Sony unveils cassette tape that can hold 64,750,000 songs

Mar 17, 2015

For a time, the cassette tape absolutely dominated the sales market. In 1990 alone, a staggering 442 million tapes were sold. However, with the rise of the CD, the birth of the mp3, and the eventual resurrection of vinyl, sales dwindled, and by 2007 only a mere 274,000 individual cassettes were sold. Sure, cassette-centric labels like Kissability and Mirror Universe Tapes have offered the cassette a new and niche following, but it’s a clear sign of the times when the cassette’s accompanying Walkman is regarded like some alien artifact.

Now, though, Sony has brought the cassette back from the dead by unveiling a tape that can hold a whopping 148 gigabytes per square inch. If you can’t do the math, that’s 185 terabytes of total data. We’ll wait as you toss your iPod into the trash.

The tape, which was unveiled this weekend at the International Magnetics Conference in Dresden, holds approximately 74 times the amount of data of standard tapes. (For comparison, by 2010, most standard tapes could only store about 29.5 GB per square inch.)

Divine influence or magic aside, how exactly did Sony manage to boost the potential of the 50-plus-year-old magnetic tape technology? According to Gizmodo:

“The tape uses a vacuum-forming technique called sputter deposition to create a layer of magnetic crystals by shooting argon ions at a polymer film substrate. The crystals, measuring just 7.7 nanometers on average, pack together more densely than any other previous method.”

Ringo Starr Announces North American Tour Dates + Wide Release Publication of His book: ‘PHOTOGRAPH’

Mar 17, 2015

Fresh off a February/March 2015 All Starr Tour, Ringo announces another string of tour dates with his current All-Starr Band, bringing the band he doesn’t want to stop playing with coast-to-coast across North America from October 1 to October 31. Prior to the tour on September 21, Ringo and Genesis Publications will publish his photography book, PHOTOGRAPH, in wide release. This Spring will see the March 31 release of Ringo’s new album, POSTCARDS FROM PARADISE, by Universal Music Enterprises, and on April 18, he will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, where he will be honored with the Award for Musical Excellence.

In PHOTOGRAPH, Ringo Starr reveals never-before-seen photographs and mementos from his archives, sharing memories of his childhood, The Beatles and beyond. Ringo’s lens captures his Beatles bandmates in pensive and playful moments, portraying them from the point of view of an insider, friend and skilled photographer. In an original manuscript of over 15,000 words, join Ringo growing up amidst the excitement of the emerging Merseybeat scene, as he remembers his first car, drum-kits, girls and bands on his ‘road of happy drumming’. From Pwllheli to Delhi, obscurity to superstardom, his travels are recounted with honesty and hilarity.

That same honesty and hilarity continues on the road now with the All-Starrs, with whom he has forged a bond that is evident in every show they play. Ringo’s playful spirit also comes across through his Twitter, where he shares his candid and of-the-moment photographs and trademark humor.

“I love pictures put together, showing different times of your life, “Ringo said about the book, “At the time, I never thought that there would be a whole book of my photographs.”

PHOTOGRAPH was originally conceived as a limited edition book of only 2,500 copies, which sold out within weeks. Two years later, Ringo Starr and Genesis Publications announce the ‘Open Edition’ – a more accessible and affordable printing of his book to be released in bookstores this September 2015. The author is donating all royalties to the Lotus Foundation.

Ringo Starr’s 18^th studio release, POSTCARDS FROM PARADISE, features 11 original tracks and is his first album to include a song written and recorded by Ringo and his current All-Starr Band – Steve Lukather, Todd Rundgren, Gregg Rolie, Richard Page, Warren Ham and Gregg Bissonette. POSTCARDS FROM PARADISE was produced by Ringo and recorded at his home studio in Los Angeles and, as always, features friends and family. The album’s guest artists include: Joe Walsh, Benmont Tench, Dave Stewart, Ann Marie Simpson, Richard Marx, Amy Keys, Peter Frampton, Nathan East, and Glen Ballard.

