Bjork

Bjork

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Music Festivals 2018: All Points East Is London's Brand-New Fest

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Goldenvoice preps new three-day festival and 10-day conference next summer in London's Victoria Park
Nate Hertweck
GRAMMYs
Oct 31, 2017 - 5:58 pm

Mark your calendars now for a brand new music festival hitting London early next summer, All Points East. Produced by Goldenvoice, the company behind Coachella, FYF, Panorama, and more, the three-day festival and 10-day conference will take place in Victoia Park May 23 through June 3, 2018.

While full details for All Points East are scheduled to be released in early November, we do know the festival will present music across six stages during the main festival portion, Friday, May 25 to Sunday, May 27, plus additional stand-alone shows.

If the artists already announced are any indication, this lineup will be worth the trip. The bill already includes Björk  LCD Soundsystem, the xx, The War On Drugs, the National, Warpaint, and Future Islands, with more to be announced.

Tickets for All Points East's main festival and the first additional show are on sale now the festival's website.

Kayzo, NGHTMRE Added To 2018 OMFG NYE Lineup

hip hop streaming_010319

Photo: Guillaume Payen/SOPA Images/LightRocket/Getty Images

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Report: Global Music Sales Climb To $19 Billion In 2018, Nearly Half From Streaming

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A 9.7 percent overall increase marks the highest annual bump in recent history and is led by notable rises in Latin America, Asia and Australia
Nate Hertweck
GRAMMYs
Apr 3, 2019 - 4:34 pm

The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry has released the new Global Music Report 2019, showing an overall increase in sales of 9.7 percent in 2018. This jump is the highest rate since the IFPI began tracking the market in 1997.

“Last year represented the fourth consecutive year of growth, driven by great music from incredible artists in partnership with talented, passionate people in record companies around the world," said IFPI chief executive Frances Moore. “Record companies continue their investment in artists, people and innovation both in established markets and developing regions that are increasingly benefitting from being part of today’s global music landscape."

Streaming, which we know was ruled by rap and hip-hop in 2018, accounted for 47 percent of all income, according to IFPI. This reflects a 34 percent growth from 2017, illustrating there is no slowing in streaming's proliferation among consumers. The gap continues to widen between streaming and previous format titans such as physical music, which saw a 10.1 percent decline in revenue, and digital downloads, which dropped by 21.2 percent.

The fastest growing region, according to the report, is Latin America, which saw a big pickup especially in Brazil and Mexico. Asia and Australia came in as the second largest region for combined physical and digital revenue.

The K-pop explosion was also represented in the report, with an 18 percent rise in music sales in South Korea, which can be credited to breakout years from groups such as BTS and BLACKPINK. 

IFPI's full "State Of The Industry" report can be read here.

Closing The Gap: How Latina Artists Are Combating Gender Inequality In Urban Music

 

 

Chicano Batman

Chicano Batman

Photo: Jeff Kravitz/Getty Images

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Mike Tyson To Host Inaugural Kind Music Festival In The Coachella Valley Featuring Chicano Batman, Starcrawler & More

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The new music event will feature a handful of bright Los Angeles-based talent
Ana Yglesias
GRAMMYs
Jan 3, 2019 - 2:11 pm

The Kind Music Festival has announced the lineup for their first-ever event set to take place in Desert Hot Springs, Calif. on Feb. 23.

Attendees will be able to soak up the diverse sounds and vibes of So Cal under the bright desert sun with a curated sampling of Los Angeles-based artists: GRAMMY winner Miguel, plus Chicano Batman, Starcrawler, Yonee and All My Friends Hate Me.

The organizers for what they are calling a "'pop-up' micro-festival"  include former heavyweight champion boxer Mike Tyson, who is offering the site of future home to Tyson Ranch Resort.

Tyson recently broke ground on the property last month, which a press release for the festival says will be a "420-acre entertainment complex, luxury glamping resort and cannabis research and design facility." The Blast reports that Tyson has been a longtime believer in the healing benefits of cannabis and "says taking care of men and women who have served in the armed forces is a top priority" on the ranch.

Organizers also say that the event will be the first music festival to celebrate California's new 2019 marijuana legislation.

"Kind Music Festival is a revolution—leading the way for a new generation of health and wellness focused cannabis consumers, 'The Kind Generation,'" says a KIND festival producer. "The word 'kind' is defined as 'a group of people or things having similar characteristics' as well as 'of a good or benevolent nature or disposition…Kind Music Festival challenges conventional thinking while being mainstream."

Miguel On 'War & Leisure' & Essence Fest

A portion of ticket sales will benefit Standing United, a non-profit organization aimed at helping individuals recover from drug addiction and homelessness to "reintegrate into society and become upstanding citizens in their communities." Tyson himself, along with other Kind Festival employees, the press release reports, have struggled with addiction.

Tickets are available now at Kind Festival's website.

2019 Music Festival Preview: Noise Pop, Ultra & More

61st GRAMMY Awards
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Poll: Who Do You Think Voters Will Choose For Best Alternative Album?

