Got a TV Licence?

You need one to watch live TV on any channel or device, and BBC programmes on iPlayer. It’s the law.

Find out more
I don’t have a TV Licence.

Live Updates

Sarah Jane Griffiths and Kev Geoghegan

All times stated are UK

Get involved

  1. Goodbye for now

    Don't fret, we will be back again bright and early on Monday but for now now you can scroll down for new music from Kings Of Leon, Sean Paul, Regina Spektor and Lady Gaga - who also shared her chosen medium for songwriting. Plus Wretch 32 talks police brutality and tributes are paid to reggae and ska pioneer Prince Buster who has died at age 78.

    Cheerio...

  2. Rag 'n' Bone Man performs for Jo Whiley

    Rag 'n' Bone man with Jo Whiley

    Rag 'n' Bone Man AKA Rory Graham performed a live session for Jo Whiley on Radio 2 last night where they discussed his influences - from Ray Charles to Aretha Franklin - and how he got into music. 

    The funk, soul and blues singer grew up in Uckfield, 20 miles inland from Brighton, with musical parents, but started out with hip-hop.

    "I started as an MC but figured out that I could sing and I was really into blues so moved naturally towards that kind of music.. But then I did a lot of hip-hop in between. I was in a crew in Brighton called Rum Committee," he told Jo.

    "I've always listened to great songwriters and I think writers like Leon Russell really inspired me to want to build songs from the ground up rather than kind of sing on beats.

    "I write mainly now just from the piano. I'm no virtuoso, I'm caveman chords, just good enough to write a song. I often say words into my phone as a Dictaphone - but it makes you look a bit mental, when you're standing at the bus stop, whispering into your phone."

    You can listen back to the session and full interview - it starts about 1 hour and 5 mins in.

    Rag 'n' Bone Man
    View more on twitter
    View more on twitter
  3. Jack Garratt teams up with Little Simz to rework his track

    Jack Garratt

    Jack Garratt's been a busy lad this week - after performing in the Radio 1 Live Lounge yesterday he was also grilled by Newsbeat who put Five Questions to him

    You can watch him perform his track Far Cry and his cover of Friends by Francis and the Lights featuring just his voice and the Live Lounge piano.  

    And today Garratt's released a remix of Far Cry featuring Little Simz - sadly we can't share it here as it's got explicit lyrics, but you can listen on The Fader website if you're not easily offended.

    "It was an honour to share my music with someone who has one of the most important voices in independent music in the U.K. right now," Garratt said.

    Far Cry artwork

    Garratt - the winner of the BBC's Sound of 2016 - has also just announced he's playing this year's Vevo Halloween party in Liverpool, alongside Blossoms, Aurora, Izzy Bizu and a special guest still yet to be announced.

    Tickets go on sale next Friday 16th for the show at Bramley-Moore Dock on 29 October. 

    View more on twitter
  4. Wretch 32: Mark Duggan's death was not just a news story

    Kev Geoghegan

    Arts and entertainment reporter

    Wretch 32

    UK rapper Wretch 32 has been explaining some of the songs on his latest album Growing Over Life - set to enter the top five in this week's album chart.

    Tracks include Liberation - which addresses the issue of police brutality and shows a police officer being arrested in the video - and the moving Open Conversation & Mark Duggan about the killing of Mark Duggan by police in 2011.

    His death sparked riots in north London and a jury ruled in 2014 that he was "lawfully killed" after police said they found a gun he was alleged to have been carrying about 20ft (6m) away from the scene.

    Police said Duggan was a member of a gang known for violence and drug dealing, a claim which has been disputed by his family and friends.

    "I grew up with him so it's not a news story for me, that was a real phone call that Mark had been killed - I didn't have to see it on the news, it was real. 

    "To some people, you see the news or you read Mark Duggan was a gangster and he deserved to die. That's what the news told you, so when you hear police killed him, you think, 'Okay that's what's supposed to happen'. But in actual fact, he wasn't a gangster and the reality was that it didn't happen that way. 

