Cologne's 20,000-capacity Lanxess Arena has been reconfigured to allow for live audience events while social distance rules are still in place, Pollstar reports. The Arena will feature so-called Cubes, boxes with four seats, with each box separated from the other by 1.5 meters. 1,400 people will be allowed inside the 20,000 capacity building. In Paris, 300 guests will have the opportunity to buy tickets for an extravagant picnic at the Hippodrome PraisLongchamp, where the Lollapalooza Paris festival usually takes place. Ticket holders will have access to a menu for two with a bottle of champagne Veuve Clicquot, goodies by the fashion brand Balmain, and a DJ set/concert. In Frankfurt, shopping mall MyZeil was to be transformed into a club with five floors, with guests allowed to mingle while adhering to the correct distances.

Lil Baby is opening this week’s Billboard 200 at No. 1 for a fifth non-consecutive week, which makes his 'My Turn' the longest-charting album of 2020 so far, Billboard reports. The project earned a total of 70,000 equivalent album units this week to retain its spot for the fourth straight week.

Idles released a powerful remix of Sex Swing's 'Passover', minimalist and atmospheric, a new song; 'A New Kind of Sky' is timeless psych-folk by the Hanging Stars; Rider Shafique and The Bug collaborate on dark industrial hip-hop 'Burn'; Porridge Radio find a different angle to themselves on Lala Lala collaboration 'Good For You'; industrial trap meets grindcore on Luma's 'Lionsblood', it sounds strange and it is strange; Manonmars' 'Pidgeon' is psychedelic hip hop gem; Monte's 'Mirla' is the sound of bird dying.

Virgin Money Unity Arena features 500 individual viewing platforms for each household of ticket-holders overlooking an outdoor stage, allowing for a maximum of 2,500 attendees. According to Evening Standard, each platform is spaced two metres apart from the next. It is to be installed at Newcastle Racecourse in Gosforth Park, and it will open from August until mid-September.

Linkin Park's Mike Shinoda has made his new album 'Dropped Frames, Vol. 1' entirely on Twitch, with the album featuring 12 tracks that were all created with input from fans, Spin reports. Viewers participated in the creation of these songs by communicating through live chats and giving feedback. As fans continued to give feedback, they earned points called “ShinodaBucks” which they could spend on various musical genres including mariachi, “Bollywood hip hop” and more. Shinoda would then mash all of the selected genres together during the streams to form one track. The album’s opening track 'Open Door' is the only song to feature vocals.

Jason Isbell has a great new album out, and he might be at the start of something new and big. So, next week (July 7, Tuesday), he'll stage a $100-per-ticket interactive livestream in which he and up to 150 fans will be able to watch each other, Tennessean reports. A company called Topeka is providing the tech. A taped replay is scheduled for July 23 for $25.

The average gender pay gap as of April 5, 2019 at Sony Music UK was 26.0%, at Warner Music UK it was 31.5%, at Spotify UK it was 9.9%, and at Live Nation UK it was 44.5%, Music Business Worldwide reports. That's bad news, but still, it's less bad than in previous years. In 2017, the average gender pay gap across all three companies was 33.8% – with 29.8% at Universal, 22.7% at Sony and 49% at Warner.

After a 13-week run, Radiohead have concluded their quarantine concert series with a recording of July 4th, 1997 performance at Les Eurockéennes in Belfort, France, in support of the band’s 'OK Computer'. The 12 previous installments in the band’s quarantine series — including festival sets at Coachella and Bonnaroo as well as In Rainbows From the Basement and The King of Limbs From the Basement — are collected in a YouTube playlist.

