Oneohtrix Point Never pays hommage to Swiss animator Georges Schwizgebel in the video for his new synth alter-pop single, ‘Long Road Home’; Tom Morello wrote 'Marching on Ferguson' for the film 'No Justice, No Peace', marking what would have been George Floyd‘s 47th birthday; The Bug releases moody, dark and cold new song 'You' featuring Dis Fig; US pop singer Demi Lovato released a protest song 'Commander in Chief'; Daniel Pemberton released a piece of good TV music for new drama 'The Trial of the Chicago 7'; The Body released intense, heavy, dark electro song 'A Lament'.

English 1970s rock star Peter Frampton has written a memoir describing the "perfect storm of factors that turned the commercial peak of Frampton’s career into a case-study in rock stardom gone wrong", including details of "series of rip-offs, sketchy management deals and unfortunate choices" he made in his career. New book 'Do You Feel Like I Do?' also "highlights his many creative achievements, from his days as a guitar prodigy, to his time fronting the hit band the Herd, to his formation with Steve Marriott of one of the world’s first super groups, Humble Pie, to his promising early solo work". Guardian talked to him.

"A celebration of humanity, as well as a call to better ourselves and better our connections and interactions with each other" - Brooklyn Vegan writes in a review of the new concert film 'American Utopia', based on David Byrne's concert show of the same name. Spike Lee's Spike’s direction is "spectacular. Cameras are situated everywhere, yet they never intrude on the proceedings and astoundingly his choices are perfect. There are moments we are on stage with the band, behind them, above them and, at times, in the crowd dancing and singing with the audience".

Apple TV+ has dropped the first trailer for Bruce Springsteen’s 'Letter to You' documentary on the recording of his upcoming album, the first collaboration with his E Street Band since 2014. “I’m in the middle of a 45-year conversation with the men and women I’m surrounded by,” Springsteen says in voiceover - “the years of playing together have created an efficiency in the studio. Ideas tumble around the room, confusion often reigns. And then, suddenly, dynamite. Alright, what can I say? The greatest thrill of my life is standing at that microphone with you guys behind me. Let’s do it”.

Very successful 1995 Oasis single 'Wonderwall' has reached billion stream on Spotify, becoming thus the first 90s song to ever surpass one billion streams on that streaming service, Stereogum reports. 'Wonderwall' was originally released as a single on October 30, 1995. It was released on Oasis' '(What's the Story) Morning Glory?' album, the UK’s third best selling album of all time.

"Black women struggle against stereotypes and are seen as angry or threatening when we try to stand up for ourselves and our sisters. There’s not much room for passionate advocacy if you are a Black woman" - Megan Thee Stallion wrote in an opinion piece in the New York Times, adding - "In every industry, women are pitted against one another, but especially in hip-hop, where it seems as if the male-dominated ecosystem can handle only one female rapper at a time. Countless times, people have tried to pit me against Nicki Minaj and Cardi B, two incredible entertainers and strong women. I’m not 'the new' anyone".

The UK government is to launch an investigation on whether the artists are paid fairly by streaming services such as Spotify and Apple Music, BBC reports. Music streaming in the UK brings in more than £1bn a year in revenue, however, artists can be paid as little as 13% of the income generated. Spotify is thought to pay between £0.002 and £0.0038 per stream, Apple Music pays about £0.0059, with YouTube paying the least - about £0.00052 per stream.

“I was surprised at how much I was writing, because I was in so much pain. I was not in the part of the pain where I was just reflecting on it” - Big Thief's Adrianne Lenker told The New Yorker about writing her solo album after breaking up with her husband, and (still) Big Thief member Buck Meek. She added - “I feel as if my psyche was putting as many things together as I could from my relationship, as many beautiful things as I could, to preserve it into eternity”.

Post Malone took home nine 2020 Billboard Music Awards last night, including the top artist prize. Billie Eilish seems to have been on the scene for ages now, but it's actually last year that she came to the music world big-time, so the Best new artist award went to her. Killer Mike took the first-ever Change Maker Award. Check out all the nominees and winners here. CoS argues the telecast ceremony was a "mess", especially Post Malone's performance, who forgot how to lip-sync.

