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How Jay-Z and Kanye prevented the leaks

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It’s the biggest destination for music on the internet and Youtube has finally recognised that fact with the launch of a dedicated music section. The revamped youtube.com/musicnow shows you recommended videos and artists based on existing videos you are watching, a list of upcoming local concerts using Songkick gig data and the most relevant music chart of all, a Youtube top 100 for the week highlighting the songs that are being watched globally (Nicki Minaj’s Super Bass currently sits on top).

In the coming weeks, Youtube is teaming up with curators like Vice Magazine, SPIN, XLR8R and music vloggers like The Needle Drop to offer daily playlists for further exploration. Youtube have promised these services before but this music transformation is their most complete yet.

One video sitting high in the Youtube chart is Kanye West and Jay-Z’s Otis from the Watch The Throne album.  The album broke the iTunes one-week sales record with 290,000 downloads in a week. As outlined by Billboard (bit.ly/securitywtt)., this feat was made possible by the extraordinary measures the duo put in place to ensure that the album DID NOT leak.

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Band of Blogs: NME’s 25 New Bands You Have to Hear, The Weeknd, Lecs Luther & Ms Mr

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NME’s 25 New Bands You Have to Hear

The magazine curates a mixtape of its favourite new sounds, which includes Gross Magic, Outfit, TEED, Iconapop, King Krule and Howler.

Listen at NME

The Weeknd

Abel Tesfaye follows up his House Of Balloons debut mixtape with the second part of the trilogy Thursday for free download. In doing so, Tesfaye cements his reputation as R&B brightest new star, a specialist in creating sultry and alluring post-nightlife music. Canadian rapper Drake pops up to show his support.

The Weeknd – Thursday by The_Weeknd

the-weeknd.com

Ms Mr

Brighton music blog The Recommender introduces us to Ms Mr, a promising young pop band from New York who would prefer to stay anonymous for the moment. Their songs which recall Florence Welch and Adele and a hint of Sophie Ellis-Bextor are anything but. Here’s a Patrick Wolf cover…

Ms Mr – Time of My Life (Cover) by The Recommender

Listen to more at The Recommender

Lecs Luther

Ireland’s answer to the Tumblr-loving, attitude-filled, no compromise mindset of Odd Future has been found in the debut rap of Dublin’s Lecs Luther.

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Sites of the Week: Shut Up Bands, The Horse’s Mouth & Code Academy

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Shut Up Bands
Silly things that bands say in the pursuit and promotion of their art.
shutupbands.com

The Horse’s Mouth
Five Irish guys get together, have some banter and then animate it for the web.
thehorsesmouthshow.com

Code Academy
If you’ve ever wanted to learn how to write code or understand Javascript, Code Academy’s interactive tutorials are a great way to start.
codecademy.com

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