RIP: Steve Young, a Georgia-born country music singer/songwriter, died March 17, aged 73. Young was credited as a key force in the outlaw country scene of the ‘70s. His best-known song, "Seven Bridges Road" was a hit for The Eagles and was also covered by Joan Baez, Tracy Nelson & Mother Earth, Ian Matthews, and Rita Coolidge.

- CTV is bringing the iHeartRadio Music Awards to Canada next month, marking the first time that it will air on a Canadian network. Hosted this year by platinum recording artist Jason Derulo, the annual US Awards celebrates the most popular music heard throughout the year across iHeartMedia Radio's 800 US stations and various outlets in Australia and New Zealand. This year’s show will feature performances from Justin Bieber, Zayn Malik, Meghan Trainor, Demi Lovato, DNCE, Fetty Wap, Zayn, and Chris Brown from the Forum in LA.  They will be joined by celebrity guest appearances from Maroon 5 and Pitbull from the Capital One JamFest stage in Houston, TX. Additional performers will be announced closer to the broadcast. The three-hour show will be broadcast on Sunday, April 3 outside Canada and delayed to Friday, April 8th in Canada so as to avoid conflicting with the CTV live feed of the annual Juno Awards in Calgary on the original date.

- As Partynextdoor left the stage Saturday at the Fader Forty during the South by Southwest Music Festival, Drake ran on immediately afterwards and launched into "Energy". Bounding around the stage with arms outstretched he said he was only asked to play one song but might do a few more. That turned into six tracks, with a guest appearance from Metro Boomin for his production "Jumpman" and a rendition of Meek Mill diss "Back to Back". The crowd went through cycles of singing back the lyrics for the verses and jumping around for the choruses with his tale of self-reflection while driving around Toronto – "Know Yourself" – getting the biggest reaction. Drake used the event to announce his latest tour and for those who could get in it was a teaser of an artist who has built a mini empire around lyrics concerning self-reflection and lots an lots of hooks. Don’t worry if you weren’t there; you can experience some of it on Fader. - The Guardian UK, The Star

- Paul McCartney has begun the process of regaining control of his share of the US publishing rights in the Beatles’ catalogue. The publishing is currently owned by Sony/ATV Music Publishing, but US law allows living artists to apply to take back the right 56 years after initial publication, meaning the Lennon-McCartney catalogue becomes available in 2018. Billboard reports that McCartney began the process to taking control of his half of the Beatles publishing on 15 December 2015. Under the US copyright act of 1976, a songwriter must file a claim with the copyright office two to 10 years before the 56 years elapse. McCartney filed a termination notice for 32 songs at the end of last year. However, John Lennon’s half of the publishing – all Beatles songs were credited to Lennon-McCartney, regardless of who wrote them – will remain with Sony/ATV which reportedly made a deal with Lennon’s widow, Yoko Ono.

- Universal Music Group has partnered with watch company Raymond Weil to launch a radio station with 40 songs curated by Weil to celebrate the brand’s 40^th anniversary. Once registered on Weil’s website, access to ad-free radio playlists of hundreds of songs themed by collection will be available in addition to the RW radio.

- Justin Bieber's best new friend is Marilyn Manson and the two have taking to wearing T-shirts bearing each other's likeness. Bizarrely, Inquisitr reports the self-admiration society goes back to last July, when Manson nodded approval of Bieb's decision to wear a Manson 'T' from the Fort Lauderdale singer's Antichrist Superstar collection to a Pentecostal Hillsong Church conference in Sydney, Australia.

- Rush drummer Neil Peart has announced another book detailing his fascinating life both in and out of the brotherhood known as Rush. It's his seventh tome and third in his illustrated travel series.. This one's called Far and Wide: Bring that Horizon to Me! The 300+ page hardcover edition will be published in Sept. More details or pre-order here.

- The CBC reports that the National Arts Centre Orchestra's 2016- 2017 line-up is buff with the big boys of classical music, with their biggest hits performed by a roster of modern-day stars. "It's all about creating a really healthy balance of new creations by composers we really believe in and the great classics," said NACO music director Alexander Shelley at the launch Friday. In layman's terms this is gobbledygook for more dead white composers with a sprinkling of today's music to quell protests from the living. Never have so few benefited so much from the public purse.