Def Jam Strikes Joint Venture with Nigeria-Based Native Records (EXCLUSIVE)

Jem Aswad Senior Music Editor Primary Wave Music has acquired a major stake in Joey Ramone’s music-publishing assets for around $10 million, according to people close to the transaction. Terms of the deal include non-exclusive rights to license Joey Ramone’s name and likeness, as well as income for songs across the band’s repertoire of music; the news was first reported by the Wall Street Journal. While the music-catalog market has been booming for the past several years, with blockbuster deals for catalogs by Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen (both for around $600 million), Neil Young, Stevie Nicks, James Brown (all around the low nine figures) and more, this is possibly the first such deal for a punk-era artist, and could open up a new field of opportunity in a rapidly narrowing market.

Jem Aswad Senior Music Editor Primary Wave Music, a top player in the music-catalog and publishing boom, has joined forces with Brookfield Asset Management in a $2 billion deal to invest in music copyrights, the companies confirmed. The news was first reported by the Wall Street Journal. Brookfield, which is new the space, will take a significant minority interest in Primary Wave, and commit $1.7 billion to fund a permanent capital vehicle focused on acquiring music rights from top acts. Primary Wave Music is primarily a music publisher but has become a leader in the catalog-acquisition business with its ability to market those catalogs biographical films, Broadway shows, song interpolations and brand deals. Its assets include interests in the catalogs of Whitney Houston, James Brown, half of the Prince estate, Fleetwood Mac’s Stevie Nicks and more.

Jim Edmonds is hitting back at at ex-wife Meghan King.

Interior Secretary Deb Haaland announced an expansion Wednesday of a National Park Service historical site dedicated to the massacre by U.S. troops of more than 200 Native Americans in what is now southeastern Colorado. Haaland, the first Native American to lead a U.S.

Thania Garcia Influence Media Partners has acquired Blake Shelton’s catalog of master recordings, which comprises all of his commercial releases from 2001 to 2019. In the announcement, the company described the joint venture as a “groundbreaking deal” put in place “to amplify his works and entitling Blake to participate in a share of the profit generated.” Warner Music Group will continue to oversee distribution for the country singer’s catalog; further terms were not disclosed. Shelton said, “I can’t believe it’s been 20 years since my first album and single. Sometimes I still feel like the kid from Oklahoma I was back then! While a lot has changed during that time, my passion for music hasn’t. I’m excited to be working with Lylette, Rene and the team at Influence Media on so much of my catalog and to introduce my songs to the next generation of country fans.”

Kevin Beggs is sticking around Lionsgate.

marriage issues got turned up another level on Sunday's episode of, when Angela's infamous temper got the best of her yet again. Angela made a surprise visit to Michael in Nigeria because she suspected he's been scamming her — even though they've been together for years — and it not surprisingly descended into chaos.Angela has been upset over Michael's behavior this season as she waits for his visa to come to Georgia to be approved, notably, she doesn't want him to have an Instagram account yet he refuses to shut it down.

Manori Ravindran International Editor Morgan Freeman and his producing partner Lori McCreary are set to produce “War Is Coming,” a short film from Nigerian filmmaking collective The Critics Company. Freeman and McCreary are producing through their Revelations Entertainment production banner. “War Is Coming” follows the story of Óla, a brash teenager who discovers he is the reincarnation of a demigod, and spirals into his destiny, unprepared for the events that come as a result of this discovery. The film will debut at the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art’s +234 Connect Festival: A Celebration of Nigerian Creativity. It will also be released simultaneously via The Critics Company’s popular YouTube channel.

Kate Aurthur editor The cold open of the Sept. 28 Season 3 premiere of “The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City” featured at the bottom of this post harks back to a more innocent time for the Bravo cast members — before it then reveals how their lives and friendships have exploded during the show’s run. The scene begins in December 2019 with the first confessionals the women filmed for the show’s freshman season, as they introduce themselves, and present their relationships to other cast members. Jen Shah — who in July of this year pleaded guilty to criminal fraud charges, and will be sentenced (likely to prison) in November — attempts to explain her job, which she calls “direct response marketing.” As the audience now knows, Shah was in fact — as she’s now admitted — a high-up figure in a telemarketing scheme that defrauded tons of (often elderly) people. She was arrested during the filming of Season 2, practically on camera. And as Shah protested her innocence, the second season made much hay of her legal issues.

Jem Aswad Senior Music Editor Columbia Records has entered into a joint venture with former Capitol Records chairman-CEO Jeff Vaughn to launch Signal Records, the company announced Wednesday. The Los Angeles-based imprint will operate as a new label with Columbia Records of Sony Music Entertainment and begin operations immediately, with an artist roster to be announced in the coming weeks. As founder and CEO, Vaughn will lead the company’s creative direction and business development while utilizing Columbia’s marketing, promotion, and label services. Ron Perry, Chairman & CEO of Columbia Records, said, “I’ve admired Jeff’s work from afar for a while. He has incredible musical instincts, an infectious work ethic, and great passion. I’m looking forward to working together on this new chapter.”

Jim Post, who with then-wife Cathy under the band name Friend & Lover scored a Top 10 hit in 1968 with the enduring hippie anthem “Reach Out of the Darkness,” died of congestive heart failure Sept. 14 in Dubuque, Iowa. He was 82.

