APA and AGI Merge Agencies, Rebrand as Independent Artist Group

Zoë Saldana and Nicole Kidman aim to stop global terrorism in Paramount+’s new series.

The celebrations were in full swing following Rod Stewart's sell-out gigs at Edinburgh Castle last week, as the Maggie May rocker took to the stage on Thursday and Friday night to delight Scottish crowds in the capital.

Ashnikko said she was in danger of having a wardrobe malfunction and popping out of her bustier on stage.

A frantic search has been launched in an effort to trace a Scots teen who has been missing all weekend.

Billy Joel has surprised fans in London with a guest appearance from Joe Jonas during his recent Hyde Park show, with the pair singing Joel’s hit ‘Uptown Girl’ together during the show’s encore.The show took place on Friday night (July 7), as part of the venue’s British Summer Time concert series. It marked Joel’s first show in the UK in over four years, with his last performance taking place at Wembley Stadium in June of 2019.

Bomb disposal experts carried out a controlled explosion at a Jobcentre on Saturday after a suspicious package was discovered inside.

Calum Beattie enjoyed TRNSMT on Friday as he was snapped with The View's Kyle Falconer and a number of festival revellers.

One Direction star Niall Horan was seen with not one but two Celtic tops, including the controversial new home kit, while he was in Glasgow to play his set at TRNSMT.

Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis met on the set of -- which ran from 1998 to 2006 -- but didn't begin dating until April 2012. They were engaged less than two years later in February 2014 — the same year they welcomed their daughter, Wyatt — and they secretly tied the knot in 2015.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic “What is that?” Neil Young asked toward the end of his solo-tour-opening show Friday night at the Ford amphitheater in the Hollywood hills, referring to a strange, seemingly distant but quite audible sound that occasionally punctuated his songs or commentary. “Are you hearing that all night?” This was not an audio hallucination; the fairly intimate crowd of 1,200 was privy to it, too, and some had been looking up earlier to see if it might be a mighty wind causing a whoosh in the scenically placed palm trees over the stage. It was not. “It’s One Direction!” someone in the audience finally shouted — not quite getting it right, but on point in alluding to the source of the noise, intermittent crowd roars from a Louis Tomlinson concert at the Hollywood Bowl, just on the other side of the 101. “How do you like my new band?” Young finally quipped, before getting back to business, resigning himself to the stray sound effects.

Fall Out Boy‘s Pete Wentz has discussed the band’s updated version of Billy Joel‘s ‘We Didn’t Start The Fire’ and why it doesn’t reference COVID.This week, the band shared a new and updated version of the iconic hit, featuring lyrics from between its original release in 1989 and the present day.In the original track, the lyrics included: “Harry Truman, Doris Day, Red China, Johnnie Ray / South Pacific, Walter Winchell, Joe DiMaggio / Joe McCarthy, Richard Nixon, Studebaker, television / North Korea, South Korea, Marilyn Monroe.”These have been swapped out in the Fall Out Boy version for: “Captain Planet, Arab Spring, LA riots, Rodney King, deep fakes, earthquakes, Iceland volcano, Oklahoma City bomb, Kurt Cobain, Pokémon, Tiger Woods, MySpace, Monsanto GMOs.”Now, Wentz has shared his explanations on the lyrics, and reasoning behind one big omission. “Dude, honestly, this idea has been brewing for so long,” Wentz told Zane Lowe on Apple Music. “I’ve been trying to get somebody to do this for so long because it just seems so perfect.

Fall Out Boy have released an updated version of Billy Joel’s song ‘We Didn’t Start The Fire’ in order to, I don’t know, highlight how lists are still a thing, or something.Joel’s original song was released as a single in 1989 and listed 118 people and events from politics, culture, science and sport that had proven notable between 1949, the year when Joel was born, and the year of the track’s release.So, your first verse goes like this: “Harry Truman, Doris Day, Red China, Johnnie Ray, South Pacific, Walter Winchell, Joe DiMaggio, Joe McCarthy, Richard Nixon, Studebaker, Television, North Korea, South Korea, Marilyn Monroe, Rosenbergs, H-Bomb, Sugar Ray, Panmunjom, Brando, The King And I, and The Catcher In The Rye, Eisenhower, Vaccine, England’s got a new queen, Marciano, Liberace, Santayana goodbye”.Anyway, it’s now 34 years since Joel released the song. So, to mark this, erm, milestone, Fall Out Boy have recorded a new version, listing significant things that have happened since 1989.

