Christmas 2022 - News from the break

30 December 2022 - Press release

RotD's daily email returns on 3 January. 
Below is the key news and features covering 20 December-2 January.

————————————————————————
NEWS

BBC Radio 1's Sound Of 2023: 5th place - Gabriels (BBC)

New Year's Honours:
Sir Robin Millar CBE - Founder and Group Chair, Blue Raincoat Chrysalis Group. Knighthood for services to Music, to People with Disabilities, to Young People and to Charity.
Peter Leathem, PPL CEO, awarded OBE for services to the Music Industry. (RotD)
Geoff Taylor awarded MBE for services to Music and YolanDa Brown OBE DL for services to Music, Music Education and to Broadcasting. (RotD)
Janet Kay, actor and singer of 1979 hit Silly Games, awarded MBE.
Arit Eminue, founder and director, DiVA Apprenticeships, awarded MBE for services to Further Education in the creative industries. Eminue is on the BPI Equity and Justice Advisory Group.
DJ Spoony (Jonathan Joseph) awarded BEM for services to charities through music during Covid-19.
Queen guitarist Brian May has been knighted. (BBC)

The Met has applied for a summary review of the premises licence for the Brixton O2 Academy after two people died when they were crushed at a gig. (BBC, Guardian)
A second person has died following the crush at Brixton Academy last week. (RollingStone) Gabrielle Hutchinson, 23, was working as a contracted security provider.

UK rail strikes led to clubs and venues seeing a 50% downturn in trade over the busiest weekend of the year (16-17 December), according to data from the Night Time Industries Association (NTIA). (TTB)

————————————————————————
DIGITAL

Muso.AI announced ENCORE 2022 — designed to bring together disparate music credits into an dynamically-updating accolade. It allows behind-the-scenes artists to showcase their career achievements across streaming and social platforms. (DMN)

————————————————————————
COMMENT & ANALYSIS

Every song with over 1bn Spotify streams visualised. (VC) 

The proposed change to UK copyright legislation could that have a serious impact on UK Music creators and businesses' rights and royalties. (UKMusic - CEO, Jamie Njoku-Goodwin) 

Half of Britons have been priced out of attending live music events in recent years. (YouGov)

UK artists born outside the capital were responsible for 77% of British chart-topping albums in 2022. (Times)

Revenue from CD sales in Britain in 2022 is expected to be below that of vinyl LPs by as much as £20m. It would be the first time this has happened since 1987. (Times, Mail, Guardian) Cassette sales are also expected to continue their mini-revival by beating the 185,000 sales last year. Taylor Swift's 'Midnights' album is the biggest-selling vinyl record of the century in the UK.

————————————————————————
DEALS

Justin Bieber is reportedly in negotiations with Blackstone-backed Hipgnosis Songs Capital to sell his publishing and recorded music catalogue for nearly $200m. (Mail)

————————————————————————
MEDIA

Nile Rodgers has partnered with Samsung to create a documentary series, Make It With Nile, hosting conversations with modern artists who made it in the music industry with nothing but their phones. (MediaEye) 

————————————————————————
FEATURES

2022 Reflections: The cost of gigging crisis. (RA)

42 years after the suicide of his bandmate Ian Curtis, Stephen Morris says men must never be afraid to talk about emotions. (Times - Jonathan Dean)

Terry Hall took private agony and turned it into the pinnacle of British protest music. (Telegraph - Neil McCormick)

How The Specials’ Ghost Town became the anthem of ‘a country falling apart’. (Telegraph - Tina Edwards) 

In a country beset by riots and recession, Terry Hall gave us hope. (Times - Will Hodgkinson)

Terry Hall was the self-assured eye of the Specials storm. (Guardian - Alexis Petridis)

As another person dies and one more is left fighting for their life, an investigation into the horror at Brixton Academy. (Mail - Guy Adams)

Brixton Academy crush: how fake tickets and rumours led to tragedy. (Times)

Brit Beat: The top 10 UK music industry stories of 2022. (Variety - Mark Sutherland)

In her annual Christmas message, Kate Bush calls for end of war in Ukraine and voices support for striking NHS nurses. (Guardian)

Bob Dylan is wrong: pop singers today can still write standards. (Times - Will Hodgkinson)

Savan Kotecha: Ariana Grande, 1D and The Weeknd songwriter reveals his secrets. (BBC - Manish Pandey)

The most exciting British music is happening away from the charts. (Vice - Emma Garland) 

The 50 best albums of 2022. (Kerrang)

Best pop albums of 2022 (FT - Ludovic Hunter-Tilney) 

Best world and folk music albums of 2022 (FT - David Honigmann)

The best tracks of 2022. (RA)

We may resent showbiz nepotism but, says Lily Allen, it’s worse that it occurs in politics and banking. Does she have a point? (Times)

She’s the music phenomenon on countless first, biggest, fastest lists, and 2022 has been the zenith of Taylor Swift's career. (Mail - Sylvia Patterson) 

Bob Dylan was right to praise Arctic Monkeys. (Times - Tom Ball) 

How Dean Martin is being relaunched for the Instagram generation. (Times) Iconic Artists Group has begun a partnership with Martin’s estate, aiming to bring him in front of fans.

