The Paley Center for Media’s annual PaleyFest television festival is joining the ever-growing list of events pivoting to virtual production amid the coronavirus pandemic. Among the series taking part in this first-ever PaleyFest are YouTube’s “Justin Bieber: Seasons” (moderated by Variety‘s own Shirley Halperin), NBC’s “Late Night with Seth Meyers,” Amazon Prime Video’s “The Marvelous
Music
Long-running independent label Mom+Pop Music has entered into a joint venture with radio promo executives Brent Battles and Christopher Brown’s newly-created further, a radio promotion and artist development company. According to the announcement, as part of the arrangement, Mom+Pop artists will be able to tap further’s commercial radio team at Pop, Crossover and Rock formats
Dr. Dre posted a photo of himself and former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick kneeling together with the simple caption, “Defiant,” on Sunday evening. While the inspiration and location of the photo — somewhere in the great outdoors — were unclear, it is obvious that Dre is reaffirming solidarity with Kaepernick, who was essentially
K-pop superstars BTS will drop a new digital single in English on Aug. 21, the group said, calling the swap to their non-native tongue “a new challenge.” The song will hit ahead of a full new album set to release later in 2020. “We are preparing an album for the second half of this year,
U.K Rapper Wiley has been dropped by his manager, John Woolf, and distributor, ADA, after posting a series of anti-Semitic tweets. Wiley, whose real name is Richard Kylea Cowie Jr., is known in Great Britain as the “Godfather of Grime,” a gritty electronic music that originated in London in the early 2000s. Among the comments
In a new interview, singer-songwriter Doja Cat revealed that she had recently tested positive for coronavirus after previously making light of the pandemic on social media. Though she feels better now, Doja told Capital XTRA that she had symptoms that lasted for a few days — and blamed the food delivery app Postmates for contracting
Peter Green, founder of Fleetwood Mac and the band’s widely admired guitarist and vocalist in its early years before drug abuse and mental illness foreshortened his career, has died. He was 73. Solicitors acting on behalf of his family said in a statement, as reported by the BBC: “It is with great sadness that the
Billie Eilish took to social media today to announce her upcoming song, “my future,” set for a July 30 release. Details on the song are slim, but it follows the February release of “No Time To Die,” her song from the forthcoming James Bond film of the same title — which, like Eilish’s 2020 world
Alex Aiono has dreamed of being a multi-hyphenate since he was a teenager, aspiring to both create music and act. Now 24, the Phoenix-born, Los Angeles-based talent is well on his way to meeting those goals. In 2017, Aiono started releasing music through Interscope Records and this year he’ll star in the Netflix film “Finding
VenuesNow, a top trade publication for the sports and entertainment facility industry, has announced this year’s Women of Influence Award winners. Given to 10 women each year – nine voted on by subscribers and one chosen by VenuesNow editors – the award honors their leadership and positive impact on the industry. The Women of Influence
Not surprisingly, Taylor Swift’s excellent surprise album has huffed up most of the oxygen on this mid-summer day — and Kanye West’s album will probably do the same, whenever he actually finishes it — but that’s all we’re going to say about them because this week saw an absolute avalanche of great new songs —
There’s a moment in Mary Wharton’s “Jimmy Carter Rock & Roll President” that looks downright surreal — at least, in light of the bombs-away culture-war politics that have come to rule our own era. It’s Jan. 20, 1977, the night of Carter’s Inaugural Gala, and introducing the festivities is that favorite son of progressive liberal
If there’s one thing that can make most of the music world stand still, it’s a surprise Taylor Swift album. And that’s exactly what happened Thursday night for “Folklore,” an album that virtually no one who hadn’t signed a non-disclosure agreement knew was coming until Swift revealed on Thursday morning that it was coming in
No shocker here: In the premiere episode of Michelle Obama’s Spotify podcast, she sits down for a one-on-one conversation with her husband, former President Barack Obama. The first episode of “The Michelle Obama Podcast” with the former First Couple launches July 29 exclusively on Spotify worldwide. Barack and Michelle Obama talk about their life together
Some people retire with a solid IRA. Some with detailed pension plans. Occasionally those who retire go into small side jobs, or find relaxing hobbies. Robert Bryson Hall II, better known as Logic — rapper, songwriter and author who made his open-hearted brand of hip-hop into socially relevant hit fare with the suicide-prevention paean, “1-800-273-8255”
While most of us spent the last four months putting on some variation of “the quarantine 15,” Taylor Swift has been secretly working on the “Folklore” 16. Sprung Thursday night with less than a day’s notice, her eighth album is a fully rounded collection of songs that sounds like it was years in the interactive
At 12:30 p.m. Wednesday (July 22), some 50 Britney Spears fans gathered at the entrance to the Stanley Mosk Courthouse in downtown Los Angeles. Card-carrying members of the #FreeBritney movement, they came out during a pandemic to protest the conservatorship that Spears, one of the century’s biggest pop stars, has been under since 2008. It
Just days after lead singer Dan Reynolds shelled out $11.3 million for an oceanfront Malibu getaway, public records reveal another Imagine Dragons band member — guitarist Wayne Sermon — has also decided “It’s Time” to purchase an L.A.-area home, this one down in the South Bay area of town. The Grammy-winning rocker (“Thunder,” “Believer,” “Radioactive,”
About five years ago, in 2015, when just 22, Miley Cyrus ponied up a very adult $5 million for a relaxed country spread in in L.A.’s guard-gated, equestrian-oriented and celeb-favored Hidden Hills enclave. So the celebrity real estate scuttlebutt goes, the country music scion turned international pop cynosure kept horses on the pastoral five-acre farm.
