Argonon Group Expands U.S. Operations With Key Appointments

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorThese are boom times for hit songwriters, with catalogs being snapped up by Hipgnosis, Shamrock and others — and the latest big acquisition comes from Spirit Music Group, which announced that it has acquired the publishing catalog of Grammy-nominated songwriter and former “American Idol” judge Kara DioGuardi.

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STRATFORD, Conn. -- A group of theater and business professionals is hoping to rebuild a renown Shakespearean theater in Connecticut that burned to the ground last year.

coronavirus.Paul Redding will embark on the challenge in September, and hopes to raise £200,000, which will be split between the PRS Foundation (UK) and the Sweet Relief Musicians Fund (USA).The fundraising page (which has already received nearly £30,000 in donations), says that Beggars themselves will donate £1,000 for every mile that Redding swims, and an extra £25,000 if he completes the challenge and makes it to France.The Beggars Group encompasses the labels 4AD, Matador, XL and Rough

Tom Tapp Deputy Managing EditorWe learned last week that young adults are “now driving infections in L.A. County.”We know that “Healthcare workers continue to be the most affected” worker population in the county, according to health officials.We know from Governor Gavin Newsom that, statewide, the Latino community continues to be disproportionately impacted.But there is a smaller group in L.A.

TUCSON, Ariz. -- Acclaimed photographer Dan Budnik, noted for his portraits of artists in New York in the 1960s along with the civil rights movement and Native American culture, has died.

On March 23, in the year of our pandemic clusterfuck, 9 of our 50 United States issued stay at home advisories for residents as their COVID-19 response: Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Ohio, Illinois, Louisiana, California, Washington, and Oregon. Since then, most of the remaining states have followed suit.

A massive explosion that killed more than 200 people in Beirut on Aug. 4 nearly destroyed the offices of Lebanon’s oldest LGBTQ advocacy group.

LOS ANGELES -- Lorenzo Soria, president of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association and former editor of the Italian news weekly L’Espresso, died Friday, the association said. He was 68.

Argonon, the superindie group headquartered in the U.K. and U.S.

Peter White Television EditorArgonon, the British production group behind House Hunters International, is launching a new U.S. division, its first West Coast operation and hiring former Dance Moms producer Lindsay Schwartz.Schwartz, who was most recently SVP, Development at Aslyum Entertainment’s Story Street, joins as Chief Creative Officer for Leopard USA.

Idol franchise, and TikTok announced on Friday (Aug. 7) that they will be partnering up in order to find music's next supergroup.The first-of-its-kind global music collective will be found through an in-app audition process on the popular video-sharing platform.

Tom Pollock, the former chairman of Universal Pictures and the American Film Institute, died Saturday night at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles following a heart attack. He was 77.

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is part of a group that just purchased the XLF, the bankrupt football league based in the USA.

Variety Staff Follow Us on TwitterWarner Music Group (WMG) has named Dr. Maurice Stinnett head of global equity, diversity and inclusion.