Ringo Starr and His All-Starr Band on Tour:

Oct 1 The Masonic, San Francisco, CA
Oct 2 Vina Robles Ampitheater, Paso Robles, CA
Oct 3 Field of Dreams, Sonoma, CA
Oct 6 Century Link Arena, Boise, ID
Oct 8 Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre Victoria, BC
Oct 9 Queen Elizabeth Theatre Vancouver, BC
Oct 10 South Okanagan Event Ctr, Penticton, BC
Oct 12 Jubilee Auditorium, Edmonton, AL
Oct 13 Jubilee Auditorium, Calgary, AL
Oct 14 Brandt Centre, Regina, SA
Oct 16 State Theater, Minneapolis, MN
Oct 17 Riverside Theater, Milwaukee, WI
Oct 18 Fox Theater, Detroit, MI
Oct 20 Massey Hall Toronto, ON
Oct 21 St Denis Theatre Montreal, QU
Oct 23 Wang Theater, Boston, MA
Oct 24 Foxwood Theater, Mashantucket, CT
Oct 25 State Theater, New Brunswick, NJ
Oct 27 Heinz Hall, Pittsburgh, PA
Oct 28 Lyric Opera House, Baltimore, MD
Oct 30 Tower Theater, Philadelphia, PA
Oct 31 Kings Theater, Brooklyn, NY

Sinead O’Connor Isn’t Singing “Nothing Compares 2 U” Anymore

Mar 17, 2015

Sinead O’Connor has removed her hit song Nothing Compares 2 U from her live show, saying she has stopped singing the Prince-composed classic for good.

In a statement at her Facebook page Sinead said:

OK, the time has come for me to cease singing Nothing Compares 2U. The first principle of the manner in which I’m trained as a singer (Bel Canto) is we never sing a song we don’t emotionally identify with. After twenty-five years of singing it, nine months or so ago I finally ran out of anything I could use in order to bring some emotion to it. I don’t want audiences to be disappointed coming along to a show and then not hearing it, so am letting you know here that you won’t. If I were to sing it just to please people, I wouldn’t be doing my job right, because my job is to be emotionally available. I’d be lying. You’d be getting a lie. My job is to give you honesty. I’m trained in honesty. I can’t act. It just isn’t in my training. I have ceased singing other songs over the years for the same reason.

O’Connor recorded the song as a tribute to her mother who had passed away in 1985 as well. Her version was released on her second album I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got, released in 1990. The album was nominated for four Grammy Awards in 1991, winning the award for Best Alternative Music Performance. O’Connor refused to accept the nominations and the award. In 2003, the album was ranked number 406 on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. The album sold 7 million copies worldwide.

A new tech accelerator is supporting startups that focus on reshaping the music business

Mar 17, 2015

From Smashd:

Music and tech have increasingly crossed paths and become involved in each other’s business over the years. How the music industry plays with technology is still up for debate. Musicians can’t snub an evolving technological world, and most artists don’t want to. But the scale sometimes seems to tip in a certain direction. Sales of recorded music continue to fall while tech companies profits increase.

Project Music, a new music/tech accelerator program in Nashville, Tennessee has high hopes for finding a solution to the uneven relationship between the two industries.

The program calls itself the first tech accelerator in America dedicated to the future of the music industry. Big shoes to fill as there’s not a clear solution in sight, or a clear picture of what music looks like down the road – who gets what, who owns what, what artists owe fans, what artists deserve.

“From the beginning, we wanted to make sure we are looking for companies that create a larger pie of revenue, not just divide the current one more,” explained director of Project Music Robbie Goldsmith. “We look for and create companies that produce more dollars for the industry. We want everyone involved to get paid for their hard work.”

Project Music is the result of the non-profit Nashville Entrepreneur Center partnering with both the music and tech communities. The accelerator has the two main goals of 1) Creating new jobs (and businesses), resulting in economic growth, and 2) To grow revenue for the entire music industry as a whole. In their first class, the program is hosting 8 startups. Out of more than 100 applications and three rounds of evaluations, with dozens of investors, music industry, and startup professionals, these were the 8 companies chosen based on their ability to attract future investments.

Companies can’t publicly talk about their progress until week 10 of the program, but Goldsmith indicates things are moving in the right direction. “The group of Project Music teams have already raised over $1 million for their companies,” he said.

Big data will find your next favorite band

Mar 17, 2015

From Kernel Magazine:

Your next favorite band won’t be signed for their explosive live show but for their YouTube views. Their big break won’t come from a copy of their cassette debut but from the tracking of their weekly SoundCloud spins. It’s not the underground buzz that will matter but the quantifiable chatter taking place on Twitter and Tumblr.

This isn’t a scene from the future. It’s happening right now. Big data is radically transforming the music industry, replacing the traditional role of A&R with complicated algorithms that will help labels not only decide which artists are worth signing but what songs should be released as singles and what cities those bands should hit on tour.

That’s not to say that live shows don’t matter. There’s just been a changed sense of what is “significant” in the business of music. A concert on a weekday evening might reach a couple hundred people, but when a well-followed Twitter personality tweets about a band, word could reach tens of thousands. An album release party might win fans in the double or even triple digits, but as soon as that album hits Spotify, it has a potential audience of millions to win over.

