Five thousand people attended a concert in Barcelona on Saturday night (March 27) as part of a COVID-19 experiment looking at the possibility of holding live music events with no social distancing if rapid testing is employed, al Jazeera reports. All attendees at the gig were tested ahead of the gig and the antigen test results were reported back to the attendees within 10 to 15 minutes via an app on their phones. The ticket price of $23 came with a rapid test and mask included. The show, which saw Spanish rock band Love of Lesbian playing at the Palau Sant Jordi arena, is said to be the biggest concert in Europe since the pandemic began last year.

Beyoncé was robbed two times in the last month - three separate storage units holding expensive bags and clothing were hit once, and then within a week burglars came back to the same facility, making off with handbags, kids toys, and photos belonging to one of Beyoncé’s stylists, TMZ reports. Stolen goods are estimated to value $1 million.

Ja Rule sold a non-fungible token, or NFT, of a painting of the ill-fated Fyre Festival logo for $122,000. The rapper told Forbes (via Complex) that he decided to sell the oil painting of the doomed festival's logo - which had been hanging in the festival's New York office while it was being planned - because he "just wanted that energy out". The artwork was accompanied by a handwritten note from Ja Rule which read "F**k this painting".

90 percent of women in music had experienced "unconscious bias", 63 percent felt excluded from songwriting and production gigs - the new Be the Change report, which included 401 female artists, songwriters, producers and DJs, shows. A huge 82 percent of women said they had experienced harassment themselves, with 27 percent saying it happens frequently.

Vijay Iyer Trio share some groovy piano virtuosity with 'UnEasy'; Paul McCartney seems much younger in a Beck remix of 'Find My Way' - the younger musician got the idea for the mix remembering seeing McCartney dance; supergroup Satanic Planet (featuring members of Slayer, Locust and Planet B) share their first song - a, obviously, satanic industrial electro 'Baphomet'; Mysie shares an R'n'B velvet 'Keep Up With Your Heart'; Luminous Kid shares an emotional same-sex song 'Mountain Crystals’ featuring spoken word by Phoebe Bridgers; U.N.K.L.E. just go dancing on 'If We Don't Make It'.

UK artists are already turning down shows and tours in parts of Europe for later this year and early next, as they have become unviable due to increased cost and bureaucracy - CEO of the Featured Artists Coalition David Martin told NME about post-Brexit tours of British acts in the EU. John Robb of Goldblade and The Membranes says now it's "just chaos in a vacuum. If we knew what we were working with then we could either pay, work a way round it or just choose not to go. At the moment, we have no idea what the options will be”. Things might be moving in the right direction, as British Prime Minister Boris Johnson told Parliament that music "is a massively important part of the economy" adding "we must fix it", the "it" being current system of touring rules, NME reports.

Catalytic Sound, a cooperative organization comprising 30 avant-garde instrumentalists and composers, launched their own streaming platform Catalytic Soundstream. It charges listeners $10 per month for between 100 and 150 albums available at any given time and new ones swapped in and out every day, including records by out-jazz and free improv luminaries live Joe McPhee, Tomeka Reid, Tashi Dorji, Ikue Mori, claire rousay, Chris Corsano, and Luke Stewart. The majority of the albums include a note from one of the partners, Pitchfork reports.

Recreational marijuana will be legalised in New York state, after officials finalised a deal to permit casual usage and possession of the drug, the New York Times reports. The deal will “allow delivery of the drug and permit club-like lounges or ‘consumption sites’ where marijuana, but not alcohol, could be consumed”. Individuals will also be permitted to legally grow up to six marijuana plants at home for personal use.

Queen have officially moved 10 million units in streaming and track sales of their anthem 'Bohemian Rhapsody' in the US, making them the first UK band to be RIAA-certified diamond, Blabbermouth reports. 'Bohemian Rhapsody' also recently became the most-streamed song from the 20th century, surpassing a collective 1.6 billion streams globally across all major streaming services.

Label and publisher BMG and investment firm KKR announced a partnership to fund acquisitions of major recorded music and publishing catalogs, establishing yet another player in the gold rush for music’s biggest song collections, Music Business Worldwide reports. KKR currently manages global assets with a combined worth over $230 billion. KKR partner Nat Zilkha tells Rolling Stone the companies are prepared to spend into the billions.

