On March 11th, as global measures to stop the spread of Covid-19 began to escalate, U.S. President Donald Trump announced a ban on travel from mainland Europe to the United States. In a different era, this would have spelled troubling news for the entire Swedish music industry — which has …
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Earlier this month, Sofar Sounds, a startup that stages around 10,000 intimate concerts a year across 400 cities, had no choice but to suspend all its shows due to the coronavirus pandemic — a decision that immediately impacted more than 2,000 artists in six continents. The company is now moving …
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Africa is the second-biggest continent on the planet. Yet “there is no company in the world solely committed to servicing African music,” says Mr. Eazi, the Nigerian star who has collaborated with Beyonce and Diplo. The singer is aiming to plug this hole with emPawa, a company that identifies talented …
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As Taylor Swift prepares to release Lover on Friday, she is returning to a pop world that has undergone profound changes. “Before it was a push business,” ace songwriter Savan Kotecha (Ariana Grande, Justin Bieber) explained in 2018. “Labels would push an act on a TV show, an award show, …
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The viral Bird Box challenge, in which people blindfold themselves in daily life in the style of characters from Netflix’s cult-status sci-fi flickBird Box,will no longer have a home on YouTube. Videos that “cross the line” between funny and harmful are prohibited from the platform from now on, the video-streaming …
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Aftermonths of anticipation, China’s version of Spotify has finally made its U.S. stock market debut. Tencent Music Entertainment, the leading music-streaming service in China that was recently spun off as a separate arm by its parent company Tencent, opened on the New York Stock Exchange on Wednesday after raising about …
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Spotify passed its 10th anniversary this week, and in celebration of its furious growth spurt, the Swedish streaming service has come out with several all-time lists highlighting the music that’s risen to the top of its platform over that decade. (While founded in 2006, the company launched officially in 2008.) …
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SiriusXM’s acquisition of Pandora, a $3.5 billion deal announced last week, could just be the beginning of the satellite radio giant’s ambitions. For years, Wall Street analysts have been speculating if the company might join forces with live events powerhouse Live Nation Entertainment, which also owns Ticketmaster — and the …
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U2 had its 400-ton, 360-degree “Claw” stage that cost $30 million. Lady Gaga’s 2013 concert circuit involved a looming five-story Gothic castle. Taylor Swift’s ongoingReputation stadium tour needs 52 semis and 30 flatbed trucksjust to haul all the gear. It isn’t fans’ imagination that music tours, particularly ones put on …
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Boi-1da has been a crucial part ofDrake‘s braintrust ever since he helped craft the rapper’s first hit, 2009’s “Best I Ever Had.” In 2014, Boi-1da co-produced “0 to 100,” the first SoundCloud loosie to garner a Grammy nomination; in 2015, he oversaw Drake‘s turn towards belligerent and brawling as executive …
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