Rock Report 3/11/22

The rock world has lost another talented musician as original Sponge guitarist Mike Cross has died at the age of 57. (featured second in from right with blonde hair in the photo above).

Though no cause of death was revealed, his passing was marked not only by Sponge, but also by his most recent group MC Roads and their label Golden Robot Records.  He was in the band between 1992-2000, eventually exiting over creative differences.

After launching a light teaser campaign earlier this week, industrial legends Rammstein have debuted a music video for the brand new song “Zeit,” the title track off their new album coming later this year.
With unexpected downtime amid the pandemic, Rammstein recorded an album they said they “hadn’t planned on” with the creative juices flowing amid their inability to perform live.

Spotify has suspended premium accounts in Russia in light of the war in Ukraine. The decision was made by the company a week after it closed its office in Moscow.

The streaming platform’s CFO Paul Vogel spoke at Morgan Stanley’s 2022 Technology, Media and Telecom Conference yesterday (March 10), according to Variety, and noted that this move will result in the loss of roughly 1.5 million premium account subscribers in the first quarter of this year. A spokesperson on behalf of the company added that Russian business doesn’t make up a significant amount of their total revenue, coming in at less than 1 percent.