Uber’s CEO, Travis Kalanick, is out:
Travis Kalanick stepped down Tuesday as chief executive of Uber, the ride-hailing service that he helped found in 2009 and that he built into a transportation colossus, after a shareholder revolt made it untenable for him to stay on at the company.
Mr. Kalanick’s exit came under pressure after hours of drama involving Uber’s investors, according to two people with knowledge of the situation, who asked to remain anonymous because the details are confidential.
Daniel Day-Lewis has announced he is retiring from acting.
The 60-year-old star, who has played presidents, writers, and gang leaders in a career that has spanned four decades, has one final film awaiting release, an untitled drama set in the world of high fashion. It is scheduled to hit theaters on December 25, 2017 and reunites him with Paul Thomas Anderson, who directed Day-Lewis to a best actor Oscar in 2007’s “There Will Be Blood.” Day-Lewis intends to help promote the movie, according to a person familiar with his plans.
Josh Constine, writing for TechCrunch:
Spotify is now testing a new “Sponsored Song” ad unit that a company spokesperson tells us is “a product test for labels to promote singles on the free tier.”
Instead of appearing as obvious ad banners like Spotify’s existing ads, labels can pay to have Sponsored Songs appear on playlists you follow or potentially elsewhere on the service. These can be targeted to appear to users with matching listening tastes so they fit alongside their other music. And these Sponsored Songs will be instantly playable and saveable instead of requiring an initial ad click first.
It’s an interesting idea. My first thought was that music listeners really fucking hate when people mess with their playlists/catalog, but I wonder how many of those die-hard music listeners don’t already subscribe to the paid tier of Spotify to begin with? (The paid tier doesn’t have these ads.) A few places are referring to this practice as “payola:”
This is the basic equivalent of payola, the old and illegal tactic where labels would pay radio stations to play their music. If the advertised songs are clearly labeled as paid advertisements, Spotify’s feature might be technically legal, but the effect will basically be the same.
I don’t think I’d go that far.
Musicians, refugees and communities are coming together in homes all over the world to recognise the things that unite us: the shared love of music… and the need for a place to call home.
Sofar Sounds and Amnesty International welcome you to join us at small, intimate gigs taking place on a huge global scale in support of 20M+ refugees worldwide.
A thousand artists are taking place in this. I’ve seen tweets from Julien Baker, The National, Frightened Rabbit, and Anti-Flag. Definitely worth a look to see what’s in your area.
A law that can be directed against speech found offensive to some portion of the public can be turned against minority and dissenting views to the detriment of all. The First Amendment does not entrust that power to the government’s benevolence. Instead, our reliance must be on the substantial safeguards of free and open discussion in a democratic society.
As he stepped off the American Airlines flight at JFK (Whole Foods doesn’t own a jet, and Mackey flies coach), his phone lit up with urgent text messages and voice mails. A hedge fund in New York called Jana Partners had snatched up almost 9 percent of Whole Foods’ stock and announced that it would pressure the company to either overhaul its business or sell itself—perhaps to another grocery giant, such as Kroger, or to a less traditional player, such as Amazon. Mackey and other leaders might have to be replaced. A media frenzy ensued, and the PR team who had carefully staged what should have been a traveling celebration of their boss as a thought leader shifted into immediate crisis mode.
“From that moment on, I was drowning in it,” Mackey says.
This whole story reads like an episode of Billions. Fascinating stuff.
Amazon is buying Whole Foods Market for $13.7 billion:
“Millions of people love Whole Foods Market because they offer the best natural and organic foods, and they make it fun to eat healthy,” said Jeff Bezos, Amazon founder and CEO. “Whole Foods Market has been satisfying, delighting and nourishing customers for nearly four decades – they’re doing an amazing job and we want that to continue.”
“This partnership presents an opportunity to maximize value for Whole Foods Market’s shareholders, while at the same time extending our mission and bringing the highest quality, experience, convenience and innovation to our customers,” said John Mackey, Whole Foods Market co-founder and CEO.
I see that not even Jeff Bezos can get out of Whole Foods without overspending.
PUP’s Stefan Babcock talked with Stereogum:
It’s probably a bit early to say, but my mentality with this band is always, keep it quirky, keep it loud. Just try really hard to be a no-bullshit kind of band. We’re actually making the music that we want to make. We’ve all fallen into the trap with other bands that we’ve played in, that it’s easy to start writing music that maybe you aren’t stoked on just because you feel like that’s the logical next step.
David Bendeth, who produced Paramore’s Riot!, sat down with Billboard to talk about the album’s 10-year anniversary:
It’s funny, when we started the record, all of the songs that we thought were going to be singles, never were. “When It Rains,” I thought for sure was going to be a smash at radio. In fact, John Mayer heard it and said, ‘If that’s not a hit song, I quit the business.’ “Hallelujah,” we thought that was going to be the first single at some point when we were making the record. Even with “That’s What You Get,” which I think was the third single, the song was in 6/8. It’s very difficult to make something in 6/8 sound like a normal sound for Top 40. So, I felt like the risks that had been taken paid off.
Merlin, an organization made up of some of the world’s top indie labels, distributed $353 million to members over the past year — a 52 percent jump from a year earlier, the group will announce Thursday.
The credit goes to streaming — internet services like Spotify and Apple Music that give listeners access to millions of songs for a monthly fee or for free if they’re willing to hear ads. No longer needing to press and distribute physical CDs, independent record labels can now reach a global audience at lower costs — and close the gap with the Big Three of Vivendi SA’s Universal Music Group, Sony Corp.’s Sony Music Entertainment and Access Industries’ Warner Music Group.
The Grammys are making a few changes to their awards. Billboard reports:
Moving forward, all music creators (songwriters, producers, engineers, mixers, mastering engineers, featured artists) credited with at least 33 percent or more playing time on the winning album will be eligible to receive a Grammy in the Album Of The Year category. Previously, songwriters were not recognized in this category.
Internet pop artist Austin Jones was charged in federal court in Chicago on Tuesday with child pornography after allegedly coercing two underage female fans to send him sexually explicit videos. […] A criminal complaint unsealed Tuesday alleged Jones had online conversations with two 14-year-old female fans in which he encouraged them to send him sexually explicit videos of themselves, including dozens of images of them performing graphic sexual acts.
Growth has been rapid. In a September 2015 LinkedIn post, Solomon wrote that the one million campaigns set up over the previous year had raised $1 billion from nearly 12 million donors. By February 2016, the total was $2 billion. In October 2016, it was $3 billion, from 25 million donors. A NerdWallet study of medical crowdfunding said GoFundMe had indicated that $930 million of the $2 billion raised in the period the study analyzed was from medical campaigns.
This is horrific. No one should have to turn to crowdfunding sites for healthcare.
Billboard is reporting that PWR BTTM have begun working with a new manager and will be re-releasing their debut album:
But the band’s lawyer says the group has so far been unable to reach an agreement with Polyvinyl, the indie label that released — then withdrew — PWR BTTM’s well-reviewed second album, Pageant, to make it available again.
Travis Barker of Blink-182 wrote in Runners World about how important exercise is to him:
I’ve been sober since the accident, but I’ve replaced all of my bad addictions with good ones. Now, I get high off running.
I just love running. It makes me feel like I can conquer anything that comes at me. I’m never tapped out. I’m never tired around my two kids. I owe a lot of that to running.