Dana Tomarken, former vice president of MusiCares and the Grammy Foundation, has settled her wrongful termination lawsuit against the Recording Academy, her attorney Christine Adams has confirmed to Variety. A statement released by Adams, who declined to provide further details, reads: “With the assistance of a retired judge acting as a mediator, Dana Tomarken and
Music
A screening of “Apollo 13,” Ron Howard’s dramatization of the “successful failure” mission to the moon in 1970, doubled as a touching tribute to the film’s late composer, James Horner. The American Youth Symphony performed Horner’s entire score, live to picture, at UCLA’s Royce Hall on Saturday. The composer died in a plane crash in
Island Records, the legendary label founded by Chris Blackwell in Jamaica on July 4, 1959 with a series of local reggae hits, continued its yearlong 60th anniversary celebration on Saturday with an afternoon reception at the Grammy Museum in downtown Los Angeles. Blackwell and current Island Records President Darcus Beese sat for a wide-ranging conversation
Celine Dion’s first album in three years and Billie Eilish’s first new song in six months have soared to the top of the Rolling Stone Album and Songs charts, respectively. “Courage,” Dion’s first album since 2016’s “Encore un Soir,” racked up more than 120,000 album-equivalent units, pushed along by sales of the album that accompanied
If there was a Grammy Award for baby-making R&B album of the year, it would be Troy Lanez’s race to lose. The Brampton, Ontario native’s highly-anticipated “Chixtape 5” project arrives nine years after the inaugural Chixtape, a mixtape series laced with skits and samples of favorite R&B classics. It’s an ode to the early 2000s
November 25, 2019 11:16AM PT The American Federation of Musicians (AFM) has reached a tentative two-year deal covering studio musicians with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP). An AMPTP spokesman confirmed Monday that the pact had been signed on Nov. 22 but released no details. The AFM had no comment. Negotiations began
November 25, 2019 10:15AM PT The Chainsmokers are set to executive produce a drama series currently in development at Freeform, Variety has learned. The series is titled “Demo.” It follows a 20-something musician who dares to leave behind her struggling indie rock band and her working class family to try writing pop songs in Los Angeles.
In the nearly four years since Prince’s untimely death, his estate has done an exhaustive job of archiving his vast “Vault,” which, considering the artist’s legendary workaholism and sleeplessness over his 40-year-plus career, may contain the most voluminous trove of recorded music by a major solo artist in history. The question now is how they
The American Music Awards turned out to be a big night for Taylor Swift, as she was not only honored as Artist of the Decade but also Artist of the Year and four other awards. The AMAs pride themselves on being fan-voted awards, and as usual Swift was effusive in her thanks onstage. But she
November 25, 2019 8:37AM PT BTS topped the Jonas Brothers, Panic! At the Disco, Pink and Ariana Grande at Sunday’s American Music Awards to win all three of the categories in which they were nominated: Favorite Duo or Group (the first time an Asian group has received the honor), Tour of the Year and Favorite
November 25, 2019 8:26AM PT The American Music Awards on ABC hit a new all-time low in the Nielsen ratings on Sunday night. The show scored a 1.75 rating among adults 18-49, down 4% on last year’s 1.82. However, the AMAs did gain a fraction in total viewers, coming in with 6.7 million to 2018’s
Songwriter Justin Tranter and Selena Gomez have been making music together since 2015, but “Lose You to Love Me” represents their biggest success to date, landing at No. 1 in its second week on the BuzzAngle/Rolling Stone consumption chart (ahead of four new songs by Kanye West that dominated the rest of the top 5).
