Random music news for Thursday, September 7, 2023

Here’s a giant leap in toilet cleaning technology. We’re living in wondrous times. That’s underscored by music news for September 7, 2023.

1. ABBA’s Voyage VR production has been an insane success. Let’s break it down.
2. Over in Las Vegas, U2 continues to prep for their residency as the MSG Sphere. They say they will miss Larry Mullen Jr. terribly. He’s still recovering from back surgery.
3. Apple bought a record label. A specialty label.
4. Justin Sane of Anti-Flag has been accused of sexual misconduct by 12 women.
5. Want your child to have better grades? There seems to be a connection to listening to audio.
6. Meanwhile, the fight to keep AM/FM radio front-and-centre in the dashboard continues. Here’s more on that, too.
7. There’s yet another auction of Beatles memorabilia. The merch is worth at least £6 million.
8. Slash’s first Guns N’Roses Les Paul is going up for sale. It’ll probably fetch US$1 million.
9. And thousands of Freddie Mercury’s personal items are now for sale. His piano just sold for a record amount, more than what was collected for a John Lennon piano.
10. Remember Spotify’s US$1 billion gamble on podcasts? Yeah, about that…
11. Speaking of Spotify, the feature that displays lyrics while you listen may soon be restricted to paying customers.
12. Artists may see a bit of a royalty bump thanks to a new agreement between French streamer Deezer and Universal Music Group.
13. Take a break and take this music quiz. (Via Tom)
14. Here comes the next musicial nepo baby.
15. On that same note, there’s this.
16. We always hear about how secondary concert ticket sellers gouge the public with high prices. We almost never see stories about how these sellers also take it in the neck sometimes.

BONUS: Mary had a little lamb–and the lamb was a serial killer. Like I said, wonderous times.