Fall Out Boy have released an updated version of Billy Joel‘s ‘We Didn’t Start The Fire’ with headlines from the past 30 years.Joel’s 1989 Number one hit, ‘We Didn’t Start The Fire’, includes brief references to 118 significant political, cultural and scientific events between the years of Joel’s birth in 1949 and the song’s release in 1989.Today (June 28), Fall Out Boy shared a modernised version of the track, replacing the original lyrics with standout events from where the song left off in 1989 to 2023.“I thought about this song a lot when I was younger. All these important people and events – some that disappeared into the sands of time –others that changed the world forever,” shared the band on Twitter.“So much has happened in the span of the last 34 years – we felt like a little system update might be fun.

Shortly after being named CEO of Independent Artist Group, the full-service agency resulting from the merger of APA and music touring agency Artist Group International, Jim Osborne has named Jarred Arfa, Executive Vice-President, Head of Global Music.

Lana Del Rey has announced surprise shows in Ireland and Europe, set to take place next month.Following her appearance at the Other Stage at Glastonbury on Saturday (June 23), Lana Del Rey has announced a series of surprise shows, scheduled for the next few weeks.The three new shows will see the New York singer-songwriter head to Amsterdam first, before performing in Dublin and Paris. They also work around her previously confirmed headline performance at London’s BST Hyde Park next Sunday.“I love Europe and after playing Glastonbury, have decided to play a few more shows in various countries around my Hyde Park Show in London on July 9th,” she said in a new statement.

Rod Stewart fans were left fuming after the singer 'stormed off stage' during a gig. The 78-year-old was playing in Plymouth last night ahead of a series of summer shows across the UK.

Cynthia Littleton Business Editor Jim Osborne is a product of the mailroom. The veteran talent agent, who has been named CEO of the newly christened Independent Artist Group, got his start in the representation field the old-fashioned way — by working his way of out of the ICM mailroom and assistant pool. Osborne has spent the past dozen years at APA, rising to partner in 2015 and to president in 2020. As of today, he advances to the top post, as APA combines into a new entity with Dennis Arfa’s music touring powerhouse Artist Group International. The deal brings such superstars into the fold as Billy Joel, Metallica, Smashing Pumpkins, Linkin Park and the Strokes, and was orchestrated in part by investor Ron Burkle and his Yucaipa Co. (which owned Artist Intl. and invested in APA in 2020).

The consolidation in the talent representation space continues. Agency for the Performing Arts and music touring agency Artist Group International (AGI) are merging, with the combined full-service agency rebranded as Independent Artist Group (IAG). APA President Jim Osborne is being named CEO of IAG, with Dennis Arfa, founder and CEO of AGI, as Chairman of the Music Division of IAG. Former longtime APA CEO Jim Gosnell will serve on the board of AGI alongside Osborne and Arfa.

APA has taken a big step to fortify its future as a full-service talent agency by combining with touring powerhouse Artist Group Intl. to create the newly named Independent Artist Group, led by APA president Jim Osborne. Osborne will become CEO of Independent Artist Group (IAG), taking over day-to-day management of the firm. Jim Gosnell, APA’s longtime leader, segues into board member role with a mandate to evaluate growth and acquisition opportunities for the new venture. Dennis Arfa, co-founder of Artist Group Intl., will serve as chairman of IAG’s Music division. Artist Intl. Group president Marsha Vlasic becomes vice chairman of music.

Manori Ravindran Executive Editor of International Duncan Heath’s legendary London agency Independent Talent Group is coming off the sales block. Variety understands that the U.K. company has secured a private equity buyer, and that a due diligence period is currently underway. The specific private equity firm involved in the deal isn’t currently known, though sources indicate that a well-known and respected entertainment executive is involved in the outfit. Sources tell Variety that CAA was at one point talking to Independent Talent, but that the U.S. agency — which acquired ICM Partners for $750 million last year — pulled away from a sales conversation in recent months. Other interested parties that have been in the mix in the last year are believed to include WME and Wasserman.