A very interesting theory in The Baffler about Hipgnosis and similar investment funds which buy rights to old hit songs, and make cash from those songs being played or remade. "This puts them in a curious position with regard to 'new music', which they must perforce view with a combination of avarice, suspicion, and fear. Every original song that gains cultural traction drains potential listeners—and therefore revenue—away from the Hipgnosis portfolio, diluting the value of their assets... In their ideal world, therefore, there are no original songs, no fresh styles or hybrid genres—nothing, in short, which might lure listeners away from the necrotic embrace of 'Can’t Touch This'”.

Spotify has launched a new website – Loud & Clear – with plenty of information about money generated on the streaming platform. In 2020, some 13,400 acts generated total payments in excess of $50,000 around the world, double the number of artists who generated over $50k in payments from Spotify in 2017 (7,300). Also, L&C shows that 7,800 artists generated $100k-plus in 2020, the $500k-plus-per-year club counted 1,820 artists in 2020, and the $1 million-plus-per-year club counted 870 artists in 2020. Generated is important here - it's the amount made by the artist's music, and that amount is being split by the artist and the publisher, with the big chunk (85% or so) going to the publisher. As of 2020, Spotify has paid over $23 billion in royalties to rights holders — including over $5 billion in 2020 alone, up from $3.3 billion in 2017.

Isol-Aid started in March as a one-off festival, but the success of the first one gave organizers strength to continue. It has since grown into a weekly event, with an average of four artists performing, Guardian reports. It has since hosted 881 artists, resulted in record deals, evolved to a paid gig (to compensate the artists), with around 35,000 viewers on average tuning in each week. Bigger artists like Julia Jacklin, Stella Donnelly, and Middle Kids appear alongside lesser-known, like health-care workers doing music as a hobby. It's streamed on TikTok, where performers stream on their own account and then direct audiences to the next act, as well as on Isol-Aid.com. On Sunday, March 21, line-up consists of Jaguar Jonze, Hockey Dad, Julia Stone, and Isaiah Firebrace.

Indonesian drummer Deden Noy has built his own kit from paint cans, small barrels, packing tape, and metal trays covering Dream Theater, Avenged Sevenfold, System of a Down, Rush, and other bands for his YouTube channel. Noy got nearly a million views for his cover of Dream Theater’s 'Metropolis Pt. 1', with attracted the attention of Mike Portnoy who promised the drummer a new kit & cymbals from Tama and Sabian. Loudwire reports.

"We’ve sold six million albums for Epic Records, and they’ve made $50 million... We haven’t made any money off of record sales, album sales. It’s all gone to the major labels" - Chevelle's frontman Pete Loeffler said, adding "we just don’t make money the way the deals are structured". He explained that "contracts are a bitch, and we’ve signed some raw ones. And we need to start trying to make some money off of our catalog, which is 10 albums deep, plus all the side stuff", according to Blabbermouth. Chevelle have a new album 'Niratias' ('Nothing Is Real And This Is A Simulation') out.

Kanye West's sneaker and apparel business Yeezy, a venture with Adidas AG and Gap Inc., has been valued at $3.2 billion to $4.7 billion by UBS Group AG, according to Bloomberg. An unaudited balance sheet of West finances includes also $122 million in cash and stock and more than $1.7 billion in other assets, including a significant investment in Skims, Kim Kardashian’s underwear label. West’s entire music catalog is worth $110.5 million. In 2015, West said he was $16 million in debt. A year later he said he owed $53 million. By 2018, however, he was earning more than $100 million in royalties through its Adidas relationship. Forbes made its calculations of West's wealth, and those are significantly lower. The Yeezy company that West is the sole owner of is currently worth $1.5 billion by Forbes' estimates, not $3.2 to $4.7 billion like the Bloomberg report implies. The Bloomberg report also mentioned an additional $1.7 billion in personal assets - Forbes thinks that number is closer to $160 million. Forbes estimates his total net worth to about $1.8 billion. 

Carlos Niño is joined by Jamael Dean and Shabaka Hutchings on the meditative minimal jazz 'Please, Wake Up'; Mick Jenkins shares 'Designer Frames' produced by Kaytranada in his signature dance-rap style; Writhing Squares' 'Chart for the Solution' is an 11-minute one-chord jam; DeVotchKa shares nice orchestral movie-music 'Lose You in the Crowd' from 'The True Adventures of Wolfboy'; Helado Negro covers Deerhunter’s 'Futurism' for a new compilation featuring artists from the 4AD's roster covering songs from throughout the label’s 40-year archive.

