UPDATED: More than four months after the $16 billion #SignOurStages act was signed into law, and more than two weeks after the website through which venues could apply for federal aid launched and immediately crashed, the Small Business Administration says it will reopen Saturday — tomorrow — April 24 at 12:30 p.m. ET. Independent music
Music
Spotify wants to be the industry’s No. 1 distributor of podcasts — and it’s willing to forgo some revenue in order to counter Apple’s push into podcast subscriptions. Next week, Spotify will launch its podcast subscription option for partners. But the company will be letting content creators keep 100% of the subscription fees: Spotify will
“It was fifteen years ago, and I still don’t believe it,” says DJ Paul of Three 6 Mafia, possibly the most shocking Oscar winners in history. The Memphis-spawned hip-hop group won Best Original Song in 2006 for the theme track from the Terence Howard-starring film “Hustle & Flow,” which bears the spectacularly unsubtle title of
Returning to the scene of the crime seemed to Sara Bareilles like a good way to promote her just-announced live album, “Amidst the Chaos: Live at the Hollywood Bowl,” and so the singer-songwriter will be boosting the release with a livestream return gig at the Bowl, albeit with about 17,500 fewer people in attendance than
As 12-time Oscar nominee Diane Warren is in the midst of preparations for the 93rd Academy Awards, she has also found time to release her latest songwriting project, “Somehow You Do,” sung by Reba McEntire. The song is in the Warren tradition of movie-based ballads. “Somehow You Do” is taken from the upcoming film, “Four Good
As teased earlier this week, the Weeknd has dropped a remix and video of “Save Your Tears,” one of the standout tracks from his blockbuster “After Hours” album, featuring Ariana Grande. The video is an eye-popping and surreal animated treatment with renderings of both artists that was directed by Jack Brown and produced by Blinkink.
Jim Steinman was an ultimate officiant in the marriage of rock ‘n’ roll and theater. The songwriter, who died April 19, only had a handful of productions play out on the legit stage, including “Dance of the Vampires,” “Whistle Down the Wind” and, finally, “Bat Out of Hell: The Musical.” But it really wouldn’t have
Shock G, frontman of the 1990s hip-hop group Digital Underground and widely known as his alter-ego “Humpty Hump,” has died, according to the group’s co-founder Chopmaster G. Shock’s real name was Gregory Jacobs; his death was confirmed to TMZ by by his father, Edward Racker, although no cause has been cited. He was 57. Via
Kehlani, who has long identified as queer and bisexual, proclaimed herself a lesbian via a TikTok post today (April 22). In her video, the singer and songwriter said, “I am gay, gay, gay. … I finally know I’m a lesbian.” The Oakland-born artist joked about coming out to her family as a lesbian. “We know,
As far as “fifth Beatles” go, Klaus Voormann has forever been at the top of that elite list. Along with being an intimate part of the pre-Fab Four’s Hamburg circle, his trio Paddy, Klaus & Gibson was taken under the wings of Beatles manager Brian Epstein upon Voormann’s arrival to Great Britain. The bassist/graphic artist
Rapper Cardi B is sounding off on a Republican lawmaker who chose to discuss the Grammy performance of her hit song “WAP” instead of furthering the discussing about police brutality in the wake of the Derek Chauvin verdict. On Twitter, Cardi B responded to a video of U.S. Representative Glenn Grothman complaining about her sexualized
Rapper, actor and activist Common has signed with YM&U management of his music endeavors, the company has announced. He will be represented and managed by Kevin Wolff, who signed him to YM&U, alongside Anthony Rodol. Common is the only rapper to win Grammy, Academy and Emmy Awards; he has also won a Golden Globe. Alongside John
Universal Music Group will begin a “phased” reopening of its U.S. offices on Sept. 13, a source close to the situation confirms to Variety. The directive applies to the company’s main offices in Los Angeles (both the Capitol building in Hollywood and the UMG mothership in Santa Monica), New York and Nashville; the announcement was
Les McKeown, former lead singer for the Bay City Rollers, the group that became a global phenomenon in the 1970s, died Tuesday at age 65. His family announced the death Thursday in a social media post. “It is with profound sadness that we announce the death of our beloved husband and father Leslie Richard McKeown,”
JaQuel Knight has made history as the first choreographer to copyright his iconic dance moves. In a giant stride to take creative control, Knight has launched Knight Choreography and Music Publishing Inc. Knight shot to fame after crafting the moves in Beyonce’s “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)” video, since then, he has become
