How We Listen is an interview series where Byta interviews artists, their teams, and everyone else working in music about how they find and listen to music, new and old.

Who are you?
Clotilde Bayle

Where are you based?
London, UK

Where do you work? What do you do?
I work at 4AD, as an A&R. Very new to the label, got hired full time around May/June! Used to work in live music before that, repping shows, carrying gear around etc.

What are you listening to?
Recurrent question in my life, a lot of music..!

Apart from 4AD goodies (upcoming Big Thief, Aldous Harding and Hollie Herndon in particular) I try and focus on new and upcoming stuff.

Recently, I really enjoyed Bill Ryder Jones, Helado Negro, Angelo de Augustine, Haley Heynderickx, Blake Mills, Yves Tumor, Galcher Lustwerk, Abul Mogard, Tirzah, Tierra Whack, Teyana Taylor, Standing On The Corner… A lot of good music out there!

How do you find new music?
I use Bandcamp, follow all the small record labels / artists I am interested in. Do the same thing on Soundcloud.
Read the press a lot (Bandcamp Daily, The Quietus, Loud & Quiet, Pitchfork, Stereogum, London in Stereo, Gorilla vs Bear, Crack, etc etc). Also follow their playlists on Spotify if they have any, follow other tastemakers’ playlists (record labels have some, or musicians like Danger Mouse or Four Tet, etc.).

I also subscribe to mailing lists, PR companies, artists, labels, publishers, promoters, they all have some… I make sure I’m aware of what’s going on, a lot of digging around!

I also share a lot of music with my friends and listen to their suggestions. I’m grateful for the golden ears around me, a lot of very talented people in my life.
Listen to digital radio like NTS or Balamii, follow hosts I love, check tracklists for all their shows.

Follow bands I like, check who’s supporting when they headline / tour, you find similar artists that way. Obviously going to a lot of shows helps to discover new music, sometimes go to 5/6 a week. Going to sound very cheesy but finding new music is a lifestyle not just a job!

Always read/listen to artists’ interviews. I’ve come across a lot of magical music that way, there might be a ‘what’s in your bag’ kind of question in there. Found (Sandy) Alex G’s bandcamp thanks to an Unknown Mortal Orchestra’s interview for instance, life-changing moment.

What formats do you usually listen to? LP, CD, Cassette, Digital, Streaming Service and why?
I grew up buying CDs, that’s what my parents are into. So have quite a lot of CDs actually! I get sent a lot of CDs at work but don’t have a CD player in the office. I’d say that’s the format I’m not really using anymore…
I still buy cassettes yes! Every now and then. They’re cute, I have a thing for them.

Analog vs Digital… We all know the pros and cons, right? I do buy vinyl, when I’m home chilling, nothing like a warm beautiful listening session.
Although I spend a countless amount of time on my computer, both are essential to my life.
Digital is how I find music, analog is how I thank the artist for the good music? I obviously pay subscriptions for various streaming services, but there is something about buying a vinyl and having a tangible piece of the work in your hands.

Where do you do most of your music listening?
Everywhere. At work, at home, when commuting. At work, we have a very good sound system (Bowers and Wilkins speakers and quad 77 amp). It’s another level, feels like the artist is in the room when you play the music.
Also, just got a pair of AIAIAI, TMA-2 Tonmeister Preset, really recommend them if you have long listening sessions, very comfortable. I was on the plane back from SXSW and listened to music nearly non-stop from Austin to London.
Otherwise, at home we have two turntables in our living room, my housemate mixes! Another turntable in the bedroom, portable speakers for rooms without a turntable… music house!

How do find and listen to pre-release music?
A big part of my job is finding new music pre-release so I find myself asking for a lot of unreleased music. It generally happens via email, I get in touch with management or directly to the artist.

I do pay a lot of attention on who premieres the track I’m interested in when it happens.

What are your frustrations with listening to music digitally? Any benefits?
I quite like private Soundcloud links, Dropbox, Drive or special password on the artist’s website, it’s more organised.

I’m not a fan of download links in emails, often the files names are “0999922.mp3’ go and find something like that in your iTunes..! I do download files to upload to iTunes but that’s often albums I’m really looking forward to via Promojukebox.

How do you keep track of everything you are listening to?
I have genre playlists where I pile up songs I like on Spotify, also a gig calendar to remember who’s playing where and when. Also have a monthly playlist! Also a calendar with release dates.
Usually remember what I love, but I’d be lost without all this, they’re my bibles!
I often do one pagers about artists I like too, with all the necessary info and key press coverage.

Do you tip other people off to new music? How?
Yes! Just trying to help artists I love in any way I can, whether it’s telling friends to come to the show, finding them a promoter, a manager, a place to rehearse, pr, etc. put people in touch.
Also, often think ‘I know this person is going to like this song’ so share it, music is all about sharing! It’s a way of saying ‘Hey, I think about you’.

Anything you want to “promote”?
Shoutout to Squid! My favourite band right now, had the best time seeing them in Austin. They’re really blossoming into something insanely good and I’m so excited for what’s to come. Also, they’re very sweet people and have an amazing team around them.
Penelope Isles, Gong Gong Gong and Gia Margaret were great at SXSW too.
Also check out Maria Somerville – All My People (her NTS mixes too, so good!)
Lucinda Chua – Antidotes 1 a very very talented cellist, singer songwriter, her music is addictive and this EP is finally out for the world to hear!

How We Listen is an interview series where Byta interviews artists, their teams, and everyone else working in music about how they find and listen to music, new and old.

Photo: Sebastian Oskar Kroll

Who are you?
Wyndham Wallace

Where are you based?
Berlin, Germany. I moved here from London in late 2004, but it’s Theresa May who made me German. Or half German, at least. Still, right now I’m proud of that: before this, I’d never lived in the same place for more than three years in my life, so it’s definitely home, and I’m only sad that my first country forced me to take this action in order to continue my life, when there are plenty of people in far greater need of the attentions of the German immigration system. I know you didn’t ask that, but I think it needs to be said.

Where do you work? What do you do?
I was once a PR, A&R and manager, but these days I’m a freelance writer and consultant, so I work wherever I am. I published my first book, Lee, Myself & I, (about my time working with singer, songwriter and producer Lee Hazlewood) a few years back, and contribute regularly to Uncut, Classic Pop and Long Live Vinyl, as well as sometimes (not nearly enough) to The Quietus. You’ll also find me hosting panels at music conferences, translating & subtitling German movies like ‘Victoria’, writing travel guides to Norway, directing voice-overs, and I can be seen ‘fronting’ the forthcoming documentary ‘Almost Fashionable: A Film About Travis’.

