“YOU NO TALK! YOU NO TALK! YOU NO PLAY! YOU COST ME! WHY YOU NO PLAY? YOU WANT ME KILL YOUR FRIEND?” - a supposed boss of supposed Taipei mafia was yelling on Richard Marx's phone in 1989 when the singer postponed his Taipei show due to heavy rain. He describes in his new memoir how they took his agent Randy Garelick hostage, demanding Marx to play two shows the day after, no matter the weather. He agreed, of course. Rolling Stone brings an excerpt of the book.

Pop singer-songwriter Raye spoke about her label travails in a series of emotional posts on Twitter. “I have been on a 4 ALBUM RECORD DEAL since 2014 !!! And haven’t been allowed to put out one album" - Raye wrote. Clash Music came to the conclusion that there’s only a small number of boxes in which the industry is willing to place them – if an artist doesn’t fit easily into those boxes, then there’s an issue.

The unpleasant story of Britney Spears' conservatorship took another twist this week. First, the Los Angeles Superior Court has denied a months-old request by Spears’ attorney, Samuel Ingham III, to remove her father, Jamie Spears, as her sole conservator. Singer's father has, however, filed documents that show Jamie Spears is the conservator of the estate, controlling her financial decisions, and that Jodi Montgomery is the temporary conservator over the person, at her request, controlling her health treatment and other personal care issues. The documents also reveal that Jamie Spears has been cut off from communicating with Britney Spears, as Variety reports. Also, Britney Spears has yet to file a petition to terminate her conservatorship.

Ariana Grande has partnered with Better Help, an online portal providing direct mental health support, to give away $1 million worth of free therapy to her fans who can't afford it, NME reports. Her effort will match those interested with a licensed therapist for one free month, which anyone can sign up for at BetterHelp.com/Ariana. After the month is up, people will have the option to renew and continue using Better Help's services while getting 15% off the second month.

Damon Dash tried to auction off his ownership of the copyright to Jay Z’s first album, 'Reasonable Doubt'. At first, Dash wasn't so clear he didn't want to sell the entire Reasonable Doubt album as an NFT - he wanted to sell his one-third ownership share of Roc-a-Fella as NFT. However, Jay-Z raised a lawsuit, and on June 22, a New York judge ruled in favor of Jay-Z to stop the auction. Three days later, on 25th anniversary of 'Reasonable Doubt', Jay Z and artist Derrick Adams collaborated to auction NFT artwork for the classic album. Trapital explains the hassle.

Norwegian company Elire is planning to create a doomsday vault to preserve the world’s most important music recordings for at least 1,000 years, with the same safeguards offered by the Arctic World Archive and the Global Seed Vault, two existing storage facilities housed underground in the Svalbard archipelago, Billboard reports. Buried almost 1,000 feet below a snow-covered mountain, on an arctic island Svalbard midway between Norway and the North Pole, and using future-proof digital storage, the vault will store recordings of everything from major-label pop hits like the Beatles to Australian Indigenous music. The vault is built to withstand the kind of extreme electromagnetic pulses that could result from a nuclear explosion, which could permanently damage electronic equipment and play havoc with digital files. An extra level of protection will come from Svalbard’s low temperature and dry permafrost conditions. Elire intends to make money by charging companies and individuals for deposits to the vault. It also plans to make the vault’s contents accessible to listeners around the world, when it has the permission of rights holders, and share the revenue this generates with creators.

Megan Thee Stallion won a leading four awards Sunday at the BET Awards -rapper won best female hip-hop artist, best collaboration and best video of the year for 'Wap' with Cardi B, and the viewers’ choice award for 'Savage' with Beyoncé. Chris Brown won best male R&B/Pop Artist, and Oscar winner H.E.R. won female R&B/Pop Artist. The annual awards celebrate the year in Black music, TV, film, sports and social impact and this edition touted the “year of the Black woman,” with Queen Latifah receiving the Lifetime Achievement BET Award. Billboard lists all the nominees and winners.

"In his pursuit of something he came to call Fourth World music Jon Hassell exerted an influence on his contemporaries that went far beyond the immediate popularity of his own work. To create “a contemporary coffee-coloured classical music”, Hassell drew together strands of music from around the world to make something that, without compromising its own identity, seemed to belong everywhere" - Guardian writes in the obituary to the trumpeter and composer.

UK post-rock/post-metal band Bossk released their first full-length album, including the hypnotizing closer 'Unberth'; Angel Du$t make a turn from punk to indie pop with 'Love Is The Greatest'; Damon Albarn shares a lovely meditative piece 'The Nearer The Fountain, More Pure The Stream Flows'; Afflecks Palace share a Blur-y 'This City Is Burning Alive'; Vince Staples is in top form on 'Law Of Averages'; She Drew The Gun share a banging indie-pop song 'Cut Me Down'.

