Sound Field presents Jersey club, a new style of dance music created by Black DJs from New Jersey which has recently gone viral online across YouTube, Instagram, and Tik Tok. The production of it used to be dominated by men, but today the women of New Jersey are helping to push this genre to new heights. Watch the video about the new trend below.

On January 1, 2021, Spotify enacted a massive, global takedown of music from thousands of independent artists. Some 750,000 songs were removed, the vast majority of which appear to have used Distrokid for distribution - Music Think Tank reports. Spotify is alleging artificial or “fraudulent streams”, and it appears Spotify's moves are targeted at any independent artist who used a third party playlist or independent marketing service to promote their music.

Under the Brexit deal, British musicians planning to play in Europe will now have to secure work permits for each individual country on a tour and face further red tape when it comes to transporting equipment and crew - Guardian reports about worries of industry figures and artists after the UK has finally divorced from the EU. Work permits were going to be a particular problem when touring with larger classical groups since there could be dozens of musicians needing to get a work permit. UK artists have already been calling for the government to possibly renegotiate a free culture work permit for UK performers in the EU.

English rapper Pa Salieu has been identified as Britain's most exciting musical talent this year by the BBC thanks to "his adventurous, infectious tracks with hard-hitting lyrics about life and death on the 'frontline' in Coventry". Previous winners of the "BBC Sound of" list include Adele, Ellie Goulding and Michael Kiwanuka. He shared a life lesson he learned in COV - "The thing that matters is what you're going to do with it - let it eat you up, or rise above it? Getting shot is the same as getting fired from your job. What are you going to do with it? Rise up, or what? That's life. Everything is a lesson".

Neil Young has sold 50 percent of the worldwide copyright and income interests in his 1,180 song catalogue to the U.K. investment firm Hipgnosis Songs, Variety reports. This deal includes both 50% of the publisher's share and 50% of the writer’s share in Young’s music, spanning his work with Buffalo Springfield, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young and Crazy Horse, in addition to the singer/songwriter’s full solo catalog. Industry experts Music Business Worldwide consulted suggest that the deal would have cost Hipgnosis in the region of $150m. Hipgnosis's Merck Mercuriadis told Rolling Stone "there will never be a ‘Burger of Gold’", since Young has never licensed his music for commercials.

Rapper and producer Dr. Dre, one of hip-hop's most successful, influential, and richest stars, is being treated in hospital after suffering a brain aneurysm, Billboard reports. Meanwhile, four men were reportedly arrested for trying to burglarize Dre's home after the news broke that he was in the ICU, TMZ reports.

Iranian-Dutch singer and producer Sevdaliza performed four tracks on the latest home edition of NPR's Tiny Desk Concert series from Amsterdam bookstore MENDO. Backed by a quartet of musicians, she kicked the performance off with a rendition of her 2017 track 'Human', and continued with 'Dormant', 'All Rivers at Once', and 'Gole Bi Goldoon', all from last year's acclaimed album 'Shabrang'.

Madlib is joined by Four Tet on the uplifting track 'Hopprock'; a sad story - after Justin Townes Earle died last year, his father Steve Earle recorded an album of his son's songs, and one of his own, 'Last Words', about their last conversation they had the night the younger Americana singer-songwriter died of an accidental overdose; emo-hardcore band Holy Figures released an EP about drugs, with songs named after women, melodic and powerful 'Lucille' stands out among them; Open Mike Eagle recorded a freestyle after hearing about MF Doom's passing, titled simply 'for DOOM'.

Phoebe Bridgers, Fleet Foxes, Billie Eilish, Beastie Boys, Wilco, Brittany Howard, Tenacious D, Mavis Staples, My Morning Jacket, Jon Batiste, and the Decemberists are among artists who created customized Yeti coolers for an auction benefitting the Crew Nation relief fund. The cooler company will make its own donation matching all proceeds up to $100,000, Rolling Stone reports. Handsomely decorated coolers are mostly stuffed with merch. The price range is $250 to $3,333.

Cardi B took to social media to fire back at trolls criticizing her for not letting her two-year-old daughter Kulture listen to 'WAP', which all started when certain Twitter users responded to a viral video of the rapper turning her No. 1 hit off when the toddler entered the room. "So ya daughter cant listen to it but everybody else’s daughter can?" one wrote. Cardi B answered - "I don’t make music for kids I make music for adults. Parents are responsible on what their children listen too or see…I’m a very sexual person but not around my child just like every other parent should be", ET Canada reports.

"Pure genre fare delivered by an artist with a refined, almost clinical approach to storytelling" - Pitchfork writes in review of Boldy James' fourth album of 2020. Produced by LA's Real Bad Man it is a "dope record about moving dope", CoS writes.

