Music

UPDATED: In his capacity as founder of the Revolt network, Sean “Diddy” Combs slammed General Motors for disrespecting Black-owned media brands in an open letter published Thursday, calling for more financial support in advertising and other spending. The move follows the placement of a full-page ad in Sunday’s Detroit Free Press, in which the leaders

With COVID-19 impacting music artists’ very livelihood in 2020, attorney Kenny Meiselas, name partner and head of the music department of New York-based firm Grubman Shire Meiselas & Sacks, diversified when it came to his clients’ business endeavors. From a Super Bowl halftime show to a branded Oreo cookie to the wild frontier of Non

“We should send a thank you note to the Bob Dylan folks,” says Charles “Jeff” Biederman, partner at law firm Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, which has a thriving music practice. “The day Dylan happened, I must have gotten four calls that morning,” he adds, referring to Universal Music Publishing Group’s December announcement of a deal

The Americana Music Association is bullish on vaccines and has announced that its annual music festival, biz conference and awards show will return to Nashville in September after taking a pandemic break to go virtual last year. Dates have been set for Sept. 22-25, 2021, with the org’s annual kudocast, the Americana Honors & Awards,

The Sunset Tower is getting ready for Oscar night. Owner Jeff Klein tells me that freshly minted winners will be treated to dinner if they come in after the show with their statuettes. The public can also book a meal at the hotel, and rooms are available for private COVID-safe viewing parties. Options range from

On July 30, the Prince Estate and Sony’s Legacy Recordings will release Prince’s “Welcome 2 America” album, which was recorded in 2010 but never released.  According to the announcement, the album is “a powerful creative statement that documents Prince’s concerns, hopes, and visions for a shifting society, presciently foreshadowing an era of political division, disinformation, and

Howard Weitzman, a partner with the Kinsella Weitzman Iser Kump & Aldisert law firm who represented top celebrities from Marlon Brando to Michael Jackson over the course of his career, has died at age 81, Variety has confirmed. A statement from the family is expected on Thursday. One of the most influential power lawyers in the

A year without John Prine is a year too desolate to measure in sheer months. But with the anniversary of the legendary musician’s April 7, 2020 death upon us, it’s a time to take stock of what was lost over the last year, not just for him and his family but the millions who’ve also

Willie Nelson and Luck Presents, a “rogue collective” based in his hometown of Luck, Texas, have announced a four-day virtual cannabis convention, to be hosted online by fellow musician Nathaniel Rateliff. Dubbed “Luck Summit: Planting the Seed,” the ticketed event will serve as a benefit for HeadCount’s Cannabis Voter Project, with programming beginning April 26

Sixty-four years ago, as Elvis Presley’s career reached its supernova stage, the 21-year-old singer’s team hit on a strategy that enabled him to profit from songwriting without actually writing songs. His management and music publisher had added Presley’s name to the credits on a couple of his early hits, but the singer wasn’t comfortable with

A “reimagined” version of Tom Petty’s “She’s the One,” now retitled “Angel Dream,” is one of the highlights of Record Store Day’s just-announced slate for its main 2020 event. Make that events, plural; with retail shops’ and customers’ sensitivity to pandemic conditions still in mind, the usual singular blowout day in April is being split

Twenty One Pilots debuted a new single, “Shy Away,” Thursday morning in advance of the duo’s first album in three years, “Scaled and Icy.” A “Livesteam Experience” is also in the cards forMay 21,  the night of the album launch. A video for “Shy Away” is out today, as well. The followup to the duo’s

To one generation, Dionne Warwick is a vocalist of supreme sophistication and elegant soulfulness, an interpreter whose gospel influence, jazzy éclat and conversational phrasing have, since 1962, turned the finest of cosmopolitan pop song — from Bacharach/David and Michel Legrand to Thom Bell and Barry Gibb — into gold. To another generation, Warwick is, at

For Britney Spears’ legions of fans across the globe, the #FreeBritney movement has been top of mind for years. But in recent months, the hashtag has become more prominent with the release of Hulu’s New York Times-produced documentary, “Framing Britney Spears,” which debuted as the pop star’s legal proceedings over her conservatorship have persisted. The

Ralph Schuckett, a keyboard player best known as a member of Todd Rundgren’s Utopia as well as an in-demand session player and producer and, later, composer for “Pokemon” and other animation projects, died Sunday at 73. No cause of death was immediately given, although he was known to have been ill. When a Utopia reunion

