Tag: covid 19

Royal Blood Announce When Their New Single Will Be First Played

We’ve certainly been waiting on this one.

Royal Blood have had a pretty quiet 2020 compared to some artists. Apart from a few shows and festivals that have now been cancelled due to the ongoing covid-19 pandemic, there’s pretty much been no word from their camp. Until now.

Their upcoming single, ‘Trouble’s Coming’ is set to be played on Annie Mac’s show on BBC Radio 1 tomorrow!

This will be the first new music Royal Blood have had out in the world since their 2017 record, ‘How Did We Get So Dark’.

At the time of writing, there’s no word if this is part of an upcoming, EP, Record or standalone single release.

Corey Taylor’s Guitar Auction Raised $150,000 For Covid-19 Relief

Following on from last months auction for COVID-19 Relief, Corey Taylor raised  $150,000.

The heavy-hitting musician auctioned off thirteen of his guitars, which included a couple super-limited Dave Grohl signatures with eBay For Charity to raise the money for Direct Relief in the fight coronavirus.

The auction went on for two weeks, with Taylor raising $75,000 and eBay matching the bid.

It’s an absolutely massive achievement that this has made in these times and if Corey Taylor, if you come across this by some weird coincidence, you’re an absolute treasure to the Rock community and thank you for raising the money for Direct Relief.

Slam Dunk 2020 Festival Has Been Cancelled

It was inevitable nevertheless but due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the organisers of Slam Dunk Festival have regrettably announced they have been forced to cancel the 2020 edition of the festival.

Despite plans to reschedule and postpone to September 2020, they were forced to cancel until next year.

The festival’s director, Ben Ray confirmed the news via their social media with a statement, explaining the decision.

The festival is allowing ticket holders the choice of a refund or to hold onto their ticket which will be valid for 2021.

In addition, they’ve also planned they will plan to make as much of this year’s line-up available for next year as possible.

The full statement can be read below.

 

“It is with a very heavy heart I have to inform you that Slam Dunk Festival 2020 is postponed to 2021. We hung on to hope for as long as we could but with so many factors against us, we have had to accept the fact that it can’t go ahead. We had worked so hard to move it from May to September and with that we thought we had saved it for you, but sadly the outlook is not any better. We had been waiting for clear guidance on the matter and although this is still yet to come, we see no way that things will back to normal enough by September.

Tickets for Slam Dunk Festival 2020, will of course remain valid for Slam Dunk 2021, so please if you can, hold on to them. If not, please contact your ticket provider as your money has always remained safely with them, and they will refund you. There will be a slight rise in ticket prices for 2021 due to increased costs of putting the event on so it will be worth holding on to them. Refunds will be available until the end of September and also tickets will remain on sale at their current price as an early bird ticket until then.

The new dates are:

Slam Dunk North: Saturday 29th May 2021: Leeds Temple Newsam
Slam Dunk South: Sunday 30th May 2021: Hatfield Park

We are currently working on the lineup, and should be able to reveal this quite quickly, as most bands due to play this year are able to come back for you in 2021.

Slam Dunk is an independent festival run by a small and committed team, all of whom hugely appreciate your patience and support on this. We will be announcing shortly some details of some merch and possibly other events to support us until we see you again in 2021,

Many thanks,

Ben Ray
Director, Slam Dunk Festival”

Leeds & Reading 2020 Has Been Cancelled

It’s been announced that the 2020 iteration of Leeds & Reading Festival has been cancelled.

The festival was scheduled to go ahead on August 28th – 30th this year and was set to be headlined by Rage Against The Machine, Liam Gallagher and Stormzy.

Refunds will be available or you can your ticket for the 2021 festival.

A full statement from the festival can be read below.

“Reading and Leeds will no longer be taking place this year. We’ve been closely monitoring this unprecedented situation and we were hopeful we could deliver the ultimate festival to you in August, something to look forward to in these strange and confusing times. However, it has become clear that it’s just not possible for this year’s festival to go ahead.

We want to extend our gratitude to our teams, artists and partners who work so hard each year. And to our fans, we’re nothing without you – we thank you for your continued support and understanding.

We are working closely with our ticketing partners and they will be in touch very soon to process your refund, or, if you prefer, you can retain your ticket and carry it over to next year. Look out for an e-mail from your ticketing agent and please only contact them if you have not been contacted after 7 days as they are very busy at this time. If you purchased your ticket from a physical outlet, please contact that outlet to obtain your refund.

