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Vinyl Me, Please’s Unpaid Debts

Records
Jason Tate

 Zach Schonfeld, writing for Stereogum:

Madell’s post alluded to something that has become an open secret within the music industry: Vinyl Me, Please’s relationships with licensing partners and labels both small and large have deteriorated because of significant unpaid debts accrued during VMP’s downfall. Five months after VNYL’s acquisition — and one month after the new owners relaunched VMP without a website storefront, inviting customers to “Join us in this offline revolution” — both major debts and relatively minor sums owed to small businesses remain unpaid. (The terms of the acquisition were not disclosed, but sources say VNYL Inc. did not assume the debt.) The ricocheting effects of that debt have impacted customers as well, since VMP developed a habit of taking preorders for vinyl releases that never materialized. As one former employee told me, “We didn’t have the money to pay the labels to get the licenses released so that we could press the records that we had already sold to people.” 

Sabrina Carpenter To Star, Produce ‘Alice in Wonderland’ Movie

Sabrina Carpenter
Jason Tate

The Hollywood Reporter:

Superstar Sabrina Carpenter is set to star and produce an untitled movie musical based on Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland for Universal Pictures.

Lorene Scafaria, perhaps best known for writing and directing the Jennifer Lopez-starring crime movie Hustlers, will pen and helm the feature.

Marc Platt, the musical-loving producer behind both the Broadway and screen productions of Wicked, will produce the project. Also producing will be Leslie Morgenstein and Elysa Koplovitz Dutton of Alloy Entertainment, the banner behind shows such as Gossip Girl and Pretty Little Liars.

‘Gremlins 3’ Coming in 2027

Jason Tate

The Hollywood Reporter:

Warner Bros. is reviving the Gremlins franchise after more than three decades and with a couple of powerhouse names back on board.

Warner Bros. Discovery chief David Zaslav announced the greenlight of a new Gremlins film during the company’s third-quarter earnings call on Thursday. 

Zaslav said Steven Spielberg is back on board as executive producer through his company Amblin Entertainment. 

The 1984 original film’s writer, Chris Columbus, is also returning to produce and direct the film.

Taylor Swift Still Tops the Charts

Taylor Swift
Jason Tate

Variety:

One month after its release, Taylor Swift’s “The Life of a Showgirl” logs a major milestone as it hits a fn uninterrupted four weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200.

The set is just the second album of 2025 to spend its first four weeks at the summit, following Morgan Wallen’s “I’m the Problem,” which led for its first eight weeks (and 12 weeks overall). Not surprisingly, Swift’s fourth week numbers are significant; she has earned a total of 146,000 album units in the United States in the week ending Oct. 30, according to Luminate.

New York Times Profiles Setlist.fm

The New York Times
Jason Tate

Marc Hogan, writing for the New York Times:

Setlist.fm can seem at once ubiquitous and inconspicuous. Few reports about its origins are readily available online. According to Live Nation Entertainment, Setlist.fm’s parent company, the site was founded in 2008 by Molindo, a media agency based in Austria that also developed Songtexte, a German-language site that compiles song lyrics. “They’re giant music fans and big data nerds,” said Joe Fleischer, the publisher of Setlist.fm and head of a Live Nation studio that produces marketing content for major brands.

Live Nation acquired Setlist.fm in 2010, although the entertainment giant did not announce the deal until two years later. Fleischer, a former music journalist, joined in 2011, when Live Nation bought BigChampagne, a music data company he helped found.

The entire point of the site, he said, is being useful: “That’s all it’s ever been, is about increasing utility, increasing our usefulness for fans.”

AI Artist Getting Spins on US Radio Stations

AI
Jason Tate

Ashley King, writing for Digital Music News:

If you thought only streaming platforms were feeling the onslaught of artificial intelligence-created (AI) artists and generated music, think again. Even radio stations aren’t safe from the budding industry of AI-generated content. According to Billboard, an AI singer called Xania Monet has become the first known AI artist to earn enough radio airplay to debut on a Billboard radio chart.

You know, we don’t have to do this…

Tom DeLonge Announces Guitar Pedal

Box Car Racer
Jason Tate

Tom DeLonge is releasing a signature guitar pedal.

