March 29, 2019 6:47PM PT Country music’s Zac Brown Band has signed on for representation with WME, as the highly successful touring unit looks toward finishing their “Down the Rabbit Hole Live” tour before following with a separate “Owl Tour” in conjunction with a new album this summer. The move is one of several major
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March 29, 2019 5:10PM PT Don’t expect a Janet Jackson performance at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony tonight. While the 52-year-old singer is in attendance to receive the honor, along with fellow honoree Stevie Nicks and members of Roxy Music, Duran Duran and Def Leppard, a source tells Variety she declined
Sci-fi fantasy magazine Heavy Metal and Pete Townshend are partnering on the Who’s uncompleted rock opera “Lifehouse” for a graphic novel, with an eye to developing a movie and television projects. “Lifehouse,” which had originally been planned as a movie for Universal in 1970, will be published in July, 2020, as a 150-page graphic novel
The Grammys have yet to overcome their lack of diversity, but music’s other conferrer of ultimate honors, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, initially showed an impressive color blindness. Its inaugural batch of inductees — the Class of ’86 — included 10 “performer” acts, and six of them were black. The next year, 15
Spending any amount of time with the often precious singer-songwriter Justin Vernon — the central figure behind Bon Iver — is akin to hanging with J.D. Salinger, stuck in a Quonset hut, plotting his return to the Great American Novel. There’s a hallowed “genius at work” vibe happening, even when the output might be, on
Today marks the end of an era: It’s Martin Bandier’s last day as chairman and CEO of Sony/ATV, the world’s largest music publisher. Over 12 years, he built the company into a juggernaut that includes the catalogs of The Beatles, Leonard Cohen, Bob Dylan, Marvin Gaye, Michael Jackson, Alicia Keys, Lady Gaga, Carole King, Kraftwerk,
Earlier this week, Jezebel published an op-ed in which Tracy Clark-Flory says that Alanis Morissette’s iconic, multiple Grammy-winning 1995 album “Jagged Little Pill,” which she loved when she was younger, is “actually very bad.” Letters to Cleo singer-songwriter and activist Kay Hanley disagrees, and explains why in the column below … “Would she go down
Both members of the Liverpool-based band Her’s and their manager were killed in a car crash this week while on tour in the U.S., the band’s label, Heist or Hit, has confirmed. The two band members, Stephen Fitzpatrick and Audun Laading, and their manager, Trevor Engelbrektson, died in the accident, which occurred Wednesday. A fourth
Less than two months out from the last Grammy Awards, it may feel a little early to be prognosticating about the next, but we now have one 2019 release that should be a shoo-in for an album of the year nomination. It’s “When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?,” the full-length debut from
Dee Barnes has always been adamant in speaking her truth, as unpretty as that has often been. On March 15, the hip-hop journalist tweeted a link to a current GoFundMe page titled “Help Dee Barnes,” revealing she is facing homelessness. Barnes tweeted, “Thank you to everyone for your prayers, your support, your messages, phone calls
AEG Presents and Postmates today announced an exclusive, multi-year partnership to bring Postmates Pickup to some of the nation’s largest music festivals — starting with next month’s Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. Postmates Pickup will also be available at Stagecoach, Hangout Festival, Electric Forest, Mo Pop Festival, Camp Flog Gnaw Carnival and others. The new
March 28, 2019 10:32AM PT The course is available to selected students for free via an application process. Ahead of his keynote appearance at Synthplex in Los Angeles this weekend, composer Tom Holkenborg today announced the launch of SCORE Academy. In collaboration with ASCAP, the annual program offers a “full-contact curriculum,” conceived by Holkenborg, who
Composer Danny Elfman broke his cardinal rule for Disney’s remake of “Dumbo”: He wrote music ahead of time, long before shooting began and without even seeing a script. “Thinking about the idea of a baby elephant and his mother, and the two being torn apart, I just thought of something innocent and sweet and sad,” he
Blueface’s “Thotiana” might be a gigantic hit, but it’s also a divisive one. Although the L.A. rapper has co-signs from Cardi B, YG and French Montana, others in the music community have wondered aloud if he might be the worst thing to happen to rap. Count Joe Budden in that camp. On his “Joe Budden
The “Burning Sun Gate” scandal is fast becoming one of the most complex – and most sordid — episodes in Korean entertainment history. So called because of the Burning Sun nightclub partially owned by the Bigbang K-pop star Seungri, the case has already focused on allegations of drug distribution, prostitution, and hidden camera footage. More
