Napalm Death Gig Cancelled Over Fears They Might Destroy Ancient Artifacts

This Friday night, Napalm Death was scheduled to perform a special gig at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London.  An artist has helped them create a special ceramic (well, clay) sound system which is designed to destroy itself by crumbling apart during its one-and-only gig.  

However, the folks at the V&A are a little worried that the volume might be a little extreme.  After concerns were raised about dangerous vibrations possibily knocking precious paintings off walls, toppling sculptures and ruining assorted ancient artifacts, the gig has been called off.

(Via Daily Swarm)

A 1985 Guess of What Michael Jackson Was Going to Look Like in 2000

Dangerous Minds located this from a 1985 edition of Ebony magazine.  They kinda got it wrong, didn't they? (Thanks to Rupinder for the link.)

Weekly Music Sales Report - 20 March 2012

I won't bury the big news:  Bowie still doesn't have an #1 album in America.  Shit.  

In Canada, year-to-date music sales are now down 3% compared to last year, but that's probably more due to the fact that there haven't been any super high-profile releases yet this year.  In fact, Q1 has been kind of quiet. Hopefully things will pick up.

And yes, digital album sales are ahead by 22% and digital tracks are up 10%, but that isn't enough to counteract the 17% drop in CD sales from 2012.  

For a while, it looked like David Bowie's The Next Day was going to challenge Bon Jovi's What About Now for the top spot, but when all the Jovi-lovin' MILFs hit the stores on the weekend, the Jersey boys pulled ahead to finish at #1.  What About Now sold 17,000 units, compared to 14,000 for Bowie.  Still, this is Bowie's best first-week showing on the Canadian charts in the Soundscar era.  That counts for something.

In third spot is the Sound City - Real to Reel soundtrack--Dave Grohl's project--with first-week sales of 6,000 copies.

Canada's biggest download is still "Stay" from Rihanna with sales of 30,000 copies.

In the US, year-to-date sales are now down 7% caused by a 18% fall in physical CD sales and a drop of 3% in digital track sales.  Only digital albums are up, and even then by only 9%.

It's a win for the MILFs in America, too, with Bon Jovi debuting at #1 with 96,000 units.  Bowie comes second with 85,000 copies. Dave Grohl's soundtrack bows at #8.

Macklemore and Ryan Lewis are still the top download with "Thrift Shop" with 270,000 sold.  This is the tenth week in a row that the track has been at #1.

The biggest streaming track in America--a stat not yet released in Canada--is also "Thrift Shop" with 907,962 listens.

All figures courtesy Nielsen Soundscan.

The Lamb of God Retreat (Yes, THAT Lamb of God)

Normally, the notion of a "Lamb of God retreat" would conjure up visions of a very austere weekend with a bunch of hard prayin' Jesuits who insist that you take a vow of silence.  Not this time.  In fact, this is just the opposite.

This summer, the Full Moon Resort in New York state will be the site of the first-ever LoG retreat featuring the just-aquitted Randy Blythe and his bandmates.  From the website:

The weeklong retreat, which is limited to 170 fans, will feature activities aimed at musicians and non-musicians alike. The curriculum for the retreat was created by the band and will include guitar and drum clinics with Willie Adler, Mark Morton and Chris Adler; group instrument lessons; songwriting sessions and competitions; nightly jam sessions and band Q&A sessions.

Click to read more ...

An Idea Conference for Radio People

Radio has been around for more than a hundred years, resulting in some pretty entrenched notions about what radio is, what it should do and what it shouldn't.  But with technology moving at warp speed, it's important that radio people keep with the times and continue to innovate along with the rest of the world.

That's why I think the new Hivio Festival is such a good idea.  Bill as a "festival of ideas," its goal to get some of the smartest people in the industry together in a room in San Diego to hash out where things need to go--ways to transform and disrupt the status quo for the better.

Consultant Mark Ramsey has his take here.  Learn more about the conference itself here.