Newly-married Justin Bieber published a pregnancy-themed April Fool's joke, which many found funny, others branded the star "shameful" and "disgusting". Bieber apologised clarifying that he "didn't mean at all to be insensitive to people who can't have children", and that it was "'APRIL FOOLS'". Dr Pamela Rutledge, director of the US-based Media Psychology Research Center, […]
At only 22 Duki sold out a show at Luna Park -- one of Argentina's most prominent venues, he was headliner of Buenos Aires Trap, the biggest Latin trap festival, he is the first El Quinto Escalón freestyler to reach 1 million views with his own song, and also the first Argentine trapper to do […]
On Cameo.com users pay celebrities - actors, athletes, models, musicians, influencers, YouTubers, wrestlers, drag queens - to record personalized video messages. Ice-T charges $300 for a message, Hannibal Buress $300, Stormy Daniels $250, Sean Astin $150, Brett Favre $500, and Lance Bass $199, and now they have Ariel Pink. He charges $100. Stereogum...
All Hip Hop reports how South Central LA gangs are unifying and showing solidarity after Nipsey Hussle's mured - 60's, Hoovas, ETG's, Bloods, Cribs, FTG, Bounty Hunters, Mona Parks, Brims, Pirus, Gangstas, Deuces got together and made a group photo. "Just some of these hoods in the same building is POWERFUL! Trying to use Their […]
"Until recently, English was its lingua franca, and to sing in any other language relegated an artist to the second tier, successful only in their own region, unless they had a rare border-crossing novelty hit. But in 2018 a bubbling linguistic pot came to the boil when worldwide breakthroughs by the K-pop boybands BTS and […]
Michael Jackson's family has published a new documtenary exploring the other side of allegations made in HBO's 'Leaving Neverland', where two of his children-friends accused him of sexual abuse. The YouTube film is presented by Australian journalist Liam McEwan, who interviews figures such as Michael’s nephew Taj – who directly addresses the allegations of abuse […]
Beyoncé would be partnering with Adidas for her own athleisure line, choosing the German sports company over a number of other sneaker companies, Spin reports. Beyoncé walked out of Reebok’s pitch meeting because none of the members of the team who would potentially be working with her on her line reflected her own background and […]
“What I think of as popular song isn’t 21st century pop, which to me is a totally different beast. It’s usually more the nostalgic version of popular music from the 20th century. I really love chord changes and lots of meaning in lyrics. A lot of money was given to weirdos in the studio to […]
Billie Eilish's new album 'When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?' debuts at No. 1 at U.K. album chart, becoming the youngest-ever female artist to top the U.K. chart. Her album sold in 48,000 units. At 17 years, three months and 18 days old, she is two months and ten days younger than […]
"RBMA came closer than most to realising the best of what a brand-funded music platform could achieve. It's clear that its staff and contributors cared deeply about the creative cultures fostered within it; light-touch branding, and funding divorced from click rates or advertising imperatives, enabled that culture to exist as an end in itself... We […]
“As a person, Jerry is very questionable. But you’re not paying tribute to the person, you’re paying tribute to the performer" says Jerry Lee Lewis tribute performer Peter Gill in an article by The Guardian about tribute acts. CJ, one of the UK’s leading Michael Jackson impersonators, feels that what's going on with Jackson now […]
A photo is "like a little story. It's a piece of time, time travel", Chris Stein says in an interview with PopMatters about his photography collection, 'Point of View: Me, New York City, and the Punk Scene'. It contains images that span from the late 1960s to 2001, and since Stein was a Blondie co-founder […]
'Light Years' is a closing track from their forthcoming album 'I Am Easy To Find', and the piano heavy song comes with with a video by '20th Century Women' director Mike Mills, Stereogum reports. A lovely video as well.