Resorts World Las Vegas has been making big comeback plans in recent weeks, announcing summer residencies for Zedd and Tiesto at its nightclubs — and it is apparently ramping up those plans significantly with the release of an elaborate video starring Katy Perry, Celine Dion, Carrie Underwood, Luke Bryan as well as Zedd and Tiësto,
Sports media and entertainment startup Overtime has raised $80 million in Series C funding — from a diverse investor group that includes Amazon mega-billionaire Jeff Bezos, Drake and more than two dozen NBA players — to fund its expansion into new areas, including the debut of a high-school basketball league later this year. Founded in
Yola, the powerhouse singer who was nominated for four Grammys — including best new artist — on the strength of her 2018 debut album, has announced plans for a follow-up due this summer, “Stand for Myself,” and released a new music video, “Diamond Studded Shoes,” to preview it. “Stand for Myself” will be out July
During the development of “Shrek,” the creators did not consider what might appeal to children. “Andrew [Adamson, co-director] and I, we didn’t have kids,” co-director Vicky Jenson says. “We were making a movie that we would go see.” When it came to the songs, the overarching mission was the similar, says the film’s music supervisor,
The official memorial services for rapper and actor Earl “DMX” Simmons, who died on April 9 after suffering a heart attack, have been announced. Two memorial services will be held: one on Saturday, April 24 at 4 p.m. ET, and a Homegoing Celebration on Sunday, April 25 at 2:30 pm E.T. While attendance to the memorials is limited to
The Brit Awards ceremony will take place as a live event with 4,000 guests at London’s O2 Arena on May 11. The indoor ceremony and live show, the first at the O2 for over a year, will form part of the U.K. government’s scientific ‘Events Research Program,’ which uses enhanced testing approaches to examine how
SPOILER ALERT: Do not read ahead if you have not watched Season 5 Episode 7 of “The Masked Singer,” which aired April 21 on Fox. Too hot to handle, too cold to hold, Bobby Brown was the next celebrity to be eliminated on Wednesday night’s edition of “The Masked Singer,” followed immediately by “Sister, Sister”
All Access Music, the website started 26 years ago by longtime radio trade publisher Joel Denver, presented its annual confab remotely for the first time, changing the name from All Access Worldwide Radio Summit to All Access Audio Summit, representing not just radio, but streaming and podcasting. In an interview that helped kick off the
Five-time Grammy-winning rapper Lil Wayne has joined UTA, the company announced, for worldwide representation in all areas. With a catalog reaching back to the 1990s, Wayne is one of the most influential and successful rappers of all time. The depth of his discography is reflected by the fact that there are multiple volumes of some
Lest anyone think that the entertainment livestream revolution is a product of the pandemic that will taper off as soon as quarantining does, Moment House CEO and co-founder Arjun Mehta has the language to describe what’s happening in the space. “The way we look at it is that the pandemic is not the enabler,” Mehta
Going to hell has been a heaven-sent mission for Tanu Muino. She co-directed the year’s — and maybe the young decade’s — most talked about music video, “Montero (Call Me By Your Name),” with its controversial star Lil Nas X. That came right on the heels of directing a video for one of 2021’s other
As expected, Casey Wasserman has raised the curtain on Wasserman Music, a new powerhouse player in music built on the back of Paradigm’s former music division. Wasserman on Wednesday completed the complicated transaction that saw Paradigm sever off its music operation for sale as the company faced a spiraling financial crisis last year amid the
Cannabis and country music icon Willie Nelson will be one of the keynote speakers at the virtual marijuana convention Luck Summit: Planting the Seed, taking place on April 26-29 in Nelson’s hometown of Luck, TX. “I think that people are realizing more and more that cannabis is a positive thing,” said Nelson. “I still believe
One year after the release of her debut album, Rina Sawayama is not ready to move on. “Hell yeah, I don’t want this album cycle to finish,” Sawayama tells Variety. “I’m not done with the songs. I think they’re complete when they’re being performed and sung back to me by an audience.” The Japanese-British pop
Electric Daisy Carnival Las Vegas has officially been postponed to October 2021 from its original May dates. According to an Instagram post from Pasquale Rotella, founder and CEO of EDC organizer Insomniac, the festival is being postponed after Clark County passed a reopening plan requiring 60% of residents to be fully vaccinated before large-scale gatherings