Partner
Vertigo Music is the Music-Based Social Media App You’ve Been Waiting For
Ever wanted to feel the intrinsic social connection of a live concert from the comfort of your own phone? Sure, streaming both recorded music and live shows are great, but such a key part of the concert experience is the shared environment with your family, friends, and other diehard fans. Now, Vertigo Music is allowing you to connect live with friends, fans, and everyone in between. Many of the world’s biggest artists, including this month’s SPIN cover stars, Rüfüs Du Sol, have created their own artist lounges on Vertigo Music, allowing them to personally connect with fans, other artists, and industry personnel just as they would at a live concert or festival. To make things run even smoother, Vertigo Music connects with services like Apple Music and Spotify Premium, allowing users to joi...
Billboard NXT Challenge 1 Recap: Watch The 12 Contestants’ Original Song Clips in Billboard and Samsung Galaxy’s Singing Competition
Billboard and Samsung Galaxy have kicked off Billboard NXT, a first-of-its-kind singing competition designed to discover the next great unsigned artist, by selecting 12 multi-talented artists from across the country based on their performances in a hashtag challenge on TikTok. With the competitors selected and ready to show off their skills, each artist was asked to participate in the first official challenge of Billboard NXT: an original song showdown. Using their Samsung Galaxy Z Flip3 5G — a phone designed for capturing moments, expressing yourself and socializing — each contestant showed off their vocals, songwriting abilities and technical skills by performing a fully original song. All 12 artists delivered, with each contestant approaching the first Billboard NXT challeng...
Argentine Trap Star Cazzu is Unstoppable
You narrated Amazon Music’s Género 101: Trap Argentino, which beautifully highlights this evolution while showcasing Argentina’s rich musical history. Viewers get a glimpse of the gauchos, who were considered the first freestylers to the vibrant hip-hop scene. How did those histories impact you? I come from an area in the north of Argentina [called Ledesma], where folklore is very important and present in our lives. It’s an area where all that is still very much alive. I grew up in a very folkloric environment, and I know the roots of my country very well. It’s something that’s been part of my artistic personality. I was also a part of Argentine cumbia for a long time, which allowed me to get to know it very well. But I made [other] choices, and among them was hip-hop. When...
KISS Continues to Raise Larger-than-Life Funds for Crew Nation
Rock and roll band KISS is far more than just long tongues and painted faces. In fact, these days, the band’s performances are rooted in spectacular philanthropy. The legendary Hall of Fame inductees have partnered with world-renowned performance artist David Garibaldi to raise funds for Crew Nation – a charity providing monetary grants to crew members facing hardship during the pandemic. To make this happen, they’ll be offering tons of lucky fans a gift of pyrotechnic proportions. “…We are incredibly grateful to be partnering with Crew Nation, as we continue to do our part in helping support the music industry & live music crews,” said KISS. After raising over $600,000 on the initial portion of their End of the Road Tour, KISS was more than happy to invite back enthusiastic artist Dav...
SPIN Sets x Splash House Presents: Shiba San
The summer fun continues this weekend with the Splash House gates officially opening, and boy are we ready to bask in the desert heat and escape to this house and disco filled oasis. If you’ve been paying attention to this festival’s lineup, then you certainly have an inkling to how huge it is going to be for both weekends [August 13-15, 20-22]. With names like Bob Moses, TOKiMONSTA, Whethan, Shiba San, Lane 8, SG Lewis [and the list goes on…] spinning and bestowing the best grooves, rest assured that anyone lucky enough to get a ticket to this desert island party will be having a good time. Catch the full lineup here. We not only intend to bring the inside scoop on one of the biggest cachet summer events in the country, but we’re also here to bring you a taste of the electrifying sets tha...
The ILLENIUM Trilogy Experience with Tixr
After the smashing success of last year’s KISS 2020 Goodbye concert, which culminated in the year’s most successful global live stream rock concert, Tixr and client City Drive Studios were itching to work together again. Looking to make a big follow-up impression, both teams approached this project with the shared goal of delivering a once in a lifetime experience to a global audience. The musician, producer, and DJ known professionally as ILLENIUM was searching for a similar opportunity, hoping to showcase over four hours of work encompassing his past three albums: Ashes, Awake, and Ascend. The resulting Trilogy Livestream was produced by an award-winning team at City Drive Studios from the Las Vegas Raiders’ Allegiant Stadium, making it the first concert to ever be hosted at the venue. C...
