Music

Last night, a friend pointed me to Radio Garden. The site (or iOS app) is simple, presenting a swipe-able digital Earth covered in green dots. Some represent collections of local stations, and some, like the lonely, all-shellac-78s Arctic Outpost AM1270, solemnly broadcast into the Earth’s farthest reaches.

Wilco have debuted “Loft Sans,” a new typeface for the band — and for its fans to license. It’s only $30, which is less than half the price of a Wilco hoodie. Good deal.

9to5Mac spotted that Apple updated the Mac and iPad versions of Logic Pro today. Updates include an automatic mastering tool called Mastering Assistant and 32-bit float recording.

Bandcamp United has filed an Unfair Labor Practice charge against Songtradr, the company that purchased Bandcamp from Epic Games, according to a report from 404 Media.

According to Bloomberg’s analysis of Taylor Swift’s public assets, she’s now “one of the few entertainers” to achieve billionaire status based almost entirely on her music, merch, and live performances. Swift’s Eras Tour is projected to become the highest-grossing solo tour in history.

Swifties and the Swift-curious (and probably some mix of obligated parents) reportedly pushed Taylor Swift’s theatrical release of her concert tour film to between $95 million and $97 million.

Variety reported this morning that Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour came this close to breaking another record yesterday, reportedly notching the second-biggest October box office opening day ever at $39 million.

The person behind that hit AI Drake song “Heart on My Sleeve,” @ghostwriter977 on TikTok, is making what (I think?) is his first public appearance at Bloomberg’s Screentime conference in Los Angeles. He’s in disguise and speaking through a voice distorter, which is pretty good theater as far as business conferences go.

Maybe you caught the very good jazz anime Blue Giant in theaters this weekend? The composer of its soundtrack, Japanese pianist Hiromi, actually released a new album Sonicwonderland last Friday. But like any artist, the most fun way in is to watch their NPR Tiny Desk Concert. Here’s Hiromi’s from last month.

Even though ownership of the company is changing, this remains, at least for now.

iam8bit and Riot Games are releasing a vinyl set of the anthems for the League of Legends World Championships from 2014-2023 (including NewJeans’ new track). Pre-orders start on Friday at 12PM ET.

Readers of Verge gift guides know we love Loog’s beautiful kids’ guitars, and now the company is out with a Kickstarter for its new piano. The company claims it sounds like the real thing and that it’s the only piano at this price ($229 for early backers) with actual dynamics in the keys. Also, it has a USB-C port. More details and a video on the Kickstarter page.

Closely following the theatrical release of Taylor Swift’s concert film for her Eras Tour that broke presale records, Beyoncé announced Renaissance, a film experience captured during her 2023 tour at the tour’s final stop in Kansas City. It’s appearing in theaters starting on December 1st.

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.

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.

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:

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!

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.

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).”