newsmakers

newsmakers

Daft Punk sets Spotify record with album

NEW YORK

Daft Punk has set another record on Spotify.

The music service said Monday that the electronic duo’s new album, “Random Access Memories,” had the biggest number of streams in its first week in the United States. Spotify wouldn’t release the number of streams, but Daft Punk beat the 8 million streams Mumford & Sons set with “Babel” last year.

“Random Access Memories” was released last week and is the fourth album from the Grammy-winning French group.

Daft Punk also set a Spotify record last month when its song “Get Lucky” had the biggest streaming day for a single track in the U.S. and the United Kingdom. Since its debut, “Get Lucky” has been streamed more than 27 million times.

Spotify launched in 2008.

Israeli Amos Oz wins Franz Kafka prize

PRAGUE

Acclaimed Israeli author Amos Oz has won the prestigious Franz Kafka Prize in the Czech Republic.

An international jury that included prominent German literary critic Marcel Reich-Ranicki selected Oz for the prize, which is awarded annually with a $10,000 prize.

Past winners have included the American novelist Philip Roth and Nobel laureates Elfriede Jelinek of Austria and Harold Pinter of Britain.

It is awarded by the Prague-based Franz Kafka Society to authors whose works “appeal to readers regardless of their origin, nationality and culture.”

The society said in a statement Monday that Oz has agreed to travel to Prague with his wife for an October ceremony to receive the prize.

Oz has been said to be among the candidates for the Nobel Prize for literature in last several years.

McCartney leaves pick on 1st Graceland visit

MEMPHIS, Tenn.

Paul McCartney made his first visit to the one-time home of the King of Rock ’n’ Roll and left a gift behind.

According to the official Twitter account of the former Beatle, McCartney dropped a personal guitar pick on Elvis Presley’s grave and said it was “so Elvis can play in heaven.”

The lifelong Elvis fan toured Graceland, the Memphis mansion, on Sunday.

He was in Memphis to play a show on the North American leg of his “Out There” tour.

The show at FedEx- Forum marked McCartney’s first visit to the Bluff City in two decades.

Associated Press