Whatever bad blood Taylor Swift may have with former associates, her credit is certainly good. Swift tops Forbes’ Celebrity 100, the magazine’s annual list of top-paid entertainers, with estimated 2019 earnings of $185 million. It’s the second time she’s come in at No. 1 — after she previously led the pack for 2016 — making
Music
The stream of content being developed at Quibi keeps on flowing, with Darren Criss being the latest name to attach himself to the forthcoming Jeffrey Katzenberg-founded platform. The “Glee” and “American Crime Story” star is set to lead, executive produce and write original songs for “Royalties,” a musical comedy series which is described as a
Natina Nimene has been promoted to Senior Vice President of Urban Promotion at Def Jam Recordings, it was announced today by Rodney Shealey, the department’s EVP. She will remain based in New York and report to Shealey. According to the announcement, in her new post, Nimene will be responsible for the development and execution of Def Jam’s artist-related
Bruce Springsteen called in to the E Street Radio channel on Sirius XM to chat about his new record, “Western Stars” and share some news about a new film based on the music. “We made a film of us playing the ‘Western Stars’ album start to finish, plus some other things,” he revealed. “I knew
July 10, 2019 7:55AM PT Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer has approved a bill to designate a portion of the M-10 motorway in Detroit as the “Aretha L. Franklin Memorial Highway,” according to the Associated Press. Whitmer, a Democrat said in a statement that Franklin’s “creativity and voice contributed to our musical and cultural history in
July 10, 2019 7:20AM PT R&B singer August Alsina was hospitalized after losing his ability to walk, apparently temporarily, according to an Instagram message he posted from a hospital bed. The ailment caused him to miss his scheduled appearance at the Essence Festival in New Orleans over the weekend. “Hi guys,” he says in the post,
July 10, 2019 6:30AM PT Watch a clip from “A Life on the Road” of Sting revisiting The Police’s punk rock roots in New York City. AC/DC frontman Brian Johnson is bringing his rock-themed talk show to the U.S. “Brian Johnson: A Life On The Road,” which aired in the U.K. on Sky Arts, will
July 10, 2019 5:55AM PT Kobalt has promoted Sam Taylor to executive vice president, creative. The publishing and A&R executive, who was named to Variety‘s 2018 Hitmakers list, played a key role in Drake’s “Nice for What” and “In My Feelings” and Kendrick Lamar’s “Alright,” and is credited with signing and developing songs from Gunna,
Ariana Grande got extremely vulnerable in her latest interview with Vogue, opening up about her past relationships and the turmoil she’s publicly faced, from the Manchester bombing to the death of her ex-boyfriend, Mac Miller. The singer went on to discuss the process of healing while remaining in the public eye and the process behind
We’ve all heard of albums that feel padded out, but there’ll be a new wrinkle on that with the formation of Build-A-Bear Records, a new label being formed as a partnership between the Warner Music Group, Warner Chappell Music and, of course, Build-A-Bear Workshop, the brand that made self-stuffed animals a staple of malls everywhere.
Jay Z, who infamously started out dealing crack and drugs in Brooklyn’s notorious Marcy Projects before becoming a successful rapper and entrepreneur, has entered into a long-term partnership with Caliva, one of the largest, vertically integrated cannabis companies in California. According to a release, the mogul, whose real name is Shawn Corey Carter, spent “a
The permit required to stage the troubled Woodstock 50 festival at its most recent proposed site, Vernon Downs in the town of Vernon near Utica in Upstate New York, has been denied, Oneida County Administrator Anthony Picente Jr. tells Variety. The promoters have five days to appeal the decision, Picente says, but “what they have
July 9, 2019 10:53AM PT After much controversy surrounding her upcoming show in Saudi Arabia, Nicki Minaj has decided to back out of the Jeddah World Fest. “After careful reflection I have decided to no longer move forward with my scheduled concert at Jeddah World Fest,” Minaj said in a statement. “While I want nothing
July 9, 2019 9:55AM PT Henry Samuel, better known around the globe as four-time Grammy-winning singer-musician Seal, has plunked down a bit more than $3.5 million for a secluded mountaintop retreat near Topanga, Calif., in the scrubby, fire-scarred mountains above Malibu. Behind gates and out of sight down a long driveway on roughly three landscaped
Is Billie Eilish 2019’s answer to Kate Bush? The parallels are hard to ignore, starting with the fact that both collaborated with their respective brothers; that each made her cultural impact in visuals as much as the music itself; and, most importantly, that the two game-changing female artists broke the pop mold. Eilish is an
