The Gaylor Swift Crash Out: Link Drop
A round-up of the most important stories in music right now
If you enjoy this newsletter, consider pre-ordering a copy of my debut book, Uncharted Territory: What Numbers Tell Us about the Biggest Hit Songs and Ourselves. It’s a data-driven history of popular music covering 1958 to 2025.
Today’s newsletter is link drop, meaning our monthly series for paid subscribers where I discuss art, news, and stories that have gotten me thinking and laughing in the last 30 days. This month, we talk about tiny vinyl, the return of nu-metal, some shady news from the streaming world, and so much more.
Art But Make It Music
One of my favorite accounts anywhere online is
. The premise is simple. They take an image from a recent sporting event and pair it with a piece of art that looks eerily similar. When I met the man behind the account a few months ago, I told him I’d love if he did it for popular albums. And he did. Here are a few highlights.
He’s got a book coming out next year that you should 100% order. His Twitter and Instagram accounts are also a must follow.
News from Inside the Music World
“YouTube’s multi-language audio feature for dubbing videos rolls out to all creators” by Lauren Forristal (TechCrunch)
If you’re unsure about AI-powered music technology, TechCrunch recently highlighted what I think is one of the more constructive uses: translation. Large language models have proven quite adept at translating sentences, even in real time. YouTube is now rolling out the ability for creators to dub their videos in different languages.
“On average,” TechCrunch notes, “those who uploaded multi-language audio tracks saw over 25% of their watch time coming from views in the video’s non-primary language.” This is very cool! It will allow creators to reach an even larger audience. I can see applications in music too. (Of note, we speculated about this technology in this newsletter over a year ago.)
Avril Lavigne and the Future of Musical Translation
Every morning when I delete the 100 assorted marketing emails that trickle into my inbox, I long for a day when I will receive none. But then an email sneaks through the pile of corporate garbage that makes it all worth it.
“Tiny Vinyl is a new pocketable record format for the Spotify age” by Chris Foresman (ARS Technica)
When I first read this headline, I was not amused. Tiny vinyl!? Who wants that? But I quickly changed my mind as I read the story. A US-based company called Funko has been releasing figurines for a long time. They also offer versions that play vinyl. These are very popular! Tiny vinyl plays into this trend. Of course, small physical formats have been built many times in the past, but I am all for any new revenue lines that artists can take advantage of.
“What Would An AI Music License Even Look Like? It’s Complicated” by Robert Levine (Billboard)
Robert Levine’s “Follow the Money” column at Billboard is always fantastic. But this recent edition was both insightful and mind-bending. As AI-generated music becomes more prevalent, he tries to figure out what a licensing deal around this music would even look like. If the discussion doesn’t make you mad, it will at least leave you with a headache.
Though much of the article is thought experiment, things like this are becoming reality. Levine recently wrote about STIM, a Swedish collections agency that was recently featured in this newsletter, who has been exploring AI-licensing deals on behalf of its songwriters.
Music History to Write Home About
My coworker recently came across this old advertisement of a punk music collection from the 1990s. The catch? Unless you consider Huey Lewis and the News punk, then there is zero punk on it.
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Can't Get Much Higher to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.