‘I’ve been sacked for asking for time off to tour’: the perils of being a musician with a second job

Thanks to streaming, Brexit and Covid, it’s never been harder to make ends meet as a musician. Three acts with second jobs discuss juggling stadium tours with shelf-stacking

Festival organisers sound alarm as big-name artists shun their events

Industry says with global headliners doing their own tours there are not enough stars to fill festival line-ups in UK and Ireland

I can’t go for that: the vexed business of artists selling off their songs

Hall and Oates are embroiled in bitter legal action over the sale of their rights, while rights-owning company Hipgnosis is in trouble. Is the market for songs as assets going out of tune?

Stars back Andrew Lloyd Webber call for music education funding

Ed Sheeran and Dua Lipa among signatories of letter to Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer calling for funds for music in disadvantaged schools

Spotify made £56m profit, but has decided not to pay smaller artists like me. We need you to make some noise

What its Wrapped campaign doesn’t say is that indie musicians and labels are treated terribly, and deserve a better deal, says Damon Krukowski

Nearly a third of professional UK musicians report poor mental wellbeing

Squeeze musician Chris Difford among those expressing concern over findings by Musicians’ Union and Help Musicians

Music mogul Jimmy Iovine accused of sexual abuse and harassment

Representative for Iovine says they are ‘shocked and baffled’ by allegations made in summons in New York

‘Putting a number on art’: musicians nervous as Spotify announces royalty changes

Streaming giant says tweaks will bring more revenue to artists and away from fraudsters, but some musicians are worried about further creeping change

Spotify to phase out service in Uruguay following new copyright bill requiring ‘fair and equitable remuneration’

The streaming platform claimed that it already pays nearly 70% of every dollar to labels and publishers and had contributed to a 20% growth in Uruguay’s music industry in 2022

‘It was a way to share your musical experiences’: why cassette tapes flourished, and still endure

Two new books explore the history of the tape and how it helped spread hip-hop, thrash metal and experimental music around the world one mixtape at a time

YouTube to offer option to flag AI-generated songs that mimic artists’ voices

Record companies will be able to request removal of content that mimics an artist’s ‘unique singing or rapping’

Hipgnosis needs to hit fast forward towards a sale

A second consecutive cancellation of dividends suggests swift and drastic measures are needed at the music rights business

Baby, one more time: why Madonna, Britney Spears and Taylor Swift are all on a nostalgia trip

With retrospective tours, memoirs and rerecordings, three definitive US pop superstars are reclaiming their legacies. Why now – and is the past a trap?

Hipgnosis investors vote against UK-listed song royalties group continuing

Business that bought rights to Neil Young and Béyonce back catalogues must now restructure or face being wound up

Beyoncé’s ex-manager fights ejection from his music royalties fund

Merck Mercuriadis promised to turn songs into gold on launching Hipgnosis. Now, a review could see him ousted