Norwegian artist Kygo just took the wraps off his upcoming album ‘Golden Hour’ and with that, the first single. Kygo teams up with Zara Larsson and Tyga for a brilliant hit in ‘Like It Is’.
After most recently releasing his Avicii tribute together with Sandro Cavazza, Kygo now takes a more commercial approach – especially with his choice of vocalists. Zara Larsson provides an exciting vocal that Kygo turned into a great melody throughout the drops. Tyga mixes it up with a rap break that fits right in place.
‘Like It Is’ has just raised the already high hype levels for Kygo’s upcoming album, with no release date known at this point – we hope it’s soon!
“The good thing about being home all day is that I have a lot of time to work on new music. I hope that you are all doing well and staying positive in these tough times.” – Kygo
Kaskade has unleashed the second single from his upcoming Redux 004 EP; ‘Sexy’. Diverting from his more melodic sounds, the icon leans into a more tech-house influence with bouncy, driving basslines and a dirty drop that will set dance floors on fire. ‘Sexy’ incorporates some fun touches, such as the catchy vocal riff and piano interlude. It’s no coincidence that the Redux 004 EP has only four tracks, each designed for it’s own audience. Be prepared for an experience like no other as Kaskade immerses you in the deep, groovy core of dance music.
“If there is such thing as a peak time REDUX banger, it would be my new song, “Sexy.” As the thought of REDUX has matured, so has the music that I make for it. I think about how each song will fit into a set, how it will vibe with the crowd. ‘Sexy’ is a result of that progression. Those who might not understand what I’m doing with REDUX will still be waiting for the drop, but the ones who know… will REALLY feel it when this one slaps.” – Kaskade
ODESZA are back with their acclaimed NO SLEEP mix series. The last time the duo did a NO SLEEP mix was around 2 and half years ago, with all their events cancelled for the foreseeable future, it seemed appropriate for them to bring it back.
The hour long mix features a range of sounds from fellow producers. ODESZA take you on a musical journey with spellbinding elements and a refreshing take on electronic music.
The Washington duo have stated that this is the beginning in a new series from their Foreign Family Collective imprint called ‘Intermission Broadcast’- a weekly mix of music from artists they love.
Click play below to have a great 60 minutes during this not so great time!
While many have been talking about the consequences for the Artists that have lost all their revenue streams from touring, little had been said of the industry which helps them get shows. Now in an unprecedented move, Los Angeles-based talent agency Paradigm, which is regarded as one of the most successful live talent agencies, is preparing to lay off over 100 staff as the Coronavirus-triggered halt in live music activities continues to hurt the sector. Meanwhile, on the venue side, Hakkasan Group which runs Restaurants and Nightclubs across the globe is set to lay off more than 1,600 staff.
Paradigm To Loose A Seventh Of It’s Staff
Paradigm represent artists including Ed Sheeran (US), Shawn Mendes, Diplo and Coldplay. Outside of music, it also represents talent working across television, motion pictures, theatre, digital, book publishing, content finance, and brand partnerships. The company employs an estimated 700 people, and the news means they will see over a seventh of the firm’s workforce be handed redundancy.
According to Industry source Deadline, Paradigm’s CEO Sam Gores informed his staff of the expected lay-offs on Friday in what was reportedly an “emotional” call. The lay-offs are however said to only be “temporary” and while not 100% certain, he is reportedly hopeful that the employees will be able to re-apply for their positions once Paradigm is through the worst of the Coronavirus crisis.
As every Agent usually has a support staff including assistants and advancing teams, the actual number of lay-offs may end up “much higher” than the initial 100, and the move will ultimately affect every one of Paradigms employees. In these uncertain times, bigger fish in the Live Entertainment arena have been waiting for the moment to snap up companies that are cash-strapped, with rumors that the likes of CAA and UTA had already made approaches to purchase Paradigm for around $300m. However last month, Paradigm CEO Gore told staff in an internal note that his company was categorically “not for sale”.
“I want to address a recent press report suggesting the potential sale of Paradigm,” said Gores’ staff note in February. “Let me state emphatically – we are not for sale, nor are we selling the agency.”
WME Partners To Volunteer, Access To Equity Sale Delayed
In further evidence of COVID-19’s negative impact on the talent agent sector, WME held its own difficult call with partners of the company last week. The WME partners were expecting to be able to cash in 20% of their respective equity in the company on April 5, calculated on a $3.6bn valuation for the firm. However, this cash windfall has now been “pushed down the road indefinitely and the partners were also told it is likely they will be asked to volunteer to take pay cuts, until business rebounds”.
Earlier this month, both Paradigm and WME came together with other leaders of the live music space including Live Nation and AEG to agree that all major events in the US, and countries deemed level 3 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), should be postponed through the end of March due to the Coronavirus outbreak.
