Which Christmas songs have appeared the most in holiday movies down through the years? According to website FiveThirtyEight who analyzed songs on IMBD, Jingle Bells has appeared in 373 movies. Auld Lang Syne is second, having been listed in 295 holiday movie soundtracks while Silent Night rounds off the top three with 254.
You will find more statistics at Statista
On December 18, 2015, Ray Davies joined Dave Davies onstage at the Islington Assembly Hall in London to perform ‘You Really Got Me’. Among other musicians they were backed up by Dennis Diken of the Smithereens on drums (he had played drums for a Kinks show in Boston in the early 80s) and Debi Doss, one of the backing vocalists from Preservation Hall and Schoolboys in Disgrace.
You always seem pretty relaxed. Do you get stage fright?
I get stage fright, but once I get out there I’m all right. I get crazy useless stage fright, actually. I’m just scared all day but I don’t do anything to help it. I just pace and do useless things. It’s better than the other way around. I recently had this comedy club emcee show up at the very last minute all calm and collected — and he sucked. If I had his act, I’d be nervous as hell!
Have you ever bombed on stage?
I used to bomb all the time. Once you’re famous you never bomb. They just forget you’ve been sucking for 20 minutes. They just accept it. When I started, I used to bomb about 90 percent of the time.
How did you recover?
Sometimes the only thing that can save you is if you drink. Because they’re all yahoos in some of these joints you play. So you tell a joke and they don’t laugh and you go, “I’m going to have a drink!” And they go, “Yeeahhh!” You take a gulp of alcohol and they all cheer. So for a while, since I have no tolerance for alcohol, I was having the waitress bring me fake shooters that had nothing in them. I’d down like 20 shooters and by the end of the night I was the biggest hero ever because I wasn’t down on my hands and knees barfing like a normal human would be doing.
China will become one of the world’s biggest music markets by 2020, a forecast that prompted a recent consensus among three major international record companies－Universal Music, Sony Music and Warner Music－as well as QQ Music, a music-service platform under the Chinese Internet giant, Tencent.
The companies declared unanimity about the Chinese market’s potential at a conference in Beijing, where the main discussion focused on music streaming and subscription, the fastest-growing areas in digital music in China, and new business models these generated.
According to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry’s 2015 World Ranking report, China ranked No 19 in global trade revenues.
“But we believe that China will rank in the top five or even top three in the world music market in the next five years or even sooner. It’s one of the most important markets in our global strategy,” says Ariel Fung, executive vice-president of marketing of Sony Music Entertainment Asia.
The year 2015 has been crucial for the development of China’s digital-music market, especially with the notice from the National Copyright Administration that online music-delivery platforms had to remove all unauthorized songs by July 31, which has been seen as a major move to fight rampant piracy in the industry.
Via Eastday
“The line between good and evil runs through each one of us.” Mandy Patinkin visited The Late Show and has some thoughts on the world, fear and humanity.
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), the Estate of Michael Jackson, Epic Records and Legacy Recordings announced today that Michael Jackson’s THRILLER is the first album in RIAA Gold & Platinum Program history to be certified 30X Multi-Platinum for U.S. sales, continuing The King of Pop’s reign as the biggest selling artist of all time with worldwide sales of over 100 million for Thriller and 1 billion overall.
“RIAA has awarded Gold & Platinum records on behalf of the music business for nearly 60 years, but this is the first time an artist has crossed the 30X multi-Platinum plateau,” said Cary Sherman, Chairman & CEO, RIAA. “We are honored to celebrate the unique status of Thriller in Gold & Platinum history. What an exceptional achievement and testament to Thriller‘s enduring spot in our hearts and musical history.”
Michael Jackson’s masterpiece Thriller, produced by Quincy Jones and Michael Jackson, won a record setting 8 Grammys, more than any album ever, and has been earning awards and setting new standards of success since its release on November 30, 1982. Thriller spent nearly 2 -1/2 years on the Billboard album chart and holds a modern day record of 37 weeks at #1. It was the first album in history to spend each of its first 80 weeks in the album chart’s Top 10, a feat only reached by one other album in the more than three decades since. During its 112th week on Billboard’s album chart, it became the first title ever to be certified RIAA 20Xmulti-Platinum (October 30, 1984). Worldwide, Thriller went to #1 in practically every country in the world, including the UK, France, Italy, Australia, Denmark, Belgium, South Africa, Spain, Ireland, New Zealand, Canada and apartheid South Africa.
