Music

It’s not as if the man who wrote “Subterranean Homesick Blues” has ever been at a loss for words. But you’d have to look at one of the hip-hop deluxe editions that have been flooding the marketplace recently to find anything approaching Bob Dylan’s new “Rough and Rowdy Ways” for sheer volume of verbiage. The

“Live From Here With Chris Thile,” the weekly radio show that began as a continuation of “A Prairie Home Companion” before taking on its own name and identity, has been canceled, American Public Media Group announced Tuesday. The St. Paul-based company blamed the economic effects of the COVID-18 for that and other cuts that resulted

Pharrell Williams joined Gov. Ralph Northam in Richmond, Va. on Tuesday to announce legislation to make Juneteenth, or June 19, a state holiday. The popular artist and Virginia Beach native has been at the forefront of proposing Juneteenth, the day which celebrates the end of slavery in the United States, as a national holiday. “Juneteenth

Composers Emile Mosseri (“Homecoming” Season 2), Ariel Marx (“Ted Bundy: Falling for a Killer”), Faith Soloway (“Transparent: Musicale Finale”), Thomas Mizer and Curtis Moore (“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” Season 3), Paul Leonard-Morgan (“Tales From the Loop”), and Nathan Barr (“Carnival Row”) will participate in a Q&A on June 29 at 5 p.m. PT/8 p.m. ET

Lady Gaga’s reign at the top of the album chart was limited to one week — at least for the time being — as her “Chromatica” slipped to No. 2 in its second week, while a 15-week-old album by rapper Lil Baby made an unexpected return to the top spot. Lil Baby’s “My Turn” reclaimed

In a clandestine, off-market deal that went down earlier this year, Miley Cyrus has sold her Malibu home for $1.7 million, a pocketbook punishing $825,000 less than the slightly more than $2.5 million she paid German-born radio and TV presenter (and longtime Haribo spokesperson) Thomas Gottschalk for the enviably secluded two-plus-acre spread in early 2016.

Nick Cannon has wanted to work in entertainment ever since his imagination was sparked as a kid by the madcap poems of Shel Silverstein and the stories of Judy Blume. But he has never wanted to be famous. “I’m not one of those people who have fans — that fantastical-level fandemonium type of thing,” Cannon

June 25 at noon PT, members of the music for screens community — composers, songwriters, music editors, music supervisors, studio executives and others working at the intersection of music and visual media —  will lend their talents to a benefit event for COVID-19 relief. “Soundtrack of Our Lives: A Celebration for the Film and TV

Universal Music Group announced the relaunch of its iconic EMI label, with 20-year UMG veteran Rebecca Allen appointed president. The relaunch rebrands the company from its most recent iteration as Virgin EMI, and features a roster of artists including Elton John, Paul McCartney, Mark Knopfler, Florence + The Machine, Bastille and the Queen catalog, as

A biopic about Wimbledon tennis champion and African American civil rights activist Arthur Ashe is in the works at Ashok Amritraj’s Hyde Park Entertainment Group and Warner Music Group. Academy Award winner Kevin Willmott, whose credits include “BlacKkKlansman” and “Da 5 Bloods,” will write the screenplay, which has the full support of the Arthur Ashe Estate. Ashe’s

Grammy Awards are great, but the Recording Academy’s greatest contribution to the music industry is arguably MusiCares — its charitable foundation to support music industry workers in need. In simpler times, it helps people with everything from emergency health care to substance-abuse treatment, but in recent months much of its focus has been on helping all music people

The European Union has ratcheted up its scrutiny of Apple’s business practices. The EU announced Tuesday that it has formally launched investigations into whether Apple’s rules for app developers covering distribution of apps via the App Store violate EU competition rules. In addition, European regulators opened an antitrust investigation into the tech company’s Apple Pay

Katy Perry, Adam Lambert, Big Freedia, Billy Porter, Kim Petras, Melissa Etheridge, Sia and Ricky Martin are among the stars on deck for “Can’t Cancel Pride,” a COVID-19 relief benefit for the LGBTQ+ Community. The virtual relief benefit produced by iHeartMedia and Procter & Gamble is designed to help raise visibility and funds for LGBTQ+

MusiCares, the Recording Academy’s charitable wing, has appointed Laura Segura to the organization’s newly created role of executive director. “On behalf of everyone at the Recording Academy, we are so excited and proud that Laura Segura is moving up to lead MusiCares,” said Academy Chair and Interim President/CEO Harvey Mason jr. “Laura’s incredible work here over

Universal Music Group (UMG) has expanded its Middle East and North Africa operations by launching new divisions in Morocco and Israel. Universal Music Morocco will operate from Casablanca, led by business development executive Serena Safieddine, who will work alongside UMG’s regional headquarters in Dubai, and report into Patrick Boulos, CEO of Universal Music MENA. The

