This is Lenny Vaughn, cutting through the tinsel and the timelines to bring listeners the last 24 hours of what really matters in music.

Holiday dominance is the headline on the charts: the Los Angeles Times reports that Christmas playlists on Spotify in the US jumped around 60% compared with last year, with on‑demand holiday streams up to 8.3 billion, and Mariah Carey, Brenda Lee, Wham!, Nat King Cole, and Dean Martin once again turning the Hot 100 into a vintage jukebox. According to Spotify’s editorial team quoted there, it is pure nostalgia and comfort driving that surge in a rough year, proof that catalog still owns December.

On the new‑music front, things are quieter but not dead. Vinyl heads are lining up for a lean but tasty batch of releases hitting right after the holiday; The Vinyl Den highlights reissues and archival drops from Adam & the Ants, Thrice’s The Illusion of Safety, Patti Smith’s Wave, a Twisted Sister live set, and a Neil Young and Bob Dylan Live on Air 1988 collection, all reminding listeners that the story of rock is still being pressed into wax. In the digital lane, PM Studio notes that masked pop‑punk artist WesGhost is pushing a newer single, Mascara, tying mental health and BPD conversations to hooky guitars and leaning into that algorithmic discovery with a message that listeners are not alone.

Industry‑side, the power players are still moving pieces even as the year winds down. New Industry Focus reports that Universal Music Group has struck a deeper partnership with Roblox, aiming to turn that gaming universe and its more than 100 million daily users into a performance and merch playground for artists, another step in blurring the line between stages and screens. The same outlet notes Warner Music Canada cutting at least two dozen jobs as part of a broader Warner restructuring, a reminder that while streams and festivals soar, the corporate layer is still tightening belts.

Legal and tech currents are shifting too. New Industry Focus also points to AI music company Suno updating its rights and ownership language following an agreement with Warner Music, signaling that the big labels are no longer just complaining about AI, they are forcing specific policy changes. In parallel, Anna’s Archive has scraped Spotify to build what it calls a massive “music preservation archive” of metadata, raising the question of who really controls the map of recorded sound in the streaming era.

And even beyond the majors, the ecosystem keeps evolving: performance royalty body PPL has announced nearly 20% growth in payouts this quarter, buoyed by international income, while initiatives like AXS and Tickets for Good are working to open up live events to healthcare, education, and charity workers, keeping some community spirit in the heart of the touring machine.

That’s the state of the sound right now: old songs ruling new platforms, vinyl ghosts resurfacing on store shelves, AI and gaming platforms bargaining with labels, and live music trying to stay both profitable and human.

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