Random music news for Monday, May 20, 2024

A new nightmare: using emojis inaccurately. I’ll be as accurate as possible for music news on May 20, 2024.

1. Why are advertisers clamoring to be on podcasts? Because a new study shows that podcast listeners are generally more affluent and educated than the general population–in the US, anyway.
2. Why do humans sing? There’s been a multi-ethnic study of that.
3. Who made the UK’s “young and rich” list? Ed Sheeran, for one. Dua Lipa, too.
4. How about “old and rich?” Paul McCartney is the UK’s first billionaire musician. Funny, but I thought that happened years ago.
5. Spotify has another lawsuit on its hands regarding royalty payouts.
6. The estate of Donna Summer has settled a situation with Kanye.
7. Canadian Taylor Swift fans are flying to shows in Europe because that’s cheaper than getting tickets for her Canadian gigs.
8. New survey: 77% of UK vinyl buyers would pay a “premium” for records that are eco-friendly and sustainable. (Via the Music Ally newsletter)
9. A Broadway musical about Richard Simmons is very, very possible. (Via Christopher)
10. Is your phone listening to you? (Via Sean)
11. And is TikTok spying on you? CSIS thinks so. (Sean again)
12. SIXTY MINUTE TikTok videos? The company is experiment with that.
13. Willie Nelson now has a cannabis cookbook.
14. This is the story of MDzHB, the world’s strangest radio station. It’s pretty wild and weird.
15. And speaking of weird radio, there’s this.

More music news? Look here.

BONUS: Have I posted this before? Even if I did, it’s still worth another look.