Liraz Charhi, an Israeli singer of Persian heritage, will in November release an album she made by working in secret with Iranian musicians, Guardian reports. The two countries consider each other arch-enemies, yet 42-old singer and actress contacted several Iranian artists online – singers, composers, players of tradition bağlama stringed instruments - to collaborate on her second Farsi-language album, 'Zan' (meaning “women”).
BMG will eliminate the application of the controlled composition clause which reduces royalty payments for artists that write their own songs, for all releases going forward, regardless of what each artist’s contract says, Music Business Worldwide reports. The control composition has been used to reduce songwriting royalty payments, allowing labels to pay such artists/songwriters only 75% of the statutory mechanical rate, currently 9.1 cents per song; and to limit royalty payments to 10 songs, even if an album has 14 songs. German music company made the move as part of its ongoing review of historic artist and songwriter contracts for anomalies or inequities.
"Still recovering from having gotten COVID at the end of February. I'm still dealing with the residual effects... Still coughing. There's still lung damage" - Tool's Maynard James Keenan told AZ Central about suffering from Covid-19. Hal also talked about wearing face-masks and freedom: "We wear seatbelts. We don't smoke in trains, planes or taxis anymore, or even restaurants. There's reasons for those things... Freedom is the ability to pursue your lifestyle, pursue what you want to do for your family, for your future, what education you want to get. And with that freedom comes a responsibility to look out for yourself, for your neighbor, for your family, for everybody".
Ted Kessler, final editor of Q Magazine has praised Beautiful South singer Paul Heaton for his generosity, revealing how Heaton supported staff when the publication closed, BBC reports. Kessler explained how the star made a large donation to the magazine this summer, which was shared amongst 40 staff and freelancers working for Q at the time. "It was just meant to make sure people weren't left on their arse" - Heaton said.
Windchimes melt black metal, hardcore and post-rock on 'Zetsubo//Succumb To'; Big Boi, Sleepy Brown, Killer Mike & Big Rubequite released a protest song 'We The Ones' in the vein of funk-infused southern rap; Channel Tres shows how it sounds when hip-hop and house combine on 'Skate Depot'; Stevie Nicks looks to the heavens on 'Show Them The Way'; proggy rockers Transit Method released a video for four of their recently published songs.
Former Happy Mondays tour manager Anthony Murray was arrested along with 15 others at a port in Istanbul when authorities found 500 pounds of cocaine aboard a ship from Colombia, The Sun reports. Turkish police - who thought his drugs gang was called the Happy Mondays - allege Murray was "management level" in the operation and was known as "Doctor". Murray claims he was "only heading to the country for a nose job". This is not the first major drug arrest for Murray - in 2014, he was sentenced to three years in prison over a 64 pound cannabis deal.
Van Halen saw an uptick of over 6,000 percent in album and song sales in the US in the day after Eddie Van Halen's death, Billboard reports. The total rise came from 40,000 copies of collected Van Halen albums and songs sold on Oct. 6, compared to just under 1,000 on the day before. Going by just album sales, Van Halen's catalog reportedly sold 9,000 copies on Oct. 6, an increase of 5,835 percent when compared to a negligible amount from Oct. 5. As far as songs, the group sold 31,000 single tracks on Oct. 6, with the most popular song, 'Jump', going in 3,000 copies.
Rapper T.I. has offered a monetary reward for anyone able to help with a kidney donation to his fellow rapper Scarface, SOHH reports. T.I. is offering a "bag of money". 49-year old Scarface is looking for someone to donate their kidney to him after a long battle with the coronavirus left him with permanent organ damage this year.
Streams of mental health playlists on Spotify have doubled this year, during the coronavirus pandemic, Independent reports. Playlists related to "mindfulness", "calm", and "self-care" have been streamed 57 per cent more in 2020 than they were last year. Podcasts related to self-help and self-care have seen a 122 per cent increase in streams.
Berlin-based drummer and keen modular synthesist Merlin Ettore filmed himself from an overhead perspective while playing his instruments. His exclusive set for the Fact magazine shows Ettore playing his drum kit and the Eurorack modular system.
