The Daily Chord Weekly Recap – Friday, December 7

The Daily Chord's links from the first week of December included Grammy nominations, end-of-year lists, and Alexa discussing playlists with you. Streamline your surfing time with our survey of notable music stories. Sign up for our email blast and we'll beam you the stories each weekday.

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Monday, December 3

• The top 100 songs of 2018
  List from The Guardian
• All songs considered: The year in music 2018
  Survey from NPR
• iTunes doesn't encrypt downloads - on purpose
  Post from Wired
• 15 things we learned at From Me To You for independent musicians
  Post from Music Ally
• Amber Liu's show of strength: The K-pop star goes solo, with designs on U.S. stardom
  Story from LA Times
• Muse interview: 'We are a dying breed'
  Interview from BBC News

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Tuesday, December 4

• Tencent Music is moving ahead with $1.2 B IPO in New York
  Post from CNN
• Robert Plotnik, 'Bleecker Bob' of record-store fame, dies at 75
  Obituary from NY Times
• How ASMR became a full-on rap sensation
  Post from High Snobiety
• 'Busking might die out': Musicians fear for future as councils crack down
  Story from The Guardian
• Spotify just released this year's most-streamed artists and yeah, they're all male
  Post from Mashable
• New Orleans jam band Galactic buys hometown club Tipitina's
  Post from Pollstar

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Wednesday, December 5

• Music fans are increasingly crossing borders for shows, report says
  Post from Rolling Stone
• Years & Years' Olly Alexander: 'There's entrenched homophobia at all levels of the music industry'
  Interview from The Independent
• LiveXLive wants to make the 'SportsCenter' of live music
  Post from Variety
• The composer reimagining Secret Of Mana, Zelda and other SNES soundtracks with analog synths
  Post from The Verge
• Tiny Engines is the best indie label of 2018
  Post from Uproxx
• The best music of 2018 says 'We're here, get used to it'
  Post from NPR

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Thursday, December 6

• The 65 best songs of 2018
  List from NY Times
• K-pop's EXP Edition: The world's most controversial 'Korean' band
  Story from BBC News
• Liberty Media angling to snag post-bankruptcy iHeartMedia
  Post from NY Post
• Alexa can now find the right Amazon Music playlist by having a conversation with you
  Post from The Verge
• Thank U, Next: How Ariana Grande and Drake accelerated the pop music life cycle
  Post from The Ringer
• Cosmic cars
  Story from Victory Journal

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Friday, December 7

• 2018 Grammy nominees
  List from Grammy.com
• The gatekeepers of SoundCloud rap
  Post from Vulture
• A new editor, and a new start, for troubled Billboard magazine
  Story from NY Times
• Pete Shelley: The smart, sardonic punk bard of unrequited romance
  Obituary from The Guardian
• The year in touring charts: Ed Sheeran claims 2018's top tour, Taylor Swift, Beyoncé and Jay Z do big business
  Post from Billboard
• The best music books of 2018
  List from Pitchfork