There was a lot of hype and excitement around the news that “High-Definition Vinyl” would be available as early as 2019, but not a lot of explanation about what that actually means. It’s Hi-Definitely not as simple as it sounds. Back in 2016, we reported that Austrian company Rebeat Innovation had filed a patent to…
How Philip Glass went from driving taxis to becoming one of the most celebrated composers of our time
At age 12, Philip Glass started working in a Baltimore record store owned by a man he called Ben. Ben was, in fact, Glass’s father, but he and his brother, Marty, both referred to him by his first name because they didn’t want anyone to know they were his children. Of course everyone still knew…
FACEBOOK SIGNS MUSIC LICENSING DEALS WITH MERLIN, BEGGARS GROUP, [PIAS] AND INGROOVES
Facebook has announced new multi-territory licensing deals with some of the most influential independent companies in the music industry. The key agreement, naturally, is with Merlin – the commercial agency which represents more than 20,000 independent record labels and distributors, and says this membership commands over 12% of the global digital recorded music market. Earlier this…
Why are pop songs 3 minutes long?
It turns out the reason most pop songs have wound up at just over three minutes in length is a) really interesting, and b) reveals some important facts about the history of recorded music. How did this 3 minute length come about? Around the 1920s shellac records replaced the phonograph cylinder as the technology of…
The Year “Indie Rock” Meant Something Different
This was supposed to be the year indie rock came back. Or at least that’s what the release calendar suggested. In 2017, a number of acts that defined the mid-to-late-2000s indie-rock boom I came up in—Arcade Fire, LCD Soundsystem, Grizzly Bear, Spoon, Dirty Projectors, Broken Social Scene, Feist, the National, Fleet Foxes, and Wolf Parade—released…
What’s actually going on when people talk about digital vs. analogue masters
It’s been 10 years since vinyl sales began taking off again, and for the first time in a decade this summer saw the incredible growth in sales begin to slow down. In the US, that has meant a decline from 38% growth in 2015, to 12% in 2016, to just 2% so far this year….
Are Music Festival Lineups Getting Worse?
There’s no more predictable pile-on in music culture than the backlash to festival lineup announcements. Within minutes of any given festival poster’s release, critics are comparing font sizes to make the usual points. Too similar to other festivals. Too predictable. Too many reunions. Not enough diversity. Weak headliners. And who the hell are these bands…
Numero Group speaks out against “charade” of Record Store Day
US reissue label Numero Group has criticised Record Store Day for becoming a “marketing event designed to generate traffic by pushing manufactured rarities that scrape off the chaff from deluxe edition CD bonus material and flaunt their first-time-on-wax status while remaining no less unessential.” Sharing the essay in a recent Numero Group newsletter, the label…
Avicii Dead at 28
Swedish DJ and producer Avicii has died. He was 28. His publicist, Diana Baron, confirmed the news to Billboard in a statement that has also since been provided to Pitchfork. “It is with profound sorrow that we announce the loss of Tim Bergling, also known as Avicii,” it reads. “He was found dead in Muscat,…
Cardi B Debuts At #1, Becoming 5th Female Rapper To Top Billboard 200
Cardi B blasts in at #1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart with her debut studio album, Invasion Of Privacy. The set, which was released on 4/6 through The KSR Group/Atlantic Records, earned 255,000 equivalent album units in the week ending 4/12, according to Nielsen Music. That’s the second-biggest week of 2018, trailing only the…