Radiohead, Nick Cave, The Rolling Stones, Coldplay, PJ Harvey, Johnny Marr, Dizzee Rascal, Primal Scream, Paul McCartney, Dua Lipa, The Cure, are among the huge list of over 1.500 artists who have signed an open letter to the UK government for the #LetTheMusicPlay campaign – demanding immediate action to prevent “catastrophic damage” to the music industry in the wake of the coronavirus lockdown, NME reports. The Music Venue Trust has penned a letter signed by over 560 of their venues calling for a £50 million cash injection to save the “world-beating £5.2billion per year music industry”, allowing these spaces to “hibernate” until October and prevent their permanent closure. If the artists were to add the same amount - which would cost them £30,00 each - those venues would have music easier period ahead of them, right?

"When I was a kid, someone hung a noose in my family's garage... On June 6 of this year, there was a Black Lives Matter rally and march in that same town that drew over 1,000 people" - Tom Morello explained the inspiration behind his new song 'Stand Up', which he wrote after that rally, it features Imagine Dragons singer Dan Reynolds, Shea Diamond and the Bloody Beetroots; 'Into Strangeness' by Fear of Men is tense indie rock with a touch of sax; 'Time To Walk Away' is a lovely come-back song by the underappreciated Washed Out; Sasami made a psych-folk cover of System of a Down's 'Toxicity' - to say it's cool is an understatement; 'This is What You Did' by This is the Kit is a relaxed panic attack song; piano-heavy 'River Dreams' by Beverly Glenn-Copeland is atmospheric and rich.

Comedy Central is reviving the beloved 'Beavis and Butt-Head' series for two seasons plus additional spinoffs and specials, Vulture reports. A “reimagined” 'Beavis and Butt-Head' comes as Comedy Central mounts a major expansion to build on the long-running success of 'South Park' by increasing its adult animation output. 'Beavis and Butt-Head', about two metal-head couch-potatoes talking about music videos, was a pop-culture juggernaut during its original run on MTV from 1993 to 1997. It was last revived for one season back in 2011.

Bay Area rapper Young Curt (27) - born Curtis Denton Jr. - lost his life in a car accident this week, KTVU reports. The accident, "a rollover crash”, happened in Contra Costa County, California early Monday morning. All Hip Hop sums up all the higher profile tragedies that hit hip-hop this year: rapper Pop Smoke was murdered; Lexii Alijai and Chynna Rogers, two beautiful starlets in the twenties, died of alleged accidental drug overdoses; Jordan Groggs of the Injury Reserve, has died aged 32; 5th Ward Webbie, Tre Koast, Dee Dave, Big Booda, Nick Blixky, Mac P Dawg, Kj Ball, and just the other day, Huey add to the dark list.

Jordan Groggs, a member of the Phoenix rap group Injury Reserve, has died aged 32. Last year the experimental rap trio released their debut album, compared to such greats as Death Grips and Run The Jewels.

Resident Advisor reports on specific rules on nightclubs reopening, as the COVID-epidemic is weakening in parts of the world: China has cautiously restarted its nightlife; South Korea has shut down its club due to a recent spike of COVID-19 infections in the country connected to the clubs; Switzerland has increased the maximum number of people allowed to attend indoor public gatherings from 300 to 1,000 with no social distancing; in Australia, nightclubs could be allowed to open as early as August if community transmission rates are kept low, although a four-square-metre-per-person rule to allow for social distancing is likely to be enforced; New Zealand has lifted all COVID-19 restrictions, aside from international border controls; Bars and nightclubs in Iceland opened their doors as the government eased lockdown rules.

On June 19 - or Juneteenth, the commemoration of the end of slavery in the United States - Die Jim Crow, the first nonprofit record label for formerly or currently incarcerated musicians in America, released its first full-length album, Shirelle’s 'Assata Troi'. Shirelle, 32, was incarcerated twice, but now she holds the position of deputy director of Die Jim Crow, trying to look back on her life so far - “this album really is about coming of age, but not of age 21, more like of age 28, where you’re just starting to realize certain things”, as she's told the LA Times. Die Jim Crow was founded in 2013 by Fury Young, an artist and activist, who took to Kickstarter to raise funds for a one-off record featuring incarcerated artists, generating nearly $20,000.

