Christmas break news 2024

30 December 2024 - Press release

Record of the Day's daily email will return on 6 January.
This page will be updated daily with news and features.

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BUSINESS

Senior Spotify executives and board members have sold $1.25bn worth of the company’s stock in 2024. (FT) Daniel Ek has sold nearly $350m worth, co-founder Martin Lorentzon over $550m.
Just before Christmas, Daniel Ek sold a further $27.7m worth of stock. (Spotify)

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NEWS
Drake claims Spotify helped UMG boost Kendrick Lamar's 'Not Like Us', but Spotify now says the action is a "subversion" of the legal system and never should have been filed. (Billboard, MusicAlly)

Universal Music Group and Amazon Music announced an expanded global relationship that will "enable further innovation, exclusive content with UMG artists, and advancement of artist-centric principles including increased fraud protection". (RotD)

Police are investigating after the PPL discovered what sources have described as potentially fraudulent artist accounts and royalty claims. (DMN)

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DIGITAL

Why Tidal is focusing on building new DJ tools and content in 2025. (MusicTech)

Spotify responds to Drake’s claims that it “artificially inflated” Kendrick Lamar’s ‘Not Like Us’ streaming numbers. (NME)

Is Amazon Music joining Spotify in implementing a 1,000-stream royalties minimum? (DMN)

So long, Kingship — Bored Ape ‘supergroup’ deletes social handles, YouTube channel, and website as NFT fallout continues. (DMN)

Anthropic is doubling down on its opposition to a preliminary injunction push from major music publishers, which say the AI giant’s Claude chatbot has infringed on their protected works. (DMN) 

Spotify shuts down ‘Unwrapped’ artist royalty calculator with legal threats. (DMN)

Donald Trump urges Supreme Court to pause TikTok ban decision until after Inauguration. (VanityFair)

 

 

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COMMENT
James Masterton's Chart Watch - w/e 26/12/24 (JM)

James Masterton's Chart Watch - w/e 2/1/25 (JM)

2024 set a new high for use of old tracks on British TikTok posts, with tunes more than five years old accounting for 19 out of its 50 top tracks this year. (Guardian) Globally, 20 out of the top 50 tracks worldwide came from back catalogues.

 

Britain still has that spirit of creativity and musical invention, although its economic future is less clear than in the early 1960s. (FT - John Gapper) 

Ultimate 2024 songstress rich list revealed. (Sun)

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MEDIA

Zoe Ball thanks Radio 2 listeners for ‘special intimate relationship’ and signs off with message of female empowerment. (Guardian) Richie Anderson has also confirmed he will be leaving, as he moves to afternoons on Radio 2. (Sun)

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FEATURES

Why 2024’s pop was all about sharing the moment (Guardian - Alexis Petridis)

The Top 50 albums of 2024 (Sun) David Gilmour's 'Luck and Strange' tops the list.

Secrets of the best Christmas hits — by the stars who wrote them. (Times - Blanca Schofield)

Mud’s Rob Davis on Keir Starmer, Kylie and the legacy of Lonely This Christmas. (Telegraph - James Hall) 

How Spotify and Apple killed the Christmas Number One. (Telegraph - James Hall) 

Phil Collins’s physical decline has never been a secret. But a new documentary on his struggles makes for sobering viewing. (Telegraph - Neil McCormick) 

How the Oasis reunion tour is fuelling a comeback for the Britpop look. (Observer - Lauren Cochrane)

From Beyoncé awards snub to Brat summer: This year's biggest cultural moments. (BBC) 

Singer Alex Kapranos: 'Fatherhood's like the early days of Franz Ferdinand'. (BBC - Jonathan Geddes)

Will Slowthai be 'cancelled for the rest of time'? (BBC - Ethan Gudge)

 

'It's bragging without the selfie' - The rise of Spotify Wrapped and its copycats. (BBC - Grace Dean and George Sandeman)

TikTok is awash with would-be rock stars paying homage to the Beatles in their viral videos. (Times) 

 

The Worst Songs of 2024. (Variety)

New music for 2025 (Guardian)

Inside the making of Bob Dylan film A Complete Unknown. (Guardian - Alexis Petridis)

My family call it Old Lady Clubbing, but my giddy ‘nights out’ have lit up a dismal 2024. (Guardian - Gaby Hinsliff)

The precipitous decline of UK nightclubs. (Guardian - Rob Davies)

Manchester-raised entertainment mogul Michael Adex is an ambassador for a scheme helping businesses in creative industries succeed. (Guardian - Chris Osuh)

Es Devlin: I didn’t fall out with Adele over her Las Vegas show. (Times - Richard Morrison)

The title of Charli XCX’s hit album heralded the return of recession pop and a new vibe for Gen Z (FT - Srinidhi Balakrishnan)

In the same way that the Boss became the poet of the working man, Taylor Swift’s secret is her ability to read the mind of the modern woman. (Telegraph - Neil McCormick)

How Co-op Live bounced back from chaotic launch. (Guardian - Hannah Al-Othman)

How Jay-Z’s bombshell rape case has cast a shadow over Beyonce’s bid to make lookalike daughter Blue Ivy a superstar. (Sun)

Better Man: How the film turned Robbie Williams into a chimp. (SundayTimes - Emily Prescott)

What music stars were really listening to in 2024. (Guardian - Michael Cragg)

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SHOWBIZ & NEWS

Richard Parsons, Ex-Time Warner CEO Who Orchestrated Sale of Warner Music, Dies at 76. (Billboard)

Richard Perry, the music producer who worked with the Beatles and Rod Stewart, has died at the age of 82. (Sun) 

DJ Alfredo, who had a significant influence on Ibiza becoming a global centre for dance music culture, has died aged 71. (Guardian)

The Robbie Williams song 'Forbidden Road' from Better Man, shortlisted earlier this week for best original song at the Oscars, has been disqualified, as it “incorporates material from an existing song that was not written for the film”. (Variety)

Chic lead singer Alfa Anderson has died aged 78. (Sun) She featured on the hits ‘Good Times’ and ‘Le Freak’.

Court hears Digga D supplied cannabis to entourage. (BBC)

City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra hopes to attract new audiences with the likes of Lady Leshurr and Big Dog Yogo — after relaxing its rules on the filming of performances on phones. (Times)

Dua Lipa and actore Callum Turner are reportedly engaged. (Mail)

R&B singer and songwriter Muni Long claimed that a high-ranking executive at Atlantic Records requested she write soul music for non-Black artists, an offer she immediately declined. (Vibe)

Universal Music doubles down on Limp Bizkit suit dismissal push, says the ‘agreements expressly allow the cross-account recoupments’. (DMN)

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REVIEWS

Film
Better Man — Robbie Williams (Times- 1* Kevin Mahar, Telegraph - 4* Robbie Collin, FT - 4* Danny Leigh, Mail - 4* Brian Viner, Guardian - 3* Peter Bradshaw)

Live
Paul McCartney - O2 arena, London (Observer - 4* Kitty Empire)

Beyonce - NFL Christmas Gameday (Guardian - 4* Ben Beaumont-Thomas, Telegraph - 4* Ed Power)

 

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INTERNATIONAL

Prince (posthumously), The Clash, Frankie Valli, Frankie Beverly (posthumously), Dr Bobby Jones, Taj Mahal and Roxanne Shante are to receive lifetime achievement awards from the Recording Academy on 1 February. (Billboard)