2018 Archives | Alan Cross' A Journal of Musical Things

These global album sales numbers from 2018 underscore how much the music industry has changed.

Album sales continue to crater as more and more of the planet moves to streaming. The International Federation of the

Here we go again – the remainder of this year’s best albums, according to a whack of publications and somewhat

[Danny Fournier of Edmonton’s Oddball Productions is always sending interesting/weird stories this way. His latest contribution is a list of

Let’s start with this – this article may take a while to load on your device. There are a LOT

Shazam, the magical audio identification app (now owned by Apple, by the way), is always collecting data on what songs

Google is forever collecting data on what sorts of thing we search for. The 2018 edition of Year in Search

Back in the 1930s when music charts first appeared, songs were ranked on not how many times they were played

More year-end fun, this time with a look at what lyrics people searched for the most. LyricFind, the Canadian-based lyric

Each year around this time, YouTube issues its Rewind lists, which is a look back to the videos Canadians watched

Twitter is the latest online platform to provide us with a roundup of data from 2018. Here are some highlights:

More year-end list fun. Both Spotify and Amazon Prime have published their lists of the most popular music of 2018.

Being your Authentic Self – Richard Crouse in conversation with TBP Podcast EP 035 July 2, 2021
You would be given a free pass if you forgot that before the rise of the social media influencer there were already pundits and personalities on TV, radio and print. There’s just been that much exponential change in the media business over the last 15 years. Yet today, those who were formerly the audience are […]
Mark Silver
The Business of Radio – Elliott Hurst in conversation with TBP Podcast EP 034 June 21, 2021
The commercialization of streaming audio is not a new phenomenon. Going back 100 years, it was simply known by another name, broadcasting. With the launch, rise and now transition to digital and apps, the business models of audio-preneurs have generally been the same, mostly because of the challenge of measurement, a problem audio’s cousin television […]
Mark Silver
The Custodian of Toronto Sports – Richard Peddie in conversation with TBP Podcast EP 033 May 27, 2021
Over a 20+ year span, as the Toronto pro sports scene evolved from older venues and stands filled with blue and white (Leafs, Blue Jays, Argonauts) to a more intense red (Raptors, TFC), and grand coliseums that define the city’s skyline, there is one sports executive in particular who ownership looked to. We’re of course […]
Mark Silver