Our online interactions with music are interesting to the music industry because each interaction yields valuable data about who we are and what we like. On an individual basis, these bits are pretty worthless and disparate, but in the aggregate, they converge to tell a rich story about changes in taste and musical tide. The only problem is how to best organize and make sense of that data, so that artists, A&R companies, and all order of music industry professionals can make actionable (and hopefully lucrative) plans for the future.

– See more at: http://kernelmag.dailydot.com/issue-sections/headline-story/12188/big-data-music-next-big-sound/?curator=MusicREDEF#sthash.MjfLuJiR.dpuf

President Obama Speaks with VICE News

Mar 17, 2015

VICE founder Shane Smith interviews President Barack Obama, discussing a host of issues important to Americans, from foreign policy and marijuana legalization to global warming and political gridlock.

Read “‘I’m Embarrassed for Them’: Obama Hits Back at Republican Senators’ Letter to Iran Over Nuclear Deal”

THE 2015 JUNO AWARDS Rock with 1.6 Million Viewers

Mar 17, 2015

THE 2015 JUNO AWARDS drew a combined audience of 1.6 million viewers across the nation Sunday night on CTV, with 1.34 million Canadians tuning into the primetime broadcast while an additional 263,000 viewers watched the midnight encore, preliminary overnight audiences from Numeris (BBM Canada) confirms. Overall, the combined audience grew 5% from last year’s broadcasts among total viewers, while the primetime broadcast won its timeslot with total viewers and all key adult demos, and led the night among Teens 12-17. Hosted by Jacob Hoggard, frontman of multi-platinum selling band Hedley, the two-hour live broadcast from Hamilton’s FirstOntario Centre reached 5.3 million unique viewers. In Toronto, the primetime broadcast saw double and triple digit percentage growth among total viewers and all key adult demos, more than doubling ratings among younger viewers aged 18-34. The primetime broadcast peaked with 1.7 million viewers during Hoggard’s closing performance, an interpretation of Canadian Music Hall of Fame inductee Alanis Morissette’s “Thank U”, where he thanked, among other things, the host city of Hamilton. Watch it here.

THE 2015 JUNO AWARDS experience extended online, and on social media last night. The broadcast captivated Twitter with an estimated reach of 1.76 billion users from 585,686 tweets, up 242% from last year. Yesterday in Canada, 18 JUNOS-related topics trended during the live broadcast with #JUNOS continuing to trend today. The most tweets per minute surrounded Hoggard’s much-buzzed about version of “Thank U”.

THE 2015 JUNO AWARDS is now available on demand at CTV.ca and on CTV GO. Encore broadcasts of THE 2015 JUNO AWARDS air at the following times:

Monday, March 16 at 7 p.m. ET on Much
Saturday, March 22 at 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. ET on E!
Saturday, April 4 at 8 p.m. ET on CTV Two

Hamilton rocked the nation during last night’s live broadcast. The show opened with a surprise appearance by Prime Minister Stephen Harper, The Trailer Park Boys, and past JUNO Awards broadcast host, Michael Bublé. The broadcast boasted 11 unique performances including an explosive opening by Hedley and host Jacob Hoggard; a medley of his hit singles “Life of the Party” and “Something Big” by Shawn Mendes, in his JUNO Award debut; a breathtaking performance of single “Earned It” by THE 2015 JUNO AWARD winner The Weeknd, accompanied by co-writer and producer Stephan Moccio; a fun performance by 2015 Breakthrough Group of the Year, MAGIC!; Bobby Bazini, who charmed in his JUNO Awards performance debut; deadmau5, who was joined on-stage by singer Colleen D’Agostino for “Seeya”; Lights, who joined the Sam Roberts Band for their hit “We’re All In This Together”; and 2015 Canadian Music Hall of Fame inductee Alanis Morissette, who delighted fans with a medley of three classic songs. Host Jacob Hoggard, who kept the energy high throughout the broadcast, closed the show with his version of Morissette’s “Thank U” on piano. To see all the performances, click here.

Since CTV joined forces with CARAS in 2002, the JUNO Awards have travelled across Canada, bringing an exhilarating live concert to millions of Canadians. CTV has broadcast THE JUNO AWARDS from St. John’s (2002), Ottawa (2003), Edmonton (2004), Winnipeg (2005), Halifax (2006), Saskatoon (2007), Calgary (2008), Vancouver (2009), St. John’s for a second time (2010), Toronto (2011), Ottawa for a second time (2012), Regina (2013), and Winnipeg for a second time (2014). Calgary is set to host THE 2016 JUNO AWARDS.

