Tim Ingham, writing at Music Business Worldwide:
According to a new filing at Companies House (UK), SoundCloud Ltd’s revenues grew 21.6% to €21.1m ($22m) in 2015 – but its net losses accelerated 30.9% to €51.22m ($52m).
SoundCloud Still Losing Money
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New Sufjan Stevens Songs in Upcoming Film
The Hollywood Reporter is reporting that Sufjan Stevens will have new original songs in the upcoming film Call Me By Your Name:
Set to debut in the festival’s Premieres section on Jan. 22, Call Me by Your Name is based on Andre Aciman’s novel of the same name and stars Armie Hammer as a 24-year old American scholar spending the summer of 1983 in Northern Italy, where he attracts the attention of a 17-year-old Jewish-American boy, played by Timothee Chalamet. Michael Stuhlbarg rounds out the cast as the boy’s father.
Medium Announces Layoffs
Medium will be laying off a third of their employees:
Upon further reflection, it’s clear that the broken system is ad-driven media on the internet. It simply doesn’t serve people. In fact, it’s not designed to. The vast majority of articles, videos, and other “content” we all consume on a daily basis is paid for — directly or indirectly — by corporations who are funding it in order to advance their goals. And it is measured, amplified, and rewarded based on its ability to do that. Period. As a result, we get…well, what we get. And it’s getting worse.
That’s a big part of why we are making this change today.
I don’t see much here about what this new approach will be, and without knowing that, I have to remain skeptical. The bigger issue is how most ad-driven media on the internet has worked for decades. It incentivizes clickbait by measuring clicks and page views when advertisers should be more concerned about attention and influence. Online publishers have to make a lot of difficult decisions about what kinds of advertising they want to run, and most of the times they’re completely beholden to what those buying the ads want from them. So you get multiple interstitial pop-ups, impossible to close full screen ads, and other bullshit that advertisers think work because they’re measuring the wrong things. How many times have you accidentally clicked on a mobile ad because of how intrusive it was?
Anecdotally, we’ve seen higher click-through rates on our banners and feed sponsors than I was ever seeing with the horrific ads we were forced to run on AbsolutePunk. But even with that it’s because of our supporters that this website is able to keep running. I still believe readers helping to fund the publications they love will play a big part in the future of online publishing.
Head of Coachella’s Parent Company Is a Real Asshole
Alex Galbraith, writing for Uproxx, details how Coachella’s parent company, AEG, is helmed by the extreme right-winger Philip Anschutz:
“Phil Anschutz’s extensive influence in Colorado politics has been known for years, but the degree of his support for anti-LGBTQ groups that fund extremist hate groups like Gordon Kligenschmitt’s ‘Pray in Jesus Name’ is shocking,” said ProgressNow Colorado executive director Ian Silverii in a press release. “At a time in American history when discrimination and violence against LGBTQ citizens is on the rise, support for pro-discrimination groups puts Anschutz on the wrong side of Colorado, and on the wrong side of history.”
Just something to think about before spending your money.
Terrence Malik to Release ‘Song to Song’ in March
Terrence Malik’s new film, Song to Song, will be released in March of 2017:
In this modern love story set against the Austin, Texas music scene, two entangled couples — struggling songwriters Faye (Rooney Mara) and BV (Ryan Gosling), and music mogul Cook (Michael Fassbender) and the waitress whom he ensnares (Natalie Portman) — chase success through a rock ‘n’ roll landscape of seduction and betrayal.
Ok, I’m in.
Subscription Streaming Grew in 2016
BuzzAngle have released their annual report that tracks U.S. music consumption:
The continued explosion of audio stream consumption, which increased 82.6% to 250B streams, fueled this increase. Both album sales and song sales continued to decline but the transition to these new access methods has shown to provide overall growth and a sustainable business model for the future. Breaking down the tremendous streaming growth shows what is perhaps the most important stat of the year: the percentage of subscription streams rose from 62% of the total in 2015 to 76% of the total in 2016. The number of 2016 subscription streams grew over 2.25x the 2015 subscription streams amount.
I’m not sure I agree with the premise that this proves streaming is a “sustainable business model for the future,” but the trend lines are in the right direction and I think more artists and labels are figuring out how to use the streaming services to their benefit.