Management company Big Hit Entertainment behind the K-pop boy band BTS has scored a huge hit on the country’s stock market on their first day of trading Wednesday - the shares started life on the Seoul market at 270,000 won ($US253), compared with an initial public offering price of 135,000 won last month. The stocks have climbed 30% to 351,000 won, so the company is now valued at almost 10 trillion won ($US8.5bn), Bloomberg reports. Band members’ personal wealth will also skyrocket after they were each given more than 68,000 shares in August, which means that BTS members are multi-millionaires now, with each owning shares worth 24 billion won (US$20.94 million), SCMP reports. The rise of stock has been added by reports that South Korea’s military recruitment agency was considering allowing pop and other celebrities to defer their national service. South Korea requires all able-bodied men aged between 18 and 28 to serve in the military for almost two years to defend the country against security threats from the nuclear-armed North. BTS’s 27-year old singer Jin will have to report for duty by the end of 2021, with the other six members, born between 1993 and 1997, following suit in the coming years.

Grayceon play hard-to-define-easy-to-listen-to music on 'Diablo Wind', let's just call it psych-folk post-metal; 'Bloodrush' is an intense electro-rap song with Andrew Broder, Denzel Curry, Dua Saleh, & Haleek Maul on board; Weather Station make a u-turn from folk - 'Robber' is jazzy alter-pop; James Blake releases 'Before', a cold and dancey new song, with haunting strings; an old Elton John song, 'Regimental Sgt. Zippo', very Beatles-sounding, is out now; members of Napalm Death, Converge, Megadeth, and Nasum reactivated the Blood From The Soul project - 'Debris of Dreams'; Ahya Simone takes a harpist angle to R'n'B with 'Frostbite'; new pop-folk band Thunder Dreamer present themselves with 'Of a Million'; Weird Al shares his first non-comedy song, a Portugal. The Man collaboration 'Who's Gonna Stop Me'; Bad Religion release 'What Are We Standing For' in solidarity with athletes taking a knee; Kristeen Young has taken her 2003 David Bowie collaboration 'Savior' and reimagined it as new track 'American Landfill', an unusual song with an unusual video; horn-player CARM shares a Justin Vernon pop-classical collaboration 'Land'; Americana lady Iris DeMent had a lot to say about the world today, so she made 'Going Down To Sing In Texas'; Open Mike Eagle delivers some clever punches on 'Death Parade'.

The Flaming Lips played a show in their Oklahoma City hometown Tuesday night with both the band and the audience members in bubbles, Brooklyn Vegan reports. The show was intended both as a test for the space-bubble live-show concept and as a music video shoot. The band only played two songs at the show - 'Brother Eye' and 'Assassins Of Youth' - from their new album 'American Head', each song played twice.

Fleetwood Mac's 'Dreams' has re-entered the Billboard Hot 100 chart for the first time in four decades, following a video from TikTok user 420doggface208, who shared a clip of himself cruising on a skateboard, lip-syncing to 'Dreams'. The song jumped 54% to 13.4 million streams and saw a 197% increase in downloads at 22,000, landing at No. 21 spot, Billboard reports. The album from which the single comes, 'Rumors', jumps up the Billboard 200 from No. 27 to No. 13 with 29,000 equivalent album units earned, a 48% rise.

Busker Martin McDonnell was playing Hozier's 2014 hit 'Take Me To Church' on a street in Dublin when a masked shopper stopped by do drop some cash in busker's guitar case. The singer immediately recognizes his patron, and halts his performance - “Thank you so much, have a good one man. Wow, that was Hozier!”.

