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The 10 best selling vinyl albums of 2015 in the US so far

The 10 best selling vinyl albums of 2015 in the US so far. Nice to see Taylor at #1 (kids + vinyl = yeah!), and such new up-and-comers like Pink Floyd and Miles Davis still making the chart.

1. Taylor Swift, 1989 (34,000)
After debuting at number one on the U.S. Billboard 200, 1989 sold 1.287 million copies during the first week of release. The total U.S. sales figure from the debut week of 1989 was the highest since 2002, and made Swift the first artist to sell one million or more copies of an album in a week-long period for three albums.
2. Sufjan Stevens, Carrie & Lowell (32,000)
The album debuted at #10 on the Billboard 200, slightly below the debut of his previous album, Age of Adz, which debuted at #7, selling 36,000 copies in its first week.
3. Arctic Monkeys, AM (27,000)
In the United Kingdom, Arctic Monkeys broke a record with AM, becoming the first independent-label band to debut at number one in the UK with their first five albums.
4. Alabama Shakes, Sound & Color (26,000)
The album debuted atop the US Billboard 200 chart selling 96,000 copies (91,000 copies of traditional album sales) in its first week, in the week ending April 26, 2015, making it the band’s first number one album.
5. Miles Davis, Kind of Blue (23,000)
It was first released in 1959. In 2003, the album was ranked number 12 on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.
6. Sam Smith, In the Lonely Hour (23,000)
As of April 2015, In the Lonely Hour has sold over 5 million copies worldwide.
7. Pink Floyd, Dark Side of the Moon (23,000)
With an estimated 50 million copies sold, it is Pink Floyd’s most commercially successful album and one of the best-selling albums worldwide.
8. Guardians of the Galaxy soundtrack (22,000)
The soundtrack album reached number one on the US Billboard 200 chart, becoming the first soundtrack album in history consisting entirely of previously released songs to top the chart.
9. Father John Misty, I Love You Honeybear (22,000)
Soon after the release of the Sub Pop deluxe LP version in February, 2015, fans and label recognized that the pressing was damaged due to packaging issues which finally caused a warp defect. The label released an official statement, confirming that the first pressing of the deluxe version will no longer be available and that they will press a new version.
10. Hozier, Hozier (21,000)
His performance of “Take Me to Church” with Annie Lennox at the 2015 Grammy Awards is still awesome.

Canadian Music Week Announces 2016 Festival May 4 – 14, Highlights UK and Ireland

Canadian Music Week , Canada’s Largest New Music Festival and Conference, is pleased to announce the 34th installment in 2016 will take place May 4th -14th, once again bringing conferences, awards, film, comedy and music to the city of Toronto.

For the first time, the industry conference will take place at the beginning of the festival at the Sheraton Centre Toronto Hotel (123 Queen Street West), and will host the Canadian Music and Broadcast Industry Awards  on Thursday, May 5th. The Canadian Radio Music Awards luncheon will take place on Friday, May 6th, followed by one of Canadian Music Week’s most anticipated events, CHUM Fan Fest and finally capping off the weekend with Sirius XM’s annual Indie Awards on Saturday May 7th.

Canadian Music Week takes pride in welcoming international artists and key industry players from around the world, and is thrilled to feature the 2016 International Spotlight will be on the United Kingdom- with a special focus on Ireland. In association with CAAMA, CMW will be hosting labels, booking agents, festival organizers, promoters, talent buyers and industry specialists from the entertainment sectors, opening new trade routes for Canadians who are interested in furthering opportunities with these two key European markets as part of a Spotlight on the UK and Focus on Ireland.

Rolling Stones Announce 2016 Tour…In Musems…And Keith Can’t Stop Laughing In The Promo Video

The Rolling Stones will stage their first ever major exhibition at London’s prestigious Saatchi Gallery, opening to the public on 6 April 2016 until September 2016. EXHIBITIONISM will be the most comprehensive and immersive insight into a group described by critics as ‘The Greatest Rock ‘n’ Roll Band’, taking over nine themed galleries spread across two entire floors at the Saatchi Gallery on King’s Road, London. Tickets for EXHIBITIONISM go on sale to the public next week on Friday 10 July 2015 at 9am via www.stonesexhibitionism.com and 10am from the Saatchi Gallery.

