Ronan O’Rahilly, the Irish founder of the notorious Radio Caroline that popularised pop music on British radio, has died aged 79. O'Rahilly started out as a manager in the 1960s, but had struggled to get his musicians noticed by the UK radio so he circumvented licensing laws by acquiring a former Danish passenger ferry, anchoring it in the North Sea off Felixstowe, and broadcasting from there. Radio Caroline quickly amassed a listenership of millions for its daytime pop-focused output. In 1967, parliament outlawed offshore radio stations, causing a number of Radio Caroline’s DJs moved to the newly created Radio 1, which had been influenced by the success of the former. Radio Caroline moved to Dutch waters, and continued broadcasting at sea until 1991. Alexis Petridis says that O'Rahilly, by championing bands ignored by the establishment, paved the way for the pirate DJs of soul, acid house and grime.

Bandcamp plans to forgo its entire revenue share on Friday, May 1st, so that artists can receive 100% of all profits made that day, in an effort to assist artists during these unprecedented times, Resident Advisor reports. Bandcamp did the same thing last month, which ended up pulling in $4.3 million dollars, all of which went directly to the platform’s musician.

Many festival organisers are hoping that people who have tickets will keep them for next year because if they need to refund on mass, they might not be able to return next year, according to the UK Association of Independent Festivals (AIF). Staging festivals is a year round endeavour, the BBC reports. There's a cashflow concern and a lot of money has already been spent that festivals won't get back - festivals of all sizes have already paid out on things like artist deposits, contractors' deposits and fees, press and marketing, staff costs and infrastructure.

The big lockdown has erased the festival and live music industry for this season, but it has also badly hurt the fashion industry as well, the New York Times reports. “For some brands, festivals aren’t just a season like summer or fall, but the season of the year to build relationships with a certain kind of shopper, who buy fun new extra additions for their wardrobe that they wouldn’t normally be tempted by” - said Lucie Greene, a trend forecaster and the founder of the Light Years consultancy. “They define an entire aesthetic of collections and products for some labels”.

David Guetta performed a two-hour DJ set from a balcony in Downtown Miami, with eight thousand Miami residents watching and dancing from their own balconies, while an additional 12 million people streaming the performance live online. According to EDM, Guetta raised $780,000 for the World Health Organization, Feeding South Florida, Feeding America, and the French Fondation Hôpitaux de Paris. Watch his performance here.

Classic emo band, now an adult-emo band American Football headlined a lengthy concert on April 11th, online across Minecraft becoming "a place to gather", The Verge journalist who was there reports. "I was surprised at how emotional the show made me, and it was the same for more than 10,000 people watching. Maybe it was because we were all experiencing this moment together, the first big communal event I’ve been to since self-quarantining about a month ago". The band reports they had raised $8,000 for charity. As it turns out, there's a technology that needs to be developed in order to make this kind of shows become bigger and work without glitches, something former Amazon Studios strategist and analyst Matthew Ball wrote about - “the technology simply does not yet exist for there to be hundreds, let alone millions of people participating in a shared, synchronous experience”.

“This was the first time in about 20 years that there’s been, like, a whole movement” says Funkmaster Flex about Brooklyn Drill, the first new sound of New York in two decades. The DJ and radio personality acknowledged to Complex that A-listers like Cardi B and A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie have come from the city in recent years, but none of them emerged with a whole scene at their backs. “This ain’t happen since the times of Dipset and G-Unit” says journalist Jamel Robinson, Brooklyn rap’s on-the-ground documentarian. Two stand-out tracks - Pop Smoke’s 'Welcome to the Party' and Fivio Foreign’s 'Big Drip'.

Saturday’s star-studded 'One World: Together at Home' virtual concert raised $127.9 million for health care workers and coronavirus relief, according to Global Citizen. The globally broadcasted performances were organized by the World Health Organization and Global Citizen, in collaboration with Lady Gaga, who also sang during the two-hour live stream. Of the whopping $127.9 million total, $55.1 million will go to the COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund, and $72.8 million will benefit local and regional responders.

Priscilla Rainey has been granted ownership of The Game's independent record label Prolific Records, as well as royalties from his latest album, 'Born to Rap', The Blast reports. The rapper was ordered to pay over $7 million in damages to Rainey in 2016 after she sued the rapper for an alleged sexual assault that took place while filming 'She's Got Game', a reality show starring The Game.

