“We sought a mutually beneficial agreement that would have allowed performers to continue working and perform across the continent without the need for work permits" - the UK culture secretary Oliver Dowden told NME about Brexit negotiations with the EU regarding work permits for musicians. However, Dowden claims "musicians, artists, entertainers and support staff would have been captured through the list of permitted activities for short-term business visitors. This was a straightforward solution for our creative industries which would have benefited all sides. But the EU turned it down, repeatedly. It did not propose and wouldn’t accept a tailored deal for musicians and artists". The Independent got unofficial information from the EU side that it was the UK who didn't agree to a special agreement for musicians.

Shakira has sold 100 percent of the publishing rights to her entire catalog of 145 songs - including hits such as 'Hips Don’t Lie', 'Whenever, Wherever', 'She Wolf', and 'Waka Waka' - to Hipgnosis Songs Fund. Shakira is the bestselling female Latin artist of all time, and she currently has over 32 million monthly listeners on Spotify, Music Music Worldwide reports. Hipgnosis, the company that invests in music catalogs this year alone has bought catalogs from Jimmy Iovine, Lindsey Buckingham, and Neil Young.

Jimi Hendrix’s brother Leon Hendrix and niece Tina Hendrix have been ordered by a court to recall and destroy all apparel and merchandise bearing any Jimi Hendrix name, and to change the name of their tuition-free Hendrix Music Academy school, Billboard reports. Tina Hendrix said - “I am astonished that the courts have ... stripped us from our rights to use our own family surname after a lifetime of doing so". Experience Hendrix and Authentic Hendrix, created by Jimi Hendrix's father Al and cousin Bob, own all the rights to the guitarist's image and music. However, it is Tina Hendrix's attitude that they "gained the Hendrix name by virtue of adoption and has used it ever since, only to exploit millions of dollars off of Jimi Hendrix’s music, while using the proceeds to eliminate Jimi’s biological family members one by one, starting with Jimi’s own son, then Jimi’s brother and now his niece. I have never made one dollar off of my uncle while running a free music school for kids". The courts have sided with Experience and Authentic so far.

Queen guitarist Brian May has launched perfume Save Me that smells like "the British countryside", as Queen's guitarist points out on his Instagram. The Sun took a smell and says there's "surprisingly refreshing" emphasis on "deliberately earthy overtones - a hint of clean badger fur, some sandalwood and something a bit limey". A 50ml bottle of perfume goes for €235, while a signed bottle goes for €500. Those proceeds will benefit the animal welfare organization Save Me, co-founded by May in 2010.

SOCAN Foundation announced winners of the first-ever Black Canadian Music Awards, which aims to "recognize and celebrate the artistic merit demonstrated by Black music creators (songwriters, composers, producers, etc.) in all genres". The winners are: rapper and singer TOBi; rapper Naya Ali started music as a 2-year old, now she's known for her flamboyant flow; RAAHiiM is a new Canadian R'n'B singer; Hunnah started singing in her church at age 4, now she writes and produces her own music; Dylan Sinclair brought his R'n'B to LA. All the winners each receive a $5,000 prize.

YouTube has launched a global grant program for Black creators on the platform, using capital from its $100 million #YouTubeBlack Voices Fund, Billboard reports. The inaugural class of 132 grant recipients includes 21 music artists from around the world - Brent Faiyaz, BRS Kash, Fireboy DML, Jean Dawson, Jensen McRae, Jerome Farah, Joy Oladokun, KennyHoopla, Mariah the Scientist, MC Carol, Miiesha, Myke Towers, Péricles, Rael, Rexx Life Raj, Sauti Sol, serpentwithfeet, Sho Madjozi, Tkay Maidza, Urias and Yung Baby Tate.

'Trainspotting' director Danny Boyle is to make a six-part TV series about Sex Pistols, based on guitarist Steve Jones's memoir, IndieWire reports. It will star Anson Boon as John Lydon and Louis Partridge as Sid Vicious. Jones's memoir 'Lonely Boy: Tales From A Sex Pistol' goes beyond his time with the band, beginning with his life in West London. It deals also with the band's struggle with criticism and living up to their image, as well as addiction.