As well as over five hundred Rolling Stones important and unseen artefacts from the band’s personal archives, the exhibition will take the public through the band’s fascinating fifty year history, embracing all aspects of art & design, film, video, fashion, performance, and rare sound archives. At the heart of the exhibition is of course the Stones musical heritage that took the group from being a hard working London blues band in the early 1960’s to becoming inspirational cultural icons adored by millions.

DHL is proud to be the Presenting Partner of EXHIBITIONISM – the Rolling Stones’ first ever global touring exhibition.

Over five decades the Stones have shaped popular culture, often in their own image, and this exhibition will look back through every facet of the band’s career to offer a unique perspective that only the bands own archive can provide. EXHIBITIONISM will be the largest touring experience of this kind ever to be staged by a band or artist, and continues the proud tradition by the band of groundbreaking innovation combined with the highest production values.

EXHIBITIONISM has taken three years of meticulous planning and will offer a comprehensive insight into the band in a way that has never before been attempted. The exhibition is an interactive tour through the band’s vast artistic oeuvre, and includes original stage designs, dressing room and backstage paraphernalia, rare guitars and instruments, iconic costumes, rare audio tracks and unseen video clips, personal diaries and correspondence, original poster and album cover artwork, and unique cinematic presentations. Collaborations and work by the vast array of artists, designers, musicians and writers will be included in the exhibition – from Andy Warhol, Shepard Fairey, Alexander McQueen, and Ossie Clark to Tom Stoppard and Martin Scorsese.

Mick Jagger commented, “We’ve been thinking about this for quite a long time but we wanted it to be just right and on a large scale. The process has been like planning our touring concert productions and I think that right now it’s an interesting time to do it.”

Keith Richards commented, “While this is about the Rolling Stones, it’s not necessarily only just about the members of the band. It’s also about all the paraphernalia and technology associated with a group like us, and it’s this, as well as the instruments that have passed through our hands over the years, that should make the exhibition really interesting.”

Charlie Watts added, ‘’It’s hard to believe that it’s more than fifty years since we began and it is wonderful to look back to the start of our careers and bring everything up to date at this exhibition.’’

Ronnie Wood said, “The scene was great down the King’s Road in the 1960’s. That was where you went to hang out to watch the fashions go by. So it is appropriate that our EXHIBITIONISM will be housed at the wonderful Saatchi Gallery.”

EXHIBITIONISM is promoted and presented by Australian company iEC (International Entertainment Consulting) with the full participation of Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Charlie Watts and Ronnie Wood. The immersive exhibition will use nine different rooms spanning over 1,750 square meters, each with its own distinctly designed environment, that will show how the band has changed the way we experience rock and roll.

The Dillinger Escape Plan Created “The Gayest Shirt Of All Time By Any Band” To Troll Homophobic Fans

One of my favourite bands, and one that I had a chance to work with over a few albums, is New Jersey-bred prog-hardcore veterans The Dillinger Escape Plan. They took a postive stand on equal marriage rights, eventually taking action against those in their fanbase who revealed themselves as vocal homophobes in the process by releasing what they have called “the gayest shirt of all time by any band”.  They explain…

This one’s a bit of a winding tale, so to reward you early for your faith, you can see the shirt below in all the majesty of its rainbow-coloured, cock-headed Pegasus design — the explanation for its existence is to follow.

To understand the impetus for the fabulous new merchandise — we promise, it’s worth it — we have to go back a couple of days to the original incident. In wanting to show their support for the US Supreme Court’s recent decision to legalise same-sex marriage in all 50 states, the band released a special T-shirt to commemorate the change, promising 50% of its profits to The Trevor Project, which is focused on suicide prevention among LGBTQI youth — a noble cause in itself.

