Music Biz Headlines, Nov. 1, 2019

By FYI Staff

Downchild Blues and homegrown jazz: Some of Canada's best blues and jazz players drop in to make hot music

Downchild Blues Band’s singer and harmonica man Chuck Jackson admits a few things have changed over the decades he has been fronting Canada’s longest-running, most popular blues group. – Edmonton Journal

Music mogul Arnold Gosewich found audiences for emerging Canadian talent

Gosewich played an integral part in setting the stage for today’s vibrant Canadian music scene. As president and COO of Capitol Records Canada (1969 to 1977), he advanced the careers of Anne Murray, Edward Bear, Pierre Lalonde and Beau Dommage while at the same time providing distribution for smaller independent labels that signed bands such as Rush and April Wine. –  Susan Ferrier Mackay, Globe and Mail.

Little Scream marries into Arcade Fire family as she launches new album

Montreal's Laurel Sprengelmeyer calls Speed Queen a road diary, "in the sense that it incorporates news, class and poverty, intertwined with struggling to make it as a musician." – T'cha Dunlevy, Montreal Gazette

Exclaim!'s 50 Best Canadian Albums of the 2010s

After the CanRock explosion of the 1990s and indelible contributions to the 2000s golden age of indie, Canadians' musical output at-large took on subtler forms over the past ten years. But as Exclaim!'s 50 Best Canadians Albums of the 2010s demonstrate, just because they were subtler doesn't make them any less impactful. – Staff, Exclaim!

Yamaha's AI piano project apes Glenn Gould's playing style on stage – and it can duet, too

The project analysed recordings of Gould's playing to reproduce his style mechanically. – James Russell,  Music Radar

Graham Rockingham: Hamilton karaoke queen competing in the world championships in Tokyo

Kate Dion is flying to Tokyo next month for the 17th annual Karaoke World Championships. – Spectator

Royal Albert owner changes management, temporarily pulling the plug on live music

Less than six months after its triumphant return, the Royal Albert Arms has once again shut its doors — albeit with a plan to open again in a few weeks. A Facebook post Wednesday from Mat Perlman, the live music venue's booker, said venue and restaurant staff were "not given prior warning" and locked out Tuesday. – Erin Lebar, Winnipeg Free Press

Three singers, one Prince song: behind the scenes of Musical Stage Company’s latest UnCovered concert

Launched 13 years ago, Musical Stage Company’s UnCovered concerts present songs by pop and rock artists in musical theatre arrangements. The latest in this series features music by Stevie Wonder and Prince. Mitchell Marcus, the company’s artistic and managing director, calls them “anti-jukebox musicals.” – Karen Fricker, The Star

Readers' Choice results are in

Music category winners include Hugh's Room Live, The Horseshoe Tavern, the Rex, Arts & Crafts, and Sonic Boom. – NOW

Sorrey season is In Full Bloom 

The band hits its stride with a new album and a new city to call home. – Jonathan Briggins, The Coast

Review: Toronto's Maddee sounds stunningly beyond her years

On her debut EP Red Mind, the electro-soul artist's commanding voice can feel oddly tentative. – C.V. Grier, NOW

International

Live Nation on pace for record 2019

Live Nation reports nearly 100 million fans are expected to spin turnstiles by year-end, with 92 million tickets already sold through mid-October – some 5 million more than the same YTD in 2018. Revenue per fan grew by $2.50 in the sheds to more than $29 per head. — Pollstar

The top-earning dead celebrities of 2019

You can’t stop the music, even when its creator has shuffled off this mortal coil. That’s evident in the makeup of our Halloween-spooky ranking of highest-paid dead celebrities, where nine musicians grace the list of 13, up from just six a year ago.  – Zack O'Malley Greenburg, Forbes 

Apple services revenue hits a record $12.5B in Q4 2019

The company posted its Q4 2019 financial results October 30 for the three months ended September 28, 2019. A record $12.5bn in services revenues for the quarter is up from $10.6bn in Q4 2018. – Murray Stassen, MBW

The big business of saying farewell to fans

Elton John and many other musicians are filling venues with farewell tours. ‘As soon as you say it’s farewell, guaranteed you’re selling out.’ – Chris Kornelis, WSJ

Miles Davis Estate signs global deal with Downtown Music Publishing to represent entire catalog

“Miles Davis made an indelible mark on both popular music and culture,” said Downtown Music Holdings and Downtown Music Publishing CEO Justin Kalifowitz in a statement. –Chris Eggertsen, Billboard

12 music industry scams: Everything you need to know

Navigating a complicated, ever-changing industry such as the music business is difficult for everyone. But because a tiny percentage make it look easy, it’s no surprise others will stop at nothing to gain a competitive edge, or think shortcuts are the fastest route to fame. You've been warned. – Mark Tavern,  DJ Booth