What are you listening to?
Right now, I’m working my way through the 200 or so albums I’ve been sent for May release so that I can prepare my pitches. In a week or so, I’ll start reviewing some of them. Normally I write about 30 album reviews a month across a huge spectrum of styles. But that Specials album is just what we need right now, and I’ve also been enjoying digging into albums by Giggs, Stubbleman, Prins Thomas, and Dub Sex, whose work’s just being reissued and everyone should hear. ‘Swerve’’s amazing!

How do you find new music?
I open my email inbox. Music gets sent to me – relentlessly – day and night, hour after hour. It’s an awful thing to say, given the fact that most people think music critics should be out there hunting down new music, but my Mac is generally about as far as I go, unless something truly remarkable crosses my path via some other circuitous route. Obviously I’ll come across something on social media from time to time – Kramies and Arvo Party were the last wonderful things I found that way – and friends, especially musicians, will recommend stuff now and then. When I’m at working at conferences, I try to check stuff out in the evening, too. But I rarely hunt stuff out the way I did when I was younger and less deaf: I just wait till my curiosity is piqued, whether it be by a press release, or a name, or a tune in a TV show, or a recommendation from a friend. A man’s gotta sleep.

What formats do you usually listen to? LP, CD, Cassette, Digital, Streaming Service and why?
For my work, I’m almost exclusively digital. I used to love being sent CDs, but my apartment’s full enough I’m now having to get rid of them, and I think it’s a waste of the world’s resources to send them uninvited when most music is average at best and I can simply click a link instead. If I like something, I’ll ask for a download, and if I really like something, I’ll ask for vinyl, a format I use as a way of filtering my collection. If I’ve got it on vinyl, in other words, I must really like it. If I have guests over, too, they enjoy the ritual of vinyl. So few of us play LPs anymore that people really seem to appreciate it when it happens.

Generally, when it comes to new music, I’d far rather check something online, then decide if it needs to become any more physical. As for streaming on services like Spotify, especially for pleasure, I do it as little as possible. I don’t have the spare time for yet more music to justify a subscription, and any extended listening session in the part of the world where I live is interrupted by ads for German or Turkish hip hop. Given my own tastes, that’s quite jarring.

Where do you do most of your music listening?
In my office, where I play stuff via a BOSE speaker (and that also accompanies me to my bedroom sometimes), or my sitting room, where I’ve got a proper old school hi-fi separates set-up, most of it bought at Richer Sounds at the turn of the century. Obviously that’s a more satisfying aural experience, though that Bose is punchy as hell. I invested in a rather smart new record player a few years back, too, and it might be time to spoil myself with some new speakers soon.
I also listen to music when I travel, which is pretty often, for which I use Pioneer Bluetooth headphones, and when I go running, which often allows me to listen to a record really closely before I review it, though those headphones are rather more battered and sweaty, I gotta concede.

How do find and listen to pre-release music?
As I said above, it gets sent to me. Endlessly. Don’t get me wrong: it’s a privilege. But it’s quite an undertaking to try to give everything a chance.

What are your frustrations with listening to music digitally? Any benefits?
I have an unreliable wifi signal which Deutsche Telekom refuse to accept has anything to do with them, so streaming can be frustrating. I also really resent not having credits etc easily to hand. My inclinations are furthered by how large numbers of the streaming systems used by labels for promotion can be a pain in the ass: they stop, or you can’t skip back or forwards easily, or you don’t have label copy, or they lock you out because you’ve maxed out by logging in and out to listen to a record a whole five times while reviewing it.

On the upside, if I listen to something and don’t like it, I’m done. I’d also always rather stream first rather than download without some sense of what I’m putting into my iTunes, because my iTunes already has enough music to play for almost 150 days without a pause and I think it’s going to burst.

I’m not one of those people who thinks digital music sounds terrible compared to vinyl or CD. Worse, sure. But terrible? Nah. I’ll play mp3s happily, and God knows they weigh less. It’s amazing to think I used to travel with 30 or so CDs in my bag…

How do you keep track of everything you are listening to?
I have a geeky side, and keep an Excel spreadsheet with release dates and artist names, plus I try to add a soundbite after I’ve listened to something to remind me why I did or didn’t like it. Many of them just say ‘Blah’ or ‘Nah’. I’ve done this for a decade now, and without it I would have no idea how to manoeuvre. When I need something, I simply search for the artist’s name in my Inbox – if something’s arrived via CD, of course, I try to note this – and the only time this doesn’t work is when a PR fails to include the artist’s name in the subject header, or uses a system that doesn’t bother to include the artist’s name. I’m always amazed by how often that happens, actually. Seriously: if you can’t include the artist’s name in the email header, why are you even bothering to send me music?

Do you tip other people off to new music? How?
Of course! I bloody well hope so! That’s my job! I also do it in person or via social media, though I maybe do it less than I used to, mainly because I’m too busy ranting about Brexit and Trump. But people have enough opportunities to find out what I think without me rambling about it all day and night.

Anything you want to “promote”?
Yeah, since you ask…
Lisa Morgenstern is the best Berlin based singer, writer and musician I’ve seen since I moved here almost 15 years, and the fact no one’s signed her is not to the industry’s credit. She’s putting out her debut album herself in the coming weeks, and you gotta just sit down and let it do its work in one sitting. I got lost in that record for weeks at a time when she first gave it to me. It’s totally spellbinding.

‘Almost Fashionable: A Film About Travis’ will hopefully be out later this year. It’s an hour long documentary I helped make – directed by Fran Healy – about why I didn’t like the band, and more generally how such opinions aren’t always based on the things we think they are. One of the great joys of getting older is having one’s preconceptions and prejudices challenged. I never, ever thought I’d give Bananarama a great review, but wait till you read the next issue of Classic Pop! And that doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy the current round of Caspar Brotzmann reissues as well. As I like to remind people, it’s all just vibrating air…

How We Listen is an interview series where Byta interviews artists, their teams, and everyone else working in music about how they find and listen to music, new and old.

Who are you?
Allison Outhit, VP International Business Development for Six Shooter Records.