Cardi B leads the 2019 Billboard Music Awards nominations, bagging 21 nods, including some top categories - Top Artist, Top Female Artist, Top Hot 100 Song, Top Billboard 200 Artist, Top Rap Artist, Top Rap Female Artist, Top Hot 100 Artist, and Top Billboard 200 Album for her debut record 'Invasion of Privacy'. Drake and […]
Mexican pop singer Sofia Reyes has a new single, 'R.I.P.', a vibrant, infectious slice of Latin pop. The song is a collaboration between the Mexican singer, Brazilian artist Anitta and Albanian-British pop star Rita Ora, each flits between Spanish, English and Portuguese as they sing about shedding unwanted emotional baggage, before teaming up for the […]
Red Bull Music Academy and Red Bull Radio are to shut down after 21 years, on October 31, in a move to “phase out the existing structure” and decentralize its operations in the creative industry. RBMA, an unlikely patron of underground music since the academy’s launch in 1998, had long been held up as an […]
"No one expected rap music in particular to last as long as it has and to be a billion-dollar industry. So, the fact Hip-Hop and rap music made it to a point to where we actually have adult rappers is crazy. Hip-Hop is almost like a dude who just lived wild, fast, and crazy and […]
Jacob Lowenstein (28), drummer of the New Zealand black-metal and death-metal bands Igni, Oblivion Dawn, and Secularity, was taken into custody and has been charged with setting two fires at Mormon churches. These incidents took place in Christchurch, where similar acts of terror happened last month, albeit with human casualties. The case is similar to […]
This week, Logic became the first rapper to top The New York Times’ Paperback Trade Fiction Best Sellers list with his novel 'Supermarket', published by Simon & Schuster, and signed by his real name Bobby Hall (well, his full name is Sir Robert Bryson Hall II) . 'Supermarket' comes with an accompanying soundtrack, featuring new […]
37-year old pop singer is seeking treatment for her mental health - recently she began a 30-day program at a mental health facility to "focus on herself” as she cares for her father, Jamie, in the wake of his “life-threatening” colon rupture. Spears seemingly acknowledged the reports in an Instagram post on Wednesday. She shared […]
Nipsey Hussle was shot to death on Sunday, and on Sunday and Monday streams of his songs in the U.S. increased to 101.5 million (audio and video streams combined). That was an increase of 1,773 percent compared to his streaming sum on Friday and Saturday: 5.4 million. His album 'Victory Lap' is likely to re-enter […]
Swedish singer Lykke Li has announced a summer festival Yola Fest that will celebrate "the arts, culture and music by today's women". Courtney Love, Charlie XCX, Cat Power, Cupcakke, Megan Thee Stallion, and Ambar Lucid join Lykke for the Saturday, June 6 event held at LA’s Historic Park. Lykke’s brand of mezcal, YOLA, which the […]
Music-instruction franchise School of Rock is launching a new international talent search in partnership with Atlantic Records its Artist Partner Group (APG) imprint. Named Center Stage, the talent search is now soliciting audition videos from singers across the globe. Twenty five of the most promising musicians will be flown out to Los Angeles to perform […]
From customs holding up CD and vinyl deliveries to visa issues putting roadies out of work, the UK music industry is nervous about what Brexit may bring - Guardian analyses what will UK leaving the EU mean for British musicians.
"Lushly orchestrated throwback to the golden age of ’70s singer-songwriter pop and ’60s Laurel Canyon folk, two musical traditions intimately entwined with the mythical history of her Los Angeles home... Searching for meaning and love and connection in an era that feels on the precipice of an apocalypse, the personal and the political all wrapped […]
Billie Eilish has appeared on US TV show Ellen, where she opened up about Tourette's Syndrome and how she controls it: “I’ve learned that a lot of my fans have it, which made me feel more at home with saying it. I felt like there was a connection there. I felt like when I said […]
BBC is discussing payed meet-and-greets with music stars, after Matty Healy from the 1975 tweeted he didn't think bands should charge fans to meet them. It's very well institutionalized by now - Lady Gaga sells a backstage tour for her Las Vegas show, pre-show reception and "swag bag" for 2.000 dollars. Ariana Grande charges 800 […]
Psychedelic punk band Rainbow Grave are ready to step out with their debut album 'No You' by God Unknown Records, scheduled for July 5. Band members are Nicholas Bullen, best known as a founding member of Napalm Death and Scorn, and John Pickering, who is a founding member of Doom and Sore Throat, alongside James […]
Global music sales grew 9.7% in 2018, reaching $19.1 billion in total revenue, making the 2018 fourth consecutive year of growth and the highest rate since the IFPI began tracking the market in 1997. Nearly half (47%) of all revenue came from streaming, which grew by 34% in 2018. By the end of last year, […]
The Los Angeles police have detained Eric Holder, the 29-year-old suspected of shooting the rapper Nipsey Hussle. Hussle, 33, whose real name is Ermias Asghedom, was shot multiple times in Los Angeles on Sunday afternoon, in front on his store, and rushed to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Holder had argued several times […]
Popular digital audio workstations like Ableton, FL Studio, Logic, and Cubase were built primarily to facilitate music-making in a Western mode, according to the principles of European classical music. Recently, Khyam Allami, an Iraqi born in Syria and living in London, introduced Leimma and Apotome, two pieces of free software that aim to offer possibilities outside the Europan music canon. Leimma allows users to explore tuning systems from around the world or create their own, while Apotome offers generative music creation using these diverse tuning systems. They intend to give musicians a blank musical slate, rather than nudging them towards any specific musical tradition. Pitchfork presents both.
Lars-Göran “L-G” Petrov of the Swedish death-metal pioneers Entombed sadly passed away on Sunday, after a battle with cancer, at the age of 49, Louder reports. Entombed formed in 1989 out of the ashes of their previous band Nihilist, to release their groundbreaking debut LP 'Left Hand Path' in 1990. They changed the trajectory of the genre once again with their third album, 1993's 'Wolverine Blues', which helped pioneer the subgenre of death 'n' roll. Petrov left the band in 2014 and formed the offshoot band Entombed A.D., who went on to release three albums.
