Music Biz Headlines, Oct. 14, 2021

By Kerry Doole

Feist is back: With new concert residencies, she wants to get on the audience’s level

Leslie Feist was in northern Germany in the depths of summer, in a black-box theatre on a sprawling Hamburg performing-arts campus, trying to solve a riddle at the same time she was writing it. – Josh O'Kane, Globe and Mail

Serena Ryder and Sandy Pandya launched ArtHaus, a space where artists "can literally be at home and create"

Singer-songwriter Serena Ryder and manager Sandy Pandya established ArtHaus to help aid collaborations between artists and other creative industry folk. – Ethan Rotberg, Toronto Star

OK, Blue Jays: Meet the singer behind Toronto's iconic baseball song

Keith Hampshire is accustomed to being approached by strangers looking to talk to him about his music career. – National Post

Enrique Iglesias, Ricky Martin restart concerts at Toronto’s Scotiabank Arena

 Latin superstars Ricky Martin and Enrique Iglesias brought flair and spectacle to Toronto’s Scotiabank Arena on Thursday as the venue welcomed its first concert since the start of the pandemic. Operators of the arena say it had been 580 days since a live music event played the indoor space, as local Covid-19 precautions prevented mass gatherings for months. – David Friend, CP

Concert review: Enrique Iglesias and Ricky Martin’s Bell Centre return just like old times

The lifting of some Covid-19 restrictions in time for the upcoming Habs season meant 14,885 concertgoers could gather without distancing. – Erik Leijon, Montreal Gazette

Kids’ streaming: Six movies and shows that put pop stars centre stage

Years after being written off as a troubled pop star, there’s been renewed interest in Britney Spears when details about the conservatorship she was under became public recently. Other teen idols such as Taylor Swift, Ariana Grande and Canada’s Shawn Mendes have recently put forth a much more controlled narrative through documentaries billed as offering a “behind the scenes” look at their lives. – Aparita Bhandari, Globe and Mail

Weekend Playlist: Inuk throat singer Tanya Tagaq shares haunting new single 

Mitski returns after a long hiatus and more new music you need to hear. – Richie Assaly, Manuela Vega, Toronto Star

Kaytranada, ‘White Lotus’ composer recognized at Quebec-focused SOCAN Gala

Montreal producer Kaytranada and the composer behind the distinctive score of HBO’s “The White Lotus” are among the winners at a Quebec-based edition of the SOCAN Awards. A virtual celebration of the SOCAN Gala recognized achievements by francophone and anglophone members of the music organization in 22 categories. – David Friend, CP

Shaw Festival plans to ‘come out swinging’ in 2022 with jam-packed lineup led by Damn Yankees

The Shaw Festival continues to march to the beat of its own drummer during the pandemic – announcing, on Wednesday, a longer-than-usual 2022 season that will stretch from Feb. to Dec. Damn Yankees, The Importance of Being Earnest and Cyrano de Bergerac are some of the better-known musicals and plays planned for next year’s playbill. – J. Kelly Nestruck, Globe and Mail

Ontario lifts capacity limits on concerts, cinemas

Sports venues and live theatre can also operate at full capacity again starting on Oct. 9, but music clubs must have patrons seated at tables. – Kevin Ritchie, NOW

The 1975 Pink Floyd show that got concerts banned at Ivor Wynne for 30 years

It was the concert to end all concerts at the Madhouse on Melrose for decades. Fifty-five thousand people came out to see Pink Floyd in Hamilton, and resulting chaos saw PF's pyro blow out the stadium scoreboard. – Insauga

Supercrawl kicks off with a smaller but still thankful crowd

Supercrawl, Hamilton's much-loved art and music festival, didn't spill out onto downtown streets the way it normally does, but many people still showed up — this year to Bayfront Park — and said this altered version had its own charm. – Bobby Hristova, CBC News ·

Tragically Hip Gord Downie's former home in Toronto on sale for $6 million

Now that MTV Cribs is back we can all experience the joy of seeing inside celebrity homes again.  This four-bedroom, seven-bathroom home at 12 McKenzie Avenue is pretty typical for a South Rosedale home. The third floor has a media room which could also be used as another bedroom. So I was surprised to learn Gord Downie owned it back in the early 2000's. – BlogTO

This 7-year-old is the new anthem singer for the Hamilton Ticats

‘My goal is to share a stage with Lady Gaga,’ Pranysqa Mishra says. – Desmond Brown, CBC News 

DJ Blackcat marks three decades behind the decks

As he celebrates a pair of milestones, the Toronto promoter reflects on how flyer portraiture became a rallying point for queer Black partiers. – Kevin Ritchie, NOW

International

Blackstone is investing $1B in music rights via Merck Mercuriadis and Hipgnosis

Here is blockbuster news. Blackstone, one of the world’s most powerful financial players, has confirmed that it is investing around $1 billion to acquire music rights via a partnership with Merck Mercuriadis. We have confirmed that this money will be poured into a new private fund, Hipgnosis Songs Capital, a separate entity to the Mercuriadis-led Hipgnosis Songs Fund (SONG), which trades on the London Stock Exchange and has invested around $2B billion in music rights to date. – Tim Ingham, MBW

