For years, TikTok has been one of the main places for music discovery online, from launching the careers of artists like Lil Nas X and Ice Spice to resurfacing years-old hits and driving them to new peaks on the Billboard charts. But now, TikTok wants to be the place where users actually listen to the songs they find through trending sounds and friends’ viral videos. According to Variety, the sometimes controversial company has launched its own “social music streaming service” with music licensed from the “Big Three.”
However, stateside music fans may have to wait a while to get to use it; for now, the new service is only live in Brazil and Indonesia as a premium-only service (this is likely a test to see how it’ll do in markets that are still relatively small but significantly-sized to provide insight into how the service will perform here). Users will be able to sync with their existing accounts to download or share tracks they discover on TikTok. Presumably, if it’s a hit overseas, it’ll only be a matter of time until it’s incorporated into other markets.
Ole Obermann, global head of music business development at TikTok, said in a statement, “We are excited about the opportunities TikTok Music presents for both music fans and artists, and the great potential it has for driving significant value to the music industry.”
Colleen Ballinger (also known as her character Miranda Sings) is in a rough spot at the moment. In June, she faced allegations of grooming, which she responded to with a video in which she plays ukulele and addresses the situation through song. The video, as you might expect based on how I just described it, was poorly received.
Now, another apology video could very well be on the way: Today (July 5), an old video of Ballinger resurfaced. It was filmed at a live performance and it shows her singing Beyoncé’s “Single Ladies” on stage, all while wearing dark makeup that looks like blackface.
It’s not clear when exactly the video was filmed, but it was originally uploaded onto the Miranda Sings YouTube channel on February 22, 2018. The video is currently unlisted on the platform, meaning it doesn’t show up on the channel and won’t be shown in search results, but as of this post, it can still be watched here. Based on the full video alone, any potential additional context about the makeup Ballinger had on her face is unclear.
This comes after Ballinger apologized in 2020 for a different video, in which she impersonated Latin women in a video from 14 years earlier. She said in her apology video, “It is not funny, and it is completely hurtful. I am so ashamed and embarrassed that I ever thought this was okay. I was a sheltered teenager who was stupid and ignorant and clearly extremely culturally insensitive. […] Racial stereotypes are not funny, they’re not a joke, and they should never be joked about.”
Madrid’s Mad Cool music festival kicks off tomorrow — and will run until Saturday, July 8th. With a stacked lineup across several stages, here is what attendees need to know about the set times.
On Thursday, King Princess and Selah Sue will kick things off, with performances on different stages at 5:50 p.m. At 7 p.m. on the Madrid Is Life stage, The Offspring will play. Raye will perform an hour later on the Ouigo stage. Shortly after at 8:20 p.m., The 1975 will be on the Region Of Madrid stage. Later in the evening, fans can catch Lizzo at 9:40 (Madrid Is Life), Robbie Williams at 11:15 (Mad Cool), Rina Sawayama at 11:30 (Region Of Madrid), Lil Nas X at 12:55 a.m. (Madrid Is Life), and Franz Ferdinand at 1:00 a.m. after Sawayama.
For Friday, some key acts to catch include Angel Olsen at 6:55 p.m., Sam Smith at 8:05, Queens Of The Stone Age at 9:40, Mumford & Sons at 11:10, The Black Keys at 12:50 a.m., and Rüfüs Du Sol at 12:55 a.m..
Then, on Mad Cool’s final day on Saturday, there is still a lot going on. Sylvan Esso (6 p.m.), Liam Gallagher (8:15 p.m.), and Red Hot Chili Peppers (10:55 p.m.) will all be on the main Mad Cool stage. M.I.A. (9:35 p.m.) and The Prodigy (12:50 a.m.) will play the Madrid Is Life stage. Ava Max (11:20 p.m.) and Jamie XX (12:55 a.m.) are also helping close out the festival on the Region Of Madrid stage.
View the full Mad Cool set times below.
