Amoeba Music, the landmark chain of California record stores, has launched a crowdfunding campaign seeking $400,000 to continue operations and support store staff. "Our stores have weathered many storms, but we don't know that we can get through COVID-19," say the chain's proprietors in the campaign. "All three of our stores have been closed since mid-March and must remain closed indefinitely. With no way to generate income, our savings are running out, with bills and rent coming due."

Of course, record stores around the world are in the same boat. Billboard talked with Duncan Browne of the New England chain Newbury comics, and he says the 28-store chain now has "practically no cash flow." They're discussing lease terms with their landlords, and they're missing payments to vendors for the first time in the company's 43-year history. That said, Browne is optimistic that the company will get back on its feet, and it's stocking up on protective equipment for staff. He quotes Joe Strummer: "The future is unwritten."

Independent concert venues form alliance

Independent concert venues including First Avenue in Minneapolis, the Rebel Lounge in Phoenix, and (Le) Poisson Rouge in New York are banding together in a new National Independent Venue Association. Their goal: "securing financial support to preserve the national ecosystem of independent venues and promoters." 450 venues in 43 states and Washington, D.C. have already joined the alliance, an indication of how dire the situation is among concert venues with no firm idea when they'll be able to reopen their doors. Co-founder Rev. Moose, whose company Marauder runs Independent Venue Week, tells Pitchfork, "In addition to going to Capitol Hill to seek funds, NIVA will also offer key survival tools to members by sharing resources, information, and providing guidance on the Small Business Administration's Payroll Protection Program."

Virtual festival to support British musicians, Fountains of Wayne to play Jersey benefit with Sharon Van Etten

Linda Perry, KT Tunstall, and several more artists will play a virtual festival this Friday, April 24, to help British musicians affected by the coronavirus pandemic. The event, LCKDWN, is organized by PRS for Music, the leading performance rights organization in the U.K. A £5 million ($6,145,000) fund set up last month to support struggling British musicians ran out of cash by early April. (NME)

Meanwhile, the Jersey 4 Jersey benefit happening tomorrow, Wednesday, April 22, has confirmed that Fountains of Wayne will reunite with Sharon Van Etten joining the band on bass and backing vocals to pay tribute to the band's co-founder Adam Schlesinger, who died earlier this month of COVID-19. Bruce Springsteen and Jon Bon Jovi are among the famous Jersey musicians who will also be performing in the livestream event. (Brooklyn Vegan)

Who should compose the sound of your electric car?

Electric cars are quiet. They're so quiet, in fact, that manufacturers are required to add artificial sounds to the cars so that pedestrians and bicyclists can hear them coming. BMW has become the first automaker to turn to a famous musician to design the sound of their cars: film composer Hans Zimmer (Gladiator, Inception, the Dark Knight trilogy) is creating the sound of the forthcoming BMW i4 sedan. (New York Times)

If you could pick a musician to design the sound of your car, who would you pick? We asked The Current's Facebook fans to weigh in.

No surprise, Brian Eno came up, and so did the late Frank Zappa as well as Trent Reznor — the Nine Inch Nails frontman who's scored films including The Social Network and Gone Girl with collaborator Atticus Ross. Lisa DeVine named another pop star turned film composer, Oingo Boingo's Danny Elfman. Tori Elliott Boomsma named the rock group the Cars (even though she added, "I really can't stand them"), and Tony Kvale picked Gary Numan, the artist behind the 1979 hit single "Cars."

Other people said that if they could pick the sound of their car, though, they already know what they'd want. Lorie Haddad wants "the sound Fred Flintstone's feet make as he's starting his car," and fellow Hanna-Barbera fan Matt Davidson said, "it's time the sound of The Jetsons car was heard again." Cynthia Burton Cheslock wrote, "I'd like the coconuts from Monty Python."