Random music news for Monday, September 28, 2026

There’s a difference between Cats and Katz. Remember that. (Via Sean). Here’s music news for Monday, September 28, 2026. (Oh, and by the way, today is World News Day.)

1. RIP Chuck Varga, a founding member of GWAR. He was 68.
2. Vancouver pop star bbno$ wants to stage a big charity event for Palestine.
3. This is interesting: ARIAM (the Alliance for Responsible Innovation in the Arts & Media) has just launched. Sony is a member.
4. Spotify is the first music streaming platform to connect to Meta’s new Muse AI. Here’s what that means for users.
5. Meanwhile, if you use YouTube Music, there’s a new feature called “Ask Music” that offers a “conversational experience.” In other words, it’s a music chatbot.
6. Something from the Music Ally newsletter: Streams of country music have more than doubled since 2020. Payouts are up 125% in Canada. (Sorry. No link. You’ll have to trust me.)
7. There’s a new global singles chart that might be more accurate than anything else out there because in addition to straight streams, it takes social media data into account.
8. Like it or not, concerts featuring avatars of dead musicians are coming in hard.
9. Dolly Parton accepted this award on September 16, even though she died on August 25. Wait–what?
10. The only person Dolly Parton allowed at her deathbed was…really?
11. Meanwhile, Dolly’s sister Freida says there’s no family feud over the estate.
12. I love this: MusiCounts has sent $1.4 million to music education initiatives across Canada.
13. OutStanding Music will soo launch as a new national organization that will support Canadian 2SLGBTQIA+ music professionals.
14. Jerry Garcia’s famous Tiger guitar just sold at auction. The price was…wow. (Via Rene)
15. Seth McFarlane, creator of Family Guy, did something with the Muppets.

More music news? Go here.

BONUS: I like my KD, but I don’t know about this.