Music Biz Headlines, Nov. 13, 2019
Rheostatics (pictured) attract devoted fans, Drake draws boos, and Neil Young's plans may go to pot. Others in the headlines include Ostrea Lake, BMG, Facebook, Spotify, the Austin scene, SoundCloud, Tencent, Astroworld, ASCAP, The Clash, Tool, Bernie Taupin, and Pete Townshend.
By FYI Staff
Rheostatics superfan Robin Clarkson revels in the band’s reunion
US fan Clarkson has seen Rheostatics more than 50 times. This September, she flew in for the band’s record-release party for Here Come the Wolves, its first album in 15 years. While Clarkson didn’t particularly stand out in the crowd of Rheo-music nerds, her story is one of a kind. – Brad Wheeler, Globe and Mail
Drake booed off the stage at Camp Flog Gnaw Carnival
Is Drake becoming the Nickelback of Rap? He battled a chorus of boos at Camp Flog Gnaw Carnival over the weekend, and ultimately ended the set early. – Paul Resnikoff, Digital Music News
Neil Young says his marijuana use has stalled his US citizenship application
Neil Young’s plan to take his oath of citizenship this month has been delayed because of Trump administration changes to naturalization. Now the Canadian rocker is waiting to find out whether his citizenship will be denied. – Randy Lewis, LA Times
Musicians want city to provide more affordable performance spaces for emerging artists
Toronto needs to do 'a much better job' of supporting young musicians, Coun. Joe Cressy says. – Kelda Yuen, CBC News
Six the Musical joyously blends English Tudor history with contemporary female pop and boasts inspired, witty writing
Six the Musical has a cheeky wit that lands a hundred great laughs over the course of 90 minutes. – Stephen Hunt, Globe and Mail
Review: Don't sleep on the lullaby folk of Ostrea Lake
The Halifax outfit lays serious groundwork in its debut LP. – Alec Martin, The Coast
International
BMG makes 'significant investment' in US business with development of new L.A-based facility
BMG has signed a deal to begin development of a new full-service music facility in Los Angeles, which will become home to its biggest-grossing operation worldwide. – MBW
US musician Adult Mom – real name Stevie Knipe – has accused Tiny Engines of breach of contract, saying that the company has failed to provide royalty statements or payments in a timely manner, and instead used income from her releases to fund records by smaller artists. – CMU
What's Facebook's game plan in music?
Since signing recent crucial agreements, the social media giant has publicly unveiled the first wave of its music strategy. Rather than launching an audio streaming player to rival the likes of Spotify and Apple Music, FB has instead introduced a number of features that consumers can use to decorate their content with licensed music. – Tim Ingham, MBW
Spotify taps Viacom for content marketing globally
For the next year, Spotify has contracted Viacom’s advanced marketing solutions arm to create custom content, programming and influencer content development for Spotify globally. – Deanna Ting, Digiday
Austin nonprofit fighting to keep Austin the “Live Music Capital of the World”
The city of Austin's slogan "Live Music Capital of the World" became official in 1991 when Austin was recognized as having more live venues per capita than anywhere else in the United States. Today, the massive festivals aren't the only things keeping Austin's music beating, but the high cost of living has affected local artists who struggle to make ends meet on a musician's budget. – Tara Pettit, Spectrum News
SoundCloud launches targeted promotion tool for Premier users
Starting Nov. 12, SoundCloud is introducing a new self-service promotional tool for SoundCloud Premier creators called Promote. The new targeted promotion tool will allow creators to boost their original tracks to the top of listeners’ feeds and mobile homepages. – Murray Stassen, MBW
Tencent Music's quarterly revenue beats on subscriber growth
China's Tencent Music Entertainment Group reported better-than-expected third-quarter revenue on Monday, as the streaming company added more paying users. However, it recorded the slowest rise in a widely watched metric for its biggest business, social entertainment services, which executives attributed to growing competition. – Pei Li and Ayanti Bera, Reuters
Three performers stabbed on stage in Saudi capital
The performance was taking place as Saudi Arabia moves to promote entertainment in the conservative country. – Al Jazeera
Fans injured in stampede at Travis Scott's Astroworld Festival
The rapper posted a video to Instagram of anxious fans tearing down a guard rail and running haphazardly into what appears to be the festival grounds. – Mitchell Peters, Billboard
ASCAP goes after Meadowlark Bar for $27,000 in music copyright lawsuit
The songwriter’s association says the bar is profiting without permission. – John Wenzel, The Denver Post
'We had the same brain' – how Pennie Smith turned the Clash into icons
She photographed the biggest stars. But it was the Clash she clicked with. Pennie Smith relives their first explosive US tour – and reveals how she took ‘rock’s greatest photo.’– Rob Walker, The Guardian
Here’s how Tool unseated Taylor Swift from the No. 1 spot on the Billboard album charts
Why Tool? Sometimes there can be only one and there is only one Tool. And thus “Fear Inoculum” was cause for a great deal of excitement. – Ben Rayner, The Star
How 74-year-old Pete Townshend juggles a book, an opera and a new Who album
For someone who wrote the famous lyric; “I hope I die before I get old,” Pete Townshend isn’t showing many signs of slowing down as he approaches his 75th birthday. – Paul Waldie, Globe and Mail
The 10 greatest basslines of all time
Ah, the bassist: the member of the band that no one ever wants to interview (unless it’s Flea). They’re definitely the unappreciated middle child of the music world. So today, let’s right that wrong and celebrate all that is great about these basslines. – Talia Soghomonian, NME
Elton John lyrics head to auction via Bernie Taupin’s ex-wife
Maxine Taupin set to sell lyric manuscripts to “Candle in the Wind,” “Border Song” and “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road,” among others. – Andy Greene, Rolling Stone
