Music

Jay Wilson has been named VP of publicity for Mascot Label Group, the company announced today. A veteran of Republic, Glassnote and Universal Records, In his new position Wilson will conceive and implement media strategies for the company and its roster of artists such as Beth Hart, James Morrison, P.O.D., Robert Randolph and the Family

Nearly 16 years after the first iPod silhouette commercials became instant music-marketing vehicles for bands big, small and critically beloved, the so-called “Apple effect” continues to show little signs of fatigue. Just ask acts like Marian Hill, Sofi Tukker and Billie Eilish, who all scored recent chart hits as a direct result of their music’s

March 20, 2019 10:06AM PT R. Kelly’s lawyer Steven Greenberg will file a motion on Friday to request that the singer can fly via private jet to Dubai next month to perform at a set of previously scheduled concerts, according to ABC News. Greenberg confirmed the report to Variety. The matter will be taken up

Now in its seventh year, the Red Bull Music Festival New York has long featured some of the most adventurous programming of any music experience in the business, and that continues this year’s installment, which will feature unique performances from FKA twigs, Rosalía, Teyana Taylor, Tierra Whack, Holly Herndon and many others at venues all

Lollapalooza announced its full lineup this morning, which sees headliners Childish Gambino, Twenty One Pilots, the Strokes, Flume, the Chainsmokers and J Balvin joining previously announced performers Ariana Grande and Tame Impala. The long-running festival will feature more than 170 bands on eight stages across four days, August 1-4 at Grant Park in Chicago. The

“Minnie the Moocher,” meet “The Blueprint.” The recordings being inducted into the Library of Congress’s National Recording Registry for 2019 range from Cab Calloway’s 1931 signature single to a landmark 2001 Jay-Z album, with stops along the way for Neil Diamond’s “Sweet Caroline,” Curtis Mayfield’s “Superfly,” Earth, Wind & Fire’s “September” and Cyndi Lauper’s “She’s

March 20, 2019 2:18AM PT Little Mix star Jesy Nelson is making a one-off documentary for the BBC in which she will explore issues surrounding body shaming and mental health in the age of social media. “Jesy Nelson: My Story” will launch on the BBC’s youth-skewed online channel BBC Three and then play on BBC

Jay-Z, Dead & Company, the Black Keys, Chance the Rapper, Miley Cyrus, Imagine Dragons and Halsey are among the headliners announced for the Woodstock 50 festival, producer Michael Lang confirmed at a press conference today. The event will take place August 16-18 in Watkins Glen in upstate New York. Also included in the determinedly eclectic

How do you put music to child sexual abuse — especially if the accused predators are musical icons? That’s the challenge composers Chad Hobson and Nathan Matthew David faced as they scored HBO’s “Leaving Neverland” and Lifetime’s “Surviving R. Kelly,” respectively. The documentaries are built around interviews with the alleged victims of Michael Jackson (two

Tired of learning about a festival’s lineup by scrutinizing a tiny jpeg of a poster with miniscule fonts? Apparently Lollapalooza’s organizers are — they’ve come up with the novel approach of revealing part of the lineup via a video in partnership with the Chicago-based animal shelter PAWS, which mixes in clues about 2019 Lollapalooza performers in

March 19, 2019 1:08PM PT STXfilms has signed Cardi B, Lili Reinhart, Keke Palmer, Julia Stiles, and Mercedes Ruehl to join strip club drama “Hustlers,” starring Constance Wu and Jennifer Lopez. The film will be directed by Lorene Scafaria (“The Meddler”). Mette Towley and Trace Lysette (“Transparent”) are also in negotiations to join the film.

A group of publishers including Downtown Music Publishing, Pulse Music Publishing, ole, peermusic, Ultra Music, Big Deal Music, Reservoir, Round Hill, TRO Essex Music Group and The Royalty Network filed a lawsuit against Peloton for infringement of more than a thousand musical works, according to a statement from the National Music Publishers Association. The plaintiffs are

Brooks & Dunn had a hit once called “Put a Girl In It,” and that’s just what the Academy of Country Music Awards have done, adding Kelly Clarkson, Brandi Carlile and Ashley McBryde to the lineup of performers for the April 7 telecast on CBS. While they’re at it, they also added Brooks & Dunn,

In the wake of the terrorists attacks on mosques in New Zealand last week, concerts in the country by former Pantera singer Philip Anselmo and his band the Illegals were cancelled due to statements he made in the past about “white power,” according to the New Zealand Herald. Anselmo was filmed giving a Nazi salute