The Weeknd's new album 'After Hours' earned 75,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in the last week, making it a full month at No. 1 on the Billboard 200. It’s the first album to notch four consecutive weeks at No. 1 since Drake’s 'Scorpion' in 2018, Billboard reports. Also from Billboard, country music streaming hit a historic new high in the U.S., with a record 1.244 billion on-demand audio streams of songs in the genre in the previous week.

The Rolling Stones, Billie Eilish (covering Bobby Hebb), Paul McCartney, Lady Gaga (covering Charlie Chaplin’s 'Smile'), Elton John, Stevie Wonder (covering Bill Withers), Lizzo (covering Sam Cooke), Kacey Musgraves, The Killers, Kesha, Billie Joe Armstrong, Eddie Vedder, Common, Christine and the Queens, Taylor Swift, Jimmy Fallon & The Roots (covering Men Without Hats‘ 'Safety Dance'), John Legend, and many other have performed at Global Citizen’s One World: Together at Home live stream. Watch them all at Global Citizen's YoutTube.

Cannabis Corpse host a special edition of their 'Wake and Bake' show on Gimme Radio; vocalist and bassist Phil “Landphil” Hall will be on hand to talk weed and metal (at 11:00 a.m. New York time, 5 p.m. Stockholm, 11 p.m. Singapore time)

Deerhoof is hosting a listening party of their new album 'Future Teenage Cave Artists' and chatting, on YouTube (4 p.m. / 10 p.m. / 4 a.m. on Tuesday)

Tim Burgess of The Charlatans is presenting listening party of Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti‘s 'Before Today' and The Pogues‘ 'Rum, Sodomy & The Lash'; he'll comment on them with the artists who made those albums (4/5 p.m., 10/11 p.m., 4/5 a.m.)

Cypress Hill is performing on LiveXLive at to benefit Crew Nation (7:10 p.m. / 1:10 a.m. / 7:10 a.m.)

Snoop Dogg is DJing on Merry Jane’s Instagram (7:20 p.m. / 1:20 a.m. / 7.20 a.m.)

Willie Nelson is hosting a weed variety show Come and Toke It, joined by Kacey Musgraves, Billy Ray Cyrus, Tommy Chong, Angel Olsen, and Beto O'Rourke (5:20 p.m. / 11:20 p.m. / 5:20 a.m.)

Complex did a great job of highlighting seven companies and apps that are empowering both musicians and fans to create and connect in time of quarantine. So, what does everybody need? Qello - founded in 2010, grown into an impressive hub of live music since. Stationhead - a social radio, and music streaming app. Splice - offers well organized, diverse sample libraries. Songfluencer - works directly with artists and labels to disseminate music to influencers on Instagram and TikTok. LÜM - allows fans to find artists early, listen to them on the app, provide direct support through virtual gifting, and be acknowledged for their finds. Resonate streaming service launched in 2015, seeks to put artists and human curation back at the forefront of music. Tracklib - offers pre-cleared samples at a wide-range of prices.

Baltimore rapper Jayy Grams has a great new song and video 'Hood Tales' about violence; 'In a Good Way' by Faye Webster is a simple love song, emanating strength through simplicity; 'Leader Of The Delinquents' by Kanye West's collaborator Kid Cudi is smooth and jazzy hip-hop; Wailin Storms play doom-grunge on 'Rattle'; 'But There’s Still The Moon' is some smooth soul by Tasha; Dougie Poole is a "weird country" singer from Brooklyn, proving the fact with 'Vaping on the Job'; Angel Olsen debuted two new songs on her recent livestream; Canadian Powfu's 'Death Bed' first exploded at Tik Tok, it's a type of song UK grimers would really appreciate.

Ticketmaster is set to start offering refunds in May for over 18,000 shows affected by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, Billboard reports. Once a postponed live performance has confirmed its rescheduled dates, fans who have purchased tickets via Ticketmaster will be emailed to offer the option of refunding their purchase. If the refund is not accepted within 30 days, the ticket will remain valid for the rescheduled dates. If the show is cancelled, it will be refunded automatically. Live Nation, who merged with Ticketmaster in 2010, are also running a scheme called ‘Rock When You’re Ready’, which allows fans to receive 150% credit for their tickets to be used on a future Live Nation event. They can also donate tickets to health workers, via a scheme called ‘Hero Nation’. In total, so far, the company has 55,000 events on its platform representing $2 billion in ticket sales for all of 2020.

