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Pete Tong's Essential New Tune
Oxbow
Dense & Pika
BMG
out now
Comment
"For this week's Essential New Tune we are going to go a bit more underground with our selection for the end of January. This has blown me away over the last couple of days. I haven't been able to stop playing this in my studio. It comes from the duo of Alex Jones and Chris Spero. They actually did a mix for us at the end of last year, which was tremendous. The track is called Oxbow and its the final single of their debut full-length album, Colour Burn, which will be dropping on 26 February. This is Oxbow from Dense & Pika."
This week's featured Essential New Tune was featured in last week’s Friday show on BBC Radio 1. Listen again and forward to 35.31 here.
Contact
Label: Matt King, BMG
Management: Jeremy Ford, Keir Ferguson & Jono Sidwell, Bigfoot Music Management
Publishing: Jack Stanley, Minds On Fire
Radio: Jay Ahmed, Your Army
Club: Tom Currie, Your Army
Online: Grace McCracken & Emma Chambers, Acrylic Artists 
Live: Darren James-Thomas, fmly 
05 Feb 2021
Business
  • Jukebox agency announced expansion and brand changes. (RotD)
  • ICM Partners has hired former WME music agent Paul Gongaware. He previously worked with  Don Diablo, Timmy Trumpet, and Sam Feldt. (Billboard) 
  • In Q4 2020, Spotify added 11m paid users to reach 155m, and 14m ad-supported listeners. Q4 revenues improved 15.2% year-on-year to €2.17bn. (Spotify)
  • The $4bn takeover of StubHub by Viagogo has been partially blocked, after the UK competition regulator CMA demanded Viagogo sells StubHub’s businesses in the UK and outside North America.(BBC) 
  • Total revenue at Warner Music Group grew to $1.33bn in the three months to the end of December, up 6% from a year ago. Digital revenue grew 17.5% to $825m. Within recorded music, revenue rose 7.1% to $1.34bn. Digital revenue grew 15% to $727m and streaming revenue climbed 17.5%. Music publishing revenue was up 1.2% to $175m. Its digital revenue jumped 36% to $99m. Performance royalties declined 35% “primarily due to COVID-related business disruption”. (Billboard)
  • Sony’s music operations reported figures for the quarter ending 31 December. (Billboard) Recorded music, consisting of Sony Music Entertainment and Sony Music Japan, grew 17.5% on a dollar basis to $1.36bn. Music publishing grew 13.3% to $430.59m
  • Sony Music has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Kobalt Music Group’s independent distribution and label division AWAL, as well as its neighbouring rights business, for $430m. The pair will be a separate new division that will be connected to the Orchard, Sony’s indie distribution arm. (Billboard) 
News and Features
  • SOPHIE, the experimental pop musician, producer and DJ, has died aged 34 after falling from her roof at home in Athens. (BBC)
  • Festivals of a smaller scale could take place safely this summer with proper coronavirus measure in place, UK MPs have been told. (DJMag) 
  • SiriusXM has launched two new dance channels: A State of Armin, programmed by Armin van Buuren and Steve Aoki's Remix Radio. (Billboard) 
  • PRS for Music in the UK has announced a new provision to its small-scale Online Live Concert licence, meaning that if a member wants to perform an online ticketed live concert exclusively of their own works, where they will receive all the royalties due, they can obtain a licence at no cost to them. (RotD)
  • Spain’s tourism minister, Reyes Maroto, has insisted that the country will open up for holidaymakers in the spring – despite the prime minister, Pedro Sanchez, warning the frontiers could remain closed until autumn. (Independent) 
  • The Night Time Industries Association (NTIA) has warned that without further support from the government, 81% of clubs in the UK will not survive past the coming weeks. (Crack)
Digital
  • SoundCloud is to host its first livestreamed gaming tournament, that will stream via its Twitch channel and Facebook page. (Billboard) It will pit eight artists-turned-gamers against one another in a game of Fortnite.
  • Music distribution and record label services company Ditto has announced Opulous: a peer-to-peer platform to help increase artists’ access to capital without the need for traditional institutions such as banks. (RotD)
  • Digital distributor DistroKid is launching a new service called Upstream that will allow independent artists using the platform to share data with record labels in hopes of getting signed. (DistroKid)
  • Defected is launching six months of specially developed programmes for Twitch. (RotD)
  • Beatport announced Detroit DJ and artist Seth Troxler will be its February Artist in Residency on Twitch in honour of Black History Month. (beatportal) 
Live
  • Music festivals 2021: Which festivals are happening and when will they return. (Mixmag) 
  • Coachella festival in April has been canceled. (Billboard)
  • Florida’s SunFest cancels due to Covid-9 concerns among performers. (EDMTunes) 
  • New festival Lunar Beach is scheduled to take place in Vietnam from 12-15 February. (RA) 
  • Igloofest Montréal returns for 2021 with the virtual iteration of the winter festival. (DA) 
  • Hydeout: The Prelude has announced details of its immersive digital music experience, with the likes of Alison Wonderland, DJ Snake, Don Diablo, Martin Garrix and TOKiMONSTA announced to appear in the digital dimension. (DJMag) 
  • Holland's Awakenings Festival has been postponed until September 2021. (DJMag)
  • The Netherlands’ A State of Trance (ASOT) has sold all 55,000 tickets for this September’s festival in Utrecht on 3–4 September. (IQ) 
