SEM Music News Round-Up
December 15th 2017
Manchester is in the “midst of a new golden era”,
Tidal’s rumoured closure in 2018, Spotify playlists to get your music heard,
and the women of Oz say “No More” to sexism in the music industry.
Mixmag is calling it. Manchester is in the “midst of a new golden era.”
Manchester is the beating heart of new music in the UK, that’s according to Mixmag who said Manchester might be in the midst of a “new golden era”. It goes without saying that Mancunians have a proud history of being at the forefront of UK underground music and the clubbing scene, with the days of the Hacienda and Factory Records often being cited as the pinnacle of musical movements in the city. However as the late and great Tony Wilson (head of Factory Records) once said “Nostalgia is crap”.
This time around Mixmag points out some of the new wave of artists going viral are from the worlds of “homegrown hip hop, bass music, soul, grime, d’n’b, trap” rather than the baggy acid house sound that is synonymous with Manchester’s past. Crew and record label Swing Ting has had a very good couple of years and are currently the darlings of the international blogosphere. Made up of a crew of ‘Club kids’ consisting of Platt, Samrai, Fox, Murlo & Joey B, expect dancehall, soca, grime, reggaeton soundsystem music. Platt told Mixmag “there’s definitely been more of a spotlight put on the city.”
Following up being named as Fact Mag’s label of the year in 2016 Swing Ting have been killing it, with a set for Boiler Room, a release featuring various artists that was lauded by DUMMY, Mixmag, The Fader, THUMP and radio shows on Rinse and NTS, all shining a light on the current Manchester scene.
If DJ Mag awards are your thing, Manchester’s Meat Free were nominated for the UK’s Best Club Event award, and Solardo took best DJ duo.
Bandcamp also recently highlighted the many talented artists coming out of Manchester. Add into the mix a culture of record shop excellence (see bleeding edge hub Eastern Bloc), promoters such as the aptly named NOW WAVE and of course the DIY work ethic aka grafting Manchester is famous for and it’s no surprise we’re enjoying another wave of musical successes celebrated on the world stage.
Know about a Mancunian act that are trending? Tweet us @semmanchester and let’s keep the much deserved buzz about Manchester music up to maximum hype levels.
What do you think about streaming services vs. owning your own music? Do any students out there use Tidal because of it’s higher fidelity sound compared to omnipresent rival Spotify? Tweet us @semmanchester with your thoughts.
Tidal wave of problems (but a streaming service ain’t one?)
Jay Z’s high fidelity music streaming service Tidal is said to be in financial trouble, and according to some tech blogs “may close next year”.
A spokesperson for Tidal refuted the news telling Engadget they are looking to break even and start profiting next year:
“We have experienced negative stories about Tidal since its inception and we have done nothing but grow the business each year”.
Play(list) it again. Getting your music heard online.
Playlists are where it’s at when it comes to getting your music discovered, that’s according to Hypebot who pulled the data for Spotify’s playlist activity this year. Of the 4,500 curated playlists on Spotify over a billion streams are generated per week Hypebot adding that shrewd emerging artists would do worse than pursuing getting their music featured on Spotify:
“Love it or loathe it, Spotify is doing something massively important for new artists…even if the chances of your music being selected by one of Spotify’s notoriously picky playlist curators is slim.”
Youtube was also mentioned as something worth targeting, in terms of playlist curators. Getting featured in a playlist with hundreds of thousands of followers can even outperform Spotify.
Read the full article at Hypebot with more tips for getting your music heard online.
Women of Oz say “No More” to sexism in the music industry.
Following in the footsteps of Swedish women 200 female Australian music artists and industry women have signed an open letter calling out sexist behaviour and detailing sexist behaviour that they say is endemic in the antipodean music world, starting the hashtag #menomore alongside Courtney Barnett, Tina Arena and The Veronicas.
“We are women who work in the Australian music industry […] artists, musicians, managers, lawyers, booking agents, record label employees, publicists, and more. We all have our own stories, or know someone who does. We are not whingers or vibe-killers. We are passionate people dedicating our lives to music. In the face of uncountable discrimination, harassment, violence, and the general menace of sexist jargon, we have gritted our teeth and gotten on with the job. But today we say, no more.”
Read the full letter here.
If you have seen some music news in your streams that you’d like us to feature email elle@semmanchester.com.
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