Britney Spears’ attorney Samuel D Ingham III has requested that her father, Jamie Spears, be permanently removed from overseeing her personal affairs, according to Variety. Attorney asked that the singer’s temporary care manager, Jodi Montgomery, be permanently installed as her sole conservator. At the same time Spears’ petition notes that she “expressly reserves the right to petition for termination of this conservatorship”.

World's second largest concert promoter has begun bringing back part-time and full-time employees who had been furloughed or saw their hours reduced during the pandemic with the first phase of employees returning April 1, Billboard reports. The second phase of AEG's rehiring involves full time employees who were moved to part time status. Those employees will be returned to full time status starting April 1 with the process expected to be completed by June 1. The third and final tier involves employees that were furloughed during the pandemic and are now expected to return to work full-time in the fall. AEG's main competitor Live Nation plans to begin staffing up as capacity restrictions are lifted on venues owned or leased by the company.

75% of Britons have turned to a musical instrument during lockdown, a research from Yamaha has revealed. Other research found UK sales of instruments and music equipment have risen by 80% during lockdown. Guardian talked to dozens of new musicians, with 67-year-old retired infant teacher Liz saying - “I had never had the slightest desire to play an instrument before but it is magical. I prop up my iPad, secured with a bit of Blu-Tack, so my teacher can see and hear me, and it is a glorious experience. I would never have done this without the lockdown”.

The European independent music companies’ association proposed a 10-point plan to reform the streaming economy. IMPALA has some good ideas: higher payouts for longer songs; higher payouts for tracks that users specifically search for (as opposed to encountering them via playlists or radio); assuring there will be no features that recreate elements of payola; boost local repertoire and languages.

John Grant shares Cate Le Bon-produced atmospheric Americana 'Boy From Michigan'; Svalbard vocalist Serena Cherry shares a dark metal song 'Labyrinthian' from her Noctule project; just some classic hip-hop - a new video of 'Nutshell Pt. 2' by the late A Tribe Called Quest MC Phife Dawg, featuring Busta Rhymes and Redman, produced by J Dilla; members of Vex, Obsequiae, Panopticon, and Horrendous form black-death project Aduanten, share 'The Drowning Tide'.

The experimental UK rock band Black Midi has announced its second album 'Cavalcade' with a music video for the lead single, 'John L'. The peculiar video was directed by choreographer and creative director Nina McNeely, whose previous projects include Rihanna’s 'Sledgehammer' visual and Gaspar Noé’s 'Climax'. According to Pitchfork, half of the album was written by individual members of the band at home before they brought it to one another during rehearsals. Also, guitarist/founding member Matt Kwasniewski-Kelvin stepped away from the group to tend to his mental health, and was substituted by saxophonist Kaidi Akinnibi and keyboardist Seth Evans. Black Midi also released another new song 'Despair', the b-side to 'John L'; it won't be a part of the new album.

Taylor Swift and her mom Andrea donated $50,000 to Vickie Quarles, the mother of five daughters whose husband, Theodis Ray Quarles, died of COVID-19, according to Yahoo News. Their donation through GoFundMe fundraiser raised the total amount to over $62,000. Previously, in December, the singer donated $13,000 to two mothers who were struggling to pay their bills during the pandemic. In March of last year, Swift sent checks to her longtime fans who had lost their jobs during the ongoing crisis. She also donated money to Nashville record store Grimey's New and Preloved Music to pay and provide healthcare for each of the retailer's employees for three months.

Today is the launch date of Here In The Room, an interactive digital portrait by Nile Rodgers. The superstar hitmaker was answering 350 questions for two days, in realtime, about working with David Bowie, Madonna, and Lady Gaga, about why he chose to play in bands rather than pursue a solo career, about a kind of breakfast he eats, etc. A taste of the experience is available In the Room for free, while an online pass to access the full content costs £20, Guardian reports. This project is an extension of the National Holocaust Centre and Museum to make survivors’ testimonies interactive and lasting, and it is now branching out into the arts.

"Covid has definitely humbled me. You realise nothing is set in stone... I’ve learned to never push anything back in life. Do it while you have the chance" - Darkoo, British-Nigerian vocalist, tells the Guardian about his lockdown experience. Oli James, tour manager for singer-songwriter Sam Fender, who took a job on a fishing trawler, says "it’s been great seeing more of the family and I’ve enjoyed woodland walks to keep my brain active". Jack Cochrane of the Snuts describes how they got through thanks to being close - "we’ve been friends since we were kids – three of the band met in nursery – and have played together since we were 12 or 13, which helps you pull together. It was just another thing to go through as a group of friends".