We’re already counting down the days to when we’re back in the fields we call home for the August Bank holiday weekend. We promise you that Reading and Leeds 2021 will be worth the wait.

Finally, we encourage everyone to continue supporting our emergency services, who provide invaluable support and assistance at all our events and we again express our gratitude, admiration and thanks for their dedication and professionalism which is proving so vital at this time.

Keep safe, keep healthy and look after each other.”

readingleeds_statement

Campaign Launches For Artists To Recieve More From Streaming During Lockdown

Two leading organisations from the UK music industry are calling for artists to receive a greater cut from Spotify and streaming  royalties in the midst of the coronvirus pandemic.

The Keep Music Alive campaign has been organised by the Musicians’ Union and The Ivors Academy whom are both calling for artists to receive a greater percentage of royalties after the widespread cancellation of gigs and festivals has caused a massive void in the incomes of musicians.

The Guardian reports that the campaign aims to highlight their predicament to politicians, streaming platforms and record companies across the UK.

In a launch statement, they explain:

“This crisis has brought into sharp relief the fact that creators and performers are sustained primarily by the live side of the music business and that streaming royalties are woefully insufficient.”

Currently, it’s estimated that Spotify plays an average of £0.0028 per stream to “rights holders”.

Similarly, a campaign called Broken Record which was organised by Gomez’ Tom Gray. Gray is a director of the Performing Rights Society, an organisation that oversees payment received by musicians from radio stations and music played in public places.

On May 24th 2020, Gray is going to host a series of listening parties to raise money.

Tech Fest 2020 Has Been Cancelled

The list is ongoing in terms of the cancellations for festivals and shows due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The latest addition is UK’s Tech-Fest.

The organisers broke the news last week where they’ve explained tickets already purchased for this year’s event will remain valid for the 2021 edition of the festival.

They have also stated they will plan to keep intact as much of this year’s lineup for next year as well but the acts are TBC.

You can read the full statement below.

“It is with a very heavy heart that we announce that UK Tech-Fest will have to be postponed.

This was the statement we never wanted to release and it was by no means an easy decision to come to, but to aid in the safety of the public and in times of such uncertainty, it is no longer viable to put on Tech-Fest this year.

The new dates are Thursday 1st – Monday 5th July 2021.

We’re really sorry to everyone who was planning on attending Tech-Fest, we know how important this festival is to so many people. We are absolutely gutted to not be able to deliver this year, but the good news is the majority of this year’s bands are already confirmed for next year.

To all existing ticket holders, your tickets will be valid for 2021 and we ask that, if you can, you please support us by rolling over your ticket. However, we understand this is a difficult time and if you’re unable to join us next year or need a refund you will able to get one for the face value of your ticket. All ticket holders will be contacted individually.

Alternatively, you can donate your ticket to support us, which would be hugely appreciated and mean the world to us.

Much love, stay safe and we’ll see you at Newark Showground in 2021

UK Tech-Fest Team”

Tech-Fest 20201 will take place July 1st – 5th at Newark Showground, Newark.

 

Record Store Day To 2020 To Be Split Across Three Days

It has been confirmed that Record Store Day 2020 will now take place across three days this year.

The event, which was originally scheduled to take place on April 18th 2020 was moved to June 20th 2020 following the COVID-19 pandemic, but now the annual event will take place across three Saturdays which will be known as Drop Dates.

The dates are as follows: August 29th, 26th September and October 24th 2020.

An updated list on what will be available on the dates will be released on June 1st 2020. Be sure to check the Record Store Day website for more information.

The separate dates are about “supporting the stores, as well as the artists, labels, distribution and every other business behind the scenes making record stores work” according to a press statement.

the full list of participating stores can be found here.

 

Corey Taylor Auctioning Off Guitars To Raise Money For COVID-19 Relief

Slipknots own frontman Corey Taylor is helping in the COVID-19 relief as he’s put 13 of his own guitars on Ebay to help raise money for Direct Relief, a charity that’s trying to get PPE and essentials to healthcare workers who are on the frontline of the Coronavirus Pandemic.

The auctions which are currently in place include a Les Paul Sunburst and Gibson Dave Grohl Signature.

To see all the guitars on sale, follow this link.

For more information on Direct Relief and how to donate directly, you can find out right here.