Travel to, and transit through, Europe is difficult for Africans. The top three countries with the highest Schengen visa rejection rates are from the continent: Guinea-Bissau had 53% of its applications rejected, Senegal 52% and Nigeria 51% - Guardian looks into the problem of African musicians trying to play in Europe. To get a Schengen visa, a host of documents is required, and can include bank statements, return flights, addresses while abroad, travel insurance policies, and the threshold is getting higher and higher.

Beyoncé headlined the private concert in Dubai to mark the opening of the luxury hotel Atlantis The Royal last weekend, which was her first full concert in more than four years, BBC reports. Beyoncé reportedly received $24m for her performance. She performed 19 songs, but the show did not contain any material from Beyoncé’s 2022 album 'Renaissance', which is purported to be a love letter to Black and queer dance music pioneers and communities. Homosexuality is illegal in the United Arab Emirates and considered a crime punishable by death.

Primary Wave Music has acquired the music rights of Robby Krieger and the late Ray Manzarek of the legendary US rock band, The Doors, Variety reports. Primary Wave says that the “monumental acquisition” includes Robby Krieger and the estate of Ray Manzarek’s interests in The Doors’ music publishing catalog, recordings, trademarks, and merchandise rights and income, among other things. Warner Music Group has struck what it calls a “milestone deal” with legendary British progressive rock band YES. The deal sees Warner acquire the recorded music rights and income streams from the band’s “complete” Atlantic Records era catalog (Variety).

Pitchfork has chosen 25 artists they’re "keeping a keen eye on this year... from twisted R&B auteur Liv.e to club rap regenerator Bandmanrill to indie rock realists Wednesday". Some are quite new in music like Akai Solo, and Grace Ives, a few have been around for a while but this year just might be the one for them, like Yasmin Williams, and Soul Glo.

Spotify has announced today (January 23) that it is in the process of reducing its employee base by “about 6% across the company”. At the end of Q3 2022, Spotify employed 9,808 full-time employees globally - six percent of 9,808 is 588, the MBW reports. In the last six months, music and tech companies have been hit with a series of layoffs. SoundCloud started reducing its global workforce by approximately 20%. BMI will lay off 10% of its workforce. Alphabet is letting 12.000 workers go, Microsoft 10,000, Amazon is cutting its workforce by 18,000...

Yis Kid is a London-based photographer with an interesting new project Faceless Techno - photos of clubbers shot from the shoulders down. “People who go to a techno party aren’t the type of people who want a portrait photo,” he explains.​“Usually, most people in the techno scene prefer to remain anonymous. It makes them feel more comfortable to fully express themselves in terms of aesthetics, and be more playful with their identity.” The Face talked to the artist.

Edward Avedisian played with the Boston Pops for 35 years and the Boston Ballet Orchestra for 43 seasons, performing with Aerosmith, Whitney Houston, Tony Bennett, Luciano Pavarotti, Leontyne Price, and Big Bird from Sesame Street over the years. He earned a modest salary, however, last year he has donated $100 million to he to Boston University. Unbeknownst to many, Avedisian found stunning success through his personal investments, turning the modest salary of a musician into a fortune. He was self-taught as an investor, reading books and Investor’s Business Daily, and regularly watching CNBC and Bloomberg for tips. Avedisian was a buy-and-hold investor, focusing on initial public offerings (IPOs) and taking a lot of risk by buying on margin. His secret was - “success is the intersection of opportunity and preparation”. Avedisian died late last year. Boston University Today has the story.

Singer, producer, and multi-instrumentalist Art School Girlfriend has shared her new single 'A Place To Lie'. Clunk Magazine describes the song beautifully: "This whimsical and mysterious track feels like real soul searching piece, with a fast paced synth backing that feels as though Art School Girlfriend, aka Polly Mackey, is flicking through your mind and surfacig any stresses currently pressuring you. Her floating melodies, that have defined her previous work, flow graciously and guides the pace of the track throughout. The climax feels like the beginning of an epiphany, a complicated arrangement of electronics and strings that emerge from the background to the centre of the track, the coming together of every wandering thought, until finally at the end of the piece, everything resolves itself neatly".

