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Music Notes: Week of Oct. 28

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Music Notes: Week of Oct. 28

By: Carlos Ybarra, Anyi Wong-Lifton, and Sarah Molloy, TMA Entertainment Team

Your weekly look at what’s happening in music trends, partnerships, new releases, and more courtesy of the TMA Music Team.

This Week’s Music Trends

In the spirit of Halloween, here’s a music trend that’ll send shivers down your spine: auditory surveillance. This term is mostly associated with government espionage, but here we’re applying it more broadly to encompass the many ways audio now allows nosey entities access to our most private lives. Some articles will confirm your suspicions: the companies making your smart speakers were/are monitoring you. While others might be more surprising: it’s apparently not too hard to hack speakers and make them emit harmful sounds. Plus, Taylor Swift is watching you – Boo! 


How music has made auditory surveillance possible

Hackers can turn everyday speakers into acoustic cyberweapons

Google employees caught listening to private conversations through google home

Spotify hands over your personal information to major labels when you ‘pre-save’

Taylor Swift uses facial recognition at concerts – for safety

More than 40 music festivals pledge to ban facial recognition

Google, Apple, Amazon, and Microsoft’s intentional earbud advertising

Introducing the ‘Vinyl Alliance’

Partnership News

image of Tidal streaming app running on a phone

SBE, a privately held lifestyle hospitality company, is bringing streaming to its hotels, but not just with any platform – the brand has teamed up with Jay-Z’s TIDAL for a multi-faceted partnership. To officially announce this huge collaboration on October 19th, the two brands celebrated with Academy-Award winning rapper, Common, at SBE’s annual event, Taste of SBE LA. This move will bring TIDAL to US and UK SBE venues, including American hotels such as the Delano and SLS. The streaming service will even customize soundtracks for key SBE properties. Through this partnership, SBE guests will get a 3-month free subscription to TIDAL HiFi, followed by an opportunity to purchase an annual subscription for 20% off. For existing TIDAL subscribers, they will have access to exclusive benefits at SBE properties, including staying a 4th night free when they stay at an SBE hotel and free upgrades. The brands are also expected to join forces at huge events during Coachella, Miami Music Week, Art Basel, and even the Super Bowl. 

About the collaboration, CEO and Founder of SBE Sam Nazarian said, “Music represents an important part of the SBE brand experience and we are excited to partner with a such a dynamic group as TIDAL, to bring entertainment and guest experience to the next level at our properties. The collaboration with TIDAL is reinforcing our progression to work with the most innovative global platforms in the market and to provide the most forward-thinking technologies to our properties’ owners, and more importantly our guests.”


Creativity That Matters

Last weekend Atlantic Media, in partnership with The Aspen Institute and Bloomberg Philanthropies, presented CityLab D.C. 2019, a two and a half day conference exploring pressing issues affecting D.C.’s urban landscape.

During the conference Musician and Filmmaker Dave Grohl stopped by to share his thoughts on how music is impacted by a city’s culture and vice versa.


What we’re listening to this week…

(Note: may contain explicit content)

“Music listening usually happens for me when I’m trying to fall asleep or I’m driving in traffic. I hope this playlist also puts you at ease, helps you avoid road rage and – when you’re not driving – lets you drift off to dreamland.”

~ Anyi Wong-Lifton

cover art for Michael Kiwanuka album "Kiwanuka"
Kiwanuka x Michael Kiwanuka
cover art for William Doyle album "Your Wilderness Revisited"
Your Wilderness Revisited x William Doyle
cover art for Sudan Archives album "Athena"
Athena x Sudan Archives
cover art for Cultura Profética album
Sobrevolando x Cultura Profética
cover art for A Winged Victory for the Sullen album "The Undivided Five"
The Undivided Five x A Winged Victory for the Sullen
Cover art for Gang Starr album "One Of The Best Yet"
One Of The Best Yet x Gang Starr

About TMA Music

We help brands harness the power of music and use it to foster a deeper bond with your customers. Our team of seasoned experts helps you navigate the music industry to develop a comprehensive music strategy, ideate on creative music concepts, license songs, partner with the right talent, and execute on every facet of a music marketing program.

Larry Weintraub – President of Music at TMA, Larry is a lifelong entrepreneur who champions the customer experience with a personal passion for disruptive technologies and innovative products. As head of the TMA Music Team, Larry leads music strategy for Fortune 100 brand clients. Larry also leads innovation at the agency with an internal and client-based concentration on emerging technology to better help consumer engagement. Larry also loves sour beers, inhales podcasts, and has a massive Pez collection.

headshot of Carlos Ybarra

Carlos Ybarra – Born in Sterling, IL and sharpened by the City of the Broad Shoulders, Carlos followed his passion for music and joined TMA’s State Farm Music team in 2017 after spending nearly a decade as a Multicultural marketer. Shortly after, Carlos transitioned to Los Angeles to join TMA’s entertainment practice where he provides strategic music consultation to the agency’s clients. Carlos graduated from Benedictine University with a B.B.A. in Accounting and in his spare time enjoys attending shows, documenting street art, traveling and cooking.

headshot of Anyi Wong-Lifton

Anyi Wong-Lifton – Anyi is a Strategy Coordinator for TMA’s Culture Marketing group who tracks entertainment trends, writes weekly music columns, and organizes diversity education programs. She grew in Portland, Oregon before it was cool and graduated Summa Cum Laude from Scripps College before moving to Los Angeles. When not making professional use of her pop culture obsession, Anyi volunteers at a dog rescue, collects pencils, and avoids driving.

headshot of Sarah Molloy

Sarah Molloy – Sarah is an Operations Coordinator in TMA’s Los Angeles Office, where she and has one hand in finance and the other in entertainment. She joined TMA as the Entertainment Apprentice in January 2019. She is originally from Boston, MA and went to school at Emerson College in her home city. In her free time, she likes to go to the beach, take naps, and sing karaoke (when she has the chance).

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