The album was acclaimed for its range and depth. Rolling Stone referred to the album as a ”watershed” moment for Michael, and Newsweek prophetically wrote that “Michael’s voice haunts these songs, gives them heart…It is what will make this music endure.” Seven tracks from the album became Top 10 singles, and three, “Beat It”, “Billie Jean” and “Thriller”, went #1. ALL nine assumed a permanent place in hearts and memories of everyone on the planet.
More than just an album, Thriller has remained a global cultural multi-media phenomenon for both the 20th and the 21st centuries, smashing musical barriers and changing the frontiers of pop forever. The music on Thriller is so dynamic and singular that it defied any definition of rock, pop or soul that had gone before. ‘”Beat It” was a new kind of pop rock hybrid and demolished the longstanding segregation between black and white music with Eddie Van Halen’s incendiary guitar. On “The Girl Is Mine” a black man and a white man bantered about the same girl. On the same album were songs like the African-rooted “Wanna Be Startin‘ Somethin'” and the rhythm and blues based “Billie Jean“. No one had ever released an album with such a vast range of material.
“Perhaps Michael’s most significant racial trailblazing came with music videos,” wrote Joe Vogel in Man in the Music. Fascinated with the fledgling art form Michael wanted to tell a story and entertain on a grand scale. Despite the luscious cinematography, dramatic narrative and spectacular choreography of “Billie Jean“, a fledgling MTV, which was programming white rock artists almost exclusively, refused to play it. Epic persisted. Once the wall came crashing down, MTV’s ratings soared and a door was opened for a generation of African American artists. “He was MTV’s Jackie Robinson,” said cultural critic Toure. Next came the unforgettable short film for “Beat It” which featured Michael bringing two gangs together through the power of music and dance. And then there was “Thriller”. Premiered at the AVCO Theatre in Los Angeles in 1983, it sold out every night for three weeks. No other video before or since has generated such excitement and has such a hold on our attention such that more than 30 years later we all share it as a collective memory and it remains the only music video to be inducted into the elite National Film Registry by the Library of Congress.
The importance of Thriller was recognized by Michael Jackson’s industry peers at the Grammys. Thriller was nominated in a record breaking 12 categories, and won a history making eight, which stands as the record for most Grammy Awards to be won by any album. Seven of those Grammys that year were awarded to Michael for: Album of the Year; Record of the Year (“Beat It”); Best Male Pop Vocal Performance (“Thriller”); Best Engineered Recording, Non-Classical (Thriller); Best Male Rock Vocal Performance (“Beat It”); Best Male R&B Vocal Performance (“Billie Jean“); Best R&B Song (“Billie Jean“). (Michael’s eighth Grammy that year was in the Best Recording for Children – Single or Album, Musical or Spoken category for “E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial”). That same year, Michael Jackson took home eight American Music Awards and three MTV Video Music Awards. The following year, “The Making of Michael Jackson’s Thriller” took home the Best Video Album trophy at the 27th Annual Grammy Awards.
During his extraordinary career, Michael Jackson sold more than a billion records worldwide, released 13 No.1 singles and became one of a handful of artists to be inducted twice into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The Guinness Book of World Records recognized Jackson as the Most Successful Entertainer of All Time and “Thriller” as the World’s Top-Selling Album of All Time. His artistry, choreography and music continue to inspire generations of pop, soul, R&B and hip-hop artists and fans.
“It is crystal clear that Michael Jackson is simply the greatest, and biggest artist of all time,” says LA Reid, Chairman & CEO of Epic Records. “Not only are his charts hits and sales stats staggering, but his pure musicality was other-worldly. Thriller was groundbreaking and electrifying…it was perfection. I am extremely proud that Michael is the heart and soul of Epic Records and he will forever remain the one-and-only King of Pop.”