Scarlett Johansson is 2016’s Top-Grossing Actor
Scarlett Johansson was 2016’s top grossing actor. From MTV:
Of course, the actors who ranked among the Top 10 highest-grossing stars of 2016 weren’t necessarily the highest paid: Johansson didn’t even rank among the highest-paid actors, a list topped by Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Jackie Chan, and Matt Damon. In fact, only two women made that list: Jennifer Lawrence and Melissa McCarthy.
Pitchfork Interviews The xx
Laura Snapes interviewed The xx for Pitchfork’s latest cover feature:
In the months between recording sessions, as his friends were working on their own projects, he became paranoid about their relationships, based on his own interpretations of texts and emails. “When you haven’t seen someone for a while, it’s so easy to project and make your own ideas about what’s going on,” he says. “I always feel like the two of them are a step in front of me in confidence and maturity. I worried that they were going in a slightly forward direction, and I wasn’t.”
Police Seek Amazon Echo Data in Murder Case
Billy Steele, writing at Engadget:
Amazon’s Echo devices and its virtual assistant are meant to help find answers by listening for your voice commands. However, police in Arkansas want to know if one of the gadgets overheard something that can help with a murder case. According to The Information, authorities in Bentonville issued a warrant for Amazon to hand over any audio or records from an Echo belonging to James Andrew Bates. Bates is set to go to trial for first-degree murder for the death of Victor Collins next year.
Amazon declined to give police any of the information that the Echo logged on its servers, but it did hand over Bates’ account details and purchases. Police say they were able to pull data off of the speaker, but it’s unclear what info they were able to access. Due to the so-called always on nature of the connected device, the authorities are after any audio the speaker may have picked up that night. Sure, the Echo is activated by certain words, but it’s not uncommon for the IoT gadget to be alerted to listen by accident.
What a strange new world we live in.
George Michael Has Passed Away
George Michael has passed away. He was 53.
The star, who launched his career with Wham! in the 1980s and had huge success as a solo performer, “passed away peacefully” on Christmas Day in Goring, Oxfordshire, his publicist said.
Spin, Vibe, and Stereogum Sold to Billboard
The Hollywood Reporter-Billboard Media Group has purchased SpinMedia’s Spin, Vibe, and Stereogum websites:
“In recent years, we set out to own the topic of music online, and the acquisition of these incredible music assets helps us do just that,” said Media Group co-president John Amato. “By making these storied brands part of our family, The Hollywood Reporter-Billboard Media Group will be able to fully capture the value of millennials and music, and continue to strengthen its leadership position in this critical arena.”
Best of luck capturing all that “millennial value.”
St. Vincent Talks New Album With Guitar World
St. Vincent talked with Guitar World about her new album:
“I’ve been able to step back and reflect and not just be in the tour, record, tour, record cycle that I’ve been in for about 10 years,” says Clark. “I think it’ll be the deepest, boldest work I’ve ever done. I feel the playing field is really open for creative people to do whatever you want, and that risk will be rewarded—especially now that we have such high stakes from a political and geo-political standpoint. The personal is political and therefore the political can’t help but influence the art. And only music that has something pretty real to say is gonna cut the mustard.”
Blink-182 Talk Deluxe ‘California’ and More
Blink-182 sat down with Billboard to talk about their Grammy nomination and the upcoming deluxe edition of California:
It’s almost, it’s more than a whole other record, it’s a double album at this point and it’s more of an extension of what we did in the studio earlier. Some of the songs were songs that we did not put on the first album, but are great songs. And some are brand new that we just wrote last week, a lot of high-energy songs, punk rock, some more ballad-y songs, a little more electronic experimentation, it’s a good mix. It’s not a collection of throwaway songs, it’s like a whole other album.
And:
Yeah, there are like four songs that didn’t make the album that we’re putting on there. But then there are brand-new songs like “Wildfire” and “Parking Lot” and “Misery” that are all so f—ing strong, man. It’s amazing. We started writing maybe a week and a half ago and I think we have 14 songs. It’s a good problem to have. I’m really excited about this deluxe edition. It’s gonna be incredible.
Ok, I’m sold.
HAIM Eye Summer Release for New Album
HAIM spoke with Entertainment Weekly about their upcoming album (which they are now aiming for a summer release):
Those perfectionist tendencies are to blame for the album’s shifting arrival date. Originally, the group had hoped to release the album this past fall, but they’re now looking at a summer release. “We write everything, we play everything, and we help produce everything,” Danielle says. “These things take time, and we refuse to put out anything we’re not 100 percent in love with.”
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Announce 2017 Inductees
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has announced its inductees for 2017. The list can be found below.
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