The Flaming Lips are planning a concert in their hometown of Oklahoma City where both the band and the audience will be in giant bubbles, Brooklyn Vegan reports. Band's Wayne Coyne said they started the bubble thing in 2006 as a joke "and now it's becoming kind of serious and real". Coyne says three people fit in each giant bubble, adding, from his personal experience, that it holds a lot of air. The idea is to hold a big concert, maybe even two concerts in one night.
Foo Fighters have launched a new digital zine The People of Rock and Roll, featuring countless memories directly from Foo Fighters fans. Readers can filter through the 135 pages of stories at the time of publication by narrowing down to a specific bandmember or location.
Rapper Tory Lanez, real name Daystar Peterson, has been charged with shooting rapper Megan Thee Stallion in his car in the Hollywood Hills earlier this year, New York Times reports. Lanez is charged with one felony count each of assault with a semiautomatic firearm and carrying a loaded, unregistered firearm in a vehicle. He also faces a gun allegation and that he personally inflicted great bodily injury shooting Megan Thee Stallion at her feet. If convicted as charged, Lanez faces a possible maximum sentence of 22 years.
Listeners to BBC Radio 2's Sounds of the 80s have chosen U2's 'The Joshua Tree' as the best album of the 1980s. Released in 1987, it made U2 one of the world's biggest bands, thanks to anthems like 'With Or Without You' and 'Where The Streets Have No Name', BBC reflects. Dire Straits' 'Brothers In Arms' came second in BBC's survey, followed by The Stone Roses' eponymous debut, Michael Jackson's 'Thriller' on fourth and Guns N' Roses' 'Appetite for Destruction' on the fifth spot.
The unusual story about Britney Spears' conservatorship just got a new twist - singer's court-appointed lawyer Samuel Ingham told an L.A. judge she lacks the capacity to sign a declaration expressing her wishes and compared her to a "comatose" person. Furthermore, according to Billboard, Ingham filed that the conservatorship is voluntary, and if Spears wants out, Ingham can file the paperwork.
47% of music listeners feel it is important for the industry to offer livestream performances or virtual concerts, new Music 360 Report by MRC Data shows. So far only 25% of music listeners have tuned in to one of these shows, Billboard reports. Pandora co-founder Tim Westergren estimates the current value of the business at around $1 billion, with the potential to grow to the "tens of billions" within three years.
"Shamir’s music makes the listener want to wake up. Listening to it is like being shaken awake, blinds thrown open... This music is wildly fun to listen to" - Consequence of Sound writes in a review of Shamir's self-titled album. NME says it's "hugely focused, each song short and sharp and coated in precise production". Under the Radar rightfully says ''Shamir' is a pop album... Succinct. Catchy. Honest".
New York’s jazz festival Vision has been rescheduled and adapted for the sour times we live in now - it will take place both live and online starting Thursday, October 8 with a livestream solo performance by trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith, Jazz Times reports. A series of events - including performances by Oliver Lake, Andrew Cyrille, Amina Claudine Myers, and William Parker - will follow through Monday, October 12 that will be both livestreamed and held in front of an outdoor audience. The outdoor edition will be limited-capacity, socially distanced. Daily outdoor tickets are $75, and virtual tickets are $15.
MixMag questions the moral dilemma of reopening clubs during the pandemic. Some believe it is not worth the risk of transmission, and possible lockdowns, the others say we need to start reopening our societies. The magazine talked to promoters from Italy, Czechia, Germany and UK about their experiences and attitudes.
Something Old, Something New blog presents several YouTube music critics who do their critics in a different way, closer to YouTube as a medium, and to today's audience. The two SOSN takes out WillNE, a funny British guy, and Caitlin Marie Reacts who listens and reacts to classic albums.
The Goalie's Anxiety at the Penalty Kick is a new band playing atmospheric emo - 'We Love You So Much'; Divide and Dissolve play classical doom on 'We Are Really Worried About You'; Dizzee Rascal is in good form on 'Act Like You Know'; CocoRosie summoned together ANOHNI, Big Freedia, Brooke Candy, and Cakes da Killa on 'End of the Freak Show' in an effort to vote the American president out of the office; Bicep go natural and ambient on 'Apricots'.
Venom were the first truly important band when it came to extreme metal - the Quietus writes in a great article about how Venom got together and started what is now known as black metal. Band's frontman Cronos explains: “I love the idea of extreme metal. I just think you can't go too far... so long as it's just within the music y'know. The further the better, the more extreme the better, the more notorious, the more hardcore”. Band's 'Sons Of Satan: Rare & unreleased demos 79-84' is out now.
