Rounding up recent tech news that impacts livelihoods in the creative community …

Pandora Premium launches paid subscription
On March 15 Pandora Premium launched its $9.99 paid subscription service on mobile. It offered 6-month trial periods to users of its $4.99 Pandora Plus tier at no extra charge. Founder and CEO Tim Westergren promised "a listening experience that sets a new standard for what a music service should be" because of the vast personal music data his company has aggregated. According to a recent consumer survey from Edison Research, only four streaming services were used by more than 10 percent of consumers during the previous month. SoundCloud had 11 percent and iHeartRadio 13 percent. Spotify tops out at 18 percent. Pandora was listened to by 32 percent of respondents — almost one out of every three consumers. With Pandora’s 81 million users, the Premium tier hopefully offers a new opportunity for money in creators' pockets.

Waze and Spotify integrate
On March 14 Google-owned Waze and Spotify updated and integrated their apps to make it easier to navigate music and driving info at the same time. Waze drivers can trigger Spotify actions, and Spotify listeners can control Waze from within the music app. For now, the app integration is Android exclusive. Putting a soundtrack to navigation as an extension of the dashboard will likely find a niche with some millennials. Google found this deal attractive even though Google Play and Google-owned YouTube Music both compete in the same market against Spotify.

Napster's cool cats and Android's Taste Test
On March 15 music service Napster launched a promotion for "cool cat" art clickable online to a personalized playlist through a partnership with Giphy. Separately, Google Android launched its Taste Test web wizard on March 12, leading visitors through graphic line-ups with simple choices to customize their phone theme. While being visual and fun, Taste Test also harvests some of the most personal and intimate knowledge about what users like. Google and Android can continue to gain big data insights from users' answers.

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Just five months after the release of his sixth studio album, Justice, Justin Bieber has broken the internet. As Spotify's all-time most listened-to artist, the Canadian singer nabbed a total of 83.3 monthly listeners, based on the platform's July data. Tailed by The Weeknd (74.53 million monthly listeners) and Ed Sheeran (72.41 million monthly listeners), Bieber has remained on the charts, credited to surprise features over the summer and his "Peaches" collaboration with Daniel Caesar and Giveon.

Following the release of Justice, Bieber joined The Kid LAROI on the young Aussie rapper's single "STAY"—which has spent four weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100—along with the remix of "Essence" by Nigerian artists WizKid and Tems. Featured on the deluxe re-release of WizKid album Made in Lagos, Bieber's appearance on "Essence" was accused of cultural appropriation on social media, but also received a global push on the Billboard charts, debuting at No. 82 on the US Hot 100.

In an oral history article about "Essence" by Rolling Stone, Bieber's DJ and personal A&R Tay James explained Bieber's impact on the song's remix:

"When Justin hops on a record, he'll take it from just being a hip-hop or an urban or an Afrobeats record. It's going to bring other eyes; people who probably didn't even know about the record," James said. "Now they hear it, and now they know who Wizkid is. So, that's part of the reason why we want[ed] to hop on it, too, also just to shine light on these talented artists, which is what I think Justin is really good at."

With over ten years at the top of his game, breaking Spotify's all-time monthly listener record is yet another notch in Bieber's career trajectory and a milestone in his multi-genre influence.

For The Record: How Aaliyah Redefined Her Sound And Herself On 'One In A Million'

The Recording Academy reimagined everything about the 2021 GRAMMY Awards show on a more intimate scale, and the choice of presenters was no different. When it came time to announce the Best Country Album winner, the person who appeared on screen wasn't a slick Nashville superstar, but a soft-spoken, older man who's unrecognizable to a global audience but beloved in the Music City. His name was J.T. Gray, and he grinned ear-to-ear on national TV.

In a segment recorded a month prior, Gray showed the camera crew around the Station Inn, the 145-person-capacity bluegrass venue he'd owned since 1981. Despite the room receiving almost no income for a year due to the live music industry shutdown caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, Gray was rosy about the future. "Getting to reopen the Station Inn, that's going to be a celebration like never before," he promised. "It's going to be a big party." He then announced the winner, Miranda Lambert, to the world. Gray was naturally quiet and reserved, a closed book. Not after that shoot, though.

