The Canadian streaming king seems to be immune to COV19. The Weeknd is looking to have an explosive week despite around the clock media coverage on the pandemic.  His new album After Hours (Republic)  projected to move 400k+ units.

It worked for The Weeknd but it may not work for everybody. One may think it’s easy to go unnoticed when the media has grasped the public’s attention with social distancing and self-quarantine measures. For instance, French singer Thomas Dutronc, who has Iggy Pop on his new album has delayed the release.

Ok, to release or not to release? Established artists with expectations should probably wait until the seas calm down. They certainly won’t get the eyeballs they are looking for. Plus, people in times of a crisis tend want to venture into new territory and leave the familiar. Lesser known artists may benefit from a difficult time. A new artist tends to offer new solutions. New artists should continue to release new music now. Artists are living through history. This history will produce a new crop of artists that will spark generational change.

The COV19 pandemic will begin a whole new chapter of music.

Music will become a vehicle for social change, and will become soundtrack for a new era. Yes, we just a hit new era.

Artists are living through history. This history will produce a new crop of artists that will spark generational change.

Music and art has become formulaic but the new artists will break this formula. New music styles will be developed just like in the 1960’s.

While the contemporary artists are moving backwards, the new artists will move forward developing a new sound. Music thrives in times of crisis. In fact, we get the most authentic music in hard times.

The decade of the 1960s witnessed profound change in the established world order. This decade will be no different.

The Academy of Country Music Awards scheduled for April 5 has been shuttered. It’s been re-scheduled for the fall now. Keith Urban was set to host the show with Dan + Shay and Maren Morris.

“The ACM Awards is a tentpole event for our Country Music industry, and the Academy of Country Music and dick clark productions went to great lengths to find a safe solution for the show to go on so that we can honor our artist community,” Damon Whiteside, CEO of the Academy of Country Music, said in a statement Sunday.

How many black female artists rise in the country music scene?  I can’t think of any which is why I want to give a shout-out to Ashlie Amber. Check out the track Almost Love which is surprisingly good. I would like to see this Vegas-Nashville based artist tour with Lil Nas X, hence more rules are broken.  Mind you, the music landscape is really unconventional that outliers have a better shot than derivative acts.  Plus, the track hit 50K spotify streams in 2 months and she’s booked on via Celebrity Cruise Lines where she performs Whitney Houston songs. Give it a stream.

Warner Music Group will close offices in the U.S and the U.K. starting Monday over COVID-19 fears. Universal Music Group will close on March 18th. The offices will be cleaned and disinfected by professional cleaning companies. Live Nation and AEG have postponed all of their current tours. Tours will be suspended by until the end of March.