Roxy Music's guitarist Phil Manzanera talked to The Telegraph about how much he makes from music: "Luckily, Roxy have continued to be popular, so it’s like having a pension. I don’t have any other pensions... I was also lucky to have my guitar riff from my 1978 second solo album 'K-Scope' sampled in 2011 by Jay-Z and Kanye West, who built a whole song around it. The track, 'No Church in the Wild' on the 'Watch the Throne' album, won a Grammy and was hugely successful and used in films and lots of ads. It was like winning the lottery out of the blue. I get more than they get for it: a six-figure sum over 10 years. And they continue to pay me multiples of six figures because they’re so successful and I partly own my share. It’s prob­ably more than I ever earned in Roxy: we had all the gold albums but no gold!".

A reminder to Dan Runcie's earlier essay: "Jay-Z, Rihanna, Kanye West are on the top shelf of rap’s new-money class. They became world-famous millionaires through the music industry, but realized they would have to sell more than music to become billionaires. The 'Run This Town' trio used music as the gateway, then capitalized on their influence at the height of their fame. Jay-Z made bank from selling Ace of Spades champagne and investing in startups. Rihanna built her Fenty empire into multiple brands. And Ye has sold so many Yeezys he’s probably lost count. The bottom line? Star power gets you in the door, but to maximize your platform, you need to sell something authentic that customers want to keep buying".

Damon Dash tried to auction off his ownership of the copyright to Jay Z’s first album, 'Reasonable Doubt'. At first, Dash wasn't so clear he didn't want to sell the entire Reasonable Doubt album as an NFT - he wanted to sell his one-third ownership share of Roc-a-Fella as NFT. However, Jay-Z raised a lawsuit, and on June 22, a New York judge ruled in favor of Jay-Z to stop the auction. Three days later, on 25th anniversary of 'Reasonable Doubt', Jay Z and artist Derrick Adams collaborated to auction NFT artwork for the classic album. Trapital explains the hassle.

Foo Fighters, The Go-Go’s, Jay-Z, Carole King, Todd Rundgren, and Tina Turner have been announced as The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees for the year 2021 in the Performers category. Additionally, LL Cool J, Billy Preston, and Randy Rhoads will receive the Musical Excellence Award. Kraftwerk, Gil Scott Heron and Charley Patton will get the Early Influence Award. NPR reports. "This is our most diverse class in the history of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame” - says chairman John Sykes.

In the span of mere weeks, Jay-Z’s net worth has jumped 40 percent up to $1,4 billion, SCMP calculates. In addition to selling 50 percent of his champagne brand Armand de Brignac, also known as Ace of Spades, to LVMH, Jay-Z sold a majority stake of his streaming service Tidal to Square. 51-year-old rapper and businessman ishappy about his partners - “I’m very fortunate. Jack Dorsey, who created Twitter, Square and Cash App, and Philippe [Schaus] and the guys who created LVMH – you couldn’t ask for better partners; they’re the top of the top. [Things] usually align like that when people do really great things. You could get into partnerships and people short-change the business for different reasons. These guys don’t cut corners, they try to get it right. It’s about respect".

"If Square wants to create new ways to help musicians sell real goods and digital goods, it could just do that. Instead, Square is paying $300 million for a failed music service that doesn’t help it accomplish any of those goals" - Vox argues in an analysis of Square-Tidal deal which saw Jack Dorsey paying Jay-Z $300 million for his service. "So, what you’re really left with here is a deal that looks like a way for Jack Dorsey to move money from his publicly traded company to a company owned by a guy he likes to hang out with" - Vox concludes. Variety did the math on 16 artist stakeholders of Tidal - Jay Z, Beyonce, Kanye West (pictured above), Rihanna, Alicia Keys, Jason Aldean, Madonna, Jack White, Arcade Fire’s Win Butler & Régine Chassagne, Usher, Nicki Minaj, Coldplay’s Chris Martin, Calvin Harris, deadmau5, J. Cole and Daft Punk - who should expect to pocket $8.91 million apiece from this deal.

Jack Dorsey's digital-payments processor Square is buying a majority stake in Tidal, Jay-Z's music streaming platform, for $297 million, through a mix of cash and stock, The New York Times reports. The move is set to bring Jay-Z to Square's board of directors. Jay-Z bought Tidal in 2015 for $56 million.

Rapper-entrepreneur Jay-Z and Jack Dorsey, CEO of Twitter and Square, have joined to form a new Bitcoin fund, focused on developing the cryptocurrency’s adoption initially in Africa and India, CNet reports. The duo are investing 500 Bitcoin, worth about $24 million, in the project, according to Dorsey, with the mission of making Bitcoin “the internet’s currency".

Yves Jarvis drops the only freest song today - 'Projection'; Tyler, The Creator & A$AP Rocky share a funky banger 'Jingelin'; Cassandra Jenkins' 'Crosshairs' is as light and easy as the snow where the video was shot; Jay-Z shares his Nipsey Hussle collab 'What It Feels Like' from the 'Judas & the Black Messiah' soundtrack; Cult of Luna share a doom-sludge EP with 'I Remember' as the stand-out track from it; UK grime masters Digga D x AJ Tracey share ‘Bringing It Back’.