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
Keeping track of all the new albums coming out in a given month is a big job, but we’re up for it: Below is a comprehensive list of the major releases you can look forward to in July. If you’re not trying to potentially miss out on anything, it might be a good idea to keep reading.
Friday, July 7
12 Rods — If We Stayed Alive (American Dreams Records)
African Head Charge — A Trip to Bolgatanga (On-U Sound Records)
Aluna — MYCELiUM (Mad Decent)
AMAARA — Child of Venus (Lady Moon Records)
ANOHNI and the Johnsons — My Back Was A Bridge For You To Cross (Rough Trade)
Bloodbound — Tales From the North (AFM/Soulfood)
Butcher Babies — Eye For an Eye (Century Media Records)
Butcher Babies — …’Till the World’s Blind (Century Media Records)
Chris Stamey — The Great Escape (Schoolkids Records)
CIEL — Make It Better EP (Jazz Life Records)
Citizen Cope — The Victory March (Rainwater Recordings)
Fit of Body — Far From the Rhythm (2MR)
Delilah Holliday — Invaluable Vol. 1 EP (One Little)
Dominic Fike — Sunburn (Columbia Records)
The Far Outs — The Far Outs (Rebel Waves Records)
Golden Features — Sisyphus (Warner Music Australia/Foreign Family Collective)
Grouplove — I Want It All Right Now (Glassnote)
Gus Dapperton — HENGE (Warner Records)
Hot Tuna — 3 (Grunt)
Jim O’Rourke — Hands That Bind (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) (Drag City)
Julie Byrne — The Greater Wings (Ghostly International)
KennyHoopla — BLINK AND YOU’LL MISS IT// EP (Mogul Vision Music/Arista Records)
Lauren Bousfield — Salesforce (Orange Milk)
Laurence Guy — Living Like There’s No Tomorrow, But Killing Yourself In The Process (Laurence Guy)
Little Dragon — Slugs of Love (Ninja Tune)
Local Natives — Time Will Wait for No One (Loma Vista Recordings)
Longings — Dreams In Red (Don Giovanni)
ME LOST ME — RPG (Upset The Rhythm)
The Mighty Bard — Beyond the Gate (Epictronic)
Miles Miller — Solid Gold (Easy Lovin Records)
Misogi — Escape Artist (Pink Noise)
Nita Strauss — The Call of the Void (Sumerian Records)
Noble Oak — When It Finds You (Last Gang/MNRK)
Nothing But Thieves — Dead Club City (RCA/Sony Music)
Penguin Cafe — Rain Before Seven… (Erased Tapes)
Pigeon Wigs — Rock By Numbers (Clwb Music)
PJ Harvey — I Inside the Old Year (Partisan Records)
Sad Park — No More Sound (Pure Noise Records)
Taylor Swift — Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) (Republic Records)
Tony Allen — JID018 (Jazz Is Dead)
Yellowcard — Childhood Eyes EP (Equal Vision)
Friday, July 14
a kid named rufus — whatever works (Nettwerk Music Group)
Alana Springsteen — Twenty Something: Figuring It Out (Columbia Records NY/Sony Music Nashville)
Alaska Reid — Disenchanter (Luminelle Recordings)
Being Dead — When Horses Would Run (Bayonet Records)
Birdy — Portraits (Atlantic)
Blake Mills — Jelly Road (New Deal/Verve)
Blondes — In Separation EP (C3 Records/Lab Records)
Blusher — Should We Go Dance? EP (Atlantic Records/Warner Music Australia)
Cinema Cinema — Mjölnir (Nefarious Industries)
Claud — Supermodels (Saddest Factory Records)
Colter Wall — Little Songs (La Honda Records)
Current Affairs — Off the Tongue (Tough Love)
Duane Betts — Wild & Precious Life (The Royal Potato Family)
Far Caspian — The Last Remaining Light (Tiny Library Records)
George Benson — Live At Montreux 1986 (Eagle Vision)
glaive — i care so much that i dont care at all (Interscope Records)
Gordon Lightfoot — At Royal Albert Hall (Linus Entertainment)
IDMAN — Risk EP (Artista Records)
John Coltrane with Eric Dolphy — Evenings at the Village Gate (Impulse! Records)
Kevitch — Secrets EP (Nettwerk)
Kool & the Gang — People Just Wanna Have Fun (Astana Music)
Lauren Spencer Smith — Mirror (Republic)
Lil Tjay — 222 (Columbia Records)
Lindstrøm — Everyone Else is a Stranger (Smalltown Supersound)
Lukas Nelson + Promise of the Real — Sticks and Stones (Thirty Tigers)
Marc Ribot’s Ceramic Dog — Connection (Knockwurst Records)
Just a few weeks after the Recording Academy announced new rules to guard AI from being fully included in the Grammys main categories, the CEO/President Harvey Mason Jr. opened up to The Associated Press about how they will actually be adapting.
