Legendary rapper Snoop Dogg has joined Def Jam Recordings as executive creative and strategic consultant, “a new role that will allow him to strategically work across the label’s executive team and artist roster,” according to the announcement. With an immediate focus on A&R and creative development, Snoop Dogg is joining Def Jam as a senior
Music
One of the many revelations of the Prince estate’s ongoing, exhaustive reissue series is that there’s so much more in the late artist’s legendary vault than even the most obsessive fans ever dreamed. Even the sprawling, multi-disc deluxe editions around “1999” and “Sign O’ the Times” barely scratch the surface. One of the key people
Trisha Yearwood and Garth Brooks are open to the idea of having their own talk show one day — but it would have to be in their home of Nashville, Tenn. When promoting her new cookbook, “Trisha’s Kitchen,” on TalkShopLive Saturday, Yearwood opened up about the possibility of hosting a show with husband Brooks. The
The Weeknd won big at the opening night of this year’s Juno Awards, taking home three honors. “Blinding Lights” won single of the year, “After Hours” took home the award for contemporary R&B recording of the year and the Weeknd was awarded songwriter of the year, along with his co-writers Belly and Jason “DaHeala” Quenneville.
Earth, Wind & Fire got the party grooving at the second annual Drive-In to Erase MS Gala at the Rose Bowl on Friday night in Pasadena, which raised $1.4 million for the cause. Last September, the star-studded fundraiser adopted a drive-in model, with stars rolling over the orange carpet instead of walking it. This year,
“It’s going to be Washington Heights that is going to show the world how to get up again,” declared director Jon M. Chu as he addressed the audience ahead of the special preview screening of Warner Bros.’ “In the Heights.” “Because it showed me how to get up again.” Chu’s sentiments reflected the overall atmosphere
The very first sonic reference director Barry Jenkins sent to composer and frequent collaborator Nicholas Britell for “The Underground Railroad,” the epic 10-part Amazon series, was a cryptic audio message of a drilling sound. A few hours later, Britell received another text from Jenkins making sure the previous sample had been received, and that’s when
Lil Yachty and Bhad Bhabie have teamed up with agent Adam Kluger’s Scoop Investments to invest $1 million in Lox Club, a private, membership-based dating app for Jewish people with “ridiculously high standards,” according to the announcement. Lox Club was founded in late 2020 by Austin Kevitch, Alec Lorraine, and Will Neild, who serve as
Whether it’s “Ratched” “Pose” or “The Politician,” Ryan Murphy’s visual canvas is bold and vibrant and often filled with glitz and glamour. You could say the same of the music of Murphy’s world. Mac Quayle first linked with Murphy in 2014’s “The Normal Heart,” on which he worked as an assistant composer. Then when producers
It’s been ten years since Pentatonix charmed America in the fall of 2011 competing on the NBC show, “The Sing-Off.” On Friday (June 4), the group — Scott Hoying (baritone), Mitch Grassi (tenor), Kirstin Maldonado (mezzo-soprano), Kevin Olusola (vocal percussion), and Matt Sallee (bass) — surprised fans with a release of a video recreating an
The Linda Lindas, the teen punk band whose performance of “Racist, Sexist Boy” at a Los Angeles public library went viral last month, made their television debut on “Jimmy Kimmel Live” Thursday night. Based in Northeast Los Angeles, the Linda Lindas are a quartet made up of guitarist and vocalist Lucia de la Garza, 14,
The new animated feature “Spirit Untamed,” in theaters June 4, celebrates the power and importance of friendships, but at its heart is a theme of fearlessness. Composer Amie Doherty worked alongside director Elaine Bogan to map out the music for the follow-up to the popular 2002 movie “Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron.” This time the
“Far Too Late,” the first song from Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Cinderella,” has been released ahead of the album drop on July 9. “Cinderella” is a new romantic musical comedy featuring an original story and book by “Promising Young Woman’s” Emerald Fennell (pictured above with Webber), offering “a fresh spin with a twist on the classic
Paul Goldman is the founder of the digital rights management company Muserk. I started my career as a composer, writing jingles and interstitial TV music. I was used to hearing my work out in the world, but I was still surprised when, on a trip to Tokyo about a decade ago, I caught a rerun
Oscar-nominated actor Cynthia Erivo, who already has a Tony and Grammy under her belt, is making her original music debut with anthemic single “The Good” from her upcoming album. “Ch. 1 Vs. 1,” Erivo’s debut album of original music, is set for release on Sept. 17 via Verve Records. The first single from the set,