It's going to be a bumper year for live music. (Mail - Adrian Thrills)

Mary McCartney talks about creating a documentary on Abbey Road Studios, featuring Pink Floyd, Elton John, and her father’s memories of the Beatles recording there. (Times - Will Hodgkinson)

Ukrainian hardcore, Nigerian alté and Red Bull-soaked bloghouse: 2023’s most promising musical newcomers. (Guardian)

Stefflon Don: ‘That’s what it is to be an artist – you’ve always gotta evolve’. (Guardian - Christine Ochefu) 

Reader interview: Chuck D: ‘Bringing rap to the UK was our British invasion’. (Guardian)

The 50 best albums of 2022. (Guardian) Renaissance by Beyoncé topped the list.

My new year resolution: ‘I want to get off WhatsApp and call my friends instead’. (Guardian - Annie Macmanus)

Melanie Chisholm talks about her dance debut at Sadler’s Wells, her depression and her hopes that the Spice Girls will play Glastonbury. (Times - Debra Craine)

Fame & fortune: John Oates, Hall & Oates (Telegraph)

Maxi Jazz: the calm eye in the centre of Faithless’s rave storm. (Guardian - Gabriel Szatan)

Obituary: Terry Hall (Guardian, FT, Telegraph, Times)

Obituary: Maxi Jazz - Frontman of Faithless whose thoughtful, life-affirming lyrics were in contrast to the usual hedonistic banalities of dance music. (Times)

Obituary: Anita Pointer - Singer with the Pointer Sisters. (Guardian)

————————————————————————
SHOWBIZ

Terry Hall: lead singer of the Specials dies aged 63. (BBC, Guardian)

Terry Hall kept pancreatic cancer diagnosis secret. (Times) 

Martin Duffy, who played keyboards for Primal Scream and Felt, has died aged 55. (Guardian)

Iain Templeton, drummer with Shack, has died. (LTW)

Thom Bell, the Sound of Philadelphia producer, has died aged 79. (Inquirer) 

Shirley Watts, wife of Rolling Stones drummer Charlie, dies at 84. (Variety)

The promoter behind Azealia Banks’s chaotic Australian tour has slammed her as the most “disgraceful” client they’ve ever worked with. (Guardian)

Bob Dylan admits Coronation Street is among his favourite TV shows (Mail, Guardian, Times)

Dolly Parton has buried a secret unreleased song in a time capsule that will be opened only in 2045. (Times)

Rex Orange County has had sex assault charges against him dropped, shortly before he was due to stand trial. (BBC)

Former Columbia Music UK president Ferdy Unger-Hamilton is dating Motherland star Anna Maxwell Martin. (Mail)

Morrissey posted on his site: “Morrissey has voluntarily parted company with Maverick/Quest management. Morrissey has also voluntarily withdrawn from any association with Capitol Records (Los Angeles).” (Times) Also, “Miley Cyrus now wants to be taken off the song I Am Veronica for which she volunteered backing vocals almost two years ago.”

Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler is facing a lawsuit by a woman who claims he sexually assaulted her as a minor during a years-long relationship in the 1970s. (Guardian)

A British juror at the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest has told Björn Ulvaeus that Abba won with the least points of any winner ever. (Times) Björn said Abba gave the copyright of the song Chiquitita to Unicef. (BBC)

Dua Lipa is building a sprawling multimillion-dollar mansion in Sarande, Albania, where her family has roots. (PageSix)

Foo Fighters say they will continue as a “different band going forward” following the death of drummer Taylor Hawkins. (HR)

————————————————————————

REVIEWS
Albums
Say She She (Guardian - 5* Alexis Petridis)

Adrian Sherwood (FT - 4* Ludovic Hunter-Tilney)

Live 
Celeste - Westminster Central Hall, London (Telegraph - 4* Neil McCormick)

————————————————————————
BIGGER PICTURE

Elon Musk: Twitter users vote in favour of boss resigning. (BBC) 
Elon Musk to quit as Twitter CEO when replacement found. (BBC)

Tom Watson used his maiden speech in the House of Lords to formally apologise for his role in promoting false claims of child sex abuse. (Times, Mail) In March 2020, Watson was appointed chair of UK Music.