From surprise albums by Beyonce and Drake to YouTube’s take on Spotify Wrapped, we’ve gathered all the music news you need to know.
Three weeks into June, and life has yet to disappoint. As the temperatures continue to rise and more artists hit the road with summer sunsets on their minds, something about the season feels shockingly normal. As long as you don’t look at the news or spend too much time on social media, there is plenty to love about life at the moment. We have great music, new opportunities, and another day to chase our dreams. What more could you want?
We cannot ease your workload or give you more hours in the day, but we can help you stay informed. Below you’ll find the biggest stories of the week, all covered by the best outlets in tech and entertainment. Click around, learn what’s happening, and use the weekend to prepare for the end of the month.
But let’s be honest. There is no way we can hope to cover everything that happens. If you see a headline we missed that people need to know, please do not hesitate to send james@haulix.com an email. We’ll include your links in the next update.
THE BIGGEST MUSIC NEWS OF THE WEEK
Drake Drops Surprise Seventh Album, ‘Honestly, Nevermind’
Drake surprised followers Thursday with news that new music was coming and so it did.
“Honestly, Nevermind” dropped at midnight and has begun its race up the charts.
The album features Drake mostly singing instead of rapping.
“I let my humbleness turn to numbness at times letting time go by knowing I got the endurance to catch it another time,” he wrote in an editor’s note on his Apple Music artist page. “I work with every breath in my body cause it’s the work not air that makes me feel alive.”
YouTube Music Unveils Season Recap Playlists to Compete with Spotify Wrapped
YouTube Music has launched a new feature called seasonal recaps, a culmination of your top artists, songs, albums and playlists. “Spring Recap” will be the first recap that users can try. This acts as an expansion of its 2021 Recap experience introduced last year.
According to the company, it received positive feedback after rolling out its annual recap the previous year, wrote YouTube Product Manager Ayshaw Khan in a blog post. The recap, inspired by Spotify Wrapped, had offered users a look back at their year on the app. Now, YouTube is taking the concept further with seasonal rundowns.
“Similar to the 2021 Recap, you’ll find your personalized content in the Spring Recap landing page on the YouTube Music app along with your personalized Spring Recap playlist,” Khan wrote. “Want to tell your friends about your favorite songs of the Spring? Easily share your Spring Recap playlist and stats by simply tapping the arrow at the bottom of your stats card.”
Songclip, the world’s only patented music clip company, today announced a strategic partnership with The National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA), the trade association representing all American music publishers and their songwriting partners. The partnership aims to facilitate music licensing and compliance within the global app marketplace.
During the NMPA’s Annual Meeting at New York’s Lincoln Center on June 15, 2022, NMPA President & CEO David Israelite outlined the NMPA’s app initiative to cease and desist applications who provide unlicensed music to their users and an enforcement plan of action to combat music infringement within the global app marketplace. Israelite also announced that Songclip will be a strategic partner of NMPA to facilitate licensing across the app marketplace.
Songclip works in partnership with the major labels, publishers and more than 7,500 independent licensing entities to provide a streamlined solution for licensing and integrating music “as a feature” within consumer applications. The Songclip API seamlessly integrates into any app, manages and facilitates search, catalog & compliance, licensing, royalty payments and reporting.
“We are excited to partner with Songclip in our effort to ensure applications use music legally and responsibly,” says NMPA President and CEO, David Israelite.
Beyoncé announces new album ‘Renaissance’
Beyoncé is back.
Beyoncé Knowles-Carter has announced a new album, titled Renaissance, out July 29 according to a new listing for a Renaissance CD and products on her website. Several streaming services, including TIDAL and Spotify, also announced the forthcoming Beyoncé release on social media. No further details about the new album have been released.
Rumors of a new 2022 release first started to spread online June 9 after Beyoncé removed her profile pictures across all of her social media pages, with her highly organized fanbase the Beyhive theorizing the avatars signaled new material on the horizon.
Spotify Will Reduce Hiring By 25%
Spotify is reducing its new hiring by 25 percent as recession fears mount, according to an internal memo obtained by Bloomberg. It is unclear which parts of the business will be most affected.
Spotify is far from the only tech company to reevaluate its staffing as the stock market tumbles. Twitter and Meta each announced some degree of hiring freeze last month, and Netflix made headlines in April for its layoffs, particularly at in-house fan site Tudum.
During Spotify’s investor presentation last week, CEO Daniel Ek emphasized the company’s growth not only in subscriptions but in verticals beyond music like podcasting and, soon, audiobooks. But chief financial officer Paul Vogel did hint at the event that staffing could be affected by economic conditions.