EXCLUSIVE: Universal Pictures has acquired the action-comedy Regulators, starring Nicky Jam, who is also producing via music label La Industria, Inc.

 has found its Fiyero! Director Jon M. Chu confirmed on Twitter that star Jonathan Bailey has been cast in the role for the upcoming films. «He’s perfect, they’re perfect. They’d be perfect together.

EXCLUSIVE: Video Solutions, the European media house behind the WeDoTV brand, has entered into a joint venture with international non-scripted studio Big Media to launch FAST (Free Ad-Supported Television) channels globally.

Thania Garcia Camila Cabello has parted ways with Epic Records and signed to Interscope, Variety has learned. The pop singer had released three studio albums in four years with the Sony Music label, most recently dropping “Familia” in April. Her first two releases, 2018’s “Camila” and 2019’s “Romance,” were both certified platinum by the RIAA, marking sales of over 1 million units in the U.S. At Interscope, which is owned by Universal Music Group, the 25-year-old Cabello joins a roster that includes Lady Gaga, Blackpink, Billie Eilish, Olivia Rodrigo, Selena Gomez and many more. Epic has been Cabello’s home since she first arrived at the label in 2013 via its partnership with Simon Cowell’s Syco Music. That same year she and former girl group Fifth Harmony released their debut “Better Together” EP, riding the high from their third place finish on the U.S. edition of “The X-Factor.” In 2017, Cabello announced her departure from the girl group but remained with Epic Records for her first solo and self-titled debut album.

EXCLUSIVE: Jen Rudin has joined APA where she will launch and head up the agency’s Animation and Voice Over department. Rudin is the 12th former ICM agent/executive brought in by APA over the past year — more than all other agencies combined — as the agency has been aggressively pursing ICM staffers made available by the CAA acquisition. Most of the hires have been at a senior level, including several department heads. Backed by a major investment from Ron Burkle’s Yucaipa Companies two years ago, APA has been in an expansion mode, going on a hiring spree as it is looking to bulk up and move up the agency pecking order, which was disturbed by the CAA-ICM merger.

Jem Aswad Senior Music Editor Rina Sawayama is one of a handful of artists who released an album just as the pandemic was beginning and watched, astonished, as their stars rose during lockdown. The Japanese-British singer’s debut, “Sawayama,” was a wild fusion of Lady Gaga with nu-metal guitars, but also showed a penchant for sentimental ballads amid the power chords and intensity. The album won a co-sign from none other than Elton John, and its videos got her cast in the fourth installment of Keanu Reeves’ “John Wick” series, due in March. In fact, Elton was one of many people who spoke out against Sawayama’s exclusion from eligibility for England’s BRIT and Mercury awards because she isn’t a U.K. citizen, even though she’s lived in England since the age of 5. After #SawayamaIsBritish became a trending topic on Twitter, the British Phonographic Industry changed the eligibility rules to include anyone who lived in the country for at least five years, including her.

Written and directed by Kugali co-founder Ziki Nelson, “Iwaju” is set in a futuristic version of Lagos, Nigeria and follows two kids, Tola and Kole, who grow up on opposite sides of a city sharply divided by the haves and have-nots. Their friendship is tested by Bode, a tech pioneer whose futuristic advances hide a criminal underworld he runs with an iron fist.

Selome Hailu Yvonne Orji has set a new comedy special at HBO, Variety has learned exclusively. “Yvonne Orji: A Whole Me” will premiere Oct. 1 at 10 p.m. on HBO before streaming on HBO Max. Written and performed by Orji and shot in downtown Los Angeles, the special focuses on her evolving thoughts on friendship, dating, adulting and why guys need better friends — all of which she discusses in therapy. With a mix of stand-up and scripted vignettes, she offers her point of view on issues such as the pandemic and estate planning, as well as being the child of Nigerian immigrants and the brutal realities of dating. This is Orji’s second stand-up special at HBO, following up on 2020’s “Mama, I Made It!” She is best known for playing Molly in HBO’s “Insecure,” which earned her an Emmy nomination in 2020. She hosted Amazon Prime Video’s year-in-review comedy special “Yearly Departed” in 2021 and HBO Max’s reality dating series “My Mom, Your Dad” in 2022. Other credits include episodes of “Jane the Virgin,” “A Black Lady Sketch Show” and ABC’s reboot of “The Wonder Years” as well as the films “Night School,” “Spontaneous” and “Vacation Friends.” Up next, she is developing the semi-autobiographical comedy series “First Gen” at Disney Plus, with Oprah Winfrey and David Oyelowo executive producing.

Jem Aswad Senior Music Editor For all the uproar it caused 45 years ago, for all the controversy and outrage, it’s hard in retrospect not to see the Sex Pistols’ world-changing single “God Save the Queen” for what it was: Rebellious young people with a Svengali-like manager trying to be shocking (and succeeding). Deliberately released the week before the Silver Jubilee, a major national celebration observing her 25 years as on the throne, the song was just a loud raspberry (and, not incidentally, a stone-cold rock and roll classic). They didn’t really believe the Queen wasn’t a human being or led a fascist regime, whatever issues they might have had with the concept of royalty. And while the group’s singer and lyricist, John Lydon a.k.a. Rotten, certainly had issues with the institution of monarchy (and has had other issues in recent years, leaning conservative and voicing support for both Donald Trump and Brexit), he said in a commentary this past June that he never had one with the Queen or the royal family.