Words of hope from Dayna Frank, the president-CEO of the famed First Avenue club in Minneapolis, in Variety: “After the Spanish flu of 1918-20, we had the roaring ‘20s, and that’s really what I foresee when we come out of this and it’s safe to do so. It’s just gonna be a celebration — hopefully a decade long, maybe just a few years. We just want to make sure the right people are still in business and able to make that celebration happen”.

A third (34%) of professional British musicians are considering abandoning the industry completely, because of the financial difficulties they face during the pandemic, a survey of 2,000 members of the Musicians’ Union has found. Almost half (47%) have already found work outside their industry, Dazed reports.

Pitchfork has a lovely story about musicians giving music lessons during the pandemic to make up at least a portion of the money they would be making were they on tour. Also, some of the musician are taking music lessons (learning a second instrument) to support their colleagues. Andy Cush writes - "we’ll be able to perform again someday. When it comes, we’re going to put on the best shows you’ve ever seen. We’ve been practicing".

Electronic duo Darkstar have shared a simple yet moving tribute to UK venues. The video accompanying their track ‘Blurred' compiles Google Earth footage of music institutions across the UK, reflecting on the ongoing loss of public space and cultural venues.

"Perhaps dancing is the thing I miss most of all at the moment. I don’t go out clubbing that often but it is on the dance floor that I find that rush of euphoria, that glorious mix of privacy and connection that you get in a room full of strangers, all caught up in the thrill of the music, the buzz of the moment" - Tracey Thorn of the Everything but the Girl, wrote in New Statesman about being in lockdown. So she started working out at home through online classes - and so it happens that she ends up practicing to one of her own songs...

Music venues in England have been given the green light to reopen from Saturday, BBC reports. Music and performance venues will be able to reopen with socially distanced audiences - venues will have to limit capacity and enforce wearing of masks, Route Note reports. New powers will be introduced to penalise the organisers of mass gatherings including raves. Nightclubs and discos will remain shut. Organisers of illegal raves will face fines of up to £10,000 under new rules. West Midlands Police shut down 125 parties and raves, including one of up to 600 people, last weekend, while London's Metropolitan Police have said that more than 500 illegal events were organised in the city in just one month, Evening Standard reports.

Berghain has found a way to throw its doors back open, luring visitors with an unusual sound exhibition called 'Eleven songs'. Just 50 people are let in at a time to allow for physical distancing. Inside, visitors are enveloped by an eery, almost surreal soundscape of rhythmic throbbing, soft city noises, murmurings and even the whirling of helicopter blades. Visitors, wearing face masks, have already been queueing to get in, France Presse reports. DJ Tech Tools reports on how five Eastern European countries – Belarus, Georgia, Ukraine, Serbia, and Croatia – are handling the process of re-opening amidst COVID-19. Belarus is more or less closed, clubs in Georgia are opened, but the country is closed for foreigners, Serbia closed its clubs, in Ukraine the clubs are closed as well, whereas Croatia is open for (most) foreigners, and clubs there are also mostly open.

"In isolation my imagination has run wild. Picking up a pen was my way of escaping into fantasy, history, and memory" - Taylor Swift writes in the liner notes of 'Folklore', her new album released today, and announced just a few hours earlier. It was written during ther epidemic, and it's far from the big pop sound of her last album, the change being underwritten by her main collaborator - Aaron Dessner of The National, who is a co-writer or producer on 11 of the album's 16 songs. Also, Bon Iver's Justin Vernon crops up for a duet on 'Exile'. Swift has released 16 lyrics videos from the album.

After a 13-week run, Radiohead have concluded their quarantine concert series with a recording of July 4th, 1997 performance at Les Eurockéennes in Belfort, France, in support of the band’s 'OK Computer'. The 12 previous installments in the band’s quarantine series — including festival sets at Coachella and Bonnaroo as well as In Rainbows From the Basement and The King of Limbs From the Basement — are collected in a YouTube playlist.

