HOT: Tape Sales Keep Rising
The year-end sales numbers for 2017, as expected, showed that vinyl album sales continued their upward trajectory, selling more than 14 million units throughout the year, the highest total sales for vinyl since Nielsen Music’s beginnings in 1991. The more unlikely format that continues to see sales soar (relatively) is the cassette, which has experienced enough of a revival (initiated by smaller indie labels) that Taylor Swift’s last album was issued on tape. In 2017, cassette album sales were up 35 percent, but that only adds up to 174,000 copies. Still, not a bad showing for a hard-copy format in this era of streaming dominance.
WARM: Money for Nothing
A music writer and technologist has unintentionally spotlighted some of the major flaws in the system used by YouTube to find copyright violations. In 2015, Sebastian Tomczak uploaded a 10-hour video that was nothing but “low level white noise.” Recently, Tomczak received a notice that someone had made a copyright claim on the video, something usually reserved for publishers that discover unauthorized use of actual music in clips (which can be found using the site’s automated “Content ID” system). When Tomczak looked into the claim, he found that there were four others, and each one allowed the video to stay up but chose the option to “monetize” it, meaning the bogus claimants could see money from any views. Tomczak disputed the claims and YouTube released a statement saying that it acts quickly and thoroughly when there are disputes.
COLD: Mellows, Prepare to Be Harshed
For those who’ve scheduled a trip to California this spring based on the convergence of three major, seemingly interconnected events — the state’s Coachella music festival, weed being legal in the state and, like, 4/20 dude (the second weekend of the fest begins on April 20) — some buzz-kill news recently surfaced. The city of Indio (where Coachella is held) opted out of the state’s legalization law, meaning marijuana can’t be grown or sold within city limits. Coachella is playing along, stating on its website that “marijuana or marijuana products aren’t allowed.” But the fest was, like, super cool about it, adding a “Sorry bro” to the bummer mandate in its FAQ section.
This article appears in Jan 3-10, 2018.
