The Canadian streaming king was immune to COV19. The Weeknd had an explosive week despite around the clock media coverage on the pandemic. His new album After Hours (Republic) moved 400k+ units.

It worked for The Weeknd but it may not work for everybody. One may think it’s easy to go unnoticed when the media has grasped the public’s attention with social distancing and self-quarantine measures. For instance, French singer Thomas Dutronc, who has Iggy Pop on his new album has delayed the release.
Is it a good time to release music? Established artists with expectations should probably wait until the seas calm down. They certainly won’t get the eyeballs they are looking for. Also, tours are postponed indefinitely.
In times of hardship, people want to explore new terrain and leave the familiar. Lets call it the new normal. Lesser known artists without a huge fan base and promo runs will benefit. People seek out new artists, new ideas, and new reads in a crisis because they want solutions and new experiences. New artists should release lots of new music now. Artists are living through history. This history will produce a new crop of artists that will spark generational change.
New artists could even garner that much more attention if they could get those ‘Pre-COV19’ artists to stop diverting attention on themselves with silly live streaming shenanigans.

LA’s Elizy xo releases the single omw and it’s worth a listen. The track was co-written and produced by Joe Pepe alongside Brooke Daye. The track has hints of R&B and touches upon Lana Del Rey, Miley, and Bea Miller. You can get to know her a little more in an interview with Voyage LA. Give the track a stream on Indie Invaders Playlist.

I’ll be honest, I’m not a big fan of indie folk, but I got quickly hooked on the track Some Of Your Songs by David Ost. He’s a singer-songwriter that bounced back and forth between Germany and Scotland, now residing in Hamburg. His goal was to create an original soundtrack for an off-pop riot you won’t be able to get out of your head any time soon. I must say mission accomplished, and pretty darn good for a second single.

If it’s not revisiting old drama with Kardashians then Taylor Swift is attacking Bieber manager Scooter Braun for buying her masters. She had a chance to buy her masters, but shot down the offer. Her former label Big Machine has released a collection of previously released live recordings. This is typical in business, but Taylor doesn’t like it. Why? I don’t know. She gets paid and will cash the check.
She accused Scooter Braun of “shameless greed in the time of coronavirus”. She also attacked the financial backers 23 Capital including the Soros family and the Carlyle Group.
I’ll be honest, it’s hard to have sympathy for showbiz people who want to gyp the people who gambled on them when they were nobodies. Especially showbiz people worth hundreds of millions of dollars. You want to keep all your rights? Bankroll your own expenses from the get-go, instead of chasing investor money.

Post Malone and Lana Del Rey have produced a new crop of artists capitalizing off their sound. Some are even better, well to be open, I haven’t discovered an artist better or more relatable than Post Malone but I think Lana Del Rey has lost her way musically. I think emerging artists like Baby Jane fills that space, offering emotion over quick soundbytes. The 18 year old hails from Los Angeles and her debut single “Khaleesi” garnered traction on TikTok with her #KhaleesiChallenge clocking over 250,000 impressions. Check out the track Games on Indie Invaders Playlist.