As expected, Universal Music Group has sold a 10% stake to a consortium led by Chinese company Tencent in a deal that values UMG, the world’s largest music company and home to Taylor Swift, Drake and many others, for €30 billion (around $33.6 billion). UMG parent company Vivendi also agreed that the consortium has the option
Music
Some use the dawn of a new year to declare what they will be doing in the next 12 months, but Carrie Underwood has used this turn of the odometer to announce what she won’t. The singer took to social media Monday to tell fans that she won’t return as a co-host of the CMA
Album cover designer Vaughan Oliver, who developed a signature abstract style as the 4AD label’s in-house man on top of doing classic work for bands like the Pixies, has died at age 62. No cause of death has been given. Perhaps his single best recognized work was the cover for the Pixies’ “Doolittle.” He also
New Year’s Eve will be much dryer than last year’s festivities in New York City, and revelers may have Lucy Hale to thank. The cohost of ABC’s “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest,” which airs Tuesday, Dec. 31 live starting at 8 p.m. east coast time, says, “I’m bringing the good weather.”
Barack Obama completed his annual roundup of favorite arts moments of the year Monday with a list of his favorite music from 2019. As always, it’s an assortment that mixes obvious crowd-pleasers with commendably smart and obscure choices that leave you wondering how the former president has so much time to troll Spotify and/or critics’
Fans of Linda Ronstadt have swooned over her voice, a powerful instrument that can blast the dust off an Everly Brothers classic and breathe new life into jazz and mariachi standards. Yet what comes through most strongly in a recent documentary about the singer is the way she used her vocal abilities to call attention
Neil Innes, a British singer, songwriter and comedian known for his work with “Monty Python,” the Rutles and the madcap ‘60s outfit the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, died Sunday at the age of 75, according to the BBC and multiple news outlets. In addition to being a key member of the Bonzos — whose 1968
The last ten years have been among the music industry’s most celebratory, and at the same time, the decade has introduced seismic shifts in consumption, culture and technology. Only the strongest survive still holds true — witness how Universal Music Group fortified its global presence to market share leader by a mile — but so
After an arduous two-year house hunt, married hip-hop superstars Offset of Migos fame and Cardi B have substantially upsized their residential real estate circumstances with the purchase of a bonafide mega-mansion in the suburban, decidedly posh Buckhead neighborhood of Atlanta, Georgia. Though records don’t yet reflect a transfer and it’s not publicly known how much the
While Mariah Carey’s quarter-century-old “All I Want for Christmas Is You” continues to top the singles charts in America, in Europe a very different holiday anthem has made that ascension to No. 1 — Ellie Goulding’s cover of Joni Mitchell’s “River,” a song about having a blue Christmas. And with that, the artist to whom
December 28, 2019 10:22AM PT Trent Reznor is a man who rarely, if ever, minces words. In a new interview, the Nine Inch Nails frontman sounded off on Netflix’s “Bird Box” after scoring the film with longtime collaborator Atticus Ross. “When we got immersed in it, it felt like some people were phoning it in,”
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo signed off on a measure that will contribute $3.7 million to the Bronx’s first Hip-Hop museum, it was announced on Thursday. The funding is part of a statewide New York economic and community development package. Dubbed the Universal Hip Hop Museum, the effort was “chartered by the New York State
Melanie Panayiotou, the younger sister of late “Careless Whisper” singer George Michael, died on Christmas Day — exactly three years after Michael’s death. She was 55. Panayiotou was found dead by her older sister, Yioda, on Christmas evening. According to The Guardian, the Metropolitan police said they were called by the London Ambulance Service shortly
Tony Award-winning composer and lyricist Jerry Herman, whose indelible Broadway hits included “Hello, Dolly!,” “Mame” and “La Cage aux Folles,” died Thursday in Miami. He was 88. Herman died of pulmonary complications after being taken to a hospital for chest pains, the family said. “There has been no other music which took our breath away,
Sleepy LaBeef, a rock and country performer who began his career in the mid-’50s and whose concerts continued to be a draw for the rockabilly community well into this year, died Thursday at age 84. No cause of death has been given. Although LeBeef never had any singles chart above the 60s, his legend loomed
