✨ IC Community Weekly #56
ft. Spotify stealing from songwriters to pay for audiobooks, a major IC feature upgrade, Record Store Day releases, music, videos, tours, and more!
Hey and welcome to a new edition of IC Community Weekly!
In a week where Spotify announced that stealing from songwriters and publishers to subsidize their audiobook royalties was totally cool and normal, the IC community did what it always does, releasing tons of great music, announcing jobs, tours, videos, and more!
Keep scrolling for that, but first, big news from IC HQ…
We've upgraded the Catalog Manager tool! Now it loads fast for everyone, no matter what size your catalog is. We also added pagination for Items, making them easier to organize! Head here to learn more about how the CM works and how it helps you get royalties done that much easier.
Also 🆕 This Week in IC, two new Merlin Importers: one for TikTok Capcut, the social media giant's video editing tool, and the other for South Korea-based music streaming app FLO.
…and the community:
IC partner Secretly Distribution hired Rich Thane, founder of the Line of Best Fit and wearer of many hats across the industry over the years. He’s there to help SD “cultivate new partnerships with independent record labels” throughout the UK and EU. Congrats all around 🎉
New IC catalog the Control Group is helmed by Nabil Ayers (son of Roy Ayers), who wrote for The Guardian about the insanity that was the Fela Kuti + Roy Ayers tour of 1979.
nonclassical are doing a DJ set at the upcoming Indie Label Market in London, alongside our friends at Hand In Hive. Programme here.
Paradise of Bachelors are offering the first two Jake Xerxes Fussell albums at 50% off until April 25th. Use coupon code JUMPFORJOY to get the self-titled 2015 debut and 2017's What in the Natural World on their webstore in any format half price.
Merge Records added John Darnielle of The Mountain Goats to their Merge 35 event, which takes place July 24th–27th at Cat's Cradle in Carrborro, NC. He joins the Wednesday bill that features A Giant Dog, Fucked Up, Redd Kross, and Mary Timony. Four-day passes are long gone, but nightly tickets are still available for Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday!
👋 If you’re an IC catalog and you’ve got news, releases, or other fun stuff you want us to include, just reply and let us know - this goes out to 2500+ inboxes every week!
JOBS IN THE COMMUNITY
🧑💻 nonclassical are looking for three enthusiastic individuals to join their Board of Trustees - your chance to make an impact and have your voice heard as they head into their 20th year and beyond. More info here - applications close at 9am on April 29th.
NEW IC CATALOGS
A very warm 🤝 to…
Moon Ruins, a Boise-based DIY label focused on producing limited-run, high-quality and “darn right aesthetically pleasing vinyl and collectibles”
Backhaus Records is a label from Berlin curated by experimental techno musician Bekkler. It is a part of the Backhaus Kollektiv of artists and friends based in the city.
RECORD STORE DAY
Whether you’re in the “excited to go appreciate and celebrate music with my friends and neighbors” or “time to retire RSD and go back to ‘every day is a good day to stop by the record store!’” camp or somewhere in between, Record Store Day is happening this weekend and there are some cool looking releases from the community.
Here are some RSD24 releases from our pals that are (probably) landing in your favourite indie record store (stock permitting) this Saturday, April 20th:
Kill Rock Stars
1100 copies of Back At School b/w Space Odyssey 2001 (Demo) (7") by Kate Nash
ORG Music
1800 copies of World Broadcast Recordings 1944/1945 (LP) by Ernest Tubb and his Texas Troubadours
1000 copies of Love, LA: Duets and Covers from the City of Angels (LP) by Various Artists
2500 copies of Westbound Records Curated by RSD, Volume 1 (LP) by Various Artists
2000 copies of Wave from the WOOniverse (2xLP) by Bernie Worrell - with Loantaka Records
GroundUP Music
2000 copies of Live At The Band On The Wall (LP) by Snarky Puppy
Earth Libraries
2500 copies of Butterfly in The Sky (2xLP) by The Octopus Project
NEW RELEASES
ALBUMS
🎧 Topshelf released pink balloons, the seething new album by hotly tipped D.C. queer punk outfit Ekko Astral, self-declared pioneers of ‘mascara moshpit’ music – “a pummeling puree of garage princess post-punk.” The record just scored an 8.0 on Pitchfork.
🎧 Very Jazzed released Breathe, the new album by Sillyboy’s Ghost Relatives, which is the solo project of Athens, Greece musician and producer Charalambos Kourtaras.
SINGLES
🎧 Kill Rock Stars released a new Logan Lynn track called I'm Just A Hole, Sir, taken from upcoming (11th!) studio album SOFTCORE, which comes out June 7th. Lynn said about the track: “This song is a farewell to love and a hello to whatever the opposite of love is. It’s about sex and desire at its core and who we are when everything else gets peeled away. This is a revenge track about anger, rage, and freedom — but also very horny. It’s about letting myself go in whatever direction the wind takes me, then burning it all down as I go.”
