How has a band that doesn’t physically exist, with zero promotion from the music industry, breach the Billboard Top 40 and reach No 1 in the iTunes metal chart?Conceived by California-based gaming gurus Riot Games in 2014, Pentakill exist purely in the imaginations of their creators – and the 100 million global fans of League of Legends, the multiplayer online battle arena game that spawned the band’s members, Karthus the Deathsinger, Yorick, Sona, Olaf and lead guitarist Mordekaiser the Master of Metal.Entirely under the mainstream radar, the band’s new CGI video, Mortal Reminder, notched up more than 3m views in less than 48 hours after its release – and the new album, Grasp of the Undying, seems destined to be a huge success.
(Theory link: Simon Reynolds' Retromania)
'The Beatles or Radiohead can forever flog key works to consumers prepared to pay £100 for unheard sessions on picture-disc vinyl. Icons like Morrissey can keep on reissuing even the unlamented likes of Maladjusted as part of their bigger story, safe in the knowledge fans want to buy into that idea too. But digital closes the door on nostalgia as much as it mucks with the album as a format. Will the 2026 reissue of Solange’s A Seat at the Table meet with the same ripe whiff of remembrance from a generation who recall where they were the first time they opened Spotify and it was algorithmically recommended to them? If not, Our Love to Admire may be one of the last albums in history to make it to its 45th anniversary super-deluxe box set.'
The reissue racket: how many more ‘classic’ albums will be repackaged? https://www.theguardian.com/music/2017/jul/28/reissue-racket-how-many-classic-albums-repackaged?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Blogger
An example I've used before, a useful one to highlight the need to take care in defining genre. Each of these 40 (and there are still others - no grunge here for example) have some distinctive features that a videomaker should be aware of.
http://loudwire.com/best-metal-bands-different-subgenres/#photogallery-1=1
Some strong language in this article, but coming in the week when Taylor Swift announced an end to her 3 year boycott of Spotify (to 'celebrate 10m album sales' for her latest...and undermine Katy Perry's album release), here's a great quote summing up digital disruption:
Run-DMC have about 2 million monthly listeners on Spotify, that’s not bad is it? (1)
That’s not bad – that’s really good! We still get our royalty. You do a deal now, the labels get ownership of this and that – but these days you don’t need a record company, you don’t need a lawyer, you don’t even need a studio. You can do it all in your f***ing bedroom.
Run-DMC's Darryl McDaniels: 'We lived sex, drugs and rock‘n‘roll – but never put it in our music' https://www.theguardian.com/music/2017/jun/09/run-dmc-darryl-mcdaniels-we-lived-sex-drugs-and-rocknroll-but-not-in-our-music?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Blogger
Like to make music? Turn your tunes into an income stream
https://www.theguardian.com/money/2017/jun/10/make-music-income-stream-compose-stock-music?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Copy_to_clipboard
http://www.blabbermouth.net/news/metallica-bringing-back-pop-up-stores-in-select-cities-on-north-american-tour/
Update: Katy b Perry went a manicured step further, livestreaming her fakery for 72 hours to promote her latest audio torture device (album): A weekend with Katy Perry's live stream: meditation, James Corden and a dog called Nugget
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2017/jun/12/katy-perry-witness-album-live-stream
This article focuses on legal cases, citing a number of musicologists as well as songwriters
Has pop finally run out of tunes? https://www.theguardian.com/music/2017/apr/13/has-pop-finally-run-out-of-tunes-ed-sheeran-plagiarism?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Blogger
Razor sharp example of cutting to the audio (Uptown Funk vid), and exemplar of the continuing insight of the Uses and Gratifications theory
Kidz Bop: 'It's not for everybody' https://www.theguardian.com/music/2017/mar/31/kidz-bop-american-preteen-pop-phenomenon?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Blogger
Disappointing not to see Carcass on there, but my vote goes to Nocturnus' trailblazer The Key...
The latest twist in the analogue comeback, extreme metal label Earache are running a list of back catalogue albums - any that hit 500 pre-orders will be commissioned, burned and posted.
The audience as commissioner, the former audience...
http://teamrock.com/news/2017-03-14/earache-records-launch-on-demand-vinyl-service
A novel idea, the band book...
Thrash legends Testament (Burnt Offerings, Over the Wall, Souls of Black and many other classics that'll add a sonic boom to any day) are producing a band history which can only be ordered through their website, and comes with a personalised inscription.
Of course, there's a video from the lead singer, the venom vocalled Chuck Billy, to announce/flog the tome...
http://www.metalsucks.net/2017/03/10/testament-are-working-on-a-book-the-official-illustrated-history/
Korn blimey...
Fan club and VIP ticket packages for the upcoming tour will go on sale beginning March 7 at 10:00 a.m. local time at Korn.com; Citi cardmembers presale begins that same day at noon local time. For complete Citi pre-sale details visit: www.citiprivatepass.com. Live Nation presale starts on March 8 at 10:00 a.m. local, followed by a Spotify presale beginning March 9 at 10:00 a.m. local and a BLABBERMOUTH.NET presale starting March 9 at 10:00 a.m. local. All presales end March 9 at 10:00 p.m. local timing. Remaining tickets for all dates will go on sale to the general public on March 10 at 10:00 a.m. local time at LiveNation.com.
Read more at http://www.blabbermouth.net/news/korn-announces-the-serenity-of-summer-tour-with-stone-sour/#xbPFxReL5b723QpP.99
http://www.blabbermouth.net/news/korn-announces-the-serenity-of-summer-tour-with-stone-sour/
If you get on the right Spotify playlist, it could pay for your album. My friend Ian who runs How Does It Feel to Be Loved has a band call Haiku Salut – they were on a Spotify playlist and it made them a load of money. It’s different from just sending a record to NME. There’s no longer one source that has that single power those magazine had. That’s possibly a good thing, but I feel sorry for a lot of music writers who are expected to provide content for free.
Since posting this I keep seeing more and more references to the same point, the power of the Spotify playlist - as I write (5.4.18) Spotify has just launched on the stock market leading to more analysis of its role, power and future. Like Amazon, its in a race against time to establish such a huge market lead that it has huge power over labels when striking deals over payments/royalties.