Alan Cross

It happens around once a year. I pack things up and take my Ongoing History of New Music/Uncharted: Crime and Mayhem in the Music Industry Act on the road.

Music news for July 16, 2026, is from all over. Like her hero Donald Trump, Nicki Minaj apparently doesn't pay her bills, either.

All of the summer records are out. Plans are rolling out for the fall and winter. Where are we with sales and streams? Luminate reports.

Here's a fact about playing vinyl records. Do they sound consistently good all the way through?

Mötley Crüe is headed to the RBC Amphitheatre in Toronto next week (July 22), and Live Nation is working on a documentary that looks at the group's superfans.

[Ottawa Bluesfest is one of Canada's premier outdoor summer music events. Melody Maloney (photos) and Karen Coughtrey (reviews) were there again for us on yet another night. – AC]

Luminate, the company that tracks how the music industry is doing, has issued its mid-year report for 2026. And this is the data point that screams at me:

William Shatner, who is 95, will soon become the oldest human to release a metal album.

Judge André Birotte Jr was faced with a strange case. An obscure Jamaican duo called Steevy & Clevie, was looking to sue about a hundred artists

Want to slow aging? Go or to a movie or a museum. Or you could probably also read music news for July 17, 2026.