'The Right to Rock' tells the story of Filipino American sisters June and Jean Millington who in the late 19602 formed ferocious garage band Fanny. They were the first all-women band signed to a multi-album major label, and who used this platform to fight racism, sexism, and homophobia. "With members nearing age 70, it’s wonderful to see Fanny connecting with a new generation of listeners" - MJI writes presenting Bobbi Jo Hart’s documentary.

ouTube Shorts has launched its ‘Shorts Fund’ worth $100 million that will be distributed to its creators over the course of 2021-2022, TechCrunch reports. Shorts Fund will be available to anyone creating original content for Shorts, with the company saying “thousands of creators” will be paid for their content on Shorts through the Fund. Creators won’t be able to apply for the fund. Instead, YouTube will reach out and reward creators whose videos have exceeded certain milestones each month, including engagement and view counts.

Richard Benson is an English guitarist based in Italy. Watching him in action, it’s evident he knows how to play and he understands musical concepts but his guitar methods are unorthodox. His audiences come to see him play so they can throw food at him. Benson is willing to be a punchline to perform in front of an audience for the love of his art. He’s obviously passionate and dedicated, but at what point do you face the fact that people don’t just dislike your expression of music, they hate it - Medium gets curious about the strange man. There's also a short docu about the anti-guitarist.

New concerts are being added on a daily basis to the touring schedule in the US, mostly by American artists, thanks to the high vaccination rate. Trapital's Dan Runcie asks, rightfully so, "will you have the energy (and money) to still attend all their shows in the post-pandemic boom?". Live Nation's CEO Michael Rapino sits down with Recode’s Peter Kafka to talk about the industry’s comeback and how he’s figured out new tricks.

Apple Music announced it’s adding both Lossless Audio and Spatial Audio with support for Dolby Atmos to its service. From June 1, Apple is bundling these HD formats into its standard $9.99-per-month streaming subscription price. Amazon Music moments after confirmed that a range of HD audio options on Amazon’s Music Unlimited Service will now all be available for just $9.99 per month. Music Business Worldwide's founder Tom Ingham believes this is bad news for music in general and predicts that "over the next decade, we can now expect a slow war of attrition to trundle on between music rightsholders and the world’s largest tech giants over precisely this value calculation". Ingham also believes selling pricey hardware is the wrong way to go.

"Today, Berlin is one of the premier destinations for techno music fans. People come from all over the world to party all night to the rhythmic beat of Berlin’s club scene. And this music that the city is most famous for developed in large part because of the thing the city is most infamous for: the Berlin wall, which divided the city into east and west for almost thirty years" - 99% Invisible podcast introduces its new episode about the unusual destiny of the dance capital.

"For decades, I have taught courses on nuclear weapons and the Cold War. Conveying what life was like with the everyday fear of immediate destruction, especially to younger students, has become more and more difficult over the years... But one medium from the Cold War, more than any other, gets through to my students: MTV, Music Television. When I show them videos from the age of glitter and spandex that are filled with images of nuclear destruction, they finally grasp how much the threat of instant and final war was woven into the daily life of young Americans" - Harvard professor Tom Nichols writes in the Atlantic about his latest addition to the curriculum. "In fact, messages about nuclear weapons, nuclear war, and the end of humanity, by some counts, appeared almost hourly on MTV, making nuclear destruction second only to sex as the most ubiquitous video theme flooding the eyes of America’s youth in the 1980s".

"You have generations of Black artists who have been wary of where and how their material archival life-worlds are handled” - author Daphne A. Brooks says in Audiofemme interview about her new book 'Liner Notes for the Revolution: The Intellectual Life of Black Feminist Sound'. The book is divided into two sections (“Side A” and “Side B”), crisscrossing through time as Brooks connects writer and singer Pauline Hopkins, who was active in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with Janelle Monáe. Brooks is a Yale professor who previously wrote 'Bodies in Dissent' and the 33 1/3 book on Jeff Buckley’s album 'Grace'.

The Foreign Desk podcast looks into the Eurovision Song Contest from a point of geo-politics, with a witty twist from the hosts, coming from the least-successful country. TFD asks what the dos and don’ts of using Eurovision to project your nation are, and does it really have real-world political potency? Europe’s most popular cultural event will take place in Rotterdam next week, following last year’s cancellation.

The rising south-London rapper Enny talks to Guardian about a genre-generated shift in hip-hop and music in general: “It’s almost like a Renaissance moment for women who are taking a stand in what they want to do, and just being whoever they want to be when it comes to music. They’re not getting stuck in boxes, or focused on what they think that people might want to hear, or what labels are telling them to do. They’re just being themselves". There were women in hip-hop before, of course, but they were sporadic, now there's a movement: “Before Cardi [B] and Nicki [Minaj], it was Lil’ Kim and Missy Elliott, like you could pinpoint specific moments. But now you’ve got hundreds of lady rappers”.