Amazon Music is raising its standard individual Amazon Music Unlimited monthly subscription price from $9.99 to $10.99 in the US, and from £9.99 to £10.99 in the UK, Engadget reports. Amazon's Student Plan is going from $/£4.99 to $/£5.99 per month in each respective territory. Amazon is also increasing equivalent pricing in Germany and Japan. Apple Music announced late last year that it was upping its standard monthly subscription price from USD $9.99 to $10.99 in the US, and GBP £9.99 to £10.99 in the UK. Spotify for now refuses to do the same.

It’s good to witness the current flourishing of what we might call Green Pop – though others may prefer Eco-Pop, Eco-Rock, etc... - challenging the current state of our environment - PopMatters writes proudly about the new wave of music dealing with climate change, and nature protection. PM presents American folk musicians that preceded them - Woody Guthrie, Neil Young, Chris Webby, Joan Baez, Phil Ochs, Malvina Reynolds, Tom Paxton, Pete Seeger, and Don Maclean.

Singer-songwriter-guitarist David Crosby, a founding member of two popular and influential ’60s rock units, the Byrds and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, has died aged 81, The New York Times reports. Alexis Petridis points out that "Crosby genuinely was brilliant. He was blessed with a beautiful voice and an uncanny gift for harmony... a fantastic, forward-thinking songwriter". Rolling Stone picks out 20 essential songs by the folk-rock legend. The New Cue revisits an interview from a few years ago with the witty guy.

US rapper Flo Rida has won a lawsuit against US energy drink company, Celsius, with the jury awarding the rapper $82.6 million, CBS Miami reports. Flo Rida was a brand ambassador for Celsius from 2014 to 2018. During that time, Dillard played an instrumental role in launching a new era for the company's brand development, growth and expansion, introducing Celsius to millions around the world, the complaint said.

"I must disclose that my mental health has rapidly deteriorated over the past several years. So, to avoid fading away and never returning, I will be taking a break from work which regrettably includes stepping away from Fall Out Boy for a spell" - Fall Out Boy guitarist Joe Trohman posted on his Instagram. Just a few hours earlier the band announced their first new album since 2018, titled 'So Much (for) Stardust'.

Snoop Dogg, Gloria Estefan, Sade, Jeff Lynne, Glen Ballard, Teddy Riley and Liz Rose have been chosen to join the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Snoop Dogg, whose hits include 'Drop It Like It’s Hot' and 'Gin & Juice', is one of the icons of hip-hop. Soul-jazz vocalist Sade's 1980s soft rock hits include 'Smooth Operator' and 'The Sweetest Taboo'. Lynne, of ELO, penned 'Mr. Blue Sky' and 'Evil Woman'. Estefan is credited for popularizing Latin rhythms with such crossover smashes as 'Rhythm Is Gonna Get You' and 'Let’s Get Loud'. Ballard helped write Alanis Morissette’s monster 1995 album 'Jagged Little Pill' and was involved in the recording and writing of several Michael Jackson albums, including 'Thriller', 'Bad' and 'Dangerous'. Riley, the singer, songwriter and producer, is credited with creating New Jack Swing and its top anthems like Bobby Brown’s 'My Prerogative' and Keith Sweat’s 'I Want Her'. Rose co-wrote many songs with Taylor Swift, including 'You Belong with Me', 'Teardrops on My Guitar' and 'White Horse'. The seven songwriters from the class of 2023 will be inducted at a gala June 15 at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York City.

The Quietus' dance music columnist Jaša Bužinel sheds light on the "small Slovenian electronic music scene and shares his favourite recent releases from the likes of Vid Vai, POUCH ENVY, dvidevat and Black Dot". "By including mainly names which you may never have heard of before," the writer says he hopes "to shed some light on all the talented Slovenian producers and artists who really deserve to be heard abroad".

Duo Molly from Innsbruck, Austria play an especially majestic style of dream-pop with a post-rock approach to structure and scope - Stereogum points out about their latest Album of the Week choice. It is "a chance to be overwhelmed by elegance and power and an otherworldly glow". 

