Music news. Beyond the headlines.
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A billion streams sounds impressive. Leila Haddad is more interested in where the money went.
She's curious about the machinery behind the music business, particularly the arrangements that determine who owns a recording, how royalties are divided, and why some artists have more control over their careers than others. Record labels, publishing agreements, streaming platforms, and the economics of touring all fall within her interests.
Leila also has a fondness for music documentaries, though she's a demanding viewer. Beautiful archival footage is nice, but she wants the filmmakers to ask difficult questions. A documentary that challenges an established narrative will hold her attention longer than one that simply celebrates its subject.
She has little patience for corporate buzzwords or grand announcements that fall apart under closer inspection. Give her the actual numbers, the fine print, and enough context to make sense of both. She's perfectly capable of appreciating the glamour of the music industry while remaining skeptical of the people selling it.
Pitchfork Music Festival CDMX has begun its 2026 run in Mexico City, opening with an official Robyn afterparty before five main festival nights move among venues across the capital. The third Mexico City edition runs through September 27th, with American Football, Perfume Genius, Lido Pimienta, Safety Trance and Wendy Eisenberg…
Ukrainian singer, composer and producer GANNA won the 2026 Anchor Award at Hamburg’s Reeperbahn Festival on September 18th, emerging from a six-act field after a live performance that moved members of the international jury to tears. The Berlin-based artist, whose full name is Ganna Gryniva, received the festival’s emerging-artist prize…
DICE owner Fever has raised $250 million in new equity financing, giving the live-entertainment technology company fresh capital to expand its global ticketing and event-discovery business. EQT led the round, with participation from Baillie Gifford, Point72 Private Investments and other existing shareholders. Fever announced the financing September 17th and called…
San Francisco Opera and its orchestra musicians have reached a tentative four-year contract agreement, ending a strike that wiped out opening night and left one of the country’s leading opera companies without an orchestra at the start of its 104th season. Negotiators reached the deal September 17th after nearly a…
Carly Rae Jepsen has released Day and Night, a 24-track double album that finally gives two sides of her pop writing separate places to live. One half leans toward live instruments, psychedelic pop and daylight warmth; the other heads for synths, basslines and the dance floor. Released September 18th through…
Congress has passed the American Music Tourism Act, putting the federal government one presidential signature away from formally adding concerts, festivals, recording studios, music landmarks and venues of all sizes to the United States’ national tourism strategy. The House approved S. 195 by voice vote September 15 after the Senate…
Duncan Sheik, the singer-songwriter behind the 1996 hit “Barely Breathing” who later became the Tony-winning composer of Spring Awakening, died Thursday in Manhattan. He was 56. His mother, Suzanne Sheik, told The New York Times that he died in a hospital of organ failure. His family had announced earlier in…
Taylor Swift’s complete catalog of 58 official music videos is now available on Spotify Premium, giving the streaming service its first full Swift video archive seven months after she used Spotify and Apple Music to give “Opalite” a head start over YouTube. The catalog arrived September 16th and stretches from…
A finished song is remarkably good at hiding its own history. By the time the master plays, the chorus sounds inevitable. The vocal seems attached to the track rather than recorded on top of it. The drums push exactly where they should. A harmony that appears for four seconds can…
A new song comes on and, within seconds, something feels familiar. Not the melody. Not the lyrics. Maybe not even the style. Underneath all of that, the chords move in a way the ear seems to recognize. One creates motion, another keeps things suspended, and another makes everything feel as…