In a candid two-hour video interview with Rap Radar released on Christmas, Drake talked being booed at Tyler, the Creator’s Camp Flog Gnaw, working with Chris Brown after his failed relationship with Rihanna and his ongoing feuds with Pusha-T and Kanye West. Here are the top 10 things we learned: Drake’s heard you call him
There was once a preconception that the role of a music producer was to add a coat of polish to a song or an album, but these days, producers can be the essential link to a hit project. Even with music being made on laptops, in bedrooms or on the go, no piece of technology
Songwriter Allee Willis, famous for her work with Earth, Wind & Fire as well as the “Friends” theme and the “The Color Purple” Broadway song score, died Tuesday in Los Angeles. She was 72. The cause of death was cardiac arrest. Prudence Fenton, the animator and producer who is described by a family friend as
Netflix’s “Klaus” tells the story of a spoiled young boy named Jesper who is sent to the town of Smeerensburg to work. Jesper hates it there until he meets Mr. Klaus. As the two strike up a friendship, Jesper’s outlook on life begins to slowly change. Composer Alfonso G. Aguilar shared a clip from inside
Justin Bieber used Christmas Eve morning to slide some news down fans’ chimneys: He’ll be embarking on a 45-city stadium tour in the summer of 2020, starting May 14 at Seattle’s CenturyLink Field and continuing through a Sept. 26 show at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey. Bieber also used the occasion to announce he’ll be
Physical media, we keep being told, is dead, but please don’t tell that to the companies still issuing comprehensive music boxed sets every year or the diehard fans still filling up their gift wish lists with the sometimes bulky items. The format seems to be alive and somewhat well if, in 2019, the Beatles and
Mariah Carey, whose classic “All I Want for Christmas Is You” is atop the music charts, was sued on Monday by a former nanny. Maria Burgues filed suit in Los Angeles Superior Court, alleging she was fired in April 2018 after complaining about her pay and working conditions. Burgues says she was paid $25 an
Variety will honor “Frozen 2” songwriters Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez, as well as costume designer Sandy Powell at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival. Variety’s sixth annual Artisans Awards celebrates those essential to the filmmaking process and who have exhibited the most exciting and innovative work of the year in their respective fields. The
No tears left to cry? Well, that part was a lie, or at least a false prophecy. Ariana Grande couldn’t have been more recurringly tearful at the final date of her “Sweetener” tour Sunday night than if she’d been bottling it up for the tour’s entire 10-month routing. And she made it clear she was (in
As 2019 winds down, producer London on da Track is capping off a tremendous two-year run. Between executive-producing Summer Walker’s critically-acclaimed album “Over It” and credits on hits by A Boogie Wit da Hoodie (“Swervin’), French Montana (“No Stylist” feat. Drake) and Roddy Ricch (“Die Young”), the Atlanta native is among the most in-demand hitmakers
December 23, 2019 6:55AM PT As promised, Ariana Grande dropped a live album from her “Sweetener World Tour” just hours after the final date wrapped in Los Angeles. Titled “k bye for now (swt live),” the singer has been updating fans on the album’s progress over social media for several weeks. The 32-track album spans
Ten years have passed since Adam Lambert received the only standing ovation from Simon Cowell during his entire run judging “American Idol.” Saturday night at the El Rey Theatre, Lambert got what amounted to one long SRO ovation, doing an underplay at the 700-capacity venue as one of just four gigs he did this month
No sophomore slump for Harry Styles: his second solo album, “Fine Line,” will debut atop the charts with 478,000 equivalent album units — the third biggest debut week of 2019. Fans wanted the whole thing, too, not just piecemeal tracks: 393,000 of those units came via traditional full-album sales, according to Styles’ label, Columbia. Only
“Saturday Night Live” close out 2019 with a bang, with a blockbuster episode that featured Eddie Murphy’s first return to the show in 35 years and a stellar musical performance from Lizzo — who also happens to be the most-nominated artist for the 2020 Grammy Awards, with a whopping eight nods for her album “’Cuz
Reviewing music is a walk in the park compared with reviewing books, which must be the most time-consuming occupation in entertainment apart from being parents of budding baseball players. For a similar reason, this best-music-books-of-the-year list is hardly a definitive one — there was a veritable avalanche of them released this year, utterly hopeless to