Radiohead, Nick Cave, The Rolling Stones, Coldplay, PJ Harvey, Johnny Marr, Dizzee Rascal, Primal Scream, Paul McCartney, Dua Lipa, The Cure, are among the huge list of over 1.500 artists who have signed an open letter to the UK government for the #LetTheMusicPlay campaign – demanding immediate action to prevent “catastrophic damage” to the music industry in the wake of the coronavirus lockdown, NME reports. The Music Venue Trust has penned a letter signed by over 560 of their venues calling for a £50 million cash injection to save the “world-beating £5.2billion per year music industry”, allowing these spaces to “hibernate” until October and prevent their permanent closure. If the artists were to add the same amount - which would cost them £30,00 each - those venues would have music easier period ahead of them, right?

AccorHotels Arena in Paris on June 18-19 hosted the first big crowd concert in France since the country went on lockdown in March, welcoming 1,000 and 2,000 guests, respectively, Pollstar reports. Tickets for the TV production, recorded at the arena as part of the annual Fête de la Musique celebrations, were free, and the lineup was mostly French artists - Patrick Bruel, Catherine Ringer, Christine and the Queens, Crystal Murray... To ensure physical distancing, people were only allowed to come in groups of two and inside the arena, there was at least one empty set in-between the paired guests, which was easy since it is a 20,000 capacity venue. Wearing a mask was mandatory inside the building, and hand sanitisers were placed at strategic locations.

No longer slave to the hustle and bustle of racing to airports, intermittent sleep, adrenalin-driven late nights, criminally early mornings and forced time away from loved ones for weeks if not months, some musician are finding time a commodity that is rich in discovery - The Star wrote about life in lockdown for some artists (the ones who can afford it, probably). “I’ve been in one place longer than I have since 1989. The pace and the motion of my life has downshifted and … it’s nice!” - Barenaked Ladies co-founder Ed Robertson said.

UK music venues need an immediate cash injection of £50 million from the government to prevent a wave of permanent venue closures across the summer, Music Venue Trust has warned. MVT has launched its #saveourvenues campaign in April, raising £2 million which saved 140 cultural spaces so far, but the Trust warns that the government must provide the injection to prevent lasting damage to the live sector, Music Week reports. Trade body UK Music predicts that the coronavirus shutdown will destroy a staggering £900 million of the estimated £1.1 billion that the UK’s live industry contributes to the economy each year.

Dave Grohl, Billie Eilish, Lady Gaga, Mavis Staples, Willie Nelson, Coldplay, André 3000, Trent Reznor, St. Vincent, Kamasi Washington, Leon Bridges, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Patti Smith, Brittany Howard, Bon Iver, Mitski, Leon Bridges, Vampire Weekend, David Byrne, Aaron Nevill are among 600 musicians and comedians who have signed an open letter to US Congress asking federal assistance to independent music venues and promoters across the United States, according to Billboard. The letter urges Congress to “remember we are the nation that gave the world jazz, country, rock & roll, bluegrass, hip hop, metal, blues, and R&B”, adding that “entertainment is America’s largest economic export, with songs written and produced by American artists sung in every place on the globe”. The signees emphasize that if the shutdown lasts six months and there’s no federal assistance, 90% of independent venues will never reopen again.

About 2,000 live music venues and promoters from the USA have banded together to form the National Independent Venues Association, and for more than two months the association has been lobbying Capitol Hill for another round of COVID-19 financial relief, Pitchfork reports. Measures advocated by the group include tax credits, continued unemployment insurance benefits, and payroll assistance. Music-lovers and musicians support the initiative - more than 500,000 emails have been sent through the Save Our Stages website, and more than 600 artists - including Lady Gaga, André 3000, Kacey Musgraves, Bon Iver, Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, Alabama Shakes, and Patti Smith - have publicly championed NIVA’s plea for federal rescue under the #SaveOurStages hashtag. According to a recent survey, almost 90 percent of independent venues will have to close permanently within months if they can’t secure federal funding.

