Random music news for Friday, August 21, 2026

Distract yourself from *gestures broadly* (at least a little bit) with music news for August 21, 2026.

1. Oops. Gotta do some AI news after all. Round Hill, a company that has purchased a ton of valuable song catalogues, is suing Suno and suing Anthropic for copyright infringement. Good.
2. YouTube is about to change what counts as a “view” on its platform. It’s actually a good change.
3. Meta hired a bunch of social media influencers to fight teen social media bans proposed by governments around the world. Meta continues to be evil.
4. Thirty years later, we’re finally getting a trial in the murder of Tupac Shakur.
5. Wait: Are music blogs getting hot again? I sure hope so, obvs.
6. Wait: MTV still holds the VMAs? Even though MTV doesn’t show music videos anymore? Yes.
7. Spotify’s latest feature for users is “playlist notes.” Could come in handy.
8. Still with Spotify, the “Car Thing” could be coming back.
9. Good news! Ottawa’s newest venue, History, is open.
10. Shakira has pledged US$1.25 million to rebuild schools in Colombia after the earthquake earlier this month.
11. Ozzfest is definitely making a return in 2027. They’ve started booking venues.
12. Meanwhile, at the Pacific National Exhibition in Vancouver, people are demanding refunds to the Boy George show after his release of a pro-Israel song.
13. Tool’s Maynard James Keenan has a new business venture: a sushi restaurant called Queen B.
14. There’s a new David Bowie song out this week. Caveat: It’s from 1965.
15. Trivia question: In which Canadian city did The Beatles first appear? Answer: Winnipeg. (Via Tom)

More music news? Go here.

BONUS: There’s a weird, terrible animated film about a cow that has taken China by storm because it’s so weird and terrible.