    "It's important and if someone like myself doesn't speak on it, then who will? Entertainers and artists you have to represent something, you can never veer too far from where you've come from."

    Warning: third party content, may contain ads.

    View more on youtube

    Recent reports suggest more than a third of people who die in police custody come from a Black and Minority Ethnic (BAME) background.

    "I'm not coming from a place where I'm against the police," says Wretch. "I'm only against police that are not doing their job properly. It's not about saying screw the system as a whole because I'm not about that.

    "I feel police officers who are doing wrong things need to either not work in the force or need to be punished by their bosses, the same as if I was working at a supermarket and I was stealing doughnuts from the bakery, I would be punished."

    Wretch says the problem is that people who have violent encounters with police don't know who to report them to.

    "You don't know and even today, I still don't know - can I go to the police to tell on the police? What can you do? My dream is that some day none of this exists anymore and we don't have to answer that question."

    If this is an issue which does affect you, you can approach the Independent Police Complaints Commission.

  5. Regina Spektor shares new ballad Black and White

    With her album Remember Us to Life due at the end of the month, Regina Spektor has shared a third new song from the record - a ballad called Black and White. 

    It follows Bleeding Heart and Small Bill$ but is much simpler, based around Spektor's piano and a steady drum beat with some synths and strings on top.

    You are welcome...

    Warning: third party content, may contain ads.

    View more on youtube
  6. New museum show looks at sights and sounds of the 1960s

    Beatles Sgt Pepper costumes

    You Say You Want A Revolution? is set to be the latest blockbuster show at the V&A museum in London.

    The new exhibition explores the social and musical shifts which shook the world between 1966 - 1970 and features stage costumes of the likes of The Beatles, The Who and Aretha Franklin.

    It follows 2013's hugely successful David Bowie exhibition. 

    Radio 4's Front Row has been along for a closer look

    The Who drumkit
  7. Prince bandmate talks about life without him

    BBC Radio 4

    Danish bass player Ida Nielsen was in Prince's band 3RDEYEGIRL from 2010 until the time of his death in April.

    The musician, pictured left below performing with Prince and bandmate Donna Grantis in 2013, has been speaking to James Coomarsamy for Radio 4's The World Tonight programme. 

    She spoke about life without the star, how their collaboration started and how Prince had helped with one of the tracks for her new solo album, Turn It Up...

    Video content

    Video caption: Danish bassist Ida Nielsen on working with Prince and living without him
  8. Lady Gaga's album features a Florence duet

    Lady Gaga

    We've already filled you in on how Lady Gaga wrote the lyrics for her new track Perfect Illusion on her typewriter (scroll down for details), but she also revealed a heap of album collaborators while co-hosting Radio 1's breakfast show this morning - including Florence Welch.

    "She's, if not the best, one of the greatest vocalists in the world," said Gaga.

    Other's include Beck, legendary electro producer Giorgio Moroder and Father John Misty.

    "You could almost see it is me and Mark [Ronson] being a band when we were making it," she said.

    "We wrote the songs from scratch together, then started bring other people in towards the end."

    Ronson shared details of the artists on Perfect Illusion on his Instagram earlier, with the words "credit where credit is due" - revealing Queens of the Stone Age's Josh Homme plays guitar...

    View more on instagram

    Read more on the collaborators.

  9. KT Tunstall was 'lost at sea' but now she's back with a new album

    It's been a while since we heard from KT Tunstall, but today she's back with her new album KIN. 

    Recorded in her new home city of Los Angeles, the record features a duet with James Bay.

    Tunstall has admitted she almost gave up on her recording career a few years back.

    She told Entertainment Weekly: “The feeling that I had was, ‘I need to burn the house down.' My dad had died, I got divorced, I felt very lost at sea. 

    "I didn’t know what I wanted. I’d done everything I thought it wanted, and it hadn’t made me happy.”

