HOT: CDs Still Dying
In news to no one, due to the rise of downloading and streaming, CD sales aren’t what they used to be. In the past decade, CDs reportedly dropped from reaping nearly $9 billion a year in sales, to this year making just under $2 billion. One of this year’s Best Rap Album nominees at the Grammys (Chance the Rapper’s Coloring Book) wasn’t even available on CD, making it the first streaming-only album to earn a nomination. The age range of those who buy the most CDs continues to grow older, which may explain 2016’s biggest hard-copy CD seller — a 200-disc box set featuring more than 240 hours of Mozart, which sold 1.25 million copies (in just five weeks!) to earn the honor.
WARM: Punchline Punches Back
After a Canadian police officer’s social media post about punishing drunk drivers by playing an album by maligned Canadian rockers Nickelback went viral, the band members reportedly asked for it to be removed. In a Facebook apology, the officer insisted he was merely trying to bring attention to the dangers of drunk driving, but he later realized he was “bullying” the band and that the message was lost when Nickelback-hatred became the headline. He said he reached out to the band members personally and found out some “wonderful news” — Nickelback is very much anti-drunk driving too!
COLD: Gun Men’s Show Discharged
Turning “open carry” laws into some kind of weird performance art, the Metal band King 810 is known for its music’s violent imagery and its use of guns as props in music videos and on stage. Now the band is getting the most press of its career after a venue in Chicago, citing the city’s record-high gun violence this year and feedback from the community, cancelled its show. The band’s frontman David Gunn (clever?) was unapologetic and defended the presence of guns at King 810 shows, saying that if there were ever a terrorist attack like the one in Paris last year that left nearly 100 fans dead, the instigators would “probably be shot from the stage.”
