The Daily Chord Weekly Recap – Friday, December 22

All of the 2017 Daily Chord stories have now been marked up for the year, and if you're in the mood for some December reflection and a self-guided tour of the year in music news, you should start at our page. Thanks for the great suggestions and comments and thanks for subscribing to the email. Let's do it again next year!

Monday, December 18

• Bowery Ballroom and Mercury Lounge join with Live Nation
  Story from NY Times
• Hidden gems of 2017: Great albums you may have missed
  List from The Guardian
• Sirius XM hit with big rate hike by Copyright Royalty Board
  Post from Variety
• Rape and abuse: The music industry's dark side exposed
  Story from BBC News
• What on earth is Zuckerberg planning to do in music?
  Post from The Industry Observer
• Ralph Carney, Akron native and internationally renowned musician, has died
  Obituary from The Plain Dealer

Tuesday, December 19

• Why has DJ Gramatik sold his work as a digital token?
  Post from BBC News
• XXXTentacion hit with eight more felony charges for alleged witness tampering
  Post from Billboard
• DJ dies as harrowing footage shows stage collapse in windstorm at Atmosphere EDM festival
  Post from NME
• Plex has launched its idea for a music player: Plexamp
  Post from The Verge
• What Pandora's genome can tell us about the sounds of 2017
  Guest post from Hypebot
• Irvin Mayfield, New Orleans jazz pillar, indicted for laundering library funds
  Story from NPR Music

Wednesday, December 20

• YouTube, music labels end standoff, move toward paid service
  Post from Bloomberg
• Supreme Court possible next stop for Insane Clown Posse gang designation fight
  Post from MLive
• How Ed Sheeran made 'The Shape Of You,' the year's biggest track
  Feature from NY Times
• Playlists! Lawsuits! Fake songs! The biggest streaming music trends of 2017
  Feature from Pitchfork
• The 36 best overlooked albums of 2017
  List from Noisey
• Gifts that sing - are you listening?
  Post from Chicago Reader

Thursday, December 21

• Rolling Stone publisher sells majority stake to Penske, owner of Variety
  Story from NY Times
• Amazon Music to end support for streaming your uploaded MP3s
  Post from TechCrunch
• EDM got sad and anxious in 2017, just like everything else
  Post from Noisey
• The music I love is a racial minefield
  Post from Mother Jones
• Music industry lawsuits and issues to watch in 2018
  Post from Hypebot
• Court upholds BMI's consent decree victory allowing fractional licensing
  Post from Variety

Friday, December 22

• Universal Music Group strikes first major licensing deal with Facebook
  Post from Billboard
• Lawmakers introduce Music Modernization Act, which simplifies digital licensing and increases rates
  Post from Variety
• 52 things we've learned this year in music
  Post from BBC News
• The best albums and tracks of 2017: How our writers voted
  Post from The Guardian
• These are the UK artists that need to break America
  Post from The Independent
• The 101 most anticipated albums of 2018
  Post from Stereogum