Here come the giants

We recently told you that investment heavyweight KKR is backing an all-new, massive-money entity launching in the music industry.  But we’re also telling you it’s just part of a game-changing trend: the giants of the financial world are now really waking up to the modern music business’s true value – and they’re throwing billions at it. – Tim Ingham, MBW

Kobalt is selling a music catalog for $1B and KKR is in a prime position to buy

We recently predicted that private equity giant KKR is set to plough a truckload more money into music, via a new investing entity. Now, a new report from Billboard correctly suggests that Kobalt is looking to sell its Kobalt Music Royalty Fund II for a price-tag in the region of $1 billion… and that the firm is in the final stages of a negotiation with a group of investors that includes KKR. – MBW

Bing Crosby’s heirs sell stake in estate to boost his work

A deal was announced Monday to sell an equal stake in the rights to Bing Crosby’s estate to Primary Wave Music. It’s another example of how the sale of catalog rights has become a booming business, with most involving rock artists who write their own music – Bob Dylan, Paul Simon, Neil Young etc. The Crosby deal is the most prominent involving a pre-rock artist who primarily interpreted songs written by others. The deal is estimated in excess of $50M. – David Bauder, AP

TikTok names six certified Sound Partners Including Songtradr, MassiveMusic, UnitedMasters, and Epidemic Sound

MBW reports: “TikTok has revealed six ‘certified Sound Partners’, which the platform says “will make it even easier for brands of all sizes to tap into music and sound on TikTok.” The partnerships with the six music companies form part of an expansion to the TikTok Marketing Partners program, which launched in Sept.  2020.” – Digital Media Wire

‘Fear and intimidation’: Four Corners reveals the inside story of Sony Music

ABC’s Four Corners screened a special investigation into the culture at Sony Music Australia on October 11. The episode focused on the reign of former CEO Denis Handlin and the “fear and intimidation” that “stalked the corridors for decades”, the national broadcaster said. Former employees are breaking their silence on the episode, the ABC said, “to expose what they endured for so many years”. – Vivienne Kelly

Concert attendance in the time of Covid 

The old people aren’t going. We live in an era of data transparency, just check availability of seats for boomer shows on Ticketmaster. Happy days are not here again. We still need to fight Covid, not only physically, but in the mind. How do industries make patrons feel safe again? We’ve still got a long way to go. – Bob Lefsetz,. Celebrity Access

Australia's music scene plunges deeper into poverty

With more and more musicians leaving the industry out of economic necessity, we face a generation of silent performers. The Federal Government must step up its arts support, writes Daniel Holmes. – Independent Australia

Paul McCartney blames John Lennon for Beatles split: ‘We all knew it was the end’

Beatles legend Paul McCartney is opening up about the end of the long and winding road for the rock band. In a forthcoming episode of BBC Radio 4’s “This Cultural Life,” the veteran singer-songwriter reflected on the group’s earth-shattering breakup, which has largely been pinned on McCartney in the past. – Christi Carras  LA Times

Some hits removed from Rolling Stone's Top-100 'Greatest Songs' list

When Rolling Stone magazine first published its list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time" in December 2014, the tracks listed below all made the top 100. In a September 2021 update however, many dropped placings or were left out entirely. This year's list is more diverse. – Amancay Tapia, Newsweek

The return of Adele: industry bills new album 30 as ‘huge global event’

Rumoured for release in mid-November, record is being tipped to outdo new LPs by Ed Sheeran and Coldplay. – Laura Snapes, The Guardian

Adele on the other side

On my way to Heart & Hustle, a private gym in West Hollywood, where I will be joining Adele for her Monday morning workout, I get the distinct feeling that the Queen of Hearts is about to put me through my paces. – Abby Aguirre, Vogue

‘If there is a God, this is what he put us on Earth to do’: the unlikely return of Tears for Fears

When personal tragedy struck Roland Orzabal, he found solace returning to a band with its own fractious history. Now, with their first album in 17 years, he and Curt Smith say they’ve come full circle. – Laura Barton, The Guardian

The Rolling Stones spend the night with Nashville in explosive stadium concert

This city's gotten a lot louder and rowdier since the rock legends last came here in 2015 — to say nothing of the humble town they saw on their first visit in 1965. But some things haven't changed: nearly 60 years in, The Rolling Stones deliver a show like no one else. – Dave Paulson, Nashville Tennessean

Olivia Rodrigo responds to criticism over ‘Sour’ songwriting credits: “Nothing in music is ever new”

"Every single artist is inspired by artists who have come before them." – Alex Gallagher NME

Paul McCartney doesn't really want to stop the show

He still wants to set the record straight, and make new ones. – David Remnick, The New Yorker

Charley Drayton is Bob Dylan’s new drummer

Former Divinyls member Charley Drayton will be heading out on tour as the drummer for the Bob Dylan band for Bob’s upcoming mammoth Rough and Rowdy Ways World Wide Tour. – Noise11