Drums on film. | Image: Decap I don't think I'm going to hurt anyone's feelings by pointing out that Decap doesn't have the name recognition of Kendrick Lamar, Olivia Rodrigo, or Charli XCX.
Chuck Varga, a founding member and vocalist of the heavy metal band Gwar, died on Friday following a battle with cancer. He was 68. Gwar bassist Casey Orr announced his death in a statement shared to Facebook, writing, “Chuck Varga has left this earthly realm.
The country star’s “Choosin’ Texas” recently made history on the Billboard Hot 100.
Reba McEntire revealed her longtime friend Dolly Parton tried to get in touch with her just before she died. The country singer and actress shared that she missed a call from Parton, who died Aug. 25 after a “brief battle” with cancer, and was unable to get in touch with her one final time. “She […]
The president and first lady of South Korea attended the show on Sept. 25 at GNP Seguros Stadium.
The Country Music Hall of Fame member brought fans into the world of Silver Sands Marina with his show at Nashville's The Pinnacle.
CNN has partnered with Farm Aid for a second year to bring audiences the Farm Aid 2026: Music Festival Live on Saturday, Sept. 26. Audiences can watch the annual music festival, which will air live on Saturday, Sept. 26 from 7 p.m. ET to 11 p.m. ET on CNN. Cable-cutters can also stream the fest […]
Steve Martin has hosted four season openers, more than anyone else. But who is the most frequent musical guest on a season premiere?
Singer's "House Tour" video partner Margaret Qualley will portray Adele Astaire in estate-approved film
The eight-episode series will be released weekly on HBO Ma two episodes at a time.
At the New York book launch for his memoir, In My Darkest Hour, artist was candid with fans about the thrash group’s future
A new full moon brings the latest offering from singer's upcoming album o\i
For this weekend, SNL U.K. has Amelia Dimoldenberg as host and Rachel Chinouriri as musical guest.
The game will air live on Saturday, Sept. 26 at 12:00 p.m. ET across several streaming platforms that offer free trials.
Artists including Tinie Tempah and the Smiths’ drummer Mike Joyce ramp up pressure on government to keep its pledge to outlaw for-profit resales The government has stepped up work on new laws to stop ticket touts fleecing fans, as the prime minister came under pressure from artists including the...
Your spare Android won’t come back to life in a hurry but – like neglected PCs – it really should
Number III Space Effects Squadron likely to use electronic warfare rather than lobbing missiles at hostile orbiting threats
"Got inducted into the New Jersey Hall of Fame," she wrote. "MORE IMPORTANTLY I MET DANNY DEVITO."
Kristin Cavallari joins the two Grammy winners in the nostalgia-soaked clip, as Branch revisits her 2002 hit for a 25th-anniversary EP
The Australian pop icon delivered a career-spanning 20-minute hometown set, joined by G Flip, William Barton and Dom Dolla.
The band played "Corduroy" as their first song with the ferocious musician behind the kit
So, tune in Saturday September 26h to Faction Talk, channel 137, at 4 PM East, 1 PM West. Phone #: 844-686-5863 If you miss the episode, you can hear it on demand on the SiriusXM app. Search: Lefsetz
Latin music recorded revenue topped $540 million in the U.S. during 2026’s opening half thanks to solid paid streaming gains and triple-digit vinyl growth, according to a new report.
In a statement to Rolling Stone, the rapper-producer responds to accusations that he agreed to change his name and later failed to follow through on his promise
Olivia Rodrigo fans in Hartford, Connecticut had two concerns on Friday night: finding an outfit appropriate for both the opening night of Rodrigo’s “Unraveled” tour and for the blustery nor’easter slamming the Northeast, and whether that weather event would mess with their travel plans.
Taylor Swift has broken two Spotify records for 2026, including most-streamed female artist in a day. Swift broke the records following the midnight release of “The Life of a Showgirl: Encore,” which featured four new songs, including lead single “Patient Zero.” That song broke the record for the...
Another day, another video expansion for Spotify, which has debuted a dedicated MTV Video Music Awards (VMAs) hub and is preparing to add “select performances from the 2026″ edition. Spotify announced its Video Music Awards plans and wider Paramount partnership today.
Attorneys for streaming fraudster Michael Smith request probation rather than prison time for their client, downplaying the severity of his crimes. Michael Smith, the man who generated millions by mass-uploading AI-generated songs and garnering billions of plays, has pled guilty to a single count...
