Music

The mastering department at the famed Capitol Studios in Hollywood has been shut down, with several employees laid off, Universal Music Group confirmed Tuesday night after word of the closure began to circulate on social media. The recording studios themselves, a tourist site as well as magnet for top recording artists since opening in 1956,

In addition to its usual dance trends and viral songs, TikTok has now resurrected the centuries-old tradition of sea shanties. The Encyclopedia Brittanica defines a sea shanty as a “sailors’ work song dating from the days of sailing ships, when manipulating heavy sails, by means of ropes, from positions on the deck constituted a large

Atlanta rapper YFN Lucci is wanted on a murder charge in connection with the Dec. 10 shooting of 28-year-old James Adams last month in the southwest area of the city, Atlanta police confirmed to Variety. The news was first reported in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Lucci, 29, (real name: Rayshawn Bennett), is wanted on charges of

Electric Lady Studios, one of the few remaining major recording facilities in New York City, continues to expand its creative endeavors by striking a partnership with the estate of legendary indie singer/songwriter and visual artist Daniel Johnston. As part of the new collaboration, Outsider Art Fair will present “Daniel Johnston: Psychedelic Drawings,” an exhibition of over

Taylor Swift’s “Evermore” reclaimed the top position on the album chart, landing at No. 1 after ceding that spot last week to a debuting Playboi Carti release. “Evermore” has been on top for three of the four weeks it’s been out, and reasserted its dominance this week with 53,800 album equivalent units in a mostly

A “lost” recording of Allen Ginsberg reading his then-fresh epic poem “Howl” in 1956 will be released for the first time in April, thanks to a personal connection between Reed College, where the performance was recorded 65 years ago, and the archivally oriented label Omnivore Recordings. “Allen Ginsberg at Reed College — The First Recorded

The live music web hub Bandsintown is introducing a streaming concert subscription service, Bandsintwon Plus, that will offer shows from independent artists like Phoebe Bridgers, Jeff Tweedy, Soccer Mommy, Joe Bonamassa and Mt. Joy  for a flat $9.99 monthly fee. The “all access pass” for Bandsintown Plus promises more than 25 concerts a month. The

During what would be Grammy Week in a different world, Adam Lambert is set to perform a special show on his birthday, to be livestreamed globally on January 29 from the Roxy Theatre on Los Angeles’ Sunset Strip. “Adam Lambert Live” is presented by NoCap and will see the artist perform songs from his latest album “Velvet” and more.

Abbey Road Studios will be the subject of a new feature-length documentary from director Mary McCartney. Universal Music Group-backed Mercury Studios is partnering with celebrated doc producer John Battsek’s Ventureland for the project, entitled “If These Walls Could Sing.” The doc marks the first time Abbey Road has opened its doors to a feature doc,

“Look at the world out there.” Barry Gibb is alluding to the several days of strife that accompanied Donald Trump’s most recent insurrection against the U.S. government. With a heavy sigh, however, the legend and last remaining Bee Gee was talking about the deaths of his brothers, Andy, Maurice and Robin, the joys and pains

Olivia Rodrigo’s debut single, “Drivers License,” has only been out for three days – and it’s already at the top of the streaming charts. This weekend, the emotionally-charged ballad hit No. 1 on Spotify’s U.S. chart, Apple Music’s overall track chart and Amazon Music’s overall top songs chart. It also topped the iTunes chart, and

Matt Pinfield will return to the airwaves in Los Angeles this weekend via rock station KLOS with a new Sunday show, “KLOS New & Approved,” which he says will shine a spotlight on emerging new artists as well as heritage bands with new music. Pinfield (seen this past weekend handling the pre-show for the “A

Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the top infectious disease expert in the United States, said he believes concert venues and theaters could reopen “some time in the fall of 2021,” depending on the effectiveness of the vaccination rollout, and with the caveat that audiences may be wearing masks and practicing social-distancing for suggested that audiences may

Joel Katz, one of the music industry’s most powerful attorneys and founding chairman of the Greenberg Traurig’s entertainment and media wing, has resigned “by mutual understanding” from the firm. A rep for the firm declined requests for further information; sources tell Variety the move has been in the works for some time and Katz is

A limited series about the infamous punk band the Sex Pistols has been ordered at FX, Variety has learned. The six-episode series is based on Steve Jones’ 2018 memoir “Lonely Boy: Tales from a Sex Pistol.” Academy Award winner Danny Boyle will direct and executive produce the series, which hails from writers and fellow executive producers