Where are you based?
Toronto, Canada

Where do you work? What do you do?
I work at Six Shooter Records, an independent record label and artist management company based in Toronto, Canada. We also own the Interstellar Rodeo, an annual music festival in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. As VP International Business Development, my job is to help our artists break into new markets; to help develop and sustain their careers internationally. I go to conferences, festivals, and road trips to meet people and build networks and teams of agents, marketing, PR personnel and so on, putting boots on the ground, as it were, around the world. It’s pretty much the best job in music, if you ask me.

What are you listening to?
Like my job, my tastes are fairly far-ranging. I’m obsessed right now with Maarja Nuut, an Estonian violinist/vocalist who put out an album last year with an electronic artist called Ruum. I listen to a lot of neoclassical composers, and also a fair bit of hip hop, soul and R&B, especially Canadian artists like Sean Leon, Charlotte Day Wilson, Harrison, Sydanie, 88Glam, Haviah Mighty, The Sorority, Kaytranada… . I used be all about indie rock and folk/Americana, but now I only get excited about new female artists. Sorry lads, but I feel like I’ve heard most of what white guys have to say.

How do you find new music?
So many ways! New stuff comes to me via playlists like Northern Bars on Spotify, Canadian music blogs like Said the Gramophone and Ride the Tempo, Hip Hop Canada, The Lake Radio, NPR’s Tiny Desk series, label newsletters, and word of mouth every day. I use the Artist Radio feature on Spotify to go sideways to new artists. For some things I seek a more finely curated discovery path. Like, as a white grandmother, hip hop is not native to my demographic, so I have my personal hip hop guide, my friend Tia who is a 24-year-old insider who lives on Instagram. She has great ears and knows everything. When she comes across something she thinks I’ll like, she texts me! She’s never wrong. For more “outside” experimental stuff my go-to is The Quietus. Their year-end lists are a treasure trove. My husband is the editor-in-chief of Exclaim! Magazine, so he is tapped in to a lot of new stuff. I follow loads of music critics and good-taste-having people on Twitter and Instagram.

What formats do you usually listen to? LP, CD, Cassette, Digital, Streaming Service and why?
I stopped listening to CDs years ago. As a child of peak vinyl, I always hated CDs and I’m delighted to have been proven right: they are an annoying waste. I stream all day long (Spotify, but I sure miss Rdio); if there’s something I really like, I buy it on vinyl. I love special-ordering vinyl! Nothing beats the excitement of coming home to a cardboard package shipped from Finland containing a 180 gram deluxe coloured vinyl double-gatefold edition of whatever. It reminds me of the early 80s, when I spent all my money on punk and new wave imports.

As for audio quality – I’m not a robot and my sense of hearing isn’t so intense that I can honestly say I notice differences in audio quality unless it’s really obvious (e.g., bad mastering). For me, vinyl is a tactile experience – the weight and size of an LP, the artwork, sliding the thing out of the sleeve – it’s still magic.

Cassettes are the waxed handlebar mustache of music formats, so no, I don’t listen to them… unless we’re talking about my greatest mixtapes from the early 80s, with homemade collage covers, which I still have. Someone’s gotta keep the memory of Sex Gang Children alive.

Where do you do most of your music listening?
I listen at work all day long. I’m happy to let the Spotify mixbot do its thing. At home, I listen to records while I’m cooking, cleaning, or just hanging out having a glass of wine. The radio in my car is tuned to 93.5 FLOW, Toronto’s hip hop station; that’s where I discovered how annoyingly sticky anything by Post Malone is. They’ve recently increased their coverage of Canadian artists, so while it’s still very Drake/Weeknd heavy, they’re starting to play more local Canadian artists too (shout out the Made in Toronto Takeover). More of that please.

How do find and listen to pre-release music?
Because I work in the music industry and have done for many years, people send me stuff, usually Soundcloud links or secret webpages. Exclaim! often has good pre-release features too. I love a good festival/showcase discovery. Sometimes those gigs are a shitshow and other times you see a band that just kills it live and then you love them forever (shout out La Dame Blanche, Dream Wife).

What are your frustrations with listening to music digitally? Any benefits?
What’s iTunes?

I get, and will click, email links to Soundcloud, Bandcamp and Spotify. I don’t tend to notice ads. I’m annoyed that Spotify doesn’t let you track releases by label – that was a great feature on Rdio that was a super useful discovery tool – but other than that I don’t have any frustrations with digital music. I do have a HUGE beef with Canada’s ISPs. Bandwidth is expensive in Canada, and I’m certain the ISPs throttle AV content; they are not net-neutral. We keep upgrading our ISP account, to no avail – we go over our limit a lot, and our up- and download speeds are wildly asymmetrical.

How do you keep track of everything you are listening to?
I don’t, really. I mean, obviously Spotify tracks what I have recently or frequently listened to. When my husband James or I buy new vinyl, it lives in a stack by the stereo for a few weeks until it gets filed (alphabetically of course)… I have definitely forgotten that I bought a thing, only to buy it again. Or to find it on the shelf and go, hey, what’s this? James has most of our library catalogued on Discogs, but when we go record shopping I never remember what I want or need!

Do you tip other people off to new music? How?
I’m old, so I still post to Facebook. I share a lot of things through Twitter and Instagram too.

Anything you want to “promote”?
Six Shooter has a pretty diverse label and management roster with great established Canadian bands (e.g. Rheostatics, Whitehorse). I’m excited about our newest signings The Dead South, Zaki Ibrahim (polished, intellectual soul), Riit (electropop sung in Inuktitut) and the heartachingly great singer-songwriter William Prince. We also work with Tanya Tagaq, and there aren’t enough words to describe how awesome she is.

I love the discovery and near-universal availability of streamed music, but I want to promote buying music directly from artists, wherever and whenever possible. Ideally off the merch table. When you buy physical product that way, there’s a good chance more of it winds up in the artist’s pocket than if you buy it in a store. But second, support your local record store! Shout out to Invisible City and June Records, two great shops near my home, and the long-standing Sonic Boom which continues to eat a chunk of my paycheck every month.

How We Listen is an interview series where Byta interviews artists, their teams, and everyone else working in music about how they find and listen to music, new and old.

Who are you?
Amber Horsburgh

Where are you based?
Los Angeles, USA

Where do you work? What do you do?
I’m an independent marketing consultant helping major artists with brand strategy and content creation. I write about music strategy for label marketers and artists through my newsletter, Deep Cuts (subscribe). Prior to that I was SVP of Strategy at Downtown Records (NYC), Senior Strategist at Big Spaceship (YouTube, Samsung, Sonos, Google Play) and MTV.