It wasn’t all that long ago that Michelle Zauner, the creative force behind shoegaze-pop act Japanese Breakfast, was singing about the idea of becoming “Jimmy Fallon big.” The track from 2017’s “Soft Sounds from Another Planet” may have seemed like wishful thinking at the time, but Zauner’s tongue-in-cheek lyric came full circle in March when
With 1989’s “Three Feet High and Rising,” the Long Island rap trio De La Soul created one of the truly groundbreaking albums in hip-hop history, bringing a happy, psychedelic, flower-bedecked vibe — dubbed “the D.A.I.S.Y. Age” — to a genre that had largely been musically and lyrically aggressive and/or self-aggrandizing up to that point. With
New York-based music-rights company Reservoir has acquired the groundbreaking New York-based hip-hop and electronic label Tommy Boy Music for around $100 million, according to an SEC filing. The deal comprises more than 6,000 masters, including such iconic hits from the ‘80s and early ‘90s as Coolio’s “Gangsta’s Paradise,” House of Pain’s “Jump Around,” and Afrika
Since the release of their debut album in 2015, Wolf Alice has been one of those “big in England” bands who are massive in their home country, leading awards shows and winning best album prizes, while they remain relatively under the radar in the U.S. Ten years into their career, the British quartet’s masterful latest
Vivendi has entered into discussions with U.S. investment fund, Pershing Square Tontine Holdings, Ltd. (PSTH), to sell 10% of Universal Music Group’s (UMG BV) share capital ahead of its listing in Amsterdam before the end of September. The sale of 10% would be based on an enterprise value of €35 billion ($42.3 billion) for 100%
It might be premature to proclaim Allison Russell’s solo debut the album of the year — some of her collaborators and boosters have their own records that may merit being in the running, for starters — but “Outside Child” sure has the inside track. With 2021 not yet at the halfway point, it’s hard to
Pershing Square Capital Management’s Bill Ackman is eyeing a 10% stake in Universal Music Group, to be purchased by his special-purpose acquisition company. Vivendi-owned UMG, the world’s biggest music company, is headed for an IPO later this year. The hedge fund billionaire announced nearly a year ago his interest in aligning with a corporation of
New York’s City Parks Foundation returns to live, in-person performances this summer with the announcement of the shows planned for the 2021 season of Capital One City Parks Foundation SummerStage, New York City’s largest free outdoor performing arts festival. SummerStage shows will be returning to Rumsey Playfield in Central Park, Marcus Garvey Park in Harlem,
Lil Nas X has already logged record consumption numbers for his debut single “Old Town Road” (14-times platinum in the U.S. alone and counting), proving he’s about as big an artist as it gets. And as of Thursday, June 3, and in time for the start of Pride Month, the out LGBTQ icon got an
Warner Chappell Production Music has opened the doors to two new recording facilities: SkyLight Studios in Los Angeles and Sandtrack Sound in Nashville. The WCPM team partnered with David Kotch of Criterion Acoustics to redesign SkyLight Studios, a former mastering lab located in Hollywood. The building is equipped to offer digital and analog recording capabilities with Pro Tools
Marvel’s move into streaming with this year’s “WandaVision” and “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier” conclusively demonstrated two things: that they didn’t skimp on the music budgets, and that theme songs could generate as much buzz as the unfolding mysteries surrounding the characters. Both series turned to Marvel vets for their lavish scores: Christophe Beck
The highest bidder for a new income-producing NFT will receive a cut of all future mechanical, public performance and sync royalties for Lil Dicky’s 2015 hit “Save Dat Money.” Spearheaded by Royalty Exchange, the world’s largest platform for buying and selling royalties, the first-ever music publishing NFT allows investors to buy music catalogs and songs
The choices for Emmy’s music branch this year are overwhelming, with hundreds of series now available via broadcast, cable and streaming options. Here are six of the most talked-about possibilities for nomination in the original score categories. The Flight Attendant “The Flight Attendant” (HBO Max) featured one of the season’s most creative scores, courtesy of composer
The Recording Academy has elected Tammy Hurt as its new Chair of the Board of Trustees, replacing Harvey Mason jr., who steps down from the post after being appointed permanent chairman/CEO of the organization, a role he had been serving on an interim basis since January of 2020. The elections were made during organization’s annual
Is there new Ed Sheeran music coming at the end of June? If his Instagram account is anything to go by, then the answer is yes. Early Thursday morning, Sheeran posted a teaser video simply captioned “25th June” with him on guitar. More surprising was the appearance of “Friends” star Courteney Cox, who plays piano