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Music News: To evade facial recognition technology, become a Juggalo

An Insane Clown Posse fan participates in the 2017 Juggalo March.
An Insane Clown Posse fan participates in the 2017 Juggalo March.Al Drago/Getty Images

by Jay Gabler

July 05, 2018

If you're concerned about protecting your privacy in an era of increasingly sophisticated electronic surveillance, you have one more reason to become a fan of Insane Clown Posse. A computer security researcher who tweets as @TAHKION has pointed out that Juggalo makeup is particularly effective at confusing facial recognition software, because the style's signature elongated black smile redefines the wearer's jawline. Other common forms of heavy makeup don't work as well. (The Outline)

As though that news didn't give Juggalos enough to get excited about, in a Twitter thread discussing the news, tech giant Elon Musk replied affirmatively to a question regarding whether he was "down with the clown." Yes, he confirmed, "I like ICP."

At that, ICP member Violent J himself rolled into the thread asking the band's new "wealthy and powerful friend" to help Juggalos who have been "wounded since our battle with the FBI." As of this writing, Musk has not yet responded. (Faygo Luvers)

Today's courtroom news

Two North Carolina men who bought tickets to last year's disastrous Fyre Festival have been awarded $5 million in damages in a lawsuit against festival co-founder Billy McFarland. Each of the two men, who were among hundreds of people who arrived at the festival to find a dangerously under-planned debacle, were awarded $1.5 million in compensatory damages and $1 million in punitive damages.

Meanwhile, McFarland is awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty to misleading investors and wire fraud, and facing a host of other lawsuits, some of which also name festival co-founder Ja Rule. (Rolling Stone)

Derick Almena and Max Harris are expected to plead guilty to manslaughter charges related to a 2016 fire at their underground Oakland venue Ghost Ship. 36 died in the fire, which happened during an electronic music performance. Each man is expected to face a prison term of up to ten years, reports Billboard.

Joe Jackson buried

Joe Jackson, patriarch of the musical Jackson family, was buried this week in a private ceremony at Forest Lawn Memorial Park, the same southern California cemetery where his son Michael Jackson was buried in 2009. (Billboard)

Spotify users balk at aggressive Drake promotion

Drake has been a massive success on Spotify, with his new album Scorpion smashing the U.S. record for single-week streams of an album. Some Spotify users, though, are complaining about an aggressive promotional campaign that put the Canadian hip-hop star's face even on playlists that had nothing to do with his music — for example, "Best of British."

A Reddit thread is now full of users saying they asked for refunds or cancellations of their premium memberships over the promotion, arguing that it was too much for a service that promised an ad-free experience for paying users. Spotify hasn't commented on the controversy. (Billboard)