Music

Primary Wave has acquired a major stake in the music-publishing catalog of the late Songwriters Hall of Fame inductee Allee Willis, which includes such timeless hits as Earth, Wind & Fire’s “September” and “Boogie Wonderland” among many other songs, the company announced Monday. Also included in the catalog are such songs as “Neutron Dance” by

As the first major pandemic awards show, the 2020 Emmys were fascinating and numbing, joyous and sad, unprecedented in most ways and, to our lockdown-dulled senses, all too familiar in others. While Jimmy Kimmel made many jokes about the situation in his audience-less (and thankless) role as host, if there was one person who made

Now United, the global pop group formed by “American Idol” creator Simon Fuller, has added a new member: 18-year-old Nour Ardakani from Lebanon. Ardakani will become Now United’s 16th member following a Pepsi-sponsored search for a new member from the Middle East and North Africa that began last year. The group currently has a social media

BTS and NPR announced on Sunday that the K-pop titans will be performing on NPR’s “Tiny Desk” concert series on Monday, Sept. 20 at 9 a.m. ET. The show has long been a popular destination for artists, but more so since coronavirus lockdown put all tours on hold — Billie Eilish, Harry Styles and Norah Jones

Electronic duo Gilligan Moss and HBO Max teamed up to create a new mixtape inspired by the animated series “Adventure Time.” “BMO’s Mixtape” is a 13-song mix reimagining the show’s original soundtrack and featuring the character BMO, the electronic friend of main characters Finn and Jake. “‘Adventure Time’ is one of our favorite shows, so

Lee Kerslake, best known as the longtime drummer of rock band Uriah Heep and for playing on two Ozzy Osbourne albums, has died of prostate cancer. He was 73. Former Uriah Heep keyboardist Ken Hensley confirmed Kerslake’s death on his Facebook fan page, writing: “It’s with the heaviest of hearts that I share with you

Hit-Boy is at the pinnacle of his career having executive produced Nas’ latest release, the well-received “King’s Disease,” as well as Big Sean’s “D2” (alongside Sean and Kanye West), which currently stands as the No. 1 album in the U.S. Among his other credits: Travis Scott’s “Sicko Mode,” Kanye West’s “N–s In Paris” and Kendrick

A Fort Myers, Florida rock station on the FM dial flipped to a country format Wednesday, but not just any country format: it’s “Trump Country.” An FCC-licensed radio station branding its entire identity around supporting a political candidate in the days leading up to an election seems to be unprecedented in anyone’s memory, if not

Somehow, the mysterious British R&B/electronic-ish combo Sault has managed to drop four richly diverse, socially confrontational albums, all of them good and two of them absolutely great, in just 18 months. Their willful anonymity would be annoying or pretentious if the music weren’t so good and if it weren’t in service to their powerful, Black-centric

Canada has proven to be fertile ground when it comes to pop stars — from Drake to the Weeknd to Justin Bieber. The latest to emerge from the suburbs of Toronto is Ali Gatie, an artist of Iraqi descent who recently surpassed 3 billion cumulative streams on DSPs for his 2019 single “It’s You.” Managed

SO. MANY. SONGS. As lockdown lengthens the thicket thickens, so with a nod to Alicia Keys on her excellent new album “Alicia” — which features “Me x 7,” a killer tag-team with Philly’s Tierra Whack that would have been on this week’s list if we hadn’t already reviewed the album — let’s get it. Anitta

Lady Gaga has released a short film for her latest single, “911,” off her “Chromatica” album. The just-under-four-minutes music video was directed by Tarsem Singh, with visuals eerily reminiscent of his earlier feature film, “The Cell,” starring Jennifer Lopez. After the video’s premiere, Gaga said, “This short film is very personal to me, my experience with mental

The raw heat that comes off of “Nick Cordero: Live Your Life: Live at Feinstein’s/54 Below” makes the loss of the vocalist-actor known for awe-inducing Broadway roles in “Waitress,” “A Bronx Tale” and “Bullets Over Broadway” feel devastating all over again, although the shock has hardly worn off since he died in July after a

Alicia Keys spent the first five albums of her career as a sleekly sophisticated singer-songwriter and pianist, crafting anthemic R&B that was often bold but just as often bland. After releasing 2012’s “Girl on Fire,” she grew tired of such perfection, stopped wearing make-up and released “Here,” a raw, unrefined album filled with nervous jazz-R&B-hop

Alt-rock veterans the Smashing have announced a new double album, “Cyr,” is dropping on November 27. The 20-track album was recorded in the band’s home base of Chicago with frontman and chief songwriter Billy Corgan producing. The group has also created a new five-part animated series called “In Ashes,” the first two episodes of which