AI music is not going away. It is separating into a transient synthetic economy and an artist-centered business built around identity, ownership, relationships and fans. Something fundamental is happening in music, and I think we have been asking the wrong question about generative AI.
I picked the wrong line. I went to Pep Boys to get my tires rotated and the front end aligned. You’re supposed to rotate every 5,000 miles, and I adhere religiously to that, since this car wears out tires long before the warranty expires, I want to make sure I dot every “i” and cross […]
Here’s a recap of recent music industry hires and in-house promotions as of September 25th, 2026. If you have a job shuffle to share, we’re all ears. Send us a note to news@digitalmusicnews.com. If you’d like to post a job on our Job Board, just send us a request to noah@digitalmusicnews.com.
Boognish Provides, out October 16 via Rhino, features seven full concerts from Gene and Dean Ween's 1994/95 trek, the duo's first time with a backing band
Warner Music Group (WMG) has announced a big reorganization of its recorded music leadership this morning, shifting executives across its international divisions, independent distribution arm, and frontline labels.
Tom Holland has found his dance partners for Sony Pictures’ yet-to-be-titled Fred Astaire biopic: Margaret Qualley and Sabrina Carpenter. As previously announced, Holland will play the debonair dancer in the upcoming film, directed by Paul King, with Amy Pascal producing.
An experiment is afoot to sidestep C as the language of interoperability with Rust
The unnamed woman who accused Jay-Z of raping her when she was 13 has withdrawn her claims, saying that she has never met the rapper. A woman who alleged Jay-Z raped her when she was just 13 years old has formally withdrawn her claims and now says she has never met the rapper. The woman, […]
Once a single-scalar home, spreadsheet cells are being redeveloped to handle many tenants
Better conductors and improved sensing capabilities expected to unlock at least 23 gigawatts of additional capacity
More mockery and memes from the Dark Web Roast
Ed Sheeran’s Loop Tour faces more setbacks with the cancelation of his planned shows at Robert Kraft’s Gillette Stadium “due to severe weather.” After the intense controversy surrounding Ed Sheeran’s Loop Tour this month, the singer-songwriter will ultimately not be performing at billionaire Robert...
Overhead reduced by as much as 99.7%
Apple Music announces its first run of shows at Apple Music Hall with a lineup starting with Elton John on opening night, September 28. Today, Apple Music has announced its first run of shows at the new Apple Music Hall in London’s Battersea Power Station, with Elton John set to perform on opening...
Imagine asking Spotify to “play some fresh indie soul I might like” and then, mid-session, saying “I love... The post Bootstrapping Conversational Recommendation Agents at Spotify: Synthetic Data Generation and Self-Improvement Loops appeared first on Spotify Engineering.
SZA joins previous inductees Whitney Houston, Queen Latifah, Wyclef Jean, Paul Rudd, Toni Morrison, Tony Bennett, the Isley Brothers, Meryl Streep, Jonas Brothers, Frank Sinatra, and more
Data theft and extortion biz, that is
The Irish superstars returned to their Dublin roots, just after announcing new album Carnaval De Luz
Fervo Energy aims to have 100 MW online by New Year and half a gigawatt by 2028
Potential Nor'easter along East Coast has also forced cancelation of Ed Sheeran's Massachusetts concerts, CBGB fest, and All Things Go
Global Citizen Festival has been canceled due to the extreme weather forecast for New York City. The event was slated to take place on Saturday at the Great Lawn in Central Park, with performances from Lauryn Hill and Wyclef Jean, Lenny Kravitz, John Legend and more.
Nothing in the attack chain screams malicious software, except none of the impersonated HR and payroll providers actually offers a desktop app
All Things Go NYC Festival has been canceled because of “severe weather conditions,” organizers said in a statement. The event was slated to take place Friday, Saturday and Sunday at Forest Hills Stadium, with performances from Zara Larsson, Lola Young, Brandi Carlile, Ethel Cain, Muna, Carly Rae...
Familiar fingerprints point to Kim’s regime … to the surprise of nobody
The biggest headlines from the past few days... Source
Duo clarifies days after announcing To Whom It Still Concerns Tour that producer won’t join singer on the road; “He is my Producer (a great one at that) ! not a performing artist by trade,” Green writes
Suno’s AI vocalists could learn a thing or two from this glitchy image. | Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty Images Sony and Universal Music Group filed yet another suit against Suno.
Patti LaBelle, Common and Public Enemy were among the artists and executives who were celebrated on Thursday night at the sixth annual Black Music Action Coalition Gala, held at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles.