"He was just beside himself the whole time," Jeff Brown, the Station Inn's marketing director, tells GRAMMY.com. "He just never believed it was happening. He just didn't believe that his little venue was being recognized on that kind of scale, that those many people in a place with the GRAMMYs and the Recording Academy's recognition actually paid attention. He just couldn't believe it." On Sunday, March 14, Gray astonishedly watched himself on CBS. The following Saturday, he passed away after a struggle with compounding health problems.

Gray might not get to attend the "big party" when things open up. But 9 million people heard his message.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The Troubadour offers our deepest condolences to JT Grey’s family, friends, and those at <a href="https://twitter.com/stationinn1974?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@stationinn1974</a>. JT created a special home for bluegrass, country music, and more in Nashville, TN. He leaves behind a beautiful legacy and will be missed by many.<a href="https://t.co/rGwZGuDoXK">https://t.co/rGwZGuDoXK</a></p>&mdash; Troubadour (@theTroubadour) <a href="https://twitter.com/theTroubadour/status/1374515380622794753?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 24, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

For a year, venues worldwide have been hanging on by a thread: struggling to pay their rent, waiting in vain for federal aid, and given no clear finish line as to when they can reopen. That's why, with the Recording Academy's blessing, Executive Producer Ben Winston asked Gray, as well as representatives from the Troubadour and Hotel Café in Los Angeles and the Apollo Theater in New York City, to present at the 63rd GRAMMY Awards and talk about their economic struggles during the pandemic. Together, they sounded a shared refrain to the world: We matter to our communities, and we need help.

The venues that spoke their piece during the 63rd GRAMMY Awards were members of the National Independent Venue Association (NIVA). An assemblage of independent venue owners and promoters from around the country, NIVA formed directly in response to the 2020 lockdown. "We figured we'd better find a way to come together and lobby for federal assistance," Audrey Schaefer, a board member and the Communications Director for NIVA, tells GRAMMY.com. "Because otherwise, we're all going under."

The Steel Wheels at Station Inn in 2015. Photo: Erika Goldring/Getty Images for Americana Music via Getty Images

Last year, NIVA, along with the Recording Academy and other music organizations, lobbied Congress via the Save Our Stages Act and succeeded. On Dec. 27, the decree became the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant and passed along with the COVID relief package. "In that grant fund is $16 billion," Schaefer says. "For an organization that didn't exist before … nobody gave us any hopes of being able to secure that kind of funding. But we did. We got the law passed."

However, venues have not yet seen that money. "We understand that the applications will start at the beginning of April," she adds with relief in her voice.

In the meantime, Scheafer mulled over how best to convey to the world the existential crises venues face. "I was thinking that the GRAMMYs couldn't possibly be at the Beverly Hilton like it normally is—in a big ballroom—because we can't be together," she says. "I thought, 'What if the GRAMMYs were to have the award show, and instead of having all the performances under one roof, they were to have them in independent venues?'"

To try and give this idea legs, Schaefer reached out to Daryl Friedman, Chief Advocacy Officer of the Recording Academy's Advocacy division. "He said, 'Listen, Audrey, I think that's a great idea, but they have a million great ideas. So, let me take it to them and we'll see what happens,'" she recalls. Schaefer persistently followed up. "I kept asking Daryl, 'What do you think? What are you hearing?'"

But unbeknown to her, the Recording Academy and the production team were already independently planning to highlight independent venues and their employees as an advocacy initiative and add a personal moment to the broadcast. "And then I found out that, oh my gosh, they do want to do it," she adds with awe.

Billie Eilish at the Troubadour in 2019. Photo: Neilson Barnard/Getty Images for SiriusXM

Granted, the Recording Academy didn't agree to host performances at independent venues. But Schaefer calls the idea they decided to go with "so much better." Instead, venue professionals would take viewers on a tour of their workplaces, illustrating their value to their communities and why they desperately need help. Participants included the Station Inn's Gray; Rachelle Erratchu, the night manager at the Troubadour; Billy Mitchell, the tour guide and overall house cat at the Apollo Theater in Harlem; and Candice Fox, a bartender at the Hotel Café in Hollywood.

