Carl Cox, Pete Tong, Roger Sanchez, More to DJ at Beirut Explosion-Relief Event

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorLil Yachty was arrested and charged with driving more than 150 mph down an Atlanta interstate, according to the city’s WSB-TV.Yachty (real name: Miles McCollum), was pulled over on Sept. 21 on the Downtown Connector near University Avenue in Atlanta.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorOn a week like this, with a crushing onslaught of strong contenders for the coveted Fri 5, your faithful reviewer feels like an “American Idol” judge, with a whole load of self-imposed rules about what constitutes a great single (as opposed to a great song), trying to disregard considerations like how popular an artist is or isn’t, which record label it’s on, etc. Like…“The new Lil Wayne song ‘Life of Mr.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorBruce Springsteen has released “Ghosts” from his new album, “Letter to You,” which is out October 23 on Columbia Records.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorThe starmaking “Purple Rain” may have been Prince’s most commercially successful album, but if fans have to pick a favorite, for many it’s “Sign O’ the Times,” his sprawling, wildly diverse 1987 double album that combines R&B, pop, rock, ballads, gospels across its 80 minutes in a dazzling display of his creativity and imagination.Yet the album was created amid dramatic personal and professional turmoil — and by the end of the year, when Prince had finished the

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorSouth by Southwest, the giant annual music, film and digital festival in Austin, Texas that was canceled due to the pandemic just days before it was to begin in March, has made its first announcements for 2021: A digital festival, with “plans for a 2021 physical event.”The digital experience, “featuring conferences keynotes and sessions, screenings, showcases and more” will take place March 16 – 20, 2021; updates on the proposed physical event, which the festival is

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorLike everyone else, BTS and NPR have been forced to pivot during the pandemic — and for their first performance on NPR’s “Tiny Desk” concert series, the K-pop superstars performed from the record store VINYL & PLASTIC in BTS’s hometown of Seoul.The group drew more than half a million viewers for the premiere of the concert, which saw them tearing through three songs accompanied by a live band, including their current hit single “Dynamite.” The group also performed

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorSO. MANY.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorSting, Norah Jones, Trey Anastasio of Phish and many more will perform tonight (Thursday, Sept. 17) at SummerStage Jubilee, a free benefit concert supporting City Parks Foundation’s programs in parks, taking place via livestream at 8 p.m.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorOn Tuesday, October 13, legendary jazz saxophonist Pharoah Sanders will perform at a special concert livestreamed from Zebulon in Los Angeles to celebrate his 80th birthday. Called “Another Trip Around the Sun,” the concert will see Sanders joined by Azar Lawrence on sax, John Beasley on keyboards, Tony Austin on drums and Sekou Bunch on bass.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorNew York City venue (Le) Poisson Rouge is launching LPR.tv, a subscription-based service through which they will livestream concerts held in their downtown venue (without an audience) in high-definition video with full production and soundboard audio.The venue has booked an impressive array of indie-leaning artists for LPR.tv’s inaugural lineup, including Cults, Kimbra, Sunflower Bean, !!! (Chk Chk Chk), San Fermin,  Kevin Devine, Son Little, Laraaji, Too Many

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorUPDATED: Kanye West launched a new social-media campaign to gain control of the rights to his recorded music and publishing on Monday night, claiming “I’m not putting no more music out till I’m done with my contract[s]” with his record company, Universal Music Group, and his publisher, Sony/ATV Music Publishing.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorJ Balvin, Ellie Goulding, FKA twigs, Grimes, Matt Healy from the 1975 and Chaeyoung from Twice are all starring in the new season of Google Arts & Culture’s Art Zoom series, which takes viewers on a guided tour of some of the world’s most famous masterpieces through the narration of famous musicians.Through Google’s “gigapixel” Art Camera — a robotic camera custom-made to create the highest possible resolution images of paintings — users can zoom into an artwork at

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorSiriusXM today announced that Chief Executive Officer Jim Meyer intends to retire on December 31, 2020.Upon his retirement, Jennifer C. Witz, President of Sales, Marketing and Operations, will become the Company’s new CEO.Gregory B.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorAfter a comparatively slow week leading into the long weekend — which means we only scanned around 100 songs last week instead of the usual 130! — the avalanche of songs is back with a bang.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorDigital music distribution and publishing admin company TuneCore has named Maria Ho-Burge global communications director.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorTriller, the music-video creation app, has named a dozen top female music industry executives to a new advisory board.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorDowntown Music Publishing announced the signing of global publishing administration agreements with Wu-Tang Productions and Diggs Family Music, and owners Robert “RZA” Diggs and Mitchell “Divine” Diggs, to represent the iconic hip-hop group’s interest in songs from its back catalog of classic albums, as well as select works co-written or produced by individual Wu-Tang Clan members for solo releases, affiliates and other artists.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorCompared with the avalanche of recent weeks, the days leading up to Labor Day weekend were relatively slow for incoming new songs — which means we went through just 80 instead of 120! — providing a great opportunity to shine a light on some lesser-known artists.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorMore than 1,500 music venues across the U.S. will be illuminated in red light on Tuesday evening (Sept.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorHipgnosis Songs has acquired the music catalog of Motley Crue bassist and main songwriter Nikki Sixx, one of the most successful rock bands of the 1980s.Hipgnosis have acquired 100% of Sixx’s writer’s share of PRO income and writer’s Sound Exchange royalties for the cataog, which contains 305 songs.