Ed Sheeran’s challenging month continues as a pair of his high-profile stadium shows have been canceled due to weather. The pop star’s Sept. 25 and 26 shows at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass., have been nixed due to a nor’easter that’s set to hit the East Coast, with heavy rain and strong...
But was the update at fault? Microsoft isn't saying
Joe Fay chairs a Register dinner in New York on the file infrastructure nobody has got around to replacing, with nothing on the record.
ABOUT Y ROYALTIES Y Royalties is a data-led and innovative workplace with a growing presence in the music rights space. We sit at the crossroads of music, data and finance […] The post is from Music Ally.
Remsberg will run EVEN's commercial relationships across the music business, dealing with labels, distributors, managers, artist teams, and other partners. Source
A well-timed RAM stockpile helped keep boards shipping while rivals struggled for memory
Robson, President, EMEA, Recorded Music, WMG, will step down in December. Source
Since launching in 1984, the MTV Video Music Awards have helped establish the music video as an art form: artist-defining, boundary-breaking, trend-setting, culture-defining. The awards show is also synonymous with legendary performances that bring those videos to life.
Alejandro Duque promoted, as Aaron Bay-Schuck is confirmed as the sole Chairman and CEO of Warner Records Group Source
Monday night’s alright for… lighting up Apple’s new music venue? Elton John will be the first artist to play Apple Music Hall in London. The post is from Music Ally.
Users may need to summon Explorer manually after signing in
US labels body the RIAA has published its mid-year report on US Latin recorded-music revenues, and it shows healthy growth for the sector. The post is from Music Ally.
He will oversee the team that licenses the organization's repertory of over 20 million musical works to restaurants, bars, fitness studios, live music venues, and other establishments that use music. Source
Selby has joined the board as a publisher member, ASCAP President and Chairman of the Board Paul Williams. Source
Michael Smith's lawyers argued that his scheme caused only "tiny, immeasurable losses" spread across millions of songwriters and artists, Billboard reported. Source
8.6% Growth Outpaces Overall US Market Cultural Moments from Super Bowl to World Cup Spotlight Latin Music as Paid Subscriptions Rise 12.4% & Vinyl More Than Triples US Latin recorded music revenues topped $542.2 million in the first half of 2026, up 8.6% compared with the same period last year,...
“An astonishing theft of unprecedented proportions”: Court records show what Microsoft and OpenAI actually thought about AI training — “Internal Microsoft communications identified the ‘real risk’ that generative AI could ‘significantly disrupt the employment of the very people who generated the...
Justice Department claims the EU overreached by pursuing X's owner and wider corporate empire
Having been removed from Ed Sheeran’s ‘Loop’ tour in the US, Macklemore found himself with some white space in his live schedule. He’s moved to fill that quickly. The post is from Music Ally.
In March, American producer Michael Smith pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, following accusations that he had botted his way to more than $10m in royalties for his AI-generated music. The post is from Music Ally.
The UK’s Mechanical Copyright Protection Society (MCPS) has historically had a close relationship with PRS for Music. Now it’s making some changes, with plans to start working “directly with an expanded network of specialist partners”. The post is from Music Ally.
Spotify announced its new ’Reserved’ feature in May, with plans to identify the keenest fans of participating artists, then reserve them tickets for upcoming concerts. The post is from Music Ally.
You certainly can’t accuse promoter Goldenvoice of putting all its festival-livestream eggs in the same streaming service’s basket. The post is from Music Ally.
Coding agents helped two developers build an accelerated desktop and graphics driver in weeks
High-value goods remain tied up as merchants debate attack or platform glitch
Putting the 'om' in computing
Force says public data appears untouched, but investigators looking into whether crims grabbed employee information
SymphonyOS has launched SymphonyOS V2, its biggest update since launch. Billing itself as "the agent company of music", the platform has rebuilt its marketing suite around six specialised AI agents, each dedicated to a different part of an artist's career or a label's rollout.
Catalogue campaigns usually need an excuse: a 25th anniversary, a deluxe box set, a viral TikTok moment. London Records' "London Revisited" has none of these.
Hot off the heels of its newly unveiled 600-capacity Apple Music Hall venue in London, Apple Music for Artists has just announced a series of new artist profile customisation features - coinciding with the public rollout of iOS 27. What’s new? The post is from Music Ally.
The German band Tokio Hotel are set to release their new album Encore next month. To promote the record and celebrate 25 years of being a band, they just announced their first-ever band podcast sharing the album name.
