and crossfading right onto the box in conductive ink.

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Reddit Won’t Turn Over IP Address of User Who May Have Leaked Twenty One Pilots’ Song

Twenty One Pilots

Josh Katzowitz, writing for The Daily Dot, on Atlantic Records trying to get Reddit to release the IP address of the person that leaked a Twenty One Pilots’ song on the service:

“Upon becoming aware of the Posting, Atlantic attempted to have the illegally-distributed copies of ‘Heathens’ removed from the Internet,” the label said in the lawsuit. “Despite expending significant effort and funds in this attempt, the removal efforts were ultimately unsuccessful in curtailing further widespread distribution… As a result of the need to change the release date of ‘Heathens,’ Atlantic’s marketing efforts were substantially frustrated … Sales of the ‘Heathens’ single, which were unsupported by Atlantic’s carefully-planned marketing strategy, failed to reach predicted levels, causing substantial harm to Atlantic in the form of lost single and album sales revenue.”

Univision Buying Gawker

Money

Universion is buying Gawker for $135 million dollars.

Here’s a statement from Gawker Media owner Nick Denton: “Gawker Media Group has agreed this evening to sell our business and popular brands to Univision, one of America’s largest media companies that is rapidly assembling the leading digital media group for millennial and multicultural audiences. I am pleased that our employees are protected and will continue their work under new ownership — disentangled from the legal campaign against the company. We could not have picked an acquirer more devoted to vibrant journalism.”