Is it me or does the first week of September always feel like a rejuvenation of some sorts. It’s like the whole world wakes up and says, “Oh yeah, I’ve got that thing to do".

Stuff just gets done in September.

Between finishing off the first week back to school to figuring out quarter end plans, September is the month where if you needed an answer, you’re most likely going to get it. And if you don’t believe me, just check your horoscope. September tends to be the month astrologically where you can find balance, growth, and just ways to get sh*t done.

And if you still don’t believe me, just ask Apple. September is the month where they grace us with a “brand new” iPhone alongside other things you end up forgetting about - cough Apple Vision Pro cough.

On Monday Apple is going to be announcing their new iPhone 16, new AirPods, a new iPad mini, a new Apple Watch, and new AirPods Max - the headphone things. So what’s new, you ask? I mean other than the fact that the name stays the same with a new number beside it, not much in reality. Improved battery lives, cameras, storage, yadda yadda yadda, and you’re left with the same old hyper-priced Apple stuff that you probably don’t need but it would be cool to get a new phone in a different colour…

And we’ll have to wait to see if Apple Intelligence comes with any of this new stuff. The rumours are SWIRLING around whether there will be any announcements around Apple Intelligence being included with the new iPhone 16. If the team that worked on Siri is now working on Apple Intelligence, we’re screwed. If it’s another separate team, then expect it to be announced on Monday.

It’s crazy that people still get hyped up for this yearly Apple event. Or am I just assuming that’s the case and I’m being way too kind?

This week's issue is a 4 minute read:

🎫 Ticketmaster doing Ticketmaster things

🍍 Fruity singles

🎶 Streaming fakes

Oasis is Back, so is Ticketmaster Drama

Between the remakes of movies, sampling of 90’s songs, and all the baggy pants out there, I think it’s safe to say the 90’s are back. But if that wasn’t enough for you then you should know that Oasis has reunited one last time as well. Yes, the brothers who hilariously fought each other right into the age of social media.

Noel and Liam Gallagher are putting on their 60’s inspired outfits and singing Wonderwall one more time. Or several times, as the band has booked 19 shows across their INTERNATIONAL tour of Wales, England, Scotland, and Ireland.

And what would a reunion tour be without Ticketmaster drama. During the presale and official sale of the tickets last weekend, fans experienced surge pricing for tickets as they waited in the queue alongside 10’s of thousands of people. Tickets that were originally on sale for £148.50 eventually saw the price as £355.20 - and this was after waiting for hours just to have a chance to purchase tickets.

Ticketmaster provides this “surge” pricing option to artists and promoters who can opt in for this feature so apparently as much as we want to hate on Ticketmaster (which we still should!), it’s the artist who chooses to mess around with the ticket prices, getting the fans all ticked off at paying higher prices.

Fan: UGH, it was so hard to get tickets

Ticketmaster: Don’t look back in anger…

In theory artists don’t have to make it harder for their fans to buy tickets. You can just be the biggest artist on earth instead. Then it’s hard to buy tickets for a whole different reason.

Pineapple Nice to Meet You

Next time you see this in the grocery store it’s a sign to shoot your shot:

In Spain a Tiktok craze has spilled over into the fruit aisle. At the spanish grocery chain, Mercadona, singles have been buying pineapples and turning them upside down in their shopping carts in hopes of finding their one true love…in the aisles of a grocery store.

The idea is that, those looking for their soulmate while shopping go to the store between 7PM and 8PM, grab a pineapple and put it upside down in their shopping cart. Then they walk over to the wine aisle and if they see someone they like, they bump into their shopping cart. If that person “bumps” them back, then it’s considered a green light to talk.

To help the process even more, people have been putting other foods in their shopping carts to signal what they might be looking for. As an example, putting chocolate or candy in your cart means you’re looking for something long term while putting lettuce or vegetables in the cart means you’re just looking for something casual - which to me makes no sense because you don’t make friends with salad!

@marinabarrial

Fue divertido JAJAJAJA

Stream Bot Heist for the Ages

I think it’s safe to say the internet did their fake Drake and Kanye tracks, got it out of their system, and then the hype around AI music died down significantly. And that is why Michael Smith was able to make $10M with AI generated music before getting busted for fraud.

Now before I get into the details of this, let me just say, I don’t support fraud or illegal activity. HOWEVER, dude was doing this for 7 years before he got caught. Seven years ago AI capabilities were nowhere near what they are today, let alone as accessible, let alone as sophisticated. To be able to generate music using AI that’s good enough to fly under the radar for 7 years is actually impressive.

Or maybe Spotify just sucks at detecting what’s real and what’s not.

Now as for the actual crime, what dude did was create a ton of fake listener accounts through email addresses he purchased. He then developed software to play his AI-generated music from various computers on repeat, making it look like it was listeners from various locations. He then spread the streaming across various songs, making sure not to have a song played too many times.

In terms of numbers, Smith was doing billions of streams (obviously) by the time he got caught, which equated to around $12M in royalties since 2019.

But if this guy is guilty of stream bots what about all the legitimate artists that have also allegedly used them in the past to boost their streaming numbers? Like the time Glendive, MT became a hotspot for songs being streamed, as an example 🤔