Music Biz Headlines, Sept. 24, 2020

By FYI Staff

Sitcom success still blows Jann Arden’s mind as season two of ‘Jann’ arrives

On the face of it, Jann Arden seems to have made extraordinarily good use of her pandemic time. The second season of her TV sitcom “Jann” debuts Monday; her new album “Hits & Other Gems” is out Friday, and her new memoir is to be released Oct. 27. “It all looks very impressive,” Arden agrees over the phone, “but Covid absolutely changed the trajectory of everything.” –Debra Yeo, Toronto Star

A new Gord Downie solo album represents the rock troubadour's 'last gasp'

Although he died nearly three years ago, Gord Downie continues to update his discography. On Oct. 16, the Toronto-based label Arts & Crafts will release Away is Mine, a double album recorded just three months before the iconic Canadian rock troubadour and Tragically Hip frontman succumbed to brain cancer on Oct. 17, 2017. – Brad Wheeler, The Globe and Mail

Don’t try to give Bruce Cockburn a rocket launcher. It’s been tried — three times

For a few years in the 1980s, it seems that everyone was trying to hand Bruce Cockburn his very own rocket launcher. Rarely has such an angry song about the atrocities of defenceless wartime human slaughter been so perfectly articulated in song as in the Ottawa-born Cockburn’s 1984 hit “If I Had A Rocket Launcher.” But it seems as though a few people misinterpreted the lyrics. – Nick Krewen, Toronto Star

London Music Week organizers 'overwhelmed' by success of online events

London Music Week drew thousands of viewers to its online events celebrating artists in all genres with the Forest City London Music Awards. – Joe Belanger, London Free Press

Dayna Manning releases ode to Stratford with 'You You You' music video

The Stratford folk singer-songwriter Dayna Manning released her new music video for her 2019 song, You You You' on YouTube and through her social media channels earlier this week. – Galen Simmons, Stratford Beacon Herald

Buffy Sainte-Marie talks to Rick Rubin about being blacklisted and teaching Big Bird about breastfeeding

The legendary Indigenous singer/songwriter tells producer/show host Rick Rubin there’s a reason she isn’t a household name in the U.S. –That Eric Alper

On Our Radar: Bob Sumner proves it's all a matter of perspective in the gorgeous "Didn't We Dream"

Settle in with an Old Fashioned and get ready to be transported by Bob Sumner’s video for “Didn’t We Dream”. On the visual side of things, trainspotters and trivia experts will recognize the backdrop as a former East Van convenience store famous for a cameo in Juno. – Mike Usinger, Georgia Straight

Toronto’s Dakota Tavern could close permanently next month

A statement from the owner reveals that the beloved venue’s future is in jeopardy. – Exclaim!

Songwriter honours Terry Fox as greatest Canadian hero

Terry Fox had a dream — a world without cancer. He has been commemorated in a new tribute from singer/songwriter Vic Macina, who also has a dream — to see Fox recognized globally as a true Canadian hero. – Liz Braun, Toronto Sun

VIFF review: No Ordinary Man, about jazz musician and trans icon Billy Tipton, packs an emotional wallop

This documentary is as much about the present as it is the past. –  Kevin Ritchie, Georgia Straight

International

Donald Trump: TikTok deal won't be approved if Oracle and Walmart don't have 'total control'

TikTok downloads weren't blocked in the US over the weekend after all, but the app's future in the market is still in doubt. ByteDance insists that it will retain control of TikTok as part of a proposed deal with US companies Oracle and Walmart. But Donald Trump, speaking to Fox News on Monday, said that "if we find that they don’t have total control, then we’re not going to approve the deal". A proposed deal (as originally explained in statements issued over the weekend) would see Walmart and Oracle buy a 20% cumulative stake in a newly formed company called TikTok Global, which will have a US HQ. – MBW

One third of British musicians may quit industry amid pandemic

Musicians’ Union, whose survey also finds one-third of professional musicians can’t access emergency support, criticises DCMS and Treasury over ‘lack of understanding.’ – Ben Beaumont-Thomas, The Guardian