Campaigning organisation the FanFair Alliance has published a report targeting Viagogo, on the eve of the Labour Party conference. The post is from Music Ally.
India’s longest-running reality TV singing talent competition series Sa Re Ga Ma Pa — not to be confused with the label Saregama — returned to screens last weekend. The show, […] The post is from Music Ally.
Qobuz launches a tag signifying music that has been identified as AI-generated, enabling users to better understand what they’re listening to. AI-generated content continues to gain traction across the music industry, and Qobuz wants that information to be readily visible to users.
Calvin Harris breaks another attendance record with the largest-ever electronic headline tour in Australia. DJ superstar Calvin Harris has sold out the largest electronic tour ever seen in Australia, breaking yet another record just days after his Guinness World Record-making free concert in...
After initially rescheduling some Friday performances to accommodate stormy weather, Oceans Calling has canceled the first day of the three-day festival altogether. Oceans Calling in Ocean City, Maryland, had already modified its schedule ahead of the inclement weather rolling in this weekend.
With an eye on making “interoperable metadata” the norm for AI-powered voice models, Voice-Swap has joined the Digital Data Exchange (DDEX) as a full member.
A new report from the Vanderbilt Policy Accelerator finds that Live Nation’s dominance of the outdoor amphitheater market rests heavily on government-owned buildings and public subsidies—even after a federal jury ruled in April that the company illegally monopolized the live events industry.
In the music industry, global availability is not the same as global success. A song can be one tap away for a listener in any country and never leave its home market. Some music genres win their audience in neighboring countries before they cross an ocean.
The “Frankenstein” reggaeton lawsuit against Bad Bunny and a multitude of others isn’t finished yet. Weeks after suffering a serious setback in the marathon case, the plaintiffs are urging the presiding judge to reconsider his “unjust” and “inconsistent” ruling.
Apple Music partners with Goldenvoice as the official livestream partner of Head Trip, a bespoke experience in Indio, California, in October. Today, Apple Music has announced its partnership with Goldenvoice, the team behind Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, to present Head Trip, a...
Lefsetz testing out the new serpentine belt! https://www.facebook.com/reel/1773732606988416 Len Carter ___________________________________ Reminds me of my “leaf blower theory”: 20 years ago, I bought a 6hp Little Wonder leaf blower. Not the big-dog 11hp.
Ron Alexenburg signed the Jacksons to Epic and more. Here we talk about his fifty year career in the record business. Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ron-alexenburg/id1316200737?i=1000791441282...
Following a beta launch in New Zealand, Spotify is expanding its new algorithm tweaking tools with the launch of “Taste Profile” in the US. On Wednesday, Spotify began rolling out its new “Taste Profile” feature to Premium subscribers in the United States after a beta launch in New Zealand.
Partisan Music has officially become a majority partner in Alex Sheridan’s OTM Music, which is set to absorb the investing company’s Left Music team and roster to form “an expanded independent publishing operation.” The involved parties reached out with word of the strategic merger, pointing first...
The Alliance says it was formed in response to two forms of unauthorized use, which it calls Data Piracy and Sync Piracy. Source
Distribution and music creation platform expands streaming fraud detection system Source
UMG's lawsuit accuses the DIY distributor of "deceptive trade practices and blatant copyright infringement", and of flooding streaming services with AI-generated "slop. Source
Explore how music from Mexico, Japan, Brazil, India, and Nigeria is crossing borders—and the different paths each market is taking toward global growth.
Last week, Spotify welcomed 500 guests from across the songwriting, producing, and publishing world to the second annual Created by Women Summit, a day dedicated to building a more equitable music industry.
Sandbox Guides are for music marketers: They explain how you can use new platforms, create new strategies, and build new audiences. The Guides feature cutting-edge case studies, expert interviews, benchmark data, […] The post is from Music Ally.
Earlier this year, we introduced Reserved by Spotify, a new experience designed to give an artist’s most dedicated fans a better chance to see them live. Eligible Premium subscribers ages 18+ in the U.S.
Is this a recent development, or are you a die-hard compact disc fan? What do you like about the format? Despite the prevalence of music streaming services, CDs players appear to be having a resurgence.
The San Jose Sharks have abruptly replaced their controversial goal song after just one season. The removal came after fans outed the AI-generated Suno ‘slop’ and demanded its removal from games.
Young people are spending fewer hours listening to music, and in particular, music is occupying a smaller share of teenager's time than it used to. The decline in weekly hours spent listening to music sits in contrast with nearly every other entertainment format increasing its time with younger...
