Random Music News for Tuesday, October 6, 2015

Bad news: winter is coming. Good news: I can stop mowing the lawn soon. And now, the music news.

1. Here’s a feel-good music story about opera that will make you forget that it’s still only Tuesday. Read it. Seriously.
2. For the first time in the 60-year history of the Billboard Hot 100, the top four slots are held down by Canadians: The Weeknd (2), Justin Bieber and Drake.
3. A radio station in Zimbabwe was put off the air by baboons. No, not boorish radio announcers. Actual baboons.
4. Speaking of radio, British spies may be tracking what you listen to online.
5. Get ready for a new Beatles compilation just in time for Christmas.
6. Wanna buy a letter Tupac wrote from prison? That’ll be $300,000, please.
7. Is Jack White working with on something with Mick Jagger?
8. Mike Peters of The Alarm is battling cancer for the third time.
9. The Darkness says that they’re thinking about changing their name.
10. Taylor Swift really has a cat problem.
11. A singer was kicked out of a Qantas airport lounge for wearing “inappropriate footwear.”
12. About that Aaron Sorkin-written Steve Jobs bio-pic: there will be a soundtrack release.
13. Pepsi will release a special-edition bottle for Back to the Future Day (October 21).
14. Will Smith and DJ Jazzy Jeff are planning a world tour.
15. A good story on the Toronto DJ and nightclub scene. (Via Irish Alan)
16. Another scathing critique of copyright law.
17. How to do an American accent.
18. Here’s a band that loves Spotify. They say it has been crucial in their success–and revenue.