American composer Johnny Mandel, the Oscar- and Grammy-winning songwriter of 'The Shadow of Your Smile', 'Emily' and the theme from 'M*A*S*H', has died aged 94. Mandel is considered one of the finest arrangers of the second half of the 20th century, providing elegant orchestral charts for Frank Sinatra, Peggy Lee, Barbra Streisand, Michael Jackson, Tony Bennett, Natalie Cole, Hoagy Carmichael, and others.

opMatters had made a very good selection of 50 best albums released in the first half of the year. There's albums that received wide critical acclaim, like the latest by Fiona Apple, Bob Dylan and Perfume Genius, and some that were less talked about like Amnesia Scanner, Drab City, Yves Tumor etc. To round up the review of the first six months of this year, Pitchfork made a selection of the best overlooked albums released this spring.

This is the perfect time to focus on outdoor or semi-outdoor events where a “concentrated plume of droplets” is less likely to hit you, Gabriel Scally, honorary professor of public health at the University of Bristol, told the Guardian about the future of shows, music or otherwise. The issue that is going to matter a lot is - how well is the venue ventilated, which spells trouble for the punk bands from the basement circuit. Nightclubs have an even lower chance of returning soon, not until there’s a vaccine - with the exception of New Zealand where they’ve basically eradicated the virus - or unless everybody dances in a certain direction!?! Daisy Fancourt, associate professor of psychobiology and epidemiology at University College London points to a new way of thinking: “Our focus shouldn’t be on getting back to normal, but on finding a way to adapt".

Country singer Chase Rice staged a large concert in Tennessee last weekend with zero social distancing and not one face mask in sight. In the 10,000 capacity venue about 1,000 people turned out for the concert, and all attendees were given temperature checks, although organizers were unable to enforce physical distancing during the actual concert, TMZ reports. A similar case involved American Vice President Mike Pence, the leader of the administration’s own coronavirus task force. On Sunday, Pence attended a near-capacity, indoor event at the First Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas with 2,200 attendees, and a 100-person choir singing without face masks, CNN reports.

The United States Postal Service is releasing a series of Forever Stamps on July 1, recognizing the timeless impact hip-hop has made on a global scale. Photographs by Cade Martin will be the focal point of these special release stamps, depicting emceeing, breakdancing, deejaying and graffiti art. Each stamp features the words “Forever”, “USA", “Hip Hop”.

Big winners at the 2020 BET Awards included Migos (Best Group), Lizzo (Best Female R&B/Pop Artist), Megan Thee Stallion (Best Female Hip Hop Artist), DaBaby (Best Male Hip-Hop Artist), Roddy Ricch was named Best New Artis while his album 'Please Excuse Me For Being Antisocial' won Album of the Year, and Beyonce’s 'Brown Skin Girl' (HER Award). Chris Brown won Best Male R&B/Pop Artist and Best Collaboration ('No Guidance' featuring Drake), and DJ Khaled won Video Of The Year for 'Higher' featuring Nipsey Hussle and John Legend. Check out the full list of nominees and winners at Deadline. Public Enemy joined forces with Nas, The Roots’ Questlove and Black Thought, YG, and Rapsody for a special performance of 'Fight the Power' to kick off the 2020 BET Award - watch here, and Alicia Keys gave a powerful performance of 'Perfect Way to Die'.

Lil Baby's 'My Turn' sits in the top spot of the Billboard 200 for the fourth week of 2020, with 70,000 in sales, Billboard reports. In the runner-up spot is Bob Dylan's 'Rough and Rowdy Ways', which scored him the highest spot that he's gotten to in more than a decade; it sold in 53,000 equivalent albums, most of which came from traditional album sales. Dylan has now become the first artist with a US Top 40 album in every decade since the 1960s. Teyana Taylor achieves her first top 10 album, as 'The Album' bows at No. 8 with 32,000 equivalent album units earned.