Is it safe to destroy our CD collection? - Guardian's Matt Charlton asks and answers: "With a monthly streaming subscription, or even the likes of iTunes, we are paying for a licence to listen to the music, not ownership of the music itself. What if, as happened last month with a number of K-pop songs on Spotify, the music we hold dear and listen to every day suddenly disappears?.. Of course, there are sentimental reasons for holding on to our CDs, too. For some of us, they are a physical manifestation of youth; a disc-by-disc autobiography... Amid our stressful lives and the fresh starts we’re about to embark upon, our CDs are scratched little time capsules worth holding on to".

Obviously, members of Sleigh Bells, Powerman 5000, Glassjaw, The Black Dahlia Murder, and Gwarsenio Hall were young in the 1990s, so in their latest edition of Two Minutes to Late Night they made a medley of a bunch of classic '90s club jams, including Alice DJ’s 'Better Off Alone', DJ Sammy’s 'Heaven', Vengaboys’ 'We Like To Party!', Corona’s 'The Rhythm Of The Night', Haddaway’s 'What Is Love (Baby Don’t Hurt Me)', and more.

This year's editions of UK festivals Glastonbury and Download are cancelled, since they were to happen early in the summer. Others, who were scheduled for late summer, or have been rescheduled, are planning to go ahead, "confident that fans will be allowed to mosh, pogo and stage-dive with the risk of injury, rather than disease, their main concern", as BBC puts it. Dozens of fests should go ahead, among them All Points East (headlined by Jamie xx, Kano, Slowthai, Arlo Parks, Bicep), Hyde Park (Pearl Jam, Duran Duran, Pixies), Camp (Fatboy Slim, Kelis), Creamfields (Deadmau5, Carl Cox, Eric Prydz, Tiesto, Bicep), Isle Of Wight, Latitude (Lewis Capaldi, Bastille, Snow Patrol), Reading & Leeds (Stormzy, Post Malone, Liam Gallagher, Queens Of The Stone Age), Y Not, Womad...

Covering the build-up to, and the aftermath of, the pop star’s accidental overdose in the summer of 2018, four-part series 'Demi Lovato: Dancing With the Devil' is harrowing and unflinchingly honest - Guardian writes in review on the new docu about the American pop-star. The G points out how "its central theme – that one individual shouldn’t bear the burden of other people’s expectations – is important". Lovato revealed deeply private information in the documentary, about how she was raped as a teenager, and sexually assaulted by her dealer. The docu airs on YouTube from 23 March.

“For artists, the protest song is an increasingly difficult proposition" - film director and musician Don Letts writes in Radio Times (via Guardian), adding - "in a world so woke you can’t make a joke, trying to navigate the minefield of fake news, conspiracy theories and information overload is made even trickier by the fear of being accused of cultural appropriation”. He also writes that he believes musicians are being “by default part of the business. In my day, getting into music felt like a rebellious, anti-establishment thing. Today, many see it as a way of becoming part of the establishment”.

Massive Attack‘s Robert Del Naja said he was “pretty livid” over the live music industry not meeting pledges to reduce its carbon footprint, Sky News reports. 3D highlighted Coldplay’s decision to stop touring until they could make it “environmentally friendly as possible”, adding, however, that “one band not touring doesn’t change a thing”. Del Naja also highlighted the possible “different solutions” for transportation like trains and buses. “Now is the time for action, no more pledges” - he told the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee as part of its ongoing investigation into the future of UK music festivals.

The Union of Musicians and Allied Workers organized protests outside Spotify’s offices in 31 cities in the US and Canada, South America, Australia, Europe, and Asia on Monday, Clash Magazine reports. The peaceful demonstrations were meant to draw attention to the “Justice at Spotify” list of demands, which includes paying artists one cent per stream (Spotify currently pays some artists as little as $0.0038 per stream, which is among the lowest rates of any platform), plus transparent contracts, a more user-centric payment model, an end to payola, a switch to crediting all labor in recordings, and an end to legal battles against artists which serve to “further impoverish artists”.

