Music News

Esra'a: Would You Speak Up ... Even If It's Dangerous?

8:59am April 07, 2017

by NPR/TED Staff

Esra'a is an activist who lives in Bahrain and identifies as queer — which puts her at great risk. Despite that, she's speaking out to build community and empathy within the LGBTQ community.

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Music & Culture

Pusha T And Mavis Staples Join Gorillaz For 'Let Me Out'

5:31pm April 06, 2017

by Lars Gotrich

Gorillaz just keeps trickling out the jams from its very stacked album Humanz, due April 28.

Spotify co-founder and CEO Daniel Ek in 2012, just one year after the service launched in the U.S. It now has 50 million paying subscribers.

Music & Culture

Are We Witnessing The Beginning Of The End For Free Music Streaming?

11:06am April 06, 2017

by Andrew Flanagan

Spotify has long evangelized free listening as a way to pull users in to paying for its service. The music industry's patience with the strategy seems to have run out.

Britney Spears, onstage in Las Vegas in September 2016.

Music & Culture

Britney Spears Inadvertently Delays An Election In Israel

11:03am April 06, 2017

by Anastasia Tsioulcas

A primary election for Israel's Labor Party has been moved — because of a Britney Spears show taking place next door.

The Beatles celebrate the completion of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band at a press conference held at the west London home of their manager Brian Epstein on May 19, 1967.

Music & Culture

Fixing A Hole: 'Sgt. Pepper' Remixed And Reissued For 50th Anniversary

2:08pm April 05, 2017

by Andrew Flanagan

One of the most important records in pop history is getting an appropriately comprehensive reissue.

The 2017 NEA Jazz Masters on April 3, 2017 at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. (left to right): Representing Ira Gitler, Fitz Gitler; Dick Hyman; Dave Holland; Dr. Lonnie Smith; and Dee Dee Bridgewater

The NEA Jazz Masters Tribute Concert Transcends Its Fraught Political Moment

3:05pm April 04, 2017

by Nate Chinen

Monday night's presentation of the 2017 NEA Jazz Masters fellowships, coming under the shadow of a proposed presidential budget that would eliminate the NEA outright, mixed politics with grace.

Can's The Singles will be released June 16.

Music & Culture

Can's Singles To Be Reissued: Hear The Goofy Novelty 'Turtles Have Short Legs'

12:57pm April 04, 2017

by Lars Gotrich

For all the band's sprawling and experimental rock albums, Can also had a healthy appetite for singles, which Mute Records will release in a compilation due June 16.

Music & Culture

The 2017 NEA Jazz Masters Tribute Concert

10:43pm April 03, 2017

by Nate Chinen

Dee Dee Bridgewater, Dr. Lonnie Smith, Dave Holland, Dick Hyman and Ira Gitler are recipients of the Jazz Masters award — the highest honor the U.S gives to a jazz musician or advocate.

Members of the pop band Hanson pose for a group portrait on a roof in London in 1997. From left to right they are Taylor, Isaac and Zac Hanson.

What Do Hanson And Madonna Have In Common? Hits Ideal For Saving A Life

12:14pm April 03, 2017

by Rebecca Hersher

A New York City hospital has created a playlist of songs with the ideal tempo for CPR, although previous research suggests there is more to good chest compressions than just the right tempo.

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#NPRpoetry Month: Vince Staples Reads His Favorite Twitter Poems

10:23am April 03, 2017

by Michel Martin

Today's selections grapple with the existential crisis presented by string cheese, plus rapper Vince Staples shares a couple of his favorites from #NPRPoetry.

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