"We get the government we deserve, I guess, because our entire society is built on marketing and manipulation. It's not just the US but the US has certainly been the purveyor or the cheerleader of this way of life more than any other place and sold it to the rest of the world as the way to go" - singer-songwriter John Grant says in The New Cue about hist new album 'Boy From Michigan', out June 25. That's the presumed facts, and then there's his emotions towards the society: "I mean, I love it, it's a great place, there's lots of great things, there's so much incredible beauty about the landscape and many of the greatest people I know live there and I have dear friends and I have family but I don't know, I don't feel romantic about Michigan, but I don't feel I feel romantic about the US flag".

An easy-to-listen-to and funny podcast on Stitcher about a few specific chord progressions that show up again and again in popular music. Music journalist Jennifer Gersten and comedic musician Benny Davis discuss 'The Ice Cream Changes' progression, which originated in the 1930s, and has been used by Led Zeppelin, Bonnie Taylor, Everly Brothers and many more. The 4-chord progression is the most famous of them all, used by artists ranging from Lynyrd Skynyrd to Lady Gaga, and from Bob Marley to Blink-182. Listen to the discussion below.

A beautiful collection of colored vinyl presented in the Guardian. 33 artists were given 33 test pressings of vinyl, who used it as a canvas to paint them however they liked. An auction of their work will be launched on May 20 at HeliumLondon.com, and all proceeds will go to mental health charity Music Support.

Musician and actor Matt Berry goes deep into some interesting comparisons in an extensive Brooklyn Vegan interview: "I spent a week just listening to Joy Division and absolutely nothing else, and he was really influenced by Jim Morrison. There are so many characteristics that I didn't really pick up on before. Is your bathroom so cold, and all that kind of stuff". Another comparison involving Beach House: "When I first heard them they made me feel the same way that the longer Doors song did -- the more atmospheric, 'End of the Night', that sort of stuff". His new album 'The Blue Elephant' is out now. He's done it "differently to the traditional way... you have songs that aren't traditional song structures, and a lot of the time there's no vocal at all. If there is a vocal, it won't appear until halfway through". The last suggestion: "Just listen to it with headphones".

Australia’s take on the hyperpop is variegated and contested, producing some of the most vibrant and delightfully strange pop in the country - Guardian argues presenting the blooming genre. The stand-out artists at the moment at the continent are: Oh Boy, Ninajirachi ("glassy and exhilarating, drawing in club influences"), Donatachi ("all the kind of obnoxious elements of Top 40 pop, but dialled up to 11”), Cookii, Perto, Daine ("it’s [the genre]created a lot of room for people to experiment and still feel like they have mainstream appeal"), Muki, and Banoffee. Spotify playlist.

Mally Mall, the producer who has worked with 2 Chainz, Tyga and Rae Sremmurd, has been sentenced to 33 months in prison for running a prostitution business, the LA Times reports. Between April 2002 and September 2014, the 45-year-old “operated a high-end prostitution business that transported victims across the United States” according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Nevada.

"Sons of Kemet have crafted a narrative that sees Black people freeing themselves from the constraints of oppression" - NME argues in favour of the fourth album by the London afro-jazz quartet (gave it 5 of 5 stars). The Skinny deems it best SOK album with "a thrillingly rich tapestry that combines passionate reflections on […]

Black Artist Database is a crowdsourced directory of Black artists and producers and Black-owned record labels on Bandcamp. It was previously known as Black Bandcamp. Easy-to-use tool offers the option to search by name, genre and location.

The awesome YouTube musicologist Adam Neely listened to songs of nine artists, offering advice on how to make the music better, through changes in mix, places of emphasys, and even how musicians should treat their bodies while playing. And a general advice he gave - it's just music, don't take it to seriously.

Hypnotic Brass Ensemble 'Soon It Will Be Fire' features Moses Sumney, a nearly sacral piece; UK rapper Berwyn offers a lovely hip-hop ballad 'Rubber Bands'; The Mountain Goats share superbly titled 'The Slow Parts On Death Metal Albums'; Hazel English fulfilled her dream - she moved to California and covered 'California Dreamin'', a way too pretty song and a way to nice a cover not to pick it out; AKAI SOLO and Navy Blue share psychedelic rap 'Ocean Hue Hours'; Resynator is a documentary about "a daughter connecting with her late father through the resurrection of a synthesizer from the 1970s that he invented", featuring The National's Matt Berninger and Ronboy doing 'Only a Broken Heart'; The Pleasure Dome share noisy punk 'Pretty Picture'; Wolf Alice keep on promising - 'No Hard Feelings' comes ahead of their new album, out in June; Shannon Lay goes in the best classic singer-songwriter direction with 'Rare To Wake'.

“You can think of music as being a thing in itself that is just sonic, but I don't think it is. Music is part of a bigger scheme of what your world view is, and what your temperament is at any given time” - Sons of Kemet's leader Shabaka Hutchings says in the Quietus interview ahead of their new album 'Black to the Future'. The recording process was shaped with time in mind - "What we did is we recorded the drums, we played for ten, 15 minutes, before the tuba came in. I might play the melody many times. The idea is that kind of communality, where you want to get out of the individual anxiety of what specifically you're playing, so it can just become a group enterprise, and it can only become a group enterprise after we've been playing circularly for ages”.

