Ronnie Spector, who rose to fame as the leader of 1960s girl group the Ronettes and emerged as one of pop music’s first female stars, has died at the age of 78. "With her towering beehive hairdo and powerfully melancholic, melodramatic voice, Spector is among the most distinctive figures in American pop" - Guardian points out.
Rock guitar heroine Nita Strauss made history this week when her song 'Dead Inside' hit No. 1 on the Mediabase Active Rock Chart. This is the first time in history for a female solo rock artist to have a #1 single on rock radio, Loudwire reports. Strauss says she is a descendant of Austrian composer Johann Strauss through her father.
'No Time to Die' from the James Bond movie of the same name, written by Billie Eilish and her brother and collaborator Finneas, won the Golden Globe for best original song. Hans Zimmer’s 'Dune' won the Globe for best original score. Find the list of all the nominees and winners here.
Michael Lang, famed co-creator of the Woodstock music festival, died Saturday aged 77, Fox News reports. Lang was just 24 years old when Woodstock took place in August 1969 in New York's Catskill Mountains. Officially billed The Woodstock Music and Art Fair, An Aquarian Exposition, the festival staged on a dairy farm in White Lake became a seminal moment in music history.
Kelefa Sanneh made a selection of top 10 books of "writers documenting single-minded scenes with obsessive passion". There's, among others, 'Deep Down in the Ghetto' by Roger D Abrahams about hip-hop written a decade before it existed, 'I’m With the Band' by Pamela Des Barres about groupies, 'Lords of Chaos' by Michael Moynihan and Didrik Soderlind about the dark side of black metal.
In the US alone, 16 million people have picked up guitar since the pandemic began, many of them for the first time, Fender's CEO Andy Mooney told CNBC, based on their comprehensive research. Sales of guitars, according to CNBC, have nearly doubled since 2020, total sales are up 30% in 2021, and sub-500$ guitar sales are up 40%.
20-year-old PinkPantheress, who only started releasing music a year ago, has won BBC Radio 1's Sound Of 2022. The singer, who goes by her TikTok username, remains shrouded in mystery - she comes from Bath and currently lives in London, where she's studying film. Her real name remains a secret and, until relatively recently, she didn't show her face on social media. Indie-pop duo Wet Leg came second in this year's list, with powerhouse vocalist Mimi Webb third.
All the copyrights to all the sound recordings made prior to 1923 in the US have expired on January 1, 2022, according to the Music Modernization Act, passed by US Congress in 2018. For the first year under the new rule, some 400,000 recordings stretching back to the 19th century have suddenly become available. Check out all pre-1923 recordings on Internet Archive here, and the Library of Congress’ Citizen DJ project here.
Sales of CDs in the US increased from 40.16 million units in 2020 to 40.59 million in 2021, marking the first time CD sales have increased on a year-over-year basis since 2004. Vinyl album sales volume increased a massive 50.4% to 41.7 million. Billboard via Yahoo.
1. STOP TRYING TO MAKE THINGS “GO VIRAL”
2. ABSOLUTELY NO ONE WANTS YOUR TERRIBLE NFT
3. ARTISTS NEED TO STOP BEING OBSEQUIOUS AROUND DSPS
4. NO MORE THAN 5% OF YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA OUTPUT SHOULD BE SALES MESSAGES
5. STOP PAYING LIP SERVICE TO “MENTAL HEALTH”
6. EMPLOY MORE PEOPLE
7. RELEASING MUSIC IS NOT AN AUTOMATIC ENTITLEMENT TO MAKE MONEY