At Spotify, we’re always thinking (obsessing) about new ways to connect listeners to the music, podcasts, audiobooks, and videos they love. You can talk to Spotify. You can turn any idea into a playlist. You can even ask Spotify to soundtrack your next run.
Even the biggest artists on earth started somewhere small—at home. That’s the idea behind Hometown, Spotify’s latest concert series. Designed to celebrate the places that have shaped U.K.
Track the artists and songs making an impact across streaming and social media with the Chartmetric Top 50, a new public chart updated daily.
NCT’s JOHNNY was born and raised in Chicago, but moved to South Korea as a teenager to train as an artist. Years later, he’s still discovering new things about his adopted home every day.
Spotify has always been built around your taste, and now we’re bringing our latest advances in personalization to more listeners. Following initial testing in New Zealand earlier this year, we’re rolling out Taste Profile (Beta) to Premium listeners ages 18 and older in the U.S.
The power dynamic between media personalities and media distributors is shifting – a change that has picked up pace over the last few years. Traditional media companies are cautiously opening their doors to creator talent, recognising them for the lucrative opportunity that they represent. Source
Recently, fans of the German podcast Gemischtes Hack received a mysterious invitation to an event simply called “HACKTAG,” taking place September 22 at the Berliner Ensemble in Berlin. Without knowing anything else, an audience of 600 gathered, anxious to see what the evening might have in store.
How do you know which recommender system is actually best? The standard approach of holding out some user... The post From IR to RecSys: Evaluating LLM-based Judges in Cranfield-style Recommendation Collections appeared first on Spotify Engineering.
TL;DR: We investigate whether personalised shelf concepts can be generated from listener profiles and... The post Hypothesis-Driven Shelf Generation for Personalised Recommendation appeared first on Spotify Engineering.
TL;DR: Recommender systems have always assumed a human recipient but AI agents break that assumption. In our... The post Who Are We Recommending To? Recommender Systems in the Agentic Web appeared first on Spotify Engineering.
In a September interview with Sources , Mark Zuckerberg dropped the finding that Threads is as big – or at least closing in on – X, the platform it was designed to compete with. The platforms’ respective monthly active user reported numbers are 550 million for X, as of May 2026, and 500 millio...
We received good feedback on the previous release candidate 3, which resulted in several bugfixes and small improvements. The Picard team hence decided to release a fourth release candidate in preparation for the final release of Picard 3.0.
The venue is opening below Battersea Power Station, also well recognized for featuring on the cover of Pink Floyd’s Animals album. | Image: Apple Apple is preparing to open a new "state-of-the-art" live music venue in the UK, a 600-capacity space for hosting performances, recording sessions, and...
We are very pleased to announce that the MetaBrainz Foundation has appointed Silona Bonewald as Executive Director, following the unfortunate passing of our Rob at the beginning of the year.
Hi! It’s been a while since our last release since we have been working on stability improvements for both website and search to better cope with all the load we are handling recently.
The Justice Department opposes certain aspects of Judge Chhabria's opinion in Kadrey v. Meta, specifically regarding the transformation and market impact of AI training on copyrighted works.
Last week, Spotify turned up the volume in Seoul once again. From September 10 through 13, Spotify House Seoul returned to Anderson C in Seongsu for its biggest edition yet.
Creators of Post Script, made with vocals by the late Mark E Smith, defend it as ‘a great, positive record’, but fiancee describes it as ‘ethically wrong’ The fiancee and last manager of the late Mark E Smith, frontman of the Fall, has hit out against the release of an album being marketed as the...
You’ve probably noticed that I haven’t posted nearly as much here lately as I used to. Some of that is the fact that I’m a lot busier now than I was, but a big part is the fact the blog traffic for everyone has been falling for a long time now.
Some admit to spending thousands of dollars for barricade spots and other VIP perks at concerts, which is becoming more common When Harry Styles announced a fall residency at Madison Square Garden, 43-year-old Tara Bess knew she had to be there.
In August, I wrote about my love of the music history podcast No Dogs in Space, but mourned the fact that there hadn't been a new episode in over two years. Little did I know that hosts Carolina Hidalgo and Marcus Parks were gearing up to announce the show's return with season four, Punk 2.0.
Unit1 hopes to offer lower cost version of shows such as Abba Voyage, showcasing living and dead artists in any venue The former chief executive of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s entertainment group has obtained a near-£15m investment for his UK music tech startup that hopes to recreate classic concerts by...