On this week’s Monday Reading List, Adele steps up to the plate and smashes another record with her come-back single, The New Republic documents the rise and fall of college rock, a music CEO makes some comments on the music industry’s “Two-Class system,” and a Toronto indie-label goes up for sale on Craigslist.
Hello, Adele is back. In just under a week, Adele’s comeback hit, “Hello,” has hit 100 million YouTube views. The song will debut at number one on Billboard’s Hot 100 this week. It’s Adele’s world, we’re just living in it.
http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/6745988/adele-hello-fastest-youtube-100-million
Over at The New Republic, Ian Svenonius take a long look at “college rock,” a genre defined by artists like REM, The Violent Femmes, and The Talking Heads, and how that genre came to prominence on college radio stations. He points out the way the genre was gentrified and in a way sterilized by the yuppies of NPR.
http://www.newrepublic.com/article/123187/how-npr-killed-college-rock
SONGS Music CEO, Matt Pincus has penned a commentary on a problem facing the music industry, namely that the current ecosystem is growing in to a two-class system.
Behind the headline rates lies a grave threat to the music publishing business: the possibility that shares of songs controlled by larger companies could earn more for digital uses than shares controlled by smaller companies or by self-published writers. There has never been a two-class system in music publishing. If one develops, it will stifle competition in our industry and the creativity and ingenuity that come with it.
Toronto-based indie label Handshake inc. has been put up for sale on Craigslist for $5000. The ad stipulates that the label is perfect for “hobbyists, pros, and any goal oriented people who still maintain a sense of hope and wonder about the music industry.” People who still maintain a sense of hope and wonder about the music industry and also have $5000 may be hard to find.
http://www.hypebot.com/hypebot/2015/10/indie-label-for-sale-on-craigslist.html