The independent music ecosystem has historically provided an alternative to corporate labels, broadcasting networks and other consolidated organs of power - InsideHook argues in favour of indie music scene in times of no shows. But the future is not dark - while small bands and labels might currently run on the thinnest of margins, it’s possible that it is precisely this thriftiness that will benefit them in the long term.

U.S. residents have listened to an average of 11.1% more country since mid-March, and country music streaming climbed 22.4% in the final full week of May. Bloomberg explains: some have argued it is comfort food at a time when people are craving any form of succor; an executive at Pandora, the online radio service, noted country music is a perfect complement to drinking (alcohol sales have soared during the pandemic); country fans are learning to stream.

New York City's Metropolitan Opera has canceled all fall performances due to the lockdown, because "Social distancing and the grand opera just don't go together", as Met's General Manager Peter Gelb said. "Our doctors, our medical advisors agree that as long as social distancing is required, we cannot put on performances here" - he added. The Met is currently hoping to re-open its doors on December 31, 2020.

"I feel sorry for emerging bands who would have been promoting debut records this summer. They’ll be hit the hardest" - Foals said after they had to drop their whole tour - "But because we’re more established, we’ve been able to take a year off touring". Still, it hurts -"festivals account for approximately 80% of our income... We’ve been selling fans Foals T-shirts to support the crew. We’ve actually sold 3,000, which helped tide them over for a few months". Chelsea Wolfe described her experience - "canceling the tour was huge. I’d already invested so much money into booking the tour bus, renting the gear, paying for my crew, the flights, a week of their time for rehearsals, the stage dressings. None of that stuff is refundable. I’ve been able to sell some tour merch, which helps. It’s been cool to see fans wanting to support artists. Lots have left comments online saying: 'I was meant to see you play live, but I bought a T-shirt instead'".

Lockdown has made musicians and labels creative in coming up with ways to reach their audience, Vice reports on changes in the music industry. Artists are setting up livestreams and Zoom-based music lessons, labels are waiving their own share of revenue on commission-free days. Coronavirus is also forcing labels to think outside the box, whether that means snapping socially distant press photos or pivoting music videos ideas to living-room productions. Not everything is great - without the option of meeting musicians in person and seeing them play live, many labels are pressing pause on talent discovery and focusing on their current rosters. On the other hand, labels are thinking that when touring comes back, it'll give their albums a second burst of interest...

Working-from-home-themed playlists have seen a 1,400% increase on Spotify during lockdown, with Fifth Harmony’s single 'Work from Home' the most-added track to those playlists (it's actually about waiting for a lover to come home). Dolly Parton’s '9 to 5', Beethoven, Bach and the pianist Lang Lang’s version of 'Für Elise' follow, as well as 'Circles' by Post Malone, and 'Don’t Start Now' by Dua Lipa. Specific playlists have also seen a surge - Cleaning Kit playlist, a six-hour medley of songs to mop to, has had a 30% increase in streaming, painting-themed playlists are up by 90%, baking by 120%, and gardening playlists up by 430%.

Drake's 'Toosie Slide' features the singer in a black balaclava, moving through the mostly empty Toronto mansion. Haim sisters perform solemn choreography at a safe distance from each other on a cracked outdoor basketball court in 'I Know Alone'. Justin Bieber and Ariana Grande’s charity duet, 'Stuck With U', intermixed pixelated visions of teenage fans dressed for the proms they will never go to with glimpses of celebrities like Chance the Rapper and Gwyneth Paltrow slow dancing in their immaculate houses. In Squarepusher's 'Detroit People Mover' a wireless printer on the floor of the actual Detroit People Mover -a monorail that travels a nearly 3-mile loop around downtown - spit out photographs that were shot in the city during the late 1970s and ’80s, when the mass transit system turned tourist attraction was built.