What are you listening to?
Sharon Van Etten, Tommy Cash, Jessica Pratt, Jeff Tweedy and a healthy amount of Gaga.

How do you find new music?
The boring old ways, blogs (Pitchfork, Noisey, NPR, Dazed), podcasts (Song Exploder, Pop Shop), friends and whatever is overhead at the office.

What formats do you usually listen to? LP, CD, Cassette, Digital, Streaming Service and why?
Me personally, streaming mainly. I recently threw every single thing I owned out to go backpacking around the Middle East, Eastern Europe, and Africa for a year so went and sold all the last remaining CDs or vinyl I owned.

The formats people prefer is all down to how they listen to music.

Vinyl is often an active listening experience where the listener very intentionally picks out the piece and listens to it as an activity, whereas digital is more passive. There isn’t the same time or monetary investment as with physical formats so the listener is often less committed. Vinyl is an artist’s premium product, whereas digital is more utility, both are important from a marketing perspective but satisfy different uses. I did Vinyl Me, Please’s Cameron Schaefer who has great insight on vinyl listening behaviors and respective marketing.

Where do you do most of your music listening?
If an artist I care about releases something new I’ll sit down with it properly at home and listen top to bottom, but otherwise most of my streaming happens at work and the gym.

How do find and listen to pre-release music?
I get sent pre-released music through my work and friends if they want an opinion on anything, but I don’t seek out pre-released material.

What are your frustrations with listening to music digitally? Any benefits?
Two things:
1) I can’t keep track of it.
I don’t listen to Spotify created playlists, the music starts to sound all the same to me, but I’m too lazy to categorize and make my own so I find I listen and forget about so much good music.

2) Artist discovery is terrible.
You’re looking at basically a spreadsheet of words that play music, no branding, no imaging, no story. It’s impossible to get a hook on an artist if you do not immediately connect with the first 30 seconds of their track. It’s boring.

How do you keep track of everything you are listening to?
I don’t, really. I have a few private playlists that I update with new songs to not forget but nothing nearly as sophisticated as when I had physical music or even a digital library in iTunes.

With digital it’s really tough for new artists to get that follow or add to a playlist because it’s not the mainstream user behavior of streaming platforms. People’s music listening habits are driven by their emotions far more than they care to admit. Emotions, moods and events trigger listening patterns so for new artists they need to be top of mind when a listener is triggered. So, keeping track of new stuff may not be a reliable source of new fans but rather marketing initiatives that keep targeting new listeners. I write more about combatting this for artists in a recent post Playing to strangers: why people that have never heard of you are most profitable.

Do you tip other people off to new music? How?
Usually with videos, if the music is good but an artist has nailed their aesthetic and the videos are good, I’m hooked. I cannot stop shouting from the rooftops about Tommy Cash, I think he is a genius, so captivating, everything he releases whether it is official videos, merch, even status updates are more compelling than the next. His Pussy Money Weed video may be my favorite video of all time.

Anything you want to “promote”?
I’ve just started working on my own as a music marketing consultant, which is really fun, and gives me the chance to work on artists I’m most excited about. I write my Deep Cuts blog – all about music strategy that deeply analyzes marketing trends and tactics to build audience and creatively package music.

A good starting place to check out my writings are The A-Z of Artist Brand Building, Why the Music Business Gets Digital So Wrong and if you’re at labels or management firms check out my Bases Get Aces Album Promo Checklist and Music Marketer’s Toolbox (140 free and freemium tools for music marketers).

If you want to get in touch my Twitter and other contact details are here.

How We Listen is an interview series where Byta interviews artists, their teams, and everyone else working in music about how they find and listen to music, new and old.

Who are you?
Colin Mackenzie

Where are you based?
Montreal, Canada

Where do you work? What do you do?
Byta North America – preaching the gospel. Plus Envision Management and Production – artist strategy, grant writing. Management – artist Jerry Granelli, a great improv drummer (Vince Guaraldi Trio drummer, played on A Charlie Brown Christmas). Working on a short animated film with the NFB in Canada.

What are you listening to?
Lately – like right now..and this will change tomorrow, or next week…

New Jungle album is a fun listen – old disco vibes.. And yea, the videos are killer too. I am a sucker for Sharon Van Etten – always happy when a new album comes out from her direction. I just bought this old Kris Kristofferson album – The Silver Tongued Devil and I, his 2nd I think, sounds a lot like Leonard Cohen. Also Silla and Rise – two Inuit Throat singers and a DJ. I have been digging back into those recently released Prince demos – Piano & A Microphone 1983, I dig the new Neneh Cherry, the new Cat Power, Kamasi Washington, the new Charles Lloyd with Lucinda Williams, Bedouine, Brian Owens’ Soul of Cash – Johnny Cash tribute, a gift and I love it. New J Mascis is always a treat, new Jessica Moss is sonic poetry. It is all a bit schizophrenic, in that I am reading and listening to a lot of stuff and so end up jumping out of an article or podcast to dig into some music reference that was mentioned.. That can lead to the rabbit hole effect.. and popping my head out in the world of Chinese Hip Hop or Ukulele folk.

How do you find new music?
Strangely daytime is not where I make a lot of music discoveries – much of what we listen to at the Envision office does not tend to be “new music” – unless we get sent demos by one of the artists we work with. Folks tend to listen to their own soundtracks with headphones on. This is a new situation, due to growth at Envision (so all good) – used to just be two of us taking turns on the work day soundtrack – throwing down new discoveries for each other, which was fun. These days there are too many choices, too many tastes when it comes to our office Sonos system. That being said I do try and slip new discoveries into our office playlist.

But we do run Spotify, and so the playlists that get a lot of spins are: Spotify’s Outliers, Release Radar and Discovery Weekly. Then we punch in various genre names into the “playlists” and roll with that. When tension bubbles up, deadlines and such… the office requests anything “chill”. Basically put “Chill” in front of any genre of music.. And it ends up being a mellow office friendly version of that music, then I sometimes head for the earbuds. So right now, in these winter months I do crave and search out music that has a little more crunch/edge to it outside of office hours. I do have to admit I had no idea Chillhop was a thing…

Outside of the Spotify world, I check the Pitchfork reviews each morning as well as what is on the NPR First Listen, and will every two weeks or so tune into All Songs Considered also on NPR, I check Canada’s national music mag Exclaim, as well as music in The New Yorker. I also have an old school subscription to the Sunday New York Times and a French paper in Montreal Le Devoir. So I scan their music sections each week for tips/surprises as well.