Remember the plot of “Be Kind, Rewind”? Mos Def plays a video store clerk who, after its inventory of videocassettes is erased, sets out with Jack Black to reshoot movies such as “Ghostbusters” and “Rush Hour 2” in the streets of Passaic, N.J. That idea — minus the wacky Fats Waller subplot — resonated with

James Corden has been tapped to once again host the Tony Awards, Variety has learned exclusively. “The Late Late Show” host previously emceed the annual theater awards show in 2016, and won the Tony for best actor in a play for his performance in “One Man, Two Guvnors” in 2012. “I’m thrilled to be returning to

The list of artists heading to Vegas this year is getting a little longer. Reggaeton stars J. Balvin and Ozuna and DJ heavyweights Armin van Buuren, Deadmau5 and Eric Prydz are among the new artists who have announced residencies this spring at the Palms Casino Resort. The performers join previously announced residencies by Cardi B,

David Gilmour’s and Roger Waters’ post-Pink Floyd tours have come up against a common problem: how to deal with the songs (or parts of songs) that the other guy sang. You would think that would be a dilemma squared for drummer Nick Mason, as he undertakes his first “solo” outing, a quarter-century after the last

The Recording Academy has narrowed its pool of candidates to succeed outgoing chairman/president Neil Portnow to a shortlist of “three to five” finalists, with the Academy now focusing exclusively on executives at the CEO level, sources tell Variety. The next Recording Academy chief is expected to be named in late May, with Portnow staying on through

Another Sunday has passed which means another installment of Kanye West’s weekly church service. Launched at the top of the year, it’s become the most prestigious, highly-coveted invitation among the greater music community in Los Angeles — an event that only the select and handpicked worshipers get to experience. So what’s the service like? Think:

Lady Gaga was on hand at the Daily Front Row’s Fashion Los Angeles Awards on Sunday night to help honor her longtime hairstylist Frederic Aspiras by presenting him with the Hair Artist of the Year Award. “I’ve been through many highs and lows, consistently throughout my career, and Freddie has been there for it all,”

March 18, 2019 9:40AM PT Bernie Tormé, a veteran hard rock guitarist who played with Ozzy Osbourne,  Deep Purple singer Ian Gillan and his own solo bands, died Sunday at the age of 66, according to a statement from his family. “Bernie Tormé passed away peacefully on the 17th March 2019, one day short of

The once broken-up, now reunited country duo Brooks & Dunn were named to the Country Music Hall of Fame’s class of 2019 Monday morning, a few weeks before the release of their first album in 12 years. Also announced were comic singer-songwriter Ray Stevens, in the veteran performer category, and former producer and label chief

March 18, 2019 6:52AM PT Amanda Collins has been named executive vice president and global head of corporate communications for Sony Music Entertainment, effective immediately, it was announced today by CEO Rob Stringer. According to the announcement, in this role she will be responsible for the company’s global internal and external communications strategy and its

After several days of rumors and a last-minute attempt by local promoters to save it, Philadelphia’s Trocadero Theatre — part of the city’s entertainment skyline since 1870 — is closing at the end of May, owner Joanna Pang confirms to Variety. The last of the city’s mid-sized independent live venues, the 1,200-capacity Chinatown performance palace

A downsized 2019 edition of South By Southwest meant no endless lines to see arena-sized headliners play small clubs. With the exception of a J Balvin drop-in, the biggest acts at the Austin fest were arguably longtime indie staple Broken Social Scene and Outkast’s Big Boi. But that allowed for the sort of chase that

Dick Dale, the “King of the Surf Guitar” who formulated the sound and attack of the Southern California-bred instrumental style in the early ‘60s, has died. He was 81. His bassist, Sam Bolle, confirmed the news to the Guardian. Dale’s self-released records with his band the Deltones led the way for countless other acts —

March 16, 2019 12:30AM PT It’s the first Master of Global Entertainment Award to be given out by the music school at its Valencia, Spain campus. Berklee College of Music’s Valencia, Spain outpost honored Yvette Noel-Schure, the veteran public relations strategist, with the inaugural Master of Global Entertainment Award on March 14. Currently serving as

At South By Southwest on Friday, an animated panel of music business veterans took on the topic: “Is Alternative Radio in the Concert or Radio Business?” The discussion revolved around alt-rock radio concerts, and whether the market has become so saturated with stations looking to book next-big-thing acts and tried-and-true headliners on their multi-band bills

The Beastie Boys held a pair of “in conversation” events at SXSW this week, with the group’s Michael “Mike D” Diamond and Adam “Ad Rock” Horovitz taking part in a private, filmed chat about their “Ill Communication” album Thursday night before taking part in a bigger, career-spanning public keynote on Friday. And they’re not done