8. STOP CONFLATING A PASSIVE STREAMER WITH SOMEONE WHO WOULD, IN THE OLDEN DAYS, HAVE ACTUALLY BOUGHT YOUR MUSIC
9. PAY ARTISTS AND SONGWRITERS BETTER…
10. … BUT KNOW THAT AN INCREASE IN PAYMENTS IS STILL NOT GOING TO FIX DEEPER POPULARITY PROBLEMS
11. MOST OF YOU HAVE NO BUSINESS BEING IN THE METAVERSE
12. FINALLY HAVE THE GUTS TO INCREASE SUBSCRIPTION STREAMING PRICES
13. STOP JACKING UP THE PRICE OF VINYL
14. WATCHING TIKTOK IS NOT THE SAME AS A&R
15. ACCEPT THAT NOT ALL MUSICIANS ARE MAKING GREAT ART AND THAT HUGE CLUMPS OF MUSIC RELEASED TODAY IS NOT GREAT ART
16. NO BOX SET SHOULD COST OVER £100
17. STOP SEEING RECORD LABELS AS SOLELY THE ENEMY
18. YOU FORFEIT THE RIGHT TO COMPLAIN ABOUT HOW LITTLE SONGWRITERS GET PAID IF YOU ARE COMPLICIT IN NORMALISING A WORLD WHERE 20 SONGWRITERS ARE BROUGHT IN TO CRAFT A HIT SINGLE
19. STOP MAKING VERBOSE EXCUSES FOR A LACK OF DIVERSITY ON YOUR CONFERENCE PANELS/FESTIVAL BILLS AND INSTEAD SPEND THAT TIME AND ENERGY DOING SOMETHING TO FIX IT
20. PAY FOR THINGS
21. GO TO CONCERTS WITH UNCYNICAL PEOPLE WHO DON’T “WORK IN MUSIC” AND CATCH THE SUPPORT ACT
22. KEEP DIGGING FOR THE THING THAT WILL CHANGE YOUR LIFE (AGAIN)
"Catalog" records accounted for a stunning 82.1% of total recorded music consumption in the US in the second half of 2021, MBW reports. On the other hand, that means "current" records made up just 17.9% of US music consumption in the last six months of 2021. "Catalog" music counts as anything released over 18 months before a consumer made a purchase and/or pressed play. MGW later admitted they miscalculated, and that the actual percentage was 73.1%.
David Bowie's estate has sold his publishing catalog to Warner Chappell Music for upwards of $250 million, Variety reports. The deal includes songs such as 'Heroes', 'Changes', 'Space Oddity', Rebel Rebel', 'Ziggy Stardust' and hundreds more from the 26 studio albums released during his lifetime, as well as the posthumous studio album release, 'Toy', which comes out on Friday.
A California judge has dismissed a lawsuit by Spencer Elden, the baby from 'Nevermind' cover, alleging that Nirvana’s naked-baby artwork for the epic album constitutes child sexual exploitation, BBC News reports. Elden, who is now 30, claimed he suffered “lifelong damages,” including loss of wages, as a result of the album cover, and described the enterprise as a “sex trafficking venture”. The lawyers also noted that, until recently, Elden had seemed to enjoy the notoriety of being the "Nirvana baby": "He has re-enacted the photograph in exchange for a fee, many times; he has had the album title... tattooed across his chest; he has appeared on a talk show wearing a self-parodying, nude-colored onesie; he has autographed copies of the album cover for sale on eBay; and he has used the connection to try to pick up women".
Tone Glow assembled a list of their favourite albums of 2021 (not the best). An interesting list of experimental music:
Michael Pisaro-Liu - 'Revolution Shuffle'
Yvette Janine Jackson - 'Freedom'
Wild Up - 'Julius Eastman Vol. 1: Femenine'
DJ Sprinkles - 'Gayest Tits & Greyest Shits: 1998-2017 12-Inches & One-Offs'
Éliane Radigue - 'Occam Ocean 3'
Jana Rush - 'Painful Enlightenment'
Dean Blunt - 'Black Metal 2'
Chris Corsano & Bill Orcutt - 'Made Out of Sound'
Haptic - 'Weird Undying Annihilation'
Injury Reserve - 'By the Time I Get to Phoenix'
L’Rain - 'Fatigue'
Lucy Liyou - 'Practice'
Juçara Marçal - 'Delta Estácio Blues'
MIKE - 'Disco!'
Lucia Nimcová & Sholto Dobie - 'DILO'
William Parker – 'Migration of Silence into and Out of the Tone World (Volumes 1–10)'
RP Boo - 'Established!'