I do not do Facebook, but I do hear about a lot of new music from emails via various publicists and record labels and a little from Twitter.

We work with a number of interesting artists at Envision and so I also come to a lot of music through their suggestions and who they might be working with or touring with at any given moment.

When I go out to see shows – opening bands can still be a great surprise.

What formats do you usually listen to? LP, CD, Cassette, Digital, Streaming Services? Why?
I listen to music at work, as well as at home. I like to dial in the RAWK station in my home town when driving solo that would be CHOM-FM (I heard some writer in New York asking if Rock radio is even still a thing.. Ahhhhh, yea dude, in Montreal it is). I like to tune in just to see how many tunes it takes them to get to a Led Zeppelin, or a Police, or Pink Floyd track. I make very few discoveries there but I do relive my 14 year old self. On longer trips in the car I will break out some new music. My family lives a 10 hour drive from me, so LOTS of driving time.. With a bluetooth speaker I mix it up between investigative and music podcasts like NYT’s Popcast and also play music on my iPhone and Spotify. The old car still has a CD player so I gather up my old music and toss a pile into the back seat, if I have company in the passenger seat they play DJ.

My dad just gave me an old CD player, Denon 5 CD player. So literally last night I put 5 CDs into the player at home and let it go – DJ Shuffle repeat – but I had no way to play a CD at home for about 6-9 months before that.

NO to cassettes, I got rid of my double cassette deck (for making dubs and mixtapes) about 8 years ago, but I still have some.. and yes to LPs. I have lots of LPs and still give them a spin and still buy them at shows, record shops.. In fact, I just replaced my needle/cartridge and a friend of mine just gave me a leather turntable matt (sorry PETA) not sure if it really works.. Am going to really test it with some new Jazz, Glenn Gould and yes my fresh new blue Sharon Van Etten album. I tend to by an LP by an artist I really like and want to support..often when I see them live.

A friend just gave me a classical album – Daniil Trifonov a crazy piano player, as well as a giant box set of John Coltrane LPs. So that may be my listening homework for the next few weeks.

A lot of what I listen to around the house can also end up being off Spotify. It is super easy…and I can call up whatever is on my brain or what I just read or heard about dip my toe in to see if its “just right”.

Where do you do most of your music listening?
Probably split between work and home.. And some in motion – walking with buds in my ears. Podcasts about music or music I have on my iPhone.. I do not have unlimited data so I will also download some albums on Spotify to listen to in transit
As mentioned I have Sonos at work.. at home too where the “stereo system – CD player and turntable, is nothing crazy or vintage (just old) or crazy high end (my friend’s turntable cartridge cost more than my whole set up), but solid and does the job and makes the piles of CDs and LPs seem relevant, helps rationalize the “collection” gets me out of my chair to flip an LP, look at the cover, liner notes.

How do find and listen to pre-release music?
Because of what I do for a living and some of my connections I do get advances from a few record companies – I download them to my computer and drag them into my iTunes. Also get advances through Byta. I tend to tune into various websites who do 1st listens, NPR, CBC Radio First Play, Pitchfork and the French side of CBC – in Montreal, NYT used to do some, Guardian, etc.

Of course I get tracks sent to me from the artists I work with – often private Soundcloud links, or via WeTransfer, DropBox, etc. I get sent rough demos and finished mixes, all pre-release material.

What are your frustrations with listening to music digitally? Any benefits?
I used to live and die with iTunes, but in the last couple of years it has become more of a pain in the ass. I stick with Spotify to quickly “listen” to anything anyone suggests to me – my fast fix.

Soundcloud links and streaming links in general actually have been frustrating because I will listen to the track and then a week later have no idea where the link is and have to go back to my email to dig around and try and remember where it came from and from who.

When I get sent tracks via WeTransfer I then need to download them to my computer, Dropbox, same thing.. and then I have to spend what seems like hours dropping in titles and names and such once I input the tracks into iTunes.

Trying to listen to anything on Youtube drives me nuts because it shuts down if you go someplace else on your iPhone. But that is a spot where I find things..

I notice more and more a lot of the artists of interest to me have stuff on BandCamp.

How do you keep track of everything you are listening to?
I will make playlists and am just starting to do a better job of putting a “star” on material in Spotify.
Obviously the LPs just keep taking up more and more room in my apartment, I need to do some spring cleaning in that dept for sure.. Just ask my partner…
I have a folder on my desktop at work and at home usually they contain different “albums” so I want to play something and it is literally left at work on my computer not synced on the mighty cloud so at home I can not listen to it if it is not out yet, on Spotify. I also, once a year or every 18 months.. Have to go through my laptop to “clean out” anything I do not need as my hard drive fills up with films and songs and pictures…

Do you tip other people off to new music? How?
Yes. Totally.

Every year I make a best of compilation – fave tracks from the year, I send that digital mixed tape- 15-20 tracks to about 50-60 people every Christmas Morning (North American time). That used to reflect music I had purchased over the last 12 months, but now it is just music I have heard that I liked, maybe bands I have been to live that past year and re-discoveries.

I also send notes to my friends, email a link, either a track, a video – YouTube, or an article about an artist, I let friends know a new album is out and they should check it out. I will even buy iTunes albums for friends to get them on-side (I have older friends)… Now also starting to send Spotify links to people if an album is out in the world.

Anything you want to “promote”?
Oh yea.. Lots of great things. New Tim Hecker Konoyo: kind of awesome, the Colin Stetson soundtrack to the horror film  Hereditary. Should definitely check out the “How To Be Alone” Tanya Davis video. Also new Richard Reed Parry video that goes with his new album Quiet River of Dust. Jerry Granelli’s album – Dance Hall some great versions of music he came up with, through his career. Great winter music: New Kid Koala album; Music to Draw to:io.

How We Listen is an interview series where Byta interviews artists, their teams, and everyone else working in music about how they find and listen to music, new and old.

Who are you?
I’m a pretty regular guy.

Where are you based?
I’m based in Stockholm since 2001.

Where do you work? What do you do?
I work with a “hybrid music company” that we call YEAR0001. There I oversee most of the daily company structure and direction.

What are you listening to?
Right now I’m listening to other people beating up their Macbook keyboards. Ever noticed the new Macbooks are so fucking LOUD?
Other than that I’ve been listening to a lot of 90’s stuff and early 00’s hiphop lately. It’s nice to look back and revisit old records sometimes.

