UPDATED: Late Monday, Nashville business owner Steve Smith reportedly backed down under public pressure and said he would close the popular bars he had vowed to keep open in the tourist-filled Lower Broadway area, including Kid Rock’s Big Ass Steakhouse and Tootsie’s. It was not immediately known whether all the other nightspots in the area
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March 16, 2020 12:55PM PT An employee at Apple’s Culver City offices in Los Angeles has tested positive for coronavirus, the company has confirmed after Variety received reports from multiple sources over the weekend. “A team member in our Culver City office has informed us they tested positive for COVID-19. The individual had no symptoms
Hit songwriter-producer Ricky Reed, Lizzo, Shawn Mendes, Megan Trainor, Finneas and dozens of other artists, songwriters, producers, publishers and more have signed an op-ed penned by Reed (pictured above) begging members of the music community to stay home and out of studios, clubs, writing sessions and places they usually congregate. “To all musicians, songwriters, producers,
Miami’s Ultra Music Festival may have been canceled, but fans can experience it virtually on SiriusXM’s “Ultra Virtual Audio Festival” on UMF Radio starting this Friday, March 20. The fest will feature exclusive live DJ sets from artists who were originally scheduled to perform at Ultra Music Festival, including Afrojack, Armin van Buuren, Martin Garrix, Above & Beyond,
March 16, 2020 8:16AM PT Harry Styles took on a format we all may be getting more and more accustomed to when he and his band recently performed an installment of NPR’s long-running “Tiny Desk Concert” series. The series features musicians playing more or less acoustically in National Public Radio’s Washington, DC offices, and always
What does Justin Timberlake really think about an *NSYNC reunion? And would JC Chasez consider taking the group on the road without him? Those were two burning questions posed by fans on “The Daily Popcast With Lance Bass,” airing this week — and sort of answered. A return to the *NSYNC original lineup — Timberlake,
Elton John announced Monday morning that he is postponing at least 19 dates on the upcoming North American leg of his “Farewell Yellow Brick Road” tour, ten days before it was scheduled to start. All dates between March 26 and May 2 will be moved to 2021, with the tour now scheduled to pick up
March 15, 2020 4:52PM PT Hoping to reach international fans disappointed over coronavirus-related tour cancellations, Yungblud has scheduled his concert for an unusually early start time Monday morning. “Working from home” has taken on a very different meaning for musicians who’ve postponed or canceled tours but seek to connect with disappointed fans on social media
UPDATED: Donald Glover provided fans with a distraction from coronavirus quarantine on Sunday by surprise-dropping a 12-song new album in the wee hours of the morning. The collection, which does not appear to have a title beyond “Donald Glover Presents,” features appearances by Ariana Grande, 21 Savage and SZA. The album was not on streaming
On March 15, 2010, Lady Gaga’s “Telephone” music video, featuring Beyonce, hit YouTube. To say that it made an impact in pop culture would be an understatement. The sprawling, nearly 10-minute video started with Gaga in prison (picking up directly after her crimes in the “Paparazzi” music video) and followed her and Beyonce as they
Genesis Breyer P-Orridge, the controversial experimental musician and artist and founding member of cult bands Throbbing Gristle and Psychic TV, died Saturday of leukemia at 70. Dais Records co-founder Ryan Martin shared a statement about their parent from the musician’s daughters. P-Orridge was diagnosed with leukemia in 2017. Born in Victoria Park, Manchster, England, the
Universal Music Group’s home offices in Santa Monica, Calif., were evacuated Friday after an employee tested positive for the coronavirus. All staffers were directed to leave the buildings “in an orderly manner,” although the discovery was made toward the end of the day and a source tells Variety that most of the staff had either
“Revenge Of The Dreamers III,” the latest installment of J.Cole’s Dreamville compilation series, has been certified platinum by the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) marking equivalent sales of over one million units. In July 2019, the star-studded set was certified gold and has since then received visual treatments for the tracks “Under The Sun”
The Eastern District of New York on Friday filed a superseding indictment against R. Kelly, who already faces multiple charges in three states, that includes additional charges stemming from two accusers who have been newly added to the suit, according to Rolling Stone. The singer’s New York trial begins on July 7. In the indictment,
Despite being known for his collaborative role as Bruce Springsteen’s teenage Jersey Shore pal-turned-guitarist, producer and consigliere, Little Steven Van Zandt has long had an explicit solo vision. And in the Reagan-era climate of the 1980s, Van Zandt’s voice was a scathingly political one, something rare for the era of good-time jingoism, patriotism, MTV and
