HOT: Streaming to Success?
Last summer, fans of Fifth Harmony campaigned to boost the Pop act’s chart position by asking followers to put their song on repeat, 24/7, on streaming sites like Spotify. It worked. Now, unsigned Michigan Funk band Vulfpeck has announced a cleverer scheme to rig the streaming game, releasing Sleepify — 10 tracks of silence — on Spotify and asking fans to play it as they slumber. The group will use the well-less-than-one-cent-per-stream profits to plot a free tour with the money raised. Though it seems a stretch for a band with less than 5,000 Facebook “likes” to earn enough to fund a tour, the stunt has already succeeded by garnering Vulfpeck mounds of press from high profile outlets like The Guardian and Billboard, which described the group’s efforts as “brilliant.”
Vulfpeck's Sleepify pitch video:
WARM: Urungus No Longer Among Us
Though rumors that he’s still alive persist, can you imagine if subversive comedian Andy Kaufman had died in the social media era? No one would believe he was gone, thanks both to Kaufman’s notorious pranksterism and the barrage of false death reports posted almost daily. Fans of theatrical Metal monsters GWAR were hoping news that frontman Dave Brockie (aka Oderus Urungus) had died from unknown causes on March 23 was a Kaufman-esque hoax, but GWAR’s manger confirmed the sad news the next day. Brockie was 50. A sign of the times — news of his death shocked fans, but news that it was a prank probably wouldn’t raise one eyebrow.
GWAR far outlived Circuit City:
COLD: Rock Hall Says “Nevermind”
After being informed that only the four original members of KISS would be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley — pissed that their guitarist and drummer’s replacements wouldn’t be inducted — said they were refusing to perform at the ceremony. So it was odd when Chad Channing, the drummer on Nirvana’s first two singles and debut album, told the press he was being inducted with his old band. Whether it was bad info or backtracking by the Rock Hall after the KISS mess, turns out Channing won’t be inducted with Nirvana after all. Channing found out about the bad news via a forwarded text from Nirvana’s management that said, “Can you tell whoever looks after Chad Channing that he isn’t being inducted.” Ouch. Nirvana won’t perform at the ceremony either — obviously, for different reasons than KISS (who JUST scored their first Rolling Stone cover in honor of their induction).
Channing in an early video for "In Bloom" that Nirvana made for SubPop:
