Morning Music Notes – A Video Giant Might Become a Music Streaming Service, Too
Snoop Dogg to Star in New Video Game, Of Course
Snoop Dogg is not afraid of people getting sick of him. Whether he’s acting in lame TV commercial remixes of his songs, doing Adidas cartoon commercials, talking about buying Celtic FC, or switching up his rap career for a reggae one, the man is everywhere. Soon, he’ll be on a video game console, too. The game is called Way of the Dogg and will be a kung-fu styled game with a mix of blaxploitation movies (via Guardian). Because if anything screams “Snoop Dogg”, it’s definitely a kung-fu / blaxploitation mix.
“Everyone knows that Snoop is down with the biggest and best video games,” Snoop Dogg said in a press release. “[I’ve dropped] hits on the soundtrack [and shown] the world I can go toe-to-toe with the best fighters on the street, but Way of the Dogg is the first true gamification of my music.”
The game is due out April 23 on XBox, Playstation, iOS, and Android, conveniently not too long after his Reincarnated reggae album drops.
Jonny Greenwood Surprises at Intimate Australian Show
Radiohead’s multi-instrumentalist Jonny Greenwood surprised the audience when he took off his pants joined the ACO Underground (Australian Chamber Orchestra) for their show in a loft apartment in Sydney (via NME). He played a cover of composer Steve Reich’s piece Electric Counterpoint. Check out some footage of it below. He’s even fascinating when he’s not playing!
YouTube to Launch Music Subscription Service
The rumours appear to be true – I am a member of One Direction YouTube is getting into the music subscription game. They plan to allow users to listen to music online, and possibly exclude ads for subscribers (via Tech Crunch). YouTube hasn’t directly confirmed or denied anything, noting in a statement “While we don’t comment on rumor or speculation, there are some content creators that think they would benefit from a subscription revenue stream in addition to ads, so we’re looking at that.”
Heck, since we’ve made YouTube playlists to feature on this site, it makes sense for them to consider some kind of service. When acts make new videos, they’re typically on YouTube most often, and sometimes Vevo and Vimeo. Don’t forget, Google owns YouTube, and Google has the Google Play music store, as well as many devices, so some kind of system-wide integration makes sense. Whatever gives me more hilarious cat videos on demand will make me a happy listener.
Listen to The xx Cover Kings of Tomorrow on BBC
The xx stopped by BBC Radio 1’s Live Lounge Late, where bands play covers of other band’s tracks. The xx covered a single from 2000 – the Kings of Tomorrow track Finally. It has the classic xx sound, and could easily pass for one of their own. Check it out below and pretend it’s a new, original track.