An interesting webinar 'Why Artists Are Selling Their Music Catalogs' about reasons why so many artists sold their catalogs in 2020, the companies that want them, and where this trend is heading. Two main reasons for artists - loss of income due to the pandemic, and lower taxes in the US (which will probably be raised soon).

Hipgnosis Songs has struck a big-money deal to acquire Jimmy Iovine’s worldwide producer royalties across 259 recordings, which includes U2, Bruce Springsteen, John Lennon, Eminem, Simple Minds... Iovine rose to prominence as an engineer in the 1970s, working with John Lennon ('Walls & Bridges', 'Rock & Roll'), Bruce Springsteen ('Born To Run', 'Darkness On The Edge Of Town'), Patti Smith ('Easter' and its single 'Because The Night'), Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers (3 times platinum 'Damn The Torpedoes'). In the 1980s Iovine produced a run of blockbuster albums for Dire Straits, Stevie Nicks, U2, Simple Minds, and The Pretenders, Variety reports.

Pitchfork presents the career of the recently deceased rapper MF Doom with a selection of 10 of his best songs. It covers his beginnings as a teenage MC Zev Love X from 1989, his transition to MF Doom in 1990s, and his numerous collaborations - including the ones with Madlib and Sade, and identities such as King Geedorah and Viktor Vaughn. Here's a 2009 extensive interview with MF Doom where we discusses his identity, music etc.

Alexi Laiho, the frontman and the guitarist of Finnish metal band Children of Bodom, died last week at home in Finland at the age of 41. Laiho, a guitar virtuoso who also played in Bodom After Midnight, Sinergy, Warmen, Kylähullut, and other groups, had suffered from long-term health issues. Numerous musicians have paid tribute to Laiho, according to Blabbermouth. In its obituary, Guardian writes that "Laiho remains a ray of light in the dank nihilism of death metal. His vigour and charisma were rare gifts, but fully exploited, creating a joyous twist on one of heavy music’s most macabre styles".

The Black Keys share previously unreleased instrumental song 'Black Mud Part II' from the 'Brothers' era; psychedelic screamo/metal band Portrayal of Guilt share '2020 Will Burn In Hell Forever'; 'i-38' is live funk rap by 38 Spesh; Napalm Death's Shane Embury releases an ambient industrial song 'Omisoka' with his band Dark Sky Burial; R.A.P. Ferreira shares a psychedelic new album with 'Sips of Ripple Wine (No Stemware)' included.

NME did a great job of picking out 100 artists from across the world, that are expected to make a name for themselves this year. Here's a few of them:

Death Tour - hardcore hyper-pop

Enny - slick London rapper

Hollow Sinatra - blender of genres

Pa Salieu - already on end-of-year lists

Baby Keem - Kendrick Lamar's protege with a great flow

Marijannah - stoner/metal from Singapore where drugs are strictly forbidden

Skullcrusher - atmospheric folk

For Those I Love - The Streets-meets-James Blake Irish singer

Fousheé - alter-soul

Frosty - a talented rapper and lyricist

Genesis Owusu - R'n'B meets rap, somewhat grandiose

Goy Gumbani - chill, conscious rap

Kenny Hoopla - indie-pop

Martha Skye Murphy - pianist and Nick Cave collaborator

Scalping - techno meets punk

The British listened to 139bn audio streams last year, up from 114bn in 2019, with streaming accounting for more than 80% of overall music consumption in the UK in 2020, Guardian reports. The top 10 streaming artists in 2020 each achieved more than half a billion streams in the UK, while 8,000 different acts totaled 1m streams annually. Lewis Capaldi's 'Divinely Uninspired to a Hellish Extent' was the most-streamed album for a second successive year in the UK, while The Weeknd’s 'Blinding Lights' was the most-streamed single. CD sales slumped a further 31% to 16m units in the UK, while sales of vinyl records increased for the 13th consecutive year, by 11.5% to 4.8m copies purchased.

The IRS has determined Prince’s estate to be worth $163.2 million — nearly double the $82.3 million valuation put forth by the estate, NBC reports. Court documents put the balance of the discrepancy largely on music publishing rights and “recording interests.” As a result, the IRS is seeking an additional $32.4 million in federal taxes, as well as a $6.4 million “accuracy-related penalty” for “substantial” assets undervaluation. Prince left no will, leaving it to his estate to wade through some messy legal waters. All of this legal drama has meant that Prince’s heirs, his six siblings, have yet to see a cent of their inheritance. Meanwhile, the estate has paid out tens of millions to consultants and lawyers.

"I never thought I was going to be a singer. I'm not making music to be recognised as a singer. It's been a by-product of it that that has happened" - UK singer Greentea Peng told BBC, which chose her as their Sound of 2021. "I'm literally doing my healing process in front of everyone because every song I'm writing is just me going through the works, I'm not making anything up" - she added about her music-making experience.