The EU offered the UK visa-free tours by British musicians to EU countries, but the UK government refused it, the liberal London paper Independent reports. A “standard” proposal to exempt performers from the huge cost and bureaucracy for 90 days was turned down, because the government is insisting on denying that to EU artists visiting this country.

For the venues to be reopened, the society needs to reach an effective level of herd immunity, which means vaccinating from 70 percent to 85 percent of the population, dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the top infectious disease expert said, the New York Times reports. In the case of the US, "this will occur some time in the fall of 2021, so that by the time we get to the early to mid-fall, you can have people feeling safe performing onstage as well as people in the audience”. Once that happens, theaters with good ventilation and proper air filters might not need to place many restrictions for performances by the fall, including venues capacity, except asking their audience members to wear masks, which he suggested could continue to be a norm for some time.

Nandi Bushell has shared a cover of Led Zeppelin‘s ‘Immigrant Song’ to mark Jimmy Page‘s 77th birthday. The 10-year-old drumming sensation played the solo song by looping her drum, bass and guitar parts, to finish before she would have to start singing; seams Robert Plant's vocals are too much for her, for now...

David Bowie’s friends, collaborators, and some of the musicians he inspired performed a tribute to celebrate his 74th birthday, CoS reports. Trent Reznor performed covers of 'Fantastic Voyage' and 'Fashion', Billy Corgan played 'Space Oddity', Duran Duran covered 'Five Years', The Cult’s Ian Astbury tackled 'Lazarus', Bowie’s friend Gary Oldman sang 'I Can’t Read', Slipknot’s Corey Taylor, Foo Fighters’ Taylor Hawkins, and Jane’s Addiction’s Dave Navarro and Chris Chaney covered 'Hang On to Yourself'. Other participants included Macy Gray, Adam Lambert, Boy George, Lzzy Hale, Peter Frampton, Perry Farrell, Gary Barlow, Anna Calvi... Guardian looks back on Bowie's legacy five years after his death, quoting writer Dan Fox - “He was the greatest art student of the 20th century. He never stopped learning, never stopped being curious. I think you can use his work as a model: don’t be afraid to admit ‘I don’t know’, and go and find someone who does”.

Marsha Zazula, who founded Megaforce Records with her husband Jon Zazula in 1982 to release early thrash metal albums, has passed away at age 68, Lambgoat reports. Soon after launching, Megaforce became a seminal heavy metal/thrash label after releasing the first two Metallica albums - 'Kill 'Em All' in 1983 and 'Ride the Lightning' in 1984. They also released classic metal albums by Mercyful Fate, Anthrax, Overkill, Testament, Vio-lence, and more, as well as some outside metal like Bad Brains and Meat Puppets. Megaforce went on to release hundreds of records. UPDATE: Metallica's James Hetfield said “Marsha Z is the Metal Matriarch of the East Coast. She was our mother when I had none. She made great sacrifices for Metallica to grow", Blabberbouth reports.

Taylor Swift jumps back to Top of Billboard 200 chart with 'Evermore' earning 56,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in the week ending Jan. 7, Billboard reports. It's the third week in the lead for 'Evermore', and 51st week on top of Billboard for Swift across all eight of her chart-topping albums. That ties Michael Jackson for the fourth-most weeks at No. 1 in the chart’s 65-year history, only behind The Beatles (a record 132 weeks), Elvis Presley (67), and Garth Brooks (52).

Sarah Neufeld of Arcade Fire has released a new song with her Bell Orchestre project - a post-rock-meats-classical music 'V: Movement'; Ivonne Van Cleef shared 'Paracao Street', ambient lo-fi psychedelia; The Weather Station released a melancholic yet uplifting 'Atlantic'; Virgil Abloh has shared a minimal yet grand collaboration with serpentwithfeet 'Delicate Limbs'; Oxymorrons put a new twist on rap-rock with 'Green Vision'; Aesop Rock and Homeboy Sandman shared an MF Doom tribute song 'Ask Anyone'; Dreamwell shared some hard-hitting screamo with 'Sayaka'.