Hipgnosis Songs has acquired 100% of Grammy Award-winning songwriter, producer and music executive L.A. Reid's publishing interests and writers share of income in his 162-song catalog. Reid's catalog includes Boyz II Men’s Grammy-winning 'End of the Road', Bobby Brown’s 'Every Little Step', 'Don’t Be Cruel', 'Roni' and 'Rock Wit’Cha', as well as Whitney Houston’s smash 'I’m Your Baby Tonight' and 'Queen of the Night', from 'The Bodyguard'. LA Reid He has also scored hits with the Whispers, Sheena Easton, Karyn White, TLC and Toni Braxton. Hipgnosis Songs' revenues soared in its first full year of business, climbing to $81 million in the 12 month period ended in March 2020 from around $8.9 million in the preceding period, Music Business Worldwide reports. The firm, which has been on an unprecedented acquisition binge of hit songwriter and producer catalogs - between March 2019 and March 2020, the company spent nearly $700 million to acquire 42 catalogs.

Ian Curtis’ signature Vox Phantom guitar, which most famously appeared in Joy Division’s 'Love Will Tear Us Apart' video, was auctioned off on Tuesday for £162,562, Far Out magazine reports. The guitar also toured with the late Joy Division frontman during the band’s 1980 European tour and was used on the recording of 'Closer' track 'Heart and Soul'. Following Curtis' untimely death, the guitar passed on to bandmate Bernard Sumner, who eventually gave it to his Electronic colleague Johnny Marr. Fifteen years later, Marr later returned the guitar back to Sumner, who finally left it with Curtis’ daughter, Natalie, who now sold it.

Ten years after he made it, Jay Electronica released his album 'Act II: The Patents of Nobility (The Turn)' last week (cause it leaked), which Pitchfork describes now as a "nearly an all-time classic LP, the kind of record that celebrates an art form while simultaneously pushing it forward". The P branded it "Best new music" and gave it grade 8,7.

The Danish toy company has announced a new Fender Stratocaster construction set based on a fan-submitted piece that won the 2020 LEGO Ideas contest, Brick Fanatics reports. The guitar set will be the first in a new music-centric series of LEGO releases, as the company looks to concentrate on its adult consumers.

The British government on Monday announced grants of 257 million pounds to help almost 1,400 arts and cultural organizations survive the coronavirus pandemic, Independent reports. The money goes to theaters, music venues, museums, and cultural organizations such as the London Symphony Orchestra, which received 846,000 pounds, Liverpool’s Cavern Club, where The Beatles shot to fame, which got a grant of 525,000 pounds, and The Brudenell, widely considered to be one of the UK’s greatest grassroots venues, with 220,429 pounds. The money is the first chunk to be spent from a 1.57-billion-pound Culture Recovery Fund.

Australian indie-pop band Lime Cordiale leads the pack for the 2020 ARIA Awards with eight nominations for their album '14 Steps to a Better You', including nods for album of the year and best group. Tame Impala is up for seven ARIAs with 'The Slow Rush', including a nod for album of the year. Hip-hop artist Sampa The Great is in the running for six ARIAs for her debut album 'The Return'. Also, among the nominees are Indigenous artist Miiesha, Britpop revivalists DMA’s, rockers Violent Soho, as well as Ruel, Amy Shark, Archie Roach, Jessica Mauboy, The Teskey Brothers, Tones and I, Troye Sivan, Cold Chisel, The Kid LAROI, Baker Boy and others.

BTS leader RM mentioned South Korea's shared "history of pain" with the US over the 1950-53 conflict, in which the two countries fought together, while accepting an award, but his remarks have angered Chinese social media users, as Beijing backed the North in the war. Adverts featuring BTS from companies including Samsung, sports brand Fila and car manufacturer Hyundai disappeared from a number of Chinese websites or social media platforms. "They [BTS] should not make any money from China" one user commented on Weibo, New York Times reports, adding - "if you want to make money from Chinese fans you have to consider Chinese feelings".

Big-sounding punk-rock of the latest Touché Amoré album 'Lament' has critics nodding their heads in approval. "A Touché Amoré album that can reach the most people as possible from the greatest distance" - Ian Cohen wrote for Pitchfork, which gave it it's Best new music tag, and 8,2 score. Stereogum chose it as their Album of the week because it shows "light at the end of that tunnel, the sound of Touché Amoré finding some kind of hope in this world". DIY magazine emphasized the work of Ross Robinson on this record - "there’s a crispness to the production that highlights every drum beat and crashing riff".

