Random music news for Tuesday, May 15, 2018

My group tour of rock’n’roll landmarks of London, England, continues. We were at Paul McCartney’s house yesterday, by Macca either wasn’t home or receiving guests, Drag, innit? And now, music news for May 15, 2018.

1. Canadian music sales vs. where they were at this time last year: Total albums, -21.5%; physical albums, -20%;  CDs, -24.6%; digital albums, -23.9%; digital tracks, -20.9%; vinyl +63%; streaming, 54.4%.
2. Interesting idea: Could (should?) Spotify buy Universal Music? Wouldn’t that be interesting…
3. First the first time ever at a royal wedding, there will be a female in charge of the fanfares.
4. The US Senate is going to vote on restoring net neutrality rules. Good.
5. Apple stores are going to start selling bicycle helmets for a very cool reason (if you’re a cyclist, that is.)
6. Is Kanye West bad luck for Adidas? You gotta wonder…
7. Let’s talk about phone tribes. Which one do you belong to?
8. A Facebook cryptocurrency? That’s a rumour.
9. The hazards of using public wifi.
10. Here’s another article on how virtual reality could change the concert experience in the near future.
11. Is your music on SoundCloud? Here are five ways to wring more plays out of the platform.
12. Do you use your phone too much? If so, you may start seeing warnings telling you to take a break.
13. Fun: 15 music facts that make have you scratching your head.
14. How can a regular city become a true music city? Read this report
15. It was 90 years ago today that a character named Mickey Mouse debuted in a silent cartoon called “Plane Crazy” (NOT “Steamboat Willy” as we often hear, but that was the first public film). So why isn’t Mickey in the public domain yet? Great question. 
16. How did all these music cruises get started? They’re sure popular.