Apple’s Jimmy Iovine went on CBS to explain that women need help in finding music on the internet.

His statement:

“I’ve always known that women find it very difficult at times—some women—to find music,” he explained. “And this helps makes it easier with playlists curated by real people.”

“I just thought of a problem, you know, girls sitting around talking about boys, right, or complaining about boys when they’re heartbroken or whatever.

“They need music for that, right? So it’s hard to find the right music. Not everyone has the right list or knows a DJ or something.”

Now he is facing a backlash from woman. For instance, Ilana Kaplan says this:

“Thank you for dumbing down women everywhere, Mr. Iovine. As if we couldn’t use our tiny brains to discover music all on our own.

Mr. Iovine’s portrayal of women isn’t just ill-informed, it’s painfully reductive. No, not everyone knows a DJ, but I’m pretty sure we women can figure out how to find one via Google. Why couldn’t these women be talking about something other than boys? Why not politics? Or the last concert they went to together? For the three strong, confident and intelligent women representing this ad, it seems like they could be doing or talking about something other than, well, boys. A commercial that’s featuring three powerful women should have been spearheaded by women: it’s so transparent that this commercial was developed by someone who sees a basic idea of what women do and how they’re supposed to act.

The music industry overall has long struggled with gender bias, and Mr. Iovine’s opinions and comments don’t seem to be moving the needle in a more progressive direction. Having freelanced as a music writer for seven years, I know a ton of women who are editors, writers and fans who have been able to discover music conventionally and unconventionally. So, Mr. Iovine, just so you know: we women don’t need you to mansplain music discovery to us. We’ve been doing it on our own for a long time, and we’ll continue to do it—with or without you.”

Iovine has since apologized.

The Brighton, UK electronic/indie duo IYES just released The Weekend cover ‘Can’t Feel My Face‘. Like their last releases, this track is another impressive offering that mixes pop, electronic, & r&b. It’s hard to pin down this duo musically, but the mystique led to the title grab ‘Ones to Watch in 2014’ and chatter and strong reviews across the blogsphere.
band@weareiyes.com

Adele’s new album ’25’ will be available in less than 24 hours and the music digital services were informed that it won’t be available for streaming.

This is a good for Adele and bad for the major streaming services. They will not have the biggest album of the year.

The album could exceed 2 million in sales first week, a number that is unheard of these days. Artists simply do not move those massive numbers in physical album sales.

In fact a spokesperson for Target compared the units sold for ’25’ to that of Star Wars merchandise which is a hot product.

We fully expect this to be one of our best-selling albums ever,” said Lee Henderson, a spokesman for Target.

Former One Direction member Zayn Malik reveals his thoughts behind his former boy band. The truth is many people don’t know what it’s like to be in a boy band. Many artists write their own songs whereas boy bands rarely have a say in their music. Having songs written by a committee of people may feel shallow. Malik says this:

“I wasn’t 100 percent behind the music. It wasn’t me. It was music that was already given to us, and we were told this is what is going to sell to these people. As much as we were the biggest, most famous boy band in the world, it felt weird. We were told to be happy about something that we weren’t happy about.”

“If I would sing a hook or a verse slightly R&B, or slightly myself, it would always be recorded 50 times until there was a straight version that was pop, generic as #!%#, so they could use that version,” he revealed. “I wasn’t 100 percent behind the music. It wasn’t me. It was music that was already given to us, and we were told this is what is going to sell to these people. As much as we were the biggest, most famous boy band in the world, it felt weird. We were told to be happy about something that we weren’t happy about.”

Why he left the band..

“”A big part of why I left the band is I made the realization that it wasn’t actually about [being the biggest] anymore,”

“It wasn’t about the amount of tickets sales that I get. It was more about the people that I reach. I want to reach them in the right way, and I want them to believe what I’m saying. I’ve done enough in terms of financial backing for me to live comfortably. I just want to make music now.”

Los Angeles Indie rock act The Ruse came on the scene a couple of years ago and were nominated with an MTV VMA Breakthrough Artist and released a well received album that reached No. 21 on Billboard’s “Heatseekers” chart. To date, the band released three independently released albums and two EPs. The newest single ‘Recover‘ immediately sticks in your heard with its memorable melody line and chorus, layered in synths and guitar, this could be the track that puts the band on the map.
Craig@sneiderman.com, info@rusemusic.com