Jay Peters
Spotify just increased prices, but you might want to get ready for more.
I get the sense that Robert Kyncl, the CEO of Warner Music Group, feels there’s room for the price of music streaming services to go up.
Music Archive
Archives for September 2023
Jay Peters
Warner Music Group’s CEO says we might see AI prompt-generated music really soon.
Robert Kyncl estimates that within the next year, you’ll see lots of evolution in AI technologies and music. “You have to embrace technology,” he said.
Elizabeth Lopatto
Is a tax surprise the worst surprise?
Alert — if you resold your Taylor Swift tickets you bought on Ticketmaster, you may be on the hook for the profits. Ticketmaster has turned your info over to the IRS already, thanks to a new law, and:
The average price for Taylor Swift tickets sold in the U.S. on StubHub was $1,095, with the best seats going for thousands of dollars, according to the company, which operates an online market for people to resell and buy tickets.
Also, the number of fan resellers skyrocketed.
The IRS Is Going to Know if You Sold Taylor Swift ‘Eras’ Tickets
[The Wall Street Journal]
Sean Hollister
No idea if I’ll use Microsoft Copilot, but this is absolutely my new jam.
Microsoft set its new Copilot ad to Amy McKnight’s “Rise Up Let’s Go.” Such energy... I might just keep it on repeat today!
Wes Davis
How do you do, fellow kids?
NPR reports that the US Consumer Product Safety Commission, which has been on the meme train for years, has released an album called We’re Safety Now Haven’t We.
Its seven tracks remind you to wear a helmet, not to look at your phone while walking, and uh, not to shoot fireworks at other people.
Honestly, they’re kind of bops? Is that what you say? Sorry, I’m 40.
Jess Weatherbed
Swifties need your help to solve 33 million Google puzzles.
Typing “Taylor Swift” into Google’s search engine will currently reveal a blue vault containing 89 puzzles — a reference to the singer’s new album “1989 (Taylor’s Version).”
The vault will be unlocked when 33 million puzzles have been collectively solved, but its “prize” contents still remain a mystery. Given the size of Swift’s fanbase, I’m shocked Google Search is still functional.
Nilay Patel
Nilay Patel
The new Monday Night Football song is Chris Stapleton and Snoop Dog covering “In the Air Tonight.”
The iconic Phil Collins song has been reworked with “football centric verses” from Snoop; the all-important drums are being played by legendary touring drummer Cindy Blackman Santana. Incredible quotes from the USA Today story about the project as well:
— “Collins gave his blessing to the project once he had assurances it would not replace the “MNF” theme song – “the four notes,” as those on the creative content team call it.”
— “Snoop was responsible for seven different rap sections that take about 17 seconds total.”
— “The anthem will play before every ESPN game aside from the Week 4 London game between the Jacksonville Jaguars and Atlanta Falcons (on ESPN+) because kickoff is at 9:30 a.m. ET.”
I cannot wait to hear the 17 seconds of football raps that are too hot for the AM.
Wes Davis
Sad songs and waltzes.
I’m firmly in the camp that says the evolution of music is always good. It’s through that lens I find stories like this one from The Wall Street Journal on Friday interesting.
It describes how music streaming has led to shortened songs, earlier choruses, longer albums, and cross-genre collabs. Much of the piece echoes things the hosts of Switched on Pop described in an interview with The Verge in 2019.
Jay Peters
Here’s a new Toby Fox jam that was cut from Deltarune.
From the latest Undertale / Deltarune newsletter, which also has an update on Chapter 3 (Deltarune Chapter 2 came out almost exactly two years ago):
We are continuing to work on Chapter 3! The Chapter got playable from beginning to end. After some restructuring and reshuffling of different parts, it’s feeling quite good to go through. Can’t say it’s finished yet, but the unfinished parts are certainly seeming less and less numerous. That’s good because try as I might to sleep, until the game is finished, I’ll see nothing but nightmares...
Earlier, we were considering having a stealth-focused section in the game where you would slowly, slowly sneak around certain areas.
After developing some concepts, we realized a mechanic which basically just makes you move slower isn’t necessarily fun.
So, we didn’t do that...
Anyway, feel free to listen to this song since it’s now unused.
It’s a great song. Imagine if Toby Fox wrote a song for a stealth section in a video game — I’m guessing it’s pretty close to what you imagine.
Ash Parrish
Hey, anybody got $430 I could borrow?
I need it for a very very important reason like buying the entire Cowboy Bebop soundtrack on vinyl from Amazon. It’s a limited edition, 11 record box set collection and includes just about everything Yoko Kanno and The Seatbelts produced for the foundational anime.
The set is deep, including tracks from the easy to overlook albums like Vitaminless and Music for Freelance. In order to continue living as a human being I need this, so if you’ve got some cash to spare, send it my way.
Note: If you buy something from these links, we might get affiliate revenue.
Jay Peters
Want to hear an orchestra perform music from Starfield?
As I write this, Bethesda is showing the premiere of a performance of the game’s music from the London Symphony Orchestra. I love the game’s music, so this video is totally making my day.