Random Music News for Wednesday, December 28, 2016

I’ve completely lost track of what day it is. Wednesday, right? That means there are four more days for the Grim Reaper to come calling before the year is up. Let’s see what we’ve got for music news in this period between Xmas and New Year’s.

1. Donald Trump’s people deny having any trouble booking entertainment for the inauguration. Tell a big lie often enough and people will start to believe it…
2. Here’s a good review of what went viral in 2016–and what life is like afterwards.
3. Did you get a turntable for Christmas? Don’t forget to balance the tone arm.
4. With just hours to go in the 2016 sales year, total Canadian album sales are down 21.6% from last year, led lower by a 26% drop in digital albums. Total on-demand streams: Up 194%. That tells you everything you need to know about album sales. Oh, and vinyl is up 27.6%, but that still means just 638,300 units were sold during the entire year.
5. A rare pre-Alice in Chains Layne Staley is going up for auction.
6. Now this is devotion to music in a video game.
7. The Who’s Roger Daltrey helped Rolls-Royce design two new models.
8. Liam Gallagher took on a guy who made an inappropriate tweet about George Michael.
9. Thinking about buying a set of Apple AirPods? Read this first.
10. Scientists are figuring out how to make sound longer-lasting.
11. Actually, I think this mobile phone accessory is kinda gross. But maybe that’s just me.
12. Amazon’s Echo Dot speaker was apparently a huge seller this Christmas.
13. Why do some people listen to the same song over and over again? Try this explanation.
14. “Cassettes are cool again!” (Uh, no. No, they’re not.)
15. Is Drake (age 30) doing the nasty with Jennifer Lopez (47)?