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Arpeggio: Curated Music and Industry Analysis
New Music and Industry updates | April, 2020
Arpeggio: Pivoting the newsletter
I’ve made a name change to the newsletter from Music Biz to Arpeggio. Music Biz was significant to me for a few reasons. 1) It’s the business where my mentor was the former president as I was a student in his class, 2) it’s the conference where I landed my first gig in the music industry, and 3) it’s the name of the student organization I started during my last semester in college.
Recently, I began piano lessons at a local Philadelphia recording studio. While I was learning some of the related music theory, a friend of mine suggested the name "Arpeggio,” for the newsletter. It was perfect timing coming off a lesson where I learned to play a succession of ascending chords from John Lennon’s classic “Imagine.”
After some long thought, Arpeggio will have a new focus:
1/2 curated music: Uncovering new sounds and stories from rising artists in the recording industry. Curated music is important because, in a world dominated by streaming companies, there is an unknown number of artists flying under the radar while artists like Drake continue to dominate everyone’s attention.
1/2 data & analysis: Diving deep into the evolving music business, which, as we know, is in the midst of new changes every day. I’ll stay on top of the numbers behind today’s trends and keep you posted.
In the future, I’ll level up the content through interviews of folks from the music industry, including podcasts and video formats.
Recording Industry
It’s been nearly a month since my last post.
With that said, here is the best in new music from the month of April, and then some numbers revealing where the industry is heading.
This past Friday, The Undercover Dream Lovers and Neil Frances released the song “Tell Me” and it masterfully blends their signature sounds into one.
Tom Misch and Yussef Dayes finally released their collaborative full-length album they’ve been hinting about for two years. “I Did It For You,” has the classic, upbeat guitar riffs Misch is known for.
What Kinda Music follows Tom Misch’s previous project Geography and has a similarly consistent smooth sound with a touch of hip hop, featuring a single release called “Nightrider” in collaboration with rapper Freddie Gibbs.
Misch’s sound is steadily evolving and meshing with hip hop in the last couple of years, featuring remixes Common’s single and a single release with De La Soul, both linked above.
Giveon released his debut album Take Time on March 27th. It’s a strong start for the rising R&B singer. I’ve written about his singles released in a previous post, but the eight-song project is worth listening through. The bass line coming from the song “The Beach” has a similar sound to his previous single “Garden Kisses.”
Giveon shared his inspiration behind the album:
“What I want people to take away from this project is relatability. Each song on the project is based on a true story. Most of them are me looking back at past situations, but a few are inspired by what my friends went through.”
Another March 27th album release that slipped through the cracks for me is Little Dragon’s New Me, Same Us. It’s the Philly singer songwriter’s first full-length album since 2017.
“Where You Belong,” “Hold On,” “Stay Right Here,” “Another Lover,” and “Are you feeling sad?” are a few gems from the album, linked below.
Parcels are an Australian band with some hints of the funk that made Daft Punk famous. Their lead singer also looks like George Harrison reincarnated, but I digress. The band released this short EP IknowhowIfeel. All three songs were recorded at Hansa Studios in Berlin, a studio that’s recorded greats including David Bowie. It has a great electro-pop sound. The band put out a video performing the songs ahead of the new album, Live Vol. 1.
The band had the following to say in a press release.
“For us two years ago, this idea was the perfect bookend to the debut album. A lush 24 track tape recording of all the album songs being performed in a classic studio. Surprisingly it still feels like a good idea now, which never really happens unless it’s the right thing to do.”
The director of the live recordings, Carmen Crommelin, said in a press release:
“The magic of Parcels needs no added narrative if you’re lucky enough to witness them in creation. I wanted the camera to be both passive and intimate, so you could politely observe from a distance and walk through the room like a friend.”
The album is expected to be a tracklist of 18 songs, coming out this Friday.
Last, Khruangbin’s new funky disco song “Time (You and I),” released with a music video today and it’s just as strange as the video for “Evan Finds the Third Room.” Soon, I’ll be sharing a case study on Khruangbin’s global marketing strategy.
Music Business
New data from a survey of 7,000 participants by Bands in Town is very revealing for the future of live streaming:
"74% of fans say they will watch live streams on a regular basis after live shows return"
"An overwhelming amount of survey participants (75%) said their favorite service for live streams is YouTube Live. The runner up for favorite service was Facebook Live, followed by Instagram Live"
"Fans strongly preferred for artists to do live performances for these live streams, with a 96% favorability over fan Q&As, interviews or fan-selected sets"
"When asked if they would be willing to pay artists to access live streams in order to help artists make revenue, more than 70% of fans said yes"
More than 65% of the 7,000 people surveyed by @bandsintown said that everything that has happened since the pandemic will not impact their eagerness to attend public gatherings again.
An eight-hour concert put together by Global Citizen, the World Health Organization, and Lady Gaga raised $127 million for coronavirus aid.
While the infamous Billy McFarland was requesting to be released from prison due to coronavirus fears, Andy King shined as the host for a successful virtual Room Service Festival. The festival had setlists for three separate days and featured a Trap Nation and Chill Nation stage. 100% of proceeds from Room Service went to Feeding America and Sweet Relief.
Erykah Badu has a new initiative to take on Twitch, one of the current goliaths of music live streaming. Her partnership with the tech startup Maestro aims to provide artists more leverage.
“We give artists more interactivity than Twitch with the ease-of-use and full customisability of Squarespace. You can give people exactly the experience you want, set the parameters for monetization you need, and own your audience data, creating opportunities to stay directly connected,” CEO of Maestro, Ari Evans
E-Sports features Travis Scott and Robin Schulz Live
Travis Scott isn’t the first to perform live in Fortnite, but he did elevate the virtual attendee record by ~2 million listeners. In February of 2019, Marshmello broke the record with a 10-minute set that attracted 10 million online gamers. Travis Scott’s release of “The Scotts” on Fortnite attracted a groundbreaking 12 million listeners. It was a wise release strategy, debuting the new group with Kid Cudi, a.k.a. Scott Mescudi, while also leveraging the rise of gaming.
Ford Motor Company slapped with 8.1 million lawsuit
According to Freeplay Music, Ford Motor Company is featuring music “in its web broadcasting advertisements,” copyright infringement of a “breathtaking scale.” The lawsuit is hitting Ford as the company shares are seeing it’s the lowest trading price since the 2008 financial crisis.
“Freeplay and its legal team are requesting $150,000 for each of these claimed copyright violations, bringing the grand total of sought damages to $8.1 million,” per DigitalMusicNews
Last but not least, my personal favorite headline:
Thanks for reading! I’d love to hear your questions, thoughts, and comments.
Connect with me here!
- Jimmy Seykot