Hakkasan Group Lay-Off More Than 1,600 Staff
Hakkasan Group which manages restaurants and clubs around the world and maintains a strong Las Vegas presence including Hakkasan Nightclub at MGM Grand and Omnia Nightclub at Caesars Palace, as well as Jewel Nightclub and Liquid Pool Lounge at Aria, Wet Republic Ultra Pool and Level Up at MGM Grand has this week laid off 1,600 employees, nearly its entire Las Vegas workforce reports Las Vegas Review Journal. The move means that only it’s senior management remains at the company under employment. Those laid off will receive two weeks’ pay, though the company did not offer the opportunity to collect any unused paid time off.
Speaking on the matter, Hakkasan Group issued a company-wide statement Monday morning: “The long-term impact of the COVID-19 virus on the travel, tourism, entertainment and hospitality industry remains unclear. Given these circumstances, we have taken decisive actions to preserve the long-term stability of our business that include conducting layoffs and furloughs due to the temporary suspension of our venue operations in the US and in many of our international locations.“
“We are doing all that we can to protect our team members where possible, all while remaining focused on getting our operations running again soon.”
“Every painful decision that has been made during this time has been made with an attempt to secure the long-term future of the business. All deliberations and conclusions have been made with a heavy heart, and regrettably with our understanding that our decision will have significant effects on you as an individual and your dependents,” Hakkasan Group Chief Financial Officer Michael Ryan-Southern’s memo read. “We sincerely hope that these impacts will be temporary. I would like to pass on my personal thanks for the dedication you have shown the business throughout your tenure and appreciate your understanding in these unprecedented times.”
While we are stuck inside, many of us have grown bored of our endless Netflix binge sessions, so if that rings true or you are trying to work from home and want to just enjoy something to listen to this might be some good news for you. While many artists, labels and event brands have set up special streaming performances, TIDAL has stepped up the game for everyone to offer free daily streams.
This week they’ll be bringing on air a host of the biggest artists in the game from across the spectrum and delivering their exclusive concert performances to your home for 12 hours, completely free. Best of all you can watch them right here completely free. The “At Home” live stream sessions will kick off today at 12 pm ET, the live streams of archival TIDAL- exclusive concerts on TIDAL.com/AtHome.
Each day this week they will highlight a new genre with performances from the biggest names in music, starting today we’ll see the likes of Spanish Influenced artists Jennifer Lopez, Daddy Yankee, CNCO, Romeo Santos. Thursday will see pop takeover with the likes of Lizzo, The Chainsmokers, Rosalia, Bazzi and Dermot Kennedy. Then as the weekend arrives, Friday will see electronic stars start the party, including Deadmau5, Daft Punk, Kaskade, Marshmello, Cashmere Cat. Saturday’s line up is strictly hip-hop with JAY-Z, J. Cole, Lil Wayne, Meek Mill, Gunna, City Girls, 21 Savage, and more. Wrapping up the week, are the R&B heartthrobs Beyoncé, Rihanna, Ari Lennox, Trey Songz, Jorja Smith, H.E.R, and more.
So as everyone establishes their somewhat unusual routines for the foreseeable future, TIDAL has over 60 million tracks and hundreds of thousands of videos in its library and are looking to help keep people engaged through these challenging times. Whether it’s learning more about artists through their exclusive docu-series and in-depth interviews, reliving some of the most iconic concerts, or hosting virtual dance parties with TIDAL-playlists, TIDAL has something for music lovers of all genres.
TIDAL is offering new customers a special limited-time offer of 4 months for any plan for only $4.00 now through April 15th – new members can redeem here: https://try.tidal.com/spring
Since the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Musicians have undoubtedly been among the hardest hit and will continue to not be able to generate an income via bookings for the foreseeable future. As the community struggled Spotify, had been exploring the ways they can help those suffering and make an impact around the world. As it’s model has and will always be, creating connections between artists and their fans, using music and podcasts, they know their support to the community now has never been more important. Today they have revealed their COVID-19 efforts, among them a new initiative to provide much-needed support for members of the music community with the Spotify COVID-19 Music Relief project.
Matched Donations To Music Support Organisations
The Music Relief Project has been created to amplify the efforts of organizations that focus on helping those most in need, beginning with Help Musicians (The Corona Virus Fund), MusiCares and the PRS Foundation. What this means is that Spotify will recommend verified organizations that offer financial relief to those in the music community most in need, and when you donate via Spotify’s portal linked at the end of this article, they will match dollar-for-dollar public donations, up to a total contribution of $10 million (USD).
A New Spotify for Artists FeatureFor Donations
As artists struggle to find ways to reach their audience and receive donations, Spotify are now working to make this a little easier with the launch a feature that will enable artists to fundraise directly from their fans on the platform during this challenging time. The new feature will give artists the ability to drive listeners to a fundraising destination of their choice on their Spotify artist profile pages.
Artists on Spotify will have the ability to link out to a verified funding page for themselves, another artist in need, or for a worthwhile initiative of their choice. The feature will be optional for artists to use, and for those who don’t wish to take part, no changes will be made to profile pages unless the artist chooses to participate, and Spotify will of course not take a cut of any contributions. If you’re a Spotify for Artists user interested to make use of this feature, you can sign up here to register your interest, and they will email you when it’s ready to be used.