Pitchfork tells the story of "slack key—a distinctly Hawaiian sound with complex patterns of rhythm, bass, and a leading melody all handled by one player on an acoustic guitar. It would become synonymous with the identity of the islands". The P also chooses nine releases through which "a story emerges of how a little-known indigenous folk music transformed into an empowering voice for the revitalization of an endangered culture".

Japanese musician Yukihiro Takahashi, best known as the influential drummer and vocalist for electronic act Yellow Magic Orchestra, has died aged 70, Japan Times reports. Yellow Magic Orchestra drew significant influence from Isao Tomita and Kraftwerk, Japanese traditional music, arcade games, funk, and disco pioneer Giorgio Moroder, becoming renowned for their use of synths, samplers, sequencers, and drum machines. Numerous musicians, including Junior Boys, Sparks, Akiko Yano, Erol Alkan, Mouse on Mars, and Good Willsmith paid tribute to Takahashi.

A great article in the New York Times about the case brought against Young Thug and his rap label YSL, accused of conspiracy to commit racketeering, gang statute violations and more. Slimelife Shawty, Unfoonk, Lil Duke, the chart-topper Gunna, and four other men associated with YSL, all pleaded guilty to a racketeering charge, some to other crimes. Each agreed that the famed Atlanta rap crew they were associated with — YSL, headed by the enigmatic star Jeffery Williams, or Young Thug — was not only a renowned hip-hop collective, but also a criminal street gang. The trial is expected to last for nine months, as Young Thug is facing a possibility of a maximum 120-year prison sentence.

Drugs&parties expert Michelle Lhooq shares an interesting invitation to a "sober rave for all the freaks seeking new horizons of holistic hedonism...:

Parties are portals into a new way of being.

The womb is a vortex into what comes beyond.

MUSHWOMB is an alternate reality to a nightlife hellscape infected by the clout matrix.

It is a wormhole where a pussy portal leads you to a sunny dancefloor where the vibes are immaculate, the music is soulful, and toxic substances are abandoned in favor of sparkling shroom candies, botanical booze-free cocktails, and chaga chai teas.

The portal opens on 01.22.23 in a sacred queer space in Los Angeles—a secret yard where the underground’s sweat and joyful tears collect into a pool for baptism and rebirth."

Taylor Swift sold 1.695 million vinyl albums in the U.S. in 2022 across her entire catalog of releases, more than any other act by far last year, Billboard reports. Nearly one of every 25 vinyl LPs sold last year in the U.S. was a Swift album - 43.46 million total vinyl albums were sold by all artists. Swift’s latest release, 'Midnights', was the top-selling vinyl album of 2022 in the U.S., with 945,000 copies sold across all of its vinyl variants and editions, benefiting from the availability of a range of alternative versions and color-vinyl variants. 'Midnights' was available in four standard vinyl LP editions, each with a different cover and colored vinyl, with back covers of the albums fitting together like a puzzle to display a clock face. A side fact - while vinyl album sales continue to gain each year in the U.S., only half of those fans buying records actually own a vinyl record player.

"There’s an exciting energy in the air at the start of each year, knowing that a whole new wave of exciting music and dancefloors moments are soon to be experienced" - MixMag introduces the selection of 24 DJs, producers, and rappers to watch in 2023. Included are English rapper Clavish with "some of the most formidable wordplay in UK rap right now", Irish DJ Fio Fa - "expect to see him get dancefloors shaking in 2023", Chinese DJ Hao who "pulls dancers through pneumatic beats up to blinding trance-inflected climaxes with a sense of momentum that’s relentless and exhilarating", and LA DJ Introspekt because "any artist who can master the full stylistic range garage offers is immediately essential".