  • Live Nation is suing its insurance company, claiming the provider is refusing to honour the premium policy it sold the promoter despite language that communicable diseases like Covid-19 were covered. (Billboard)
Comment, Opinion and Analysis
  • Ditto's Opulous is built on the Algorand blockchain: Bringing decentralised finance to the music industry. (Algorand - Lee Parsons, CEO Opulous & Ditto)
  • Sony Music just spend $430m on indie label AWAL? The major hasn’t just bought a choosy DIY distributor: It’s bought a very clever Sorting Hat, able to algorithmically determine the potential of individual artists around the world." (RollingStone)
Tech
  • Studio Icons: Roland TR-808 (iDJ) 
  • Denon DJ SC6000 review: the CDJ’s first genuine alternative? (DJMag) 
  • DJ software giants Serato are hosting a month-long five-part series of streams on their Twitch channel, celebrating the history of Black music in America. (DJMag) 
  • Native Instruments has announced that Traktor is now compatible with macOS Big Sur. (DJMag) 
Clubs
  • New York club Nowadays has closed for the winter. (RA) 
Streams & Podcasts
  • DT729 – Redux Saints (DT) 
  • RA.765 Calibre (RA) 
  • Fact Mix 793: Byrell The Great (Fact) 
  • Magnetic Mix 134: Marc Brauner & Tender Games (Magnetic) 
  • Alexis in The Lab LDN (Mixmag)
Artist and Music Features
  • Label of the Month: Repopulate Mars. (beatportal) 
  • The 15 best bass music tracks of January 2021. (Magnetic) 
  • The 15 best house tracks of January 2021. (Magnetic) 
  • The 15 best techno tracks of January 2021. (Magnetic)  
  • The best tracks of the year 2021 so far January. (Mixmag) 
  • The best albums of the year 2021 so far January. (Mixmag) 
  • Recognise: Suzi Analogue (DJMag) 
  • The Sound of: Western Lore (DJMag) 
  • Renegade Riddims: Gully B (DT) 
  • Breaking Through: Anz (RA) 
  • EDM.com's Class of 2021 
  • Selections: EQ Why (DJMag) 
  • "Tripping revived me": Students are using LSD and magic mushrooms to get through lockdown. (Mixmag) 
  • NAMM 2021: Highlights from the virtual event. (Magnetic) 
  • The complete history of C&C Music Factory and early '90s house. (Ringer)  
  • Motor Bass: how car culture influences electronic music. (DJMag) 
  • Major EDM record label Monstercat has highlighted how non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, can be a successful new revenue stream for artists and the music industry, generating $180,000 in the first two minutes of an NFT collection release. (CoinTelegraph) 
  • Dean Muhsin from Electronic music PR agency Dispersion PR gives advice on how to market electronic music. [video] (Magnetic) 
  • "Experiment and develop": Korzi's soundsystem-inspired music accepts no limits. (Mixmag) 
  • Kamixlo wears his heart on his sleeve. (Mixmag) 
  • Jaymie Silk: “To say that art is apolitical is a lie” (beatportal) 
  • Saturday Night Session 044: Thomas Gold highlights the production journey and puts aspiring producers through bootcamp in upcoming reality show. (DA) 
  • Tchami talks about the creation of his Year Zero album, running around Paris with DJ Snake, Mercer & Malaa as teenagers, turntablism and inspiration from DJ Mehdi, running the Confessions label, future house, breaking into the US, and working with Lady Gaga. [video] (BackToBackwithWillyJoy) 
  • Madlib: "If I didn't do magic mushrooms, I’d probably just be doing hip hop” (Mixmag) 
  • Armin Van Buuren, Ruben De Ronde, and Ferry Corsten reflect on landmark A State Of Trance 1000 episode. (EDM.com) 
  • How the tables turn: are DJs real musicians? (Guardian) 
  • How do DJs survive a pandemic? We asked house legend John Digweed. (InsideHook) 
  • Annabel Ross continues her investigation into Derrick May's alleged sexual harassment and sexual assaults. (RA) 
  • Honour the birth of house music with 10 influential Black artists from Chicago. (EDM.com) 
  • SOPHIE's 13 best songs, productions & features. (Billboard) 
  • Listen to SOPHIE’s brightest musical moments. (TheFace) 
  • Remembering SOPHIE, the once-in-a-generation artist who changed pop music forever. (TheFortyFive) 
  • SOPHIE Transcended Everything. (Vulture) 
  • Vince Staples remembers SOPHIE: ‘She was never afraid’ (RollingStone) 
  • SOPHIE's triumphantly plastic music moulded a new world for trans people. (Guardian)
  • Remembering SOPHIE’s radical futurism. (Pitchfork) 
  • SOPHIE showed us the future. (Ringer) 
  • SOPHIE is gone, and it’s okay to cry. (RollingStone) 
  • SOPHIE: An icon who made music a more fearless place. (Mixmag) 
Artist News
  • WEISS and A-Trak flip Alicia Myers for soul house track, ‘Funk U’. (DA) 
  • Marshall Jefferson and Byron Stingily revive Ten City after a 25-year hiatus with new single 'Be Free'. (RA) 
  • Sofi Tukker remix Rodrigo y Gabriela and Pelé’s ‘Acredita No Véio (Listen To The Old Man)’. (DA) 
  • Ricardo Villalobos remixes Jimi Tenor & Freestyle Man on Studio Barnhus. (RA) 
  • Boys Noize drops anthem for high flying stocks and cryptocurrencies, 'Wen Moon'. (EDM.com) 
  • Porter Robinson unveils immersive ‘Look at the Sky’ audiovisual experience. (DA) 
  • deadmau5 shares tracklist for upcoming compilation 'We Are Friends Vol.10'. (EDM.com) 
  • MK and Raphaella debut new track 'Lies' in Jaguar F-Pace commercial. (DA) 
  • Black Coffee has teamed up with HyperionDev to gift scholarships to prospective coders. (EDM.com) 
  • REZZ and PVRIS release new single 'SACRIFICIAL'. (EDM.com) 
  • San Holo's new album, 'BB U OK?', is due on 21 May. (EDM.com) 
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