Music

Even though the coronavirus shutdown began just three weeks before the end of the quarter, Madison Square Garden Entertainment’s revenues dropped 20% to $199.9 million compared with last year, according to results released Monday. The company, which recently divided its entertainment and sports operations into two divisions, saw its operating losses for the three-month period

Jay Park, Miyavi, Raja Kumari, MILCK, Lyrics Born and Yuna are just a few of the performers scheduled for “Identity: Project Blue Marble,” an eight-hour relief event in honor of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month in May. To mark the occasion, hip-hop group Far East Movement is debuting a new song, “We Are the Truth,”

Not even a pandemic can keep Boston’s Dropkick Murphys from playing ball, musically speaking. Following the veteran Celtic punk band’s “Streaming Up from Boston” Saint Patrick’s Day livestream concert, they’ve upped the ante and will perform at the city’s historic Fenway Park on May 29 — with no live audience, per state COVID-19 social distancing

The opening frame of Harry Styles’ latest video for “Watermelon Sugar” declares: “This video is dedicated to touching,” which should give a good idea of where the clip is headed. Filmed on a Malibu beach by Bradley & Pablo in January, Styles holds court oceanside as a bevy of barely clad beauties slink around him

Taylor Swift is furious… a furious strummer. That much was clear from Sunday’s airing of ABC’s “Taylor Swift City of Lover Concert,” which had as its centerpiece a four-song acoustic segment that took up half the prime-time hour. You might imagine the pop superstar would use the intimacy of the format to indulge her delicate

Downtown Music Holdings announced today that it has acquired South Africa-based Sheer Music Publishing, the largest independent music publisher in Africa. Building on a long-standing relationship between Sheer and Downtown’s eponymous music publishing division, this acquisition formally expands the company’s geographic footprint to the African continent, while also providing the African music industry greater access to artist and label services available

Universal Music Enterprises (UMe), the global catalog and special markets division at Universal Music Group, has appointed Katina Bynum to the newly created position of Executive Vice President of East Coast Labels, Urban. In this role, Bynum will work closely with UMe’s senior management team and the senior leadership at Republic, Island and Def Jam

In Variety‘s feature story this week on Jason Isbell, a lot of territory was covered: where he fits in genre-wise, his willingness to be an emblem for rock’s recovery movement, the blowback he sometimes gets for being politically outspoken, and the songwriting sensibilities that were further crystallized still in his masterful new album, “Reunions.” And

After shutting down in March due to the coronavirus pandemic, Elvis Presley’s Graceland will reopen on Thursday. “Graceland has been working diligently to reconfigure all of our operations, including tours, retail and restaurants, to ensure the health and safety of our guests and associates for our re-opening. Our COVID-19 plan and protocols meet or exceed

Saturday night’s Verzuz battle between Ludacris and Nelly had all the hallmarks of the Instagram Live collaborations, which have drawn hundreds of thousands of viewers during COVID-19 lockdown. There were hits and deep cuts from the two veteran rappers (both of whom recently celebrated the 20 th anniversaries of their debut albums), boasts and roasts, technical

The bounty of stay-at-home music continues. Over the weekend and into the coming days, home viewers can tune into individual music livestreams from John Legend, Lewis Capaldi, Black Eyed Peas, D-Nice, Airborne Toxic Event, Brandy Clark and many others. And there’s no irony whatsoever in Alanis Morissette doing on online gig with the cast of

Jorge Santana, a musician and the youngest brother of guitarist Carlos Santana, died of natural causes on Thursday. He was 68. Carlos Santana announced the death of his brother on his Facebook page on Friday. “We take time to celebrate the magnificent spirit of our beloved brother Jorge,” Carlos wrote. “He transitioned unto the realm

Capitol Music Group has announced that Halsey has officially earned 50 million RIAA-certified units across her albums, singles and features. Twelve new certifications, some of which are from her most recent album “Maniac,” helped the pop singer to achieve this milestone in her career. Halsey’s hit song “Without Me” has now gone platinum seven times,

Leave it to Moby to time the release of his latest studio album, “All Visible Objects,” for when a pandemic is well under way. Although truth be told, it hasn’t really impacted his routine: an unapologetic homebody, the Los Angeles-based musician spends his days working on music, hiking, reading, thinking, repeat. Touring, like drugs and

In music criticism, one often runs into trouble when trying to describe sustained, consistent excellence. Criticism is good at describing the ruptures in an artist’s work; the peaks and valleys; the seedlings of greatness in a developing act; the moments of great transition, the departures from form. Music criticism is rarely more useful than when