Gerry and the Pacemakers singer Gerry Marsden, whose version of 'You'll Never Walk Alone' became the FC Liverpool's anthem, has died at the age of 78, Sky reports. Marsden's band was one of the biggest success stories of the Merseybeat era, with Sir Paul McCartney describing Gerry and the Pacemakers as The Beatles's "biggest rivals". The band's other best known hit, 'Ferry Cross The Mersey', came in 1964. Liverpool FC posted on social media that Marsden's words would "live on forever with us".

Playboi Carti's Christmas Day release 'Whole Lotta Red' grabs No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart, the first top spot for the rapper, Billboard reports. Playboi Carti's second studio album starts with 100,000 equivalent album units earned in the U.S. in the week ending Dec. 31.

Claude Bolling, the French pianist, composer and arranger who attained a worldwide following through his melodic blend of jazz and classical influences, has died aged 90, Chicago Tribune reports. He arranged music for Brigitte Bardot and Juliette Greco among others, wrote soundtracks for hundreds of French film and television productions, as well as American movies 'The Holiday' and 'Joker'.

Viagra Boys and Amy Taylor cover John Prine's song 'In Spite of Ourselves' about the fact that there's love for anybody; Foo Fighters released 'No Son of Mine', a song Dave Grohl said was their version of David Bowie’s 'Let’s Dance'; the Stellar band consisted of Yves Tumor, Kelsey Lu, Kelly Moran & Moses Boyd shares an art-pop single 'Let All The Poisons That Lurk In The Mud Seep Out'; Bill Callahan and Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy release a cover of Lou Reed’s 'Rooftop Garden' with George Xylouris.

More than 2,500 people have attended an illegal rave in a warehouse at Lieuron near Rennes in Brittany, which began on Thursday and lasted for two days, Le Monde reports. Local authorities said police had tried to "prevent this event but faced fierce hostility from many partygoers". Attendees have clashed with police, setting fire to a car and throwing objects at officers attempting to shut the event down. At least three officers have been injured. Late on Friday, France's Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin held a crisis meeting to discuss the event. On Saturday morning the rave was interrupted, the sound was shut, and participants began to leave the premises.

Wham!'s festive song 'Last Christmas' has topped the UK singles chart for the first time, 36 years after it was first released, the Official Charts reports. The Christmas classic was streamed 9.2 million times over the last week, knocking LadBaby's 'Don't Stop Me Eating' off the top spot. The song was first released in December 1984, it has returned to the top 10 a further six times, and now holds a new chart record - for the longest time taken for a single to reach number one.

Guardian presents 30 new artists expected to break big this year, including some drill, hardcore punk, ambient music, indie-rock etc. Among others, the G has big expectations from Ivorian Doll, drill's first female star, Irish James Blake-meets-The Streets artist David Balfe, Ghanian pop singer Amaarae, London rapper Enny...

Intricate and enigmatic rapper and producer MF Doom had died aged 49, his wife Jasmine Dumile revealed on New Year's eve, Pitchfork reports. The elusive rapper has however died two months ago, on October 31. The cause of death was not revealed. Born Daniel Dumile in London, raised in Long Island, he first rapped under the alias Zev Love X with the group KMD in the late '80s. Inspired by the Marvel character Dr. Doom, he rechristened himself MF DOOM and released several solo records where he spit bars with playful and twisted intricacy, grounded by his own classic soul- and funk-sampling production. He also released collaborations 'Madvillainy' with Madlib, 'The Mouse and the Mask' with Danger Mouse, as well as projects under aliases Viktor Vaughn and King Geedorah. He also produced tracks for Ghostface Killah and MF Grimm. In 2010 he returned to London where he found everything to be "all new, all fun". MF Doom's latest release was, as we now know, a posthuman collab with BadBadNotGood released two weeks ago. Brooklyn Vegan collected tributes to MF Doom from numerous artists, including Flying Lotus, El-P, Tyler the Creator, Questlove, Jay Electronica, Q-Tip, Denzel Curry, Westside Gunn, DJ Premier, Phonte, JPEGMAFIA, Ty Dolla $ign, Roc Marciano, Sa-Roc, Cordae, Playboi Carti...

Billie Eilish has lost 100,000 followers on Instagram after she posted a drawing she made of women’s breasts and other private parts, Cosmopolitan reports. The 19-year-old Eilish was asked to post “a drawing you’re really proud of”, and she shared a notebook page full of private female parts. In the half-hour since she first shared the photo, Eilish had rapidly lost 100k Instagram followers, to which she reacted in her story - “LMFAOOO y’all babies smh”.

The year was great, judging from the perspective of music released in 2020, proving nothing can turn off the creative spark. In an attempt to remember the year by its virtues, we substitute the usual bad-news-chronology of a year with the best albums list ordered chronologically (by the date they were released). So, THIS was the year.