Azoff Music Management will acquire the Madison Square Garden Company’s 50 percent interest in Azoff MSG Entertainment for $125 million, the companies announced today. Once the transaction is complete, the company will be called The Azoff Company. The two companies simultaneously announced that they have entered into multi-year consultancy agreements that will see the Azoff
Music
Country star Church is an analog kind of guy, but he doesn’t start his album off with the sound of faux crackling vinyl, as a number of performers before him have for old time’s sake. It’s tape hiss you hear at the beginning of “The Snake,” the leadoff track on “Desperate Man.” Presumably we hear
Depression is everywhere in the media— and not even in a “I’m so despondent about Brett Kavanaugh” kind of way, but in discussions about the real thing that take place in TV thrillers (“Sharp Objects”), in pop (“1-800-273-8255”) and even on “SNL” (the first two episodes this year having featured gags about Pete Davidson’s meds…
It was almost impossible that this weekend’s “Saturday Night Live” would pass without mention of Kanye West’s onstage rant after last week’s broadcast ended, and Pete Davidson took on the task at the end of the “Weekend Update” comic news segment. In it, he encouraged West to take his meds — Davidson admitted that he’s
October 6, 2018 8:23PM PT 17 of the 21 dates on the rapper’s “Bad Girls” tour have been called off. Nearly all of the dates on Iggy Azalea’s “Bad Girls” North American tour have been cancelled, according to notices on the Ticketmaster website. The 21-city, five-week tour, her first headlining trek in the territory in
MADRID — Spanish soprano Montserrat Caballé, immortalized beyond the opera world by singing “Barcelona” with Freddie Mercury, died Saturday at the age of 85. She was admitted to Barcelona’s St. Pau Hospital in September with a gallbladder problem, having suffered a stroke in 2012. Made in 1987 and intended to be sung at the opening
October 5, 2018 2:50PM PT Legendary jazz saxophonist Hamiet Bluiett passed away Thursday at the age of 78, according to the St. Louis American. Widely considered to be one of the greatest baritone saxophonists in jazz history, he was active for more than five decades, performing with Charles Mingus, Babatunde Olatunji, Abdullah Ibrahim, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye
October 5, 2018 1:42PM PT The legendary producer’s acceptance speech should be interesting … The goal of Spotify’s Secret Genius program is to shine a light on people behind the scenes — songwriters, producers, engineers and mixers — of the world’s most popular and influential songs. And while he’s hardly shy, Quincy Jones has certainly been
October 5, 2018 11:06AM PT Inside the hallowed gates of the low-key but high-cost and much coveted Colony enclave in Malibu, Calif., the former beach house of music industry icon Linda Ronstadt has come to market at $15.8 million. Property records show the seller, Oscar-winning “Forrest Gump” screenwriter Eric Roth, also a five-time Emmy nominated
Dominic Pandiscia has stepped down as CEO of PledgeMusic, sources close to the company confirmed to Variety. The company, which is designed as a marketplace where serious music fans can help artists to fund their recordings and other projects — and in return receive everything from vinyl to personal visits — has faced challenges in
October 5, 2018 7:25AM PT During an otherwise lighthearted appearance promoting her new film “A Star Is Born” on Stephen Colbert’s “Late Show” Thursday night, Lady Gaga made impassioned statements in support of Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, calling it “heartbreaking” and “one of the most upsetting things I have ever witnessed” that people have discredited and
October 5, 2018 7:07AM PT Canadian singer and 2018 Grammy winner for Best New Artist Alessa Cara dropped a new single and video this morning, “Trust My Lonely.” The song is the second single from her forthcoming sophomore album, “The Pains of Growing” — a song called, naturally enough, “Growing Pains” arrived in June. The clip sees
October 4, 2018 5:42PM PT In retaliation for Cardi B’s accusation that Nicki Minaj tried to “stop my bags,” Minaj released “Nicki Stopped My Bag” merch on Thursday. Following their Fashion Week fight, which saw Cardi lunging and throwing a shoe at Minaj, the Bronx rapper lashed out at Minaj on Instagram: “I let you sneak
October 4, 2018 3:43PM PT Playwright Dominique Morisseau, composer Matthew Aucoin and choreographer Okwui Okpokwasili are among this year’s recipients of the MacArthur Foundation’s “genius” grants. The 25 people selected for 2018 will receive a stipend of $625,000, to be paid in quarterly installments over five years. The grants are designed to help fuel the
British music composer Ben Daglish died on Monday. He was 52. He’s known for creating the soundtracks to many 1980s video games on the Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum, and Amstrad CPC, including “Gauntlet,” “Trap,” “Deflektor,” and “The Last Ninja.” Daglish was reportedly diagnosed with lung cancer in 2015. His wife, Sarah, confirmed his death in
