13 articles on music
MTV quietly removed the Best Afrobeats VMA after three years and two winners, offering no explanation — the same summer Rema and Burna Boy performed at the FIFA World Cup opening ceremonies and Ayra Starr dropped a 21-million-stream debut week.
Over 12,500 independent artists now earn six figures from streaming. Major labels can't service them profitably and can't afford to ignore them. The structural mismatch is reshaping how music gets made, promoted, and paid for.
Burna Boy, Wizkid, and a new wave of Afrobeats acts are selling out arenas that wouldn't book them three years ago.
When four countries shut the door, Ye responded by commissioning an entire venue. Albania's government is fully on board.
Deezer reports 75,000 AI-generated tracks uploaded daily. Most streams are fraudulent. The royalty pool that pays real artists is being drained by bots.
Live Nation settled its antitrust case with the Department of Justice in March 2026, agreeing to pay $280 million and cap service fees at 5% for tickets sold at its owned venues. Artists, antitrust sc
AI-generated songs are no longer a futuristic concept — they're here, and they're topping charts. In 2025, three AI-crafted tracks claimed spots on both Spotify and Billboard charts, signaling a profo
According to MIDiA Research and Splice's 2025 genre analysis, pluggnb downloads surged 342.8% in 2024, reaching 699,987 downloads and claiming the title of Splice's fastest-growing genre. While that n
In a historic wave of music industry activism, artists from Yard Act to artist collectives like SISU are withdrawing from major festivals linked to pirvate equity giant KKR, citing concerns over investments tied to the defense industry and Gaza. With social media fuelling both awareness and action, fans and musicians alike are asking a new kind of question: Who's funding the festivals we love and at what cost?
2x GRAMMY-Nominated New Orleans Funk Collective Cha Wa Announces New Album Rise Up — Out August 29th. First Single “Here We Come” Drops June 20, 2025 A bold fusion of Mardi Gras Indian tradition, street funk, and modern activism, Rise Up reclaims roots music as a space for both cultural celebration and resistance. As Gen Z rediscovers the power of ancestral rhythms through platforms like TikTok, Cha Wa's message has never felt more urgent—or more electric.
NewJeans legal battle against their management exposes the paradox of K-pop fame where teenage artists wield massive cultural influence while having limited control over their careers. Global fans transform from passive consumers to active advocates as the industry faces unprecedented scrutiny.
As governments tighten borders, global music tours are increasingly derailed by visa denials, rising costs, and geopolitical red tape — disproportionately impacting emerging artists from the Global South. This investigation unpacks how immigration crackdowns are reshaping the sound and structure of the global music industry.
Zara Larsson and Tate McRae might be teaming up for a collaboration marking a bold shift from one-off collabs to deeper creative partnerships. With both artists still in career ascension, their potential project challenges old-school industry norms, highlights the power of female collaboration, and raises the stakes for what pop duos can achieve in the TikTok era