“Here’s the super easy, headline statement: AI, or music that contains AI-created elements, is absolutely eligible for entry and for consideration for Grammy nomination. Period,” Mason said. “What’s not going to happen is we are not going to give a Grammy or Grammy nomination to the AI portion.”
Mason went on to clarify that if “what is performing is not human creation” as a lead vocal, it would be included for a songwriting nomination, but not a performance one. “Conversely, if a song was sung by an actual human in the studio, and they did all the performing, but AI wrote the lyric or the track, the song would not be eligible in a composition or a songwriting category,” he added.
Basically put, the Grammys won’t be shutting out AI completely — as long as a real-life artist or team plays a larger role on the nominated piece.
“As long as the human is contributing in a more than de minimis amount, which to us means a meaningful way, they are and will always be considered for a nomination or a win,” he noted. “We don’t want to see technology replace human creativity. We want to make sure technology is enhancing, embellishing, or additive to human creativity. So that’s why we took this particular stand in this award cycle.”
Spotify is the king when it comes to streaming music. In terms of music-related videos, though, TikTok and YouTube seem to have a stronger foothold in that space. Now, though, it looks like Spotify might be hatching a plan to have a more prominent video presence.
Bloomberg reports that Spotify is “considering adding full-length music videos to its app,” and that they’ve “already begun talking to partners about the product, according to people familiar with the plan who asked not to be identified because they weren’t authorized to speak about it publicly.” Spotify declined to comment for the story.
Meanwhile, Spotify CEO Daniel Ek recently said Spotify could raise its prices soon. He said, “I think we are ready to raise prices, I think we have the ability to do that, but it really comes down to those negotiations [with major music industry stakeholders]. […] We did raise prices in 46 different locations and markets last year, and even in those markets, we were still out performing. I feel really good about our ability to raise prices over time — that we have that ability — and we have lots of data now that backs that up. […] We’re working with our label partners to work […] to figure out what’s the best opportunity to do that. And that’s a more complex trade. When the timing’s right, we will raise it.”
It’s getting more difficult to remember a Billboard Hot 100 that didn’t include Ice Spice, despite the fact Ice Spice’s Hot 100 debut (“Gangsta Boo” with Lil Tjay) came in January 2023. This week’s Billboard Hot 100 dated July 8 features Ice Spice, Nicki Minaj, and Aqua’s Barbie movie soundtrack single “Barbie World” debuting at No. 7, one slot above “Karma” by Taylor Swift featuring Ice Spice.
Per Billboard, “Barbie World” — Ice Spice and Minaj’s reinvention of the Aqua classic — is Ice Spice’s fourth top-10 Hot 100 entry and Minaj’s 23rd. Morgan Wallen’s “Last Night” tops the chart for a 13th week.
— billboard charts (@billboardcharts) July 3, 2023
The publication contextualized the feat for both women:
“The track bows as Minaj’s 23rd Hot 100 top 10 – extending her record for the most among female rappers – while she ties Whitney Houston for the sixth-most among women overall in the chart’s history. Taylor Swift leads all women with 40 top 10s, followed by Madonna (38), Rihanna (32), Mariah Carey (28), and Janet Jackson (27). Ice Spice scores her fourth Hot 100 top 10, and second with Minaj, after their ‘Princess Diana‘ debuted and peaked at No. 4 in April.”