How do you find new music?
After the record store / fanzine years I used to scour blogs, feeds, Myspace and Soundcloud. Nowadays I mostly get music sent to me by friends and co-workers or I find stuff in a few select playlists that I follow: YEAR0001 – Sounds, Warp Selections, True Panther Banter and Pollen.

What formats do you usually listen to? LP, CD, Cassette, Digital, Streaming Service and why?
Since streaming came (very early in Sweden obviously) I barely haven’t bought anything physical. Streaming is just too convenient. But I think it also has to do with the fact that I enjoy not having to much “stuff” around in life.

Where do you do most of your music listening?
That would be at work. I’m at my office between 9 to 12 hours a day right now and when I get home, usually the last thing I want to do is listen to music. I don’t even have a stereo system at home anymore. Kind of sad when I think about it.

How do find and listen to pre-release music?
I listen to unreleased music daily because my office is also a music studio. I’m a very active A&R with my artists and usually a part of the process from start to finish.

What are your frustrations with listening to music digitally? Any benefits?
Loading times. Data. No reception. Bluetooth. Constantly having a cellphone in your hand.

How do you keep track of everything you are listening to?
I don’t. But if I’m listening to Spotify I have like 3-4 playlists that I dump stuff into.

Do you tip other people off to new music? How?
Lot’s of ways. I have email circles, message threads, playlists. My close friends and people I trust I can send unreleased music via Byta for quick feedback.

Anything you want to “promote”?
I can’t wait for the world to hear this new Thaiboy Digital album we’re putting out this year. The title is “Legendary Member” and in my opinion it sounds like absolutely nothing else ever made.

How We Listen is an interview series where Byta interviews artists, their teams, and everyone else working in music about how they find and listen to music, new and old.

Who are you?
Dan Runcie

Where are you based?
San Francisco, CA, United States

Where do you work? What do you do?
I’m the founder of Trapital, the hip-hop business newsletter. I break down the strategic moves that shape the culture. Last week I made the jump to work on Trapital full-time! There’s a ton more to focus on, and other stories that need to be assessed and told.

What are you listening to?
According to Spotify, I listened to Travis Scott more than anyone last year. Been liking J.I.D., his Dicaprio 2 album was dope. I’ve been getting back into R&B lately. Love H.E.R. and Daniel Caesar’s albums. And I still got Frank Ocean Blonde in regular rotation. Apparently Frank’s Endless is finally coming to all streaming platforms too. I’m sure that will be in the mix as well.

How do you find new music?
I find out about a lot of stuff from my friends through group text messages and GroupMe chats. They are always posting new songs that come out. My Twitter feed is pretty music-centric too. I find out a lot based on what folks are saying. But sometimes Twitter trends too mainstream. I’ll have to go check other sources. Spotify’s Most Necessary playlist is good for finding up-and-comers. SoundCloud has been a go-to source for years. And I still check RapCaviar to see how popular lesser-known artist’s songs are getting.

I still go to YouTube to check for music videos too. YouTube is still the best platform to get a read on engagement. I check the comments often to see how the world is reacting to certain songs. There’s a lot of noise to cut through in YouTube comments, but I still find value in reading them.

What formats do you usually listen to? LP, CD, Cassette, Digital, Streaming Service and why?
I listen to everything digitally now. I couldn’t even tell you where my CD collection is right now. Maybe my parent’s house… I used to sell bootleg CDs back in the day. I still think I have a stack of 50 Cent Get Rich or Die Tryin’ CDs somewhere.

Would love to get some classics on vinyl though. Whenever I stop by a friend’s house and see a vinyl record player, I kind of want to get one myself.

Where do you do most of your music listening?
I listen to a lot when I’m running errands. Doing laundry, washing dishes, cleaning up our apartment. I also listen when walking around the neighborhood, walking to and from the train station, etc. I also listen during work if I’m doing more procedural tasks.

How do find and listen to pre-release music?
I get more and more plugs for pre-release music through email. Because of Trapital, I now get invites and links to stuff from PR folks and publicists a few days before official drops. But most of the time, I’m fine waiting till it’s available on one of the streaming platforms I subscribe to.

What are your frustrations with listening to music digitally? Any benefits?
A lot of mixtapes and remixes of great songs aren’t available on certain streaming platforms. This is usually because the samples weren’t cleared. The catalogs on main streaming services are mostly limited to commercial releases. For example, No Ceilings is one of Lil’ Wayne’s most popular mixtapes, but it’s not on Spotify or Tidal. YouTube is a better place to find rare and random songs, but it can be limited there too. I never had these challenges in the Napster/LimeWire/KaZaa days. I could always find the specific remix I wanted to a song back then (even if DJ Clue was shouting all over the track).

A lot of those songs are now on my old hard drives, iPods, and old computers (it’s one of the reasons I still haven’t thrown them out!). Back in the day my friends and I would swap iPods and do dumps on each other’s computers.

Overall, I think digital music is in a much better spot today though. It’s easier to access music than it was before. And it’s easier for artists to reach their audience. It’s helped democratize hip-hop. There’s less friction than there’s ever been. You no longer need a connect to get your music in front of fans or to hear the latest music.

How do you keep track of everything you are listening to?
I really don’t. I have my go-to playlists depending on what I’m in the mood for. When I’m writing a story about a particular artist, I like to listen to their music while I write–even if it’s an artist I normally don’t vibe with.

Do you tip other people off to new music? How?
I go straight to the group chats and threads to let my friends know. They do the same for me.

For big releases, Twitter turns into an album listening party. Everyone usually starts playing the new album when it drops at 9:00pm PT on Thursdays. One of the many benefits of living in California is that I can listen to new albums before I go to bed.

It’s dope to react with other folks in real time to the same songs you’re listening too. It’s a decent replacement to being there in person. When Astroworld dropped last summer, it felt like hip-hop fans on Twitter all came together for an hour.

Of course, any album worth listening to should be judged after multiple listens to give a real assessment. But the initial reaction is still fun to engage in.

Anything you want to “promote”?
Yes! I think music lovers would love reading Trapital! A number of music execs, business leaders, and VCs enjoy reading because it provides a fresh perspective on the music industry. You can join them by signing up for Trapital here to get the stories in your inbox.