For Erratchu, the problem extends further than keeping the lights on at the Troubadour; the entire live music ecosystem is in trouble. "We need everybody else to survive so that we can survive," she tells GRAMMY.com. "If we don't exist and all the other venues across the country don't exist, the tour circuit as we know it and have relied on it for decades won't exist anymore."

For Billy Mitchell, the Historical Tour Manager and overall global representative of the Apollo Theater who has earned the title of "Mr. Apollo," his job isn't a means to an end; he lives and breathes it. Mitchell's time at the Apollo began in 1965 when he ran errands for James Brown and his band. During the telecast, Mitchell relates a funny story of how the Godfather of Soul sent him all the way home to the Bronx to get his report card, threatening to put his job on ice if he didn't get better grades.

COVID forced the Apollo to temporarily furlough some its staff. To be forced to stop, it was heartbreaking, to be honest with you," Mitchell tells GRAMMY.com. "I give tours to people from all over the world, and they're unable to visit because of COVID restrictions and things like that." While the not-for-profit has offered digital programming in the meantime, most of it has been free as not to burden fans. Thankfully, at press time, all staff members have returned full-time.

Billy Mitchell at the Apollo Theater in 2009. Photo: Jemal Countess/WireImage via Getty Images​

The Apollo has been lucky, in a sense; corporate and private donations have kept it afloat. Still, they're not out of the woods yet. "Donations are needed so that when we do reopen, we can pump out those great shows and bring back our staff," Mitchell says. "We want to bring back our staff as soon as possible." 

In the clip played during the 2021 GRAMMY Awards show, Mitchell addressed viewers from the empty audience. "We miss our audience and we can't wait until our doors open up again," he says. "We just can't wait."

Candice Fox, a bartender at Hollywood's Hotel Café, believes there will be an outpouring of activity at her workplace once it's safe again. "I like to believe people are going to want to make up for lost time," she tells GRAMMY.com. "I know that people are itching to perform. People are so excited to experience that exchange of energy again. So, I think it's going to explode."

In line with Erratchu's thoughts on the overall music ecosystem, Fox notes that Katy Perry cut her teeth at the 65-capacity room on Cahuenga Boulevard. "She wasn't the big pop star she is now; she was just a girl with a guitar," she says. "So many artists' careers and the GRAMMYs couldn't exist without small, independent venues like the Hotel Café because you've got to start somewhere." In her clip, Fox ruminates on the regulars she's missed for a year, pouring a Boddingtons and mixing an Old Fashioned to an array of empty stools.

Sister Sparrow and the Dirty Birds at Hotel Café in 2015. Photo: Christopher Polk/Getty Images​   

At the end of every venue vignette, each venue representative announced the winner of their assigned categories: Best Country Album for Gray (Miranda Lambert's Wildcard), Best Pop Solo Performance for Erratchu (Harry Styles' "Watermelon Sugar"), Best Rap Song for Billy Mitchell (Beyoncé's and Megan Thee Stallion's "Savage Remix") and Album Of The Year for Fox (Taylor Swift's folklore). All four were thrilled to appear and encourage viewers to support their workplaces—whether by donating directly, paying for a livestream or purchasing a T-shirt. 

That way, the lights at the Station Inn, the Troubadour, the Apollo and Hotel Café can flare up again, ensuring these cultural hubs don't become figments of the past. And if you want to know how memorable the inevitable "COVID is over" parties will be, just look at Gray's blazing smile during the GRAMMYs.

"I can probably count a very [small] number of times that I've seen him truly smile," the Station Inn's Brown reflects. "But truly smiling—that's what he was doing here."

Click here to support the Station Inn.

Click here to support the Troubadour.

Click here to support the Apollo Theater.

Click here to support Hotel Café.

Click here to support NIVA.

Capturing Los Angeles' COVID-Closed Venues

Today, the Recording Academy proudly announced its official marketing partners for the 2021 GRAMMY Awards show, officially known as the 63rd GRAMMY Awards. Bulova, Facebook, IBM, JBL, Mastercard, Pandora, PEOPLE, and SiriusXM are all supporters of this year's GRAMMY Awards, as well as events taking place throughout GRAMMY Week. 

