I'm sitting here trying to write a blurb explaining why we, Buke and Gase, are throwing in the towel, and it's annoying to admit, but the income-factor is a part of it. Everywhere we go, music is being played in the background, and somehow the money for that usage never reaches the people who create the art. Streaming has made the selling of albums nearly impossible!
So many artists, so many songs, so little time. Each week we review a handful of new albums (of all genres), round up even more new music that we'd call "indie," and talk about what metal is coming out. We post music news, track premieres, and more all day. We update a playlist weekly of some of our current favorite tracks. Here's a daily roundup with a bunch of interesting, newly released songs in one place.
Spotify announced Tuesday that it hit 751 million total monthly active users (MAUs) for quarter-four of 2025. That record-high is an 11 percent jump from the year before and a significant bump from the third quarter's 713 million MAUs. The quarterly earnings report also showed a 10 percent jump year-over-year in Premium subscribers, from 263 million to 290 million. Europe makes up the greatest number of the Swedish company's premium subscribers (36 percent), with North America coming second at 25 percent.
But to anyone tracking the data over the past few years, it was inevitable. In 2022, Bad Bunny's Un Verano Sin Ti redefined the market, driving Latin music's streaming growth to new heights. It later became the first Spanish-language album nominated for Grammy Album of the Year. The takeaway is simple: When you have accurate, real-time data, you don't guess where culture is going, you know.
Universal Music Group NV is partnering with Nvidia Corp. to boost the role of artificial intelligence in music discovery and creation, as record labels seek to capitalize on the fast-growing technology while managing the risks AI poses to their catalogs. The collaboration between the world's largest record label and the leading AI chipmaker is the first of its kind, Universal said.
"Oh, gosh, I've got tons of stuff," he responded (as transcribed by Blabbermouth)."Since we finished the last Sabbath show [at 'Back to the Beginning' in July], I've just been going through all the stuff that I've written since the '80s onwards and updating everything. And what held me back before, I didn't have a singer when I'm at home, but AI came along. [laughs] So all my songs now, I've updated them all and I'm using an AI singer to bring all the lyrics out."
Judging by mainstream music in 2025, humankind is not in a particularly creative place. The year's main storylines included the rise of AI slop and cartoon K-pop. A number of once-lively hitmakers churned out forgettable product. The most-streamed tracks came out in previous years; the songs of the summer sounded like winter. An escape from the malaise was simple: listening more broadly for new music. The best albums of this year were strange and personal.
In the electrifying landscape of 2025, Lucy Dreams is at the forefront of a revolutionary fusion of art and technology, reshaping the very essence of pop music. With their upcoming LP VVVVV, the band amplifies their iconic identity, combining the warmth of analogue with the cutting-edge pulse of the digital world. At the heart of this project is Lucy, their innovative artificial band member, who enhances their creative journey and challenges perceptions of collaboration.
The Velvet Sundown, who managed to rack up over a million streams on Spotify in mere weeks, were recently revealed to be entirely AI-generated. Not just the music; the promotional photos, the back story, even their mysterious 'somewhere between human and machine' persona.
AI-generated bands like Velvet Sundown that are reaching big audiences without involving human creators raise serious concerns around transparency, authorship and consent. If used ethically, AI has the potential to enhance songwriting, but we are currently concerned with what I call deeply troubling issues with the use of AI in music.
Tune-Yards' music defies conventional structure while remaining infectious and danceable, resulting in a raw vitality that captures audiences' attention.
SoundCloud believes AI, when responsibly developed, can significantly enhance artistic expression by empowering creators with the necessary tools while upholding rights and fair compensation.