Sam Valdez released her new single, a shoegaze-folk beauty 'Clean'; Flaming Lips announced their new album with big words in a laid back song 'My Religion is You'; with Mourning [A] BLKstar everything is seemingly unusual - the name and the dark gospel genre - whereas music is actually deep and warm; Pearl Jam bassist Jeff Ament struggles with vivid dreams and helplessness in 'The Divine Perfume'; Anteloper play modern jazz + electronica which makes for hypnotic 'Bubble Under'; Gordi's 'Sandwiches' is an elegiac love song; an impressive line-up of Tony Allen, Shabaka Hutchings, Dele Sosimi, Tamar Osborn, Miles James, Ed ‘Tenderlonious’ Cawthorne, Afla Sackey and Antibalas on Keleketla's upbeat and harmonious 'International Love Affair'.

Kid Cudi has released a teaser of the new CGI animated series 'Kids See Ghosts', based upon his 2018 collaborative album with Kanye West., Complex reports A new trailer features the iconic Kanye West bear, voiced by West himself, and another character, Kid Fox, voiced by Cudi. It's directed by Takashi Murakami, and Cudi promises it's “coming soon.

COVID-19 is not a sexually transmitted disease, but it hampers all forms of human contact and is cruelly depriving. This is a moment for everyone, whatever their sexual orientation, to acknowledge how diminished life is when touch, closeness and affection is risky and unsafe, whether due to oppression or infection - Ludvig-van.com writes in a spot-on introduction of the article about the homosexuality of Leonard Bernstein and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.

“We wanted to make it more about the music. Not about what anybody knows less or knows more. Just make something that feels good to the heart” - saxophonist and producer Terrace Martin told the Fader about Dinner Party, a new supergroup he shares with pianist Robert Glasper, producer 9th Wonder, saxophonist Kamasi Washington, and The Chicago-based singer Phoelix as an added member. They've known each other for years - Martin and Washington attended high school together; Martin and Glasper attended jazz camp together at age 16; Washington and Glasper used to sit in with each other at The Piano Bar in L.A. Dinner Party’s self-titled debut spotlights jazz and hip-hop’s shared history of protest, and it is due out July 10th.

"It was a blast. It's probably the most fun I've had on a project in a long time" - Savan Kotecha, collaborator to Ariana Grande, Demi Lovato and Ellie Goulding, told BBC about his latest project, Netflix's new comedy 'Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga', which celebrates the world's largest live music event. Director David Dobkin envisioned the film’s songs walking the fine line between satire and homage - “It’s okay if it’s funny, but it has to be really good music. It has to still be great and just kitschy enough to be Eurovision, because that’s part of what’s fun about Eurovision". Kotecha was brought in to oversee every aspect of the film's music - check out the songs on Variety.

Portugal's government announced restrictions on several areas of Greater Lisbon from 1 July, after reports of parties that attracted as many as 1,000 revellers. In Paris, the police clashed with the thousands who thronged to Paris’s Canal Saint-Martin and Marais district for the annual Fête de la Musique. In Berlin, more than 100 officers broke up a demonstration that turned into a spontaneous, 3,000-person party. In England, the police are grappling with a proliferation of illegal parties. In Spain, the authorities slapped a €10,400 fine on Belgium’s Prince Joachim after the royal breached the country’s quarantine rules to attend a party in southern Spain; he later tested positive for the virus. Guardian suggests these parties are to blame for the surge in new Covid-19 cases in the last two weeks.

Kanye West has partnered with Gap to launch a clothing line called Yeezy Gap where the musician will act as creative director, designing “modern, elevated basics for men, women and kids at accessible price points”. According to the New York Times, Yeezy Gap will arrive in stores in the first half of 2021, and Gap hopes the new line will be generating $1 billion in annual sales within five years.

K-pop girl band Blackpink has set a new record for the biggest music video premiere on YouTube with a total of 1.65 million fans tuning in for the unveiling of their new song 'How You Like That'. They broke a record set by fellow K-pop stars BTS in February, Soompi reports. Last year, the Blackpink became the first K-pop group to have a video reach a billion views on YouTube.