The week in music: the Apple Music launch, Miley Cyrus's latest sexual revelations, and more

Ariana Grande wrote about gender double standards in music

Grande is turning her recent breakup with rapper Big Sean, and the ensuing media circus around her love life, into a lesson in feminism. On 7 June, the pop singer tweeted a short personal essay about sexism and lyrical misogyny in music, prompting a predictable Guardian commenter outcry of: “But how can a woman wear heels and tight clothes and be allowed to quote Gloria Steinem?” For a singer with a relatively young fanbase, it felt like an important move.

Producer Ten Walls felt the internet’s anti-homophobia wrath

Sometimes you hit “post” after typing a few sentences on Facebook, smugly giggling to yourself and feeling confident that your friends will bestow the lol-filled status update with a hefty number of well-earned likes. Other times, you’re Lithuanian electronic music producer Ten Walls. He went on a homophobic rant on Facebook on 3 June, classily comparing gay men to paedophiles, and within hours, had been dropped by his booking agency and struck from the lineups of at least seven electronic music festivals. Hell hath no fury like the anti-bigot online community scorned.

Morrissey said he was officially dead for nine minutes

Mozzer claimed he briefly died after a bout of food poisoning in Peru, but we’ll leave it to the die-hard fans to insist on an official coroner’s report as evidence. This throwaway remark about a quick trip to the afterlife was just one line in an interview that touched on Obama not supporting black people, why cancelled Morrissey gigs get so much press, and – you guessed it – meat as murder.

Iggy Azalea ducked out of an LGBT street party gig

She may be fancy, but rapper Iggy Azalea wasn’t particularly popular as the headliner choice for an LGBT event. As reported a couple of weeks ago, the announcement of her slot at Pittsburgh Pridefest this coming weekend sparked a heated backlash over what has been perceived as homophobic and racially derogatory language in Azalea’s past tweets, and she was forced to cancel the set. Nick Jonas fans, however, ought to be delighted to hear that he’ll be taking her place.

The Replacements split up. Again

Look, if you’re a Replacements fan, you surely would have seen this coming. The band have announced they won’t be working together again, as per frontman Paul Westerberg’s statement from the stage during their Primavera Porto festival set last weekend. During the announcement, Westerberg called his bandmates “lazy bastards to the end”, for good measure. At least they got back together the second time, right?

Miley Cyrus spoke to Paper mag about gender and bisexuality

This story initially piqued people’s interest because Miley was pictured on the cover of Paper magazine naked, in splotches of body paint and smiling while clutching a pig. But there’s more. In a spread featuring nude but markedly unsexy photographs, Miley spoke about telling her conservative and religious parents she was bisexual. She also chatted about the reasoning behind starting her charity focused on LGBT and homeless youth in LA, and her contempt for the law-making power held by religious fundamentalists in America.

Apple Music finally launched …

Move over Tidal: the real music-streaming competitor has landed. Spotify execs received the scare they’d been waiting for/dreading, when Apple CEO Tim Cook, music entrepreneur Jimmy Iovine and rapper Drake launched Apple Music on Monday. Apple scooped up Iovine and Dr Dre’s Beats Electronic company last year, using the team behind Beats Music’s service to build the Apple Music app that will hit iPhones all over the world on 30 June.

It will combine streaming, a social network element linking fans and musicians called Connect, and 24-hour radio station Beats 1, headed by ex-BBC Radio 1 DJ Zane Lowe. If, after the three-month free trial period, it costs $10 in the US and a pricier £10 in the UK, penny-pinchers in Blighty may not be best pleased.

… and had stirred up controversy within days

It only took a couple of days for drama to follow the launch. New York and Connecticut attorney generals were, as of 10 June, reportedly investigating whether or not Apple had colluded with major labels to skew favour against freemium streaming services, during negotiations leading to the launch of Apple Music.

On top of that, an allegedly leaked excerpt of a contract between an indie label and Apple Music appeared to show that artists were not due to be paid during the app’s free, three-month trial period. People online have kicked off about possibly low payments to record labels and music publishers elsewhere in the contract, but those look fairly standard at first glance.

Saxophonist Ornette Coleman died, aged 85

The legendary jazz musician died on Thursday 11 June following a cardiac arrest, according to his family. Coleman experimented with free jazz’s new improvisational direction, and won the Pulitzer prize for music in 2007 for album Sound Grammar. The performer and composer died in Manhattan and is survived by his son, Denardo Coleman.

Bandleader James Last died, aged 86

Last, known for his relentlessly joyful big-band renditions of pop songs, died on 9 June in Florida, according to his manager. The arranger and bandleader released more than 200 albums over his 56-year career and is survived by his second wife Christine Grundner, and children Caterina and Ronald.