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GRAMMYs

Alicia Keys 

Photo: NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images via Getty Images

News
Alicia Keys To Premiere “Good Job” Music Video alicia-keys-premiere-visual-new-track-%E2%80%9Cgood-job%E2%80%9D-cnn-town-hall

Alicia Keys Premieres Visual For New Track “Good Job” On CNN Town Hall

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The visual premiered during CNN’s Global Town Hall Thursday, April 23
Onaje McDowelle
GRAMMYs
Apr 23, 2020 - 4:49 pm

Global R&B superstar and 15-time GRAMMY-winning artist Alicia Keys has partnered with CNN for the visual premiere of her new single “Good Job.” Watch the video below.

Keys globally premiered the video during CNN’s special live Global Town Hall Thursday (April 23). The Town Hall addressed “the latest questions and concerns in the fight against COVID-19." Anderson Cooper and Dr. Sanjay Gupta hosted.

According to a statement, “Good Job” was originally recorded last year for Keys’ forthcoming seventh studio album ALICIA and is now being dedicated to “people spanning all walks of life during the COVID-19 crisis.”

In a statement regarding the song, Keys said "Whether you’re on the frontlines at the hospitals, balancing work, family and homeschool teaching, delivering mail, packages, or food, or facing other personal difficulties because of COVID-19, I feel you. You are seen, loved and deeply appreciated."

The track was co-written by Keys’ husband and GRAMMY-winning producer Swizz Beatz, four-time GRAMMY winner The-Dream and Avery Chambliss. Following the song’s video premiere, it will also appear in an upcoming CNN Heroes campaign.

Released via RCA Records, “Good Job” is now available on all streaming platforms.

Alicia Keys Partners With Amazon Music And She Is The Music To Raise Donations For MusiCares' COVID-19 Relief Fund

GRAMMYs

Katy Perry

Photo: Getty Images/Getty Images

News
"In The House": Katy Perry, John Legend + More houseparty%E2%80%99s-house-katy-perry-john-legend-alicia-keys-more

Houseparty’s "In The House": Katy Perry, John Legend, Alicia Keys + More

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The three-day livestream event taking place this weekend (May 15-17) will allow users to view performances and segments while chatting with friends in realtime
Onaje McDowelle
GRAMMYs
May 14, 2020 - 1:46 pm

Houseparty, the face-to-face social video app, is bringing a star-studded lineup of performances, workouts and cooking lessons to its users, including appearances by Katy Perry, John Legend, Snoop Dogg, Alicia Keys and more than 40 other celebrities. The event, "In The House," will take place over the course of three days, beginning this weekend on Friday, May 15 and running through Sunday, May 17.

https://twitter.com/houseparty/status/1260009608971722753

Houseparty is throwing a BIG in-app event featuring all your favorite stars and celebrities on May 15th through the 17th. @aliciakeys, @DojaCat, @sanbenito, @DaBabyDaBaby are #InTheHouse and performing, only on Houseparty!

See the full lineup at https://t.co/n020RNpHfg pic.twitter.com/WHkpFfoEcn

— Houseparty (@houseparty) May 12, 2020

Per Rolling Stone, the event’s programming will see a live performance of Perry’s unreleased track “Daisies,” slated to be released on Friday, May 15, in addition to sets by Legend, Chvrches and others. The program will also feature special cooking lessons on unique recipes provided by Snoop Dogg, 2 Chainz and Zooey Deschanel. Alicia Keys will also host a karaoke session and lead a 30 minute at-home workout. The full lineup and event schedule are available here.

Read More: How To Use Music Techniques To Prepare Healthy Food

The three-day event will allow those who tune in to enjoy free performances from the comfort of their homes, and they’ll be able to chat and interact with friends via the app all in real time. In a statement to Variety discussing the program, Houseparty CEO and co-founder Sima Sistani said “We are bringing back appointment viewing… to capture that feeling of sitting on the couch for that special show with your family or friends on a Friday night.”

Houseparty is available to download for free on iOS and Android devices, as well as online where users can tune in to stream the live event. Each segment will air again 12 hours following its original stream for those who may have missed the original broadcasts.

