Algorithms broken? Too busy to care? Each week we recap the most interesting music headlines from the past 7-or-so days. Simply put, we want to catch you up on what's happening in the boom boom bap while others are busy writing about "isms." 

1. Welcome back everyone. This week we're going to talk many things, but first let's get this out of the way: Fuck R. Kelly, the Space Jam horse he rode in on, and his bone-headed idea to put out a 19-minute long song addressing how big of a creep he is. 

2. Second, when Demi Lovato goes dick-down from an overdose nearly killing herself, why would an Internet superstar think it okay to drop a meme teasing her about it? PewDiePie has survived past indiscretions before, but by the looks of hashtags being tossed his way lately, he may not get out of this one. 

3. However, apologies in 2018 are about as common in music now than cocaine was in the 1980s. After setting up shop to look like the iconic CBGB rock venue in New York, Target had to pull back a little and do a bit of damage control. "We sincerely apologize if some event goers felt it was not the best way to capture the spirit of the neighborhood," the statement said. Punk isn't dead, it's just offended at everything now.

4. Good news is out there though too. A third person has finally been arrested in connection to XXXTentacion's murder. Robert Allen, age 22 of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, was apprehended at a relative's house, according to Hollywood Reporter. One man, Trayvon Newsome, is still at large.

5. And Halsey now knows a thing or two about large … fans. An avid concert goer was spotted at her show in Portland, Oregon, a few days back watching the entire performance from his knees. You see, Twitter user @CG_MusicFan — we'll call him "Tallsey" — is a towering 6' 10" and understands people behind him may not be able to see. People were super cool about it, praising the dude for being so generous. "I'm 6' 10" and try very hard not to block people's views at concerts," he tweeted. "Honestly, never in a million years would've thought this would be recognized on social media because it's just what I've been doing for years. Thank you everyone for your kind words!!!"

POST OF THE WEEK

6. Pay attention to how music is right now folks, times, they are, a, changin' — even for old the cusses in Metallica. Turns out, it uses specific analytics from Spotify's data to switch setlists according to the city they're playing. Does Atlanta fuck with "The Unforgiven"? Does New York rip "Fade To Black" all the time? Now they know. Fitting from the band who caused such an uproar when Napster was a thing eons ago.

7. But old habits tend to die hard in the music industry. Listen to this shit. Mere hours after Prince passed away, fans flooded the streets to pay homage to an icon. In doing so, a random rendition of "Purple Rain" ensued, and Star Tribune reporter Aaron Lavinsky caught the magical moment. Problem? Prince's label Universal Music called it copyright infringement and had the historical moment pulled from social media. “This is very disturbing: Universal Music filed a DCMA takedown on a video I shot of thousands of Prince fans singing ‘Purple Rain’ the night of his death,” Lavinsky says on Twitter. “This was clearly fair use and UMPG and Twitter are in the wrong.” (UPDATE: 48 minutes after press time, Lavinsky said via Twitter the "Prince faithful can rejoice — UMPG has retracted their DCMA takedown of my video and it has reappeared in the original tweet. PURPLE RAIN, PURPLE RAIN!")

8. Moral of the story? The law can be pretty fucking irritating to maneuver. Kajsa Apelqvist of Sweden's Bråvalla Festival can relate. After way, way too many rapes and sexual assaults happened at the festival last year (one is too many, it had 4 rapes and 23 sexual assaults in 2017), organizers decided to pull the plug. The festival blamed men. Rightfully so. Then went on to say it would raise money for an all-female, dudes excluded event next year called Statement Festival. It vowed to become “the world’s first major music festival for women, non-binary and transgender only.” 

It's now being investigated for violating Sweden's Discrimination Act of 2009.

[cover photo machechyp via Flickr]