Lady Gaga has shared an essay about her struggle with PTSD.
I have wrestled for some time about when, how and if I should reveal my diagnosis of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). After five years of searching for the answers to my chronic pain and the change I have felt in my brain, I am finally well enough to tell you. There is a lot of shame attached to mental illness, but it’s important that you know that there is hope and a chance for recovery.
Billboard reports that Apple Music has hit 20 million subscribers.
Apple has released the latest numbers for the music subscription service Apple Music. In the 18 months since the service was launched, the tech giant reveals that it has just crossed the 20 million paid subscribers mark. It last reported 17 million subscribers in September, marking a 15 percent jump in three months.
Pandora has unveiled its new on-demand music streaming service dubbed “Pandora Premium.”
It isn’t a secret that Pandora was planning to launch a full-fledged Spotify competitor. The company said as much last year when it bought Rdio, which had filed for bankruptcy. But today, at a lavish event in New York City, Pandora gave a small group of VIPs and reporters a look at the new streaming service. It’s called Pandora Premium, and, as you’d expect, it offers on-demand access to a massive music catalo. And it looks a lot like Rdio, from the brief glance we have seen so far. But Pandora is leveraging the years of information it has about how its users listen to music to provide the all-important recommendations necessary to help people find new songs to listen to.
The 200-disc Mozart box set is 2016’s best-selling CD release.
Mozart 225: The New Complete Edition has shifted 1.25 million total CDs in the five weeks since its Oct. 28 release, according to Universal Music Group. The collection is formidable in every sense. It comprises a whopping 200 CDs, presenting every work by the classical great; features the talents of 600 world-class soloists and 60 orchestras, and plays for a total of 240 hours (not to mention the many hours of additional reading materials bundled in).
The full list of 2017 Grammy nominees has been announced. Some notable nominees: Blink-182, Panic! at the Disco, and Weezer are up for “best rock album,” Twenty One Pilots were nominated for quite a bit, and Bon Iver, Radiohead, and David Bowie are all nominated for “best alternative album.”
Amazon Go is a new kind of store with no checkout required. We created the world’s most advanced shopping technology so you never have to wait in line. With our Just Walk Out Shopping experience, simply use the Amazon Go app to enter the store, take the products you want, and go! No lines, no checkout. (No, seriously.)
Uhm, wow.
Variety is reporting that Jimmy Kimmel will be hosting the 2017 Academy Awards.
The “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” star has hosted major several awards shows in the past, notably the recent 2016 Emmy Awards, as well as the 2012 Emmys. Kimmel has also hosted the 2007 ESPYS and the American Music Awards on ABC five times. This will be his first time hosting the Oscars.
NPR has released their list of their “Top 100 songs of 2016.”
Alternative Press talked with AFI’s Jade Puget about their upcoming album.
Yeah, definitely. The whole recording was different, especially with me stepping up to produce after all this time. I’d compose the entire song and demo it out before we hit the studio, so a lot of the production was done early on. Matt was awesome and we worked really well together—that whole thing was very different for me and very different for the band. In the studio, we tried to make it flow and work very naturally because we don’t love being in the studio. That’s the work part of it and we love the creative part, the writing, and the enjoyment part is going on the road. So I did the vocals with Davey [Havok], just he and I in a room together while the drums were being tracked. Dave and I have always just wanted to do the vocals just the two of us and make a record like that. It was awesome and I loved it.
Sia, Karen O, members of Green Day and Radiohead, and over a hundred other musicians, have signed an open letter written by Kate Nash to President Obama regarding the North Dakota Access Pipeline:
We are writing to express our shock at the treatment of the people of Standing Rock Sioux in North Dakota. We are deeply disturbed by the police actions that have been taking place, where non violent protests have been and continue to be met with extremely aggressive tactics including; being shot with water canons in below freezing temperatures, chemical weapons, rubber bullets, and attack dogs. These are the same inhumane methods used during WWII and the Civil Rights Movement.
Drake is Spotify’s most streamed artist for the second year in a row.
“Drake has been unstoppable this year – he’s a true global superstar,” said Stefan Blom, Spotify’s Chief Content & Chief Strategy Officer. ”With the top album and the top song this year, as well as his successful Summer Sixteen tour, Drake continues to engage his fans in a way that only Drake can; it’s no surprise he is dominating the music industry.”
Panic! at the Disco grabs the most emo plays.
Bryan Menegus, writing for Gizmodo:
For the past 11 years, an eternity in internet time, Reddit has touted itself—repeatedly, and loudly—as the place to have “authentic conversations” online. For a variety of reasons, that sentiment has always rang hollow. Now, Reddit, in its goal to be a laissez-faire haven of (relatively) free expression, has been overrun by nationalist trolls. Its staff of volunteer moderators is losing hope in the site’s future.
TechCrunch is reporting that Fitbit will be purchasing Pebble for around $34-40 million.
The site reports that the acquisition is a “small amount” but there’s no word on exactly how much, or indeed how little. Further, The Information said that the deal will see Pebble and its products closed down over time, with Fitbit acquiring its assets, which include intellectual property and software.
Spotify has unveiled a new weekly series featuring exclusive recordings called “Singles.” This will replace their previous sessions series. Forbes reports:
The Singles program sees big name acts and exciting and up-and-comers recording a pair of songs for the service and releasing them only on the world’s most popular streaming music platform. The first will be a track of their own, and it will typically be a newer cut that the artist is busy promoting, while the second will be a cover of a popular song from any time in history. The first edition of Singles is available today, and it features Grammy-winning jazz phenom Esperanza Spalding, who re-recorded her own song “Unconditional Love,” as well as David Bowie’s “If You Can See Me.”
New York has passed a law to make the punishment for ticket scalping bots harsher. Pitchfork reports:
The use of “ticket bots,” automated software that allows scalpers to buy up huge blocks of tickets for concerts, theater performances, and other events ahead of average customers, will soon be a crime in New York. Earlier this week, Governor Andrew Cuomo signed a new law making the use of a ticket bots a class A misdemeanor that could result in substantial fines or even imprisonment.