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John Legend Performs “Nothing Compares 2 U”

Janelle Monaé at the 60th GRAMMY Awards in 2018

Janelle Monaé 

Photo: Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images

News
Pay It Forward: Stream Janelle Monáe's Performance janelle-mon%C3%A1e-headline-verizon%E2%80%99s-pay-it-forward-livestream

Janelle Monáe To Headline Verizon’s "Pay It Forward" Livestream

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The at-home concert will happen at 8 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time via Verizon social channels and SiriusXM
Onaje McDowelle
GRAMMYs
Apr 30, 2020 - 2:45 pm

Taking place tonight, eight-time GRAMMY-nominated artist Janelle Monáe is set to perform on Verizon’s "Pay It Forward Live" streaming event. The series of livestreamed performances, presented by Verizon to support small businesses nationwide that have been impacted by COVID-19, has previously featured at-home sets from the likes of Dave Matthews and Billie Eilish and her brother, Finneas.

https://twitter.com/JanelleMonae/status/1255515239359053827

TOMORROW I’m performing on Verizon’s #PayItFowardLIVE to help support small businesses in need. Make sure you tune in Thurs. 4/30 at 8 PM ET/5 PM PT on @Verizon. See you in the future-jM pic.twitter.com/fDXCHjHBio

— Janelle Monáe, Cindi Mayweather👽🚆🤖🚀🪐 (@JanelleMonae) April 29, 2020

Fans will be able to catch the live performance in the comfort of their homes, beginning at 8 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time on Verizon’s social-media channels. Alternatively, the event stream will also be available on SiriusXM and iHeartRadio.

In a statement regarding the event and its proceeds, Monáe said, "We need to make sure we are surrounding all small businesses – especially black and LGBTQ owned – with support and love so that they can open their doors again one day soon."

For each use of the hashtag #PayItForwardLive during the event, Verizon will donate $10, up to a maximum of $2.5 million to small businesses.

You can find out more information about tuning in to the livestream and the COVID-19 relief efforts that it will support by visiting the Pay It Forward Live site.

Watchlist: Online Concerts From J Balvin To Luke Combs To Catch During Coronavirus Quarantine

GRAMMYs

Photo: Getty Images

News
Indie Publicists Persist Through COVID-19 Pandemic independent-publicists-persist-through-coronavirus-impact-music-industry

Independent Publicists Persist Through The Coronavirus Impact On The Music Industry

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A part of the greater fabric that helps the music industry run, indie publicists are re-strategizing their approach while facing financial hardships during this unprecedented COVID-19 "new normal"
Jennifer Velez
GRAMMYs
Mar 27, 2020 - 3:43 pm

On the morning of March 16, Loren Medina sent an email very different from the kind she's used to sending. The Los Angeles-based publicist behind Jessie Reyez and Kali Uchis wasn’t running business as usual. She wasn’t sending a new single or album press release announcement. Instead, she found herself sending out a plea to the music industry.

"Dear colleagues and media partners, it is our duty to find creative solutions to keep our industry afloat," she began."With lockdowns enforced and more travel restrictions soon to come, we must not let the current situation paralyze us and/or allow the virus to take up all the space in the media."

By now, there is no doubt the music industry will come out of the coronavirus pandemic as one of the hardest-hit fields worldwide. Live music is gone: Tours and concerts, which serve as both a space for music discovery and the primary source of income for artists, have been universally canceled or postponed. Already, the loss of live music events alone could potentially be in the billions in the U.S.

GRAMMYs

Loren Medina

Other areas have not gone unscathed. Although Medina says her clients are not pausing their record releases, other artists, including Lady Gaga, Haim and Kehlani, have postponed or rescheduled major projects, citing the coronavirus as the reason. Elsewhere, Amazon is prioritizing deliveries of essential goods and has stopped CD and vinyl orders for the time being, a move that could ultimately hurt smaller labels the most. Across the pond, musicians in the U.K. have so far lost 13.9 million pounds (+$17 million) in estimated earnings, according to the Guardian.

Medina’s home has become a type of ground zero. She now works remotely, just like the possibly millions of other people across the U.S. under the government's direction to stay home in an attempt to flatten the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic curve in the county, which now faces upwards of 86,000 cases. At her newfound home base, she assesses how to move forward day-by-day as the music industry faces such an unprecedented time.

A part of the greater fabric that helps the music industry run, Medina, who owns Guerrera PR, Marketing & Management and also represents acts like Omar Apollo and Cuco, among other artists, has been forced to re-strategize. Other publicists, tour managers, festival organizers and countless more in the music industry ecosystem are on the same boat. The new reality consists of social distancing and quarantining, a scenario that creates a challenge for parts of the modern music industry to function. Beyond it all, the virus is stripping music of its magic; no longer can people from all over the world come together in one place to enjoy it.

Independent publicists and smaller PR agencies now face their own unique challenges. Many run on project-based work focused on touring and album campaigns. With artists now canceling tours and rethinking album releases, the music publicity sector now faces a potential, and significant, loss in income—if not now, then in the future. On top of that, there is no option of severance for many publicists if they lose their jobs or clients.

While Medina isn’t experiencing a loss of work now, because she works on project-based campaigns, future clients might be at stake as some artists are holding off on releasing new music until the current situation is alleviated.