However, their problems began when they took a badge image they had posted to Facebook in support of the decision — of two muscular arms clasped in a bro-shake, emblazoned with the words You Son Of A Bitch (the whole thing is a reference to Predator) — that had been created by a third party who goes by the name of FutureZine, “altered the image enough to make it legally non-infringing to parody law” and slapped a Pride flag and their logo on it and put it up for sale.

From there, people started to point out their “plagiarism” of the patch — which the band vehemently denied — leading to the band posting a follow-up response in defense of the shirt, pointing out that the majority of FutureZine’s designs — the Predator arms included — are trading on other people’s intellectual property.

“We of all people obviously have no interest in stealing art,” the band explained. “We brought attention to him, we linked to his store, etc. We thought the two people clasping hands was a powerful image. We didn’t think that the outline of those arms would be a big deal to someone making money off of selling predator and rambo themed badges, and an actual drawing of Bart Simpson. Not a caracature [sic], not an interpretation, actual Bart Simpson artwork from the show (season four, episode one, exactly two minutes in).”

“We will continue to send fifty percent of the proceeds of this shirt to The Trevor Project, and the other fifty will now go to Matt Groening as a settlement to keep him from suing FutureZine,” they continued. “Irony is truly still a really dead scene.”

However, amid all the hooplah over the so-called plagiarism of FutureZine’s Predator arms, The Dillinger Escape Plan noticed an uglier trend emerging — open expressions of disappointment for their support of the same-sex marriage law among their fans.

Which brings us to the “gayest shirt of all time”.

“So after everything yesterday, the thing that still stuck out the most were the random comments we had to delete, and some we didn’t, of people who were somehow disappointed in our stance on gay marriage,” the band posted to Facebook this morning (AEST).

“Not many, but still, even one is shocking. So now, to violently weed those people out of our fanbase for good, we proudly give you the “gayest” shirt of all time by any band: a Pegasus, with a cock for a horn, ejaculating a giant rainbow, on a tie-dye…shit I mean rainbow soaked…tank top. For twenty four hours. Again, fifty percent of proceeds go to The Trevor Project.”

The house of Jazz legend John Coltrane

A recent New York Times article lamented the neglected, and possibly endangered state of the John Coltrane Home, the Long Island house in the town of Dix Hills in which the jazz great lived from 1964 until his death in 1967. Sadly, it’s not the only Coltrane residence to fall into disrepair. Philadelphia’s John Coltrane House served as Coltrane’s primary residence from 1952, a few years after his return from service in the Navy during World War II, until 1958, when he departed for New York. It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1999, but you wouldn’t know it from its neglected appearance.

That’s a shame for a number of reasons, that Coltrane’s years in Philadelphia were key to his musical development not the least of them. It was here, prior to his Navy stint, that Coltrane studied music theory the Ornstein School Of Music and Granoff Studios. And it was here that, from a distance, he fell under the sway of New York Bop giants like Charlie Parker. That infatuation turned into a professional calling when Coltrane began to work first with Dizzy Gillespie, Johnny Hodges, and other before moving onto collaborations with Miles Davis and Thelonious Monk. Coltrane’s Philadelphia years weren’t without tumult, however: A heroin addiction threatened both his artistic development and his professional success. In fact, Davis fired Coltrane from his famous first quintet before bringing him back into the fold to record the groundbreaking 1958 classic Kind Of Blue, the same year he stopped using heroin and experienced a spiritual awakening that would influence his music for the rest of his life. So what’s the future of the John Coltrane House? As with Coltrane’s Dix Hills home, that remains unclear. At the moment, it generates no income, making it difficult for its current owners—who purchased it from Coltrane’s cousin Mary Lyerly Alexander, the inspiration for his song “Cousin Mary”—to maintain and repair it. Whatever the fate of Coltrane’s homes, his music will live on. But it would be a shame if the places that help inspire that music faded away.

Chrissie Hynde’s ‘Reckless: My Life as a Pretender’ publishes on September 8

‘Reckless: My Life as a Pretender’ publishes on September 8 and this looks to be a must-read for any rock and roll fan.

