Random music news for Wednesday, November 6, 2019

I woke up in Phuket this morning. Bonus points if you can pronounce that correctly. Here’s some music news for November 6. 2019.

1. Pharrell Williams is helping to design condo towers in downtown Toronto. Who knew?
2. If you enjoy isolated tracks from songs–also called stems–there’s a new app called Spleeter that looks really, really cool.
3. How do music supervisors find the perfect songs for movies and TV? Read this.
4. Wait: You can hack smart speakers with frickin’ laser beams?
5. The number two country in the world for podcasts is…really? I would have never guessed.
6. The Roger Stone trial is coming up. His lawyer once defended 2 Live Crew on obscenity charges.
7. Universal isn’t keen on sharing any insurance payouts from that massive 2008 fire that destroyed all those master recordings.
8. Place your bets: The Grammys vs. the Christian Grammys.
9. Someone’s gotta do it.
10. Metallica has donated $100K to California wildfire relief.
11. This guy says that the world is driving us deaf.
12. Spinal Tap can turn their lawsuit claims down from 11.
13. Fender has a new line of very sweet basses.
14. McMaster University’s LIVELab is getting more attention for its ability to measure physical reactions during live performances.