Andrew Mall 9/12/24 Andrew Mall 9/12/24

Could Fyre Festival happen again? Billy McFarland thinks so, but experts have their doubts

Northeastern Global News (2024). The disgraced founder behind the original Fyre Festival is out of prison and announced his plans to run a second iteration of the failed music festival in April 2025. His intentions to bring back the festival, which led to him doing jail time for wire fraud charges, was shocking to people in the music world.

Andrew Mall 8/27/24 Andrew Mall 8/27/24

Unpacking the magic of music festivals

1A/NPR (2024). Some of music’s most legendary moments didn’t happen in our nation’s storied venues or theaters, but outside, in front of the roaring crowds at music festivals. And festivals have brought the fire for decades. Jimi Hendrix famously performed the Star Spangled Banner in front of 200,000 people at Woodstock in 1969. Half a century later, music festivals big and small attract millions of Americans each year. What keeps people coming back and how do organizers keep so many music fans safe?

Andrew Mall 8/8/24 Andrew Mall 8/8/24

Are Taylor Swift concerts still safe after terrorist threat? Experts explain why stadiums are still viewed as “soft targets”

Northeastern Global News (2024). Authorities in Austria say they’ve subverted a planned terrorist attack targeting several of Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour concerts in Vienna, shows that would have drawn as many as 200,000 concertgoers to three stadiums.

Andrew Mall 6/22/24 Andrew Mall 6/22/24

Music Festival Chaos: Inside the Deadly Risks at Concerts

Newsweek (2024). Music festivals like AstroWorld, Route 91 in Las Vegas, and Woodstock '99 have turned from parties to tragedies over the years, raising serious concerns about safety and security. These deadly stampedes, shootings, and riots, leave festival goers continuing to question if there are enough safety measures in place to protect attendees.

Andrew Mall 6/21/24 Andrew Mall 6/21/24

Young Thug—and his rap lyrics—are on trial. Northeastern experts say the case raises legal and ethical concerns

Northeastern Global News (2024). The trial of Jeffery Lamar Williams, better known as Young Thug, has made headlines not just because the defendant is a celebrity rapper. It is already the longest trial in Georgia history, with no end in sight. But Northeastern University law and music experts say the case also raises legal and ethical concerns based on the prosecution’s use of the state’s RICO Act, as well as its strategy of using the defendant’s rap lyrics to implicate him in an alleged crime.

Andrew Mall 5/31/24 Andrew Mall 5/31/24

How can you stay safe during a music festival?

Northeastern Global News (2024). Safety has always been an issue when it comes to music performances, according to Andrew Mall, an associate music professor at Northeastern University. Whether it be an outdoor concert, a traveling event like Lilith Fair in the ’90s, or the destination festivals of today, organizers have had to contend with issues like crowd crush, equipment collapse, fires, interpersonal violence and shootings.

Andrew Mall 4/29/24 Andrew Mall 4/29/24

Musi, a new, free music streaming app, begs the question: Can anything compete with Spotify?

Northeastern Global News (2024). A new music streaming service –– Musi –– is turning heads with its free, silent ad-based platform that runs on audio from millions and millions of YouTube videos. Musi isn’t like major streamers like Spotify or Apple Music, but its entry into the streaming wars begs the question: Can anything compete with the likes of Spotify, or is the music streaming landscape set in stone?

Andrew Mall 4/22/24 Andrew Mall 4/22/24

Live Nation and Ticketmaster face an impending federal antitrust lawsuit. Will the government finally break up the monopoly?

Northeastern Global News (2024). The 2010 merger between Live Nation and Ticketmaster is “essentially unfixable,” says a Northeastern antitrust expert. But could the Justice Department take the incredible step of breaking up the two companies?

Andrew Mall 4/17/24 Andrew Mall 4/17/24

Taylor Swift keeps releasing different vinyl editions of “The Tortured Poets Department.” Is this wasteful?

Northeastern Global News (2024). Billie Eilish recently called out artists who make multiple variants of the same vinyl like Swift does. But Swift is not the first artist to do this, said Andrew Mall, an associate music professor at Northeastern University. Swift is part of a larger trend of those “gamifying” vinyl collecting, where consumers will buy every variant of a record — whether they offer a different cover, record color, or bonus tracks — in order to complete their collection.

Andrew Mall 2/13/24 Andrew Mall 2/13/24

Here’s Why Millions of Your Favourite Tik Tok Videos Have Fallen Silent

The Quicky (podcast, 2024). Mamamia podcast house Claire Murphy speaks with Andrew Mall about the emerging licensing standoff between Universal Music Group and TikTok.