“We’re approaching things by saying, ‘Let’s not even pretend that we’re trying to replace the live club experience’” - James Minor, who oversees SXSW Music, says to Texas Monthly about this year's edition of the famous festival. Instead of bringing 45-minute sets as part of an six-hour event at a club, each showcase will be a single hour of entertainment, because “people’s attention spans are a lot shorter online”, Minor says. There are no big-name headliners this year, he says, instead, this year’s festival will be focused on launching the careers of artists who’ve struggled with getting attention during the pandemic. “It’s supposed to be the coming-out party for what happens next in music" - Minor explains. Some of the bands who are going to perform are English new rock stars Black Country, New Road, country artists Jade Jackson and Aubrie Sellers who will perform together, Danish heavy metal heavyweights Iceage, Montreal shoegazers No Joy... SXSW 2021 is due March 16-21.

Google Arts & Culture has a very well laid-out microsite about the history of electronic music. It covers the technology used to make the music, the essential clubs, the studios, the musical innovators, and much more (although it is a microsite).

Oxford University Press has made several articles about music and technology available for free until the end of May. Articles explore "the impact of technology on the field of Music, including discussions on studies of musical instruments through CAD and 3D printing, and how the recording studio can be perceived as an instrument in its own right".

Thione Ballago Seck, from a family of “griot” singers, one of the West African country’s most famous musicians, alongside Youssou Ndour, Omar Pene, Ismael Lo and his own son, Wally Seck, has died at the age of 66 in Dakar on Sunday, al Jazeera reports. In the 1970s he sang in the Orchestre Baobab, known for playing a mix of Afro-Cuban salsa and traditional Senegalese music. In 1980 the singer and lyricist founded Raam Daam, which became one of the most popular purveyors of mblalax, a genre combining funk, reggae, dance music and local rhythms.

The music movie 'Sound of Metal' about a drummer who goes deaf is nominated for an Oscar in the best picture category, the Academy has revealed. The lead actor from that movie, British musician and actor Riz Ahmed, is nominated for his leading role in that movie. Chadwick Boseman, who died last year, is up against him in the same category for his performance in 'Ma Rainey's Black Bottom'. Also, Viola Davis is nominated in the Actress in a Leading Role category for her performance in 'Ma Rainey's Black Bottom', as well as Andra Day for 'The United States vs. Billie Holiday'. Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross are nominated twice in the Original Score category, with 'Mank' and 'Soul' - Jon Batiste joins them in the latter. Also, in the same category, nominated are Terence Blanchard with 'Da 5 Bloods', Emile Mosseri with 'Minari', and 'News of the World' by James Newton Howard. In the Original song category nominated are: 'Fight For You' from 'Judas and the Black Messiah', 'Hear My Voice' from 'The Trial of the Chicago 7', 'Husavik' from 'Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga', 'lo Sì (Seen)' from 'The Life Ahead (La Vita Davanti a Se)', and 'Speak Now'" from 'One Night in Miami…'.

"From start to finish, 'A Common Turn' takes you through Savage’s liberating highs, all whilst throwing you her turbulent lows – a raw and emotive album, to say the least" - the Quietus wrote about the debut album by English singer-songwriter Anna B Savage (30). Clash Music loves how intimate it is: "This is a gem of an album. Personal, honest and highly emotive, it tackles big questions; but most of all, it dares to be vulnerable".

Taylor Swift has become the first woman in Grammy Awards history to win album of the year three times - the 31-year-old songstress took home the top prize last night with 'Folklore'. Swift previously won album of the year in 2010 for 'Fearless', at that time, the youngest artist ever to do so, and in 2016 for '1989'. The only other musicians to win thrice are Stevie Wonder, Frank Sinatra, and Paul Simon, USA Today reports. Beyoncé became the most-decorated woman in Grammys history with her 28th win, while her daughter Blue Ivy Carter, at 9 years old, became the second youngest person to win a Grammy, according to CBS News. Billie Eilish accepted the Grammy for Record of the Year for her song 'Everything I Wanted', Megan Thee Stallion won Best New Artist, H.E.R. took Song of the Year for 'I Can't Breathe', Check out all the nominees and winners here. BBC picks out five special moments from the ceremony, including Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion simulating sex onstage (a Scissor Sisters moment, right!?).

