Featured In, Interviews Andrew Mall Featured In, Interviews Andrew Mall

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.

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Featured In, Interviews Andrew Mall Featured In, Interviews Andrew Mall

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.

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Featured In, Interviews Andrew Mall Featured In, Interviews Andrew Mall

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.

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Featured In, Interviews Andrew Mall Featured In, Interviews Andrew Mall

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?

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Featured In, Interviews Andrew Mall Featured In, Interviews Andrew Mall

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.

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Featured In, Interviews Andrew Mall Featured In, Interviews Andrew Mall

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.

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Featured In, Interviews Andrew Mall Featured In, Interviews Andrew Mall

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?

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