"We are fortunate to be putting on the 63rd GRAMMY Awards alongside these extraordinary brands," Adam Roth, Senior Vice President of Partnerships & Business Development at the Recording Academy, said. "They are united in their belief that music is a healing force that can bring much-needed change to our world. Our partners stand with the Academy as we work year-round to build a more diverse and inspiring world for music creators. We are thrilled to work with these industry-leading partners to excite and engage passionate music fans everywhere."

Bulova, the Official Timepiece Partner, celebrates GRAMMY-nominated artists with an exclusive watch from their music-inspired GRAMMY Edition watch collection. First-time GRAMMY Award winners will be gifted with an exclusive edition "GRAMMY Automatic" watch, infused with musical cues throughout and a "Circle of Fifths" dial design.

Learn More: The Recording Academy Partners With Bulova To Present Exclusive Edition GRAMMY Timepieces Featuring GRAMMIUM

Facebook is the Exclusive Streaming Partner of the GRAMMY Live pre-show. Music-loving Facebook Groups will have the unique opportunity to participate in the first-ever virtual Fan Zone where members will be featured in hosted segments and have their questions answered by some of their favorite GRAMMY-nominated artists. The virtual Fan Zone will be a destination throughout the night where Facebook Group members can engage on in-show performances and award winners. GRAMMY Live will stream to the GRAMMY Awards Facebook page at 3:30 p.m. PT on Sunday, March 14.

IBM, the Official Cloud & AI Partner, launched GRAMMY Debates with Watson, alongside the Recording Academy, an AI-curated music debate experience available to fans around the world. The experience allows music fans to contribute their individual points of view to some of the most important music-related conversations today. Additionally, the 63rd GRAMMY Awards day-of-show takeover on GRAMMY.com will be hosted for the first time entirely on the IBM Cloud.

Learn More: The Recording Academy And IBM Debut New Fan Experience Powered By Watson And IBM Cloud Ahead Of The 2021 GRAMMY Awards Show

JBL, the Official Audio Partner, presents "Tomorrow's Sounds," alongside the Recording Academy, a new program created to support the next generation of musicians and artists. Through a digital content series, JBL and the Recording Academy will highlight emerging artists and help tell their stories to a global fanbase.

Mastercard, the Official Payment Technology Partner, is the presenting sponsor of the Inaugural Black Music Collective GRAMMY Week Celebration on Wednesday, March 10. Additionally, they've partnered with the Black Music Collective to present a GRAMMY U Masterclass with multi-faceted artist Tayla Parx on Thursday, March 11. On Music's Biggest Night, Mastercard will host a Virtual Fan Wall experience for select cardholders to interact with some of this year's GRAMMY nominees. Details for all events is available on Priceless.com. 

Read: The Recording Academy Announces Official GRAMMY Week 2021 Events

Pandora launched the first-ever official GRAMMY Awards Radio, which will run from Feb. 5 through March 31. The station celebrates musical excellence and all things GRAMMY Awards including hits from GRAMMY nominees and past winners, as well as behind-the-scenes stories as told by the artists themselves. Pandora and the Recording Academy will host the Pandora LIVE Countdown to the GRAMMY Awards event at 9 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. PT on Thursday, March 11, featuring an all-female lineup of current GRAMMY nominees including HAIM, Brittany Howard, and CHIKA.

Learn More: Pandora Announces Lineup For Pandora LIVE Countdown To The GRAMMY Awards: Haim, Brittany Howard And CHIKA Confirmed 

PEOPLE, the Exclusive Magazine Partner, will livestream from the GRAMMY Awards with a pre-show featuring interviews from this year's nominees and performers. People & Entertainment Weekly Red Carpet Live: Grammy Awards will stream at 6:30 p.m. ET on people.com, ew.com, PEOPLE and EW social channels and the PeopleTV app.

SiriusXM, the Official Satellite Radio Sponsor, launched the first-ever The GRAMMY Channel— airing for a limited time March 2 through 14 on Channel 104.  The GRAMMY Channel will feature a variety of music from this year's nominees across the GRAMMY Awards' 30 Fields, all leading up to the live broadcast of Music's Biggest Night.  Listeners can also expect to hear music from GRAMMY Lifetime Achievement Honorees such as Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five, Salt-N-Pepa, Selena and Talking Heads, as well as exclusive interviews with music's biggest stars from behind the scenes at the 63rd GRAMMY Awards.

