The first time I saw Mission Zero, member David Keith was touring with Blackmore’s Night, so joining Chenot Keith on stage was her friend Chrissy Gardner. I’ve certainly kept up with Mission Zero since (they have a new song coming out in mere hours as this post goes up), but I haven’t talked much about Gardner. Continue reading
Category Archives: Music
Required listening: Paramore’s “Still Into You”
I feel like I might be late to the game with this one, but I caught it on the radio over the weekend and found myself drawn to it. I’d certainly heard of Paramore, and knew of a song or two of theirs, but this one caught my ear more than others (probably because it’s more pop leaning). Continue reading
Making the most of birthdays
I turned 31 earlier this month. When I was younger I thought I would want to celebrate with big parties or something like that. I never really got around to it, although a couple of the years I went out for drinks with a few people. Continue reading
Well-Strung video highlights quartet
For months Facebook has been harassing me with ads for a quartet punnily named Well-Strung. I checked it out, and it seemed interesting at the time, but as of yet haven’t caught them live. They recently released a music video, above, that blends classical music with pop artists such as Kelly Clarkson. Continue reading
Hank & Cupcakes’ debut pops up on iTunes, but there’s more
Hank & Cupcakes with me last December at a concert in Hartford.
Yesterday, Hank & Cupcakes’ debut album, “Naked,” which first started surfacing via their website and other sources last year, has made its official debut on iTunes, finally bringing a strong set of songs full circle. (I’ve written about them extensively, including about a concert from December and their April release of the “Ain’t No Love” music video.)
The album released this week is the same as what we had previously, so it’d be easy for hardcore fans to be disappointed. But Hank & Cupcakes rarely fail to superserve their fans, and this time is no exception.
For those of us who already own “Naked,” another release quietly found its way to iTunes as well yesterday: “The B Sides,” which include tracks that they’ve played live over the years. Finally, their version of “Like a G6” can be purchased, and in a recording-studio quality version at that! While there are a couple of songs from their songbook I’m still waiting for, this brings us closer. And while the “B Sides” are largely marginal tracks compared to the superlative songs selected for “Naked” (“Jimmy” is H&C at their most repetitive, which I generally find to be a weakness for them), the songs are as lovingly produced and sound as great as the “Naked” album, meaning hardcore fans will likely find a lot to like here.
If you haven’t heeded the advice to acquire “Naked” yet, it’s gotten a lot easier; be sure to check it out. Meanwhile, the duo are touring this summer, which includes a stop in New Haven in September.
The price to pay for streaming music
I was a bit intrigued by a post at the A.V. Club about how much an artist was paid for his song being streamed at services like Spotify. The article’s big splash was that, despite a million plays and then some, Cracker’s lead singer was only paid $16.89 by Spotify for those plays. The article then compared the amount to other services:
Terrestrial radio earned Lowery more than $1,000 for about 19,000 plays. Sirius XM paid him about $180 for 179 plays, technically making it the most profitable. Spotify and YouTube were more on par with Pandora, doling out $12.05 for 116,000 plays and $1.95 for 153,000 plays, respectively.
Initially I was as shocked as the majority of people in the comments section, but then it hit me: Isn’t a play on radio or Sirius XM a boatload more exposure than on Spotify? Some quick math approximates a penny for every thousand listeners on Spotify; by comparison, radio’s paying 5 cents per play… does the average play on radio net roughly 5,000 listeners? That seems reasonable enough. Sirius XM was close to a dollar per play, which would mean 100,000 listeners would need to be listening to be comparable. Now that definitely seems like more of a stretch, but it’s a national service, so there’d assumedly be more listeners than on a radio station, so it’s hard to compare.
It’s certainly something to be sympathetic about, particularly when the argument can be made that services like Spotify are a replacement for purchases for a growing segment of the population. (Of course, the record companies are only hurting themselves by changing purchases in the physical era, complete with resale rights, to non-transferable licenses in the digital era.) But to compare amount paid per play alone is a bit simplistic, and in many cases, services like Pandora, which act as a discovery mechanism, can lead to incremental sales – I know I’ve bought songs that I tripped across because Pandora recommended it. Spotify’s more shaky, but if Spotify encourages more consumption, is it a bad thing? And further, given the way things were going a decade ago, where Napster was invading college campuses and students were building libraries of music for free, isn’t having Spotify as an option for those people better than nothing at all?
This isn’t to say the rate is fair; it’s never really been all that fair for artists, and the switch from mass market to individualized control causes segmentation and splintering. But a broad comparison rarely tells the whole story.
More Cathy Dennis finally shows up on iTunes
Back in March, I talked about Cathy Dennis, her evolution from singer/songwriter to being a songwriter behind some potent hits over the years, and why I’ve always enjoyed her. Last night, I discovered iTunes has added “Into the Skyline,” her second album, to their catalog. Despite owning two copies on CD, I just purchased it again (I’ve only done this for one other artist: Swing Out Sister, who I’ll be seeing next month on my birthday, and of whom a more full entry will eventually arrive).
At the time I wrote about her, I didn’t share a story about one of her songs and how I came to know her catalog more fully, a journey that’d never happen today thanks to the Internet, but probably adds a lot more meaning today, particularly for this album. There are certain artists whose songs or albums stick with me, pop up in odd places, and are songs I turn to in certain situations. “Into the Skyline” is one of those, particularly the track “Moments of Love.” As such, to mark the occasion of her finally getting her due on the digital marketplace, here’s how I came to be a major fan of hers. Continue reading
Required viewing: Robyn feat. Snoop Dogg, “U Should Know Better”
Until I can get back on schedule, enjoy this new video from Robyn. In the absence of new music, it’s great to see her active, further promoting some of the “Body Talk” output from a couple of years ago. It’s one of Robyn’s great “I’m the shit” style songs, which she gets away with in spades, with a young kid that looks remarkably like Robyn, actually, and a doll that represents Snoop. Another fun video from a talented mind.
Video released for Andrew McMahon’s ‘Synesthesia’
…and here’s another one! The debut today of Andrew McMahon’s ‘Synesthesia,’ which comes off his recent EP “The Pop Underground,” reminds me a bit of the recent video for Ariana Grande previously discussed here, with video projected onto a wall and the singer. However, whereas Grande’s video felt just a bit cheap, the colorful tapestry of interspersed moments and kaleidoscope-like editing kick it up a notch; the fact that Grande is signed to a major label and McMahon’s music is an indie release brings into sharp relief how much attention McMahon pays to all of this. Stellar effort.
Kylie shows off her new ‘Skirt’
Damn, it’s been a good year for music, and it just keeps on coming… check out this new track by Kylie Minogue, “Skirt,” which reinforces her ability to absorb dance trends and merge it with a pop sensibility, this time with some dubstep cred. It’s also a really cool lyric video that is pieced together from about 1,000 photographs. If this is a taste of what to expect on Kylie’s as-yet-unfinished 12th album, we’re in for a treat.
UPDATED: I just tripped across a profile of her the New York Times published today; it’s a pretty in-depth look at the star, her history and what she’s trying to accomplish now.