Pitchfork made a selection of 11 best new music books. Among them: 'A Little Devil in America: Notes in Praise of Black Performance' by Hanif Abdurraqib because of "language that evokes possibility; memoir that is both vulnerable and instructive; cultural analysis that deftly rejects linear historicizing; unlikely connections that tilt a reader’s understanding of the world"; 'Crying in H Mart', the debut book from Japanese Breakfast’s Michelle Zauner - "a gutting music memoir disguised as literary mukbang"; 'In Defense of Ska' by Aaron Carner "is a lovingly written defense of a vibrant, diverse musical underground that stayed afloat against all odds".

Adele had a simple request when it came to her new album, ’30’: listen to the songs in the order she presented them. The British superstar’s wish was heard by Spotify when the music streaming giant agreed to remove its default shuffle feature which plays songs in random order, NPR reports. It expanded beyond Adele - a quick review by Gizmodo of other artists’ albums (Ed Sheeran, BTS, Blackpink, Taylor Swift) on the platform also found that the shuffle option was gone and that albums were played in order by default. The shuffle option could however be activated in the platform player.

Alewya shares a hard-hitting reggae song ‘Dragon’ of her new EP; Mitski goes cold & clubby on 'The Only Heartbreaker'; Nils Frame shares a beautiful lullaby ‘Late’; Robert Plant & Alison Krauss have a new album out, with the Calexico cover ‘Quattro (World Drifts In)’ serving as a lovely and warm opening to it.

Spotify has announced it will make a new Lyrics feature available to all global users, both Free and Premium, across platforms, The Verge reports. The feature is powered by lyrics provider Musixmatch. Lyrics will be available across platforms from the “Now Playing” view or bar, depending on the platform. On mobile, users can swipe up from the “Now Playing” screen to see the track’s lyrics scroll by in real time as the song is playing. On the desktop app, you can click the microphone icon from the “Now Playing” bar instead. And on the Spotify TV app, you’ll navigate to the top-right corner of the “Now Playing” view to enable Lyrics from the lyrics button.

Camilo took home three awards for three separate songs at last night's Latin Grammys, as well as an award for Best Pop Vocal Album, Grammy.com reports. Juan Luis Guerra also took home four awards, including one for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album. Rubén Blades came away with some of the most important awards of the night, including Album of the Year for 'Salswing!' and Person of the Year. Song of the Year went to 'Patria y Vida' by Cuban conglomerate Yotuel, Gente De Zona, Descemer Bueno, Maykel Osorbo & El Funky; an unusual choice, given the Latin Recording Academy's hesitance to promote explicitly political content. CNN brings photos from the ceremony.

Celebrated rock photographer Mick Rock, once known as "The Man Who Shot the Seventies", has dies aged 72, NME reports. He worked as David Bowie's official photographer during Bowie's glam-rock years, and also shot Ozzy Osbourne, Pink Floyd and their former singer Syd Barrett, T-Rex's Marc Bolan and the Sex Pistols. Rock's famous album covers included a shot of Queen with their faces lit up against a black background for 'Queen II'; the stark black-and-white photo for Reed's Transformer'; and a shirtless Iggy Pop for The Stooges' 'Raw Power'.

"71% of musicians polled in the Help Musicians survey said they suffered from anxiety, 69% said they battled depression, 57% said they went untreated, and 53% said they had a hard time finding the right treatment.  In response to a rash of suicides by musicians and the pandemic’s crushing blow to many an artist’s livelihood, new organizations and efforts within the music community have begun to step forward" - Please Kill Me steps into the sensitive issue of mental health in punk and metal music.

Indie rap star Young Dolph was shot and killed Wednesday in his hometown of Memphis while buying cookies, when a gunman drove up and shot him through the window, the New York Times reports. He was 36 years old. Stereogum insists "Dolph always rapped in a booming, authoritative, no-nonsense style. He was slick and funny, and he recalled earlier generations of street-rap".

TIDAL is planning to launch a user-centric royalties system for a new $19.99 HiFi Plus membership option, Music Business Worldwide reports. Starting in 2022, the music streaming service is planning to adopt what it calls a 'Fan-centered royalties' approach where royalties attributed to HiFi Plus subscribers will be paid based on their individual streaming activity as opposed to the industry-standard method of aggregating streams and paying out to artists from a pool at the end of a payment period. TIDAL has also launched monthly direct-to-artist payments, which will see a percentage of HiFi Plus subscribers' membership fees directed towards their top streamed artist. TIDAL was acquired by Jack Dorsey's fintech firm Square earlier this year for over $300 million.

Tom Morello, Mannequin Pussy, Speedy Ortiz, Bikini Kill’s Kathleen Hanna, Jeff Rosenstock, Anjimile are among 200 artists who signed off on an open letter against the palm-scanning technology from Amazon for entry to venues. Critics worry implementing palm scanners at shows comes with serious privacy and safety concerns for concertgoers. Rolling Stone reports on the issue.