Friday Kanopy Movie Pick: Sound City

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Head into the weekend with some good tunes! Our Friday Kanopy movie pick features Sound City. Directed by Foo Fighters front man Dave Grohl, this documentary tells the story of Sound City, a LA-based recording studio where some of the greatest rock albums of all time were recorded.

Sound City was opened in 1969 by Joe Gottfried & Tom Skeeter. The facility had previously been a production factory of the English musical instrument manufacturer Vox.

Skeeter purchased a state-of-the-art recording console, which was one of four in the world. The first song recorded on the console was by Stevie Nicks & Lindsey Buckingham before they joined Fleetwood Mac. In 1976, Fleetwood Mac recorded "Never Going Back Again," a single on their Rumours album, which went on to become one of the best-selling albums of all time.

In the 1980s & 1990s, Sound City was used to produce music for artists such as Foreigner, Metallica, Red Hot Chili Peppers, & Nirvana. It developed a reputation for having a particular sound when recording drums, which influenced Rick Rubin to use it when he produced Johnny Cash's album Unchained.

In 2011, Studio City was closed to the public. Record label Fairfax Recording leased one studio, which was used by The Lumineers & Cold War Kids, among other artists. In 2017, Tom Skeeter's daughter, Sandy, formed a partnership with music executive Olivier Chastan to reopen the studio. While the control room received some upgrades, the main studio remains in the same condition as it was in 1969.

How to use Kanopy

Kanopy is a streaming service that is free to use with your WPL card. Your account has 4 watch credits per month. If you do not use your credits, they do not roll over to the next month. You will see a "play credit tracker" at the top right of your library's Kanopy platform to alert you of how many play credits you have remaining for the month.

To use a play credit, you must press play on a video and have the video play for at least 5 seconds. Once a play credit is logged, you will have a full 3 days (72 hours) to watch the video as many times as you would like without using another play credit, even if a new month starts and your credits reset. Your Viewing History will show any video that is still available to view in your 3 day window. After the 3 day window has expired, another play credit will be used if you press play on the video again.

Kanopy is currently offering credit-free viewing for select films. If you watch any of the movies on this list, you will not be using your credits. Once you log into your account, click the “credit free viewing" link on the top.