Andrew Mall 2/5/24 Andrew Mall 2/5/24

Why Taylor Swift’s album announcement during the Grammys is unusual

Northeastern Global News Magazine (2024). Swift had been dropping hints about new music leading up to the Feb. 4 ceremony, but using an awards show to announce a new project isn’t an industry standard, said one Northeastern music expert.

Andrew Mall 2/4/24 Andrew Mall 2/4/24

CBC talks with Andrew Mall about Universal Music vs. TikTok

CBC (television broadcast, 2024). On the night of the Grammys, CBC's Deana Sumanac of CBC Newsroom talks with Andrew Mall about Universal Music vs. TikTok.

Andrew Mall 2/1/24 Andrew Mall 2/1/24

Songs by Taylor Swift, Drake and more are starting to disappear from TikTok. Here’s why

Associated Press (2024). TikTok may look (or sound) a little different when you scroll through the app going forward. Earlier this week, Universal Music Group — which represents big-name artists like Taylor Swift, Bad Bunny and Drake — said that it would no longer allow its music on TikTok following the Wednesday expiration of a licensing deal between the two companies. Avid TikTokers are already seeing the effects. Here’s a rundown of where things stand.

Andrew Mall 12/11/23 Andrew Mall 12/11/23

From Kate Bush to Glass Animals, how TikTok and TV help give music a new life

Northeastern Global News Magazine (2023). Whether it be reviving a decades-old holiday classic or breathing new life into an older release, TikTok, television and movies hold great sway. Where DJs and dance clubs once influenced people’s musical tastes, social media and entertainment are the new tastemakers as they introduce or resurrect music. This leads to songs released years ago hitting charts in a way they didn’t upon release.

Andrew Mall 12/5/23 Andrew Mall 12/5/23

How this class is preparing students for the world of music festivals

Northeastern Global News Magazine (2023). Want to try your hand at a designing a music festival or learn about the history of these events? These Northeastern experiential learning courses help create the next generation of festival organizers.

Andrew Mall 12/1/23 Andrew Mall 12/1/23

Is Beyoncé’s Renaissance concert film a sign of things to come for movie theaters and the concert experience?

Northeastern Global News (2023). Part concert film and part behind-the-scenes tour documentary, “Renaissance” promises to give fans a glimpse into the famously private superstar’s life during her recent Renaissance tour. It also promises to be a bright spot for movie theaters in the post-Thanksgiving box office doldrums. But could “Renaissance” be something more: a sign of things to come for the movie theater business and the theatrical experience?

Andrew Mall 11/16/23 Andrew Mall 11/16/23

Rock That Doesn’t roll, “Bookstore Guys”

Rock That Doesn’t Roll podcast (2023). Who could a 1990s Christian rock aficionado turn to in order to find the latest and greatest releases? For mainstream music fans, tastemakers included record store clerks of 1990s indie music stores, or retail juggernauts like Tower Records and Wherehouse - the kind of superfans depicted by Jack Black in High Fidelity. But for many evangelical teens of the 1990s, record stores were not the place to find kid-tested, parent-approved music. For that, Christian teens usually had to go to Christian bookstores.

Andrew Mall 10/12/23 Andrew Mall 10/12/23

Taylor-made: A Swiftie’s guide to the best ‘Eras’ movie experience

The Washington Post (2023). Deciding which movie theater to watch the upcoming “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour” in might be as difficult as choosing which Swift era you want to represent. The concert film, which will start showing Thursday night, will bring Swifties, concert fans and the general public right into the middle of a Swift concert. And 3,850 theaters across North America are planning to show the film in myriad formats, giving Swifties an array of choices for how they want to experience the concert film.

Andrew Mall 10/4/23 Andrew Mall 10/4/23

Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour movie is a lesson for other artists and the music industry

Northeastern Global News (2023). Taylor Swift will soon extend her pop culture dominating reach to the big screen, with the release of a concert film of her record-shattering Eras tour set to hit theaters on Oct. 13. It is Taylor Swift’s world –– we’re all just living in it.

Andrew Mall 4/21/23 Andrew Mall 4/21/23

Is K-Pop Finally Mainstream?

Nylon (2023). Look at the biggest songs in the U.S. right now and you'll find a bit of everything: Miley Cyrus’s anthemic pop comeback; SZA’s revenge ruminations; Selena Gomez’s cross-cultural collab with Nigerian singer Rema; and controversial country star Morgan Wallen’s unvanquishable return. At the forefront of the list sits Park Jimin’s “Like Crazy,” the glittery solo debut from BTS’s graceful tenor.