Go check out YBN Cordae! I like his song “Locationships.” Came out a couple weeks ago. I will still give a shoutout to Nipsey Hussle’s Victory Lap. I don’t think it needs my promotion since it got nominated for a Grammy, but I still think it got slept on.

How We Listen is an interview series where Byta interviews artists, their teams, and everyone else working in music about how they find and listen to music, new and old.

Who are you?
Katie Garcia

Where are you based?
NO SLEEP TILL BROOKLYN

Where do you work? What do you do?
I’m the founder of Bayonet Records and Director of A&R at Secretly Group.

What are you listening to?
This very second I’m listening to Chelsea Wolfe. More generally speaking I’ve been listening to a lot of Turnstile, Pouya, Disq and Kacey Musgraves. Also been listening to “Doorman” by slowthai x Mura Masa on repeat.

How do you find new music?
It’s honestly such a combination. Getting suggestions from friends, getting to shows early to see the opening band. Seeing a friend post about a new band on instagram. Emails from managers too, but personally I prefer to see it live or have a friend who I trust recommend something to me.

What formats do you usually listen to? LP, CD, Cassette, Digital, Streaming Service and why?
Streaming, vinyl, cassettes, CDs in that order. The reason being mobility! The way I consume music is directly related to where I am in the moment and where I’m going. Streaming is easy to listen to when you’re walking around the city. Usually when I have people over my house I’ll put vinyl on. When I’m in the shower I listen to cassettes. And lastly when I’m in a car I usually pop on a CD.

Where do you do most of your music listening?
This is a slightly boring answer, but I think I do most of my listening at my desk on my computer at work or walking around on my phone. I like being able to walk around and listen to music in my headphones by myself. The way I feel listening to music walking around is very different than when I’m listening in a car or at my house. Different settings, the time of day, the weather, your mental state all change the way you interpret music you hear.

How do find and listen to pre-release music?
It depends! Sometimes I’ll just get mastered versions of an album we’re putting out. Obviously I get a LOT of those as a result of what I do for a living. However, outside of work stuff I usually get sent watermarked downloads or private streams.

What are your frustrations with listening to music digitally? Any benefits?
I think the benefit again is mobility and being able to listen to music on the go. As far as frustrations for me it would be not being able to listen to something on a streaming platform when I don’t have good service. I try to put the stuff I want to listen to later offline. Another frustration is the lack of transparency on the backend of payments.

How do you keep track of everything you are listening to?
I just have an ongoing massive playlist of things I’m listening to. And anything not on a playlist I just have download of on my phone or have saved on Youtube.

Do you tip other people off to new music? How?
Usually if it’s something I like, but am not signing I’ll send to other friends who might dig it via text/email/insta. Or if it’s a project I’m working on I’ll just post about it on my stories.

Anything you want to “promote”?
Go to Bayonet Records shop and buy one of everything! Also pick up Better Oblivion Community Center, keep an eye out for Faye Webster this year.

How We Listen is an interview series where Byta interviews artists, their teams, and everyone else working in music about how they find and listen to music, new and old.

Who are you?
Jon Bartlett

Where are you based?
Ottawa, Canada

Where do you work? What do you do?
Artist manager at Kelp Music (formerly Kelp Records) and director of the MEGAPHONO festival. I manage Andy Shauf (and his other project Foxwarren), Lido Pimienta, Kacy & Clayton and Trails.

We also run a showcase music festival called MEGAPHONO, this year’s edition runs February 7-9th, 2019. We’ll have about 50 international and regional music industry delegates in town to hang out and hear 80ish regional artists play shows all over Ottawa.

What are you listening to?
I just came across that Kadhja Bonet album Childqueen last week and it was a mind-blowing and truly wonderful surprise. Noname’s new record Room 25 is great. I have listened to the Zuider Zee reissue Zeenith more than my fair share over the past year. The Beatles White Album reissue lives up to the hype.

How do you find new music?
Sometimes I just let Spotify run after an album plays through and once in a blue moon, the algorithms work their magic and find some gems. I pay attention to what local stores like The Record Centre and Birdman Sound are carrying, watch friends’ feeds for recommendations, pay attention to show listings and emails from promoters of bands coming through Ottawa/Montreal/Toronto. I hear about new music from the artists we work with and their teams, and listen to good ole fashioned radio…campus-community stations like CHUO and CKCU and also CBC. I am a dinosaur type of person that still prefers to listen to albums front to back, so adjusting to the streaming universe has been difficult. I love the buffet but I miss the user interface and layout of Rdio.

What formats do you usually listen to? LP, CD, Cassette, Digital, Streaming Service and why?
Streaming first because it’s in my car / office / phone but a lot of vinyl at home (somehow I won the battle and got to put the turntable in the dining room). CDs in the car sometimes, but rarely.

Where do you do most of your music listening?
Music is always on everywhere we go, at home and at work, unless we’re listening to the news. Life has a constant soundtrack, though some moments of silence are nice once in awhile.

How do find and listen to pre-release music?
I’m emailed albums a lot, or bug the labels we work with to send streams of other albums they have coming up when something piques my interest. It’s always a privilege to get to listen to things long before they’re released, definitely my favourite part of working with our artists…hearing songs come together from the demo stage to the final version on the album. That’s the magic for me.

What are your frustrations with listening to music digitally? Any benefits?
I really hate the way the algorithms take over…my son loves to DJ in the car, so Spotify thinks I’m a massive Imagine Dragons fan, and a good chunk of my “new releases” are garbage. The fact that singles aren’t identified as such drives me bananas…I’ll spend five minutes trying to find an album to play, only to have to do it again when the song’s done. Like I said, I miss Rdio….it had a nice mix of algorithms and friend interaction, and more often than not, music I cared about seemed to bubble up to the front page. I can’t believe one of the DSP’s hasn’t come up with something better over the past three years since Rdio’s death. That said, keeping tabs on what’s coming out, getting to sample a panoply of new releases in one click…it’s pretty nice.

How do you keep track of everything you are listening to?
Save the album to my Apple Music or Spotify profile; add it to my Discogs wish list or just buy it on LP in a store.

Do you tip other people off to new music? How?
I try to. The “college radio music snob” part of me still likes to start sentences with “Have you heard this band yet?” There are small groups of email chains with certain friends to keep tabs on what each other is listening to. But a lot of word of mouth, I’d say…

Anything you want to “promote”?
I guess the latest management project is the Foxwarren (ANTI- / Arts & Crafts) Self-Titled LP, so go give that a spin.