"As clubs shut down across the world, however, a shift was occurring in China: the sleeping giant of the East was waking to the steady rumble of bass and the snipping of hi-hats. 'Literally as soon as they opened, everyone went to the club; they got really packed, especially in Beijing', explains Ranyue Zhang aka Slowcook, a resident at Beijing’s Zhao Dai Club. 'As soon as you turn on a smoke machine or a flashing light, people start screaming… It’s not even about the music; anything will make them happy'" - Mix Magazine writes announcing a shift in the Chinese electronic music scene which, for a lack of options, turned to itself.

Environmental charity Greenpeace has endured "a big financial hit" because only one Glastonbury festival has been held in the last four years, BBC reports. Glastonbury usually takes place on the last weekend of June but was cancelled in 2021 and 2020, due to Covid-19, whereas in 2018 it has been cancelled because of a family feud between the potential new hosts. Founder Michael Eavis is one of Greenpeace's biggest donors, often giving up to £500,000 after each festival. Greenpeace's Bob Wilson said it had also missed having a key opportunity to "sign up new supporters" at the festival which attracts thousands.

Mysterious UK-based new-soul group Sault have released their new album 'NINE'. The album is going to be available to stream, download, and purchase for 99 days, meaning till the end of September. You can grab a free download of the album over on their website and it’s also available to purchase and stream on Bandcamp.

Despite the return of music festivals, virtual events are here to stay according to new data published by United Talent Agency, the LA Times reports. Three out of four people attended an online event during the pandemic. Of those who participated in a virtual event, 88% said they plan to do so again even when in-person gatherings return. The survey indicated that people are "most excited" for sporting events, concerts and movies.

"He was focussed on entertaining the audience, relying on the seemingly simple concept of giving people what they want. That ​‘by-fans, for-fans’ ethos informed the launch of Kerrang! – the magazine he founded in the summer of 1981 – and it is still the driving force behind what we do now" - UK metal weekly Kerrang! wrote remembering their former editor Alan Lewis who died this week aged 76. Lewis also served as the top editor at NME, Sounds, Record Collector, among other papaers. Dozens of journalists and editors remember working with Lewis - NME collected those lovely tributes.

Rolling Stone has a great long-read about the Chinese (indie-)rock scene, going back decades to Black Panther, Yu Quan, and He Yong. Today, it's Beijing that holds the country's highest-profile rock scene, with Southern cities Wuhan and Chengdu boasting fertile punk and post-punk scenes, due in part to their large university communities. RS emphasizes radical sincerity of Chinese rock, which Ricky Maymi, guitarist of the San Francisco group the Brian Jonestown Massacre, describes this way: “The musicians in the Chinese rock scene are finding a place to put ideas and feelings where otherwise, in their culture, they wouldn’t have a place. This music has real heart, devoid of any kind of irony. That gives it a built-in power, a magic that Western music hasn’t had for a long time".

In just the last 72 hours alone, a bevy of major US tours has been announced. Consequence (has a dedicated live music subsite) picks out a few of the biggest ones:

- Elton John has announced the final leg of his farewell tour
- Lorde has announced the first tour dates behind her new album 'Solar Power'
- J Cole has mapped out a tour in support of his latest album 'The Off-Season' - GZA, Raekwon, and Ghostface Killah are teaming up for the 'Chambers 3 Tour'
- Violent Femmes and Flogging Molly are teaming up for a co-headlining US tour

Producer and songwriter Mark Ronson goes into the art and science of music production in the new docu-series 'Watch the Sound', coming to Apple TV+ on July 30, NME reports. The newly released trailer shows him talking with the likes of Paul McCartney, Dave Grohl, Beastie Boys Ad-Rock and Mike D, Charli XCX, Josh Homme, Denzel Curry, Angel Olsen, Tame Impala mastermind Kevin Parker and many mor

Britney Spears appeared in Los Angeles court on Wednesday and formally asked a judge in a passionate speech to end her decade-long conservatorship, calling it abusive and doing her more harm than good. Spears made a strong case for removing her father, Jamie Spears, as conservator, giving examples of how the conservatorship is abusive, including being put on Lithium against her will, Consequence reports. She also claimed that the conservatorship is blocking her from expanding her family - “I want to be able to get married and have a baby. I was told I can’t get married. I have an IUD inside me but this so-called team won’t let me go to the doctor to remove it because they don’t want me to have any more children".

On 8th June, the Spanish government announced that nightclubs will be able to reopen this summer, with dancing until 3am. On 25th June, Ibiza will host its first pilot test event, a “Children of the ’80s” party at the Hard Rock Hotel. DJ Mag visited the island to check out how the clubs are preparing for the big reopening.

"[I was on the road] two months at a time or more. And that was wearing on my marriage and my life. Now you listen what you want to on the radio, and if you feel like pulling over and taking a nap, you pull over and take a nap" - 53-year-old bus driver John Rogan tells in a Billboard piece about the lack of drivers the live music industry is about to face. Apart from the fact that some drivers have found a more comfortable lifestyle in trucking. there's another reason for drivers' departures from the industry: Most tours are requiring vaccines for their entire crews, and plenty of them refuse to get the shots. That's not all - driving frozen food pays almost double the amount drivers get while driving hot music stars.

