Jay Peters
Mariah Carey will open for Netflix’s Christmas NFL games.
She’ll be doing a taped performance of “All I Want for Christmas Is You,” Netflix says.
Beyoncé’s halftime show later in the day will be live.
Music
Jay Peters
Find your next favorite song... on Roblox?
Roblox now has a Top 100 music chart that highlights “this week’s most popular music on Roblox based on listens and experience adoptions.”
Don’t sleep on “Jazz Medieval” (#54).
Adi Robertson
I mean, who hasn’t thought about faking their Spotify Wrapped?
It just usually doesn’t involve posting a fake all-Springsteen top songs list for New Jersey political cred:
When reached Monday afternoon, Gottheimer confirmed his post was indeed a manufactured list and not pulled directly from Spotify.
“This would be my Spotify Wrapped if I didn’t share my account with my 12 and 15-year-old kids,” Gottheimer said in a statement to NJ Advance Media.
Richard Lawler
SiriusXM is cutting costs again and refocusing on cars over streaming.
Last year, Joseph Inzerillo announced SiriusXM’s new logo (below) and plan to conquer new audiences. Now he’s out, as the company cuts spending on marketing to “high-churn” streaming audiences with plans to cut an additional $200 million in annual costs.
CEO Jennifer Witz announced it’s “doubling down” on automotive customers, using streaming as a companion in the app and in Teslas.
Image: SiriusXM
Charles Pulliam-Moore
Chris Welch
Apple Music gets three new 24/7 radio stations.
Apple Music is expanding its lineup of radio stations today with Apple Música Uno, Apple Music Club, and Apple Music Chill. They’re all pretty self-explanatory, don’t require a subscription, and will be airing original shows featuring some notable artists like Jamie xx, Nia Archives, Brian Eno, and more.
I’ll definitely be giving the Chill station a try during the workday this week.
Richard Lawler
It’s still Bandcamp Friday.
Whether it’s during Bandcamp Friday or not, buying music sends more money to musicians than playing a subscription stream. So, it might be worth celebrating this event where Bandcamp waives its cut of the money you spend one last time for 2024 as it continues for the next seven hours or so.
Bandcamp has changed hands twice and had significant layoffs since the pandemic tradition started; we’ll see if it continues in 2025.
This year, Spotify teamed up with Google to let you generate a podcast with two AI ‘hosts’ based on what you’ve listened to.
Emma Roth
Emma Roth
From Spotify Wrapped to Amazon Music Delivered.
Even Amazon Music is getting in on the yearly recap trend, as its app will now show your top songs, artists, and podcasts of the year, along with other interesting stats under the “2024 Delivered” banner.
Andrew J. Hawkins
SiriusXM finally lands in Tesla Models 3, Y, and Cybertruck.
The satellite radio service has been available in the Model S and X since 2020 but was conspicuously absent from Tesla’s two best-selling models and electric truck.
Like the Apple Watch app, it’s part of Tesla’s 2024 holiday update, and SiriusXM’s offering a one-month free trial. Of course, Tesla Premium Connectivity ($9.99/month) or an active Wi-Fi connection is also required.
Image: SiriusXM
Mia Sato
Who is responsible?!
For the anniversary edition of her album, “Goodies,” Ciara removed her collaboration with R. Kelly, but the album includes a very funny mistake: the Windows pop-up sound.
Stereogum found a couple examples of fans playing their records and finding the error on the song “1, 2 Step.” I love it, personally.
Mia Sato
An 1891 recording is country music history.
A recently discovered performance of “Thompson’s Old Gray Mule” is now the oldest country recording in existence. The performer is Louis Vasnier, a Black artist from New Orleans.
The recording highlights how Black musicians have shaped the genre, despite the erasure of their contributions:
“Black artists by and large, who were the ones who performed and recorded, get wiped out of the picture because they say, ‘Well, it’s not really country,’” Martin says. “So ours is partly a project of reclamation.”
