Cinephiles Bonnie “Prince” Billy and Matt Sweeney, who recently released a collaborative album 'Superwolves', made a selection of the best music films for Vice. The boys chose 'Gene Vincent: The Rock And Roll Singer' (1970) - "a tough watch, but a revealing study of a rare talent", 'Cisco Pike' (1972) - "music-infused crime film has earned a sizeable cult following", 'Oulaya’s Wedding' (2017)  - "astonishingly familiar feelings and ripping tunes", 'Payday' (1973) - "down and dirty character study of a country star indulging every vice under the sun as he hurtles towards annihilation", 'The Decline Of Western Civilization' (1981) - "a documentary about energy that's so loaded with power that it will never die", and other films.

YouTube generated $6.005 billion from advertising in the three months to end of March this year, which is up by nearly $2 billion, or by 49%, on the $4.038 billion YouTube generated in the same period of 2020, Music Business Worldwide reports on staggering numbers by the streaming platform. Compared to 2019 the numbers are even more impressive - in Q1 2019 YouTube had $3.025 billion in revenues. If YouTube can maintain that +49% growth across the course of 2021, it will turn over more than $29 billion this year. The number MBW isn't giving is how much of that $6 billion YouTube made during the three first months of the year is going to artists.

The Red Hot Chili Peppers are selling the publishing rights of their catalog to Hipgnosis Songs Fund for upwards of $140 million, Variety reports. The transaction marks the latest catalog sale from a major legacy artist and one of the highest profile acquisitions to date for Merck Mercuriadis’ fund.

Spotify's former chief economist Will Page published a new study Twitch's Rockonomics which claims that artists make roughly 10 times more on Twitch than streaming providers. However, Twitch is very specific, and very different from Spotify - artists use Twitch to livestream content to their fans, charging monthly subscriptions (for $5, $10, or $25), earn digital tokens called Bits, or generate ad revenue. In general, Twitch aims super-fans willing to pay more for artists they like...

Nine-year-old DJ Michelle from The United Arab Emirates has become the youngest ever entrant to the DMC World Portablist DJ Championships, the DJ Mag reports. The annual DJ competition began in 1985, and it showcases the world’s DJ Scratch skills on portable turntables and vinyl records. Competitions are taking place from April through December.

American bands are on a tour-announcement spree, including the almost-forgotten The Monkees. The band's two surviving members, Michael Nesmith and Micky Dolenz have announced a Farewell Tour with dates across the US this fall, Brooklyn Vegan reports. The shows will featuring a "magical night of music: all the hits, deep cuts and fan favorites".

Indie pop bands Blossoms and The Lathums played Liverpool's Sefton Park in Liverpool Sunday evening in what was the UK's first live music gig in more than a year, NME reports. The 5,000 fans were required to take a supervised COVID test before arrival, with entry only permitted once a negative test had been received. Once inside, fans did not need to wear masks, socially distance, or stick to the rule of six, and could also enjoy bars and food stalls. Fans will need to take another lateral flow test in five days time to see the event’s impact on spreading the virus.

Moneybagg Yo’s album 'A Gangsta’s Pain' has debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, with 110,000 equivalent album units, Billboard reports. They mostly derived from streaming - 106,000 were earned from SEA units, while 4,000 came from album sales, and less than 1,000 from TEA units. 'A Gangsta’s Pain' marks Moneybagg’s 11th time charting, with this album being his fifth top 10 charting set.

“I think having hope for the future is a default setting that we have. We choose to be in that energy that wants to succeed" - French prog-metal quartet Gojira say to Guardian about their newest album 'Fortitude', which explores the climate crisis. "We were confronted by nature hurting all the time, and nature hurting hurts you” - says vocalist and guitarist Joe Duplantier, who grew up in a French coastal town with his brother Mario, the drummer in Gojira. They deal with recent issues on their new album, such as deforestation on their single 'Amazonia' - “The greatest miracle is burning to the ground”, as they sing.

Loudwire reports about a slightly bizarre case of late drummer Brentnol McPherson who was placed behind a drum set at his own funeral. Guyana-born, Canada-based drummer spent his life drumming with Toots & the Maytals, Johnny Nash, Jimmy Reid, Brass Traxx with Deborah Cox and many more, and for his "last performance" he was posed behind a sapphire blue drum set, surrounded by elaborate floral arrangements...