“A lot of people are making music intending to break it on TikTok. Your average person on TikTok is going to have 15 seconds to make the video, right? So you want to have as much of the song in that 15 seconds as possible. I think things naturally have gotten shrunk down from there” - Jasmine Star, 17-year-old musical prodigy and a guitarist who has found a large audience through TikTok, tells Guitar World in their piece about how TikTok is changing guitar music. Star says music is - "shrinking down into two minute songs that are written hook one/hook two/hook three, back to hook one with a variation hook, to hook three. So it's all about how the guitar fits into the hooks... And I think that that will change how riffs are being written. I think that riffs are probably going to become more melodic because of how songs are being written right now”.

Video game sounds, abrasive distortion and emotional rap lyrics are a typical digicore cacophony, but that's not all - digicore artists also pull from genres as wide-reaching as midwestern emo, trance, and even Chicago drill, Vice writes in a profile. Everything about this scene of teen musicians - the kids of digicore are mostly between the ages of 15 and 18 years old - centres around the modern Internet landscape; from its origins, to its diversity, right down to how community-oriented it is, including everybody working from their bedroom.

"As increased loneliness and stress have contributed to declining mental health, people have turned to online communities to seek reassurance and companionship" - and some have found Oddly Specific Playlist, a Facebook group with bizarre playlists, such as songs i listen to when the gang of 15 year olds at the train station are intimidating me or looking for songs that make you feel like a misunderstood villain who is just struggling with past trauma. Slate insists it's not just about the music, but also the community - "people wrestling with heartbreak, trauma, nihilism, low self-esteem, and other personal issues find not just song recommendations but also people who empathize with their struggle".

4,000 people will be allowed to the Brit awards in London next month to enjoy the show and - take part in a government-led research programme into how crowds can safely return to mass-participation events, Sky News reports. Audience members will not have to wear masks or socially distance, but they will, however, have to have proof of a negative Covid test. After the performances by Dua Lipa, Headie One, and Arlo Parks, the audience will have to take a Covid test.

Classical music has always been a natural fit for podcasting. And podcasting, it turns out, might be just as fitting for the concert hall - the New York Times argues in a recent article about classical music's bigger steps into podcasting. Next to the older ones like 'Aria Code' by Rhiannon Giddens (trained in opera, better known for her banjo playing), 'Sticky Notes' by the conductor Joshua Weilerstein, and 'On a Personal Note' about the last gathering on an ensemble before the pandemic, there are new ones breaking ground. 'Mission: Commission' follows three composers over the course of six weeks as they create short pieces. 'Trilloquy' goes outside music and into social issues. 'Beginner’s Mind' is idealistic in its premise - making a better world through music.

Flying Lotus shares jazzy/soul songs 'Black Gold' featuring Thundercat and 'Between Memories' featuring Niki Randa, both from anime series 'Yasuke'; Tirzah shares 'Send Me', a sparse song with plenty of tension; Ethel Cain goes from calmness to noise on 'Unpunishable'; Wu-Lu goes for a fresh take on rap-rock on 'Times'; Wolf Alice share an indie-rock smash 'Smile'.

Boomtown festival got cancelled Tuesday morning, days after the arts festival Shambala and the indie rock festival Barn on the Farm announced last week that they would not go ahead. All three cited the financial risk of staging events that could be shut down at a moment’s notice by a reimposition of Covid restrictions. Guardian reports that more than nine in 10 independent events are privately indicating they may not go ahead.

An amazing read in the CBS about Prince and his legacy, remembering him five years after his untimely death in an accidental overdose of painkillers. In July, 'Welcome 2 America', the first full previously-unreleased studio album of Prince material is to be released posthumously. It will be the tenth posthumous Prince album release overall (all the other albums were a mix of re-releases and newly mined gems). 'W2A' is an album about racial inequality and social injustice, recorded more than a decade ago just outside Minneapolis, crackling with relevance today. This album is just a small part of what Prince has recorded and stashed in his vault, which he couldn't come into since he has - forgotten the password. There's roughly 8,000 Prince's recording left unreleased, which means we could get a Prince album every year for the rest of the millennium.

Primary Wave Music has bought the catalog of songwriter and producer Patrick Leonard, in a “multi-million-dollar deal”, Music Business Worldwide reports. Included in that acquisition is Leonard’s share of a number of hits from Leonard Cohen such as 'You Want It Darker', 'It Seemed the Better Way', and 'If I Didn’t Have Your Love', as well as his share of songwriter royalties from his work with Madonna - 'La Isla Bonita', 'Frozen', and the classic 'Like A Prayer'. MBW also reports about the first acquisition by the Influence Media Partners - a portfolio of select copyrights from the catalog of multi-platinum songwriter Ali Tamposi: 'Havana' by Camila Cabello, 'It Ain’t Me' by Selena Gomez, Shawn Mendes' 'Señorita' with Camila Cabello, Justin Bieber' 'Let Me Love You', Beyoncé's 'Save The Hero' and others.

Jim Steinman, the composer, lyricist and record producer behind many rock and pop hits has died at the age of 73, Deadline reports. His roster of hit records began with Meat Loaf’s smash 1977 debut album 'Bat Out of Hell' (among the 35 best-selling albums in U.S. history, racking up 14 million units sold), only to be continued by Bonnie Tyler hits 'Total Eclipse of the Heart' and 'Holding Out For A Hero', Barry Manilow’s 'Read ‘Em and Weep', Celine Dion’s 'It’s All Coming Back to Me Now' and many more.