Musician Van Morrison, best known for songs like “Brown Eyed Girl,” “Domino” and “Wild Night,” and for seminal albums “Moondance” and “Astral Weeks,” is set to release three songs protesting the U.K. lockdown. First up is “Born to Be Free,” out Sept. 25, followed by “As I Walked Out” on Oct. 9, and “No More

Kanye West has said publicly for years that he deserves to own the rights to his music — the master recordings of his songs, and his publishing — even though he knowingly signed contracts with Universal Music Group and Sony/ATV Music Publishing, with top attorneys present, that adhere to music industry standards whereby the company

Audio Up has named industry veteran John Ingrassia  president of music, to handle all endeavors under the company’s recently launched Audio Up Music. Jared Gutstadt, founder and CEO of podcast production studio, platform and network Audio Up Media made the announcement Thursday. Ingrassia already has led the charge in developing a number of significant deals

Sting, Norah Jones, Trey Anastasio of Phish and many more will perform tonight (Thursday, Sept. 17) at SummerStage Jubilee, a free benefit concert supporting City Parks Foundation’s programs in parks, taking place via livestream at 8 p.m. ET. The hour-long digital event will feature exclusive musical performances by Sting, Norah Jones, Trey Anastasio, Rufus Wainwright,

While they both were alive, Steve Earle and his son Justin Townes Earle strived to keep their careers and identities separate, only occasionally meeting up for any musical purposes. Since Justin died in August, however, there’s been no need for his father to stand on any such formality. His record label announced Wednesday that Steve

The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) today announced the launch of the ASCAP Citizen campaign, powered by HeadCount, urging ASCAP’s more than 775,000 music creator members and their fans to make sure their votes are counted on Election Day 2020. ASCAP Chairman of the Board and President Paul Williams said, “We are music creators, from all

It’s one thing to be a “woman in country,” and another to be a female artist writing powerfully and emotionally about women in the country… the whole country. That’s what Mickey Guyton does in “What Are You Gonna Tell Her?,” a stark but soaring ballad that is country music’s song of the year, whether any

On Tuesday, October 13, legendary jazz saxophonist Pharoah Sanders will perform at a special concert livestreamed from Zebulon in Los Angeles to celebrate his 80th birthday. Called “Another Trip Around the Sun,” the concert will see Sanders joined by Azar Lawrence on sax, John Beasley on keyboards, Tony Austin on drums and Sekou Bunch on

Carrie Underwood opened her acceptance speech for the Academy of Country Music’s 2020 entertainer of the year prize with a pleased sigh of a statement: “2020, man.” Her slightly quizzical exultation had to do with the fact that she had tied with Thomas Rhett for the ACM Awards’ top prize, proving that, for her at

On Nov. 13, Elton John will release “Elton: Jewel Box,” a career-spanning 148-song boxed set containing some 60 previously unreleased songs. The set — the full tracklist appears below — is focused on lesser-known material from Elton’s 50-plus year career. According to the announcement, the set covers “deep cuts, rarities from the earliest stages of

Music publishing giant Kobalt, whose roster includes Paul McCartney, The Weeknd, Dave Grohl, Childish Gambino and Lorde, responded to sale rumors that broke into the open on Wednesday evening with a wordy “maybe.” “We’ve always had great interest in the company,” a rep for Kobalt said in statement. “We’re always evaluating the best capital structure

A judge handed a significant win to Nicki Minaj on Wednesday, finding that she did not commit copyright infringement when she created a song based on Tracy Chapman’s “Baby Can I Hold You.” The ruling protects the industry practice of developing a new song based on existing material, and then seeking a license from the

McDonald’s staffers unfamiliar with the slang of “Sicko Mode” got schooled on all things Travis Scott as the rapper’s branded meal continues to sell swiftly coast-to-coast. Driving demand for the meal — which includes a Quarter Pounder with cheese, bacon, lettuce, pickles, ketchup and mustard; medium fries (with BBQ Sauce for dipping); and a Sprite

After being postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic, the 55th Academy of Country Music Awards aired on Wednesday night, hosted by Keith Urban. The show was broadcast live from three iconic Nashville locations: Grand Ole Opry House, Ryman Auditorium and the Bluebird Cafe. Taylor Swift performed “Betty” from her “Folklore” album, marking her first performance

Hit songwriter Diane Warren laid into Kanye West on Twitter, after the rapper/presidential candidate posted a video of himself — or someone — urinating on a Grammy Award that had been placed in a toilet. “How vile and disrespectful of U,” Warren wrote. “This was given to U by your peers out of respect for