EU member states are about to adopt legislation implementing the EU Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market, which includes Article 17 – a section devoted to increasing the obligations of user-generated content platforms and other online service providers with respect to copyrighted content uploaded by their users, MBW announces and explains. To avoid liability, platforms have to make "best efforts" to either license copyrighted videos and songs in their users’ uploads, or take down infringing content and make sure that the song, video, or other creative work is not infringed upon again.

"If you are going to be reactionary about anything in music... let it be the song. There is something thrilling about a collective that exalts the song over the band, the genre, the album... If nothing else, the focus on the song is a cure for musical boredom, and isn’t boredom the most reactionary force of all?" - The Quietus writes presenting Chaos Rising. The band is a loose-knit collective of musicians, all female, playing metal, releasing a new original song and video every month. The band members come from France, Argentina, Iran, Switzerland, North America, Russia, and Australia.

The Kid LAROI has become the first Australian rapper to reach No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with his 'F*ck Love' album, over a year after it was originally released, Billboard reports. 'F**k Love' surges from No. 26 to No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart for its first week atop the list, following multiple reissues that added additional tracks to the project. The set earned 85,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in the week ending July 29. At 17 years old, he’s also the youngest artist to top the chart this decade.

The highpoint of Dave’s new album is a 9-minute epic ‘Heart Attack’ which in the second half has him rapping without a beat - powerful stuff; M.I.C shares a dark grime piece ‘K*rn’ featuring JME, Nammy Was and Jawnino; Badge Epoch share a funk-rock psychedelia ‘Fruit Cocktail In Heavy Syrup’; Ólafur Arnalds goes deeply melancholic on - ‘Saudade’ from the ‘When We Are Born’ soundtrack.

In the three months to the end of June 2021 (Q2), YouTube generated a whopping $7.002 billion from advertising alone – equivalent to approximately $77 million a day, or $3.2 million every hour, Music Business Worldwide reports. The rise is astonishing - YouTube’s Q2 2021 ad revenue was up by 83.7% on the equivalent figure from 2020. In the six months to the end of June this year, the platform generated $13.007 billion in ad revenues, almost double what YouTube generated in the equivalent six months of 2020 ($7.850 billion). These numbers don’t include subscription revenue on YouTube generated by those customers paying for YouTube Music and YouTube Premium each month. Looking back, the numbers impress even more - YouTube rode out 2020 having generated some $19.77 billion from ads in the year – actually up 30.5% on the equivalent annual figure from 2019.

Spotify's Premium Subscriber base grew to 165 million in the second quarter of 2021, which was up 20% year-on-year. The company’s total global monthly active users grew 22% year-on-year to 365 million in Q2 2021. Spotify’s Premium subscriber growth translated into revenue of €2.056 billion in Q2. That's big numbers, there are some small numbers, on which everything depends really - the firm’s average monthly revenue per subscriber landed at €4.29 in Q2. Music Business Worldwide takes a closer look at the numbers.

Apart from their societal influence, K-pop septet is a major money-maker in their country. According to the Korea Culture And Tourism Institute, BTS is bringing an estimated 5 billion dollars to the South Korean economy each year. The group is fueling interests in all things Korean - tourism, language, films, television, fashion, and food. NPR discusses BTS' influence in the latest podcast.

Seventy percent of India’s musicians practice folk, but they earn only 2% of the industry’s revenues. Indian nonprofit Anahad Foundation stepped in to help them, bringing the music of unsung folk artists to the urban mainstream. Anahad provides them with free residencies with established bands, and also helps artists create a digital portfolio on their website, complete with new music videos, and teaches them entrepreneurial skills. Today, the site lists groups that include more than 1,000 artists. Christian Science Monitor reports on the issue.

"The practise of ticket touting is once again an issue for the dance music industry — this summer, tickets are on sale for more than 10 times their original price on reselling sites like Viagogo" - DJ Mag points out, and investigates how can promoters, venues and artists create meaningful change on this issue.

Drums really can be used to convey speech - an award-winning new study published in the journal Frontiers in Communication shows. It proved Dùndún drumming, an oral tradition among the Yorùbá peoples of Western Africa which involves a special type of drum that, when used properly, can mimic the unique patterns and sounds of Yorùbá speech. So close is the resemblance that the instrument is sometimes referred to as the “talking drum”, Cosmos Magazine reports.