Along with “Barbie World,” “Princess Diana,” and “Karma,” Ice Spice’s other top-10 entry was “Boy’s A Liar, Pt. 2” with PinkPantheress. In fact, this week isn’t the first in 2023 when Ice Spice had two top-10 hits on a Hot 100 chart, as “Princess Diana” and “Boy’s A Liar, Pt. 2” occupied No. 4 and No. 10, respectively, in late April.
“YALL!!!!! 2 songs in the TOP 10 is crazy!!!!!!! Congratulations!!! Princesssssssss @icespicee_ #PrincessDiana #HeavyOnIt #Barbz #Munchkins Stay tuned Love you guys sm,” Minaj tweeted on April 24.
Barbie arrives in theaters on July 21. The accompanying star-studded, Mark Ronson-produced soundtrack is also due that day, boasting Ice Spice, Minaj, PinkPantheress, Ava Max, Charli XCX, Dominic Fike, Dua Lipa, Fifty Fifty, Gayle, Haim, Kali, Karol G, Khalid, Lizzo, Ryan Gosling, Tame Impala, and The Kid Laroi.
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
Anybody who thought the vinyl resurgence was just a fad was mistaken: The industry has experienced a legitimate revival. As a result, music fans are interested in physical media in ways they may not have if the decades-old medium hasn’t made a comeback. That doesn’t mean everybody is listening to just their parents’ old music, though. That’s part of it, sure, thanks to rereleases that present classic albums in new ways. A vital part of the renewed vinyl wave, though, is new projects being released as records, of which there are plenty.
Whatever you might be into, each month brings a new slew of vinyl releases that has something for everybody. Some stand out above the rest, naturally, so check out some of our favorite vinyl releases of June below.
The Age Of Pleasure was definitely the most-talked-about album of June, due in part to Monáe’s racy rollout and in part to the music just being excellent. In the video above, Monáe shows off the striking vinyl edition, which features warm alternate cover art and a gigantic painting of breasts on the inside.
As part of its Anthology series, Vinyl Me, Please is revisiting an iconic Waylon Jennings run, from 1973 to 1981, with an eight-album box set. It’s a must-have for fans, as it comes alongside 28 pages of listening notes and even a podcast that dives into Jennings’ storied career as one of country’s biggest icons.
Otis Redding — Otis Forever: The Albums & Singles (1968-1970)
Rhino
Redding tragically died in a 1967 plane crash, but the music kept flowing after that. Four posthumous albums were released from 1968 to 1970, including the beloved The Dock Of The Bay. That and more has been compiled in a new box set (limited to only 1,000 copies), which features the four albums and mono versions of 24 singles from the albums.
Willie Nelson is 90 years old and not stopping, as he has Bluegrass, a new album (his 151st!), on the way soon. For now, though, it’s time to look back with a quick series of reissues. First up is 2002’s The Great Divide, which features collaborations with folks like Sheryl Crow, Rob Thomas, Alison Krauss, and others.
At 82 years old, Bob Dylan is showing no signs of slowing. He just dropped Shadow Kingdom, his 40th album, in early June, and it features new recordings of songs from the first half of Dylan’s esteemed career, along with a new instrumental track, “Sierra’s Theme.” The reinterpretations stem from Dylan’s 2021 concert film, Shadow Kingdom: The Early Songs Of Bob Dylan.
Madonna — Finally Enough Love: The Rainbow Edition
Rhino
Last summer, Madonna dropped Finally Enough Love: 50 Number Ones, a retrospective box set that offers a great overview of her pop dominance. She decided to revive the project here in Pride Month by re-dubbing it Finally Enough Love: The Rainbow Edition. Naturally, the vinyl it’s pressed on comes in a variety of vibrant colors, making it an awesome way to celebrate.
