Big Thief

Big Thief touch into death and love on ‘Change’, although simply and directly; Robert Glasper does his jazz/hip-hop/r’n’b thing on ‘Shine’; Dean Wareham sends a strong and simple message about loss on ‘As Much As It Was Worth’ - “it hurts, just as much as it was worth”; Sonically, Stick in the Wheel are delicate and gentle combining electronics and folk, emotionally, on ‘The Cuckoo’ they’re quite heavy.

The song count
October 06, 2021

Alewya makes a turn with 'Play'

London model-turned-singer Alewya started with club music, before making a U-turn into live jazzy guitar music in the past year. Now she's back on the clubby track. Her new song 'Play' combines moody disco and afro-beat with a catchy melody on top.

Music is a male noun
October 06, 2021

Women in UK music industry earn 25% less than men

Sony Music and Warner Music published their UK gender pay gap reports, revealing a mean average gender pay gap in 2020 (as of April 5, 2019) of 26.0% and 31.5% at the two companies, respectively, Music Business Worldwide reports. It's slowly closing, but it's still a crevasse - last year it was 29.1% at Universal Music, 20.9% at Sony Music and 38.7% at Warner Music. The mean average ‘gender pay gap’ reflects what the average female employee earns versus the average male employee at each company.

Peace, love and understanding (of Korean)
October 06, 2021

BTS’ anti-bullying campaign raised $3.6 million

K-pop icons BTS have raised an impressive $3.6 million after teaming up with UNICEF four years ago to create an anti-bullying campaign called Love Myself, NME reports. Launched in November 2017, the Love Myself campaign sends a powerful anti-bullying message, promoting self-love among children and young people across the world. In addition to the $3.6 million raised, the campaign has also generated significant interest online, with almost five million tweets mentioning the initiative, as well as over 50 million engagements.

I now believe he can fly
October 06, 2021

YouTube deletes R. Kelly's channels

YouTube has taken down R. Kelly's video channels “in accordance with creator responsibility guidelines” on the social network, Reuters reports. Channel owners convicted of egregious crime may be barred if the content is closely related to the crime, making Kelly liable on the basis that he used his fame and power to establish his racketeering enterprise. R. Kelly songs uploaded by other channels, however, do not violate the creator responsibility guidelines, and his songs and albums remain available on YouTube.

Simply the best retirement fund
October 06, 2021

BMG buys Tina Turner back catalog in biggest deal for the company

Tina Turner has sold the rights to her music catalogue - share of her recordings, her music publishing writer’s share, neighboring rights and name, image, and likeness - to BMG, in the biggest single-artist rights acquisition for the German company. MBW believes that this acquisition is in the $50 million-and-above category.

Pop stars Shakira, Elton John, Ringo Starr, and Julio Iglesias were named in a new leak of private financial documents, known as the Pandora Papers, published over the weekend by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, offering a glimpse at the tangled web of offshore accounting and alleged tax avoidance schemes used by some of the world’s wealthiest and most powerful people. None of the above were accused of any wrongdoing or of violating any laws.

Food for thought
October 03, 2021

Science: Does music to concentrate really work?

The effect of background music on concentration largely depends on a person’s personality and taste, but work-appropriate music tends to share a few general qualities - Maria A.G. Witek, a professor in the Department of Music at Birmingham University, states in a new study she co-authored. The best kind of music to listen to while working should have no vocals, Witek says, because lyrics tend to be distracting. The music should also be slow, repetitive, and soft. Tram Nguyen, a member of the Cambridge Brain Sciences Team, recently also found some evidence that low-tempo songs may benefit the regions of the brain responsible for memory and completing tasks. Elemental reports on the science of music to work to.

Final Lee Roth
October 03, 2021

David Lee Roth retires from music

"I am throwing in the shoes. I'm retiring" - David Lee Roth, the original lead singer of Van Halen, has sad announcing his retirement in an interview with the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Roth's announcement comes just shy of a year after Eddie Van Halen, the band's lead guitarist, died of cancer. Roth referenced his friend's death, saying he had been thinking about "the departure of my beloved classmate. I am encouraged and compelled to really come to grips with how short time is, and my time is probably even shorter".

Back in system
October 03, 2021

LCD Soundsystem return with 20 shows

LCD Soundsystem have announced a 20-date residency at Brooklyn Steel, marking their first live shows in more than three years, Rolling Stone reports. The run of shows takes place between November 23rd and December 21st. It was only a few months ago that LCD Soundsystem leader James Murphy said the band was on a “full hiatus”.

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