The U.K. government has agreed to temporarily suspend post-Brexit “cabotage” rules for some music haulers, following warnings from live-industry executives that the regulations were placing more than 100 European summer tours at risk, some of which have already been cancelled. The relaxation of rules allows some of the U.K.’s biggest trucking firms to work and travel freely across Europe by temporarily switching their vehicles from an EU operator’s license to a U.K. one for the home leg of a tour. Since January of 2021, truckers in both regions have been subject to the cabotage rules, which require haulers to return to the EU or the U.K. — wherever their business is based — after making three stops in the other market, NME reports.

Pink Floyd have released a new song 'Hey, Hey, Rise Up!' featuring Andriy Khlyvnyuk of the Ukrainian band Boombox. The lineup on the track includes David Gilmour and Nick Mason with bassist Guy Pratt and keyboardist Nitin Sawhney, Guardian reports. 'Hey, Hey, Rise Up!' is the first original music from the band since 1994’s 'The Division Bell'. In similar news, Portishead will regroup next month for their first show in seven years, playing a short set as part of a War Child benefit concert supporting relief efforts in Ukraine, Consequence reports.

A viral Twitter thread from Asheville indie rock band Wednesday about not being paid enough for live shows sparked a conversation about the economics of touring in 2022. Stereogum talked to a few bands about their touring experiences, including one which does delivery on the side while on tour. Also, a burning question - should a band book an Airbnb or sleep in the van?!

Jon Batiste won album of the year for 'We Are', Silk Sonic won record and song of the year for 'Leave the Door Open' and Olivia Rodrigo walked away with best new artist ath the Grammy awards. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky appeared mid-show to speak of Ukrainian musicians: "The war — what's more opposite than music? We defend our freedom. To live. To love. To sound. In our land, we are fighting Russia which brings horrible silence with their bombs. The dead silence. Fill the silence with your music! Fill it today. To tell our story. Tell the truth about war". Check out all the winners.

It seems like Covid-19 is disappearing, especially now as there's a much more sinister threat. However, for musicians, Covid is still hanging above their heads. Pitchfork explored the issue:: "For rising bands and independent musicians tours are a crucial way to pursue a viable career path as a musician and often serve as the crux of their income. If musicians catch COVID-19, that’s potentially hundreds if not thousands of dollars down the drain... With mask and vaccine mandates evaporating around the country, artists are forced to once again ask themselves an important question: Should they risk their health by heading out on the road, or should they risk their income by missing out on another year of touring? Lately, it seems like indie artists are realizing there’s a hidden asterisk in this ultimatum; they can give touring a try so long as fans mask up".

Billie Eilish and Finneas won an Oscar for their song 'No Time to Die' from the James Bond film of the same name. In the other music-related Oscar category, Hans Zimmer won an Oscar for best original score for 'Dune'. The Roots' Questlove was awarded an Oscar in the Documentary feature category for 'Summer Of Soul'.

The Face surveyed 314 young people aged 14 to 23 across the UK about life in the pandemic. The answer by a 14-year-old Lucy tells a lot and is very, very sad: “Being 12 when this pandemic began and turning 15 this year, it scares me how I’ve had the majority of my life in lockdowns. I got my first period, my first ​‘love’, and although I feel like so many others have had a far worse time than me, I feel like I’ve lost my life to this virus. I think my experience is probably very similar to others, but I always wonder what life would be like if I could have gone out and experienced the things that a 13-year-old does".

"The Foo Fighters family is devastated by the tragic and untimely loss of our beloved Taylor Hawkins. His musical spirit and infectious laughter will live on with all of us forever"- the Foo Fighters said in a statement. Foo Fighters drummer Hawkins has died aged 50. Watch Foo Fighters play ‘Everlong’ at their final gig with Hawkins, at Lollapalooza Argentina on March 20th, the last song the drummer played before his death five days later.

Last year 52,600 artists generated over $10,000 on Spotify, the platform has announced, the MBW reports. 15,140 of these 52,600 artists – around 28% – uploaded their own music. Of the 52,600 artists who generated more than $10k last year:

• 16,500 artists generated more than $50k;
• 9,500 artists generated more than $100k;
• 2,170 artists generated more than $500k;
• and 1,040 artists generated more than $1 million.

Spotify paid out $7 billion (across publishing and recorded music) to music industry rights-holders.

