HOT: No DNC Music Backlash
Last week we mentioned the many musicians complaining about their music being played at the Republican National Convention, so this week we decided to focus on those who protested the use of their music at the Democratic National Convention. Except no one complained. Queen’s Brian May, who was angered by his band’s “We Are the Champions” being used during Trump’s WWE-like entrance at the RNC, even said he got a kick out of Elizabeth Banks’ use of the song while parodying The Donald at the DNC (despite also not having “permission” to use it). As hard as it probably was, the DNC’s music supervisor must just have been wise enough to avoid Ted Nugent and Gatlin Brothers songs.
WARM: The New Old New MTV
Nostalgia for the ’90s has caused the VH1 Classic channel to become MTV Classic. Said to be part of an effort to return to MTV’s music roots, the rebranding doesn’t mean the channel is going “all music.” The programming does showcase MTV’s better original shows (Daria, Wonder Showzen, Unplugged) and blocks of music videos are being shown in the overnight hours, but the channel is also airing the earlier reality shows (including Road Rules and The Real World marathons) that came to dominate the channel, to the dismay of old-timers nostalgic for the days of bad Billy Squier and Quarterflash videos running on a loop.
COLD: Atlantic Scares Music Fans
The corporate music world still has the ability to strike fear in the hearts of music lovers years after launching efforts to punish illegal downloaders. After “Heathens,” a new song by Twenty One Pilots, was leaked on Reddit a week early, it was reported that Atlantic Records was going after the leaker hard, saying it lost a fortune after being forced to move up the release date. While many fans joked about getting arrested for obtaining the song early, some seemed genuinely concerned that jail time was a possibility. So great job, music biz — your customers are still terrified of you!
This article appears in Jul 27 – Aug 3, 2016.