From Chrissie Hynde, one of rock’s most iconic, alluring, kick-ass, and (let’s face it) sexy women, a brilliant, no-holds-barred memoir of a rock life lived to the hilt.

Chrissie Hynde, the songwriter and frontwoman of The Pretenders in its various incarnations, has for thirty-five years been one of the most admired and adored and imitated figures in rock. This long-awaited memoir tells her life story in full and utterly fascinating detail, from her all-American Ohio fifties childhood to her classic baby-boomer seduction by the rock of the sixties to her sojourn in the crucible of punk that was seventies London to her instant emergence with her band, The Pretenders, in 1980 into stardom as a frontwoman and songwriter. She brings a fantastic eye for detail, a withering and sardonic sense of humor, and a fearless and sometimes naked emotional honesty to her memoir, and every line, every word of it is unmistakably hers. It is sure to be recognized as a classic of rock literature—and, man, is it fun to read.

You can pre-order it here.

SOCAN Releases Fiscal Year 2014 Final Results

SOCAN's new logo (CNW Group/SOCAN)

The Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada announced complete financial results for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2014. The announcement of final official results followed the organization’s preview of financial figures on February 10, 2015, and coincided with SOCAN’s annual general meeting, held this year in Toronto.

Highlights:
* A record year for total revenue – $299.5-million brought in for members, an increase of approximately 8.4 per cent over 2013.
* Record international revenue of $55.5-million, an increase of 8.3 per cent over 2013.
* Internet streaming revenues of $21.3-million – up from $3.4-million in 2013.
* A record-low Corporate Net Expense Ratio of 9.5 percent – a 2.5-point improvement over 2014, making SOCAN one of the most cost-effective major music rights organizations in the world.
* $241-million distributed to members.

SOCAN continues to improve efficiencies and services, benefitting from technology advances, a more streamlined organization, and strategic departmental adjustments.

“SOCAN is one of the Canadian music ecosystem’s greatest success stories,” said CEO Eric Baptiste. “We’re fighting for our members’ rights every minute of every day, and uncovering more places where their music is performed in public in Canada and worldwide, ensuring that every penny a music creator and music publisher has fairly earned ends up in his or her pocket. Our 2014 results are testament to our success working for our songwriter, composer and music publisher members.”

SOCAN also reported that on June 15, 2015, the total number of the organization’s members surpassed 130,000 – an increase of more than 5,000 since this time last year.

For full financial statements and a complete overview of 2014, please visit www.socanannualreport.ca.

Don’t even question it. Phil Collins dominated the 1980s

Via Completely Ignored

The JUNO Awards and Slaight Music Team Up To Create Canada’s Premier Artist Development Opportunity

The JUNO Awards and Slaight Music announce the launch of the premier artist development opportunity in Canada, The Allan Slaight JUNO Master Class. This new initiative provides the crucial tools to help three finalists develop their careers, build their own sustainable business and become ‘JUNO ready’. The deadline for submissions is Thursday, July 27, 2015 at 5:00 pm ET.

The inaugural ‘master class’ includes a week-long customized artist development program co-developed with Canada’s Music Incubator at Coalition Music. This development program provides hands-on mentoring, networking and collaboration opportunities.

The Allan Slaight JUNO Master Class brings together the two key mandates of CARAS and The JUNO Awards: music education through MusiCounts and the celebration and promotion of excellence through the JUNO Awards. The program aims to foster the growth of Canadian musicians through mentorship, education, skills training, development and deal-making opportunities. With no submission fee needed to apply, the program requires that an active CARAS Academy Delegate endorse each applicant’s entry. For more information, visit www.junomasterclass.ca.

“It is our goal to help artists in their journey by exposing them to a program that will not only hone their musical skills, but enhance the business side of the industry for them as well,” said Allan Reid, President & CEO, CARAS/The JUNO Awards & MusiCounts. “We are asking CARAS Academy Delegates across the country to endorse artists in their communities that they feel are ready for this next step.”