"In recent years, experimental musicians have been steadily building Ukraine’s reputation as a crucial node in Europe’s electronic underground. The country’s scene began coming into its own after 2014’s Maidan Revolution, in which protestors seeking closer links with Europe ousted a pro-Kremlin president and ushered in a new era of democracy and reform. In the wake of those events, young ravers clad in secondhand ’90s fashion began carving out a new future underneath the slogan “poor but cool.” Since then, parties and clubs like CXEMA, Closer, and ∄ have helped Ukraine establish a reputation as one of the most stylish (and hedonistic) electronic scenes in the world" - Pitchfork points out introducing the besieged country's electronic scene.

An awesome bassline, some seriously great grooves and a killer melody on Dublin post-punk band's new song. 'Skinty Fia' is taken from the new album of the same name, out 22nd April on Partisan Records.

The global recorded music industry saw its wholesale revenues increase by USD $4.0 billion in 2021 to $25.9 billion, according to IFPI. That sum is the largest in history, MBW reports. Also, that $4 billion year-on-year increase was much higher than in the previous years - YOY growth in 2020 was $1.5bn, and in 2019 it was $1.5bn. Annual paid-for streaming revenues bounced up by $2.2 billion to $12.3 billion last year. Revenues from physical formats – CD and vinyl combined – grew to $5.0 billion in 2021, up from $4.3 billion in 2020. Ad-funded streaming platforms or free streaming, including video services, generated $4.6 billion in 2021, up 31% year-on-year.

“I left at the end of last year, after the new record was complete. There was no acute reason beyond that I’ve changed—and the band has changed—over the last almost 20 years. Time for new things” - Arcade Fire longtime multi-instrumentalist Will Butler and the younger brother of bandleader Win Butler, broke the news on Twitter. Will Butler joined Arcade Fire in late 2003 and first appeared on Arcade Fire’s debut album, 2004’s 'Funeral', and has contributed to every album since then, including the band’s upcoming studio LP 'WE'. Butler announced he is working on music for a David Adjmi play.

ng Stone looks at the Russian rappers going against the war in Ukraine. "The big bosses will send [you] to the slaughterhouse. Bosses never gave a f*ck" - rapper Morgenshtern says in one of his songs. Oxxxymiron has opposed the war since its beginning, canceling Russian shows in protest. Siberian rapper-producer Slava Marlow shared footage on his Instagram story of the March 1 Russian strike on Kharkiv’s Freedom Square that killed at least 10 people. The Face is believed to have left Russia for Dubai sometime in early 2022. He said - “You made a wrong joke. And you wound up on the blacklist”.

The Smile continue their walk on the edges of early Radiohead and avant-garde sound on 'Skrting On The Surface'; Greentea Peng shares her first new track since last year’s debut album - the psychedelic r’n’b ‘Your Mind’; Father John Misty's 'Goodbye Mr. Blue' is pleasant and comforting, just like the nature; a reminder of Jenny Hval’s recently released album, her gorgeous single ‘A Year of Love’.

Arcade Fire have announced their new album 'WE', which deals in topics of isolation and human connection - the band’s sixth full-length is due out on May 6th. Arcade Fire set out to record an album in February 2020, but when the pandemic began, Win Butler and Régine Chassagne decided to write more songs - “It was the longest we’ve ever spent writing, uninterrupted, probably ever,” Butler said in a statement. The project was produced by Radiohead’s producer Nigel Godrich. They’ve shared the first single, 'The Lightning I, II' - listen to it below.

Spotify has struck a major four-year sponsorship agreement with Barcelona worth $310 million. MBW calculated that in order for an artist to generate $310 million in recorded music royalties on the Spotify platform – at $0.00348 per-stream average rate – they would need to rack up a gigantic 89.08 billion plays on the service. No artist in the history of Spotify has ever, across their entire catalog, attracted that many plays. The most cumulative streams ever recorded by a single artist on Spotify is Drake with 62.84 billion.

Detroit proto-punk outfit MC5 has announced that a new album of original MC5 songs will be released in October via Ear Music, a full 51 years after the release of the band’s last album. The album is also set to feature contributions from Kesha, Tom Morello, Alejandro Escovedo, Jill Sobule, and Rise Against’s Tim McIlrath.

'Heat Waves' by Glass Animals was released as a single on June 29, 2020, and in March 2022, this week, 'Heat Waves' hit #1 on Billboard's Hot 100 after a 59-week climb, by far the longest climb to #1 in Billboard history, Billboard reports. The funny thing is, it's an old song now - SOUNDSCAN will register it as a "catalog" transaction since it's older than 18 months.