UPDATED: The troubled Woodstock 50 festival was called a “recipe for disaster” by the local head of emergency services at a Monday town meeting in Vernon, New York, the latest proposed site for the event. Oneida Country Head of Emergency Services Kevin Revere made that comment when speaking of the serious challenges local authorities face
Pussy Riot, the controversial Russian activist group who were jailed for their protests against Russian leader Vladimir Putin several years ago, returned this morning with a fiery pro-environmental song and video called “Black Snow”; an open letter to Putin “and his cronies” that takes him to task for pollution in Russia; and the announcement of
Slayer have announced dates for “The Final Campaign” — the seventh and last leg of the nearly 40-year-old metal band’s farewell world tour. The run of dates will start on Nov. 2 in Asheville, North Carolina, include a date at New York’s Madison Square Garden, and conclude at the Forum in the band’s hometown of
Hootie & The Blowfish, Marshmello and Steve Aoki, alongside special guests Darren Criss and Monsta X, have joined the lineup for the 2019 iHeartRadio Music Festival. The latest additions join already-announced performers Alicia Keys, Cage The Elephant, Camila Cabello, Chance The Rapper, Def Leppard, French Montana, Halsey, Heart, H.E.R., Miley Cyrus, Mumford & Sons, Tim
Richmond Shepard, one of America’s foremost practitioners and proponents of the art of mime, died in Manhattan July 2 at age 90. Shepard’s family announced his passing with an unusual request: “In lieu of flowers, Richmond has requested a moment of noise.” Although he was most famous as a mime — and received fresh notoriety
A key figure in rock journalism and curation, James Henke, has died at age 64. Henke was a writer, music editor and eventually managing editor at Rolling Stone before becoming the first curator at the Rock and Roll of Fame, where he served for 19 years. His eldest son, Arthur, said that Henke died after
Elton John came out on top in Pollstar’s 2019 mid-year touring charts with a $82.6 million gross, based on box-office earnings from a segment of his global “Farewell Yellow Brick Road” tour. The veteran rocker sold 608,766 tickets for the 42 shows he played between November 2018 and March 2019, a period that encompassed the
“Love & Hip Hop: Hollywood” returns for its sixth season on August 5 and today, VH1, Monami Entertainment and MGM’s Big Fish Entertainment confirmed the cast members, which include Ray J and Princess Love, K Michelle, Lyrica Anderson, Fizz from B2K, Yo-Yo, Marques Houston and more. The VH1 reality show launched in September 2014 and
When we think of public battles between major recording artists and their current or former label heads, we think… well, as of late June 2019, we’ve thought Taylor Swift and Big Machine. But for more than four decades prior to that, everyone’s first go-to was John Fogerty versus Fantasy Records chief Saul Zaentz. There’s plenty
The Mechanical Licensing Collective (MLC), created by U.S. music publishers and songwriters and designated last week by the U.S. Copyright Office to handle licensing and administering rights under the Music Modernization Act (MMA), boasts an impressive industry lineup. The MLC’s tasks, which are expected to begin imminently, will include the negotiation of a budget with
The 31st annual ASCAP Film Scoring Workshop got underway today with 12 composers from eight countries around the world. (Participants are listed below.) Supported by The ASCAP Foundation, the comprehensive four-week program takes place in Los Angeles and is designed to equip the selected composers with the knowledge and connections they need to succeed in
Singer-songwriter-producer Dev Hynes — aka Blood Orange — will release a mixtape called “Angel’s Pulse” on Friday, he announced this morning. In a press release announcing the mixtape, Hynes wrote: “My new record is called ‘Angel’s Pulse’ & I performed, produced and mixed the entire thing myself. I’m calling it a mixtape. I have a habit through the
July 8, 2019 6:28AM PT In the wee hours of Monday morning Ed Sheeran dropped a new video for “Blow,” the song featuring Bruno Mars and Chris Stapleton from his forthcoming “No. 6 Collaborations Project” album, which comes out Friday. The video for the unexpectedly hard-rocking song was directed by Mars and apparently does not
July 7, 2019 8:23AM PT In the latest in a string of local surprise appearances this year, Bruce Springsteen returned to the Stone Pony Summer Stage Saturday for the first time since 2011, pulling double duty first as a surprise guest with E Street bassist Garry Tallent, and then joining Southside Johnny and the Asbury
A 7.1 magnitude earthquake proved no match for pop heartthrob Shawn Mendes and thousands of his adoring fans on Friday, as the singer mounted the first of three performances at Downtown Los Angeles’ Staples Center. Currently in the midst of an eponymous world tour that will clock 105 dates total, Mendes was moments from hitting