• Yesterday, while the boys of One Direction were engaging in social media snit fits with one another, Sony Music and Columbia Records declared war on SoundCloud. Billboard reported that music from artists “including Adele, Hozier, Miguel, Kelly Clarkson, Passion Pit, Leon Bridges, and MS MR” has been pulled from the streaming service “due to a lack of monetization opportunities.” In layman’s terms, this means Sony is mad you aren’t forced to listen to a shit ton of ads whenever you click on a SoundCloud link. And although SoundCloud has made nice with Warner Music Group and continues negotiations with Universal Music Group, let’s not forget that they also announced a $29 million loss last fall. So the question becomes: Will the platform consider going the way of Spotify and inundate you with a plethora of Applebee’s and Walgreen’s advertisements spoken in the voice of John Corbett? Meanwhile, Jay Z cheers quietly in the corner, silently praying you’ll consider a TIDAL subscription.
• Sony’s also continued to fight a 25-year-old battle over the rights to Nina Simone’s catalogue. FACT reports that the label “filed papers in a San Francisco federal court aiming to rescind a settlement agreement reached with the late singer’s estate and her former lawyer.” I’ll spare you the lengthy legal mumbo jumbo, but basically the question on the table is whether or not Sony owns certain Simone master recordings, or only the rights to reproduce them. They’re threatening to sue both Simone’s estate and her former lawyer, before they snatch back the masters and stream them on SoundCloud with a lot of ads. (Who did Kanye have to pay for “Blood on the Leaves”?)
• Brandon Flowers is releasing his second solo album, The Desired Effect on May 19, and the Killers frontman has recently been causing quite a stir with his blabbermouth on the press tour. Flowers admitted to NME that the Killers’ most recent record, 2012’s Battle Born, “wasn’t good enough and we all know it.” (At last we agree on something.) Flowers was also forthcoming when Rolling Stone asked him to confirm his previous thoughts on Kanye West (there he is again!), stating:
Everyone’s afraid to say anything contrary to him being a genius. It’s crazy, man! And it’s frustrating. I’m not going to tear him down, but I will say I find that to be frustrating. That’s my stance on it. [Referring to a 2006 comment that West “made him ill.”] A lot of people might agree with me now. I may have been a little bit ahead of my time.
While throwing shade can be a full-time occupation, Flowers did keep himself busy working with hit producer Ariel Rechtshaid, and the buzz for The Desired Effect has been positive thus far. I’m partial to the track “I Can Change,” which appears to be a piano ballad at the beginning, before starting a slow burn of ’80s synth riffs, and morphing into a full-on pop banger halfway through.
• Now, if you’re worried about how ‘Ye will respond to Flowers’s remarks (because I know you are), don’t be silly. Kanye doesn’t care, because Kanye is getting his own TV show! the New York Times reported that Vice Media is in talks with the artist to launch some sort of original programming. Let’s hope it contains more Illuminati speculation and Barbie doll vaginas.
• We’ll end with one more TIDAL update. Prince is set to stage Rally 4 Peace in Baltimore on May 10, with a portion of the proceeds going to Baltimore youth charities. However, the Purple One also mentioned that he has been in talks with the new streaming service to feature the concert, which struck me as awfully peculiar. But then again, why would you screen a concert that’s meant to combat the force of police brutality for free, when someone can try to squeeze a profit out of it?
That’s all I got.