From the imagination of Tom DeLonge and To The Stars* comes the limited edition Adventure Box. Designed in collaboration with Tom’s recording engineer, Aaron Rubin, and crafted by the boutique pedal company Utility Belt FX, this 2-in-1 guitar pedal contains an analog compressor and delay to put the tones you’ve been listening to for 20 years right at your feet. Use either channel independently or together! 

Mark Hoppus Signature Bass 2025 Released

Mark Hoppus
Jason Tate

Mark Hoppus has put up a new pre-order for his hot pink bass.

 Presenting the Fender Mark Hoppus Custom Jaguar Bass! The exact model I currently play. Alder wood Jaguar body (Fender Jaguar, not nature jaguar) finished in gloss polyester Hot Pink. Maple (mmm) Precision Bass neck with Rosewood fingerboard  and White Pearloid Dots. Topped off with a delightful set of Lightweight Vintage-Style tuners.

Taylor Swift Still Tops Charts

Taylor Swift
Jason Tate

Taylor Swift still has the number one album:

Taylor Swift’s “The Life of a Showgirl” era continues as the record notches a third straight week at No. 1 with 194,000 equivalent album units earned, according to Luminate. The 12-song record shows no signs of slowing down — it’s only the second album of 2025 to spend its first three weeks atop the chart, following Morgan Wallen’s “I’m the Problem,” which held the position for first eight weeks.

Radiohead Talk With The Sunday Times

Radiohead
Jason Tate

Radiohead sat down to talk with The Sunday Times:

But now it is Radiohead again. Last summer the band met for rehearsals in London, to test the waters. They started with the first track from The Bends and tore through their albums in chronological order. Their last gig was in Philadelphia on August 1, 2018, when their children were young enough to be excited about the bowls of free sweets backstage. Why has it been so long? “I guess the wheels came off a bit, so we had to stop,” Yorke says. “There were a lot of elements. The shows felt great but it was, like, let’s halt now before we walk off this cliff.”

Fall Out Boy Talk FUTCT With Rolling Stone

Fall Out Boy
Jason Tate

Fall Out Boy talked with Rolling Stone about the anniversary of From Under the Cork Tree:

One of the things that has always been important to me, and speaks to the longevity of this record, is that we never really stopped playing any of those songs. I never wanted to. There are records that tanked, and it was really hard to play those songs because it hurt to think about ‘em. But in general, I never like to pretend a record didn’t happen. I never like to play a show without touching a record. Ever since Cork Tree came out, our sets have a substantial amount of the album. I have more respect for the album now than I did when I was a kid. Now, when I play those songs, I care about ’em a lot more than I did in 2007 because I understand what it means to people. It creates this responsibility.

Rolling Stone Merges With Vibe

Rolling Stone
Jason Tate

Rolling Stone has merged with Vibe:

Vibe, the long-running music magazine centring on rap and R&B coverage, will merge with Rolling Stone in a deal announced last week. Vibe staffers Mya Abraham and DeMicia Inman announced as the news broke that their positions had been eliminated. Rolling Stone CEO Julian Holguin said that, as part of the move, Rolling Stone would “level up [its] hip-hop and R&B coverage,” as well as investing in Vibe “across video, podcasts, long-form journalism, social media, and experiential opportunities.”

Yellowcard Chat With Spin

Yellowcard
Jason Tate

Yellowcard talked with Spin:

Yellowcard’s lean years have made all the triumphs of 2025 that much more special for Key and Mackin, and they’re determined to savor this moment and deliver something special for their audience. “We are awash in social media and instant gratification and that really has, I think, unfortunately found its way into music, forcing a lot of music to be ‘content’ instead of creativity,” Key says. “And I think our generation of bands maintains writing music for ourselves and our fans, and that goes a long way.”

Ireland Makes Basic Income for Artists Program Permanent

Money
Jason Tate

Ashley King, writing for Digital Music News:

After launching a trial in 2022, Ireland is due to make its basic income for artists program permanent starting in 2026. Under the program, selected artists receive a weekly payment of approximately $350, for around $1,500 per month. Applications are due to open in September 2026, with 2,000 spots available. Eligibility criteria has yet to be announced, but the Irish government expressed that it may expand the program to additional applicants in the future, if funding permits.