Morning Music Notes – How to write a pop hit in 3 hours

Amy Winehouse bio talks shop
The late singer’s father – Mitch Winehouse – has released a memoir of his daughter – fittingly called Amy – My Daughter. In it, he discusses the creation of her hit ‘Rehab’:

She told [Ronson] about the time at my house after she’d been in hospital when everyone had been going on at her about her drinking. ‘You know they tried to make me go to rehab, and I told them, no, no, no

He goes on to discuss Amy’s initial trouble recording with Mark Ronson’s 60’s pop grooves – given her jazz background. Looks like this will be an interesting read. The book comes out tomorrow (June 28th).
Via NME…

Justin Bieber sells many albums, ProActive, Soul
Justin Bieber’s new album Believe has sold 374,000 albums in its first week. Sure – it’s complete crap. But, it deserves notice because: a) it is his 4th #1 album on the Billboard 200 before his 19th birthday; and b) There’s lots of room for everybody to make and enjoy music.
Via Billboard…

Best Coast and Iggy Pop duet
The legendary punk singer Iggy Pop and Best Coast frontwoman Bethany Cosentino have teamed up record a song for an upcoming episode of True Blood – which is a TV show about vampires, or wolves, or something…
The song is called ‘Let’s Boot and Riot’ and will appear in the July 8 episode.
Via NME…

A$AP Rocky Studio Album on the way
The NYC rapper made the announcement last week that a new album LiveLongA$AP will be released as a studio album on September 11.
Following releases with A$AP Rocky is really confusing – as much of his material up to this point has been on mixtapes (either his own or others’). The good part, however, is that it is all amazing – and you should make a point to check this album out when it gets released!
Via Pitchfork…

iTunes opens up shop in Asia
Citizens of Brunei, Cambodia, Hong Kong, Laos, Macau, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, Sri Lanka and Vietnam can now pay 99 cents-a-song like the rest of us (suckers! wait…). Apple opened up iTunes stores in these countries yesterday – featuring 20 million local and international acts.
Via Digital Trends…