Nicki Minaj Announces North American Tour Dates For The PinkPrint Tour

Mar 17, 2015

GRAMMY Award-nominated artist and entertainer, Nicki Minaj, today announced the North American dates for THE PINKPRINT TOUR. Set to kick off on July 17 in Dallas, Texas at the Gexa Energy Pavilion, the tour will visit 19 cities throughout the U.S. and Canada with stops planned in Brooklyn, Atlanta, Toronto, Vancouver, Chicago and San Diego. Meek Mill, Rae Sremmurd, Tinashe and Dej Loaf are lined up to join the tour as special guests. The European leg of THE PINKPRINT TOUR is set to kick off on March 16 in Stockholm, Sweden. The North American leg of the THE PINKPRINT TOUR is an Al Haymon/Live Nation Production.

American Express Card holders will have access to pre-sale tickets beginning Wednesday, March 18 at Noon. General tickets for the tour go on sale Saturday March 21^st at 10:00 a.m. in Western Canada on www.livenation.com. Please see below for full details and on sale information.

NICKI MINAJ – THE PINKPRINT TOUR – NORTH AMERICAN DATES

All dates, cities and venues below subject to change.

* – Meek Mill, Tinashe and Dej Loaf only on these dates.

Friday, July 17	Dallas, TX	Gexa Energy Pavilion
Monday, July 20	Miami, FL	Bayfront Park Amphitheare*
Wednesday, July 22	Bristow, VA	Jiffy Lube Live
Friday, July 24	Holmdel, NJ	PNC Bank Arts Center
Sunday, July 26	Brooklyn, NY	Barclays Center
Tuesday, July 28	Toronto, ON	Molson Canadian Amphitheatre*
Wednesday, July 29	Montreal, QC	Bell Centre
Friday, July 31	Clarkston, MI	DTE Energy Music Theatre
Sunday, August 2	Atlanta, GA	Aaron’s Amphitheatre at Lakewood
Tuesday, August 4	Charlotte, NC	PNC Music Pavilion
Thursday, August 6	Camden, NJ	Susquehanna Bank Center
Saturday, August 8	Burgettstown, PA	First Niagara Pavilion
Sunday, August 9	Tinley Park, IL	First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre
Tuesday, August 11	Denver, CO	Pepsi Center
Thursday, August 13	Chula Vista, CA	Sleep Train Amphitheatre
Friday, August 14	Concord, CA	Concord Pavilion*
Sunday, August 16	Vancouver, BC	Pepsi Live at Rogers Arena
Tuesday, August 18	Calgary, AB	Scotiabank Saddledome
Wednesday, August 19	Edmonton, AB	Rexall Place

Drake Announces 6th Annual OVO FEST

Mar 17, 2015

Multi-Platinum selling, Grammy Award winning recording artist Drake, announced today that the 6th annual hip-hop summer festival OVO FEST will take place on August 2nd and 3rd at Toronto’s Molson Canadian Amphitheatre. Tickets to OVO Fest go on sale Friday, March 20th at noon EST and will be available as a 2 day festival pass, with a limited number of lawn seats available as single day passes. Night one of OVO FEST will feature a headlining performance by J. Cole and night two will be headlined by Drake with additional artists to be announced for both nights.

Last year’s OVO FEST, which sold out in minutes alike all previous years, featured a headline performance on night one by Outkast along with surprise performances on night two by Usher, 50 Cent and G Unit, Lauryn Hill, YG, Trey Songz and more. Earlier years have featured guest appearances by Jay-Z, Eminem, Snoop Lion, Kanye West, Diddy, TLC, Lil Wayne, Ma$e, Nicki Minaj and Stevie Wonder among many others.

Tickets go on sale Friday, March 20th at noon EST at Livenation.com and all Ticketmaster Outlets. They’ll run you $55.00 for a limited number of single day lawn tickets available to $315.50 at Ticketmaster.ca

Beats Beats Spotify Payouts For This Band

Mar 17, 2015

From Digital Audio Insider:

In terms of subscribers and market share, Beats Music (acby ApBeats by Apple as part of its purchase of Beats in May of last year) is way behind Spotify. But there’s one area where Beats Music appears to be ahead — the per-stream payout to artists/labels.

The first payouts from Beats Music just appeared in my CD Baby account. After adjusting for CD Baby’s commission, for December 2014, we received 1.801 cents per stream. For comparison, our per-stream payout from Spotify averages out to 0.428 cents for the past few years.

On its support site, Beats states that its payout rate will higher than that of other streaming services as, unlike Spotify, it has no free option:

We pay higher royalties than the other services because we are a paid subscription-only service (in other words, we have no free version of our service that we have to subsidize).