Music Biz Headlines, Nov. 15, 2019
Margo Timmins (pictured) calls out sexism, Chi Pig gets reflective, and Shawn Mendes cheers the Raptors. Also in the headlines are Rob Stoner, concert deals, Fender, Brian Setzer, Iceland Airwaves, Ken Burns, Tencent, Dolly Parton, CMA Awards, Nik Powell, John Legend, LP, and Crime.
By Kerry Doole
SNFU frontman Mr. Chi Pig on life, love and drawing himself to death
I didn’t want to interview Chi Pig. It just happened. There’s probably a thousand people more qualified to do this piece, but in a way, Chi chose me. Then he told me he was given one month to live. – Sean Orr, Beat Route
Looking for the cheap seats: 8 ways to get a deal on concert tickets
Anyone who’s been to a concert recently is well aware that there’s no such thing as cheap seats anymore. But, music fans looking for break do have a few options. – Armina Ligaya, The Star
Cowboy Junkies' Margo Timmins calls out sexism in the music industry
'With my count, after tonight, there'll be around 100 men and 10 women in the Hall of Fame. That’s not right.' – Holly Gordon, CBC Music
Shawn Mendes showed up to the Raptors game last night and everyone was swooning
We love a good sighting of a Canadian celebrity supporting a Toronto sports team. This time, it was Shawn Mendes and his girlfriend Camila Cabello who were spotted at the Raptors vs. Clippers game in Los Angeles last night. – Blog TO
The man who kept Bob Dylan’s thunder rolling
The Rolling Thunder Revue was a travelling onstage party picking up more hangers-on with each stop. In the middle of it all was bassist Rob Stoner, Dylan's designate as musical director, the guy who kept the menagerie on beat while all around the party raged. He's now coming to town with Robert Gordon. – Graham Rockingham, Hamilton Spectator
International
How do you update an iconic electric guitar?
It’s a problem faced by many CEOs in charge of iconic brands. When you’re updating your product, how much do you dare change it? US company Fender has just brought out a new version of its Stratocaster electric guitar. – Jeremy Howell, BBC News
Nearly 10% of tracks on Tencent Music services will be behind a paywall by the end of the year
There are a few obvious differences between Spotify and Tencent Music Entertainment (TME), the owner of China’s biggest music streaming platforms. The biggest difference, as evidenced by TME’s latest Q3 results, announced Nov. 11, is monetized scale. – Tim Ingham, MBW
Key players of the local music industry have lauded the recent statement by Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad that the government will look into setting up a body to protect and develop the local music industry. – Dennis Chua, Straits Times
The most memorable moments from the 2019 CMA Awards
The biggest names in country music took the stage at the 53rd Annual CMA Awards. These are the highlights. – CNN
Brian Setzer diagnosed with severe tinnitus, cancels holiday tour
The 16th annual "Christmas Rocks! Tour" was scheduled to kick off later this week. – Alex Young, CoS
Iceland Airwaves will Inspire even the most cynical music festival-goers
We travelled to Reykjavík to cover the 2019 edition of this truly progressive, unique music festival. – Lizzie Manno, Paste
Ken Burns’ ‘Country Music’ documentary reached 34.5M unique viewers
The acclaimed eight-part Country Music documentary, which premiered Sept. 15 on PBS stations nationwide, reached 34.5 million unique viewers, according to Nielsen’s Live +7 data. To date, there have been more than 4 million streams of the series across all PBS digital platforms and the series has generated nearly 1.5 million social media engagements on Facebook and Twitter. – Jessica Nicholson, Musicrow
Dolly Parton refuses to get political. She’d prefer to heal the divide
Parton is celebrating the release of “Dolly Parton’s Heartstrings,” an anthology series premiering Nov. 22 on Netflix. Each of the eight episodes is inspired by a song in her massive catalog. – Meredith Blake, LA Times
Nik Powell obituary
The co-founder of Virgin Records, he went on to head the film company Palace Pictures, which had hits with Mona Lisa and The Crying Game. – Ryan Gilbey, Guardian
LP’s ‘Lost On You’: The hit record the music business almost lost
"I literally could tell the second they looked at me; they just didn't get it. I could just see the vacancy in their eyes. They were like, 'Yeah… um, that's great. But we're going to move on.'" LA-based singer-songwriter Laura Pergolizzi, aka LP, is reliving the moment that almost broke her. – Oisin Lunny, Forbes
John Legend, People’s Sexiest Man Alive? He’s surprised too
John Legend — a man who has spurred several memes for his uncanny resemblance to Arthur the aardvark — has just been crowned People’s Sexiest Man Alive of 2019. And he’s as shocked as anyone. – Christi Carras, LA Times
Crime, SF’s ‘first and only rock ‘n’ Roll band,’ gets its due in documentary
Before punk was a genre, a San Francisco band called Crime was pounding out loud and aggressive high-speed rock ‘n’ roll. The unedited footage sat in cans for 40 years before it was cut into a documentary film of a concert 40 years ago has its world premiere this week. – Sam Whiting, Datebook