Rapper Nicki Minaj will pay singer Tracy Chapman $450,000 to settle a copyright dispute over a sample from Chapman's song 'Baby, Can I Hold You Tonight' that Minaj used in her 2018 song 'Sorry', the New York Times reports. The song was based on a sample of the dancehall track 'Sorry' by Jamaican artist Shelly Thunder, and that song, unbeknownst to Minaj, was based on Chapman's 'Baby, Can I Hold You Tonight'. After discovering the connection, Minaj and her record label sought permission to use Chapman's composition, but the singer-songwriter repeatedly refused. Judge sided with the rapper's lawyers, who argued that artists need to be free to sample music while writing and recording, adding that "a ruling uprooting these common practices would limit creativity and stifle innovation within the music industry". Finally, Chapman has accepted Minaj's offer of judgment in the case, and she will receive $450,000 from Minaj. As a result, the two have avoided going to trial.

Ariel Pink has officially been dropped by his longtime label Mexican Summer after the artist attended this week's pro-Trump riots at the U.S. Capitol, Rolling Stone reports. Ariel Pink has previously been accused of both sexist and racist behaviour. In similar news, Jon Schaffer, guitarist and leader of Florida metal band Iced Earth is being sought by the police for storming into the Capitol building during the same pro-Trump riots, Blabbermouth reports.

Metal Sucks presents the four biggest trash-metal bands from China, a genre that has grown roots in the Far East in the last 25 years. The four horsemen are: Ancestor, a Beijing band comparable to early Sepultura; Punisher from Jinzhou add some speed-metal to their trash; Suffocated are veterans of the scene, who already played outside of China and its nearest neighborhood; Tumour Boy come from Beijing and deal with ecology issues. Also, check out Metal Sucks' five most brutal metal bands in China.

Sound Field presents Jersey club, a new style of dance music created by Black DJs from New Jersey which has recently gone viral online across YouTube, Instagram, and Tik Tok. The production of it used to be dominated by men, but today the women of New Jersey are helping to push this genre to new heights. Watch the video about the new trend below.

On January 1, 2021, Spotify enacted a massive, global takedown of music from thousands of independent artists. Some 750,000 songs were removed, the vast majority of which appear to have used Distrokid for distribution - Music Think Tank reports. Spotify is alleging artificial or “fraudulent streams”, and it appears Spotify's moves are targeted at any independent artist who used a third party playlist or independent marketing service to promote their music.

Under the Brexit deal, British musicians planning to play in Europe will now have to secure work permits for each individual country on a tour and face further red tape when it comes to transporting equipment and crew - Guardian reports about worries of industry figures and artists after the UK has finally divorced from the EU. Work permits were going to be a particular problem when touring with larger classical groups since there could be dozens of musicians needing to get a work permit. UK artists have already been calling for the government to possibly renegotiate a free culture work permit for UK performers in the EU.

English rapper Pa Salieu has been identified as Britain's most exciting musical talent this year by the BBC thanks to "his adventurous, infectious tracks with hard-hitting lyrics about life and death on the 'frontline' in Coventry". Previous winners of the "BBC Sound of" list include Adele, Ellie Goulding and Michael Kiwanuka. He shared a life lesson he learned in COV - "The thing that matters is what you're going to do with it - let it eat you up, or rise above it? Getting shot is the same as getting fired from your job. What are you going to do with it? Rise up, or what? That's life. Everything is a lesson".

Neil Young has sold 50 percent of the worldwide copyright and income interests in his 1,180 song catalogue to the U.K. investment firm Hipgnosis Songs, Variety reports. This deal includes both 50% of the publisher's share and 50% of the writer’s share in Young’s music, spanning his work with Buffalo Springfield, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young and Crazy Horse, in addition to the singer/songwriter’s full solo catalog. Industry experts Music Business Worldwide consulted suggest that the deal would have cost Hipgnosis in the region of $150m. Hipgnosis's Merck Mercuriadis told Rolling Stone "there will never be a ‘Burger of Gold’", since Young has never licensed his music for commercials.