    But driving around the Hollywood hills listening to music got her thinking about writing a new album.

    This morning she stopped by Chris Evans' Radio 2 show to chat about it and perform live with her loop pedal.

    Here she talks about being a one woman band and the time a fan once shouted "My name's Ian" into the loop pedal...

    Video content

    Video caption: KT explains to Chris how her one-woman loop pedalling doesn't always go to plan.

    The singer's also announced a UK tour in October and November.

  10. Call Sean Paul a doctor for his Crick Neck

    It's from straining to see all those lovely Jamaican ladies as they walk past you see?

    Sean Paul can probably explain it a lot better than us so here he is in his new video and single doing just that.

    The star recently had a pop at artists such as Drake and Major Lazer for borrowing from dancehall and reggae, without crediting the source.

    He told the Guardian: "It is a sore point when people like Drake or Bieber or other artists come and do dancehall-orientated music but don’t credit where dancehall came from and they don’t necessarily understand it." 

    Warning: Third party content, may contain ads.

    View more on youtube
  11. Why Zayn's battle with anxiety is not uncommon with pop stars

    Zayn Malik

    Zayn Malik, Ellie Goulding and Selena Gomez share more in common than simply being very famous, very successful pop stars - they all suffer from acute anxiety.

    Earlier this week, Zayn cancelled a gig in Dubai over his condition, Ellie has spoken openly about it while, in the US, Camila Cabello of Fifth Harmony left the stage early during a show in St Louis, saying she "was having too much anxiety" to finish the set.

    But why do these performers suffer so much and are we talking enough about it?

    Entertainment reporter Steven McKenzie has been taking a look at the issue.   

  12. 'I'm on your side,' culture minister tells music industry

    Mark Savage

    Music reporter

    Matt Hancock, MP

    Matt Hancock, the new minister for digital and culture, has pledged his support to the music industry, declaring: "I'm on your side."

    He praised the success of British artists, noting that "one in six of all albums sold across the world is by a British artist", but had strong words when it came to diversity.

    "Onstage talent is often diverse - because talent doesn’t choose where it lands - but let’s make sure not only that it remains so but that it’s matched by an equal diversity behind the scenes. In the boardroom as much as backstage. I feel incredibly strongly about it."

    He noted some initiatives around diversity - including Creative Access and this week's Rated Awards, which recognise Grime culture - but added "it's not enough".

    "Music can’t be the preserve of the privileged," he told an audience at the BPI's annual general meeting. "Are you doing all you can to blast open the doors to the industry? I want the answer to be yes."

  13. Tributes paid to Prince Buster who has died at 78

    Prince Buster

    Tributes have been paid to ska pioneer Prince Buster who has died at the age of 78.

    Born in Kingston, Jamaica, as Cecil Bustamante Campbell, he became a legend of the burgeoning ska music genre in 1960s Jamaica.

    He was an influence on groups including Madness and The Specials in the British ska revival of the late 1970s.

    View more on twitter
    View more on twitter
    View more on twitter
    View more on twitter
    View more on twitter
    View more on twitter

    Read more

  14. The reformed Busted have a new album coming soon

    Busted - James Bourne, Charlie Simpson, Matt Willis

    Busted have announced their new album Night Driver will be released on 11 November - their first new music in 12 years.

    It follows their sell-out Pigs Can Fly reunion tour and features the new track Coming Home which they performed at the shows. 

    But don't expect it to sound like noughties hits Crashed the Wedding or Year 3000 - the album apparently marks "a new musical direction" for the former punk boyband who split in 2005.

    “This isn't the third Busted album. It is the first album of an exciting new chapter," said a statement from the band.

    Here's a quick taster of what that might sound like...

    Warning: third party content, may contain ads.

    View more on youtube

    The trio took off to LA last summer to work out if they had a new album in them and could agree on their sound.

    Matt says: “As soon as we started making music it became very apparent that we all wanted to make exactly the same thing.

