Random music news for Tuesday, December 4, 2018

I understand why people back into parking spaces at the mall, but when it’s crowded and busy during the holiday shopping season–well, I think you know where I’m going with this. Meanwhile, in music news for December 4, 2018…

1. Weekly Canadian music sales and streams from last week vs. this time in 2017: Total albums, -22.1%; digital albums, -19.6%; digital tracks, -23.15%; physical albums, -23.6%; CDs, -27.2%; vinyl albums, +25.4%; audio streams, +38.5% (1.260 billion on-demand audio streams last week).
2. Still with Canadian music sales, vinyl LPs are up 54% from last week (40,200 copies vs. 26,100). It looks like it’s going to be a really good season for vinyl.
3. The REAL story behind David Bowie’s famous Ziggy Stardust haircut goes like this.
4. The Grammy nominations announcement has been delayed until Friday to accommodate the memorial service for George H.W. Bush.
5. Ever wonder where the term “420” really came from? And no, it has nothing to do with Bob Marley. But there may be a Grateful Dead connection. The story here.
6. Yes, people still bootleg vinyl.
7. Want a piece of Frank Sinatra? There’s an auction happening.
8. A fan died at a Bring Me the Horizon Show. The investigation continues.
9. A lot of acts are being pressured to cancel any gigs they’ve got booked in Saudi Arabia.
10. It appears that a new radical feature may soon appear on iPhones.
11. Muhammad Ali, the musical. You read that correctly.
12. Here’s how the music industry is selling out classical music.
13. This looks like it might be an interesting book: The Final Days Of EMI: Selling the Pig.
14. This video just turned 35. Note the number of views and comments.
15. Here’s your weirdo mashup of the day: Ozzy/Marvin Gaye & Tammy Terrell/The Four Tops. (Via Tom)
16. Argue over this: the 12 best alternative guitarists in the world today.
17. Bono has a speaking engagement in Chicago coming up where he’ll talk about the war on AIDS in Africa,
18. There’s a new documentary about Brian Wilson in the works.
19. These cowbells have caused this German couple to slip into depression.
20. The BBC had a chance to sit down with Muse for an interview.
21. China’s Tencent has launched a $1.2 billion US IPO.
22. “Phones at gigs can be annoying – but they must never be banned.” Discuss.