Pantera's late guitarist Dimebag Darrell was a big Van Halen fan, so when a limited edition guitar with EVH's signature tape-stripping was about to be launched, Darrell called Van Halen trying to buy on. Van Halen said no, but promised to bring him one personally. Darrell was killed on-stage soon after, so when Eddie van Halen came to his funeral he put one of these hand-taped guitars in his casket.
Johnny Nash was a singer-songwriter, actor, and producer, who started as a pop crooner to evolve into an early reggae star, releasing on the way the million-selling anthem 'I Can See Clearly Now', has died at aged 80 of natural cause, Variety reports. A rare American-born singer of reggae, Nash has also helped launch the career of his friend Bob Marley.
Nomcebo Zikode released 'Jerusalema' at the end of 2019 in South Africa, soon becoming one of the biggest local songs of the summer there. The song has since reached the top five on music charts in Belgium, France, Hungary, Netherlands and Switzerland. It has been streamed almost 55m times on Spotify, the music video has been watched more than 170m times on YouTube and 385m on TikTok. In September 'Jerusalema' became the most Shazammed song in history. Guardian tells the story of the birth of the song.
Guitarist Joe Satriani shared his thoughts on Eddie van Halen with the Billboard, after the virtuoso guitarist's passing: "The little technical things that guitar players can talk about for hours, they get picked up by a million people in a second. Everybody can copy the technical bits, but nobody could put the heart and soul and personality into each little bit like he could and no one delivered it like he did. He wrote great songs that were fun". Rage Against the Machine's Tom Morello looked up to him: "Eddie Van Halen was one of the greatest, most inventive, truly visionary musicians of all time. He was an unparalleled titan in the annals of rock & roll". Smashing Pumpkins' Billy Corgan was also an unexpected fan: “I am truly saddened by his loss; and isn’t it strange that a man who played an instrument spoke directly to so many in an unmatched way that rivals only a few: Coltrane, Hendrix, Parker, Miles, Django”.
New Zealand singer-songwriter Anderson Rocio wrote a dreamy, nostalgic tune called 'Paradise' after binge-watching international news on the pandemic. The song was picked by the producers of Netflix hit 'Lucifer' to play over a dramatic scene in season five, which aired last month. “Life’s not paradise, and we all know that, but it’s pretty great regardless of all the challenges. And that’s what we felt about the lockdown” Rocio told the Guardian about the song, which is now celebrated as hymn to post-Covid hope.
American president Donald Trump has ordered a halt to talks over a package of COVID-19 relief bills that included more than $10 billion in aid for independent music venues, agencies and music companies indefinitely shut down by the global pandemic, Billboard reports. National Independent Venue Association has been warning that without federal assistance, more than 90% of its 2,500 members would go out of business. Now, NIVA says the collapse is happening.
Van Halen guitarist and co-founder Eddie Van Halen has died at the age of 65, from cancer, the New York Times, who calls him "virtuoso of the rock guitar" reports. Eddie and his brother Alex formed their first band in 1972, eventually adopting the Van Halen family name for the group in the mid-'70s. The band released 12 studio albums, including the Diamond certified '1984', which has sold over 10 million copies in the U.S. The band was awarded a Grammy and got inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2007. Eddie van Halen's skills were also heavily sought out by many of his peers. He famously delivered the guitar solo for Michael Jackson's 'Beat It' off the 'Thriller' album. He's also worked with KISS, Black Sabbath, Brian May, Roger Waters, Steve Lukather and LL Cool J among others.
The US supreme court has declined to hear the case brought against Led Zeppelin by the estate of Randy Wolfe, late frontman of US band Spirit, in a long-standing copyright battle over 'Stairway to Heaven'. It was alleged that Led Zeppelin took the opening notes to 'Stairway to Heaven' from Spirit’s song 'Taurus'. Following a six-day trial in 2016, Led Zeppelin were cleared of plagiarism. That verdict was overturned in 2018. The case returned, but in March this year a US appeals court reinstated the original 2016 ruling. The only remaining recourse for Wolfe’s trustee team was the US supreme court, whose rejection of the case means it has finally ended, CNN reports.
