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My friend's new releases and Music Biz news

Curated music and industry analysis | 7.2.20

July 03, 2020

đź“» Hello, thanks for tuning in to Arpeggio.

The focus of Arpeggio is to provide curated music from rising artists who otherwise might fly under your radar, plus data, analysis and insights from the evolving music business.

Vibe check.

As part of an ongoing collective archive, I’m testing out a lesser-used feature on Spotify, the collaborative playlist.

Feel free to plug your own music, add what you’re listening to & I’ll do the same, updating the list every week with new/old songs from all genres.

If you have any of your own music to share, feel free to add it to the collaborative playlist linked below! The idea is to create more discovery, and if you’re an artist, to create another space to share your music with a growing number of readers and subscribers of the newsletter.

🎧 New Music

What I’m listening to today music from friends of mine and a new McClenney single.

My friend’s band released a new single in June called “Going Down” and it’s a nice summertime indie jam.

Going Down is a groove and funk-oriented song that really focuses on the feelings of summer.

– The Perpetuals

Their most streamed song, “Passive Witness,” released this year as well and they have more music planned to release soon!

During one of the last days of my final semester at Temple University, I had the chance to interview Christinna O on my radio show. Somehow, that interview is unfortunately not recorded. “Shelter” is one of her singles from last year, released before her full-length album Girl In Passing.

I first listened to her music at an internship with Atmosphere Music Inc, when my boss’ friend discovered her music on a Swedish music blog. I was amazed to learn that an artist from my school, whose music is so good, was still flying under most people’s radar.

This week, she released her new song “Hot Head” and it’s a bop!

A new artist I’ve been digging this year is McClenney, a Maryland native and “singer, songwriter, producer, and multi-instrumentalist who makes a soulful blend of jazz, R&B, funk, and dance music” (Allmusic). He’s released a couple amazing singles this year, linked below.

🗞️ Music Business

Here’s what major labels and music businesses are paying women compared to last year’s numbers.

These glaring numbers are holding the music biz back from its full potential. We need women in more leadership positions across the board.

The business owes much of its wealth to the work of Black artists but has just a handful of Black executives in its most senior jobs. Companies large and small say they’re devoted to change. – NYT

A guest post on Hypebot with Spotify for Artists reveals some of the inner workings of Spotify’s curators.

Take a listen to what some of the experts think the future may hold for live music.

Austin City Limits is officially canceled 

Another one down. Although we’re seeing 2021 headlines pop up more and more already, like the SF-based show below.

The ticket pre-sales for the San Francisco festival sold out pretty quickly, but that doesn’t mean the line-up will be the same by August of next year.

This paints the picture for how a new tech company is helping artists break today, yet perhaps not as much during lockdown. I don’t buy the idea that “record labels are obsolete” from this journalist, but it’s an interesting read about distribution evolving from out of the record label ecosystem. Last year the company, run by founder Steve Stoute, created an iOS app for artists to distribute music directly from their phone.

"Breaking new artists – already the hardest game in the world – has become nigh-on impossible."

– Music Week

Cherie Hu’s view that the need for Twitch to accelerate virtual concerts has come to pass in less than a year’s time since writing this article.

WAVE boasts some of the biggest names in the music biz as investors, from Scooter Braun to Alex Rodriguez.

The economics work out hugely in our favor compared to a physical show,” said Arrigo. “With the scale of a virtual show you can have 3 million people show up and each person pays two dollars. The show production processes are a bit cheaper. [Artists] don’t have to pay the venue… [They] can reach more people. It’s actually cheaper for the audience and the artist makes more money than they would make for a physical show.

– co-founder Adam Arrigo, Techcrunch

Although Spotify has not yet achieved profitability, there’s a strong case for owning shares in the company.

If you had received a stimulus check of $1,200 and purchased stock in mid-April, you’d have doubled your money at the time of this writing. Part of the reason for this is due to Spotify’s aggressive spree of podcast deals.

Music is everything we do all day, all night, and that clarity is the difference between the average and the really, really good.

– Daniel Ek

Virgil Abloh’s most recent album cover is for the posthumous album from Pop Smoke, linked below.

đź’Ą Podcast: Song Exploder

I’ve been listening to this podcast lately, which breaks down how singer-songwriters, producers, and more create our favorite songs. What’s great is podcasts like Song Exploder provide an in-depth explanation of the unique recording process and play the full song.

đź“ś  A little music history this week

Thanks for reading! I’d love to hear your comments, questions, thoughts. Connect with me here!

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– Jimmy Seykot