Gossamer was a huge moment for Passion Pit, as the 2012 sophomore album vaulted the group into the mainstream conversation with a No. 4 peak on the Billboard 200 chart and the multi-platinum single “Take A Walk.” They’re a bit late but the new 10th-anniversary reissue is still appreciated, and fans will love this: The reissue features “American Blood” and “Almost There,” both of which were previously only available as bonus tracks on the 2012 Japanese CD release.
Included on Flaming Lips’ 6-CD Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots 20th Anniversary Box Set was a collection of four fan-favorite tracks only officially available as part of that release. Now, they’ve been given their first-ever vinyl release on a new standalone collection, pressed on lovely pink vinyl.
TLC — CrazySexyCool and FanMail (Vinyl Me, Please Reissues)
Vinyl Me, Please
Much has been made about the 50th anniversary of hip-hop in 2023, and part of Sony’s celebrations include teaming up with Vinyl Me, Please for some fresh reissues. For the occasion, TLC’s two biggest albums, FanMail and CrazySexyCool, are getting new releases, and the former even comes with a 7-inch.
Towards the end of 2022, Alex G wrapped up a headlining tour with three sold-out hometown shows at Philadelphia’s Union Transfer. Now he’s sourced a new live album from those performances, but vinyl isn’t just the best way to hear it: It’s the only way, as the 14-track Live From Union Transfer isn’t currently set to be released on any format besides LP.
Back in April, Alicia Keys announced the Keys To The Summer Tour, a month-long run of concerts across North America from late June to early August. As Keys comes closer to hitting your area, what does her setlist look like?
The tour kicked off at FLA Live Arena in Fort Lauderdale, Florida last night (June 28), so we now have one setlist to work off of. It was a long show (per setlist.fm), with a 33-song main set and a one-song encore. Of course, hits like “Girl On Fire” and Jay-Z’s “Empire State Of Mind” were included in the proceedings.
Check out the setlist for Keys’ Fort Lauderdale performance below.
1. “Fallin’”
2. “New Day”
3. “Love Looks Better”
4. “Limitedless”
5. “You Don’t Know My Name”
6. “Teenage Love Affair”
7. “Karma”
8. “Try Sleeping With a Broken Heart”
9. “Un-Thinkable (I’m Ready)”
10. “Underdog”
11. “Blended Family (What You Do for Love)”
12. “Holy War”
13. “Come for Me”
14. “My Boo” (Usher cover)
15. “City of Gods (Part II)”
16. “How Come U Don’t Call Me Anymore” (Prince cover)
17. “Like You’ll Never See Me Again”
18. “Teenage Love Affair”
19. “The Thing About Love”
20. “A Woman’s Worth”
21. “Superwoman”
22. “Butterflyz”
23. “That’s How Strong My Love Is”
24. “Diary”
25. “Like You’ll Never See Me Again”
26. “I Need You”
27. “The Gospel”
28. “Where Do We Go From Here”
29. “Girl on Fire”
30. “Empire State of Mind” (Jay‐Z cover)
31. “Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)” (Eurythmics cover)
32. “In Common”
33. “No One”
34. “If I Ain’t Got You” (encore)
“We can hear the music already, can you?” The Recording Academy tweeted. “The 66th GRAMMYs nominees will be revealed on Nov. 10th, 2023 ahead of the Music’s Biggest Night’s return on Feb. 4th, 2024, which will air LIVE on @CBS from @cryptocomarena.”
We can hear the music already, can you?
The 66th #GRAMMYs nominees will be revealed on Nov. 10th, 2023 ahead of the Music’s Biggest Night’s return on Feb. 4th, 2024, which will air LIVE on @CBS from @cryptocomarena.
“There are some other key dates to keep in mind as well. For starters, the eligibility window for works to be considered is from October 1, 2022 to September 15, 2023,” Uproxx detailed upon The Recording Academy’s Thursday announcement. “After that, the first round of voting for Academy members will run from October 11 to 20, while the final round of voting will take place from this December 14 to January 4, 2024.”
(@PaigeChristieUK) 
(@JanelleMonae) 
We can hear the music already, can you? 
The 66th