Expansive new mixes, and newly unearthed demos and alternates of John Lennon’s chart-topping 1971 album “Imagine” were publicly unveiled before a sold-out audience at L.A.’s Grammy Museum on Wednesday night. The event at the museum’s Clive Davis Theatre — featuring appearances by remix engineer Paul Hicks, director Andrew Solt, drummer Jim Keltner, and Lennon friend
October 4, 2018 1:05PM PT Brad Paisley and his wife Kimberly Williams-Paisley are opening a new, free grocery store in Nashville where community members in need can shop. Called “The Store,” the Paisleys were able to start the non-profit with the help of Brad’s alma-mater Belmont University, which provided the land for the project. Set
In the 23 years since her debut album “Dear Sir,” Cat Power — a.k.a. Chan Marshall — has had a skittish relationship with stardom. At several points in this gifted singer-songwriter’s career, a conventional “breakthrough” has seemed imminent — particularly in the wake of 2006’s critically revered “The Greatest” album and the ensuing “Jukebox” covers
The Recording Academy has invited 900 women and/or people of color under the age of 39 to join as voting members, based on the recommendation of its Task Force on Diversity & Inclusion formed earlier this year. The move is an effort to diversify its voting membership in the wake of the fierce criticism the
LeAnn Rimes seems determined to change her primary color from “Blue” to… red and green. She embraced Christmas music in a big way with a couple of mid-decade holiday recordings, and will soon embark on her sixth annual Christmas tour. But Rimes is really bringing the connection home with “It’s Christmas, Eve,” an upcoming Hallmark
Sony Music Entertainment has entered into a “worldwide talent development partnership” with producer/DJ Kygo (a.k.a. Kyrre Gørvell-Dahll) and his manager Myles Shear, it was announced Thursday. Under the strategic agreement, Sony Music, Kygo, and Shear are launching Palm Tree Records, a new label imprint focused on identifying and cultivating emerging artistry in dance and electronic
As a group full of music geeks, R.E.M. understood the influence and importance of BBC sessions, and the group recorded many of them over the course of their 31-year career. After decades of bootleg cassettes and CDs and downloads and streams, the group’s BBC oeuvre will soon be available as a super-deluxe edition 8-CD/1-DVD “R.E.M. at the
Camila Cabello is leading the pack of this year’s MTV European Music Awards nominations, it was announced Thursday. The singer-songwriter snagged six nominations including best song and best video for her chart-topping hit “Havana” featuring Young Thug, as well as best artist alongside Ariana Grande, Drake, Dua Lipa, and Post Malone. Grande also did well, garnering
Jay-Z’s Roc Nation and Participant Media have joined the eagerly anticipated TV adaptation of Malorie Blackman’s popular novel series “Noughts & Crosses.” Roc Nation will handle the soundtrack for the show, which is set in an alternate world where there is a ruling class of people of African descent and white people suffer discrimination and
October 3, 2018 2:15PM PT Gary Calamar will be back on the Los Angeles airwaves on Sunday nights. The longtime KCRW DJ and noted music supervisor will reunite with ex-colleague Nic Harcourt at Sky Daniels’ KCSN (88.5FM), the Triple-A station which is a partnership between Cal State Northridge and Saddleback College in Mission Viejo, Calif.
The look of the Sunset Strip’s legendary rock club, the Roxy, can best be described by the Rolling Stones’ song “Paint It Black.” But recently, passersby have been surprised — and, in the case of some staunch traditionalists, appalled — to see its colorful new look. “The Roxy got a makeover!” shouted artist Kii Arens,
October 3, 2018 11:51AM PT Among the teamings, Carlile will join Maren Morris for a salute to Aretha Franklin. Gladys Knight, Pistol Annies and Maddie & Tae have also been added to the program. CMT had previously announced that all the official honorees on this year’s “Artists of the Year” program would be women. If
A documentary about the Atlanta music scene and a music competition program called “Take the Lead” are two projects in development through a new partnership between L.A. Reid and Charles Goldstuck’s Hitco Entertainment and Craig Piligian’s Pilgrim Media Group. The teaming calls for the two companies to develop and produce music-focused projects for distribution across multiple platforms. Craig Piligian
Geoff Emerick, the Grammy Award-winning engineer and producer who was the Beatles’ chief recording engineer during their career, died Tuesday of heart failure, according to his manager William Zabaleta. He was 72. While he worked with many artists over the course of his long career — including Elvis Costello. Badfinger, Supertramp, Cheap Trick and America, among many others
Elektra Music Group, the newly formed stand-alone company within Warner Music Group that launched October 1, today announced its full leadership team. The company — the first such label expansion the music industry has seen in many years — includes the artists Twenty One Pilots, Sturgill Simpson, Zac Brown Band, Brandi Carlile, Fitz and the Tantrums, Paramore, Slipknot,