How We Listen is an interview series where Byta interviews artists, their teams, and everyone else working in music about how they find and listen to music, new and old.

Who are you?
I’m Joe.

Where are you based?
Street, Somerset, South West England. North of Cornwall and Devon, beneath Bristol, a mile from Glastonbury. It’s a village. It’s where Clarks shoes come from. Yes, the village is called Street. I assume once upon a time it was, indeed, just a street. Now it’s way more, it has a Subway.

Where do you work? What do you do?
Shepton Mallet, I’m a postman. I also play music in a too many guitars band. We’re based in London and Somerset and Bristol and Nottingham and Watford. We’ve been going since 2003. We’ve released a lot of records and played a fair amount of shows. I’ve been a postman for ten years, I recently received a little badge to celebrate this fact. I’m tired.

What are you listening to?
I cannot stop listening to Anderson Paak, Malibu and Venice are works of art. Just waiting for the new one to get released properly. Workin’ Man Noise Unit’s new record on Riot Season. One of the best UK bands. A band is only as good as it’s drummer and WMNU’s drummer swings.

Finally got the ‘last ever live show’, Mission of Dead Souls by Throbbing Gristle, just re-released by Mute. I picked it up from Raves from the Grave, Frome, Somerset. People say Frome is one of the most happening places to live. These people have never been to Frome. It’s ‘fine’, I give it 4/10.

The Wiki record on XL last year was a total monster. It was slept on by most people as it didn’t have any traditionally big tunes, but if you like rap music you should like the Wiki record. I went to see him on a boat in Bristol with my youngest son. 200 people. In your face. What made it become such a regular listen was having the CD with the vinyl, it was played in the car and house for a full year. Top tip there. A download code is no good, you can make CD’s for pennies. Do that and insert it in the vinyl sleeve, don’t be afraid to give people what they actually want, it won’t hurt.

The Rixe record on La Vida Es Un Mus. Who would have thought I’d be buying Oi records in 2018. This thing kills. The French do Oi like the Australians are destroying garage/scuzzy punx, Total Control are never far from the stereo, Amyl and the Sniffers, and The Chats 10” ain’t far either.

I’m convinced Aesop Rock’s Impossible Kid 2xLP should be taught to kids at school. Everything from the production to the rapping to the album’s packaging. The new Warthog 7” on Static Shock is pure destruction, cannot wait for them to come over in a few months. Same with the two Uranium Club records on the same label.

There’s shit loads of music, new and old. The new Low record has surprised the hell out of me, I thought I was done with miserable music. I still can’t listen to Nick Cave though.

The Arthur Verocai record from 1000 years ago that Mr Bongo reissued a couple of years ago, this is one beautiful record. The Tin Man 4xLP that came out recently, acid acid acid acid acid. Who doesn’t like acid? From the same world: the Bass Clef 2×12” on Alter. So good. I dreamt I was delivering acid to children at a campsite last night, baffling as I wasn’t getting paid overtime for it. Get the Union on the phone.

How do you find new music?
Word of mouth, youtube people with their channels, reviews – Maximum RnR (Just shut down yesterday. Shame) / The Wire / Quietus), talking with people in record shops, buying from gigs. There are a few labels who I trust so will always check out their business.

I do enjoy the ‘What’s in my Bag’ type shows on YT, be it Amoeba or any of the others. I hoovered up the Crate Digger series, made me buy a lot of records I never would have thought of. I have friends with decent tastes in various genres so I pay attention to what they’re talking about. I live in the middle of nowhere now so I’m quite reliant on social media for top tips. I also get shop mailouts that can be worth a browse.

What formats do you usually listen to? LP, CD, Cassette, Digital, Streaming Service and why?
Vinyl at home, CD in the car. Streaming is the worst thing. It’s changing things in a way that people are sleepwalking into. It benefits no one. The listener is getting an instant gratification with absolutely no long term reward. The music maker isn’t being rewarded. The people releasing the music aren’t being rewarded. The listener is creating no memories for themselves. There’s a panic to make the first 30 seconds of a song be incredible, there’s no patience anymore.

It blows my mind that people don’t pay for music, paying a few money units a month to get unlimited music through to your ears is not in any way covering the costs of making the music. What are these people gonna look back on? What story is your empty shelf going to tell you? I’m way too many years old now and out of touch. But of a night, when I’ve eaten too much lasagne and fancy having a flashback night, I can pick a record out and relive a moment. Get the Motley Crue out and go back to being 12 years old. It’s the shelf of memories. The bent sleeve. The wine spill on the Lincoln/Hoover split 7” from when David Seaman saved that penalty back in 1998 and I lost my mind, arms in the air, smashing over my glass of red.

I guess people can do what they want but I’m not gonna be sitting back in my grandad nappy at 80 years old, piss trickling down my inner thigh, trying to remember what I streamed in 2018 in an effort to get a memory related contact high. Shelf of memories please. Minimalist living is a depressing fad. Let my great grandkids deal with chucking it away when I’m gone, it’s part of the deal. The vinyl binning circle of life.

Where do you do most of your music listening?
Home in the living room, in the car on the way to work.

How do find and listen to pre-release music?
I guess I don’t apart from when websites preview a new song from some forthcoming release.

What are your frustrations with listening to music digitally? Any benefits?
Apart from Youtube I don’t. I’ve never downloaded anything apart from rough mixes of the music I’m involved with, which either comes via WeTransfer or Google. It sounds fine, for what it is. I still run a Nokia phone. I don’t wear headphones when out walking, the world makes better sounds than any album. I’ve never looked at Spotify, my 70 year old dad does. My sons listen on Youtube and Amazon. I can’t handle it. It depresses me too much. The house being silent while all the people in it sit with their headphones on is the grimmest noise.

How do you keep track of everything you are listening to?
I have a box of around 100 records by the record player that I consider my top 100 (or so) records of the moment. I run a strict rotation system.

Do you tip other people off to new music? How?
No one at work gives two fucks what I listen too. I judge them though, harshly. They all take the piss out of me for not having a computer phone as they play the morning music through bluetooth speakers. 80’s pop, 70’s rock, indie classics. It’s as bad as the radio in the same playlist filler fashion. I don’t allow The Who though, you have to have rules. It’s surprising how often The Who are almost played. It’s kinda like someone’s paying vast sums of cash to get them onto internet playlists.

Anything you want to “promote”?
I want people to get back into directly supporting artists and labels and shops. We’re gonna miss them when they’re gone.