Music Industry

iTunes will live-stream a concert by Sir Paul McCartney at Capitol Studios in Hollywood tomorrow night (February 9) where he'll play the entirety of his new record Kisses on the Bottom. This has led some observers to speculate that the ex-Beatle has wiped his catalog from streaming services in order to give iTunes a big exclusive — his music is mostly missing from Spotify, but his solo work is still, for the most part, fully available to subscribers on streaming sites like Rdio and Rhapsody.

According to a report from Digital Music News, most of McCartney's releases were removed from Spotify two years ago. The move wasn't out of character for the knight; the Beatles have a long-standing history of digital curmudgeonry (they're not available on Spotify, either). Could McCartney's camp also be of the mindset that streaming music cannibalizes sales? Considering McCartney's own catalog has been available via iTunes since as early as 2007 (it took the Beatles three years longer to follow suit), we doubt it. His reps couldn't be reached for comment for the time being, but we're guessing the live-streamed performance, at least, is the next step in the artist's slow chug toward the future — the man is pushing 70, for heaven's sake, not 40. Baby steps, Paul.

The only solo McCartney material you can hear on Spotify includes tracks that have been licensed via a handful of compilations (like last year's Rave On, Buddy Holly and an album of James Bond theme songs). Scan a Paul McCartney Pandora or Last.fm station and you're likely to only get a handful of tracks off All the Best (though discerning whether something has been pulled from a radio service is trickier than a simple library site like Spotify).

Below is a list of albums that have supposedly been pulled, and where to find them:

Paul McCartney:
All The Best (available via Rdio)
Driving Rain (available via Rdio)
Flaming Pie (available via Rdio)
McCartney II (available via Rdio, Rhapsody)
Off the Ground (available via Rdio)
Paul is Live (available via Rdio, Rhapsody)
Run Devil Run (available via Rdio)
Tripping the Live Fantastic (available via Rdio, Rhapsody)
Tripping the Live Fantastic Highlights! (no sign of this one)
Tug of War (available via Rdio, Rhapsody)
Unplugged: The Official Soundtrack (the Bootleg available via Rhapsody)
Wingspan (available via Rhapsody)

Wings:
Back to the Egg (available via Rdio)
London Town (available via Rdio)
Wings Over America (available via Rdio)
Wings at the Speed of Sound (available via Rhapsody)

Paul McCartney and Wings:
Red Rose Speedway (available via Rhapsody)

First! Adele held on to the No. 1 spot on Billboard's Top 200 albums chart for a 19th non-consecutive week. The British singer's 21 sold 122,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan. That means Adele's sophomore LP has now spent more weeks atop the chart than any album other than The Bodyguard soundtrack, whose 20-week mark she can match if she holds off this week's releases by Van Halen and the Fray to keep the top spot next week. But remember, this isn't consecutive, so Adele could still keep setting records even if 21 falters for one week.

2 Through 10: And the winner of this week's Best-Selling Non-Adele Album honors is... Lana Del Rey. The "Video Games" singer's Born to Die debuted at No. 2 with 77,000 copies sold. That's the highest first-week chart placement for a female artist's major-label debut since America's Got Talent contestant Jackie Evancho's Dream With Me entered at No. 2 last July. (Hey, Saturday Night Live bookers: Jackie wuz ROBBED.) Behind Del Rey was Leonard Cohen, who scored his highest chart placement ever as his Old Ideas bowed at No. 3 (41,000). Gospel artist Fred Hammond's God, Love & Romance debuted at No. 8 (26,000), but otherwise the charts were filled with returning albums. The 2012 Grammy Nominees compilation sat tight at No. 4 (34,000), followed by Kidz Bop 21 (30,000), Drake's Take Care (slightly less than 30,000), and Tim McGraw's Emotional Traffic (29,000). Rounding out the Top 10 were Super Bowl performers LMFAO's WalMart- and iTunes-discounted Sorry for Party Rocking (22,000) along with Rihanna's Target-discounted Talk That Talk (22,000). Let's hear it for commoditization, people.

'Stronger,' After All: Kelly Clarkson's "What Doesn't Kill You (Stronger)" continued its surge up Billboard's Hot 100 songs chart, bumping Adele's "Set Fire to the Rain" to claim the No. 1 spot. The former American Idol contestant's third chart-topping hit follows her Super Bowl rendition of the national anthem. "Stronger" also features in a new Toyota TV commercial. Both Clarkson and Adele are slated to perform at Sunday's Grammy Awards ceremony, thus putting them in direct competition. See, pop music can be like sports!

