SiriusXM will acquire Pandora in an all-stock transaction valued at approximately $3.5 billion, the companies announced Monday. According to the announcement, the deal will create the world’s largest audio-entertainment company, with more than $7 billion in projected revenue in 2018. It also moves SiriusXM and its parent company, Liberty Media, aggressively into the streaming market. The
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Is Simon Cowell looking to sign “America’s Got Talent” finalist Courtney Hadwin to a record deal? Several news outlets, including the U.K.’s Daily Mail, are reporting that Cowell — formerly of “American Idol” and a current judge on “AGT” as well as “X Factor U.K.” — is looking to add the 14-year old rocker to
On the second and last day of the 2018 iHeartRadio Festival in Las Vegas, local boys Imagine Dragons were the poster boys for #VegasProud. Kelly Clarkson, after some apparently friendly conversation with the sponsor, posed with their logos, as if to say she was #iHeartProud. If there was a singular badge of pride, meanwhile, it
As the frontman for the Foo Fighters and the former drummer for Nirvana (not to mention his stints in Queens of the Stone Age, Probot, Them Crooked Vultures, and myriad other bands), Dave Grohl’s resume certainly isn’t in need of any padding. But the erstwhile rock star’s adding an unlikely new entry to his CV:
With their “Everything Is Love” album, Beyonce and Jay-Z capped off a story of their relationship that started with the former’s righteous marital anger on “Lemonade” — or, if you take the tabloids’ contribution into account, one that started with a rather infamous elevator fight. Over three albums, Beyonce had a catharsis, Jay-Z admitted to
September 22, 2018 8:11PM PT The legal battle between Ozzy Osbourne and AEG officially ended Friday when the singer’s attorney agreed to drop a lawsuit against the live-entertainment giant stemming from its block-booking policy, which the company ended last week. The policy required artists playing the London’s O2 Arena to also perform at Staples Center
The first night of the 2018 iHeartRadio Festival at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas was, by and large, as upbeat and celebratory as intended, although there were a couple of implicitly dramatic moments having to do with how people deal with trauma and loss and move on. One of those had country superstar Jason
UPDATED: Minutes before Sam Smith was due to take the stage at Las Vegas’ T-Mobile Arena for his set at the iHeartRadio Music Festival, an announcement was heard from the stage. “Due to unforeseen circumstances which transpired after his rehearsal, it became clear that Sam Smith would unfortunately not be able to perform tonight,” said
“It’s important to understand how memory works in a traumatic event,” Patti Davis said Friday in an op-ed for the Washington Post in which she defends Christine Blasey Ford and comes forward with her own story of sexual assault. As more and more women are tweeting stories with the hashtag #WhyIDidntReport in the wake of the assault
September 21, 2018 3:16PM PT Prosecutors on Friday declined to file charges against Benny Medina, the music manager best known for representing Jennifer Lopez. Medina was accused of sexually assaulting a man in 2004. According to the District Attorney’s office, the case fell outside the statute of limitations. Complicating matters further, the D.A. said the
September 21, 2018 2:50PM PT Just days after J. Cole was forced to cancel his inaugural Dreamville Festival in North Carolina due to Hurricane Florence, he has announced a rescheduled date: Saturday, April 6, at Dorothea Dix Park near downtown Raleigh, NC. J. Cole will headline the festival, with the full lineup to be announced
September 21, 2018 1:29PM PT The group will perform the album two more times this weekend. Arcade Fire’s show at the Greek Theater last night may have been billed as an extension of their ongoing tour in support of 2017’s divisive “Everything Now,” but the show ended up as something else entirely: a celebration of
When Andrew Slater set out to make a music documentary, he intended to focus on the electrification of folk music. But through interviews with the likes of David Crosby and Eric Clapton, he ended up creating a film about artists of the 1960s Laurel Canyon music scene and how they impacted one another and the
For obvious reasons, posthumous releases are perhaps the most difficult to approach with an objective ear and eye. Whether or not the artist’s death was a natural one, it’s hard not to look for foreshadowing or references to mortality, or easter eggs like the ones David Bowie left in “Blackstar,” perhaps the most remarkable example
Coming on the heels of successful conference held on the USC campus on Saturday, the Guild of Music Supervisors today announces a partnership with Mondo.NYC, an incubator confab for the music and tech industries that includes a multi-venue festival showcasing emerging artists from around the world. Scheduled for Oct. 2 to 5, Mondo.NYC will host panels
Considering how many elaborate musical creations Prince made, it does seem unusual for the first official posthumous album from his estate to be “Piano & a Microphone 1983,” basically a rehearsal tape containing a half-hour of him alone at the ivories, rolling through nine songs, some for 90 seconds, some for six minutes. But that’s
Rapper Soulja Boy is interested in starting up his own esports franchise, according to TMZ. Soulja Boy, who recently launched the “SouljaGame Console,” which appeared to be one of several cheap emulator consoles that could be purchased at retailers such as Amazon and Ali Express, is looking to enlist personalities like Ninja for his new