Episode 21: July 2026 Headlines (PATREON PREVIEW)

The CEO of SoundCloud recently revealed that he regularly seeks advice from what he calls his “AI board”—a model he trained on the interviews and writings of top pop musicians and record industry executives. So for our July 2026 Headlines segment we are wondering: did AI Billie Eilish tell him to buy Nina Protocol? We might not be able to give you an exact answer but we do dive into what we know about the deal and what it might mean for musicians. We are also discussing the Kalshi power-users who recently learned that streaming is, in fact, not a meritocracy, and that digital charts are (shocker) very easily manipulated. Head to Patreon.com/criticallistening to subscribe for all of our monthly Headlines episodes, Discord community, and occasional bonus segments.