What About Madonna? Don't worry, the Material Girl got plenty of attention last week. "Give Me All Your Luvin'," which Madonna performed at the Super Bowl halftime show with Nicki Minaj and (fake scandal alert!) M.I.A., entered the Hot 100 at No. 13. The song is the first single from Madonna's upcoming 12th album, MDNA, but does anybody else think "Gimme All Your Luvin'" would've been a catchier title? I mean, we've already got "luvin," so Madge ain't exactly using W.E.'s English here. Anyway, the pop queen's Celebration greatest hits album also re-entered the Top 200 albums chart, at No. 24 (16,000).

Feeling Better: Eclectic Belgian-Australian artist Gotye's Making Mirrors jumped from No. 45 to No. 20 (18,000) upon finally receiving a physical CD release — and that famous Jimmy Kimmel bump.

Casey James has March 27 circled on the calendar. That is, as you can imagine, the release date of his self-titled debut album. The Texas native feels that having a record out will make him feel a little more legitimate in the music business.

From Gaga's family venture to the overwhelming number of chicken chains from rappers, music stars are no strangers to the restaurant biz. Check out 10 restaurants with ownership ties in the music industry.

The good news: The recently reunited surviving members of the Beach Boys just announced that they will perform for the first time in nearly 20 years at the Grammys on Sunday. The bad news: despite having a sheer plethora of nominated artists at their disposal for collaboration, the band (now consisting of Brian Wilson, Mike Love, Al Jardine, and early members David Marks and Bruce Johnston) will be performing with, amazingly, Maroon 5 and Foster the People.

In terms of broadcast viewership for the event, the pairing makes sense: both Foster and Maroon 5 had an inexplicably fantastic 2011 with their respective inescapable singles, "Pumped Up Kicks" and "Moves Like Jagger." One could also loosely associate both acts with the Beach Boys in terms of their Southern California roots, and think, OK, maybe the younguns will tone down their indie-bro-pop and defer to the masters (whose latest release, Smile Sessions, is divine, we might add) for the occasion.

But then one considers all the other acts that will be at the Grammys, and…wait, seriously? We have to believe that Foster the People and Maroon 5 weren't the first choices on this momentous occasion that has not happened for 20 years. It's like the Halley's Comet of live music. What were Foo Fighters, who are nominated for Best Rock Album and Album of the Year, doing on Grammy night that rendered the heartbreakingly adorable mashup of "Best of You" and "God Only Knows" we've imagined in our brains totally out of the question? Bruno Mars is performing solo; couldn't the vintage-infused crooner have mixed his doo-wop with the Beach Boys' surf harmonies better than the Voice judge whose own music gets made fun of by even Fox News? And come on — not even Taylor Swift? (And we can't say for certain, but we're pretty sure that Bon Iver wouldn't have turned down the chance to perform with legends, so we'll just continue believing the National Academy of the Recording Arts and Sciences wanted them to play with Foster the People, too.) Who let this happen?

We're praying the world won't have to witness poor Brian Wilson singing "Take me by the tongue / And I'll know you / Kiss me 'til you're drunk / And I'll show you." But hey, at least it's not more Chris Brown. Or, heaven forbid, more Hootie.

Van Halen might be on its way to a sixth career No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 chart -- unless Adele's "21" stands in the veteran band's way.

The word is out: Sleigh Bells are on the next cover of SPIN! Oh, and they're playing Saturday Night Live, too. First, the SNL details: Alexis Krauss and Derek Miller will appear on the Maya Rudolph-hosted February 18 show, performing two songs from February 21's Reign of Terror, “Comeback Kid” and “End of the Line." If they're lucky, they'll get to appear in a sketch where the Bridesmaids star is doing her killer Donatella Versace impression. Unfortunately, that means folks planning to attend their Toronto and Washington, D.C. shows on the 16th and 18th are a little out of luck (they've been rescheduled for March 26 and 27, respectively).

Now the important stuff: Sleigh Bells will appear on the cover of SPIN's first freshly designed March/April issue, on newsstands February 28. David Marchese goes behind the scenes during the making of Reign of Terror, and finds that even a record this fun has some dark secrets behind it.

We'll have more Sleigh Bells goodies here on SPIN.com in the coming days. In the meantime, we have fantastic — and, we should mention, exclusive! — photos of the band as they launched their Paradise Lost tour in Florida over the weekend, as well as some first listens to new music and an in the studio interview:

• Sleigh Bells Slay Tampa: Exclusive Live Shots From 'Paradise Lost' Tour
• Sleigh Bells Make It 'Reign': Exclusive In the Studio
• Sleigh Bells Exclusive: Hear New Single 'Born to Lose'
• Guns'n'Guitars: Watch Sleigh Bells Get Wild in 'Comeback Kid' Video

Kool & the Gang plan to celebrate plenty of good times on the road with Van Halen in the coming weeks -- even if the rest of the world seems to think it's an incredibly odd pairing.