No Fees For SoundBetter and Listener Support, Free Trials For Soundtrap.
For many Artists still able to create music at home, their music talent marketplace known as SoundBetter will be waiving its revenue share for the next 30 days, and their cloud-based audio recording platform Soundtrap will offer extended free trials for educators, and it’s podcasting platform Anchor will waive fees on its Listener Support feature for the next 6 months. The Listener Support feature allows Podcasters to receive monthly subscriptions from their listeners.
Other Initiatives– Free Ad Inventory, News Hub And Donations
As well as matching donations to important organisations, they’ve made contributions to public health organizations and donated significant ad inventory and platform space to Government and medical organisations to be able to help reach people with important updates, share news and health information with it’s users. We’ve also created a dedicated COVID-19 hub providing our listeners with a go-to place for news and information. And importantly, all the while we’re continuing to support the health, safety and livelihoods of our employees. Check out the below graphic for more information—and know that our support will continue to evolve.
Times are rough, and with many people building up anxiety and fear due to the ongoing Corona Virus while also being penned up in quarantine. Iconic Actor, Musician and motivator Will Smith, however, is here to save the day, he has shared a mix to help you get through the tough times. Smith, known for his musical sensibilities and taste is well-positioned to drop his selections, while it’s been a minute since he worked one music himself, his son Jaden Smith has released several albums and become a star in his own right.
On Smiths Quarantine mix, we’re provided with 1 hour and 30 minutes of chilled out beats accompanied by an equally soothing animation cartoon of a young Will Smith wearing a Bel-Air shirt studying, whilst a cat sits on his window-sill. In addition to the music, the video includes sounds from the streets out the window, the cat purring and goes through various weather changes in the background giving it a very unique touch.
The mix has accumulated over 2.4 million plays as of current and includes a collection of beatsy, low key instrumental hip-hop vibes which would be perfect at any time of the year quite frankly. The tracklist includes a handful of artists, among them a number of tracks from Guustav’s album Borta, as well as the likes of Justnormal, Dylan Sitts, Jobii, Ocean Jams, Osoku, Henyao.
Sit back, pour a cup of coffee and take a listen below.
deadmau5 is set to revive his BSOD (Blue Screen Of Death) collaborative project come April 10th. BSOD is both deadmau5 and Steve Duda, who is the creator of Serum. For those of you who are not producers, Serum is a very popular synthesizer plugin used by producers around the world.
Steve Duda and Joel Zimmerman (deadmau5) have not worked together since 2013 release ‘Super Breakfast’ which you can listen to below. Before that, they had ‘This Is The Hook’ and ‘This Is Also The Hook’.
The duo have also played rare DJ sets since their inception, with a new release incoming – maybe we’ll see them behind the decks again soon. Keep an eye out on April 10th to hear the return of BSOD!
German producer Besomorph has had a hell of a run within the past couple of years, having now established his name as a prominent figure in the bass music space. Coming to streaming platforms and digital stores via tastemaker label Cloudkid, “Born To Die” is a collaborative effort with fellow producer Coopex, and features vocal work from rising talent EthanUno.
“The lyrical story portrayed relates to my own experience with past failed relationships. The idea of being “Born To Die” was inspired by the original demo title by Besomorph and Coopex. I felt that that phrase was captivating and perfectly described the atmosphere of the production. I built the song’s story off of that phrase, developing it into the idea that the connection that my ex and I had was “Born To Die.” – EthanUno
The short-single is accompanied by a hypnotizing atmosphere and distant arpeggios, supported by the evoking storyline. The dramatic drop rapidly and completely completes the dark sonic landscape that Besomorph and Coopex have already developed, as cracking syths and distorted bass take over, accompanied by a fun guitar riff.
Electro-pop songstress LUNA MAY has amassed tens of millions of streams across a number of high profile collaborations in the process she has been praised by industry heavyweights Future Classic and Triple J and had releases on labels including Dim Mak and TMRW Music.
After carving some time out to focus on writing new music the past year, Luna May is fresh as ever and back with an all-new array of beautifully crafted songs that mirror her penchant for moody electro-pop. The first of which is CASTLES, the perfect distillation of Luna May’s sound and represents a real maturity in Carn’s writing.
The listener is pulled into her most personal internal dialogue as she attempts to reconcile the push and pull of a broken love. The track balances captivating vocals with spacious production. The release echoes Carn’s internal musings in a way that is so intimate, it feels like you are right there beside her.
The Australian talent LUNA MAY has supported the likes of Vera Blue, London Topaz and Death By Denim, meanwhile Luna May’s debut single “Silly Boys” received rave reviews from fans and industry – it featured on several Spotify playlists including New Music Friday and was applauded by Triple J.
Reflecting on writing Castles, Luna May gives insight into the heartbreak that was the force behind the song. “The song is about building a life with someone only to have them turn their back on you. It’s about being locked out of the castle you built with them.”