Rapper and producer Dr. Dre, one of hip-hop's most successful, influential, and richest stars, is being treated in hospital after suffering a brain aneurysm, Billboard reports. Meanwhile, four men were reportedly arrested for trying to burglarize Dre's home after the news broke that he was in the ICU, TMZ reports.

Iranian-Dutch singer and producer Sevdaliza performed four tracks on the latest home edition of NPR's Tiny Desk Concert series from Amsterdam bookstore MENDO. Backed by a quartet of musicians, she kicked the performance off with a rendition of her 2017 track 'Human', and continued with 'Dormant', 'All Rivers at Once', and 'Gole Bi Goldoon', all from last year's acclaimed album 'Shabrang'.

Madlib is joined by Four Tet on the uplifting track 'Hopprock'; a sad story - after Justin Townes Earle died last year, his father Steve Earle recorded an album of his son's songs, and one of his own, 'Last Words', about their last conversation they had the night the younger Americana singer-songwriter died of an accidental overdose; emo-hardcore band Holy Figures released an EP about drugs, with songs named after women, melodic and powerful 'Lucille' stands out among them; Open Mike Eagle recorded a freestyle after hearing about MF Doom's passing, titled simply 'for DOOM'.

Phoebe Bridgers, Fleet Foxes, Billie Eilish, Beastie Boys, Wilco, Brittany Howard, Tenacious D, Mavis Staples, My Morning Jacket, Jon Batiste, and the Decemberists are among artists who created customized Yeti coolers for an auction benefitting the Crew Nation relief fund. The cooler company will make its own donation matching all proceeds up to $100,000, Rolling Stone reports. Handsomely decorated coolers are mostly stuffed with merch. The price range is $250 to $3,333.

Cardi B took to social media to fire back at trolls criticizing her for not letting her two-year-old daughter Kulture listen to 'WAP', which all started when certain Twitter users responded to a viral video of the rapper turning her No. 1 hit off when the toddler entered the room. "So ya daughter cant listen to it but everybody else’s daughter can?" one wrote. Cardi B answered - "I don’t make music for kids I make music for adults. Parents are responsible on what their children listen too or see…I’m a very sexual person but not around my child just like every other parent should be", ET Canada reports.

Hipgnosis Songs has struck a big-money deal to acquire Jimmy Iovine’s worldwide producer royalties across 259 recordings, which includes U2, Bruce Springsteen, John Lennon, Eminem, Simple Minds... Iovine rose to prominence as an engineer in the 1970s, working with John Lennon ('Walls & Bridges', 'Rock & Roll'), Bruce Springsteen ('Born To Run', 'Darkness On The Edge Of Town'), Patti Smith ('Easter' and its single 'Because The Night'), Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers (3 times platinum 'Damn The Torpedoes'). In the 1980s Iovine produced a run of blockbuster albums for Dire Straits, Stevie Nicks, U2, Simple Minds, and The Pretenders, Variety reports.

Alexi Laiho, the frontman and the guitarist of Finnish metal band Children of Bodom, died last week at home in Finland at the age of 41. Laiho, a guitar virtuoso who also played in Bodom After Midnight, Sinergy, Warmen, Kylähullut, and other groups, had suffered from long-term health issues. Numerous musicians have paid tribute to Laiho, according to Blabbermouth. In its obituary, Guardian writes that "Laiho remains a ray of light in the dank nihilism of death metal. His vigour and charisma were rare gifts, but fully exploited, creating a joyous twist on one of heavy music’s most macabre styles".

The Black Keys share previously unreleased instrumental song 'Black Mud Part II' from the 'Brothers' era; psychedelic screamo/metal band Portrayal of Guilt share '2020 Will Burn In Hell Forever'; 'i-38' is live funk rap by 38 Spesh; Napalm Death's Shane Embury releases an ambient industrial song 'Omisoka' with his band Dark Sky Burial; R.A.P. Ferreira shares a psychedelic new album with 'Sips of Ripple Wine (No Stemware)' included.