🎧 Earth Libraries released Salt, the new single by Birmingham, AL-based slowcore/alt-rock band Bitter Calm, the group’s first release since their 2019 debut album. Songwriter Michael Harp writes, “This song is about the pain of knowing who could be hurt by the irreversible decision to leave this world, let alone who is already hurt by my expressed desire to want to leave it in the first place.”
REISSUES
🎧 Kill Rock Stars are reissuing a raft of records:
A re-pressing of the debut Elliott Smith record Roman Candle, including an exclusive purple blast color-way available for pre-order now from Magnolia Record Club.
🎧 A new pressing of Singles and Sessions 1979-81 by Leeds post-punk band Delta 5 on "sea foam" vinyl, complete with a gatefold sleeve and poster.
A 2LP set of 24 recordings from the legendary punk bands Kleenex and LiLiPUT. It’s called First Songs and combines all the pre-1982 material, all 3 Kleenex singles, the first two LiLiPUT 7" singles and all the originally unreleased material prior to their debut LP on limited-edition "deep purple" vinyl.
🎧 Byte (a sub-label of Ransom Note Records) reissued the 1990s electro EPs Phox and The Demon by SEM (aka Damon Baxter, who would go on to record as Deadly Avenger). The original 12”s have been out of print since the mid nineties and have never been available digitally.
🎧 Polyvinyl are pressing Look Now Look Again, the classic album from legendary Wisconsin emo band Rainer Maria. The special 25 year anniversary edition of the trio's sophomore full-length will come out on Pink Stripe w/ Brown Splatter Vinyl to match its iconic cover art.
🎧 Chapter Music are teaming up with French label Pop Superette to release the first ever vinyl reissue of the 2008 album Adult Baby by Chapter honcho Guy Blackman. Originally released only on CD, the record is “a sumptuous collection of baroque pop tearjerkers”, featuring appearances from over 20 musicians, including Swedish pop star Jens Lekman and Mick Turner from Dirty Three. It will be released on September 6th 2024 and UK/Europe customers can pre-order the vinyl via Pop Superette's pre-order campaign, otherwise it is now available for pre-order from the Chapter Music Bandcamp.
VIDEOS
🖥️ ZZK released a video for Alfa Indi by Indus ft. Nelda Piña, the first single from the group’s new album Negra. Directed by audiovisual producer CRACK.
🖥️ Kate Nash (Kill Rock Stars) released a self-directed video for new single Space Odyssey 2001
INTERVIEWS
🎙️ James Elkington & Nathan Salsburg (Paradise of Bachelors) recently spoke to Aquarium Drunkard about the release of their new record All Gist
FROM THE ARCHIVE
🖥️ Where I choose a video I love from YouTube’s treasure trove of music videos, live performances and curiosities.
This time: Minnesota musician Charlie Parr performing his song Cheap Wine, about a weary liquor store owner who wishes he could sell up, buy a boat and float away.
Performed at Terrapin Station in Nevis, Minnesota in September 2012.
SHOWS, TOURS + EVENTS
🚌 Godly The Ruler (Pack Records) is playing a run of East Coast shows next month | TICKETS
🚌 nonclassical announced What A Racket, a 20th anniversary event where EDM, footwork, drums, piano, and electronics collide in celebration of beat-driven music for percussion and piano. Prepared piano maestro Klavikon plays his own works, whilst acclaimed percussion quartet Abstruckt perform the Pulitzer-nominated Perspective by Jlin and a brand new commission from award-winning composer Ben Nobuto. Takes place July 12th at Unit58 in London. | TICKETS
📆 UPCOMING INDUSTRY EVENTS
+ check out the 🎟 Events Directory for more conferences, festivals, record fairs, webinars, etc!
Apr 19th - 21st ‣ Coachella Weekend Two (Indio, CA, US)
Apr 20th ‣ Record Store Day (Worldwide)
Apr 25th - 28th ‣ Launch Music Conference & Festival (Lancaster, PA, US)
Apr 26th - 28th ‣ Stagecoach Festival (Indio, CA, US)
Apr 26th - May 5th ‣ New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Fest (New Orleans, LA, US)
May 2nd ‣ Music Week Awards (London, UK)
May 3rd - 4th ‣ Spot Festival (Aarhus, Denmark)
May 4th - 5th ‣ Sound City Conference (Liverpool, UK)
May 13th - 16th ‣ Music Biz (Nashville, TN, US)
May 15th - 18th ‣ The Great Escape (Brighton, UK)
That’s all for this one! Stay safe and we’ll catch you again next week for more of the same.
- Adam & the Infinite Catalog crew