Music Biz Headlines, June 19, 2019
Bruce Cockburn (pictured) speaks out on Indigenous issues, Raptors energy fuels NXNE, and the Rickshaw Theatre turns 10. Others in the headlines include Corey Hart, Raptor Foot, Saweetie, Sir Lucian Grainge, Madonna, Noel Gallagher, Merck Mercuriadis, and US music publishing.
By FYI Staff
Bruce Cockburn says Canadians need to face up to their country's treatment of Indigenous people
'To think that we can absolve ourselves of having exercised cultural genocide is completely foolish.' – Brent Bambury. CBC Radio ·
A Flock of Seagulls, Glass Tiger and Corey Hart: A night of nostalgia on the Budweiser Stage
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NXNE 2019: Raptors energy lifts Killy, Snotty Nose Rez Kids and more
Just hours after the NBA championship celebration spilled into Yonge-Dundas Square, NXNE turned it into Festival Village. – Staff, NOW
How Raptor Foot went from street performance to unofficial NBA anthem
The infectious, reggae-infused sensation that started on the streets of downtown Toronto exploded in popularity this month, becoming an unofficial NBA Finals anthem for a country swept up in basketball fever. – David Friend, Canadian Press
Saweetie joining the superstars at Vancouver’s Breakout Festival signifies a massive shift in the way we view female hip-hop
As Vancouver’s bi-annual hip-hop festival at the PNE revved up its engines for a third time on the weekend, featuring the likes of A$AP Rocky, Rae Sremmurd and Young Thug, one name from the undercard stood out. The soft-spoken yet confident and assertive ICY GRL herself, Saweetie, is the only female rapper to play the festival. – Ben Boddez, Georgia Straight
Next Music from Tokyo brings a diverse selection of Japanese indie to Canadian stages
A review of Next Music from Tokyo’s face melting, earth-shattering volume 14, at the Biltmore Cabaret. – Kitty Cheung, The Peak
Owner Mo Tarmohamed reflects on a sometimes challenging but always rewarding run as the Rickshaw Theatre turns 10
For this writer’s money, the best live music venue in Vancouver remains the Rickshaw Theatre. There's a real appeal to knowing that the guy who runs it, when duty permits, is often front and centre in the audience, checking out the bands himself, and booking all his favourite acts when he can. – Allan MacInnis, Georgia Straight
International
Universal boss Sir Lucian Grainge: "We owe our artists answers" over the fire that destroyed masters
He adds that "one thing is clear: the loss of even a single piece of archived material is heartbreaking." – Tim Ingham, MBW
Madonna ‘Madame X’ is a creative disaster
Madonna was questionably the greatest pop act of the 80s. She was certainly the most successful. She was a Bugatti on a racetrack in top gear. On ‘Madame X’ she sounds like a broken-down Ford Fiesta lost on a dirt road to Vegas. – Paul Cashmere, Noise11.com
Noel Gallagher says he’d rather eat his own shit than listen to his brother Liam’s music
Noel Gallagher spoke backstage at the Isle of Wight Festival 2019. Whilst there, he laid into his brother Liam (to put it lightly), spoke about how he captained the Ferry over to the Isle of Wight with Peter Hook – ruining a fan’s day in the process and regaled his hatred of American bands headlining festivals. – Music-News.com
What they don't tell you about being independent in 2019
If you’ve been a part of music in the past 10 years, the bright-eyed pitch for independence is a familiar refrain - in short, you don’t need a label to succeed. There’s some truth to it—but our current definition of an “independent musician” is murky at best. – Graham Corrigan, Complex
Songwriters are more important than stars’
Merck Mercuriadis reckons he has created a new asset class by putting hit songs on the same level as precious metals with the Hipgnosis Songs Fund. It has raised almost £350m since listing on the London Stock Exchange last year (under the ticker SONG) to buy pop song catalogues. – Chris Johnston, The Telegraph
Mississippi hall of fame adds 5 music and literary figures
The new inductees include Tammy Wynette, Bo Diddley, Jerry Lee Lewis, and John Lee Hooker. – AP
How much money is the U.S. music publishing industry making: a billion dollars more than it was four years ago
According to new NMPA member statistics, in 2018, annual US music publishing revenues hit $3.33bn, up 11.78% year-on-year. This number is noteworthy for a few reasons. Firstly, the difference between that scary 2014 figure ($2.15bn) and 2018’s annual number – less than half a decade later – was over a billion dollars ($1.18bn). – Tim Ingham, MBW