Revolutionary American composer Alvin Lucier will get a very special 90th birthday present that will be performed by 90 artists and is about to last for 26 hours. Artists will stage their performances of Lucier’s paradigmatic 1969 work 'I Am Sitting In a Room', an experimental work Lucier made to explore his own voice, consisting of echo and dissonance of his reading voice. Beginning on his birthday eve, Thursday, May 13th, 8pm EST (2am, Friday, May 14th Berlin time, 9am, Friday, May 14th Tokyo time) and continuing throughout all of Friday, May 14th, Lucier's birthday. The marathon on Thursday and Friday will feature members of his family, students and colleagues performing in various spaces, some of which have been part of the composer’s life. New York Times looks back into the artist's career.

Dua Lipa was named a double winner at the Brit Awards - she took home the British female solo artist and album of the year titles. Little Mix became the first all-female band to win best British group, Harry Styles took best British single for his song 'Watermelon Sugar', while J Hus received best British male solo artist. Female singer-songwriters Arlo Parks and Griff took home the British breakthrough artist and rising star awards respectively. The Weeknd won the international male solo artist prize, Billie Eilish was named international female solo artist winner, while Haim were dubbed best international group. The BRITs 2021 served as a government COVID pilot event, meaning that a scaled-back live audience – largely made up of NHS and key workers – witnessed this evening’s performances and acceptance speeches in person without the need to wear masks or social distance. NME reported from the event.

"I really like the parts of NFT that foreground the support of artists directly, and I love seeing whole new forms of art flourish in a new medium. But I think the financialization around the NFT space needs some heavy auditing... I don’t want people to bet on me like a racehorse” - Zola Jesus says to Pitchfork about NFTs, the latest creative-financial trend in music (and broader). Pussy Riot’s Nadya Tolokonnikova believes "NFTs are good because they claim that digital art is art, and they actually show that there is value in something that no one can touch”, whereas ANOHNI thinks "it’s shit".

Slate tracked down imposters using famous artists' names to attract listeners on Spotify, without even trying too hard to hide what they're doing. There was a Diana Ross who didn't look anything alike to the "real" Diana Ross, the age didn't match, music neither, and the artist was actually connected to Philippines-based record label Star Music. Electric Light Orchestra is the English 70s band, with the same name co-opted by an autotune-happy rapper. DJ Quik suddenly on Spotify started rapping in Spanish, and wasn't willing to show his face either. This happens a lot on Spotify, Slate argues.

The Punk Rock MBA YouTuber this week presents trap metal, a new genre combining trap-rap and metal, especially the industrial segment of it. The video-blogger goes from early pioneers like Suicideboys, Bones, Scarlxrd, Ghostemane, and XXXtentacion, and suggests newer trap metal artists like Mugxtsu, Mimi Barks, Sinizster, Gizmo and Sematary.

Beethoven's morning hygiene routine involved standing half-dressed before a mirror and pouring enormous pitchers of water over his hands while singing loudly to himself. After this, the German composer would count out exactly 60 beans and grind them, and make himself a coffee. Van Magazine's writer tried a week of this routine, as well as other somewhat strange daily routines of 4 other classical composers - Edvard Grieg, Erik Satie, Igor Stravinsky, and Antonin Dvořák.

Compass Music presents the Pakistan metal scene, including several stand-out bands. Dusk started in the early nineties, considered to be the first metal act in the country. Mizraab’s album 'Maazi Haal Mustaqbil' was the first commercial metal release in Pakistan. Odyssey, had a successful album 'Ghosts of Yesterday', with BlackHour, Tabahi and Wisdom Salad also presenting the scene.

Foo Fighters, The Go-Go’s, Jay-Z, Carole King, Todd Rundgren, and Tina Turner have been announced as The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees for the year 2021 in the Performers category. Additionally, LL Cool J, Billy Preston, and Randy Rhoads will receive the Musical Excellence Award. Kraftwerk, Gil Scott Heron and Charley Patton will get the Early Influence Award. NPR reports. "This is our most diverse class in the history of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame” - says chairman John Sykes.

If there was a year when music was the agent of change it was 1971, the new Apple TV+ docuseries '1971: The Year That Music Changed Everything' argues, Rolling Stone reports. The documentary was inspired by the book 'Never a Dull Moment: 1971 the Year That Rock Exploded' by David Hepworth, and it features footage of artists, many of whom have albums turning 50 this year, including George Harrison, Marvin Gaye, Joni Mitchell, Aretha Franklin, the Rolling Stones, John Lennon, Bill Withers, Elton John, Graham Nash, Bob Marley, Alice Cooper, and more. The eight-part docuseries also touches on the post-counterculture era and political and social upheaval.