Random music news for Monday, March 16, 2026

It’s only Monday, but here’s the headline of the week: “Hackers can now hijack your “massager”.” You’re welcome. Moving to music news for March 16, 2026.

1. A retired US Air Force general who consulted with Blink-182’s Tom DeLonge on UFO research has disappeared. He hasn’t been seen for two weeks. (Via Jon)
2. Under Live Nation’s antitrust settlement with the DoJ, the company has to divest itself of some of the venues it owns. Here’s the full list. (No Canadian venues are included.)
3. The Spanish embassy made fun of Morrissey cancelling his show in Valencia because he was “too sleepy.”
4. Slipknot fans: Former drummer Jay Weinberg is selling a bunch of gear, including some stage-worn masks.
5. Greg Brown is the late guitarist with CAKE. When he died, he left behind a huge medical debt, so his family has launched a GoFundMe campaign. ‘Murica, huh?
6. AI scams and streaming fraud are bad and need to be stamped out. So why are so many indie bands getting unnecessarily punished?
7. More fake AI artist nonsense from the UK. Why do people fall for stuff like this?
8. Universal Music Group, the biggest record label in the world, is now in the beach club business. Wait–what?
9. A grunge opera? Yes, says Pearl Jam’s Mike McCready.
10. Why must so many great audio podcasts turn into bad TV shows on YouTube? Discuss.
11. Need to hack into The Matrix? Try using this old disco song.
12. Has innovation in digital music delivery come to a halt? Let’s discuss that.
13. And let’s discuss this, too: “How AI will Fail Like the Music Industry.”
14. There’s a new “sassy” setting for Alexa+ that will swear at you.
15. Billy Joel seems to be doing well with his brain swelling issue.

More music news? Go here.

BONUS: There will be a new Family Guy spin-off focused on Stewie. Let’s hope it does better than The Cleveland Show.