BuzzAngle, the analytics company that has impacted the music business in recent years with daily and weekly charts and other public and private data, is being relaunched as Alpha Data, with a refreshed website and upgrades to its services to the industry. BuzzAngle has perhaps been best known in the last year for the Rolling
The Rolling Stones have released a new single, “Living in a Ghost Town,” with a decidedly lockdown-influenced theme, even though the band said primary sessions for the track went down last year before it was completed from remote locations in recent weeks. “So the Stones were in the studio recording some new material before the
Premiering worldwide at Visions de Réel and looking for wider distribution, Mo Scarpelli’s “El Father Plays Himself” will stream April 25 to May 2 to a limited audience of 500 as the Swiss festival handles the almost ontological dilemmas that come with the pandemic. Produced by Rake Films, Ardimages U.K. and La Faena Films, in
Film Constellation, the London-based production, finance and sales company, ventured into new grounds amid the coronavirus crisis, and hosted the first online industry premiere for Gabriel Range’s young David Bowie origin film “Stardust” last week. The movie, which was supposed to debut at Tribeca, gathered more than 300 buyers and select press for its online
The very first image a listener encounters in the titular opening track of X’s new album “Alphabetland” is a quintessential one: a sidewalk being torn up and covered with freshly poured pavement to obscure an old lover’s initials. That metaphorical perfection ushers in an album that was long in the making, but which finds the
Paris-based company Charades has come on board to handle worldwide sales on three films from distribution company Neon, “Spaceship Earth,” The Painter and the Thief,” and “She Dies Tomorrow.” Charades and Neon will provide distributors with a marketing package and a replicable model to adapt on their own markets. Both outfits have already enlisted Non
Toward the end of “Murder to Mercy: The Cyntoia Brown Story,” former state prosecutor Preston Shipp considers his shifting thoughts on the notion of justice. It’s shouldn’t be about alleging rule violations, he says, but about trying to achieve the right outcome in each case. In other words, for all the rigors of law and
Mike MarslandGetty Images Almost forty years since the British Fashion Council held their first London Fashion Week, they have announced that the quarterly event, historically divided by gender, as well as season, will become gender-neutral and commence digitally, due to the pandemic. During the month in which London Fashion Week Men’s would have occurred—beginning June
Movie theaters face an uncertain path ahead, but there’s a growing consensus that the theatrical distribution landscape will be forever changed once it’s safe for people to go to cinemas again. John Stankey, chief operating officer of AT&T, the parent company of Warner Bros., predicts there could be a gravitational shift in consumer behavior and
Pearl Jam had planned to release its “Gigaton Visual Experience” – a special audio-visual event around their new album — in theaters just before the album’s March 27 release, but the coronavirus pandemic obviously put that plan on hold. Instead, the group announced today that the “Gigaton Visual Experience” will be available in home theaters starting Friday —
Samsung Electronics is the first TV brand to integrate Apple Music, letting subscribers to the streaming-music service in over 100 countries access songs, music videos and more on Samsung Smart TVs. Apple Music is available on Samsung Smart TV models from 2018 through 2020. Subscribers can stream over 60 million songs ad-free, watch top music
Robert R. McElroyGetty Images Flip through the pages of 1976’s Diane von Furstenberg’s Book of Beauty and you’ll see that the designer is a champion lounger. She is always shown at least semi-horizontal, whether posing like an odalisque behind a bedside breakfast tray or lying supine in first class. When it comes to luxurious self-isolation,
The Guild of Music Supervisors is continuing its weekly panel series with a program aimed at exploring the relationship between showrunners and producers and music supervisors. Scheduled for April 23 and moderated by Variety Artisans editor Jazz Tangcay, the discussion will feature Jason Katims, the producer and writer best known for “Friday Night Lights” and
Pluto TV, ViacomCBS’s free-streaming TV division, expanded its senior leadership team with two hires: Shampa Banerjee as chief product officer and Scott Reich as SVP of programming. Banerjee, who most recently was chief product officer at Eros International’s digital Indian entertainment platform, will oversee Pluto TV’s product road map, designing and developing the experience of
When nutritionist Lisa Roth found herself looking for the perfect gift for a friend’s baby shower back in the mid-2000s, she never figured on starting a musical movement for the toddler set and their parents. But the lightbulb flicked on and “Rockabye Baby!” was born. The series turns the greatest music catalogs from every genre
Snap, the parent company of Snapchat, plans to launch a $750 million private-placement debt offering, along with the option for buyers to purchase up to an additional $112.5 million of the convertible securities. Per the boilerplate text in the announcement Thursday, Snap said it plans to use cash from the offering for “general corporate purposes,”
Another top executive at Quibi has left the fledgling streamer: Megan Imbres, head of brand and content marketing, is leaving the company after a year in the role, Variety has confirmed. Imbres, whose exit comes two weeks after Quibi’s April 6 launch, oversaw creative development for all of the short-form streaming service’s brand and content
Richard Lechartier, the former CEO of French producer and distributor Marco Polo, has launched new U.K. film distribution company ILY Films, with Bruce Willis actioner “Open Source” as its first acquisition. ILY Films is focused on acquiring film rights for digital download releases. Lechartier tells Variety that ILY Films will concentrate on buying English-speaking commercial,
Banijay Group, which is in the process of acquiring Endemol Shine, has appointed Cathy Payne as CEO of Banijay Rights to lead the business’ growing global distribution strategy and spearhead the division through its next chapter. Payne was previously CEO of Endemol Shine International where she worked for a decade before stepping down last year.
