NEWS
Rivers Cuomo of the rock band Weezer performs to a sold out crowd during the Hella Mega Tour at T-Mobile Park on September 06, 202 1 in Seattle, Washington.
Xander Deccio/imageSPACE/MediaPunch /IPX/AP ImagesAs more musicians pull their music from Spotify amidst the controversy surrounding Joe Rogan, listeners are contemplating making the jump to alternate streaming services. There are a few options available, the more obvious choices including Apple Music and Tidal, but Rivers Cuomo is adding his own self-made app to the mix: Weezify.
“Tired of Spotify” the Weezer frontman wrote on Twitter. “Come on over to Weezify.” The only catch with Cuomo’s venture is that when he created the app last year, he filled it with the more than 3,200 demos he recorded between 1975 and 2017 — and nothing else.
Similarly to Spotify’s interface, Weezify offers a number of curated playlists for users to follow, or they can create their own. The library of demos is split into 12 bundles broken down by era. For instance, there’s “Weezma,” which holds demos made with the California band Ozma between 2012 and 2014, and “Patrick & Rivers,” which boasts music created with Weezer drummer Patrick Wilson between 1991 and 2012.
The bundles cost $9 each to purchase and play through Weezify, less than a monthly subscription to Spotify. Weezify also appears to be an outgrowth of another tech project Cuomo launched in 2020, a digital marketplace where he was also selling bundles of old demos.
Weezify arrives as Weezer plot their new four-part seasonal album cycle. “Spring is kind of like happy chill. And then we move through to dance rock, like a Strokes-style album for the fall, and then sad acoustic, Elliott Smith-style for winter,” Cuomo told Good Morning America of the project which plans for a new release on the first day of each season throughout the year.
Not for the first time, Moby is speaking out against Donald Trump’s administration with clear frustration.
“The U.S. is collapsing under a deeply corrupt and shockingly ineffective administration,” the longtime electronic musician shared on social media. “These are unbelievably dark times.”
Moby went deeper into his thoughts through a video message, where he explained that people outside the United States keep asking Americans what is actually happening in the country.
“So many of my friends outside the United States keep asking me, ‘what the hell is happening over there?’ And honestly, we don’t even know,” he said. “The country is being controlled by one of the most corrupt, dangerous and incompetent administrations imaginable. Nobody fully understands what’s happening right now. These are very dark times in America.”
Moby joins a growing list of artists publicly criticizing Trump and MAGA politics, including Bruce Springsteen, Jack White, Eminem and Billie Eilish.
Earlier this year, Moby uploaded another statement to social media where he addressed how people should respond following the killing of Alex Pretti by ICE agents in Minneapolis. “The real question isn’t whether people should feel horrified or outraged by what’s happening in the United States,” Moby explained in the Jan. 26 clip. “The question is what are we actually going to do about it?”
The musician and activist also encouraged people to protest, saying demonstrations are a constitutional right and something he believes Trump’s administration is attempting to weaken.
In the end, he urged people to vote regularly, “not only during the upcoming midterms, even though those matter, but also in every special election throughout the year.” He also encouraged supporters to “stop giving money to the scumbag corporations backing Trump and ICE. We all know who they are. Boycott them.”
His newest remarks arrive as the U.S. Justice Department unveils a nearly $1.8 billion compensation fund for Trump allies who claim they were unfairly investigated. At the same time, the Strait of Hormuz remains shut down following military action launched by the U.S. and Israel against Iran in late February without approval from Congress, leading to rising gas prices across the globe.
Throughout his independent music career, Moby has earned 10 entries on the Billboard 200 along with two songs on the Billboard Hot 100 and an enormous catalog of sync placements. Overseas, particularly in the United Kingdom, he is viewed as one of the defining artists of his era. He scored two No. 1 albums there with Play from 1999 and 18 from 2002, alongside 18 top 40 singles and two nominations for Best International Male at the BRIT Awards.
Check out Moby’s newest social media post below.