Britney Spears said she was forced into a mental health facility as punishment for objecting during a rehearsal, leaked court documents, which were seen by The New York Times, have revealed. The paper reports that, according to a transcript from a closed-door hearing in spring 2019, "she asserted that she had been forced into a mental health facility against her will on exaggerated grounds, which she viewed as punishment for standing up for herself and making an objection during a rehearsal". According to the documents, the singer's 2019 stint in a mental health facility was against her will after her Las Vegas residency was canceled, The Times reported. Documents also quote Britney Spears as referring to the conservatorship as an "oppressive and controlling tool against her". Today, Wednesday, June 23, Spears will be speaking directly, albeit from a remote location, to a Los Angeles Superior Court judge about her situation, NPR reports.

The live music industry in the UK is facing massive staff shortages as gigs begin to return - industry bodies have written to the UK prime minister Boris Johnson calling for the government to help fill vacant roles, NME reports. They suggest the government "temporarily ease immigration requirements for the large numbers of workers, particularly from the EU, who have returned to their homelands during the lockdowns". A study in 2020 by the UK’s Economic Statistics Centre of Excellence estimated that 1.3 million migrants left the UK between July 2019 and September 2020.

YouTube won a legal victory in the EU this week, after the European Court of Justice ruled that the platform and other user generated content-reliant platforms should not be held liable for users uploading infringing content. "As currently stands, operators of online platforms do not, in principle, themselves make a communication to the public of copyright-protected content illegally posted online by users of those platforms" - ECJ ruled. The court added that such platforms can still be held liable however, if they have "specific knowledge that protected content is available illegally" on their platforms, yet refrain "from expeditiously deleting it or blocking access to it".

Indigo De Souza share an energy-driven indie rock song 'Kill Me' and an impressive video to go with; Kamasi Washington released 'Sun Kissed Child' from 'Liberated / Music For The Movement Vol. 3'; La Luz shares some light-weight blues on 'In The Country'; Sally Shapiro want to go dancing on 'Fading Away'; Dean Blunt is very moody on 'The Rot'; Jeffrey Lewis' title of his new song 'Now We've Beat That Stupid Virus We Can Get Back to Our Stupid Lives' says it all.

The Street Music Research Unit is a new initiative from the University of Adelaide in Australia studying street music in all its forms, historical and contemporary. The Unit is interested to learn why people busk, and where they busk and the role that festivals, government regulation and technology play in buskers’ livelihoods.

After reaching the top 10 on Billboard 200 chart three times, Polo G lands his first No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 this week as 'Hall of Fame' opens atop the tally, earning 143,000 equivalent album units earned in the U.S. in the week ending June 17, Billboard reports. Migos’ 'Culture III' starts at No. 2, TWICE’s 'Taste of Love' debuts at No. 6, Bo Burnham’s 'Inside (The Songs)' jumps 116-7 after its first full tracking week of activity, and Maroon 5’s 'Jordi' bows at No. 8.

Peter Jackson has expanded his upcoming Beatles documentary from a standalone film to a mini-series composed of three two-hour installments, Vanity Fair reports. 'The Beatles: Get Back' chronicles the making of The Beatles’ penultimate album, 1970’s 'Let It Be', whereas part of the reason for its expansion was due to the insistence of Jackson, Paul McCartney, and Ringo Starr to have the full rooftop concert on London’s Savile Row - the final performance of the band’s career - shown in full. 'The Beatles: Get Back' will air over Thanksgiving weekend.

Warner Bros. has acquired 'What’s Going On', a new biopic on Marvin Gaye from Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine, which will be directed by Allen Hughes ('Menace II Society', 'The Book of Eli'). The script was written by poet and playwright Marcus Gardley. The film has the full support of Gaye’s estate and Motown Records, and will feature music from the singer’s catalog. Deadline reports that Warner Bros. has committed a budget north of $80 million for the film, which would mark the biggest budget ever for an African American musical biopic.

Across 70 major and independent music companies, just 13.9% of top executives across were from underrepresented racial/ethnic groups, 4.2% were Black, and 13.9% were women - an authoritative new study from the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative has found. Across the members of the senior management teams at nine major companies as shown on their websites, only 18.8% of executive board members were from underrepresented racial/ethnic groups, 8.5% were Black and 30.8% were women. The report notes that half of the U.S. population are women, 14% are Black, and 40% identify with an underrepresented racial/ethnic group, LAist reports.

French pop singer/songwriter Françoise Hardy, who found fame in the 60s yé-yé movement, has said she feels “close to the end” of her life and has argued in favor of assisted suicide in a new Femme Actuelle interview. Years of radiation and immunotherapy due to cancer have caused Hardy immense pain, making it difficult to swallow, and impossible to sing.