Music

All the members of the IT team at Billboard and Hollywood Reporter have been laid off, according to a scathing post seemingly published by the fired IT staff on Billboard’s website. The post was published on Tuesday night by a user with a byline titled “devops,” and it was quickly deleted. The announcement came with

Paul McCartney blamed Chinese wet markets for the spread of coronavirus and said they have “medieval practices” in a call to Howard Stern’s radio show on Tuesday. Some people believe that COVID-19 originated in Wuhan, China, specifically in the wet markets where fresh meat, produce and sometimes live animals are kept, though the theory is

Deirdre Dod, longtime talent producer at CBS daytime show “The Talk,” has left her position to join SiriusXM as senior director of talent relations. Based out of the satellite giant’s new Los Angeles complex, she will lead the talent department for SiriusXM’s west coast studios and the shows that broadcast from there. Dod will report

Miley Cyrus is switching up her daily Instagram show “Bright Minded” for a one-week special to honor the heroes working the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic.  Amid the coronavirus outbreak, celebrities have been creating their own content from the comfort of their homes –– including Cyrus. The 27-year-old, who started her instagram show in March,

Celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay will be among the first guests on Fox’s “The Masked Singer: After the Mask,” which launches next week. Ramsay is set to appear on the second week of the show, airing on April 29, following his stint as a guest panelist on that night’s edition of “The Masked Singer.” As part

Layoffs have begun at Valence Media, the conglomerate that owns editorial operations like The Hollywood Reporter and Billboard, and content shops like Dick Clark Productions and Media Rights Capital. Senior writers and editors at Billboard and Vibe magazines were pink slipped early Tuesday, employees tweeted. Cuts at THR are also expected to begin on Tuesday,

The search for a superstar must continue. After taking some time to make the decision on how to proceed with “American Idol” as it heads into what should have been its live, shiny floor studio portion of the season, ABC has confirmed that it will continue via remote performances. As of Sunday, April 26, “American

Victor Zaraya has been appointed as Concord Music’s chief revenue officer, the company announced today. Zaraya will continue to be based out of the company’s New York office and will report to COO Jim Selby. According to the announcement, as CRO, Zaraya will work across Concord’s three business areas (music publishing, recorded music and theatricals)

Now might not sound like the most auspicious time to start a new company, but don’t tell that to Jared Gutstadt, the production music pioneer who recently left Jingle Punks, the company he founded in 2008 (which was bought by Ole in 2015) to launch Audio Up. Home to “Bear and a Banjo,” the podcast

There’s been a lot of collective good news to go around for serious fans of country music this year, with an airplay chart that had three solo women in the top 10 for the first time since the early 2010s, and now, two female freshmen in the top 5. But to narrow it down: Positive

iHeartMedia announced to investors today a plan to cut up to $250 million from its expenses for 2020. Today’s $200 million plan comes after the company announced $50 million in savings early this year via “modern initiatives” that began in February, which saw a number of people being let go — which a company rep

Billie Eilish has collaborated with artists ranging from Vince Staples and Khalid to Justin Bieber, but two of the most tantalizing collaborations she’s done — rising Spanish singer Rosalia and Canadian-Colombian artist Jessie Reyez — have yet to see the light of day. While the Reyez collaboration Eilish detailed to Variety last fall did not

Even in a pandemic, Hipgnosis Songs — the fast-rising music publishing company that’s been buying up catalogs by hitmakers ranging from Timbaland and the Chainsmokers to Jack Antonoff and Jeff Bhasker — is raising hundreds of millions of dollars. The company, founded by Merck Mercuriadis and Chic cofounder Nile Rodgers (pictured above), has secured a

Global Citizen has announced a second round of artists for its “One World: Together At Home” global broadcast Saturday night, with Taylor Swift, Celine Dion, Shawn Mendes, Camila Cabello, Jennifer Lopez, Alicia Keys, Sam Smith, Usher and Pharrell Williams among the musicians newly set to join the telecast. Other personalities coming on board include Oprah

Hannah Haines has been named head of publicity for 10K Projects, it was announced today by the label’s marketing chief Theo Battaglia. In this newly created position, Hannah will steer corporate communications and oversee publicity campaigns for the label’s artists, who include Trippie Redd, Surfaces, Iann Dior and Quin NFN, as well as artists from the Internet Money creative collective, Homemade