NME reports from Plan B, a Malmö venue - the only one in Europe, legally at least, that continues to put on shows. In a room that can hold 350, capacity is restricted to 40 punters – plus a sound engineer, two members of staff and the band, bringing the number up to the guidelines of 50 people in total. Punters are not allowed to walk up to the bar; card machine-wielding staff operate a table service of sorts by milling around the crowd taking orders. Shoegaze trio Spunsugar played - "everyone starts off a little shy, hanging near the back and the sides before slowly being drawn forward. Heads nod and feet tap enthusiastically; there’s even a little dancing. What began with an air of uncertainty ends in triumph, joy, and chants for 'One! More! song!' Everyone orders more drinks".

Grimes was a renowned bassist and skilled at many other instruments, playing with numerous musicians in the ’50s and ’60s, including Don Cherry, Sonny Rollins, Cecil Taylor, Charles Mingus, Thelonious Monk, Gerry Mulligan, Albert Ayler, Don Cherry, Benny Goodman, Coleman Hawkins, Roy Haynes, Lee Konitz, Steve Lacy, Charles Mingus, Sunny Murray, Pharoah Sanders, Archie Shepp, and McCoy Tyner. By the end of the ’60s, however, he found himself broke in Los Angeles with a busted bass, and completely disappeared from the music scene. Many thought he had died but in the early 2000s he was found still living in Los Angeles, in a rented room doing odd jobs to make ends meet. He was given a new bass by William Parker and reemerged with new passion staying busy as a musician from then on. WBGO has his story.

The clip features Johnny Flynn as David Bowie in conversation with Marc Maron, who portrays his publicist Ron Oberman, Variety reports. “All it takes is one believer to change the world, right? And we’ve got two,” Maron says. “You believe in yourself, don’t you?”. Producers insist the upcoming film is not a biopic, with writer and director Gabriel Range saying in a statement - “I set out to make a film about what makes someone become an artist; what actually drives them to make their art”. If focuses on Bowie’s transformation into Ziggy Stardust in the early ’70s.

Listening to music can help people manage anxiety, become motivated and stay productive, the catch is - to make the right playlist, the Guardian reports. The songs at the beginning of the playlist should match how you're feeling, and then gradually you should alter the songs to get you into a state of productivity. Then, you should go faster, to a "power song" - in one study that examined the relationship between music tempo and productivity, most test subjects performed best while listening to songs paced at around 121bpm. Lyrics are tricky - it's best to avoid too familiar songs and choose instrumental music or songs with innocuous or subtlely performed lyrics. Still, it's music so it needs to be enjoyable. Get to work!

The soundtrack for the 1997 Studio Ghibli's animated classic 'Princess Mononoke' will be available on vinyl for the first time on July 24, The Vinyl Factory reports. Three different editions of the soundtrack are being released - the original score by composer Joe Hisaishi as it appeared on film; a 1998 symphonic suite that Hisaishi arranged for performance by the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra; and the promotional 'Image' album, common in Japan, in which actors perform songs as their characters to give a sense of their personalities.

The trailer gives a glimpse into the highs, the lows and the empowerment the iconic trio faced as they rose to fame, Spin reports. Cheryl “Salt” James is played by G.G. Townson in the three-hour miniseries, Sandra “Pepa” Denton is portrayed by Laila Odom, while Monique Paul is DJ Spinderella. Mario Van Peebles will direct the miniseries.

Queen guitarist Brian May has suggested, in NME interview, the coronavirus pandemic could have been avoided if everyone ate a vegan diet - "That's a central issue here, this pandemic seemed to come from people eating animals and it's becoming more well known that eating animals is not the greatest thing for our health". Similarly, animal rights activist Paul McCartney has called for a ban on all Chinese wet markets while blaming the meat and produce trade posts for the spread of coronavirus, LA Times reports. Speaking with Howard Stern in a new interview, McCartney also called the practice of Asian live animal markets "medieval," comparing their activities to slavery.