Donald Passman talks new edition of ‘All You Need to Know About the Music Business,’ and what’s next

The 10th edition of his groundbreaking 1991 book All You Need to Know About the Music Business is out this week on Simon & Schuster. Passman estimates the book has sold a half-million copies in its various iterations over that time. – Roy Trakin, Variety

Anthem Entertainment acquires Ricky Reed catalog,

Anthem Entertainment has acquired a catalog of songs co-written by songwriter/producer Ricky Reed (real name Eric Frederic) of Boardwalk Music Group. The catalog includes Reed’s contributions to hits by Lizzo, Halsey, and Leon Bridges, as well as songs by Meghan Trainor, Pitbull, and Jason Derulo,and others. – Celebrity Access

Streaming growth is slowing at the world’s biggest music company. Could TikTok help?

As revenue from Spotify starts to sag for the first time, companies like Universal may need to look for new ways to boost earnings. – Tim Ingham, Rolling Stone

Record label claims Amazon is selling counterfeit vinyl

A cautionary tale when scouring the internet for Black Friday vinyl deals or seeking out the perfect Christmas gift online, perhaps: Tommy Boy Records has claimed that Amazon is selling counterfeit vinyl – titles that the record label has never even had pressed to vinyl. – What Hi-Fi

Watch the trailer for the new Ronnie Wood documentary ‘Somebody Up There Likes Me’

“I was in the hands of destiny all my life,” the Rolling Stones guitarist says, “and being in the right place at the right time.” – Andy Greene, Rolling Stone

Ticketmaster makes 'huge step forward' for disabled music fans

For years, deaf and disabled music fans have faced huge barriers when it comes to booking concert tickets. Whether it's the requirement to call premium rate helplines, or having to provide evidence of their disabilities, the experience has put many fans off. Now Ticketmaster is introducing a new system that allows gig-goers to book tickets online "like anyone else". – Mark Savage, BBC 

Memoir reveals Prince had a problem with Ed Sheeran and Katy Perry

Amid a mountain of musings, Prince took aim at a couple of fellow pop stars who’ve been getting heavy airplay for years now. “We need to tell them that they keep trying to ram Katy Perry and Ed Sheeran down our throats and we don’t like it no matter how many times they play it,” he wrote in a letter unearthed at his home after his death in 2016. – Christie D’Zurilla, LA Times

Musicians on musicians: Dave Grohl and Ringo Starr interview

Two drummers turned frontmen go deep on their craft, losing John Lennon and Kurt Cobain, and finding life after their legendary bands. – Hank Shteamer, Rolling Stone 

Sex Pistols' God Save the Queen single estimated to fetch £15K

A rare vinyl pressing of God Save the Queen by the Sex Pistols is expected to fetch up to £15,000 at auction. The single was originally recorded for A&M Records in 1977, but the label dropped the band before it was issued and most of the copies were destroyed. – BBC

One of New York City’s oldest jazz club re-opens

There’s a new sizzling hot jazz venue in New York City: Café Bohemia, downstairs at the Barrow Street Alehouse. Back in the day, Café Bohemia was home to some of greatest jazz players in history: Miles Davis, Cannonball Adderly and Art Blakey. A score of other musicians including John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Lester Young, and Charles Mingus played and recorded albums at Café Bohemia. – Margie Goldsmith, Forbes

More Fun in the New World stands out as a loving tribute to L.A. punk

Before we celebrate the way L.A. punk changed the lives of everyone from broken-home runaways to Academy Award-winning actors to modern-art icons, let’s start with the outrageous stuff. More Fun in the New World: The Unmaking and Legacy of L.A. Punk is a collection of essays by those who witnessed the rise and aftermath of one of alternative music’s most fabled scenes. – Mike Usinger, Georgia Straight

Lana Del Rey isn’t trying to fool you

Here’s a wild idea: What if Lana Del Rey is exactly who she says she is? Her music keeps making us think otherwise. It’s still too elegant, too plush, too slippery to be real. Chris Richards, – Washington Post

Maria Muldaur brings 50 years of Americana music to Arts Commons

Apparently, the early 1970s were a much more innocent time in the music industry. Stories revealing the deep debauchery of Led Zeppelin or the Rolling Stones may suggest otherwise, of course, but singer Maria Muldaur says her record label showed some paternal and slightly priggish concern early in her career. – Eric Volmers,Calgary Herald

Long-lost Lou Reed songs from Andy Warhol era discovered

Dozens of previously unreleased songs by Velvet Underground founding member Lou Reed were recently discovered on a cassette tape at the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh. – Eric Hegedus, New York Post

The story behind every song on Hotel California

The Eagles' sixth LP, Hotel California is a deceptively multi-layered masterpiece that bundles cinematic rock, sleek balladry and subtle surrealism into one multi-platinum package. – Ryan Reed, Ultimate Classic Rock