Zack O'Malley Greenburg's Blog, page 62

30 Under 30: Ten Questions With Hozier

Hozier emerged from relative obscurity over the past year, becominga major player in the U.S. music scene after small venue performances at South By Southwest and elsewhere popularized “Take Me To Church.” The track eventually earned a Grammy nomination for Song Of The Year.

“Take Me To Church”is one of many acclaimed tracks on Hozier’s self-titled solo debut, which reached No. 2 on the U.S. charts in 2014–and earned him a spot in the 30 Under 30 Class of 2015′s music category.

FORBES exchanged...

30 Under 30: Nine Questions With Ed Sheeran

Ed Sheeran earned his first FORBES interview back in 2012 at South By Southwest, when he was a little-known U.K. act looking to make a splash across the pond.

“I play the music that I’ve always played, and it stood out enough in England to sell a few records, so hopefully it’ll stand out here,” he said. “I’ve got bright red hair, so I guess I stand out anyway.”

He was right in more ways than one. He has since collected all sorts of accolades, most recently becoming Spotify’s most-streamed artis...

Country Fireball: Inside The Rise Of Florida Georgia Line

Tyler Hubbard and Brian Kelley perform the same ritual before every concert—they gather friends, family, band and crew into a circle, then say a prayer and a chant before adding one final flourish. “We usually take a shot of Fireball,” says Hubbard. Adds Kelley: “Saturday night, maybe another shot.”

Why? Because as one of the duo’s songs goes: “It’z Just What We Do.” Over the past three years Florida Georgia Line and its boozy, genre-bending brand of country (Lynyrd Skynyrd meets late-90s hip-...

30 Under 30 In Music: Florida Georgia Line Leads Class Of 2015

see photosJamel Toppin for Forbes

Click for full photo gallery: 30 Under 30 In Music: The Class Of 2015

What do Afrojack, Meghan Trainor and the members of Florida Georgia Line have in common? On the surface, not much: the first is a Dutch DJ, the second is a budding pop star from Massachusetts, the last is a country-rock duo that dabbles in hip-hop.

Superficial differences aside, there’s at least one trait that all three acts share: they’ve known since their teenage years that they wanted to be...

Four Fearless Music Business Predictions For 2015

Earlier this month I took a look back at the music industry winners and losers of 2014–now it’s time to look ahead to the new year.

I did the same thing 12 months ago,making four predictions: that Miley Cyrus was just getting started (indeed she was,twerking her way to $36 million in earnings); that artist management reshufflingwould continue (seeBillboard‘scover story); that country music would push deeper into the mainstream (here’s some evidence); and that Lady Gaga would have one of her be...

From Afrojack To Wu-Tang: My Top Stories Of 2014

see photosMichael Prince

Click for full photo gallery: Inside Richard Branson's Moroccan Retreat

With only a few days left in 2014, it’s time to take a look back on the year that was. Earlier this month, I brought you my rankings of the winners and losers of the past 12 months. Today, I’m going to takeyou through a handful of my own 2014 stories of which I’m proudest.

The year began with a bang, starting with Bruno Mars and the 30 Under 30 Class of 2014 in January. But my biggest story of the ye...

Why The Definition Of A Platinum Album Needs To Change In 2015

see photosJOHANNES EISELE/AFP

Click for full photo gallery: Five Super-Expensive Record Players

When Taylor Swift released new album1989this fall, the most remarkable factwasn’t its first-week sales of 1.3 million–the first platinum debut for any artist since the last time she did it withRed–but that it was the only platinum album, period, by a solo act to that point in 2014.

As much asthe episode illustrates Swift’s tremendous success, it also underscores the need to change the definition of pl...

Piano Forte: Inside Steinway’s Century-Spanning Business

A couple of years ago, the piano restoration team at Steinway & Sons got an unexpected phone call from a legendary customer—Paul McCartney.

While visitingthe Motown studios in Detroit, the rock-and-roll legend had seen the piano that the venerable label’s artists used to play; he wanted to do the same. But when he asked, McCartney was rebuffed.The piano just wasn’t in good enough shape. So he made the call to Steinway and asked if they’d partner with him to restore it. They agreed.

“The plan wa...

For Musicians, A Way To Turn Streams Of Pennies Into Streams Of Dollars

Over the past 18 months, much of the conversation about streaming has revolved around the tiny royalty rates paid out by services. That’s part of what prompted Taylor Swift to pull her music from Spotify—and Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke to dub the Swedish company “the last desperate fart of a dying corpse.”

Indeed, per-stream rates are usually just a fraction of a cent, derided by many as “a stream of pennies.” Spotify pays rights holders an average between $0.006 and $0.0084 for every spin,...

Music Losers 2014: Robin Thicke, Apple, Last Year’s Queens Of Pop

Earlier this week, we took a look at some of the music industry’s winners of 2014–namely, Taylor Swift, Dr. Dre and the unusually large group of successful acts from the U.K. and its former colonies, not counting the U.S.

Today, like last year, we’ll consider those who didn’t fare quite so well over the past 12 months. Among them: Robin Thicke, Apple (or, at least, its music business interests) and last year’s two top earners in music, Madonna and Lady Gaga.

Let’s begin with…

Robin Thicke

Last ye...