Last weekend's virtual Farm Aid benefit live concert, hosted by Willie Nelson, raised more than $500,000 to support American family farmers and ranchers affected by the coronavirus crisis, Billboard reports. It featured at-home performances from Willie Nelson and his sons, Neil Young, John Mellencamp, and Dave Matthews. Previously, 33-hour ReConnect livestream in March raised $185,000 for various relief nonprofits; Twitch's 12-hour Stream Aid event, featuring artists like Steve Aoki and Diplo, raised $2.8 million for the World Health Organization (WHO); iHeart Living Room Concert For America raised another $10 million; upcoming One World: Together at Home special, which airs April 18, has already raised $35 million to support healthcare workers.

"It's difficult to imagine us getting together in the thousands anytime soon, so I think we should be prepared for that this year" Los Angeles mayor Eric Garcetti told CNN. Earlier, New York City mayor Bill de Blasio called large public gatherings "one of the last things that we bring back... The last thing I want to do is gather 10,000, 20,000, 50,000 people in one place, that's like the exact opposite of social distancing".

Lee Konitz, the celebrated jazz saxophonist and last surviving performer in Miles Davis’ 'Birth of the Cool' sessions, died Wednesday (April 15) due to complications with COVID-19, NPR reports. He was 92. He was mentored by the esteemed blind pianist Lennie Tristano, befriended his fellow saxophonist Charlie Parker, and worked under bandleaders such as Stan Kenton and Claude Thornhill. Most famously, he played with Davis’ nonet on their “Birth of the Cool” Capitol recordings, a landmark in post-bebop jazz.

U2 have pledged to donate €10 million for personal protective equipment (PPE) for Irish frontline medics in the fight against coronavirus. “I just don’t think this is the moment for U2 to be doing a sort of Kumbaya thing", Bono said The Irish Times - "It just doesn’t feel right for me – it feels like a time for action rather than words”.

Nightlife is appropriating technologies built for corporate conferencing and gaming to make new party experiences, with stay-at-home clubbers willing to pay the amount they're used to at the physical clubs, Bloomberg reports. At a Zoom party called Club Quarantee guests purchase tickets for $10, or can pay $80 for a private room to party alongside Instagram-famous DJs and burlesque dancers. On a recent weekend, the party is full of European models and bearded men in fedoras, dancing along to 'Macarena'.

lectronic Beats made a selection of seven films and documentaries about the international dance music scene, and the people behind it - about the techno scene of reunified Berlin, the roots of Belgian dance music, Taiwanese Y2K club culture, year-and-a-half partying around Warsaw, etc.

In the early 1400s, English composer John Cooke composed 'Stella celi', referencing the Black Plague which wiped out half of Europe, NPR wrote in an article about classical compositions inspired by epidemics throughout history. Johann Sebastian Bach wrote 'Cantata No. 25' in 1723, just a year after the great plague of Marseille, France ended, leaving over 100,000 people dead. American composer John Corigliano wrote his 'Symphony No. 1', sometimes referred to as the 'AIDS Symphony', as a heart-on-sleeve elegy for the many friends Corigliano lost to HIV/AIDS in the 1980s; the disease took 32 million lives by now. Coronavirus is deadly but inspirational as well - composer Lisa Bielawa is writing a choral work 'Broadcast from Home', built on testimonials the composer is collecting via social media from individuals in self-isolation or self-quarantine; a "virtual" orchestra and chorus of about 25 musicians from around the country are recording their own parts at home and sending them to Bielawa to stitch together.

The big lockdown is changing what Americans are streaming these days, Quartz reports - the R'n'B singer Romeo Santos saw the largest dip of about 25%, followed by rapper Daddy Yankee with a 24% dip, and pop-metal collective Slipknot with a 23% fall (beginning of March compared to the beginning of April). On the other side, there's Kidz Bop, a band that makes versions of pop hits sung by children with lyrics modified for kids, who saw a jump of about 10%, with singer-songwriters Jack Johnson (performing children's music occasionally) and Mad DeMarco rising 9%. In genres, Latino saw the biggest dip of 26%, followed by rap which fell 20%, pop fell 17%, dance 13%, rock 9%, jazz 7%, reggae 6%. Religious music fell 5,6%, R'n'b' fell 4,8%, and country music 0,2%. Three genres saw a rise in streams in the US - classical was up 0,3%, folk 1,7%, with children's music being the biggest gainer - 9,7%.