RELATED: How The Global Coronavirus Pandemic Is Directly Impacting Songwriters, Musicians And Artists

For Detroit-based publicist Nathan Walker, tour-related press comprises 50 percent of his work. Nearly every tour date he was working through his boutique PR company Riot Act Media, whose roster includes Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Young Jesus and STRFKR, was canceled last week or was on "the wait" to see what happens. 

Part of his new normal, which also means working from home with his wife and a four-year-old, has been trying to uncrack the new pitching protocol. There is an ongoing conversation among publicists about how to pitch music media during a never-before-lived pandemic that only seems to worsen by the day and continues to dominate headlines. How should they be pitching about music now?

"I'm just trying to be really calculated with my pitches so that I'm not just blanketing people with lots and lots of music," Walker says.

And he isn’t only practicing caution with media, but empathy as well.

"When I pitch an album during this time, I’m including a note sincerely hoping, because these are people I’ve worked with for years. I'm sincerely hoping they're in a good place right now," he says. "I'm just trying to keep the train on the tracks and send them a record that I think they'd love, and if they want me to stop pitching them, that's OK. I will understand."

Walker, who is staying hopeful about the situation and doing what he can for his artists, is not alone. Sarah Avrin of Girlie Action Media, Marketing & Management, home to Bikini Kill, Imogen Heap, Palehound and more, is pitching with thoughtfulness, too.

"I’m really focused on carefully and thoughtfully reaching out to journalists to make sure that they’re in the headspace to be accepting pitches and discussing new art at the moment," she says.

A Desire For Escapism

Artists continue to put out work, whether or not pitches about it are accepted, and publicists will continue to push for their clients. "It may be a little less busy right now," Avrin says. "But I think it’s going to pick up as artists have time on their hands to create and want to get engage, whether it’s livestream performances or just putting out new singles and sharing."

Although initially she felt panic, Medina's email to media partners was one of her first steps toward regrouping her approach to engaging with the media. "I was just like, OK, technology can definitely make us rethink the way we do things and can provide us the opportunities to keep going and not completely stay stagnant,” she says. "We still want to consume content, we want to be distracted, and there's a need for artists to continue to push out content.”

Phoebe Smolin, who owns Locamotive PR and has worked with Caloncho, Mon Laferte, Carla Morrison and more, says culture is needed now more than ever. 

"We can't lose sight of how important [culture] is, and in a time where we’re all connecting in a way that we haven't before, I just think it's necessary," she says.

https://twitter.com/mdoukmas/status/1242591460022763520

The @Chicago_Reader has lost 90% of its advertising revenue and we're now relying on individuals and foundations more than ever to keep us afloat. Please consider giving or becoming a member at this critical time! Every $1 helps us survive another week 🥰https://t.co/zDD3YaYZyc

— Maya Dukmasova (@mdoukmas) March 24, 2020

Smolin spent two days just replying to cancelations and has seen a loss in work in Europe, the U.S. and Latin America. She has also brainstormed with artists and media on how to move forward. 

But Walker says sending pitches to some publications can be tough right now as they face their own troubles. Amid a constantly changing landscape dominated by digital giants like Facebook and Google, the virus has caused even more economic strain on traditional print magazines and newspapers as well as digital publications relying on ads.

Playboy announced its magazine will fold, stating: "the disruption of the coronavirus pandemic to content production and the supply chain became clearer and clearer, we were forced to accelerate a conversation we've been having internally: the question of how to transform our U.S. print product to better suit what consumers want today."

Alt-weeklies, which largely specialize in covering regional music and arts scenes and local live events, across the nation have announced layoffs and staff salary cuts. The cancelation of this year's SXSW greatly impacted the Austin Chronicle. Seattle's The Stranger and the Portland Mercury both announced layoffs, with the Mercury also announcing it would temporarily stop its print edition. Ad sales are cutting back and have affected newspapers like the Chicago Reader.

RELATED: Resources For Music Creators & Professionals Affected By COVID-19: West Region

“The other biggest challenge is promoting something like music to the press, who are currently worried about losing their jobs and also worried about a global pandemic," Walker says. "It's hard to be a publicist in these times because … It just seems frivolous to try and cheerlead music to people that have been crying, worried and stressed all day."

Change Needs To Happen

Just as the coronavirus has shed light on the weaknesses of governments around the world, this pandemic is highlighting how unfeasible the music industry has become for artists in the age of digital streaming. Music artists still heavily depend on touring and live events as a major income stream. While streaming comprises a majority of the industry's revenue, low royalty rates are not enough to make a living for some—the average musician makes between $20,000 and $25,000, according to a 2018 survey. Ultimately, the coronavirus will change the world and it will change the music industry along with it. How and if it will benefit artists remain the million-dollar questions.