Listen Now: The Recording Academy And SiriusXM Launch The GRAMMY Channel Ahead Of The 2021 GRAMMY Awards Show

For more information on official GRAMMY Awards partners, please visit: bulova.com, facebook.com, ibm.com/grammys, jbl.com, mastercard.com, pandora.com, people.com, and siriusxm.com.

The Recording Academy will present the 63rd GRAMMY Awards on Sunday, March 14, 2021, on CBS, from 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT with Emmy Award-winning "The Daily Show" host and comedian Trevor Noah serving as host. The Premiere Ceremony will stream live on GRAMMY.com beginning at 3:00 p.m. ET / 12:00 p.m. PT.

How To Watch The 2021 GRAMMY Awards Show: A Viewer's Guide On Where To Watch Music's Biggest Night

Pandora has announced the lineup for its Pandora LIVE Countdown To The GRAMMY Awards event. Taking place Thursday, March 11 at 6 p.m. PT/9 p.m. ET, the online event will feature Haim, Brittany Howard and CHIKA.

Pandora LIVE is the continuation of the popular live event turned virtual series that features top artists from all genres, including country, rock, pop, R&B and more. Listeners can RSVP for the free event here.

Pandora LIVE Countdown To The GRAMMY Awards is a precursor to the 63rd GRAMMY Awards, which airs Sunday, March 14, on CBS.

Harvey Mason jr., Chair & Interim President/CEO of the Recording Academy, will host the evening and lead a round-table discussion with all three performers.  

Throughout the course of their career, Haim have fused genres and have established their own musical individuality. The band made history as the first all-female rock group to be nominated for Album Of The Year with their third studio album, Women In Music Pt. III. The album shows the trio’s multidimensionality by showcasing their songwriting style and melodies. The three-time GRAMMY nominees are set to perform for Pandora LIVE from their hometown of Los Angeles.

With 16 GRAMMY nominations and four GRAMMY wins (with her band Alabama Shakes), Brittany Howard has a compelling presence as a performer shattering soul, rock and blues norms. She will be performing for Pandora LIVE from Nashville.

CHIKA, a first-time GRAMMY nominee in the Best New Artist category this year, uses her powerful voice as a much-needed call to action for the marginalized and disenfranchised. With an instinct for creating impactful viral moments in the music, film/TV, fashion, brand and social media spaces, CHIKA’s ethos and persona have resonated with fans. Her Pandora LIVE performance from Los Angeles is sure to gain her new followers.

In conjunction with the Pandora LIVE Countdown To The GRAMMY Awards event, Pandora recently launched the GRAMMY Awards Radio station. Presented by Lincoln and airing now through March 31 on Pandora, the station celebrates this year’s nominees and shares behind-the-scene stories from past winners.

Event sponsors will enhance the viewing experience and get fans excited for the 2021 GRAMMY Awards show by curating unique content and activities. Prior to the show, Allstate will bring together some of Haim’s top Pandora listeners for a virtual meet and greet. During the show, attendees will have the opportunity to pose in the red-carpet-inspired photo booth, provided by Crest 3D White. To celebrate the event’s powerful and talented all-female lineup, Pandora and Olay Body will join forces to provide a donation to a select charity that supports fearless women in music, specifically those in STEM disciplines, and encourage everyone to get involved in the cause.

Pandora will invite fans to test their artist knowledge with pre-show trivia, connect with others via the interactive chat, and provide a limited amount of complimentary artist merchandise for attendees on a first-come, first-served code-redemption basis.

On March 12, SiriusXM will re-air the evening’s performances from all three artists on The GRAMMY Channel (ch. 104) beginning at Noon ET. On March 13, The Spectrum (ch. 28) will air Brittany Howard and Haim’s performances beginning at 7 p.m. ET and Hip-Hop Nation (ch. 44) will air CHIKA’s performance at 11 a.m. ET, followed by encore broadcasts.

GRAMMY Awards Radio Launches On Pandora Ahead Of The 2021 GRAMMYs Show