5 Things That Got Us Through 2022
We spent most of December fighting the urge to add to the cacophony of year-end lists, instead letting other publication’s lists speak for us. But since we’ve hit that point in the holidays when even the most buzz-worthy bit of culture are boring, we decided to drop our own selection of random bits and bob that we enjoyed last year — and will keep consuming in 2023.
1. The Pine Walk Collection
In April, the New York Times uncovered a treasure trove of disco and house mixtapes from the gay hideaway of Fire Island recorded from the early 70s up until the 1990s. With over 300 mixes uploaded so far, we’re still making our way through this immense collection. If Beyoncé and Drake gave the world a House Music 101 lesson in 2022, this was a graduate-level seminar.
2. Water & Music
With crypto winter starting to look like a decentralized ice age, it’s easy to forget that the excitement around Web3 wasn’t entirely speculative nonsense. That’s why Water & Music remained an essential resource in 2022, doing proper research and analysis on music NFTs, AI for artists and metaverse music initiatives. The Discord channel got a little heavy on the “GM” crowd, but the reports being generated by the DAO remain influential and informative.
3. Coachella 2022
The first major festival to cancel due to COVID in 2020 was one of the last to return (due to the vaccination timeline). But from Harry Style’s mainstage Friday night celebration to Fatboy Slim annihilating the Sahara Tent on Sunday evening, the world’s most-watched music event reminded us why live events really matter. Special shout out to the young man with the Patti Smith “Just Kids” book cover tattoo we met while watching Turnstile.
4. Moonage Daydream
If you didn’t catch this in IMAX last September, you missed out on one of the most inventive uses of surround sound in music film history. Still, even without 44 speakers kicking out 12,000 watts of audio, Brett Morgen’s fever dream of a film about the beloved Blackstar is worth watching at home for its mix of insightful biography and cinematic invention.
5. HÖR Berlin
Most mix series launched during COVID lockdowns haven’t been able to sustain once the world opened back up. Fortunately, webcasts from the tiled “bathroom” in Berlin have kept apace, tracing the city’s sonic evolution from techno, techno, house and techno to something more eclectic, if still mostly black-clad.
TAKEAWAYS
Salient statements from this week’s music news.
1. NEARLY $50M HAS NOW BEEN WITHDRAWN BY ARTISTS IN SONY MUSIC’S ARTIST FORWARD INITIATIVE
Heritage acts have begun collecting royalties on forgiven unrecouped advances while heritage and current artist take advantage of new advanced on projected revenue.
Takeaway: Qualifying artists and “participants” can use the Sony Music Artist Portal to request a withdrawal of all or part of their payable balance each month as soon as it becomes available using SME’s Cash Out feature, which was launched in 2020.
2. Finding Community, and Freedom, on the Virtual Dance Floor
Immersive online clubbing continues to grow, even after the pandemic has (mostly) passed.
Takeaway: Perhaps the biggest barrier to VRChat becoming more of a mainstream clubbing space is the limitations of V.R. hardware. The best headsets are still expensive, and many find them bulky and report experiencing headaches or nausea.
3. White House Officials Reportedly Push for TikTok ‘Forced Sale’ Amid Growing User-Data and Content Scrutiny
Governments and universities can kibosh the app on their own devices, but a total ban or forced sale seems unlikely.
Takeaway: In terms of the impact that a TikTok ban would have on the music industry, where the app plays a far-reaching role, experts have suggested that artists and listeners could ultimately pivot to extremely similar competitors such as Triller, YouTube Shorts, and Instagram Reels.