Lifetime has ordered two music-themed miniseries, one revolving around female rap stars Salt-N-Pepa, the other focused on the Clark Sisters gospel group. Both projects are produced by Queen Latifah’s Flavor Unit banner. “Salt-N-Pepa” and the Clark Sisters project were among several new programs unveiled by Lifetime Wednesday night at the cabler’s upfront presentation at New
After fans speculated that Everclear frontman Art Alexakis had “fallen off the wagon,” the singer revealed to fans on the band’s website yesterday that he was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis three years ago. The 56-year old singer, who has been outspoken about his past struggles with substance abuse, wrote that after “hearing a lot of people
American composer Marco Beltrami will be the guest of honor at the World Soundtrack Awards, part of the Ghent Film Festival, on Oct. 18 in Belgium. Beltrami, a two-time Oscar nominee (for “3:10 to Yuma” and “The Hurt Locker”), recently scored the horror hit “A Quiet Place” and the Oscar winner for Best Documentary “Free
March 27, 2019 7:02AM PT Kesha and Fitz and the Tantrums will join the performance lineup for the 2019 MusiCares Concert for Recovery on May 16 in Los Angeles. The concert will honor Macklemore — who will close the event with a special performance — and will also feature a tribute to Mac Miller, who
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member Wanda Jackson — the first and, for many years, only significant female rock star — has announced her retirement from touring, via a message posted to her Facebook page. “After over 60 years of touring, Wanda Jackson wishes to announce her retirement from performing,” read the post, on
Roger Charlery, aka Ranking Roger, the singer and toaster from the English Beat, General Public and Special Beat, died today after a battle with cancer, a rep for the band confirmed to Variety. He was 56. The group, which has existed in several different forms over the years, issued a statement on its social media
UPDATED: The fallout from Friday’s premiere of Netflix’s few-holds-barred Motley Crue biopic, “The Dirt,” began even before the film, which focuses on the quartet’s ‘80s-‘90s decade of decadence, was released. The group’s ill treatment of many women in their orbit is a matter of public record, and is depicted both seriously and unsettlingly light-heartedly in
BMG announced solid earnings for 2018 — its tenth year since the “new” BMG opened for business after its previous incarnation merged with Sony Music — as part of parent company Bertlesmann’s results Tuesday. According to the announcement, despite “negative exchange rate effects,” BMG’s revenues increased by 7.5 percent to €545 million (around $644 million),
March 26, 2019 10:35AM PT The eligibility year for the 2020 Grammy Awards will close on Aug. 31, one month earlier than usual, the Recording Academy announced today in a letter to members. The change is due to next year’s telecast taking place on Jan. 26, around two weeks earlier than usual (although the 2018
Mike Alancourt is here to dance his heart out, one Post Malone video at a time. The Florida native recently went viral thanks in no small part to his impressive moves. At 43 years old, he appears in the video for Post’s “Wow,” carrying the final third with his bearded, bellied routine. The video caught
After his lawyer confirmed that charges against him have been dropped, “Empire” actor Jussie Smollett gave a statement in which he said he has been “truthful and consistent on every level from day one.” “This has been an incredibly difficult time. Honestly one of the worst of my entire life,” Smollett said in a statement
March 26, 2019 9:15AM PT Brandi Carlile will sing a duet with Dierks Bentley, and Kelly Clarkson will join Jason Aldean. Khalid, the R&B singer whose sophomore album comes out April 5, will be taking to the airwaves two nights later to collaborate with country star Kane Brown in a performance that’s been announced for
March 26, 2019 9:00AM PT Childish Gambino and Twenty One Pilots will join the already-announced Paul Simon as headlining acts at the 2019 Outside Lands Festival, taking place at San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park on August 9 to 11. Another Planet Entertainment, Superfly, and Starr Hill made the announcement on Monday, releasing the festival’s lineup
March 26, 2019 8:20AM PT As outgoing Sony/ATV chief Martin Bandier (pictured above, right) finishes up his final week on the job, Sony CEO Kenichiro Yoshida thanked him for his 12 years of service and welcomed incoming publishing CEO Jon Platt (above, left) who joins from Warner/Chappell. The letter, obtained by Variety and under the
March 26, 2019 7:55AM PT Nearly a year after his passing on April 20, 2018, the family of dance music artist Tim “Avicii” Bergling are launching a foundation in his memory. The multiplatinum-selling artist and DJ died in Oman of an apparent suicide. The Tim Bergling Foundation “will initially focus on supporting people and organizations