Taylor Swift has dropped a brand new song, “Mr. Perfectly Fine,” leading up to the Friday release of “Fearless (Taylor’s Version),” the re-recording of her 2008 album. On Twitter, Swift revealed that the song was originally written in 2008 during her “Fearless” era, but it did not make it onto the album. “Mr. Perfectly Fine”

DMX remained in a coma at a New York hospital on Wednesday after he suffered a heart attack last week, his manager, Steve Rifkind, told NBC News. Rifkind said the 50-year-old rapper’s condition remains unchanged, and that doctors are scheduled to perform tests to determine the level of his brain function. The results from Wednesday’s

Resorts World Las Vegas announced that artist, DJ and producer Zedd will headline Zouk Nightclub and Ayu Dayclub, Las Vegas’ new “day and nightlife experiences,” opening this summer. The venues are the first new resort to be built on the Strip in more than a decade, and they are the first to open in the United States from Zouk Group, Singapore’s 29-year-old

Fox and iHeartMedia have announced the nominees for the 2021 iHeartRadio Music Awards. Following 2020’s cancelled live TV broadcast, this year’s event will air live from the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles on May 27. The ceremony celebrates the most-played artists and songs across iHeartRadio platforms and will feature a new category, “TikTok Bop of

Brandi Carlile has worshipped Elton John all of her adult and adolescent life, so it’s fitting that as she started writing her memoir, “Broken Horses,” she’d just finished reading his 2019 autobiography, “Me.” With Sir Elton and Bernie Taupin likely having the biggest historic impact on her songwriting, it might not be a leap to

Ariana Grande reveals the rigorous and highly technical vocal work that goes into recording a hit song with a behind-the-scenes look at how the track “Positions” came to be. In the five-minute clip, posted to YouTube, Grande is shown adding layers of harmonies to the bridge and finding new note combinations while in the studio.

The fourth and final installment of the YouTube Originals series “Demi Lovato: Dancing with the Devil” tasked Therapy Studios editor Shannon Albrink with tying together the work of Paul Little, who cut the first three episodes, and of providing closure to a volatile and vulnerable period in the pop star’s life. The key, according to

Variety announced Tuesday the programming for its virtual, invite-only Power of Law breakfast, presented by City National Bank, on April 9. Variety’s Power of Law is tied to the annual Legal Impact Report, which profiles the top business lawyers working in entertainment and media. This year’s Power of Law honoree will be Gordon M. Bobb

Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl has announced he has a memoir, “The Storyteller,” on the way, set to be released in October. Published by Dey Street Books — a HarperCollins imprint — and out Oct. 5, the book is described as a celebration of music and a collection of life stories from the legendary rocker.

Attorney Joel Katz, former founding chairman of Greenberg Traurig’s entertainment and media practice and a top official at the Recording Academy, has joined Barnes & Thornburg. He will remain based in Atlanta, where he will serve as as senior counsel for the firm’s entertainment, media and sports practice. The news was first reported by Billboard. “Mr.

Not content merely to conquer the film-music world, composer Hans Zimmer has now turned his attention to cell-phone ringtones. Chinese smartphone maker Oppo has unveiled its latest, the Find X3 Pro, which offers two Zimmer-created ringtones and “an orchestra of system sounds,” according to an announcement by the company. The new sounds include two warm

Lady Gaga has teamed up with Dom Perignon to launch “The Queendom,” a multi-media campaign shot by Nick Knight. Part of this artistic universe is the one-minute short film titled “Creative Freedom Is Power,” which features Gaga posing in elaborate outfits styled by Haus of Gaga set to “Free Woman” from her 2020 album, “Chromatica.”

“The Tonight Show” host Jimmy Fallon made peace with TikTok users after airing a dance segment that received backlash for not crediting the original creators of the viral dance moves. During an episode that aired in late March, Fallon was joined by TikTok star Addison Rae, who is the second-most followed person on the app

Nearly a year to the day after Radiohead announced that it would stream a series of archival concerts from its vault, the group has announced a second set, streaming over the next seven weeks. Each edition will premiere on Radiohead’s YouTube channel Fridays at 8pm BST (5 p.m. ET, 2 p.m. PT) for seven weeks

Guns N’ Roses have rescheduled their upcoming UK and European tour dates to 2022, due to the coronavirus pandemic, which is in a third spike in several countries on the European continent. The dates, originally scheduled for 2020, will now take place in June and July 2022, the band announced on social media Tuesday morning. “Hey Gunners, unfortunately