‘Def Jam Forward’ Posts Report on Its Advocacy Efforts

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorMiley Cyrus has parted ways with longtime manager Adam Leber and joined the team at Crush Management, two sources confirm to Variety.There, she joins a roster that includes fellow female pop luminaries Sia and Lorde as well as such veteran rock acts as Green Day, Weezer and Fall Out Boy, all three of whom are currently on the Hella Mega stadium tour, which was rescheduled from 2020 (although Fall Out Boy had to sit out a handful of dates due to a positive Covid test

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorTaylor Swift started off this August week with a splash, posting her first TikTok. However, she apparently used the moment simply to remind everyone that the vinyl edition of her forthcoming re-recording of her album “Red” is now available for pre-sale, and she’s on on TikTok.“Lots going on at the moment,” she wrote, although she only listed the two things.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorSiriusXM and TikTok launched TikTok Radio (located on channel 4) at noon ET on Friday (August 20), which seems to be a way for people who have satellite radio but can’t figure out TikTok to hear the top songs trending on the wildly popular platform.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorA new lead singer is just about the most dramatic change a band can make — even if a main songwriter or instrumentalist leaves, the voice is usually the clearest link to what came before. Although George Clarke, cofounder and lead vocalist of long-running San Francisco avant-metal act Deafheaven, hasn’t gone anywhere, he’s changed up his style so dramatically for the band’s fifth studio album that it actually sounds like they have a different singer.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorAn attorney for R. Kelly attempted to discredit one of the accusers leveling allegations of sexual abuse against the singer on Thursday, after she’d claimed he had slapped and choked her during what she described as their final sexual encounter more than 10 years ago.Jerhonda Johnson Pace, the first witness testifying for prosecutors in Kelly’s long-delayed racketeering trial in New York, is among multiple women leveling claims of sexual abuse against Kelly.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorFollowing moves by Stevie Nicks, Garth Brooks and others, Nine Inch Nails announced on Thursday that they have cancelled all concert appearances for 2021. The group was scheduled to begin a series of dates in September and November in Cleveland on September 21.“It is with great regret that we are cancelling all NIN appearances for the remainder of the year,” the group said in a statement posted on its social media accounts.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorJust weeks before their first-ever tour without drummer Charlie Watts kicks off, the Rolling Stones have announced the 40th anniversary, expanded deluxe editions of their classic 1981 album, “Tattoo You.” The newly remastered set, out on October 22, and available in a variety of formats, will be accompanied by nine previously unreleased studio tracks from the era and a live concert from 1982; the full tracklists can be found below.The first of these, “Living in the

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorMore than four years after the release of his blockbuster album “-,” Ed Sheeran has announced that his long-awaited fourth full-length album, called “=,” naturally enough, will be out on October 29.“‘=’ (Equals) is a really personal record and one that means a lot to me,” he said in the announcement. “My life changed greatly over the past few years – I got married, became a father, experienced loss, and I reflect on these topics over the course of the album.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorJerhonda Johnson Pace told a federal jury that she began having sex with R. Kelly shortly after she turned 16, as the singer’s racketeering trial got under way in Brooklyn on Wednesday.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorKanye West will hold a third public listening session for his still-unreleased “Donda” album at the 60,000-plus-capacity Soldier Field stadium in his hometown of Chicago on Thursday, August 26 at 10 p.m. ET/ 9 p.m.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorDowntown Music Holdings has announced that its founder and current CEO Justin Kalifowitz will take on a new position as executive chairman, with current COO Andrew Bergman assuming day-to-day responsibilities as the company’s CEO.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorFinding talent early is a key component of being a good agent and being a good A&R person, so it’s surprising that more people don’t do both. Matt Galle is one of the few who does.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorJust days after Jay-Z and Roc Nation took part in a $325 million investment in the Fanatics sports e-commerce platform, the rapper, along with Fanatics onwer and Philadelphia 76ers co-owner Michael Rubin have applied for a New York gaming license to form Fanatics Sportsbook. The news was first reported by TMZ and ESPN and confirmed by Variety.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorIn a major shakeup at the Recording Academy, longtime chief awards officer Bill Freimuth has left the organization, along with VP of communications Lourdes Lopez and chief marketing and innovations officer Lisa Farris, Variety has confirmed. Freimuth had overseen the complex and often controversial nominating and awards process for the Grammy Awards since 2004.Reps for the Recording Academy did not immediately respond to Variety’s requests for comment.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorMadonna, the top-selling female artist of all time, will bring her entire catalog of recorded music under the Warner Music umbrella as part of a career-spanning global partnership announced Monday.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorGrammy-winning singer-songwriter Nanci Griffith died Friday morning in Nashville, a rep for her management company has confirmed to Variety. No caused of death was announced; she was 68.“It was Nanci’s wish that no further formal statement or press release happen for a week following her passing,” Gold Mountain Entertainment said in a statement.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorThe non-profit Executive Leadership Council has launched of a new program called Levels, which endeavors to help junior and mid-level Black employees in the music industry better navigate their careers and climb the ladder in the music business.Sponsored by Spotify, Levels is a four-month comprehensive virtual cohort program designed to accelerate the progress of black music professionals to the executive level.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorYoung veterans are nothing new in the music biz, but it still feels odd that Jade Bird is just 23: Her label, Glassnote, began showcasing her five years ago and she soon followed with an EP and, in 2019, a solid debut album.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorUniversal Music Publishing is disputing wording by Hipgnosis Songs in a statement released Monday announcing Hipgnosis’ acquisition of a song catalog from Christine McVie of Fleetwood Mac, one of the most commercially successful groups of the past 50 years.The disagreement stems from Hipgnosis’ unusually worded announcement, which can be seen as implying that Hipgnosis has acquired the entirety of a 115-song catalog from McVie, although that is not the case.In a

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorLegendary singer Tony Bennett — who celebrated his 95th birthday just last week, performing with Lady Gaga at two-sold out shows at New York’s Radio City Music Hall — has canceled his Fall 2021 tour dates.The tour — consisting of pre-pandemic shows dates had been rescheduled — was slated to begin in September. The affected dates include New York, Maryland and Connecticut as well as Oklahoma and Canada.