Music is renowned for its ability to evoke emotions, memories, sensations. Yet it’s hard to think of music that gives a contact high as powerful as Nick Hakim’s. And although his 2016 debut, “Green Twins,” was a stoner-soul classic, his latest, “Will This Make Me Good,” is actually even trippier. Hakim’s music occupies a realm

Astrid Kirchherr, the constant companion of the Beatles in their early days in Hamburg who took the photographs that established their iconic early look, has died at 81. The relationship between Kirchherr and the band, especially original bassist Stuart Sutcliffe, to whom she became engaged, was dramatized in the 1994 film “Backbeat,” which had Sheryl

Welcome to Variety Music’s first-ever Fri 5, our collection of the best, most noteworthy or simply most remarkable new songs from the past week. It is not complete or definitive or a fight-to-the-death “best of,” but rather a bunch of songs that we find interesting — because a world without five interesting new songs every

Country star Keith Urban and his crew motored out to a drive-in theater Thursday night to put on a private concert for about 200 health care workers packed into 125 vehicles. The show took place at the nearest drive-in to Nashville, the Stardust in rural Watertown, Tennessee, which took the night off from doing sellout

Katy Perry spoke about her upcoming album, whose lead track “Daisies” just dropped, her performance of the song for Sunday’s “American Idol” season finale, and life in lockdown in an interview with BBC radio deejay Zoe Ball Friday. Speaking about the release on Aug. 14 of her fifth studio album, as yet untitled, Perry said:

The cruise industry is being dealt another blow, with leading festival at sea promoter Sixthman’s announcement on May 14 that the remainder of its 2020 events — including the KISS Kruise, Slipknot’s Knotfest at Sea and Kesha’s Weird and Wonderful Rainbow Ride — will be postponed. “Going above and beyond to create moments and memories

“Masterpiece” is not a word we use lightly around here, but it’s hard to think of a better description for “Set My Heart on Fire Immediately,” the fifth and latest album from Perfume Genius. The genius in question is singer-songwriter Mike Hadreas, whose high, quavering voice and elaborate songs and arrangements cover such wide stylistic

Solitude and isolation aren’t just concepts for those paralyzed by COVID-19. The musical art of seclusion is a pop subsection all its own. From 1958’s “Frank Sinatra Sings for Only the Lonely” to Tyler, the Creator’s sad-eyed “Boredom,” to be forsaken is tantamount to being adored, and with it, the glad-to-be unhappy aesthetic is a

While another contender conceivably could arise, it’s a safe bet that Charli XCX’s “How I’m Feeling Now” is the first album by a major artist to be made entirely in COVID-19 quarantine. This hyper-prolific performer, songwriter and producer — who ironically waited nearly five years to release her third official album, last year’s stellar “Charli,”

Korean pop sensation, BTS has announced that it will perform a live-streamed concert next month. The move will allow the 7-piece boy band to re-connect with its legion fans worldwide – referred to as the band’s Army – at a time when coronavirus lockdowns and travel restrictions are keeping people at home and socially distanced.

Gun ‘N Roses slammed President Donald Trump and his response to the coronavirus pandemic with a t-shirt for sale that reads “Live ‘N Let Die With COVID 45.” The rock band unveiled the new shirt on its Twitter account on Wednesday, and posted it on its merchandise website. The shirts sell for $25.00 each and

Ariana Grande joined Zane Lowe on Apple Music’s “At Home” series to discuss collaborating with Justin Bieber and Doja Cat, her hesitancy to do interviews and why she won’t be releasing an album during quarantine. On May 8, Grande and Bieber released “Stuck With U” after surprising fans with the news of their collaboration a

Ian Anderson, the frontman of the rock band Jethro Tull, has revealed that he has been “suffering from an incurable lung disease” for years. The 72-year-old musician made his health condition public in a conversation with Dan Rather on the journalist’s show “The Big Interview.” While the discussion will air Wednesday night on AXS TV,

UPDATED: Beckett Cypher, Melissa Etheridge’s son with her former partner Julie Cypher, has died of causes related to opioid addiction, the singer said in a statement Wednesday. He was 21. “Today I joined the hundreds of thousands of families who have lost loved ones to opioid addiction,” she wrote. “My son Beckett, who was just

It’s a Spring Saturday and somewhere deep in Philadelphia, five twentysomethings are huddled in a small apartment, each hunched over a computer. The click-clack of their keyboards is the only sound heard in the room, but via their devices, they’re running one of the largest music festivals in the world. April 25’s Block by Blockwest,