"It doesn’t seem likely we are going to open in the fall" - Jay Marciano, chairman of AEG Presents, told New York Times about the possibility of major torus this fall. AEG is the parent company of Goldenvoice, which presents Coachella, and the festival's 2020 edition is currently rescheduled for October. Live Nation president Joe Berchtold said they don’t expect a large volume of major tours in the fall. Live Nation previously said that drive-in concerts, reduced capacity shows, broadcasts from empty venues are all under consideration. BBC reports from a performance in Copenhagen by Danish musician Mads Langer; more than 70 similar shows are planned.

Bolivian group Orquesta Experimental de Instrumentos Nativos travelled to Germany in March to prepare for a two-week tour, but before they had played a single show, the entire country was put into coronavirus lockdown. Since then, the orchestra has been stuck at a hostel on the grounds of Rheinsberg Palace near Berlin, BBC reports. That's the good news. The bad news is - the surrounding areas is home to 23 packs of wolves, and the orchestra members have become afraid of ghosts while in the castle. Germany has started to open up, but the Bolivian government won't take the orchestra back, not just yet.

There will be four stages in corona-influenced albums, Mark, My Words argues: Insanity and bewilderment of the isolation nation; calming records about the routine, zen-like serenity of home quarantine; Coronapunk stage demanding the heads of the political class; Pub. But, what is it that we really need" - "Albums about the crisis will get tired very quickly; albums designed to help us through it, on the other hand, will remain encased in the generational amber. It’s time, already, to start singing for when we’re winning".

"If you want to record, just hit record. It’s not about equipment. For the Beck record we had nothing, just inspiration” - Calvin Johnson, of K Records told Guardian about recording albums in his basement. One of the latest bedroom pop artists is 21-year-old Girl in Red, who is ratcheting up hundreds of millions of streams with indie-pop tracks made in her bedroom. Everybody is locked down now due to the pandemic, so everybody can be a music producer, the G argues.

Independent music festivals in Britain are at risk of collapsing after coronavirus forced many to cancel their 2020 editions, a new report by the Association of Independent Festivals (AIF) has warned. Some 92% of AIF members - including Gloucestershire’s 2000trees, London’s Meltdown and Sheffield’s Tramlines - warn they face ruinous costs as a result of cancelled events, with the vast majority (98.5%) not covered by insurance for cancellation as a result of coronavirus, the Guardian reports.

Since the beginning of lockdown on Monday, March 23 in the UK, Richard Dawson and Sally Pilkington have been releasing albums as Bulbils, at the rate of almost one album a day. Their living room in Newcastle has been converted into a makeshift studio, with synths, vocoders, keyboards, guitars and drum machines; the music is, for the most part, hypnotic, lo-fi, beautiful and ambient. Pilkington told Quietus it's "kind of music we wouldn’t normally share, which feels like quite a personal thing. A lot of it’s quite rough and the kind of thing that’s quite unprocessed. It’s quite intimate in a way". Find all the albums at Bandcamp.

he New York Times reports on a beautiful story - accomplished classical musicians like Molly Carr and Andrew Janss have started playing at the New York-Presbyterian Allen Hospital in Manhattan - through patients' iPhones or iPads. Chamber music players, winners of international competitions and prizes, teachers at prestigious music schools perform from California, Kentucky, Maine, Virginia, Massachusetts and New York. They play the music of Bach, Brahms, the Beatles, Edith Piaf...

The lockdown caused by the coronavirus has left 140,000 UK's performers, agents, promoters and technicians without a steady income since the end of March, BBC reports. The effect of the quarantine on live music is "catastrophic", according to the chief executive of UK Music Tom Kiehl. 554 of Music Venue Trust's 670 member venues are under threat of "imminent closure", before the end of the month. "In a typical year, live music contributes £1bn to the UK economy and supports many jobs. What we are seeing now with the changes and social distancing likely to continue this year - at least £900m could be wiped off the sector" - said Mr Kiehl.