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Arctic Monkeys, Beck, Björk, David Byrne, and St. Vincent are the nominees. Who would you vote for?
Jennifer Velez
GRAMMYs
Jan 2, 2019 - 5:16 pm

The 61st GRAMMY Award nominees for Best Alternative Music Album represent a group of artists pushing the limits of genre into something different and albums that take those artists' sound into new realms.

Polls

Who Do You Think Voters Will Choose For Best Alternative Album?

The Arctic Monkeys' Tranquility Base Hotel + Casino dives into a sci-fi fantasy world outside of earth, executed with frontman Alex Turner's suave voice. Beck, who over the years has mastered the ability to mix and match hip-hop, folk, and other unlikely combinations, delivers Colors, his13th studio album. St. Vincent blazes her own trail forward in Masseduction, in which lyrics project personal feels and thoughts about herself as an artist and a lover, while Björk's follow up to Vulnicura—which documented her break-up feels from her long-time partner—, Utopia, is a comeback filled with new ways of looking at romance and a promise to break traumatic cycles. David Byrne creates a different kind of utopia with the socially and politically analytical American Utopia, seen as his first true solo album in 14 years.

Who do you think GRAMMY voters will choose for Best Alternative album at 61st GRAMMY Awards? Vote here and catch the show on CBS Feb. 10 to see if voters chose your favorite pick.

2019 GRAMMY Awards: Complete Nominations List

 

Woodstock 1969

Woodstock 1969

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Two Woodstock 50th Anniversary Events Planned For Aug. 2019

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As the golden birthday of the historic music festival approaches, available rooms in Sullivan County for Aug. 15–18 are already in limited supply, even before the lineups or major details for either event have been announced
Ana Yglesias
GRAMMYs
Jan 2, 2019 - 1:54 pm

Judging by the rapid rate hotels and Airbnbs are been being booked in Sullivan County, the site of the iconic ’69 Woodstock Music And Arts Fair, music fans from around the world are ready and excited to celebrate the historic fest's 50th birthday.

Official Lineup Dropped 3/19: Woodstock 50 Performers: Jay-Z, The Killers, Miley Cyrus & More Announced

Two music festivals will take place on the anniversary weekend, one unofficial at the Bethel Woods Center For The Arts, and an official 50th celebration at a to-be-announced venue, hosted by organizers of the original event. 

Bethel Woods Update: Carlos Santana, Ringo Starr Confirmed For Bethel Woods' Woodstock Anniversary

If you want to take part in the magic of the Woodstock 50th anniversary events and stay in Sullivan County during the long weekend of Aug. 15–18, you should think about booking a room soon. The Times-Herald Record Of Middletown reports that hotels, Airbnbs and everything in between have been booking up quickly, even before official news of an anniversary event had been revealed last month.

The newspaper also shared that many places to stay near the Bethel Woods Center—the venue which now lives at the site of the original event—are already completely booked with already-lengthy waiting lists. One hotel, which is still under construction and set to open this summer, is already fully booked with a waitlist, and shared that their first guest inquiry came in two years ago.

"There's a lot of interest on the domestic front and the international front, whether you were there in 1969, or just want to be here today," said Sullivan County Visitors Association CEO Roberta Byron Lockwood.

In terms of how exactly you can relive Woodstock in Upstate New York this August, the two major events are the aforementioned Bethel Woods Music and Culture Festival, hosted by Live Nation, INVNT (a "global brands communication agency") and Bethel Woods Center. Meanwhile, Michael Lang, the co-creator of the original event, has just confirmed an Official Woodstock 50 Celebration. Further details and a location are yet to be revealed.

The organizers of the Bethel Woods Festival describe their three-day event as a "pan-generational music, culture, and community event" with "live performances from prominent and emerging artists spanning multiple genres and decades, and TED-style talks from leading futurists and retro-tech experts." Attendees will get to visit the venue's year-round Woodstock-centric museum which will feature special new 2019 exhibit called We Are Golden: Reflections On The 50th Anniversary Of The Woodstock Festival And Aspirations For An Aquarian Future.

"50 years ago, people gathered peacefully on our site inspired to change the world through music," said Darlene Fedun, Bethel Woods Center CEO. "As the stewards of this historic site, we remain committed to preserving this rich history and spirit, and to educating and inspiring new generations to contribute positively to the world through music, culture, and community."

Lang, who was one of the main promoters for Woodstock '69 and has been hinting at an official 50th anniversary event for some time, confirmed minimal details with the Poughkeepsie Journal, who on Dec. 19 wrote that Lang had "definite plans" for an anniversary concert not held at the original location.

On Dec. 30, Woodstock Ventures, which runs the official Woodstock website and works with Lang, shared a statement from the co-founder:

"While the original site in Bethel remains close to our hearts, it no longer has the capacity to hold a real Woodstock Festival. I'm delighted that Bethel Woods is doing events in the coming year to celebrate what we brought to life in 1969," wrote Lang.

However you choose to celebrate Woodstock's 50th anniversary, Sullivan County is ready to welcome you this summer with peace and love vibes, complete with 36 fiberglass dove statues painted by local artists in '60s-inspired colors.

Just make sure to book a place to stay sooner rather than later, unless you want to relive the memories of many would-have-been-Woodstock-goers stuck on Route 17B, aka Woodstock Way.

2019 Music Festival Preview: Noise Pop, Ultra & More