I was going to give the whole Lorde thing a rest this week, but, hey, she's number one on the Billboard Hot 100 this morning, so maybe it's worth fishing this out of comments for last week's music post.
That much-talked-about big 360 deal she signed with Jason Flom's Lava Records? It’s a myth.
She’s not signed to Lava/Republic. Lava/Republic has the US rights to The Love Club and her new album, Pure Heroine (Virgin/EMI has the album in Britain). Her only contractual relationship is with Universal Music NZ, for the world.
But it’s not hard to see why they’ve gone with Lava/Republic for the US. Republic renewed long-term agreements with Universal earlier this year. At that time they’d recently notched up hits with Gotye, PSY, Of Monsters and Men, The Weeknd, Florence + the Machine and others.
Republic founders Monte and Avery Lipman became Republic’s Chairman/CEO and President/COO respectively at the same time. They seem to have been actively involved in with the Lorde record – along with, of course, Jason Flom.
Also, just before Republic renewed its agreements, a guy called Charlie Walk came on board. He’s an executive VP, and oversees press and publicity.
It looks to me not only that Republic is a good fit for Lorde, but that her record is with them at a good time. The 94/100 Billboard review for her Pure Heroine album isn't going to hurt either.
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For a long time, I felt like Arcade Fire were one of those bands I ought to be more into than I was. Even when they played the Big Day Out, I only saw them on the way over to the Lilypad stage for 45 minutes of rousing ribaldry with Lady Saw.
But they've come around to meet me (possibly at the same time that they've shed one or two older fans). I loved the Abba-esque 'Sprawl II' and I think I'm really going to like their new album, Reflektor, which is out at the end of the month. Three of the songs from the album -- 'Here Comes The Night Time,' 'We Exist,' and 'Normal Person' -- are showcased in this funny, dazzling new video by Roman Coppola. Really, put aside 20 minutes, get relaxed and watch the whole thing.
I certainly won't be missing Arcade Fire at the Big Day Out this time.
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For your diary ....
This evening at 6pm, at the Auckland Central City Library, the principals of Audioculture, Simon Grigg and Murray Cammick, are speaking about the site and what it's doing. This should be a fun, relaxed affair. (I'm planning to move on afterwards to the Lucha Lounge in Newmarket to hear Arthur Ahbez launch his wonderful album, Gold.)
And next Wednesday, the 9th, Alan Perrott and I are DJing from 7 to 11pm at Golden Dawn in Ponsonby, corner Ponsonby and Richmond Roads (if you've never been before, the door is not at the front, but down the Richmond Road side). This, too, will be a fun, relaxed affair -- and I'd like it to be a bit of a Public Address meetup. So do think about joining us. The food and drink are very good and the music will be lovely.
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Staying with the biz for a bit, Recorded Music New Zealand (formerly Rianz/PPNZ) and Apra have made a useful and innovative move in launching the OneMusic licence for public performances of music. The annual licence covers the use of music by businesses -- from gyms to bars to the hold music on phones, broadcasts and recording and reproduction -- and combines the old licences for the sets of rights administered by each.
Revenue from the use of music (as opposed to retail sales) is increasingly important in the modern environment, especially if you'd like rights holders to turn away from negative obsessions with piracy. People should pay their licences -- and by the same token the collecting agencies should make that an easy and transparent process. There's an FAQ on the new licence here.
The launch has attracted industry attention as far afield as Britain and the US, where Digital Music News quoted Apra's Ant Healey:
"We've built the licence scheme from the bottom up after extensive consultation with our customers on what works best for them. The idea of dual performance right is complex for the music industry itself, let alone the general public that just want to get access to music legally."
And observed:
We now bring you back to our regularly-scheduled program in the US, where major labels are lobbying Congress to create a new performance right for terrestrial radio, the National Association of Broadcasters is fighting against it, Pandora is lobbying Congress to lower one performance right for recordings, while suing in US District Court to lower the other; publishers are desperately trying to work around pre-set rates for their online performance royalties, and major broadcasters like Clear Channel are signing direct deals with labels like Warner Music Group to privately create their own, unified performance rights license.
What's happened here this week looks vastly better than that mess.
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She's So Rad's new Last Dance EP showcases Jeremy Toy's move from shimmering indie to kooky electronic disco:
It's a minimum $9 purchase on Bandcamp.
You can hear this stuff played live in Auckland on Saturday night at the Weird Night Out extravaganza in Imperial Lane. Good work pulling this together, Nick Dwyer et al.
New Zealand's own P Money hits the dancehall with this track for the new album from Scots reggae star Gappy Ranks. Free download!
Auckland's Dastardly Bounder is back on the wires with this blend of reverby guitar samples and crunchy beats:
S.F.T.'s new album of future smoove hip hop grooves arrived on Bandcamp this week at a price of your choosing:
A great little mash-up of 'Royals' and M.I.A.'s 'Paper Planes'
You can download that for free here.
New Balearic love thing from Karim Chehab:
Buy that for $1.30 on Bandcamp.
Irregular Disco Workers have a crack at 'Whole Lotta Love' and it's a total banger, as you'd expect:
Over at TheAudience, this quite captivating little concoction of voice and guitar from Rewind Fields:
And a serious new voice from Christchurch, recorded on a laptop and burnished by British producer Greg Havers (Manic Street Preachers, Super Furry Animals):
There's more background here. I'm pretty sure we'll be hearing more of Libeau.
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And finally, today is the birthday of Mr Dave Yetton. It'd be rude not summon up this utter pop gem from his back catalogue, wouldn't it?
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