Music

July 25, 2019 4:22PM PT Live Nation Entertainment revealed earnings for a strong second quarter. Among the highlights: revenue was up 10% for the quarter to $3.2 billion; AOI increased 23% to $319 million and earnings per share climbed 68% to $0.41. Key in today’s report is what the company calls a “strong tailwind in

July 25, 2019 2:15PM PT Tipster M. Gonnatellya sent word that singer/songwriter Ashley Frangipane, better known to the world as mononymic indie pop balladeer Halsey, recently splashed out $2.4 million to acquire a well preserved and thoughtfully updated mid-century modern residence high in the mountains above Sherman Oaks, Calif. Behind gates and completely invisible from

July 25, 2019 1:35PM PT Taylor Swift will receive the first ever Icon award at the 2019 Teen Choice Awards, Fox announced on Thursday (July 25). “As one of the best-selling music artists of all time, with more than 50 million albums sold, Taylor Swift is a pop culture icon whose accolades and achievements go

Woodstock 50’s Michael Lang just won’t give up on a site for his troubled festival, which was due to take place at Watkins Glen International Speedway in upstate New York Aug. 16 to 18. Since its announcement in January, the event has been dogged by financial and organizational problems, and tickets never went on sale.

July 25, 2019 10:19AM PT The vacancy at the top of Sony/ATV Music Publishing in Nashville has been filled as Rusty Gaston has been appointed to take over the division,Variety has learned. Gaston has been a rising star in the business as the general manager and partner of THIS Music, a publishing company he owns

Hannah Gross has been named vice president and head of West Coast A&R at Mom + Pop Music. A former intern at the indie label, she returns after three years at Atlantic/Elektra Records where she worked with such artists as Wallows, Fitz & the Tantrums, Anderson East, Saint Motel, and Kaleo, among others. At Mom

BTS’ RM went a little bit country late Wednesday night with “Seoul Town Road,” his surprise collaboration with Lil Nas X. Unlike Billy Ray Cyrus – who is featured on the latter’s chart-topping “Old Town Road” remix – the Korean rapper hasn’t dabbled in country music previously. Not the American genre, anyhow. Fans were confused

A$AP Rocky has been charged with assault in Sweden stemming from a confrontation in Stockholm on June 30. The American rapper has been in custody in the Swedish capital since July 3. Prosecutors said Thursday that they would press charges against the 30-year-old, who maintains that he was acting in self-defense when he punched a

Live Nation now has a stake in OCESA Entertainment, purchasing a controlling interest from CIE and Grupo Televisa, the companies announced on July 24. The acquisition brings Ticketmaster Mexico under the Live Nation banner, while adding some 14 venues across Mexico to its portfolio, with a collective capacity of nearly 250,000 seats. OCESA promotes more than

As Sean “Diddy” Combs prepares to reprise “Making the Band,” Danity Kane’s Aubrey O’Day is still recovering from trauma that followed her run on the MTV series. Under Diddy’s guidance, the 35-year-old singer found fame in reality television, first on “Making the Band,” which auditioned hopeful vocalists for a spot in a to-be-formed music group.

Of all the acts that graced the Woodstock stage that weekend in August 50 years ago, perhaps the most unlikely was Sha Na Na, a group of Columbia University students who previously sang together in the campus a cappella group the Kingsmen and had formed just months before the festival. Perhaps their experience was a

Meek Mill was handed an important legal victory on Wednesday morning, as a Philadelphia appeals court threw out his 2008 conviction on gun and drug charges that had kept the rapper on parole for more than a decade, and made him a highly visible advocate for criminal justice reform. Now officially off probation, the 32-year-old

July 24, 2019 10:53AM PT Marshmello has signed with WME for representation in territories outside of Europe, joining a roster that includes Calvin Harris, Pharrell Williams and The Weeknd, among many others. The DJ and producer is among today’s biggest dance/electronic artists — to the tune of 45 million monthly Spotify listeners and more than

July 24, 2019 9:35AM PT Music producer Dr. Luke testified Tuesday in Katy Perry’s copyright infringement case for her 2013 hit “Dark Horse.” Christian rapper Marcus Gray (aka Flame) accused Perry and her team of copyright infringement for his song “Joyful Noise,” alleging that the two songs are significantly similar. Dr. Luke produced the song

Barely a page into the book “Spotify Untold,” Swedish authors Jonas Leijonhufvud (pictured at left) and Sven Carlsson paint an odd scene. The year is 2010 and Spotify co-founder and CEO Daniel Ek is facing a succession of obstacles gaining entry into the U.S. market — or, more specifically, infiltrating the tightly-networked and often nepotistic

