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Artist News Business News Digital Gigs & Festivals One Liners Releases
One Liners: Big Hit, Spotify, Tom Odell, more
By Andy Malt | Published on Friday 12 March 2021
LABELS & PUBLISHERS
Big Hit Entertainment – best known for being the company behind BTS – is planning to change its name to HYBE Corporation. The rebranding still needs to be approved by shareholders, which is expected to happen at the end of the month.
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DIGITAL & D2F SERVICES
Spotify is apparently surveying some UK users about possible price rises. The streaming service has already increased some prices in some markets of course, especially around its family plan. Many in the music community have been pushing for such increases, pointing out that the standard £9.99 subscription price hasn’t changed since the service launched more than a decade ago. The survey talks about the price of a family plan going up by five whole pounds, to £19.99 a month. The individual plan would go up by a quid to £10.99 a month.
In other Spotify news, the streaming service has launched a podcast about… Spotify! Although, in an effort to not seem too arrogant, or to steal too many listeners from other podcasts on the platform, it has given it a very boring sounding name. ‘Spotify: A Product Story’ delves into the (revisionist?) history of the streaming platform and its development. So, if you’re interested in learning about how Spotify invented the first ever form of legitimate digital music, tune in here.
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RELEASES
Tom Odell has announced that he will release his new album, ‘Monsters’, on 25 Jun. Today he releases ‘Monster v1’ – the first of two versions of the title track. “In 2019, my anxiety got so bad that I had to stop making music for a while”, he explains. “There was a period when it felt like I couldn’t leave the house without having a panic attack. I wrote this song, ‘Monster’, about trying to overcome my struggles with those mental health problems. This first version is the song in its purest form, which I wanted you all to hear first, as the lyrics mean so much to me”.
Gwen Stefani has released new single ‘Slow Clap’.
Mike Shinoda has released the video for his recent single ‘Happy Endings’, featuring Upsahl and Iann Dior.
Pussy Riot have released the video for ‘Panic Attack’, the title track of their new EP, out today.
Kele Okereke has released new solo single ‘The Heart Of The Wave’. The song, he says “started quite absent mindedly. During lockdown, I was spending a lot of time playing electric guitar in my room and I found on some of the bleakest days making the swirling guitar loops calmed me down. It was almost like a kind of therapy for me”.
Everything Everything have released new single ‘Supernormal’. “[It’s] about supernormal stimuli; highly exaggerated triggers that create a stronger reaction in us than evolution ever intended”, says vocalist Jonathan Higgs. “Our animal brains can’t help but reach for the bigger, brighter, tastier, sexier, bloodier, more intense experiences. I wanted to create an extremely overwhelming experience in this song and video, it’s about being a slave to our instincts no matter how extreme they become”.
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GIGS & TOURS
The Chemical Brothers have been announced as Friday night headliners of this year’s Creamfields festival. The event will take place on 26-29 Aug. “Imagine dancing in a field with 70,000 of your best friends”, say the duo. “We can’t wait! Hold tight Creamfields 2021”.
Check out our weekly Spotify playlist of new music featured in the CMU Daily – updated every Friday.