ThouxanBanFauni - 'Time of My Life'
Richard Youngs - 'CXXI'
RXK Nephew - 'Slitherman Activated'
The Russian government has officially labeled Pussy Riot members Nadya Tolokonnikova and Nika Nikulshina as “foreign agents”, BBC reports. The designation is a Russian government effort to stifle dissent and discredit anyone carrying the label. “Foreign agents” are required to append disclaimer statements to their social media posts, news reports, and other public-facing content. Tolokonnikova was arrested and spent two years in prison after a 2012 protest inside Moscow’s Christ the Savior Cathedral. Nikulshina was detained with other members of Pussy Riot for rushing the field at the 2018 World Cup final in Moscow.
2.11 million vinyl records were sold in the week ending on December 23rd in the US, marking vinyl’s biggest week in sales since 1991, Billboard reports. It is also the first time vinyl sales have exceeded two million units in decades. Kid Cudi just broke the record for the biggest vinyl sales week for both a male artist and a rap album with 41,500 in sales of his album 'Man on the Moon III: The Chosen'. However, the best-selling vinyl album in the past week was Adele‘s '30', which moved 59,000 copies.
"This year, many of the books we loved most used music as a lens through which to examine broader issues of politics, history, and identity — whether it was the story of capitalist circulation as heard by Joshua Clover in the Modern Lovers’ 'Roadrunner', Hanif Abdurraqib riffing on everything from 'Soul Train' to 1920s dance crazes in his panoramic 'A Little Devil in America', or Eric Harvey exploring depictions of African American life in Eighties pop culture" - Rolling Stone starts the introduction to their selection of the best 22 music books released this year.
Vinyl sales in the UK topped five million for the first time since 1991, BBC reports adding that almost a quarter of the albums bought this year (23%) were on vinyl. Abba's 'Voyage' was the biggest-seller, followed by Adele's '30', Fleetwood Mac's 'Rumours', Ed Sheeran's '=', and Amy Winehouse's 'Back to Black'. This year marks vinyl's 14th consecutive year of growth, with sales up by 8% on 2020. Sales of CDs continued to fall - just 14 million discs were bought, a 12% drop compared to the previous year - the lowest figure since 1988. Cassette sales increased for a ninth consecutive year - around 190,000 tapes were purchased in the past 12 months, up by around 20% year on year.
Dr. Dre has reached a settlement that will see him pay $100 million to his ex-wife Nicole Young, which includes more than half of Dre’s liquid assets, as well as a Rolls Royce, Range Rover, Spyder motorcycle, Escalade limousine, and all of her jewelry. Divorce papers filed with L.A. Superior Court on Nov. 18th show him to be worth $458.2 million, with $182.7 million cash, $6.3 million in stocks, and $269.2 million in property and assets, Consequence reports.
"It's hard to narrow down all the albums we loved this year, but we whittled a list down to 50, which spans over a dozen different genres of music, from breakthrough debut albums to career-high peaks from veteran artists and plenty of the in-between" - Brooklyn Vegan points out introducing their Top 50 albums of 2021. Here are their Top 10:
10. Japanese Breakfast - 'Jubilee'
9. Billie Eilish - 'Happier Than Ever'
8. Every Time I Die - 'Radical'
7. Cassandra Jenkins - 'An Overview on Phenomenal Nature'
6. The Weather Station - 'Ignorance'
5. Little Simz - 'Sometimes I Might Be Introvert'
4. Tyler, the Creator - 'Call Me If You Get Lost'
3. Low - 'HEY WHAT'
2. Jazmine Sullivan - 'Heaux Tales'
MusicREDEF compiled a list of more than 600 people from the music world who died this year - "men and women who deeply enriched our musical lives—and who continue to live through the music they made or helped make possible". A few of them are Lee "Scratch" Perry, DMX, Charlie Watts, Chick Corea, Vicente Fernández, Drakeo the Ruler, Sophie, Lou Ottens, Joey Jordison...
