• Yesterday, Rolling Stone ran an interview with Pete Townshend to see how he felt about his 70th birthday and The Who’s latest (no-we-really-mean-it-this-time) farewell tour, The Who Hits 50, which comes to Key Arena on September 27. Seems they caught him in one of his curmudgeonly modes. Based on Townshend’s responses, here is a brief list of things he dislikes: birthdays, farewell tours, performing in general—but especially playing The Who’s earlier catalogue—Arianna Huffington, bullies, and Spotify.
Okay, then…
• Arcade Fire’s Win Butler and Régine Chassagne are opening a restaurant that will bring Haitian food to Montreal. It’s going to be called Agrikol. Butler told The Globe and Mail:
It’s more of an art project. The idea is that it’s a cultural space The thing that we were really impressed with at [Jen Agg’s restaurant] Rhum Corner is that it’s this space for Haitian and Caribbean culture and it’s really cool and contemporary. Régine’s family moved to Montreal from Haiti, like a lot of Haitians, and moving to this tundra, you know …
In 2010, Arcade Fire donated $1 million in matching funds to Haitian relief efforts following the earthquakes that ravaged the country earlier that year, so their commitment is legit, but still…
• Returning to Spotify for a second, word on the street is that the company wants to start streaming video content as well. The Wall Street Journal sparked the rumors, saying:
Spotify has approached so-called multichannel networks that specialize in creating and distributing video for YouTube to discuss both acquiring their material and co-creating original video series, the [sources] said. It also contacted some well-known traditional-media companies about potential alliances. Time Inc., Tastemade and Maker Studios are among companies talking to Spotify, according to people familiar with the matter. The Swedish company could announce its video plans as early as this month, the people said. It said Thursday that it will hold a media event on May 20 in New York, but offered no details.
Facing pressures from new companies such as TIDAL and the long-awaited Apple streaming service we’ve yet to see (not to mention David Byrne), Spotify might continue to favor growth over profit. Although, in a world where Shazam can predict that a song will go #1 four weeks ahead of time, it continues to boggle the mind that these dudes are still operating at a loss. We know they don’t pay the artists much. Where does all the money go?
On that note, don’t spend too much cash this weekend. See you all back here on Monday.