Some of New Jersey’s finest will appear in a one-night broadcast to raise funds to fight the medical, social and economic impact of the coronavirus on local communities, among them Bruce Springsteen, Jon Bon Jovi, Halsey, Chelsea Handler, Tony Bennett, Danny DeVito, Whoopi Goldberg, Charlie Puth, Kelly Ripa, Jon Stewart, SZA and Saquon Barkley. All

Just days after he shared an appreciation of his recently departed friend Hal Willner, Elvis Costello has taken to social media to write an even longer tribute to another contemporary who has fallen victim to Covid-19, John Prine. It’s one of the most richly detailed and thoughtful paeans yet to the much mourned singer-songwriter, who

Anastasia Brown, a veteran music supervisor who has long been a key figure in connecting Nashville with Hollywood, has been appointed chief content strategist of Visionary Media Group. She’ll direct content across platforms for the company’s music, TV, film and scoring projects. The move comes at a time when Nashville is making good on its

SPOILER ALERT: Do not read if you have not yet watched the series premiere of “The Bachelor Presents: Listen to Your Heart.” Amid the era of social distancing, ABC is bringing a familiar franchise back to viewers’ living rooms. “The Bachelor Presents: Listen to Your Heart” made its series premiere on Monday night as the

When Andrea Bocelli’s Easter performance at Duomo di Milan was first conceived, it was being thought of primarily as a local event — or localized to Italy, at least. The live-stream’s instigator, the mayor of Milan, came up with the idea with the intention of uplifting his home country, the one hardest hit in some

The coronavirus pandemic has ravaged the concert industry in a way the sector has never felt before. While much of live music’s major players are prepared for the not infrequent cancellation due to weather or an artist’s illness, the mass cancellation of nearly all performances and festivals during the Spring of 2020 has left promoters,

Drake’s Tik-Tok catnip song “Toosie Slide” roared to No. 1 on the Rolling Stone Top 100 songs chart, debuted at the top for the week of April 3 through April 9. The song racked up 42.9 million song streams and moved 379,500 song units, giving him two songs in the Top Five of the RS

Cleaning closets, teaching yourself piano, finally reading “Moby Dick” … as more time goes by, the harder it seems to find ways to make your coronavirus-mandatory time at home productive. Well, Songtrust is presenting a way for songwriters, music industry execs and anyone with an interest to hone their business chops with a “Music  Publishing

Artists are coming up with all kinds of ways to approximate the concert experience while the world is in coronavirus lockdown, and today New York indie quintet Real Estate have launched their “Quarantour,” an augmented-reality experience with the goal of bringing fans “as close to a live concert as possible without having to leave home.”

In the wake of the steep challenges the live-entertainment industry faces due to the coronavirus pandemic, Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino will forego his 2020 salary and senior executives will see their salaries reduced by up to 50%, amid other cost-cutting moves and an amendment to its existing credit agreement that includes a new $120

OneRepublic, who recorded their latest single “Better Days” while in quarantine after being exposed to someone with coronavirus, today released a video of the song comprised almost entirely of fan-sourced video footage. Upon the song’s release late last month, the group invited fans to share videos of their experiences at home — “sharing acts of

Elvis Costello’s keyboard player of 43 years, Steve Nieve, has been doing a daily live-stream show from his home in France for more than three weeks, in which he often plays the compositions of his longtime musical partner. Easter Sunday’s webcast featured a surprise half-hour appearance by Costello himself, who joined Nieve for remote collaborations

While most of the country is under quarantine to stay safe during the coronavirus pandemic, rapper Gucci Mane seemed to make light of the deadly disease in a tweet on Sunday morning. “I pray my haters die of corona virus,” he posted early on Sunday. I pray my haters die of corona virus 😷 —

Grammy-winning country singer Sturgill Simpson revealed that he has tested positive for coronavirus a month after going to an emergency room with symptoms. In an Instagram post, Simpson says he and his band were on tour in Western Europe and southeastern parts of the U.S. from the end of January to the beginning of March.

Self-described “indentured android” turned acclaimed singer-songwriter (“Dirty Computer,” “The Electric Lady”) turned breakout blockbuster actor (“Hidden Figures,” “Moonlight,” the upcoming “Antebellum”) Janelle Monáe has splashed out just south of $3.9 million on her very own residential Wondaland, a characteristically eclectic and unmistakably unique midcentury compound tucked deep into the Hollywood Hills. The property’s seller was