Providing insight from artists such as Nile Rodgers, Four Tet, Radiohead’s Philip Selway, and others, the new book 'Touring and Mental Health: The Music Industry Manual', is looking at the impact touring can have on musicians' mental health, JamBase reports. Written by psychotherapist and former booker, Tamsin Embleton, in over 600 pages the manual attempts to cover a variety of psychological difficulties that can occur whilst on a tour that includes addiction, performance anxiety, group dynamics, relationship problems, and more. Contributing advice and knowledge to the book are experts including psychotherapists, performance coaches, dieticians, sexual health experts, and many more to cover all basis.

Teledisko, the world’s smallest nightclub at just one square metre, has opened a new location in Madrid - five tiny nightclubs are already set up in and around the city of Berlin. Once inside the disco-booth, a selection of songs including ABBA’s ‘Dancing Queen’, Rihanna’s ‘Umbrella’, and Aqua’s ‘Barbie Girl’ can be chosen from, while effects such as strobe lighting, a spinning disco ball, and fog machines can be altered by punters. "What happens in the teledisko stays in the teledisko. Dance like there's no tomorrow!” - reads Teledisko’s website. The club fits three people at a time and lasts for just three minutes once a song has been chosen and activated from the screen outside the club, Spanish outlet Informacion reports.

Music instruments producer Roland has revealed its 50th anniversary concept - a piano with flying speakers, Hypebeast reports. Built from one piece of Japanese oak, the speakers have been set on drones to “hoover over the piano” in order to achieve a “360-degree experience”. There are 14 general 360-degree speakers that aim to recreate a three-dimensional sound space not achievable with conventional stereo speaker systems found on digital pianos.

Scientists in Denmark have created the world’s smallest “vinyl” record, which is so tiny that it can barely be seen by the naked human eye, EDM reports. Measuring just 15x15 micrometres, with grooves of a depth of just 65 nanometres – the tiny record contains music - it plays 25 seconds of ‘Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree’, in stereo. Professor Peter Nøggild explained that the technology could be critical in future scientific research: “While we make these kinds of grooves here with nanometre precision, we can transfer these to a number of other materials, where that will fundamentally allow us to manipulate material properties on a nanoscale.”

Lisa Marie Presley, singer-songwriter and only child of Elvis and Priscilla Presley, has died at 54 following a cardiac arrest, CNN reports. Lisa Marie's passing comes just two days after she attended the Golden Globes, where Austin Butler won best actor in a motion picture, drama, for playing Elvis. She appeared deeply emotional as the actor thanked Priscilla and Lisa Marie, saying, “I love you forever.” He later told reporters that he is “endlessly grateful” to the Presleys for “welcoming me into their family in such a beautiful way.”

Harry Styles and Wet Leg lead the nominations for this year's Brit Awards, with four each, including nods for the coveted best album award, the BBC reports. A year after the Brit awards abandoned the gendered categories, the nominations for the replacement artist of the year prize are entirely male, comprising Central Cee, Stormzy, Fred Again, George Ezra, and Harry Styles, the media ephasize.

The English folk trio Daughter have shared their new single 'Be on Your Way', the first from their new album 'Stereo Mind Game', out April 7. 'Be on Your Way” was inspired by a romantic connection that bandleader Elena Tonra encountered while recording in California. On the track, she reflects on fond memories while acknowledging the bad timing - “I won’t hold you back/Time throws us around/ And there is never just one future plan.” Daughter promise the new album will be more optimistic.

Jeff Beck, the celebrated rock guitarist who played with the Yardbirds and led the Jeff Beck Group, has died aged 78, the BBC reports. Beck was known as a keen innovator - he pioneered jazz-rock, experimented with fuzz and distortion effects, and opened the way for psych-rock and heavy metal. Beck, whose fingers and thumbs were famously insured for £7m, was an eight-time Grammy winner, recipient of the Ivor Novello for outstanding contribution to British music, and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame both as a solo artist and as a member of the Yardbirds. His Yardbirds bandmate, Jimmy Page wrote on Twitter - “The six stringed Warrior is no longer here for us to admire the spell he could weave around our mortal emotions. Jeff could channel music from the ethereal. His technique unique. His imaginations apparently limitless". Rod Stewart, who sang in the Jeff Beck Group, tweeted: "He was one of the few guitarists that when playing live would actually listen to me sing and respond".