“100 million albums and counting. There has never been a phenomenon like Thriller,” says John Branca and John McClain, co-executors of the Estate of Michael Jackson. “Michael opened the floodgates of his creativity, explored emotional depths and pushed the boundaries of sonic innovation. In the process, he breached destructive barriers in the music industry and literally united the world through his music: there isn’t a place on this planet that hasn’t been exhilarated by the music of Michael Jackson. 30 years after its release, Thriller continues to be a revelation.
Music from Thriller and Michael’s other hit albums is featured in the hit Las Vegas show Michael Jackson ONE, produced by Cirque du Soleil and the Estate of Michael Jackson. Michael Jackson ONE is selling out shows and amazing fans at the Michael Jackson ONE Theatre at Mandalay Bay,Las Vegas.
After recently being announced the official music ambassador for UEFA Euro 2016 following the release of new single ‘Bang My Head’ ft. Sia & Fetty Wap and new album edition ‘Listen Again’, David Guetta has become the first verified artist in Shazam history to surpass a mammoth 60 million followers.
David’s extraordinary achievement, amplified by the news that seven of his tracks – ‘Dangerous’, ‘Hey Mama’, Titanium’, ‘Lovers On The Sun’, ‘Bad!’, ‘Play Hard’ and ‘Shot Me Down’ – have all been added to the Shazam Hall Of Fame after amassing over 5 million tags each, is a testament to an incredible career that continues to go from strength to strength.
As an avid user of the music recognition app himself, David’s favourite track has been verified as ‘Bun Up The Dance’ by Dillon Francis & Skrillex, with his artist profile boasting more views than any other artist in the entire Shazam database.
With a special solo sold out concert at the famed AccorHotels Arena in Paris, set to be live streamed worldwide by Deezer last week, David’s latest achievement with Shazam is another first in the maestros year.
Following the enormous global success of his sixth studio album ‘Listen’, brand new album edition ‘Listen Again’ features eight bonus tracks and continuous album mix, ‘Listenin’. It celebrates the worldwide impact of ‘Listen’ – an album that topped the iTunes Album Charts in 75 countries and scored four, massive international chart hits – and looks to the future in the form of incredible new single ‘Bang My Head’ ft. Sia & Fetty Wap. Also included is brand new, previously unheard David Guetta Material – ‘Pelican’ & ‘The Death Of EDM’ with Showtek – and massive club tracks ‘Bad’, ‘Shot Me Down’ and ‘Blast Off’, as well as a special GLOWINTHEDARK remix of ‘Bang My Head’.
David Guetta – Live Dates
18/12/15 – Palais Omnisports de Bercy, Paris (FRA)
19/12/15 – Palais Omnisports de Bercy, Paris (FRA)
08/01/16 – Maori Beach Club, Atlantida (BRA)
09/01/16 – Green Valley, Camboriu (BRA)
10/01/16 – Arena Pedreira, Guarapari (BRA)
15/01/16 – Pavilhao Anhembi, Sao Paolo (BRA)
16/01/16 – Rio Centro, Rio de Janeiro (BRA)
27/01/16 – Palais Omnisports de Bercy, Paris (FRA)
28/01/16 – Halle Tony Garnier, Lyon (FRA)
29/01/16 – Zenith, Strasbourg (FRA)
31/01/16 – Schleyer Halle, Stuttgart (GER)
Music streaming service SoundCloud has struck a licensing deal with UK-based music rights group PRS for Music, settling a lawsuit and in turn clearing an important hurdle on its way to launch a full-fledged music subscription service. Now, the company just has to get other rights holders back to the table.
PRS had sued SoundCloud for copyright infringement in August after negotiations between the two sides about a licensing agreement had broken down. The group, which represents the rights of over 115,000 songwriters, composers and music publishers in the UK, had been negotiating withSoundCloud for five years, according to its CEO Robert Ashcroft. “Many of our members love the SoundCloud service and I greatly appreciate their management’s willingness to work with us in the way they have,” he said in a statement released Monday.
Via Variety
