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.