Music Biz Headlines, Oct. 22, 2018

By Kerry Doole

Why does music sound good when you're high?

Cannabis enters the listener into a state of mind that distorts how they perceive the passage of time, and their ability to follow a beat changes how that musical composition comes together. -- CBC

Snotty Nose Rez Kids represent the minay movement

As they ride a serious hot streak, the Polaris Prize-nominated Haisla Nation hip-hop duo makes music for brotherhood, sisterhood, unity and Indigenous resurgence. – Richard Trapunski, NOW

Otis Williams, the last Temptation

There is, if you’ll pardon the expression, a temptation to view Otis Williams’s role as portrayed in the new Temptations musical, Ain’t Too Proud, as rather more level-headed and saintly than it really was, since his autobiography provided much of the source material. –  Ben Rayner, The Toronto Star

How Pakistani-Canadian Urvah Khan is boldly changing the world of rock music for South Asian women

The Toronto-based musician will tell you that her distinctive sound is South Asian influenced progressive rock informed by her Pakistani roots and Canadian identity. – CBC.ca

Hey, man, thanks: Kingston radio station plays unreleased Tragically Hip track, “Wait So Long”

In honour of the anniversary of Gord Downie’s death, Kingston’s KROCK dubbed itself Gord FM on Oct. 18. All day, for a full 24 hours, the station played nothing but the Tragically Hip and Downie solo tracks. Around 5 p., the station played a previously unreleased song believed to be called “Wait So Long.” – A Journal of Musical Things

Jeffery Straker brings homegrown music to the SSO

It's not often Jeffery Straker's small ensemble music is arranged for orchestra — but he loves it. The Sask. musician performed Saturday with the Saskatoon Symphony Orchestra. – Matt Olson, Star-Phoenix

Nanaimo bluesman David Gogo releases new album, ‘17 Vultures’

The veteran guitarist/singer has just released his 15th studio album, the first that combines acoustic and electric compositions. During the recording, there were times when he would listen back to a song he thought was done only to scrap the whole thing and start over. – Josef Jacobson, Nanaimo Bulletin 

Opera Philadelphia takes a gamble under David Devan

It’s opera season again in Toronto, and elsewhere as well, with Opera Philadelphia pointing sister companies in Canada and the United States toward a more experimental approach to this tradition-weighted art form. – William Littler, Toronto Star

International

Consulting firm predicts 235 million global streaming music subscriptions at the end of 2018

With Spotify and Apple Music in the lead, expect TIDAL, Deezer, Amazon, and Google to remain key players in the exploding global streaming music market. – Daniel Sanchez, Digital Music News

First Look: Highlights from the Q3 Hit Song Trend Report

This report details the compositional and industry trends for the Billboard Hot 100 Top 10. Four songs charted at #1, including two by Drake. – Yael Penn, musicthinktank

YouTube partners with Eventbrite to sell concert tickets below music videos

A button will now appear below videos for musicians with official Artist Channels (like Post Malone, Ariana Grande, and Drake), which fans can use to purchase tickets directly through Eventbrite. Eventbrite and Ticketmaster’s relationship with the video service means that “YouTube now covers more than 70 percent of the US ticketing market."  – Julia Alexander, The Verge

Talent and touring

2018’s biggest rock radio hit is one you might not have heard of

75 million listeners heard Lovelytheband’s “Broken” last week.  It has now reached more than one billion listeners. No song has gotten more play on what’s known as “Alternative” radio — the catch-all home of guitar-bass-and-drums acts, including Weezer, the Struts and Elle King — this year. –  Elias Leight, Rolling Stone

Tina Turner: By the book

The singer, whose memoir “My Love Story” has just been published, wishes Mick Jagger would write an autobiography: 'He can outtalk anyone on the planet. That’s the book I want to read, and so will anyone else'.  – New York Times Review of Books

The journey to re-'Imagine' John Lennon's iconic 1971 solo album

Along with the six-disc box set just out, Lennon’s widow and creative partner, Yoko Ono, is overseeing the release of newly restored films they made the same year as well as an elaborate coffee-table book. – Randy Lewis, LA Times

Megative is your soundtrack for Armageddon

Putting together an apocalyptic punky reggae album was a longtime ambition Canadians Gus Van Go and Tim Fletcher had been talking about for years, a sort of rainy day/doomsday project, that eventually became a real band, called Megative. – Edwin Houghton, Vulture

Rihanna turns down Super Bowl Halftime show to support Colin Kaepernick – Report

The star backs former 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who has a collusion lawsuit against the National Football League. – Bruce Haring, Deadline

David Byrne: "My agent says I'm having a Leonard Cohen moment"

“At the concerts, the feedback I get now is that younger members of the audience don’t know which songs are old and which ones are the new ones. I like that." – Tim Lewis, The Guardian

Ariana Grande encourages fans to vote in U.S. midterm elections

The pop hitmaker has followed in the footsteps of Swift by sharing a message on social media regarding the importance of Americans voting in November (18). Grande, 25, posted a photo of her ballot envelope on her Instagram Story and simply wrote: "vote, f**kers."  – music-news.com

One to watch: Jessie Reyez

Sharing the credits on Calvin Harris and Sam Smith’s recent chart-topper is just the beginning for this distinctive Canadian singer-songwriter.  – Tara Joshi, The Guardian

Tensions in Fleetwood Mac are set to explode as Lindsey Buckingham sues over 'lost earnings' after missing tour

Buckingham is suing band mates for sacking him. When it comes to sheer rock'n'roll soap opera, no one holds a candle to Fleetwood Mac. – Tom Leonard, Daily Mail