Nicole Nguyen, writing at BuzzFeed:
The systems that create fraudulent reviews are a complicated web of subreddits, invite-only Slack channels, private Discord servers, and closed Facebook groups, but the incentives are simple: Being a five-star product is crucial to selling inventory at scale in Amazon’s intensely competitive marketplace — so crucial that merchants are willing to pay thousands of people to review their products positively.
Jacob Kastrenakes, writing at The Verge:
Someday in the not-so-distant future, you might be able to walk into a concert venue without waiting in line for your ticket to be scanned — because instead, the venue will automatically scan and identify your face.
That’s the experience that Live Nation and Ticketmaster suggested they’ll try to develop last week, when announcing an investment in Blink Identity.
All the technology we grew up watching and reading in dystopian movies and novels is basically coming to pass. Should I be worried?
Hayley Williams, Laura Jane Grace, and a bunch of other musicians have donated some gear to the Girls Rock Camp Alliance auction:
Today, we here at Reverb are excited to announce our partnership with a slew of exceptional artists and musicians for an auction launching this Thursday, May 10 in support of the Girls Rock Camp Alliance (GRCA)—a nonprofit supporting more than 100 summer camp and music education programs around the world for female, transgender, and gender non-conforming youth.
The BBC is reporting that the lead singer of Frightened Rabbit, Scott Hutchison, has gone missing:
Insp Graeme Dignan said: “We are keen to locate Scott as soon as possible to ensure he is safe and well and would urge anyone who can assist with our ongoing inquiries to come forward. If you believe you have seen him since the early hours of Wednesday morning or know where he currently is, then please contact police immediately.”
Dave Brooks, writing at Billboard:
Eventbrite is the first event ticketing company to integrate with the social media platform, enabling its event creators to add a “Get Tickets” button to the profile page of their Instagram business account. Fans who click the button will be shown a list of events and the integration makes it simple to purchase tickets without leaving the app.
Currently in preproduction, Bill & Ted Face the Music will see the duo long past their days as time-traveling teenagers and now weighed down by middle age and the responsibilities of family. They’ve written thousands of tunes, but they have yet to write a good one, much less the greatest song ever written. With the fabric of time and space tearing around them, a visitor from the future warns our heroes that only their song can save life as we know it.
Post Malone has the number one album in the country this week:
Post Malone’s second album, beerbongs & bentleys, makes a smashing debut at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart, scoring both the artist’s first No. 1, the year’s biggest debut and a record-breaking streaming week for the set.
Scary Kids Scaring Kids’ debut album, The City Sleeps in Flames, is coming to vinyl.
Ta-Nehisi Coates, writing in The Atlantic:
There’s nothing original in this tale and there’s ample evidence, beyond West, that humans were not built to withstand the weight of celebrity. But for black artists who rise to the heights of Jackson and West, the weight is more, because they come from communities in desperate need of champions. Kurt Cobain’s death was a great tragedy for his legions of fans. Tupac’s was a tragedy for an entire people. When brilliant black artists fall down on the stage, they don’t fall down alone. The story of West “drugged out,” as he put it, reduced by the media glare to liposuction, is not merely about how he feels about his body. It was that drugged-out West who appeared in that gaudy lobby, dead-eyed and blonde-haired, and by his very presence endorsed the agenda of Donald Trump.
I highly recommend reading this entire piece.
TMZ is reporting that The Used have been granted a restraining order against former guitarist Justin Shekoski:
The Used were granted the protection … which requires Shekoski to stay 100 yards away from all members of the group, and any place they work. That includes any venues where the group’s performing.
Manchester Orchestra are working with Hop City Beer and Wine and SweetWater Brewing to release a new beer for charity:
The beer will be brewed by members of the Manchester Orchestra, Sweetwater brewmaster Nick Nock, and Torres early in May on the brewery’s Hatchery pilot system. It will debut at Barleygarden on Thursday May 24th – now dubbed Manchester Orchestra Day. […] Look for ‘The Gold’ to pop up at Sweetwater’s tasting room and at both Atlanta Hop City locations (1000 Marietta St in West Midtown and 99 Krog St in Inman Park’s Krog Street Market) soon afterwards.
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Jonah Engel Bromwich, writing at The New York Times:
College Music had 794 subscribers in April 2015, a year before Mr. Pritchard and Mr. Laxton started streaming. A month after they began, they had more than 18,440. In April 2016, they had 98,110 subscribers and as of last month, with three active live streams, they have more than triple that amount, with 334,000. They make about $5,000 a month from the streams.
The boys stumbled upon a new strategy, one that, in the past two years, has helped a certain kind of YouTube channel achieve widespread popularity. Hundreds of independently run channels have begun to stream music nonstop, with videos that combine playlists with hundreds of songs and short, looped animations, often taken from anime films without copyright permission.
After watching the massive Avengers: Infinity War, are you intrigued by the comics that inspired this cinematic event? The comic book thread has put together some recommendations to help guide your journey. Check ’em out, and then jump into the comic book thread if you have questions (or want more comic recommendations of any kind). The thread loves helping new readers navigate the weird and wonderful world of comics.
The 1975 have begun a countdown on their website.