Jared Leto allegations + Music News Digest
Primavera, Massive Attack, Misogyny, Music Journalism, NPR, Mary Anne Hobbs, Boards of Canada, Talking Heads, and more.
A quick Sunday digest (3 min read)
Breaking: 9 women have accused actor & musician Jared Leto of "impropriety" (Guardian)
- The alleged incidents span from 2008 through recent years and involve claims of inappropriate advances toward underage fans.
- One accuser says Leto asked for her number at age 16 before making late-night calls with explicit questions.
- There are other allegations but we won't include them here as they require a trigger warning.
- Jared Leto denies the allegations (NME)
Related: The UK government have reviewed the Misogyny in Music report. Fingers crossed for some action, finally. (ISM summary).
Digest
- The House of Lords has dealt a fourth defeat to the government over its plans to allow tech companies to use copyrighted material, such as music, to train their AI models (BBC)
- Massive Attack signed the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty with Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham. Here's a powerful speech about it that climate campaigner Tori Tsui gave on stage at their Manchester show (Instagram)
- The 2025 edition of Primavera Sound welcomed around 293,000 people, most of them, 65%, coming from overseas (Owch! That's really not good for the planet!). Festival organizers announced the historic figure on Saturday afternoon, just a few hours before the last concerts at the Parc del Fòrum venue (Catalan News)
- What is current state of music journalism? I was one of the writers interviewed for this fascinating read (Music Is The Answer).
- Can NPR survive the Trump cuts? Been thinking a lot about what this might mean for music, especially given the success of Tiny Desk, and the impact of NPR in a time of algorithmic slip. (BBC iPlayer)
- Warnings about the impact of potential budget cuts to BBC World Service (Guardian)
- Ahead of her new Sundays from 6-8pm BBC Radio 6 Music show, Mary Anne Hobbs speaks to TheQuietus
- Nadine Shah makes a strong statement about the BBC not showing a documentary made by her brother (Instagram)
- Northern Exposure have posted an interesting guide to protest songs.
- DICE acquired by fellow ticketing platform Fever (RA)
- Is new merch from Boards of Canada a sign they finally have new music coming?! (Bleep)
- Macca and The Boss duet (BBC)
- A summary of the Sean "Diddy" Combs trial so far (CNN)
- Talking Heads present a new music video for 'Psycho Killer' starring Saoirse Ronan and directed by Mike Mills:
...And Finally!
It's World Oceans Day today, and whilst this explainer by Client Earth isn't about music, it is related to the ANOHNI piece I wrote last week.
What I'm watching: Carole Cadwalldr on The Daily Show
Related Read
Do Local Scenes Benefit From Major Events Like Primavera?
Primavera Sound did not make Arca or Rosalia. But the festival has helped propel other local acts beyond Spain’s borders.
Darren Loucaides