2023 Music History: Key Events, Band Formations & Album Releases
Acts Formed
January 10th
Jeff Beck, of The Yardbirds, dies at 78 of meningitis.
January 24th
Justin Bieber sells his publishing rights for $200 million.
January 28th
Tom Verlaine, of Television, dies at 73 from prostate cancer.
February 5th - Grammy Awards
Album of the Year: Harry Styles - Harry's House
Song of the Year: Bonnie Raitt - 'Just Like That'
February 12th
Trugoy the Dove, of De La Soul, dies at 54 of heart failure.
March 3rd
Donald Trump and the J6 Prison Choir release 'Justice for All' as a single. The choir consists of men arrested during the January 6th attack on Capitol Hill.
March 5th
Three fans die during a crowd crush at a GloRilla concert in Rochester, New York. Fans were spooked by false reports of nearby gunfire.
March 23rd
The rapper Afroman is sued by several US police officers for including CCTV footage of their botched raid on his home in music videos. He also sold merchandise featuring the officers faces.
March 24th
Lankum release False Lankum.
March 28th
Japanese composer Ryuichi Sakamoto dies at 71 of cancer.
April
Alexander Morris, vocalist of Motown group The Four Tops, is placed in a straight jacket and thought to be mentally ill during a visit to the Ascension Macomb-Oakland Hospital in Michigan. Staff restrained him when he raised potential security concerns about stalkers and fans.
April 21st
Nourished By Time releases Erotic Probiotic.
May 19th
Andy Rourke, The Smiths' bassist, dies at 59 of pancreatic cancer.
May 24th
Tina Turner dies at 83 from natural causes.
June
Josh Homme, band leader of Queens of the Stone Age, announces he has cancer. He is bedridden for seven months.
June 23rd
Geese release 3D Country.
June 28th
4 million people join the ticket line for the Australian leg of Taylor Swift's Eras Tour. The number represents 14.7% of Australia's total population.
June 30th
Rick Froberg, frontman of post-hardcore band Drive Like Jehu, dies at 55 from a heart attack.
July
Luxury fashion brand Saint Lauren begin selling second hand band T-shirts. A vintage Nirvana 'In Utero' shirt sells for £2,510.
July 16th
Jane Birkin dies at 76.
July 21st
Tony Bennett dies at 96 of Alzheimer's complications.
July 22nd - 23rd
Ground vibrations generated by Taylor Swift fans at her Eras Tour in Seattle register at 2.3 on the richter scale. The event becomes known as the 'Swift Quake' and is the largest amount of seismic activity recorded at a live performance.
July 26th
Sinead O'Connor dies at 56 from exacerbation of COPD.
August 8th
Universal Music Group enter into a partnership with YouTube to develop generative AI tools. Instead of obstructing progress, as media companies did with Napster, they are seeking solutions to reimburse copyright holders.
August 9th
Rapper Tory Lanez receives a 10-year prison sentence for shooting Megan Thee Stallion in the foot.
September 7th - Mercury Prize
Best British Album: Ezra Collective - Where I'm Meant to Be
September 11th
A census of UK musicians finds that 43% earn less than £14,000 per year. A 35-hour work week at UK minimum wage pays approximately £22,000.
September 18th
Katy Perry sells her publishing rights for $225 million.
September 20th
Sufjan Stevens reveals he has Guillain-Barré syndrome and can no longer walk. He is undergoing rehabilitation.
September 22nd
yeule releases Softscars.
September 28th
The music licensing platform Songtradr purchase Bandcamp. The move allows artists to license their work to film, TV etc.
October
Forbes report that Taylor Swift is a billionaire.
October 21st
Universal Music Group sue the AI company Anthropic for copyright infringement, claiming that protected work was used to train its AI chatbot Claude.
November 2nd
Machine learning enhances a muddy demo of 'Now and Then' by The Beatles, restoring John Lennon's distorted vocals. The event highlights how the new technology can be beneficial in the restoration and preservation of media.
November 30th
Shane McGowan dies at 65 of pneumonia.
December
Taylor Swift's Eras Tour generates more than $1 billion in revenue, becoming the first to reach such an amount.