The "Yella Diamonds" clip features Ross as a ruthless drug czar who serves up some painful revenge for an associate who double-crossed the biggest boss in the game.

The ACM has announced the first-ever ACM Experience, a free, open-to-the public event [...]

Emmylou Harris will be honored at a Feb. 21 fundraiser for The Park Center [...]

Aldean's "Tattoos" • SESAC Picks Up Stone • Singles Only Shows Some Heart

Kanye West will debut his new clothing line at Paris fashion week.

They don’t call it Country Music City, just Music City, and this week we’re celebrating [...]

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The pair performed live from the Pepsi Super Bowl Fan Jam [...]

Big Loud Shirt Industries, producer/songwriter Joey Moi, and artist manager Kevin “Chief” Zaruk have combined forces [...]

As New York Fashion Week kicks off today, designers are making sure their fall/winter 2012 collections are just so, and that their runway shows have all the finishing touches. One crucial flourish: the runway playlist. Here are our picks for ten hot tracks we want to hear on the catwalk.

The godfathers of contemporary electronic dance music appear to be working on their next album with one of the godfathers of dance music's original American chart takeover. On Monday, Houston's Culture Map reported that Chic guitarist Nile Rodgers, who gave disco a healthy jolt of funk before going on to produce such albums as David Bowie's Let's Dance and Madonna's Like a Virgin, would be meeting with Daft Punk about the French duo's upcoming fourth album. And now Rogers has reportedly confirmed the collaboration, which is potentially awesome news for anyone with ears and/or asses.

Australia's Faster Louder spoke with Rodgers on the occasion of Chic's impending Australian tour. Daft Punk's Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo and Thomas Bangalter had just been at his place, according to Rodgers. "We were just jamming at my house, but it's gonna be proper and real," he's quoted as saying. "They came over to my today around breakfast time and it's now evening I basically had to almost kick them out. We were having so much fun just in an informal setting that we decided to make it formal. And it's very formal. It's gonna be amazing."

Rodgers and Daft Punk have known each other for a long time, but never closely, he went on. "So today was the first chance we had to spend hours and hours together and it was just so awesome," he told Faster Louder. "Every track they played I just ran across the room and got my guitar and started playing and we were all dancing around my dining room having the time of our lives. It was something that was meant to be. It was interesting how Thomas said to me: 'It's funny Nile, it's like we've completed the circle.' " Any circle that involves Daft Punk dancing around a room with Nile Rodgers is a circle that must be completed.

Below, here are several of Rodgers' best-known collaborations, including one or two that might be relatively unexpected to those not already familiar ("Love Shack"?!):

1. Chic, "Le Freak"

2. Sister Sledge, "We Are Family"

3. Diana Ross, "I'm Coming Out"

4. Madonna, "Like a Virgin"

5. David Bowie, "Let's Dance"

6. Duran Duran, "Notorious"

7. The B-52s, "Love Shack

“We just woke up one day and decided to film a video,” says Elias Bender Rønnenfelt, one-half of Danish post-punk project War. “We didn’t know what to do or what to film. So we drove away as fast as we could until we found something that seemed good.”

Where Rønnenfelt and collaborator Loke Rahbek landed was Brøndby, a sort of suburb to their native Copenhagen and languid setting to self-directed visual below for “Brodermordet," a four-track house cut and underwater B-side to their forthcoming At War for Youth 7”. Rønnenfelt (who also fronts Iceage) and Rahbek (frontman for Sexdrome who also co-runs the Danish label Posh Isolation) started working together two years ago, sneaking out of school on Thursdays to work on songs in Rahbek’s nearby rehearsal space.

“It feels like a distant world in the sense that none of us have ever really been part of a club scene,” Rahbek says of “Brodermordet," which also doubles as a comment on fratricide as inspired by the story of Cain and Abel. “The idea was to make something that sounds like standing outside of the club while music is playing inside.” It’s due February 21 from Sacred Bones, with more music from War still to come.

“We just recorded a really good song,” says Rønnenfelt proudly, of "INn Your Arms (Final Fantasy)", a "vulnerable pop song" to appear on a Sacred Bones' official Record Store Day compilation, Todo Muere Vol. 2. “Yeah, it’s great,” Rahbek adds. “It’s 6 a.m. club music, like when you’re going home and you’re really smashed on pills.” The video is already in the works.

Check out who's stopped through the studio and laced tracks with Pharrell.