A few months ago, it might have been unimaginable that multimillion dollar fundraising efforts would be hosted not in black tie from behind a ballroom dais but in ballcaps in front of a refrigerator. But the “RWQuarantunes” livestream music series has proven that show-business philanthropy can take as much of a different tack as anything

If there’s a music video that captures the Black Lives Matter demonstrations of June 2020, it’s YG’s “FTP” — which, obviously, is an abbreviation of “f— the police.” The song and the clip are an homage to N.W.A’s legendary 1988 song of the same name as well as “FDT (F— Donald Trump),” YG’s 2016 collaboration

In February, in order to interview Janelle Monáe for Variety’s Power of Women issue, the two of us did an Escape Room together. Since I am categorically terrible at Escape Rooms, the venue choice was all hers — never would I have suggested such a setting. At the West Hollywood establishment, she was greeted as

Drake leads the 2020 BET Awards nominees with six nods, while Megan Thee Stallion and Roddy Ricch garnered five apiece, the network announced Monday. Beyoncé, Nicki Minaj, Chris Brown, Lizzo, and DaBaby are the third-highest with four nominations each; the full list appears below. The “BET Awards” 2020 will simulcast live on Sunday, June 28 at 8 p.m. ET across ViacomCBS networks

The Highwomen, Brittany Howard, Tanya Tucker, Nathaniel Rateliff, Drive-By Truckers and Brandi Carlile are among the multiple nominees announced Monday for this year’s Americana Honors & Awards, set to take place Sept. 16 at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium. The annual Americana Music Festival originally scheduled for Nashville has been called off, but the show will go

This year, the iconic Glastonbury Festival would have celebrated its 50th year in existence. However, the coronavirus pandemic forced the festival to cancel its 2020 edition, meaning that headlining performances from Taylor Swift, Kendrick Lamar, Paul McCartney and Diana Ross will have to wait until next year. The first Glastonbury Festival, then called the Pilton

Road signs for Penny Lane in Liverpool, which was immortalized by the Beatles’ 1967 song, were recently vandalized due to claims that the street was named after 18 th century slave trader James Penny. The signs had the word Penny blacked out and the word “racist” written above them late last week, according to the

On Monday, a day after apologizing for 2012 Tweets that many considered sexist, 5 Seconds of Summer guitarist Michael Clifford denied an accusation of sexual misconduct that were made from a since-deleted Twitter account early on Monday, saying that they are “BEYOND untrue.” A poster using the handle @knowyoureta claimed that Clifford, now 24, “used to

After selling her attractive Los Feliz home to Oxycontin heiress Madeleine Sackler, prolific pop music songwriter Ali Tamposi has has abruptly shifted residential gears, trading the hipster-approved chicness of L.A.’s Eastside for the relaxed surfer bro vibes of Malibu’s heavily celebrified Point Dume neighborhood. Property records reveal the 30-year-old Florida native has paid nearly $4

Korean pop group BTS broke a virtual attendance record with “Bang Bang Con: The Live.” The show took place on Sunday afternoon Korean time (5 a.m. ET and 2 a.m. PT) and was presented by BTS’ management company Big Hit Entertainment with a cloud-based remote production studio Kiswe Mobile — from Seoul, South Korea. According to

Singer Barbra Streisand has helped make George Floyd’s 6-year-old daughter Gianna Floyd a Disney shareholder. Gianna posted a photo on her Instagram account holding her Disney shares certificate and thanked Streisand in the caption. “Thank you Barbra Streisand for my package, I am now a Disney Stockholder thanks to you,” she wrote. The 10-time Grammy

Beyoncé wrote a letter to the Kentucky Attorney General demanding justice for Breonna Taylor and charges brought against the three police officers involved in her death. On March 13, Taylor was shot and killed in her home after police officers used a no-knock warrant. Since her death and the nationwide Black Lives Matter protests, the

It wasn’t the stadium concert experience fans had been looking forward to attending, but BTS’ “Bang Bang Con: The Live” was the next best thing to being there. For 100 minutes, the Korean septet made viewers forget that many of them had to set alarm clocks for 5 a.m. ET/ 2 a.m. PT to watch

Nearly two years after it first popped up for sale, child actor-turned-bestselling singer-songwriter Demi Lovato has finally succeeded in unloading her highly-publicized white elephant of a Hollywood Hills mansion. Perched in the foothills directly above L.A.’s Laurel Canyon and just a quick jog away from the iconic Chateau Marmont hotel, the heavily fortified villa packs

Though the lights of New York’s theater community have been dimmed since March 12th due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, this year’s telecast of the 65th Drama Desk Awards, which celebrates the best of Broadway, off-Broadway and off-off Broadway, proved that the show must go on – albeit virtually. For the first time in the