SPIN Recap: HARD Summer 2021
ABOUT THE FESTIVAL HARDFEST 2021 happened this weekend for the first time in two years, with an expanded venue size and a stacked lineup of electronic, rap and pop acts. The most important thing to note was that all sets had exceptional sound quality and the acts delivered their performances to bustling crowds filled with totems, dancing and spray-bottles. The HARD fairgrounds are completely made up of black-top and the grounds were well-organized with water stations, AstroTurf rest areas, colorful lights, food trucks, and even several “vaccination stations.” The infamous San Bernardino heat became manageable after 5 PM and even comfortable after sundown. Overall, the entire production was well-executed and the experience of grateful, exuberant fans filling the fairgrounds for the debut of...
Pharaohe Monch Unmasks His Struggles with Mental Health
Each video in the Sound Mind Unmasked series features an artist sharing their mental health journey, opening up about the toll touring and recording can take. Unmasked is focused on as shining a light on free mental health resources available to everyone, as well as fostering an open dialogue about mental health for artists and audiences alike. Uncompromising dialogue has always been part of Troy’s artistic impulse, and that candor has helped him come to terms with his own emotional and psychic battles. He points to the power of his music and personal community to help him through the dark times in his life. “Fortunately I have the best family and the best friends and I felt like these guys have supported me,” he says. “What’s fly about the culture of hip hop is that it respects real truth...
Bulletdodge Records Releases Michael Greig and Gareth Whitehead’s Remixes of “It Goes” by Krist Noveselic’s Band Giants in the Trees
In 2017, Hall of Fame Inductee and former Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic conjured a musical project. The product was Giants in the Trees, a Northwestern rock band made up of four harmonious components: Jillian Raye, Erik Friend, Ray Prestegard, and Novoselic himself. While the quartet’s ties to Seattle are as obvious as they are appealing, their sound doesn’t submit or surrender to grunge. In fact, the grungiest thing about Giants in the Trees is their audible darkness consistently teetering on sorrow. Turn Bauhaus into a folk band and let them play in the forest – that’s Giants in the Trees. The band’s eclectic sound is just that, which is why Bulletdodge Records founder Gareth Whitehead and label signee Michael Greig took the time to tinker with “It ...
UNICEF to supply AU states 220 million coronavirus vaccines
The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has signed an agreement with Janssen Pharmaceutica NV to supply up to 220 million doses of the J&J single-dose vaccine to all 55 member-states of the African Union (AU) by the end of 2022. Some 35 million doses are to be delivered by the end of this year, UNICEF stated in a statement issued on Thursday in New York. The agreement, between UNICEF and Janssen Pharmaceutica NV, will help implement the Advance Purchase Commitment (APC) signed between the African Vaccine Acquisition Trust (AVAT) and Janssen last March. That agreement secured an option to order another 180 million doses, bringing the maximum access up to a total of 400 million doses by the end of 2022. The AU established AVAT in November 2020 to deliver COVID-19 vaccines to the African continen...
NEMA: Why we held simulated terror attack on Abuja stadium
The National Emergency Management Agency says the simulated terrorists attack on the Moshood Abiola National stadium, Abuja is to prepare relevant agencies for coordinated emergency response. The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the exercise held on Wednesday. Mustapha Ahmed, the Director-General of NEMA said this in an interview with newsmen at the event organised by the Office of the National Security Adviser (NSA) with planning and assistance from the U.S. and UK. NAN reports that the exercise code named “Idahun Kankan’’ Yoruba words meaning (Quick Response) saw a simulated bomb attack and marauding gunfire in the stadium while a match was going on. The simulated attacks left many spectators feigned maimed, wounded and others scampering for safety and escape. Following notification, ...
Yobe governor: No plan to retrench workers
Gov. Mai Mala-Buni of Yobe on Tuesday said his administration has no plan to retrench civil servants in spite of the state’s meagre resources. Mala-Buni gave the assurance in Damaturu on the sidelines of the swearing-in ceremony of newly appointed permanent secretaries and board members. He said he would continue to attract investments to Yobe from both state and non-state actors in order to meet the financial obligations of the state. “People accuse me of frequenting Abuja; the truth is, if I remain in Damaturu, we cannot pay even our salary bills. “And that means we will have to join the league of states that are retrenching workers; we don’t have such plan. “You are aware of the projects we started, including the four modern markets we are building, the ongoing 3,600 houses, the over 87...