Big Deal Music Group and Mad Decent Publishing have signed DJ-producer Dillon Francis to a global publishing agreement, the companies announced today — the first deal under their joint venture formed earlier this year. The deal encompasses Francis’ latest release, a 7-song mixtape entitled “Magic Is Real,” which was released this month on the Mad Decent label, and
Kobalt has promoted Jeannette Perez from president of global synch & brand partnerships to the newly created role of chief experience officer. In the role, Perez will reshape the client administration function by establishing a writer and publisher relations team, as well as continue to oversee global synch and brand partnerships. Additionally, she will oversee
The American Music Awards brought the star power to Los Angeles’ Microsoft Theater on Sunday night with an A-list roster of performers and plenty of action backstage. Read on for what you didn’t see on TV. A Posty Afternoon: For Post Malone, the party started during daylight hours as the artist, along with a crew
It was the year of the woman at the American Music Awards — and not because they had any “step up” moments of their own to atone for, but because this is the late fall of 2019, in a season when men are absolutely not killin’ it in pop music, so who else are you
Has there ever been so much suspense over a televised award that didn’t even involve an “envelope, please” moment? Taylor Swift’s appearance at Sunday’s American Music Awards, where she was being honored as artist of the decade, was easily the most anticipated awards show appearance of the year, both for whether she’d be able to
The 2019 American Music Awards are taking place Nov. 24 at the Microsoft Theatre in Los Angeles, Calif. The awards show, hosted by Ciara, is airing on ABC from 8 p.m.-11 p.m. ET/PT. Viewers can live stream the 2019 AMAs on ABC.com or with the ABC app by signing in with a participating TV provider. It’s also
The American Music Awards are taking place at the Microsoft Theatre in Los Angeles, Calif., with Post Malone, Billie Eilish, and Ariana Grande leading the nominees with six nods each. The lead-up to the AMAs was marred with controversy when Taylor Swift claimed on social media that her former record label Big Machine was preventing
Six songs into the Jonas Brothers’ Brooklyn stop on their “Happiness Begins” comeback tour, Kevin Jonas took a moment to reflect. “Two years ago,” he recalled, “My brothers and I sat in a room and said, ‘If we reunite, do you think anyone will care?’” That was back in 2017, four years after one of
K-pop star, Goo Hara was found dead on Sunday at her home in Seoul, South Korea. She was 28. Goo, real name Goo Ha-ra, and also known under the single name Hara, was a former member of the five-part girl group Kara from 2008 to 2015. After that she launched a solo music career, and
Joycelyn Savage, one of R. Kelly’s girlfriends, who has been living with him since she was 19, is opening up about her experience with the singer, saying that she is “a victim” of his sexual and psychological abuse. Kelly has been incarcerated since July on multiple allegations of sexual abuse in three states. Until recently,
November 23, 2019 11:05AM PT As someone who grew up with the notion that a band’s name had to be something cool, like Led Zeppelin, the Fall or Guided by Voices, I’ll confess that my persistent misreading of this Boston-spawned/New York-based band’s name as Guerilla Toes may have delayed me from rating them as the
Shawn Mendes and Halsey have been added to the performer lineup for the American Music Awards. Halsey will perform her latest single, “Graveyard,” and Mendes will join Camila Cabello for their duet “Senorita.” Selena Gomez will open the show with a performance of “Lose You to Love Me” and “Look at Her Now,” it was revealed
The former CEO of PledgeMusic — the direct-to-fan music marketplace that filed for liquidation earlier this year, leaving thousands of musicians unpaid — has been accused of improper financial conduct by a member of the band Failure, one of the artists who are owed money by the company. The executive has denied the allegations to
Warner Records celebrated one of its own on Thursday night (Nov. 21), presenting Jason Derulo with a plaque commemorating 190 million overall sales worldwide. The event at the Argyle in Los Angeles came on the heels of his latest release, the EP “2 Sides” (Side 1)” and also marked other milestones. Variety caught up with
Of the SoundCloud Class of 2016-17, Trippie Redd is just about the last man standing. Lil Pump and 6ix9ine had flashes of mainstream glory but quickly combusted (or worse), Lil Xan and Lil Tracy never quite seemed to get off the ground, and two of the biggest, XXXTentacion and Lil Peep, are no longer with
November 22, 2019 2:33PM PT Country singer-songwriter Sam Hunt, who was arrested in Nashville on charges of driving under the influence and possession of an open container early Thursday morning, tweeted an apology for the incident Friday afternoon. “Thursday night I decided to drive myself home after drinking at a friend’s show in downtown Nashville,”
“Queen & Slim,” the film, traffics in sudden tragedy and symbolic terror as it portrays the violence of self-defense and self-awareness in stark, painful terms. It deserves an equally audacious score and soundtrack, a job that has gone to another Devonté Hynes, the British singer, songwriter, guitarist, record producer and director in his guise of Blood
“Bohemian Rhapsody” producer Graham King has struck a deal with the Michael Jackson estate for the pop star’s life and music rights, with plans to make a feature film based on both. King has tapped “Gladiator” and “The Aviator” screenwriter John Logan for the project. The film currently has no studio or distributor attached. The