Exclusive Tekashi 6ix9ine has been out of prison for weeks now, and his baby mama says he’s still ghosting their kid — but he says that’s not what’s going on at all. The rapper’s ex, Sara Molina, tells TMZ … just like before, Tekashi has shown little to no interest in reconnecting with their daughter,
Facebook is rolling out a 10-part series with CNN International as part of a slate of programming collaborations celebrating Ramadan during the coronavirus pandemic. The short-form CNN International series is entitled “Together Apart: Stories of Ramadan,” with five-minute episodes focusing on weekly themes such as family, community, spirituality, wellness and hope, and illustrated by personal
The BBC is leading nominations for the 2020 Rockie Awards, a juried competition organized by Canada’s Banff World Media Festival to celebrate achievement in television and digital media from around the world. The BBC was nominated for 27 Rockie Awards, followed by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation with 13 noms, Sky with eight noms, National Geographic
London-based Pulse Films has built its business on a steady diet of slick rock docs by the likes of LCD Soundsystem and the Beastie Boys, music videos including Beyoncé’s transcendent “Lemonade” and Andrea Arnold’s feature film “American Honey.” As it readies for a transformative year, the Vice Media Group-backed outfit is rolling out its first
Netflix has placed an order for “Vinterviken 2021,” a contemporary adaptation of the acclaimed 1993 Mats Wohl novel, “Vinterviken,” the U.S. streaming giant announced Thursday. In a coup for Endemol Shine’s EMEA scripted division, “Vinterviken 2021” will be produced by Filmlance International, part of the Endemol Shine Group and producer of the original “The Bridge”
The road to recovery for much of Europe’s exhibition sector may still be an ambiguous prospect, but Vue International, one of the continent’s largest cinema chains, hopes to jumpstart business by mid-July. The exhibitor, which operates close to 2,000 screens across 10 countries including the U.K., Italy, Germany, Denmark and Taiwan, has shuttered all 228
Even in a pandemic, Hipgnosis Songs continues its acquisition spree of major music-publishing catalogs. The company, which was founded just two years ago, has bought up catalogs by hitmakers ranging from Timbaland and the Chainsmokers to Jack Antonoff and Jeff Bhasker — and the latest is 70% of seven-time Grammy-and-Oscar-winning songwriter, artist and producer Mark Ronson.
One lucky fan of “The Office” will be able to virtually hang out with the Dunder Mifflin crew. Several cast members have partnered with the fundraising organization Omaze for an online coffee date for charity. People can make donations online to enter the sweepstakes, and the proceeds will go to the Variety Boys & Girls
A host of New Jersey’s most celebrated musical talents — including Bruce Springsteen, Jon Bon Jovi, Charlie Puth, Halsey, SZA and Fountains of Wayne, plus one adopted son from New York, Tony Bennett — came together Wednesday for “Jersey 4 Jersey,” a benefit webcast to raise funds to fight the medical, social and economic impact
With the global premiere of National Geographic’s “Jane Goodall: The Hope” on Earth Day (April 22) and the April 19 premiere of the first two episodes of Michael Jordan series “Last Dance” — a ratings slam-dunk for ESPN — it’s deceptively easy to think all is right in the documentary world. The coronavirus pandemic has
Derek Jones, the guitarist for post-hardcore rock band Falling in Reverse, has died at 35. The cause of death is currently unknown. Jones’ bandmate and Falling in Reverse vocalist Ronnie Radke announced Jones’ death via Instagram on Tuesday, posting a series of photos in memoriam. “I’ll never forget when you picked me up from jail