NPR’s new podcast Louder Than A Riot is the story of the “interconnected rise of hip-hop and mass incarceration” in America where "rhyme and punishment go hand in hand". From Bobby Shmurda to Nipsey Hussle, each episode explores an artist's story to examine a different aspect of the criminal justice system that disproportionately impacts Black America. It goes from the point of power - the power the music industry wields over artists, the power of institutional forces that marginalize communities of color, the power of the prison industrial complex and the power dynamics deep-rooted in the rap game.

"The worry is that the next generation of performers will come only from certain sections of society. It felt as if the chancellor was rebranding the arts sector as some sort of luxurious, decadent hobby, and now it was time for everyone to get their hands dirty – perhaps literally, as we are very short of people to pick fruit" - Tim Burgess of the Charlatans wrote for the Guardian commenting on UK chancellor Rishi Sunak's words that artists should look for other jobs. Burgess reminds the politician that in 2018 alone, the music industry contributed more than £5bn to the UK economy, and it employed 296,000 people.

Grime pioneer Dizzee Rascal has been made an MBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours list for his services to music, Sky reports. Dizzee Rascal is considered to have been one of the founding fathers of grime. In 2003, aged 19, the East London MC became the youngest artist to win the Mercury Prize, with his debut album 'Boy in da Corner'. He has become a Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, while hip hop duo Krept and Konan are awarded the BEM - the British Empire Medal.

"Japan has produced some of the world’s greatest musical acts and it’s high time their accomplishments were recognized" - Japan Times' Jonathan McNamara writes in an article reacting to Rolling Stone’s 'The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time' list. He lists the 10 best Japanese ones:

Yellow Magic Orchestra 'Solid State Survivor' (1979)

Shonen Knife 'Brand New Knife' (1997)

The Pillows 'Little Busters' (1998)

Ayumi Hamasaki 'Duty' (2000)

X Japan 'The Last Live' (2001)

Polysics 'For Young Electric Pop' (2002)

Asian Kung-Fu Generation 'Sol-Fa' (2004)

GaGaGa SP 'Best Album' (2007)

Perfume 'Game' (2008)

Boom Boom Satellites 'Embrace' (2013)

Song Exploder is a music podcast featuring musicians talking about the creative process behind an individual song while "deconstructing" the song into its component parts. The songs vary a lot - pop, hardcore punk, metal, r'n'b, etc. This month SE had moved to Netflix to become a documentary.

Killer Mike is one of the founding members of the new Black-owned digital bank Greenwood, which distinguishes itself from other digital banks with its emphasis on outreach to Black and Latinx communities, CNN reports. The venture officially launches in January of 2021 but has already received “tens of thousands” of account requests. In addition to offering checking and savings accounts, peer-to-peer transfers, and mobile deposits, the bank allows two-day payday advances for those with direct deposit. Additionally, Greenwood specializes in providing financing for Black and Latinx entrepreneurs, who often face barriers in acquiring small business loans from typical banking services.

Rapper 21 Savage and producer Metro Boomin land on top of the Billboard 200 chart with their third collaborative album, 'Savage Mode II', earning 171,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. last week, Billboard reports. K-pop girl quartet Blackpink enter Billboard's list at No. 2 with their debut full-length 'The Album', with 110,000 equivalent album units earned. On the other side of the ocean, Queen + Adam Lambert debut at Number 1 on the UK’s Official Albums Chart with a live collection 'Live Around The World'. It's Queen's first No. 1 album in 25 years. Blackpink are No. 2 in the UK as well.

Jack White performed on Saturday Night Live, accompanied by drummer Daru Jones and bassist Dominic John Davis. They played a bit of White's Beyoncé collaboration, 'Don’t Hurt Yourself', before transitioning into 'Ball and Biscuit' reworked to feature lyrics from 'Jesus is Coming Soon', a traditional gospel song about the 1918 Spanish Flu that was famously performed by Blind Willie Johnson. They finished with 'Lazaretto', for which White played Eddie van Halen model guitar, and in a further nod to Van Halen, White briefly played a finger-tapping solo on the guitar.