Spotify has made no secret of wanting to be the world’s biggest audio platform, but it wasn’t all that long ago that the Swedish streamer was eyeing video. From 2011 to 2015, CEO Daniel Ek was engaging in ambitious, top-secret plans to challenge Netflix, Hulu and Apple TV in one fell swoop, the new book

July 24, 2019 7:00AM PT Music video streaming company Vevo has hired Scott Anderson as its new senior vice president of engineering and product, the company announced Wednesday morning. Anderson is joining the company from healthcare startup Conversa Health, where he served as chief technology officer. Prior to that, Anderson worked as director of engineering

Jay-Z and Meek Mill are partnering to bring Meek’s Dream Chasers label into the Roc Nation fold. The two signed papers Tuesday in New York City in front of a small media gathering at Roc Nation’s midtown headquarters. Holding the title of president of Dream Chasers, a joint venture with Roc Nation, Meek will oversee

Woodstock’s stalled-before-it-started 50th anniversary celebration has taken over much of the news cycle this summer, but some of us haven’t forgotten the disaster that was Woodstock ’99, which kicked off its main stage 20 years ago today. The planned 30th anniversary of the most famous music festival in history started with good intentions, but quickly

Taylor Swift fans have had a very faith-based relationship with the new material she’s rolled out in advance of her new album — having faith that the album would really be as intimate and personal as promised, after the mindful froth-pop of the first two singles, “Me!” and “You Need to Calm Down.” That faith

It seems like everyone wants a piece of Maluma these days, but the 25-year-old Colombian superstar has played hard to get when it comes to making the transition to the big screen. The singer has been picky in turning down possible crossovers — but an offer to be paired with Jennifer Lopez has caught his

The MTV Video Music Awards have added a new K-pop category this year, but if you thought that expansion would please a plurality of BTS fans, think again. BTS fans have taken to Twitter and other social media to charge that it’s actually a racist or xenophobic move designed to ghettoize their favorite group and

Lizzo has signed a global administration deal with Warner Chappell Music. The agreement covers her existing and future work, including the breakout hit “Juice” and follow-up “Truth Hurts” from debut album “Cuz I Love You.” Speaking to Variety of the success of “Truth Hurts,” Lizzo recently said: “I love being platinum. I worked so hard.

July 23, 2019 9:55AM PT A lavish mansion in a quietly ritzy, guard-gated enclave discreetly nestled into the rugged foothills above L.A.’s Woodland Hills, long owned by Andre Young, aka rapper, record producer and near-billionaire entrepreneur Dr. Dre, has come for sale at $5.25 million. Dre himself, worth about $800 million, according to Forbes, hopes

Iggy Azalea just unleashed her first album in five years, and the title speaks for itself. “In My Defense” sees the Australian pop star talking back, taking control of her masters and giving self-confidence to her fan base across the world. Azalea — real name: Amethyst Amelia Kelly — made a name for herself with

The list of top nominees for the 2019 MTV Video Music Awards suggests that pop music is the farthest thing from a dude ranch right now … with the exception, of course, of Lil Nas X and the horse he rode in on. The cowpoke-themed hip-hop artist was the only guy to show up on

“Western Stars,” the film that Bruce Springsteen has made to accompany his recent album of the same name, will have its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, it was announced Tuesday. The feature is being listed as a co-directing project between Springsteen and his longtime filmic collaborator, Thom Zimny, who just picked up

After first launching a limited beta earlier this year, Pandora opened up its mobile voice control to all of its iOS and Android users Tuesday. The new feature allows users to ask for songs, albums, playlists, stations, and even soundtracks for activities or times of day, with simple voice commands. Pandora’s voice mode is similar

San Francisco-based audio startup Mixhalo has raised a $10.7 million Series A round of funding as it sets out to use earbuds and mobile phones to improve the audio experience at concerts and other live events. The funding round was led by Foundry Group, with participation from Sapphire Sport, Founders Fund, Defy Partners, Cowboy Ventures,

July 22, 2019 5:47PM PT After a decades-long tenure at Sony/ATV Nashville, Terry Wakefield has followed another alumnus, Troy Tomlinson, across town to take a top position at Universal Music Publishing Group Nashville. Wakefield is senior VP of A&R at UMPG after having been senior VP of creative in his previous post. Personal loyalty to