For now, some artists have pivoted to livestream concerts. Erykah Badu, who had concert postponements due to COVID-19 precautions, is doing a series of streaming performances for which she is asking fans to pay $1, essentially sidestepping the middleman. Other artists have used "digital tip jars" to which fans can donate, while some have asked for nothing at all.

The rise of livestreams has become one of the industry's reactions to the pandemic, giving publicists material to help spread the word on what their artists are doing now. But livestreamed sets will never replace a live set, according to Medina, who's also an adjunct professor at the University of Southern California’s Thorton School of Music.

https://twitter.com/baduworldmarket/status/1240134275971899400

Apocalypse One. Live interactive experiment from @fatbellybella. This weekend. YOU choose the songs. $1 to get in. Stay tuned for details. pic.twitter.com/qdqNzNQr8q

— baduworldmarket (@baduworldmarket) March 18, 2020

Walker agrees: "Cybersex isn't sex. It's a temporary adjustment. Whether it's something that we can make financially viable during this time, depending on how long this time extends to, I'm not certain," he adds. "It has to come from the fan's heartfelt desire to support the artist."

Everyone in the industry is bracing, day by day, for what the repercussions for the loss of revenue and income will be. The situation has brought Walker to think about what it could mean for publicists specifically. "If I'm being honest, it's made me afraid that my work will no longer be viable," he says.

The uncertainty in the industry is at an all-time high and people are scared, but the situation has brought publicists to find solace in each other. "We're in a music community, so we're trying to be there for other people, even though we're indie publicists at other companies; we’re a friendly company and there are other friendly indies out there, so we're all putting our heads together," Avrin says.

Smolin says she's become a "pseudo- psychologist" for her artists who fear what the pandemic's outcome could mean for them. Ultimately, the situation has caused relationships with her clients to strengthen. 

Medina feels her extensive experience as an indie publicist has made it easier to survive such times of uncertainty. "Last week, I was very worried. I actually felt a little bit depressed," she says. "This week, I'm like, it's fine. I'm going to figure out what else I can do. If I have to put a pause on PR, I'll figure out what else I can do. It's nothing that I've never had to do before."

Avrin is taking things one day at a time. She believes this experience will force everyone in the industry, from artists to media, to get creative while also potentially opening unique opportunities for independent artists. All in all, "It’s hard to say there is a silver lining," she says. "People are in pain and people are dying."

Recording Academy And MusiCares Establish COVID-19 Relief Fund

Bandcamp

Bandcamp

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Musicians Earn $4.3 Million From Bandcamp musicians-earn-43-million-bandcamp-nearly-800000-items-sold-friday

Musicians Earn $4.3 Million From Bandcamp With Nearly 800,000 Items Sold On Friday

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"On a typical Friday, fans buy about 47,000 items on Bandcamp, but this past Friday, fans bought nearly 800,000, or $4.3 million worth of music and merch"
Rachel Brodsky
GRAMMYs
Mar 23, 2020 - 12:34 pm

Last Friday, March 20, in an effort to help artists impacted by coronavirus-related concert cancelations, music discovery and streaming platform Bandcamp waived its revenue shares for 24 hours, with a number of independent record labels following suit. 

Now, according to a statement from Bandcamp co-founder Ethan Diamond, the streaming platform has reportedly had its biggest sales day ever, with nearly 800,000 items sold. 

Last Friday, fans spent $4.3 million—15x a normal day of sales—in support of artists on Bandcamp https://t.co/ElpCIN3s4f

— bandcamp (@Bandcamp) March 23, 2020

"The numbers tell a remarkable story," Diamond wrote today (Monday, March 23). "On a typical Friday, fans buy about 47,000 items on Bandcamp, but this past Friday, fans bought nearly 800,000, or $4.3 million worth of music and merch. That’s more than 15 times our normal Friday, and at the peak, fans were buying 11 items per second.

"We don’t yet know the long-term impact of Covid-19, but we know that we all need music—to uplift and inspire us, to heal us, and to give us hope,” the message continues. “We’ll continue working to make Bandcamp the best place for fans and artists to come together and sustain each other in the challenging times ahead. Thank you again, and we wish you all good health!”

In support of keeping the music community alive and thriving, you can also donate to the MusiCares COVID-19 relief fund here.

MORE RESOURCES FOR MUSIC CREATORS & PROFESSIONALS:

Resources For Music Creators & Professionals Affected By COVID-19: West Region
Resources For Music Creators & Professionals Affected By COVID-19: East Region
Resources For Music Creators & Professionals Affected By COVID-19: South Region

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Some of the content on this site expresses viewpoints and opinions that are not those of the Recording Academy. Responsibility for the accuracy of information provided in stories not written by or specifically prepared for the Academy lies with the story's original source or writer. Content on this site does not reflect an endorsement or recommendation of any artist or music by the Recording Academy.