Random music news for Wednesday, July 3, 2019

Productivity in America will plummet today as people take an extra-long 4th of July weekend. But there’s still music news for July 3, 2019.

1. Vladimir Putin’s reaction to Russia’s censorship of the gay sex scenes in Rocketman: “Yeah, so?“
2. Good. In fact, I am very okurr with this.
3. Alexa smart speakers are about to get a little smarter.
4. Diana Ross filmed her 75th birthday concert back on March 19. Then she lost the hard drive with all the footage.
5. Long read: Mary Meeker’s 2019 Internet Trends Report for the Music Business.
6. Here’s another look at the impact of the 2008 Univeral fire, which is the biggest music industry story of the year so far. Or is it?
7. There’s a new documentary on the band that included Ben Stiller when he was a teenager.
8. Who wants to play the part of Elvis? A lot of people, apparently.