The Daily Chord Weekly Recap – Friday, January 26

This week in music news included buildup to Sunday's Grammys show, more legislative and financial jockeying from major music services, and the deaths of Mark E. Smith and Hugh Masekela. The Daily Chord selects six stories each weekday to keep you current on the business and culture of music. Subscribe to the Daily Chord email newsletter for your first look at today's important stories.

Monday, January 22

• How Spotify beat Apple to charting the future of music
  Post from The Ringer
• When it began: The birth of the alternative Grammys and the commodification of the underground
  Post from Uproxx
• Nazi punks f**k off: How Black Flag, Bad Brains and more took back their scene from white supremacists
  Story from GQ
• Tom Petty died of 'accidental drug overdose'
  Item from BBC News
• Stetsons, beards and good honest sweat: Why pop stars are going back to basics
  Post from The Guardian
• Tom Waits preps reissues of his first seven albums
  Item from Billboard

Tuesday, January 23

• Apple bows Apple Music For Artists to provide acts with deep analytics dive
  Post from Billboard
• Childish Gambino signs with RCA, new music on the way
  Post from Variety
• Your brain responses to music reveal if you're a musician or not
  Post from Medical Xpress
• Austin honors Daniel Johnston with 'Hi How Are You' day
  Post from Pitchfork
• Neil Diamond diagnosed with Parkinson's, retires from touring
  Post from CNN
• Hugh Masekela, trumpeter and anti-apartheid activist, dies at 78
  Obituary from NY Times

Wednesday, January 24

• YouTube is asking promoted musicians to sign non-disparagement agreements
  Post from Gizmodo
• With 70 million subscribers and a risky IPO strategy, is Spotify too big to fail?
  Feature from Variety
• Opportunity in the global music industry brings new challenges as services find one size doesn't fit all
  Post from Billboard
• SZA almost quit music. Now she's a Grammys contender.
  Story from NY Times
• Jack White bans phones at gigs for '100% human experience'
  Item from NME
• It's 2018 and Alesis has debuted a new wireless keytar
  Post from The Verge

Thursday, January 25

• Mark E. Smith, founder and lead singer with The Fall, dies aged 60
  Obituary from The Guardian
• Perverted by language
  Appreciation from The Believer
• 50 Cent sold album for bitcoin, forgot about it, made millions
  Item from The Independent
• How Elton John's VR retirement announcement hit your headset
  Post from Wired
• SoundHound, once just a music-recognition app, is now a billion-dollar company
  Post from Recode
• Music industry's brave new world requires new breed of executive
  Post from Variety

Friday, January 26

• Internet giants endorse music licensing legislation
  Story from Variety
• Inclusion in the recording studio?
  Report from USC/Annenberg
• The Grammy Awards at 60: What a long, strange trip it's been
  Post from LA Times
• How Ben UFO became the most-loved meme in electronic music
  Post from The Independent
• Why you should still be buying digital downloads
  Post from Gizmodo
• A listening ear for musicians in need
  Story from NY Times