In Strict Tempo, vol. 60: News Roundup
Hi everyone. Just a short one from me today. I had a longer essay planned but didn’t get round to finishing it (work has been manic!) so that will come next week. Following that, there’s something I’m really proud of, and a newsletter that I hope you’ll love as much as I did. That one comes straight from the heart. Make sure to subscribe to not miss it.
News Round-Up
London mega-club Drumsheds narrowly avoided losing it’s licence. The thought of clubbing with 15,000 other people in a vast empty Ikea isn’t really my idea of fun (give me the intimacy of a Corsica Studios any day), but London’s nightlife would have been poorer for losing it.
Music data company Luminate released their annual report looking at the music industry. As always their deep dive into Spotify makes for the most intersting reading. Of the 202m tracks released onto the platform last year, 93.2 million of those (or 46%) have done less than 10 streams. That figure’s only going to get worse - just this week did I receive an email from a company asking me to “imagine what (my) revenue would look like with 100x the catalogue”. Essentially they wanted to ingest our current releases into an AI model which would then pump out a tonne of shit that sounded just like it, but with none of the originality or thought that went into those tracks originally. Obviously I told them where to go. As for my prediction on what my revenue might look like? I’d bet bottom dollar it wouldn’t increase one bit.
Back to the Luminate report, which already makes for grim enough reading, it gets even worse when we consider that Spotify last year bought in a payment threshold meaning that royalties wouldn’t get paid until a track reached 1000 streams. The number of tracks that met this threshold released last year? 26.5 million, or just 13%. Obviously a lot of these tracks would have also accumulated royalties from Apple Music, Deezer, YouTube and download income from Beatport, iTunes and the like but it still shows you the immense challenge of earning a decent living from streaming royalties alone… yet still most artists main focus is on Spotify and getting Spotify playlists when it should be elsewhere.
Someone has uploaded the original promo of the first Avalanches album to the internet archive site. This has different versions of the commercially released tracks with more samples, plus an additional track that didn’t make the album. Shout out to Ben for the tip on that one
On Wednesday I took part in a discussion panel on the importance of radio in promoting your records in 2025. I think the recording should be available on the AFEM website (you might need to be a member to watch it). Radio’s always been a difficult nut to crack, and the cost of hiring a plugger can be prohibitively expensive for smaller artists, but it’s not always necessary, especially if you’re setting your sights a bit lower than Radio 1/2/6 Music etc. If you want to talk radio strategy give me a shout on owen@instricttempo.com - it can be a great promotional tool and a decent source of income at the same time.
New Music
Mogwai - The Bad Fire [Rock Action Records]
Fun fact: I once sold a Supreme baseball cap to the guy from Mogwai on eBay. Anyway, the post-rock juggernaut continues to roll on, and Mogwai return with a new album. Didn’t their last one get to #1 in the charts? That’s a great effort and shows what you can do whilst staying in your niche and engaging your fanbase.
DJ Persuasion - Jameela Remixes EP [Ulterior Motives]
Three new remixes from DJ Persuasions Jameela EP that dropped last year. First up, Outrage takes it up a gear with a heavy jungle remix, before Ghost Phone dials it into a more downtempo direction. Ulterior Motives label head Noah Tucker puts his own ravey spin on things before the package rounds out with a new one from the Persuasion himself.
Wata Igarashi - Kaleidoscopic EP [Dekmantel]
Techno how I like it. Fast, furious, with a big dollop of acid. Can see this going off in the squattiest of raves.
Bill Orcutt - How To Rescue Things [Palilalia]
So this came out late last year, but it seems to have gone well under the radar. You know what you’re getting here, typical Orcutt guitar, this time over easy-listening style vocals and jazz samples. The result? Hendrix meets Spiritualized meets The Caretaker. In other words, absolutely beguiling and well worth your valuable time.
Index for Working Musik - 2x1/First Born [Tough Love]
Two new tracks from London’s Index for Working Musik here, leading up to a new album later this year. Post-punk heads will find something to enjoy here, as will post-rock heads. There’s a bit of a mix of styles going on, but it comes together nicely and all seems to work. I’m looking forward to the rest of it.