Adele has been named as the UK’s best-selling female album artist of the century by The British Phonographic Industry, according to Music Week. She holds the top spot above the stars such as P!nk, Madonna, Rihanna, Dido, Amy Winehouse, Kylie Minogue, Beyonce, Britney Spears, and Lady Gaga. Her second album, ‘21‘, also holds the title for the UK’s number one album by a female artist since 2000, after shifting just shy of 6 million copies in the UK alone. The new statistics have been unveiled to coincide with the confirmed return of National Album Day on October 21, which will adopt ‘Celebrating Women In Music’ as its 2021 theme.
Morgan Wallen’s 'Dangerous: The Double Album' holds on to the top of Billboard 200 chart for an eighth consecutive week, amidst the racial slur scandal. 'Dangerous' earned 82,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in the week ending March 4, which is a slight dip of 7% compared to the previous week, Billboard reports. 'Dangerous' now ties Taylor Swift’s 2020 album 'Folklore' for the second-most weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 in the last five years -- among albums of all genres.
A total of 1,971 women were registered as professional songwriters and composers in 2020 in the UK, a 12.3% year-on-year increase compared to 2019, and a near twofold increase (79.6%) compared to 2018, when 1,097 women registered, Music Week reports. New figures released today (8 March), International Women’s Day 2021, show over half (58%) of women joining PRS for Music in 2020 were under the age of 30. However, gender balance within the professional songwriter and composer community remains heavily skewed towards men - male composers and songwriters make up 81.7% of PRS for Music’s membership, which is significantly higher than the music industry as a whole. The proportion of women working in the music industry had reached a record high of 49.6% in its latest Diversity Report for 2020. Also, the top 10 highest-earning female songwriters and composers generated 70% less income than their male counterparts in 2020.
London artist Nuha Nuby Ra has released her debut EP 'How To Move', an avant-garde pop record that draws from the punk DIY ethos in order to experiment with music. The Quietus hears Nuha Nuby Ra finding herself in opposition to many things on 'How To Move' – "convention, sensuality, misery, vexation – and transforms it all right in front of us". In the Wax Music interview, Nuha Nuby Ra explains what her influences are, and how she made her EP.
A great series of texts in Guardian by the members of Mogwai, Chic, Charlatans, Haim, Hot Chip and others about the joy of playing live. Chris of the Christine and the Queens goes all the way with her text: "I like the animalistic side of touring: it’s about being a nice beast on stage, you have to sniff things and feel things and adapt. I like the accidents, the awkwardness of it. It can be really humbling because you think you know your show, and then you learn it again because the audience reacts differently. I like the challenge – to prove myself on stage, to try to win people over. It’s almost like a Don Juan thing, every time you have to make love, and you have to find a different way".
Tame Impala played two sold-out, maskless concerts on Friday in Perth, as Tame Impala Sound System sets, bringing a sense of normalcy down under where the Covid-numbers are quite low, while the rest of the world is pretty much quarantined, NME reports. Tame Impala’s TISS sees Parker and co. reimagine tracks from the band’s discography with synths, sequencers, and samplers, creating "pulsating, fully live and organic, free-flowing digital jam out”.
A total of 1,300 people took part in a party on Saturday in Amsterdam's Ziggo Dome, which also acted as a research project, the Chronicle Herald reports. Dutch DJs Sam Feldt, Sunnery James & Ryan Marciano were playing as the party-goers were followed in all their movements and contacts through a tag they were made to wear, as part of an effort to examine how events may safely be opened up for the public again. The event was part of a series of government-backed tests that also include a business conference, two football matches and a comedy show – all of which have different rules for different groups, to see what works best.
"If Square wants to create new ways to help musicians sell real goods and digital goods, it could just do that. Instead, Square is paying $300 million for a failed music service that doesn’t help it accomplish any of those goals" - Vox argues in an analysis of Square-Tidal deal which saw Jack Dorsey paying Jay-Z $300 million for his service. "So, what you’re really left with here is a deal that looks like a way for Jack Dorsey to move money from his publicly traded company to a company owned by a guy he likes to hang out with" - Vox concludes. Variety did the math on 16 artist stakeholders of Tidal - Jay Z, Beyonce, Kanye West (pictured above), Rihanna, Alicia Keys, Jason Aldean, Madonna, Jack White, Arcade Fire’s Win Butler & Régine Chassagne, Usher, Nicki Minaj, Coldplay’s Chris Martin, Calvin Harris, deadmau5, J. Cole and Daft Punk - who should expect to pocket $8.91 million apiece from this deal.