The earliest known ‘country’ recording has been found. The singer? A Black man.
[The Washington Post]
Emma Roth
Shazam has put a name to 100 billion songs.
According to Shazam, that’s equal to 12 songs named for each person on Earth.
Umar Shakir
Fast music.
Nintendo added F-Zero X to the growing library of video game tracks on the Nintendo Music app. One of my favorites, “White Land,” is below in YouTube form (I’m also partial to “Port Town“). Just please avoid speeding while listening in your car.
Richard Lawler
Netflix’s Christmas Day NFL broadcast includes a Beyoncé halftime show.
Despite the glitches in its Tyson-Paul livestream that pulled in more than 60 million viewers, Netflix is pushing forward to another major live event with two exclusive NFL broadcasts on Christmas Day.
And now the streamer has announced that Beyoncé will perform at halftime of the second game, as the Houston Texans host the Baltimore Ravens starting at 4:30PM ET on December 25th.
David Pierce
Ash Parrish
Lo-fi beats to chill / Waterfowl Dance to.
If video game soundtracks are what you use to get through the workday, then FromSoftware has a gift for you. The soundtrack for Shadow of the Erdtree is now streaming in all the regular (and not so regular) places including Spotify, YouTube Music, Amazon Music, something called Deezer, and more.
Jay Peters
Instagram is having issues playing Mark Zuckerberg’s song he made with T-Pain.
Zuck worked with T-Pain on a new version of “Get Low,” but the song initially wasn’t playing for me and some Verge colleagues on his Instagram carousel.
Now, the song works for me on iOS, but not on desktop. Meta spokesperson Sienna La Rocca confirms that this isn’t a copyright issue, however.
Update: The song is working on iOS but not on desktop.
Jess Weatherbed
Apple Music Classical 2.1 lets you Liszt-en in your car.
The latest version of the app now includes support for CarPlay and Siri, alongside “stability and performance enhancements” according to Apple.
It’s more surprising that this wasn’t already available. MacRumors notes that CarPlay support also briefly appeared in January before mysteriously vanishing just hours later. I’m glad they brought it Bach.
Rebooting the member list, taking the show streaming — is it enough in the age of AI?
Nilay Patel
Wes Davis
Pocket recording studios.
While interviewing Switched on Pop’s Charlie Harding on this episode of The Vergecast, David Pierce speculates that voice memo demos will become a distinct genre because people just want “lots of different experiences of this same kind of thing.”
And why not? As a songwriter, I’ve always been impressed with how good smartphone voice memos can sound, and who doesn’t have a strong opinion about at least one early demo from their favorite band?
David Pierce
Allison Johnson
Emma Roth
He who shall not be named.
At the Jack Dorsey-owned Block, employees were given “stern warnings” not to speak of Jay-Z, according to Fortune. Employees reportedly weren’t told why they couldn’t mention the rapper, who is also on Block’s board.
Block, purchased a majority stake in Jay-Z’s music streaming app Tidal in 2021. Tidal laid off more staff last month, but that may not be the end of this year’s cuts, Fortune reports.
David Pierce
Kevin Nguyen
Mount Eerie...mix?
Phil Elverum fuzzy guitars and crashing cymbals don’t really conjure “remix material” in my mind, but I love that he dropped his new record Night Palace along with a folder of all the stems, in case you were ever so inclined. Since his days under the moniker The Microphones, Elverum has embodied the DIY spirit, so I guess now you can do it yourself, too.
Emma Roth
Mia Sato
The big business of Halloween music.
If you’re someone who loves to play Christmas music a full month before the actual holiday, great news: the music industry is trying to make Halloween music A Thing.
My friend group’s Music League theme for this week was Halloween-ish songs (among the submissions: The Specials, David Bowie, Death from Above 1979). What’s on your playlist?
The Music Industry Is Hoping Halloween Can Be the New Christmas
[The New York Times]