A group of prominent musicans are among the signers of an open letter calling for the European Union to adopt a new law cracking down on deforestation, as part of its efforts to tackle the climate emergency. Coldplay, Brian Eno, Sting, Robyn, Barbra Streisand, Bryan Adams and David Gilmour, are among the musical signatures, next to veteran climate campaigners, as well as actors, directors and activists. ClientEarth

Mark Levine, author of 'We’ll Play Till We Die' and 'Heavy Metal Islam' looks into the power of music in Muslim countries. "The training and skills necessary to create a DIY music scene in a culturally and politically hostile culture overlapped significantly with the skills needed to create independent political subcultures capable of challenging and transforming patriarchal and authoritarian systems"- Levine writes. However, "looking back on the last two decades, it was clear that while music and art can help make revolution irresistible to large numbers of people, they don’t make its success inevitable or even likely. States often ramp up violent repression and deploy equally powerful aesthetic and affective tropes, imagery, narratives and identities to counteract the power of art".

Pink Floyd have released a new song 'Hey, Hey, Rise Up!' featuring Andriy Khlyvnyuk of the Ukrainian band Boombox. The lineup on the track includes David Gilmour and Nick Mason with bassist Guy Pratt and keyboardist Nitin Sawhney, Guardian reports. 'Hey, Hey, Rise Up!' is the first original music from the band since 1994’s 'The Division Bell'. In similar news, Portishead will regroup next month for their first show in seven years, playing a short set as part of a War Child benefit concert supporting relief efforts in Ukraine, Consequence reports.

John Paul Jones appears in a new Playing for Change music video, performing Led Zeppelin's 'When the Levee Breaks' alongside 17 musicians from around the world, Rock and Roll Garage reports. The video features appearances from guitarists Derek Trucks and Buffalo Nichols, drummer Stephen Perkins, harmonica player Ben Lee, singer Susan Tedeschi, singer Elle Marja Eira, slide guitarist Keith Secola, vocalist Mihirangi and others. Playing For Change is a multimedia music project, featuring musicians and singers from across the globe, with the mission to connect the world through music. The song has so far generated $34,088, all funds will benefit charity partners of Peace Through Music, including Conservation International, American Rivers, WWF, Reverb and the Playing For Change Foundation.

Tom Morello, Mannequin Pussy, Speedy Ortiz, Bikini Kill’s Kathleen Hanna, Jeff Rosenstock, Anjimile are among 200 artists who signed off on an open letter against the palm-scanning technology from Amazon for entry to venues. Critics worry implementing palm scanners at shows comes with serious privacy and safety concerns for concertgoers. Rolling Stone reports on the issue.

K-pop icons BTS have raised an impressive $3.6 million after teaming up with UNICEF four years ago to create an anti-bullying campaign called Love Myself, NME reports. Launched in November 2017, the Love Myself campaign sends a powerful anti-bullying message, promoting self-love among children and young people across the world. In addition to the $3.6 million raised, the campaign has also generated significant interest online, with almost five million tweets mentioning the initiative, as well as over 50 million engagements.

"We aim to build a sisterhood of young people by providing an inclusive, non-judgemental, safe space for musical and creative expression... We’re much more than a charity, or a music project: we’re a supportive community" - Young Women's Music Project presents itself. It helps young women learn about and perform music and all the issues around it, via gigs, workshops, talks, training and more. Via Music Journalism Insider.

A lovely story in Pollstar about Dan O'Connor who has been jumping into Lake Michigan every day for over a year. Beginning of this year he started inviting musicians to perform live on the water's edge while he jumped, and using his daily ritual as a platform to fundraise for Chicago music venues.

Last year, Lil Baby wrote 'The Bigger Picture' in response to the police killing of George Floyd. In May, he joined the Floyd family at the White House, alongside attorney Ben Crump, to support passing the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act. In his hometown of Atlanta, he bought out an entire Foot Locker store and gave away sneakers in his old neighborhood, later downplaying his efforts on Instagram. "My life feels like a responsibility” Lil Baby says to Billboard - “I’m not even trying to be no role model, honestly. [But] now that I know that I am, I try to carry myself differently, because I got people watching. I don’t even be doing what I really want to do. I do what I gotta do now”.

Canada established a government-funded, Christian church-administered boarding school system in the late 1800s, with the goal of forcibly removing Indigenous children from their “savage” parents and impose English and Christianity. Some 150,000 Indigenous children attended these schools before the last one closed in 1997. The mortality rate for those children was estimated to be up to five times higher than their white counterparts, due to factors including suicide, neglect and disease - nearly 38,000 sexual and physical abuse claims from former residential school students were reported, along with 3,200 documented deaths. Guardian presents Canadian rappers coming from the indigenous communities who are using their music as a tool of recovery for themselves and their communities.