“Whenever my band upload a new video, there will always be comments on how I look, people debating if they would have sex with me. I never see comments of this shallow nature directed to the three men in Svalbard. Ever. They get treated as musicians, I don't. I get treated as a sex object” - Svalbard’s Serena Cherry makes a perfect point in Loudwire’s article about double standards in rock music, which leads, of course, to sexism.
The co-founder and the guitarist of the Stockholm post-punk band Viagra Boys, has died aged 47. Representatives of the band shared this lovely note with Pitchfork: “Benjamin or “Benis” as we knew him, spread laughter and happiness wherever he went and we will cherish the memories we have of touring the world together. Benjamin, we love you with all of our hearts and Viagra Boys would have been nothing without you. This planet just lost one the good ones”.
Pitchfork got inspired by the latest Ed Sheeran video and published an essay about gory aesthetics in pop music: "This stylized imagery, heinous and perversely hilarious, was once foreign to the purview of chart-topping pop stars. For years it was weaponized by hard rock and experimental artists who sought similar extremes in their music. Dating back to the late ’60s, metal and its spawn of heavier subgenres have long been the cradle of horrific stimuli—all on some Satanic mission to corrupt the American teen, as the Christian right often argued. But in the past 13 years, the gruesome and gory has been liberated from that stronghold and embraced by the status quo".
Metallica have offered their band wisdom via MasterClass, as the first band to give a class on the streaming platform. In the course, they teach strategies for growing and staying together as a band, how to collaborate creatively, and develop and maintain a relationship with an audience, among other topics. The importance of communication is key - the band members point out.
A new study by Surfshark examined a variety of music sites to find which are the most invasive when it comes to tracking us online. They also looked at the safest. On Bandcamp five trackers were found. Rolling Stone on the other side 69 trackers were found.
"I used to hate Phish" - Brad Nelson starts his Pitchfork essay about the jam band. "Their music is inherently uncool, like the washed-up refuse of classic rock, prog, and whatever you want to call what Zappa did fused into hideous sound sculpture. It rejects whatever you think of as tasteful or intelligent or even humorous. Lyrics are nonsensical, silly, and/or corny, with few exceptions. The members of the band are aggressively unbeautiful singers, especially when they attempt to harmonize". It all started to change in the pandemic, the author looks back.
"At a time when it feels like anybody can stream anything, any time, anywhere, it can be easy to neglect the importance of location. But with global streaming experiencing tremendous year-over-year growth, local markets are becoming increasingly viable and offer important opportunities – and challenges – for anyone working in the music industries" - Ryan Blakeley, a Ph.D. in Musicology candidate, writes in his MBW op/ed. "Whether you’re an artist, running a record label, or working at a music streaming service, you can’t afford to overlook local markets and cultures. Locality shapes what we listen to, how we listen to it, and even who we are. It may seem paradoxical, but regionality is just as important – if not more important – in the current age of global streaming".
John Hinckley Jr., the would-be assassin of former American President Ronald Reagan, complained about alleged unpaid royalties for a song he says he "co-wrote" with the band Devo. Hinckley wrote a poem as an obsessive verse written to actress Jodie Foster, who Hinckley had been stalking and hoped to impress by assassinating Reagan. Devo's Gerald V. Casale said that DEVO was "blown away by the poetic sociopathy" of Hinckley's poetry and used a few of his verses in their song 'I Desire'. It seems he got at least $610 in royalties so far. Newsweek brings the crazy story.
The all-women band Yemberzal come from Kashmir, they play their distinctly traditional Sufiyana music at home and recording their sessions on their mobile phones. However, they can't reach anybody with it, as Vice reports. In August 2019, the Indian government revoked a 1948 UN resolution that gave Jammu and Kashmir autonomy as the only Muslim-majority state in India, and started one of the longest internet bans in history.
Music creation platform Splice and SoundCloud have joined forces to launch a new emerging artist program called, Nova, open to unsigned Splice and SoundCloud creators, MBW reports. The partnership starts with a series of contests across the Splice and SoundCloud communities with the winners of the first Nova Contest getting the production of their own Splice Sounds pack. Splice is set to release twelve Nova Artist Packs, collections of signature sounds, loops, and samples, starting January 2022.
