Daddy Yankee, Sony Music Publishing Win Big at ASCAP Latin Music Awards

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorIt would be an understatement to say that Jeffrey Harleston is a busy man. As if being general counsel and executive VP of business and legal affairs for the world’s largest music company, Universal Music Group (UMG), wasn’t enough, he has five or six other major gigs going on simultaneously.For the past year, Harleston, who is keynote speaker at Variety’s Power of Law breakfast this year, has also been interim chairman/CEO of Def Jam Recordings.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorAttorney Joel Katz, former founding chairman of Greenberg Traurig’s entertainment and media practice and a top official at the Recording Academy, has joined Barnes & Thornburg. He will remain based in Atlanta, where he will serve as as senior counsel for the firm’s entertainment, media and sports practice.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorSony Music Publishing announced it has acquired the song catalog of Paul Simon, one of the most successful and influential songwriters of the past 75 years. The milestone deal includes Paul Simon’s classic songs spanning more than six decades, from his time as a member of Simon & Garfunkel, through his extraordinary career as a solo artist – among them, “The Sound of Silence,” “Bridge Over Troubled Water,” “The Boxer,” “Mrs.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorIn an optimistic move toward normalcy, the Recording Academy has announced that the 64 th annual Grammy Awards will take place at the show’s traditional home of the Staples Center on Jan. 31, 2022 — exactly a year after the originally scheduled date of the 2021 awards, which were moved to March 14 due to a spike in coronavirus cases in Southern California.As usual, the show will broadcast live on the CBS television network from 8 – 11:30 p.m.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorBritish rock duo Royal Blood will perform a three-song virtual concert — as avatars — during the 2021 Bloxy Awards, taking place on the online gaming platform Roblox on Saturday. The awards, “Roblox’s celebration of the passion, talent, and creativity of the Roblox community of creators and players,” will take place on Saturday, March 27 at 3 p.m.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorThe Mondo.NYC music and tech conference has announced its 2021 dates and schedule — which is currently a four-day virtual interactive meeting and livestream, although organizers are “hopeful” that conditions will allow at least some elements to take place in person.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorAhead of Twitter’s CEO Jack Dorsey testifying before the House Energy & Commerce Committee this afternoon, the RIAA, the National Music Publishers Association, the American Association of Independent Music, Songwriters of North America and the Music Artists Coalition have jointly penned a letter to committee leadership detailing how Twitter has “failed to meet the basic standards of moderation when it comes to the rampant theft of creative works on its platform,”

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorIn the wake of British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s announcement last month that mass-gatherings can begin a cautious return this summer, the London music festival All Points East has announced more performers for its 2021 edition — scheduled for August 27-30 in Victoria Park — and the country’s largest festival, Glastonbury, is moving ahead with plans for a scaled-down event in September.Joining previously announced All Points East headliners Jamie xx, Kano, and

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorIn observance of Women’s History Month, MIDIA Research and TuneCore/Believe have released a new study on the challenges faced by female creators in today’s music industry.The report, BE THE CHANGE: Women Making Music 2021, collects the views of 401 female creators –artists, songwriters, producers and DJs – from around the world, many of whom are independent artists.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorTriller, the short-form video app, has struck a licensing agreement with the National Music Publishers’ Association, which represents most American music publishers. The deal will see the platform compensating the songwriters and publishers covered by NMPA when their songs are used in videos on the platform.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorThe already-crowded music-catalog-acquisition business just got a formidable new player: Germany-based music company BMG and global investment firm KKR have announced they will join forces to pursue recorded music, music publishing and other music-rights acquisitions.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorThe staff of Secretly Group, one of the largest independent music companies in the U.S., announced plans on Tuesday morning to form a union to address a list of concerns they’re hoping to correct with a union contract, according to an open letter and an article in Rolling Stone.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorStrokes frontman Julian Casablancas has signed a worldwide publishing agreement with Concord Music Publishing, covering his past and future solo works (including his 2013 song with Daft Punk, “Instand Crush”) and various projects including The Voidz. Casablancas won his first Grammy last weekend, for the Strokes’ album “The New Abnormal.”“We are beyond excited that Julian has joined Concord Music Publishing.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorVariety’s cover star Phoebe Bridgers, Run the Jewels and Perfume Genius are among the top nominees for the American Association of Independent Music’s annual Libera Awards, which are presented by Merlin.The awards, which celebrate the independent-music community, will be held virtually for the second consecutive year and will take place on June 17.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorLegendary singer Linda Ronstadt has sold her recorded music assets to Irving Azoff’s new venture, Iconic Artists Group.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorAmid all the headlines that came out of the 2021 Grammy Awards, one that should have been bigger is what a huge night it was for independent labels and artists: For the first time, more than half of the winners were independent artists — i.e.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorLuke Mitzman of 100 Management is partnering with Pulse Management, the companies have announced. Matt McNeal, who has been working as a publishing A&R consultant for parent company Pulse Music Group will also be joining the management team in a dual role for both the publishing and management divisions.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorWhile it was announced during the Grammy Awards on Sunday, the formation of the Recording Academy’s Songwriters and Composers Wing was not done in secret, and the Songwriters of North America, the Black Music Action Coalition, the Music Artists Coalition and the 100 Percenters responded quickly with an open letter to the new organization calling on it to eliminate the Minimum Delivery and Release Commitment (MDRC) requirement in music-publishing deals.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorIt’s really not much of a stretch to expect a previous year’s big Grammy winner to repeat the following year, but Billie Eilish certainly was surprised to win the Best Record category at the ceremony on Sunday night: She started off her acceptance speech by going full Adele 2017, saying that Megan Thee Stallion actually deserved to win the award Billie herself had just won.“This is really embarrassing for me,” Eilish said, taking the stage with her brother and