Adrian Crowley shares a bit of psychedelia indie with 'Northbound Stowaway'; Human Impact offer dirty industrial rock on 'Recognition'; DJ Muggs and Rome Streetz go old-school hip-hop on 'Ace of Swords'; Kele of Bloc Party shares a hypnotic guitar loop on 'The Heart of the Wave'; afrobeat meets hip-hop on 'Cosmosis' by the late Tony Allen featuring Skepta & Ben Okri; Chronixx cries for peace (and legal ganja) on psychedelic reggae 'Safe N Sound'; former post-hardcore band Trophy Scars deliver an Americana-blues song 'Father: Part I'.

Aphex Twin sold a new unique piece of artwork in the form of an NFT for $128,000 on the cryptocurrency marketplace Foundation, NME reports. The piece, titled afx\/weirdcore\blockscanner, is a collaboration between Aphex and regular collaborator and visual artist Weirdcore, and features music from the DJ and “additional technical input” from multidisciplinary artist Freeka Tet.

A great talk with singer-songwriter Richard Thompson, a long time ago a member of Fairport Convention, in Guardian about his new book 'Beeswing: Fairport, Folk-Rock and Finding My Voice' about the start of his career. Thompson is a touring musician and misses playing now in the pandemic - live music needs to happen, he says, “otherwise, as a human race, we will go extinct. Music is so great for kids. It makes you cleverer at everything else, and also teaches you to go past a mistake. If you make one [when you play live], you can’t burst into tears and stop. You just have to carry on”.

Apart from the biggest categories, there were some noticeable wins at the Grammys last night. Kaytranada won Best Dance/Electronic Album with 'Bubba', Fiona Apple won Best Rock Performance with 'Shameika' as well as Best Alternative Music Album with 'Fetch the Bolt Cutters', Brittany Howard won Best Rock Song with 'Stay High', The Strokes won Best Rock Album with 'The New Abnormal', Thundercat won Best Progressive R&B Album with 'It Is What It Is', Gillian Welch & David Rawlings won Best Folk Album with 'All The Good Times', Burna Boy won Best Global Music Album with 'Twice As Tall', Body Count won Best Metal Performance with 'Bum-Rush', even Kanye West won, in Best Contemporary Christian Music Album category with 'Jesus is King', tying Jay-Z as the most ever Grammy-awarded among hip-hop artists with 22 awards.

Morgan Wallen spends a ninth week at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart with 'Dangerous: The Double Album', which is most weeks at No. 1 for any album since Drake scored 13 nonconsecutive weeks at No. 1 in 2016 with 'Views'. 'Dangerous' is also one of four country albums ever to spend at least nine weeks in the lead. Billboard reports. 'Dangerous' earned 78,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in the week ending March 11, down a meager 6% from the previous week.

World-renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma played a short gig in the observation area at the Berkshire Community College in Massachusetts after receiving his COVID-19 vaccination this week. Ma said he wanted to “give something back” after receiving his jab, so he played a 15-minute concert for others waiting at the centre, the Berkshire Eagle reports. Ma’s set was observed by a small crowd that were masked and socially distanced.

Satanic Planet is a new industrial metal supergroup featuring Justin Pearson of the Locust and Dead Cross, Dave Lombardo of Dead Cross and ex-Slayer, Luke Henshaw of Planet B, and Lucien Greaves, co-founder of the actual Satanic Temple, The PRP reports. Greaves will be penning lyrics for Satanic Planet, while Pearson will be on vocals. They are also working with a variety of guests on their debut album, including Cattle Decapitation's Travis Ryan, Silent's Jung Sing, Eric Livingston, Nomi Abadi, Shiva Honey, as well as Steve-O of ‘Jackass‘. Satanic Planet members are pointing to the date of May 28.

The 63rd Grammy Awards take place in Los Angeles on Sunday night, with performances from Billie Eilish, BTS, Taylor Swift, Dua Lipa, Harry Styles and Cardi B - it's available to watch online (at 5 PM LA time, 1 PM Monday Berlin time, 9 AM Monday Tokyo time). This year's ceremony will have to audience, and performers will be separated onto five stages. The awards will be handed out by bartenders, security guards and cleaners from concert venues that have been forced to close because of Covid-19.

The Weeknd has said he will boycott future Grammy Awards after not being shortlisted for a single award this year, the New York Times reports. He said he would remain absent from the event until the Recording Academy, which organizes the awards, got rid of the "secret committees" that decide many of the nominations. The Grammys voting procedures are notoriously opaque, with review committees having the final say in 72 of the 83 categories. The anonymous panels, which can include musicians, record label staff and experts, review the initial choices of the Grammy voters and have the final say over who makes the shortlist.