“Slaight Music remains committed to assisting, promoting and developing opportunities for Canadian musicians to flourish and the Allan Slaight JUNO Master Class is a fabulous extension of our objectives,” said Gary Slaight, CEO /President Slaight Communications. “My father, Allan, was a true leader in championing Canadian artists beginning with Gordon Lightfoot, and I know that he is proud to have this initiative named in his honour.”

Submissions will go through two rounds of judging. Canadian music industry heavyweights, including representatives from major and independent music labels, publishers, agents, managers, and media partners will narrow down the submissions to the top 10. A Super Jury made up of JUNO alumni will facilitate the second round of judging to narrow down the field to three finalists. JUNO Award winners Sam Roberts of the Sam Roberts Band, Max Kerman of Arkells, producer Gavin Brown, and A&R representative Ali Slaight from Slaight Music are amongst the Super Jury. Additional jurors and key partners from the music and media ecosystem to be announced.

“Canada’s Music Incubator at Coalition Music is dedicated to addressing the gap that exists between artists creating music and their ability to operate a small business. New artists are equivalent to starter companies and require entrepreneurial skills and know-how. We are proud to co-develop the artist development program with The JUNO Awards and Slaight Music and to share our experience, expertise and resources with the artists selected,“ says Vel Omazic, Executive Director, Canada’s Music Incubator at Coalition Music.

PRIZING DETAILS

Three finalists will each receive:

  • An all inclusive trip to Toronto for an intensive and customized artist development program with industry leaders and Canadian artists hosted by Canada’s Music Incubator at Coalition Music. The program (October 25–31) will culminate with a music industry showcase night in Toronto for the finalists.
  • A trip to the 2016 JUNO Awards in Calgary, Alberta. Includes flights, hotels and JUNO Weekend packages, including tickets to the Welcome Reception, JUNO Gala Dinner & Awards and the live JUNO Awards Broadcast.
  • Showcase opportunity at the JUNO Awards during JUNOfest – a two-day music festival during JUNO Weekend – PLUS a chance to perform for the Canadian music industry at the exclusive JUNO Gala Dinner & Awards.
  • JUNO TV will film the finalist’s experience of the Master Class program, producing three mini-docs to run on junotv.ca. This series will be directed by MuchMusic Video Award winner and JUNO-nominated music video director Ben Knechtel.
  • Studio time at Slaight Music Recording Studios.
  • A cash investment in their music career and more.

To be eligible for the Allan Slaight JUNO Master Class program, candidates must meet all of the following criteria:

  • Be a Canadian citizen(s).
  • Released a minimum of two original singles within the eligibility period (January 1, 2014-July 15, 2015); EPs and albums are also eligible.
  • Have never been previously recognized as a JUNO Award nominee either as a solo artist or as part of a group, even if this submission is a new solo project or band.
  • Have not sold more than 5,000 albums/EPs or 50,000 singles according to Nielsen SoundScan.
  • Must be 19 years of age or older on or before the program deadline.
  • Must be available to travel to Toronto, ON for a maximum seven-day artist development program, taking place October 25-31, 2015 and to attend the JUNO Awards in Calgary, AB from April 1–3, 2016.
  • Must have an active CARAS Academy Delegate endorse their submission.

For more details visit: www.junomasterclass.ca

Who Is Remixing Glenn Gould With Rap? This Is Awesome

Glenn Gould was a Canadian pianist who became one of the best-known and most celebrated classical pianists of the 20th century. He was particularly renowned as an interpreter of the keyboard music of Johann Sebastian Bach. His playing was distinguished by remarkable technical proficiency and capacity to articulate the polyphonic texture of Bach’s music.

And he works INCREDIBLY well with hip hop. Don’t believe me? Check out what arts collective Uninvited Guests have done:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8WsRRBQVP74

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That Eric Alper
6-time nominee for Publicist of the Year during Canadian Music Week, a 16-time JUNO Award winner overseeing PR campaigns, and have also been truly honoured to work with some of the biggest and most important artists of our time.

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