    “We'd been listening to dance and pop producers like Skrillex and Max Martin [who worked with The Weeknd] who both started off in rock bands."

    “The last thing we wanted to do was try to recreate what we used to have,” says James. “It belongs to that time. All real artists evolve, all real artists try things, it’s unnatural not to.”

    “It’s an authentic reflection of who we are today," adds Charlie.

    We'll admit it, we're intrigued...

    View more on twitter
  15. Oasis Dont Go Away demo released for first time

    Noel and Liam Gallagher in 1996

    A previously unheard demo for the Oasis song Dont Go Away has been released ahead of a reissue of the band's 1997 album Be Here Now. 

    The Mustique demos were recorded by Noel Gallagher and producer Owen Morris on the Caribbean island in 1996.  

    You can listen to the track below and the album reissue is due out on 7 October.

    Meanwhile, the Oasis Chasing the Sun exhibition, which first opened in London in 2014, is to visit the band's Manchester hometown.

    Running from 14-25 October at the Old Granada Studios and curated by photographer Lawrence Watson, Chasing The Sun 1993-1997 follows the band's rise to stardom over four years.

    Warning: third party content, may contain ads. 

    View more on youtube
  16. Lady Gaga's Perfect Illusion "written on a typewriter"

    Mark Savage

    Music reporter

    Lady Gaga

    Lady Gaga is back with her first out-and-out pop single in three years.

    Perfect Illusion premiered on Nick Grimshaw's Radio 1 Breakfast Show this morning - which Gaga herself co-hosted, after two hours' sleep and a few glasses of champagne. How rock and roll.

    She told Grimmy that the Kevin Parker of psych-rock band Tame Impala came up with the initial idea, then knocked it into shape with Gaga and Mark Ronson in a studio in LA.

    "It wasn’t over email. I wasn’t in the studio by myself and then they were sending me tracks. Everything was made organically in a room while we looked out into the sunshine peering in through the trees. It was really magic."

    She also revealed that, unlike most singers, she doesn't use a notepad to jot down lyrical ideas.

    “I work on a typewriter and we would bounce new lyrics back and forth."

    In unrelated news, shares in Tipp-Ex have just gone through the roof.

    Warning: third party content, may contain ads. 

    View more on youtube
  17. Kings of Leon debut new material

    Kings of Leon

    They've been building up to it for the last few weeks and now Kings of Leon have shared the first single from their forthcoming new album Walls, a track called Waste a Moment. 

    Due out on 14 October,the album is the follow-up to 2013's Mechanical Bull, and sees the three Followill brothers Caleb, Jared and Nathan and their cousin Matthew on much better terms. 

    The band - who are this week's NME cover stars - told the magazine they became “business partners” rather than a proper band during the height of their success, with Caleb admitting "There were a lot of moments when we weren’t talking."

    But they've spent the last couple of years fixing those relationships and Waste a Moment sounds like classic Kings of Leon...

    Warning: third party content, may contain ads.

    View more on youtube

    The single release followed a countdown to album number seven on billboards around the world including in Australia and Germany (pictured below).   

    Kings of Leon's billboard countdown montage

    The band also shared a pretty cool video of the making of Walls' cover - featuring doll heads of the band - on their Facebook page

    They'll perform live on Later... with Jools Holland when the show returns to BBC Two for a new series on Tuesday 20 September, along with Sting, Jack White, M83 and Banks. 

  18. Happy Friday!

    We're celebrating the end of the working week with a bumper New Music Friday today, with new music from Lady Gaga - who's also moonlighting as the Radio 1 Breakfast Show co-host this morning - plus Ariana Grande, Kings of Leon and more.

    We'll also be hearing from Wretch 32 and bringing you news of a record Bruce Springsteen concert.

    Catch up on yesterday's page for details of a new Wolf Alice documentary, Usher's perfect response to getting a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, new tunes from OneRepublic and Madness and news that $3m worth of bling got stolen from Drake's tour bus.