• 5 Live Albums Recorded to No Audience: Pink Floyd, Bjork and More Feel for Baltimore Orioles

    The unfortunate riots in Baltimore have led to a bizarre situation at Camden Yards in Baltimore, where the hometown Orioles have been playing the Chicago White Sox in an empty stadium due to the situation outside. It's clearly had an impact on some of the players...White Sox starter Jeff Samardzija was rocked for six runs in the first inning today, perhaps nervous because the whole world wasn't watching him. It made us baseball fans at Music Times if similar things have ever happened in the music world? Not quite, but we did find a number of "live" albums that were recorded with no actual audience in attendance. Check out a few examples, from Pink Floyd to Björk.
  • Kendrick Lamar Talks Hidden 'To Pimp A Butterfly' CD Surprise, Tupac, The American Dream, His Generation's Future & More

    Kendrick Lamar released his second major label effort, To Pimp A Butterfly, last month and has since dropped the video for the song "King Kunta." The Compton rapper has given a number of interviews about the project, but there are still many questions that fans want to know the answers to. After interviews with The Breakfast Club, MTV, and Hot 97, K. Dot sat down with Mass Appeal for their 56th issue to talk about the meaning behind the album title and cover, his thoughts on the American dream, the black community, gang violence, the future of his generation, the process of creating the album, his thoughts on Tupac's message, the stories behind particular songs, the possibility of a rebellion and much more. Here's what we learned:
  • Towkio Releases 'Wav Theory Mixtape' Featuring Chance The Rapper, Vic Mensa [LISTEN]

    Chicago rapper Towkio has released his full mixtape .Wav Theory after sharing several very well received singles from the project over the past few months. A Chicago affair, the mixtape features a whole host of fellow Windy City artists including Chance The Rapper, fellow SAVEMONEY and new Roc Nation signee Vic Mensa and Donnie Trumpet. It reaches outside of the city for production from Kaytranada and even out of the country for Norwegian Lido on "Heaven Only Knows."
  • Yahoo Officially Announces Simon Cowell 'Ultimate DJ' Competition: Renews 365-Day Concert Program

    Yahoo is plotting major moves for the music industry. The tech giant announced at a presentation for advertisers this week that they will officially be going ahead with the Simon Cowell-led "Ultimate DJ" talent competition to find the next big DJ. It has also doubled down on its 365-day live-stream concert series with Live Nation. The digital content unveiling did not stop there as Yahoo expanded its partnership with iHeartMedia for live events and renewed its Live Nation deal that includes five festivals.
  • Alabama Shakes and 'Sound & Color' Becomes First Independent Release Atop Billboard 200 during 2015

    Alabama Shakes and 'Sound & Color' brought an air of independence to the Billboard 200 this week, as the album became the first independent label (ATO) release to top the charts during 2015. It was easily the band's bestselling week ever, moving 96,000 equivalent copies during its first week. Yet it seemed almost inevitable: The band got to no. 6 with its previous release, 'Boys & Girls', but nearly a year after it debuted. Listeners caught on to the band just a hair too late, and made up for it this time around.
  • Live Nation Buys "Controlling Interest" In Bonnaroo Festival

    With the recent string of consolidation taking place in the United States live event space over the past few years; the list of independent promoters has dwindled to a smaller and smaller number. Bonnaroo has remained one of the largest independent festivals in the United States for the past 14 years - until yesterday when it was announced that Live Nation had taken a "controlling interest" in the festival via a partnership with promoters Superfly and AC Entertainment.
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