You may have heard self-care advocates saying that you don't need to write the Great American Novel while you're social distancing, but independent musicians have been churning out new music, reports Rolling Stone. Platforms like TuneCore and Soundrop, which allow artists to distribute music to streaming services, are seeing surges in use.

With live shows essentially off, artists have more time on their hands and also have a financial imperative: streaming income may not be much, but it's better than nothing. Plus, with major labels holding off many of their big releases, listeners looking for new music have more attention available for independent artists. If you're one of those listeners, there's a lot of new music out there right now. Even before the crisis hit, there were 40,000 new tracks debuting on Spotify every day.

Mayors and Monkees agree: Big shows won't be back for a while

Earlier this week, we covered one public health expert who caused a stir by saying big shows probably shouldn't happen again until a year and a half from now. That was just one opinion, but more and more voices are weighing in expressing agreement with the general idea that crowds of any size just aren't going to feel safe again for the rest of 2020.

Billboard reports that the mayors of both New York and Los Angeles are advising residents not to expect events involving thousands of people to come together again until 2021. L.A. mayor Eric Garcetti says "I think we all have never wanted science to work so quickly," but "it's difficult for us to imagine us getting together in the thousands any time soon, so I think we should be prepared for that this year."

That means music, and it also means sports. The New York Times reports on measures pro sports leagues are considering to resume seasons this fall, including the wild idea of gathering all pro baseball players in a single isolated location so they can play ballgames with fans watching remotely. "Experts agree," though, that we're probably not going to see Yankee Stadium full of fans again until sometime next year.

It's also worth remembering that this isn't just about when fans feel safe getting back together: it's when artists feel safe stepping out in front of crowds again. Mickey Dolenz admits that it now seems "optimistic" he'll be able to return to touring with his Monkees bandmate Mike Nesmith, as planned, in July. He tells Billboard, "I think everybody's waiting for some sort of a drug ... or vaccine. I'll be honest, I don't think I'm going to be too crazy about going out unless something of that nature happens."

Liam Gallagher taps Primal Scream to support NHS benefit

One artist who's hopeful that big shows can come back this year is Liam Gallagher, who's just announced a massive Oct. 29 show at London's O2 Arena — a free show for workers at Britain's National Health Service. All the free tickets are already spoken for, and a first supporting act have been announced: Primal Scream. Announcing free shows for NHS workers is kind of a trend in the U.K. right now: Manic Street Preachers are planning shows on Dec. 4 and 5, one free for healthcare workers and the other an NHS benefit show. Other artists, including The Script and Rick Astley, are planning free shows for NHS workers. (NME)

Miles Davis collaborator Lee Konitz dies at 92

Jazz saxophonist Lee Konitz has died of pneumonia resulting from COVID-19, at age 92. Over the course of a seven-decade career Konitz collaborated with the likes of Charles Mingus and Max Roach, but he was best known for recording with Miles Davis. He was the last surviving musician who played in the historic sessions released in 1957 as the Miles Davis album Birth of the Cool. (Pitchfork)

See the first clip from new Bowie biopic

Stardust is a new movie about David Bowie's first trip to America, as he was creating his Ziggy Stardust persona in 1971. It's not authorized by Bowie's estate, and the producers have even said they're not calling it a "biopic." But if, by "biopic," you mean a motion picture based on someone's actual life, then yep, it's a biopic. It was supposed to premiere this week at the Tribeca Film Festival; instead, it's going to be screened for select audiences through a private online portal. Wide release plans are still TBD. Here's a first clip from the film, with Johnny Flynn playing the young Bowie and Marc Maron as a Mercury Records publicist. (Stereogum)