From the moment it was announced, Rave Family Block Fest felt almost too good to be true: With more than 950 artists — including big names like A-Trak, Zhu, MJ, Maya Jane Coles, Khruangbin and even Paris Hilton — and 85 stages entirely within the game Minecraft, it was positioned as the biggest-ever virtual festival.
Digital talent management firm TalentX Entertainment has forged a partnership with Warner Records to create TalentX Records, which it claims is the first social media creative partner firm to enter into a joint venture with a record label. Josh Richards will be the first artist to sign a recording contract with TalentX/Warner Records. “TalentX are
After postponing his 2020 “Changes” stadium tour in April due to the coronavirus pandemic, Justin Bieber has officially announced rescheduled dates for 2021. Now simply called “The Justin Bieber World Tour” — although so far only North American stops have been revealed –– the 45-date run is a mix of rescheduled and brand-new shows, with
Huey Lewis and the News have dropped an eye-popping video for their single “While We’re Young” that is sure to win the hearts of any fans of old-school videogames and the ‘80s. The clip, styled like an early videogame, sees the Huey character walking through his life, reaching new levels and winning rewards with each
Universal Music Philippines, a division of Universal Music Group, has announced the launch of Island Records Philippines, a new domestic label division dedicated to developing local talent. Island was founded 61 years ago in Jamaica by Chris Blackwell and has released a remarkably diverse array of music, ranging from Bob Marley to Traffic, from U2
Pandora has announced a new virtual concert series, which kicks off with country artist Kane Brown on July 28. According to the announcement, the series will “bring performances from top trending artists across country, Latin, R&B, pop, and rock directly into the homes of millions of fans through the end of the year.” Select attendees
TikTok and the National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA), today announced the signing of a multi-year agreement, which accounts for TikTok’s past use of musical works and “sets up a forward-looking partnership,” according to the announcement. The popular mobile video site — which features music in many of its posts — and NMPA, the trade association
UPDATED: While Taylor Swift always has a group of collaborators on her albums, there’s usually one chief wingman, whether it was Nathan Chapman, Max Martin and Shellback, or, as on her last pair of albums, Jack Antonoff. But for her surprise-announced eighth album “Folklore,” which drops tonight, it’s apparently Aaron Dessner of the long-running Brooklyn-based
Countryline, the U.K.-based country music fan app backed by Elton John, has announced a strategic partnership with L.A.-based Starlings Entertainment, one of the companies that invested in Oscar-winning biopic “Rocketman.” Starlings is making a cash investment into CountryLine and the companies have agreed a first-look deal to develop film and TV projects that leverage country
Albums by Stormzy, Dua Lipa, Laura Marling and Michael Kiwanuka have been nominated for the 2020 Mercury Prize, one of the most coveted awards in the U.K. Other nominees for the £25,000 ($31,700) prize include Anna Meredith, Charli XCX, Georgia, Kano, Lanterns on the Lake, Moses Boyd, Porridge Radio and Sports Team. There are five
Primary Wave Music Publishing has acquired a stake in the music publishing catalog and master recordings of Devo, one of the most influential and longest-running acts to emerge from the new wave era. The acquisition includes some of the group’s biggest hits, including “Whip It,” “That’s Good,” “Girl U Want,” “Freedom of Choice,” and more.