The Dreamville Festival, a one-day multi-artist concert curated by rapper J. Cole, has been postponed. Originally scheduled for April 4 at Dorothea Dix Park in Raleigh, North Carolina, the fest will now take place on Saturday, August 29. The venue remains the same. A lineup has not been revealed — it was due to be
The Tupac Estate and Soundgarden have pulled out of a lawsuit against Universal Music Group that was filed by five artists last year over damage the artists’ musical recordings suffered in a 2008 fire that destroyed many assets in the company’s vaults. While Universal’s archives are suffered extensive damage in the fire, the company has
Many were stunned last summer when Jay-Z unexpectedly announced that his Roc Nation company had struck an entertainment and social-awareness campaign with the NFL. After all, the rapper-mogul had harshly criticized the NFL over its treatment of former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, whose controversial symbolic kneeling during the National Anthem to protest racial
Apple Music has inked new, multi-year licenses with the three major music companies — Universal Music Group, Sony Music and Warner Music Group — in recent months, according to the Financial Times, although the deals do not extend to the company’s planned bundles with Apple TV or Apple Arcade. Apple has been working to create
Spirit Music Group has signed a publishing deal with Grammy-winning producer- songwriter and music publisher Christopher “Tricky” Stewart. The deal covers his future works, as Stewart sold his catalog to Hipgnosis Songs in 2018. In a career spanning over 30 years, Stewart’s hits, many written with The-Dream, include Rihanna’s Grammy-winning “Umbrella” and Beyoncé’s Grammy-winning “Single Ladies (Put a Ring
March 13, 2020 6:05AM PT Today, Amazon Music is launching “Amazon Music for Artists”: a mobile app for artists and their teams to better understand their business on the platform. At launch, Amazon Music for Artists will be available on both iOS and Android, offering streaming performance and insights into an artist’s audience on the
U.S. equities markets were poised for a rebound on Friday after Thursday’s coronavirus pandemic-fueled bloodbath marked the worst declines in indices across the board since the Black Monday meltdown in October 1987. Dow futures were up more than 1,000 points in the pre-market session. The wild swings of the Dow, S&P 500 and NASDAQ markets
Earlier this year, recently-married “Glee” and “The Assassination of Gianni Versace: An American Crime Story” star Darren Criss put his Los Angeles starter home up for sale. Lucky for him, buyers went hog-wild over the supremely located midcentury bungalow, which is tucked away in the coveted Los Feliz neighborhood of town on L.A.’s Eastside. The
The band 311 celebrates its 30th anniversary in 2020, but the band’s formation is an annual celebration even on non-milestone years. This March 11 — 3/11 — was no different, with the band seeing a 23% uptick in radio play (compared to the previous week) in the alternative and active rock formats, according to Mediabase.
March 12, 2020 4:13PM PT Leave it to Lin-Manuel Miranda to conjure a reason to find joy in a day of unrelentingly sad news. On Thursday, the creator of the Broadway sensation “Hamilton” released a never-before-heard demo track that he wrote — and cut — from the show that he says director Thomas Kail hasn’t
March 12, 2020 4:01PM PT As the U.S. music industry reeled in the wake of the postponement of basically every major current tour for at least the next few weeks amid coronavirus concerns, the U.K.’s largest festival, Glastonbury, unveiled more than 90 additional acts for its scheduled 50th anniversary event — including Kendrick Lamar, Dua
As concern over the spread of coronavirus spread rapidly this week, the world’s two largest live-entertainment companies, AEG and Live Nation, and several major agencies have announced that they are suspending tours for the rest of March. Billed as a “Statement from Live Nation, AEG, CAA, WME, Paradigm and UTA,” the statement reads: “The world’s
U.S. equities markets opened Thursday with the worst declines since the start of the coronavirus-fueled sell off as global markets quaked in response to the European travel ban announced by President Donald Trump and the NBA’s dramatic decision to suspend the current basketball season, among other ominous signs of the pandemic up-ending everyday life. Trading
In a rare show of unity among usually fierce competitors, live-entertainment agencies and promoters including AEG, CAA, ICM, Live Nation, Paradigm and UTA have formed a task force to strategize and coordinate a unified response to the spread of coronavirus and its growing impact on the touring business, according to multiple sources and media reports.
Shania Twain doesn’t take her voice for granted. The country superstar almost lost her ability to sing after being diagnosed with Lyme disease in 2003. She first thought something was wrong when she couldn’t project her voice. “I couldn’t call out for the dog,” she says on Thursday’s episode of “The Big Ticket,” Variety and