Billboard believes cassettes are gonna have a revival, similar to the vinyl. In 2018, only 219,000 cassette albums were sold, while in 2020, on Discogs alone, cassette album sales were up a third, totaling 282,798. Big French cassette manufacturer RecordingTheMasters in 2019 was manufacturing around 9,000 cassette tapes a month. Now, they are at 30,000 a month. Apart from being cheaper and more practical, cassettes are produced at half the time it takes for vinyl.

South Korean companies are using artificial intelligence to make new music by dead pop stars, Korean or global. AI is being used to learn and then extrapolate the style of certain musicians, like Kim Kwang Seok, who died 25 years ago, and Freddie Mercury who is dead for 30 years now. It is part of the Korean government's push to harness the so-called Fourth Industrial Revolution, using technology to transform the way we live and work.

Country music star Morgan Wallen has been announced as a headliner for this year’s Kicker Country Stampede, a country music festival in Kansas in June, Uproxx reports. It marks Wallen’s first confirmed performance since he was caught on camera using a racial slur in February. The three-day music festival, which touts Bud Light as a sponsor, goes down June 24th-26th at Heartland Motorsports Park in Topeka, Kansas. Along with Wallen, the lineup features Luke Combs, Riley Green, Blanco Brown, Maddie & Tae, and Ashley McBryde, among others. Variety reports, however, that the so-called comeback show was actually announced last September, not this week, and sources say it’s highly unlikely he’ll fulfill the gig.

Lemmy Kilmister's ashes were placed in bullets and delivered to his closest friends and associates, per the legendary Motörhead frontman’s request. The revelation comes courtesy of Riki Rachtman, the onetime host of the MTV show 'Headbangers Ball', who shared a photo of a bullet with “LEMMY” engraved on it, writing - “Before his death #Lemmy asked for his ashes to be put in some bullets & handed out to his closest friends. Today, I received a bullet & was literally brought to tears. Thank you, @myMotorhead”.

Tokyo events and advertising company Hiroro gives its employees up to 10 paid days off when their idol is retiring, Vice reports. They’re also entitled to 10 days of bereavement leave, which is usually taken to mourn a relative’s death if their favorite idol is getting married. If one’s second, or even third favorite is stepping off the stage, employees can take up to three days off. Corporate Japan has a notoriously strict work culture and no national sick leave system.

A coalition of advocacy groups representing musicians and entertainers voiced their support for a new California state bill that seeks to limit the length of contracts for recording artists to seven years, Billboard reports. The FAIR Act would remove a damages provision that commonly discourages artists from leaving record deals after seven years if they have undelivered albums, even though they are legally permitted.

In 2019, music copyright was worth $31.6bn, up by 7%, or $2.1bn from the previous year, and the third consecutive year that the growth was more than $2bn. These record-breaking copyright valuations are due to streaming - its contribution to labels, publishers and CMOs has gone from 14% in 2015 to almost 47% in 2019. Tarzan Economics predicts that 2020 will be another record-breaking year.

Verzuz announced a battle between soul and funk legends the Isley Brothers and Earth, Wind & Fire, on April 4. Two weeks later, on April 20, Verzuz battle will host a “How High 4/20 Special” featuring Redman and Method Man. Both events will be available to watch on Verzuz’s Instagram account or via the Triller app.

Morgan Wallen spends his tenth consecutive week on top of Billboard 200 chart with his latest release 'Dangerous: The Double Album', Billboard reports. It is the first album to spend its first 10 weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 since 1987 and Whitney Houston’s 'Whitney' album. 'Dangerous' earned 69,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in the week ending March 11, a slight deep of 11% from the previous week.

Nathan Evans completes his journey from postman to viral sensation to chart-topping smash as his hit ’Wellerman' takes the Number 1 spot on this week’s UK Official Singles Chart. The remix of the sea shanty with 220 Kid and Billen Ted climbs to 1 this week, after Evans' first TV performance of the track on last week’s episode of Ant & Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway.

A music festival took place in the Netherlands, with 1,500 mostly young people participating in an experiment about the spread of Covid-19, BBC reports. The rest of the country is in lockdown, yet the Dutch government has financed this electro-music festival and a scientific experiment that aims to see if there's a safe way to allow large-scale social gatherings to restart, without increasing the spread of the virus. The participants all had to be negative on Covid-test to take part at the fest and will be tested again next week.