Session musicians’ money allegedly stolen by the union meant to protect them

If you’ve ever played on a recording as a hired gun, you are entitled to more than just the check you got for the session. You are guaranteed (up to) 5% of all the performance royalties that recording ever makes. Even if you have been receiving this money, a good chunk of it has been withheld from you and pocketed. By whom? How did they get away with this thievery? – Ari Herstand, Ari's Take

Travis Scott's Cactus Jack GM, Warner Chappell A&R dynamos among music's new leaders

Our Music's 2020 New Leaders list includes executives from such innovation-forward companies as Create Music Group, Cactus Jack and SB Projects. – Staff, Variety

Italy's recorded music industry grew 2.1% in H1 2020, with streaming up 26.4%

Cast your mind back to March, when the coronavirus was causing frightening harm in Italy – not only to the health of the nation's population, but also to the local economy.
 Understandably, representatives for Italy's recorded music industry feared the worst, but we can report positive news. – MBW

The anti-Spotify: How online music company Bandcamp became the toast of the Covid age

The platform, with its artist-first business model, has since its birth in 2008 become a player in the music streaming wars by celebrating niche communities while promising a radically transparent approach to royalties.– Randall Roberts, LA Times

Maybe, just maybe, it's 'go time'

Greg Marella is a champion. The hardest thing for a promotion exec to do is work an anti-format hit record in a system that is more challenging than ever to navigate. Programming executives have -existing opinions that minimize the chances for a format-defying song to achieve ultimate radio exposure. Analytics-driven consultants exert further pressure, telling PDs not to play these records. – Lenny Beer, Hits Daily Double

Kanye West's new music industry 'guidelines,' explained

Like most things involving Kanye, the chaos around his label situation is paired with bits of truth.  Are Kanye’s new guidelines realistic? What do they mean? In a point-by-point analysis, we break it down for you. – Jessica Meiselman, Complex

Joni Mitchell's 19 studio albums, ranked

From Blue to Both Sides Now and beyond. We revisited every stage of Joni and returned with this handy ranking of her albums. Each is unique and special in its own way, but only a few will go down in history as some of the best recorded albums of all time. – Ellen Johnson & Paste Staff 

Fifty years after death, Jimi Hendrix continues shaping Seattle music, as same racial inequities persist

It’s almost impossible to quantify the vast impact that Hendrix, who died 50 years ago Friday, Sept. 18, had on pop culture. He pushed the limits of what the guitar was capable of and his almost mystical individuality has inspired generations of artists across genres and continents to wave their freak flags, too. – Michael Rietmulder, The Seattle Times

What Karaoke means to the country that invented it

Tokyoites relive their favorite (and most embarrassing) karaoke moments. – Frankie Caracciolo, Thrillist

Bruce Springsteen wrote whole of new album on guitar gifted to him by fan

"All the songs from the album came out of it". – Nick Reilly, NME

Blondie gushes over Miley Cyrus’s electrifying cover of ‘Heart Of Glass’ For iHeartRadio Fest

This year’s edition of the iHeartRadio Music Festival went virtual. Taking to the stage for the festival’s 10th-anniversary outing was Miley Cyrus. Decked out in a sheer Mugler bodysuit, Cyrus delivered an energetic four-song set that she kicked off with a punk-inflected cover of Blondie’s 1979 hit “Heart of Glass”. – Brent Furdyk, ET Canada

Fred Schneider updates us on his pandemic life and sends a playlist

When not playing with The B-52's, Fred Schneider stays busy with his own group, The Superions, where he puts an electro-disco spin on his signature kitschy style. Of course, with the pandemic still in effect, Fred is not really playing live with anyone right now. He's here in NYC while the rest of the band are in Los Angeles, but Fred says they're staying connected like we all are via the internet. – Brooklyn Vegan

'Fiery, chaotic and full of emotion': This Heat, the band who tried to change everything

They rehearsed in a former meat pie factory, drawing on claustrophobic 80s London to make violently anxious music – but This Heat, finally available to stream, talk about how they wanted to appeal to everyone. – Alexis Petridis, The Guardian

In search of redemption and revolution in the pandemic nightlife underground

Raving in a pandemic is a thorny problematic fraught with both political and moralistic considerations. – Michelle Lhooq, Rave New World