An interesting list of the 50 best albums of 2021 chosen by the Guardian writers. Before that, let's mention their list of the best global music albums, headed by Toumani Diabaté and the London Symphony Orchestra's 'Kôrôlén', and their list of best folk albums, with John Francis Flynn taking the top spot with 'I Would Not Live Always'. Going back to their general list, the top 10 are:
10 Mdou Moctar – 'Afrique Victime'
9 Arlo Parks – 'Collapsed in Sunbeams'
8 Olivia Rodrigo – 'Sour'
7 Dry Cleaning – 'New Long Leg'
6 Sault – 'Nine'
5 Tyler, the Creator – 'Call Me If You Get Lost'
4 The Weather Station – 'Ignorance'
3 Little Simz – 'Sometimes I Might Be Introvert'
2 Wolf Alice – 'Blue Weekend'
1 Self Esteem – 'Prioritise Pleasure'
'Sometimes I Might Be Introvert' by Little Simz has been named the best record of 2021 in BBC's summarized list. The album topped a BBC News "poll of polls" that combined the results of 30 critics' end-of-year lists. BBC points out that this "journey through her family background and artistic struggles" has been "praised for its 'razor-sharp lyricism' and 'extravagant, orchestral' songs". The best songs list is topped by 'Good 4U' by Olivia Rodrigo.
The Guardian was so cheeky to ask, and Noddy Holder was so cool to (kind of) answer the question about the amount of money he makes from the 1973 hit single 'Merry Xmas Everybody' he released with the Slade. “It’s like having a hit record every year. So it’s a nice pension plan, I’ll say that” - Holder says. Guardian quotes The PRS, who reported £512,000 annually for Holder from the Christmas hit, whereas the Daily Mail goes with a £1m.
The Nirvana lawyer has responded to a lawsuit by Spencer Elden, the baby from the 'Nevermind' cover, Billboard reports. Elden filed the lawsuit on August 24, accusing Nirvana of violating federal pornography laws and also accusing them of exploitation. The lawyer argues that plaintiff Elden’s claims are “barred by the applicable statute of limitations”, adding in the paper that “Elden’s claim that the photograph on the Nevermind album cover is ‘child pornography’ is, on its face, not serious”. The lawyer also claims that the lawsuit was filed too late.
Rapper Drakeo the Ruler was fatally stabbed backstage at the Once Upon a Time in L.A. Festival in Los Angeles on Saturday night, TMZ reports. The 28-year-old rapper was stabbed with a knife during an altercation that took place around 8:30 p.m. local time. He was taken to an area hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries. Following the incident, the remainder of Once Upon a Time in L.A. was canceled, including headlining sets from 50 Cent and Snoop Dogg. LA Times reports about LA's hip-hop community mourning the loss of the rapper.
"The jazz and experimental music that left the biggest impression this year did so primarily because it challenged us to find momentum in life" - Pitchfork argues in favor of their selection of best jazz and experimental music. Some interesting music there - political poet Anthony Joseph who got a helping sax from Shabaka Hutchings, Pakistan singer Arooj Aftab, free-improv team of guitarist Bill Orcutt and drummer Chris Corsano, broad collab by Floating Points, Pharoah Sanders and The London Symphony Orchestra, rap poet Moor Mother and others.
Barack Obama released his rundown of favorite songs from 2021 on a new curated Spotify playlist, including Lil Nas X‘s smash 'Montero (Call Me By Your Name)', Jon Batiste‘s 'Freedom', Mitski's 'The Only Heartbreaker', the War on Drugs/Mitski team-up 'I Don’t Live Here Anymore', hypnotic Nigerian guitar music from Mdou Moctar 'Tala Tannam', Little Simz's 'Woman' and others. “I’ve always enjoyed listening to a wide variety of music, so it’s no surprise that I listened to a little bit of everything this year. I hope you find a new artist or song to add to your own playlist” - Obama said of his selection.
Longtime member of the Roots, Leonard Nelson “Hub” Hubbard, has died at age 62 from multiple myeloma, The Philadelphia Enquirer reports. Hub joined the Roots in 1992, has played on a string of early Roots albums, and had left the Roots following his 2007 cancer diagnosis. Hub co-wrote and arranged a number of Roots compositions, and performed as a member of the live band during his 15-year tenure. He also played with the Roots in 2001, when they supported Jay-Z during his MTV Unplugged concert, which was later released as a live album.
Bruce Springsteen has sold the masters of his entire catalog to Sony Music and the coinciding music publishing rights to Sony Music Publishing in a combined deal of around $500 million, Billboard reports. Springsteen’s catalog spanning 50 years, includes over 300 songs, 20 studio albums, 23 live LPs, 7 EPs, and more.