New York Music Month has become a city institution over the past four years, but for its 2021 iteration, New York Music Months would be a more appropriate title: The Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment (MOME) announces that this year, the series will become “New York Music Month Extended Play,” a six-month virtual edition of the

Ryan Tedder — one of the most business-savvy songwriters in the music industry, with songs written with Beyonce, Adele, U2, Paul McCartney, his own group OneRepublic and many more — has sold a majority stake of his music catalog to investment firm KKR, the company announced Monday morning. Following the acquisition, Tedder will retain an

While no tribute may ever go down as the one David Bowie actually deserves, Saturday’s three-hour “A Bowie Celebration” livestream came within spitting distance of giving the duke his due, with a worthy cast of dozens that included Duran Duran, Trent Reznor, Andra Day, Yungblud, Adam Lambert, Ian Hunter and Gary Oldman fronting superb arrangements

Megaforce Records co-founder Marsha Zazula — who launched the iconic label, which released the first albums from Metallica, Anthrax and many others, with her husband Jon in 1982 — died Saturday in her Florida home, a rep for the label confirms to Variety. The cause of death was cancer; she was 68. “The world of

Jamie O’Hara, a country music singer-songwriter who came to fame as a member of the O’Kanes, a duo that had six straight top 10 singles in the late 1980s, died Thursday in Nashville. He was 70, and the cause of death was cancer. Besides his tenure with the O’Kanes and subsequent solo work after the

Donald J. Trump’s ill-fated rally in Washington, D.C. has claimed a music industry casualty: the relationship between Trump-boosting indie rocker Ariel Pink and his label, Mexican Summer, which announced Thursday it was dropping him from the roster. “Due to recent events, Mexican Summer and its staff have decided to end our working relationship with Ariel

The Netflix series “Bridgerton” features incredible sets and costumes and outstanding performances but the glue that holds it all together is the music of Kris Bowers. Soundtracking a story that takes place centuries ago is challenging for any modern composer, but “Bridgerton” does an excellent job of reimagining what a period piece sounds like. Credit

Following news that the 45th annual Clive Davis pre-Grammy party will not be an in-person affair in 2021, Variety has learned that the virtual version will take place as two separate events. The first will benefit Musicares on Jan. 30, which would have been the night before the 63rd annual Grammys (the show was rescheduled

Ed Bruce, a singer/songwriter and actor who had his own run of hits on the country charts but was best known for co-writing Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings’ “Mammas, Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys,” has died at age 81. He died in Clarksville, Tenn. and the cause of death was given

Despite having written hit songs for country classicists such as Conway Twitty or duet partners Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers, no one would have ever confused the Bee Gees with being country artists or authors themselves. Dramatic post-Merseybeat sounds such as those heard on “New York Mining Disaster 1941”? Check. Folksy pop a la “I

Harry Styles, Roddy Ricch and Dua Lipa are among the artists who received the iHeartRadio titanium award Friday in recognition of their success across all iHeartRadio stations last year. The artists join other artists announced earlier in 2020 as recipients of the titanium award, which honors artists for surpassing 1 billion total audience spins on

A copyright infringement trial over an unauthorized sample of a Tracy Chapman song in a Nicki Minaj track as been averted, as Minaj agreed to pay Chapman $450,000 to close the case in documents filed Thursday in United States District Court. The dispute arose as a result of Minaj interpolating Chapman’s 1988 “Baby Can I

Top Recording Academy officials agreed with Grammy nominees for best children’s album that the 2021 nominations for the category are not diverse, according to a report in Billboard. The article states that during a Dec. 11 meeting with members of the Family Music Forward organization and two acts that asked for their nominations to be

Nine Inch Nails’ Trent Reznor, Duran Duran, Ian Hunter, Boy George, Smashing Pumpkins’ Billy Corgan, Adam Lambert, Peter Frampton, Andra Day and many more will perform at “Just for One Day,” a David Bowie livestreamed tribute concert taking place tonight (Friday, Jan. 8), on what would have been the singer’s 74 th birthday. The three-hour-plus-long

Like most music legends of his era, David Bowie’s recorded works have been wheeled out multiple times in increasingly elaborate and expensive ways, each update giving a little something extra. But in the five years since his passing on January 10, 2016 — just two days after his 69th birthday and the release of his