Universal Music Group saw its overall annual revenues across publishing, records, and merch hit €8.50 billion ($10.03 billion) last year, surpassing the USD $10 billion mark for the first time in history, Music Business Worldwide reports. That figure was up 17.0% year-over-year in constant currency. Also, Universal’s total revenues on a Euro basis in 2021 (€8.50bn) were more than double the size of UMG’s annua

Epic Games, maker of hit video game 'Fortnite'' has acquired online music store Bandcamp, Stereogum reports. Previously, Epic acquired Harmonix, creator of Rock Band, pointing out at the time that they plan to "reimagine how music is experienced, created and distributed”. Ethan Diamond, CEO and co-founder of Bandcamp, said today that “Bandcamp’s mission is to help spread the healing power of music by building a community where artists thrive through the direct support of their fans".

Support Ukrainian artists quickly & directly via Bandcamp - this crowdsourced spreadsheet of Ukrainian artists and labels calls for. It's not about choosing sides, it's about supporting what's good. There's some good Russian music too.

Iconic artist and songwriter Neil Diamond has sold his song catalog as well as the rights to all recordings to Universal Music Group, MBW worldwide. The agreement encompasses hits such as 'Sweet Caroline', 'Red Red Wine', 'Solitary Man', 'Cracklin’ Rosie', 'Song Sung Blue', 'Love on the Rocks' and 'America', and the catalog also includes 110 unreleased tracks, an unreleased album and archival long form videos. Diamond has sold more than 130 million albums over the past half century.

Maria Sonevytsky explores on Twitter, the "rich and complex" history of Ukrainian music. She goes across the country and back for decades. An interesting selection which includes punk rock, reggae, folk music, klezmer and much more.

Mick Jagger and the Roots’ Questlove and Black Thought are to executively produce an upcoming four-part documentary about James Brown’s life and career, the Root reports. 'James Brown: Say It Loud' is a massive four-hour docuseries that celebrates the Godfather of Funk’s legacy. The series will feature both never-before-seen archival footage and interviews with friends, family, collaborators and more.

'Pierced Arrows' from Hurray for the Riff Raff's new album is just plain and simple a great pop rock song; rapper Denzel Curry meets drum’n’bass on ‘Zatoichi’; Yves Tumor shares an electro-rock song ‘Secrecy Is Incredibly Important To The Both of Them’, featuring a not-to-miss video; Florence + the Machine shares the first single from her fifth studio album, a ready-to-explode 'King' with yet another great video; Toro y Moi sail smooth and psychedelic on 'The Loop'.

The powerful force behind Screaming Trees who was also known for his work in Queens of the Stone Age and The Gutter Twins, the unique Mark Lanegan has died at the age of 57, the New York Times reports. Lanegan was a pioneer of the grunge scene, fronting Screaming Trees from 1985 until their breakup […]

Kanye West claims that he had generated over $2 million in sales from his Stem Player device. He would be releasing his new album, 'Donda 2', exclusively via his Stem Player. A handheld circular device allows users to split the star’s music (or their own music) into stems, i.e. isolating drums, vocals, bass, samples etc. It also enables users to manipulate these stems / samples, and create loops from them – meaning that West's fans can use his recordings as the basis to create fresh tracks. Costing $200, it can be purchased through KanyeWest.com.

Last week Snoop Dogg released his twentieth studio album, 'B.O.D.R. (Bacc On Death Row', while also releasing the album on the blockchain through a partnership with blockchain gaming platform Gala Games, via his 'Stash Box' NFTs, sold on Gala’s new Gala Music store. Snoop Dogg’s NFTs are limited to 25,000 and each ‘box’, includes 1 of 17 songs from 'Bacc On Death Row'. Each box costs $5,000. On Wednesday there were 16 thousand NFTs remaining, and if that means that the other 9,000 have been sold at the asking price – then the NFT sale has generated at least $45 million. If all 25,000 sell out, Snoop Dogg’s Stash Box NFT’s will have generated total revenues of $125 million, MBW points out.

Blues, R&B and rock guitarist and singer Tommy Castro is nominated for the B.B. King entertainer of the year award, album of the year, band of the year (with The Painkillers), contemporary blues album, and blues rock artist for this year's Blues Music Awards. Chris Cain and Anthony Paule have four nods each, Billboard reports.