Bruce Springsteen Negotiating to Sell Album Catalog, Publishing to Sony Music

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorApple Music has released an expanded, exclusive holiday collection with its second annual “Carols Covered” playlist, available in Spatial Audio.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorWarner Music announced early Wednesday morning that its acquisition group has raised $535 million in a secured senior notes deal.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorFive years after the release of the second chapter of his “BlackSummers’Night” trilogy, three-time Grammy-winning R&B singer-songwriter Maxwell has finally revealed plans to release the final installment, “blacksummers’NIGHT,” in the spring — and he’s leading with a new song, “Off,” and the announcement of a long tour, kicking off in TK, that will see fellow R&B vets Anthony Hamilton and Joe opening.The new single is another classic slice of Maxwell-flavored R&B, a

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorAs expected, veteran agent Scott Clayton, who left his role as co-head of music at WME late last month, has joined UTA as co-head of its global music division and as a partner, the company announced Monday.Clayton and current UTA Global Music Co-Heads Sam Kirby Yoh and David Zedeck will together “create a powerhouse leadership trio spanning UTA’s New York, Los Angeles, and Nashville music hubs and further solidify the agency’s reach across all music genres,”

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorSnap has struck a licensing deal with Sony Music Entertainment — which means the music of all three major labels/ publishers and many indies is now available on the platform (which prefers to be called a camera company, not a social media network).

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorFor the uninitiated, Idles are a monumentally powerful British hard rock band whose music is loaded with punk and hardcore influences, although it’s not accurate to label them as either.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorIt might have a core of ultra-rich high-calorie cheese, but the throwback song is a very specific and carefully calibrated art form.It must evoke and transcend the era it’s reviving in an affectionate or hilarious fashion (or both); it has to be a great song as well as a nostalgia trip for those who remember, and a vicarious saunter through a previous decade for those who don’t.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorDru Bass has joined William Morris Endeavor as a music crossover agent in hip hop and R&B, it was announced today by Kirk Sommer and Lucy Dickins, co-heads, worldwide music, WME. Bass joins the agency from UTA, where he represented such artists as Young Thug, Tierra Whack, Issa Rae’s music company RAEDIO, Emmy-nominated composer Amanda Jones, Harvey Mason Jr., Princess Nokia, Burna Boy, Lil Wayne, Michelle Williams, and Lauryn Hill.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorAnticipating a long-awaited yet unexpected reunion is one of life’s more conflicted experiences. Will your old friend look good or awful? Will they be stuck in the past, or a 2.0 or 3.0 version of the person you remember? Most of all, will they still be themselves?It’s both corny and perfectly fitting to frame ABBA’s first album in nearly 40 years as a reunion with an old friend.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorA murderer’s row of top hip-hop producers including DJ Premier, Swizz Beatz, Mustard, The-Dream, Mike Will Made It, No I.D, Hit-Boy, Take A Daytrip and Tainy will release EPs via Mass Appeal’s “Hip Hop 50 the Soundtrack,” as part of the company’s #HipHop50 campaign in celebration of the genre’s 50th year.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorGrammy Award-winning singer and songwriter Lionel Richie has signed an exclusive, global publishing agreement with Universal Music Publishing Group, the company has announced. The deal includes songs written throughout Richie’s solo career, including smashes like “Hello,” “Lady,” “Dancing on the Ceiling,” “All Night Long,” “Say You, Say Me” and many others; he also co-wrote the charity single “We Are the World” with Michael Jackson in 1985.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorThere’s little question that the past 20 months of the pandemic have been devastating. But for all that has been lost, musicians and the industry around them have found countless innovative and inspiring ways to survive, cope, adapt and even thrive.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorLos Angeles-based jazz saxophonist Terrace Martin, who first rose to prominence with his work on Kendrick Lamar’s 2015 album “To Pimp a Butterfly,” will release a new concept album titles “Drones” on Nov. 5 — this Friday.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorCardi B will host the American Music Awards, which will air live from the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles on Sunday, Nov. 21, at 8 p.m.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorFour-time Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Sam Smith has signed an exclusive worldwide publishing agreement with Tim & Danny Music and Warner Chappell Music through a new joint venture, covering all future works.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorOlivia Rodrigo and the Weeknd lead the nominees for the American Music Awards with seven and six nods respectively, show producers MRC Live & Alternative and ABC today this morning. Bad Bunny, Doja Cat and Giveon are close behind with five.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorIn the decades after ABBA — one of the most popular and influential groups in the history of the world — announced their breakup in 1983, journalists grew so tired of receiving the same skeptical answers about the group reuniting that they largely stopped asking.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorIn its first post-IPO earnings report, Universal Music Group posted 17.4% year-over-year revenue growth in the third quarter of 2021, with recorded music subscription and streaming revenue up 15.2% and adjusted EBITDA up 20.7%.Lucian Grainge, UMG’s Chairman and CEO, said, “Our operational and financial performance this quarter – our first as an independent, publicly traded company – demonstrates both why UMG is the world’s most successful music company, as well as

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorIn an understated, very Swedish way, ABBA co-founder and CISAC president Bjorn Ulvaeus is apoplectic.We’re talking about the soaring value of song catalogs — a boom that has seen Bob Dylan sell his catalog for nearly $400 million, and Hipgnosis Songs spending more than $2 billion on acquisitions in just over three years, with another billion-plus on tap.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorGlobal royalties collections for music creators dropped 10.7% during 2020 due to the pandemic, declining by nearly €1 billion (approximately $1.16 billion) to a pre-2017 level of €8.12 billion (approximately $9.3 billion), according to the 2020 Global Collections Report published Wednesday by CISAC, the International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers.The collections were a setback after years of consecutive growth — including an 8% boost in 2019 to