Grammy Chief Harvey Mason Clarifies New AI Rule: ‘We’re Not Giving an Award to a Computer’

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music The Eagles, one of the most successful and longest-running acts in the history of popular music, have announced the first of what they say are their “final” tour dates. After 52 years, more than a thousand concerts and over 150 million albums sold, the group has announced the initial 13 dates of their final farewell tour, beginning on Sept. 7 in New York, with more to be added. According to the announcement, the Eagles — Don Henley, Joe Walsh and Timothy B. Schmit, with Vince Gill and Deacon Frey — will perform “as many shows in each market as their audience demands.” The tour is expected to continue into 2025. 

A barrister has claimed a domestic violence victim who began a relationship with a police officer who met her on duty was not vulnerable. Ben Summers is representing PC Dean Birkhead, a serving GMP officer at a disciplinary hearing.

Diagnosed as dyslexic while still at school, Chris Garland never expected to one day run his own successful business, but that is exactly what he has done - overcoming obstacles so many people with dyslexia face to have a career that he loves.

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music Fifty years ago today, on the stage of London’s Hammersmith Odeon, David Bowie killed Ziggy Stardust. Of course, it was not a conventional murder: Ziggy was Bowie’s creation, a character he’d created, a vessel for his rise to fame behind his blockbuster 1972 album “The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars,” which led to one of the fastest and most meteoric rises to superstardom in pop-culture history and created something of a self-fulfilling paradigm, involving the rise of the titular rock star whose fame went to his head and maybe died, maybe didn’t. After nearly a decade of trying and mostly failing to become famous as himself, Bowie apparently figured it might be easier to do it as someone else — as a “totally credible plastic rock star,” as he would later describe it.

King Charles' decision to turn down the heating at Buckingham Palace has apparently caused panic in the art world as concerns have been raised over the maintenance of the monarch's paintings.

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music Travis Scott and organizers behind the Astroworld Festival will not face criminal charges related to the deaths of 10 people who were suffocated when the crowd rushed the stage during his performance at the festival in October 2021. A grand Jury in Houston made the ruling on Thursday, according to the Houston Chronicle. 50,000 fans attended the show, which led to a surge during Scott’s performance at the festival outside NRG Park.  At a press conference following the concert, Houston fire chief Samuel Peña clarified the timeline. He said that the crowd began surging forward at 9 p.m., as there was panic involving people running for safety. At that point, Scott paused his set several times to ask security to help out fans, and members of the fire department were sent into the dense crowd to rescue the injured.

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music Madonna’s forthcoming “Celebration” tour has been postponed, according to an Instagram post from her manager Guy Oseary. The tour had been scheduled to launch in Vancouver on July 15. “On Saturday, June 24, Madonna developed a serious bacterial infection which led to a several-day stay in the ICU,” he wrote. “Her health is improving, however she is still under medical care. A full recovery is expected. “At this time we will need to pause all commitments, which includes the tour. “We will share more details with you as soon as we have them, including a new start date for the tour and for rescheduled shows.”

Matt Donnelly Senior Film Writer Pearls were clutched all over Hollywood on Monday in the wake of an unlikely press beef – United Talent Agency CEO Jeremy Zimmer and Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex. On a media spree at the Cannes Lions for the past week, Zimmer was asked about the recent meltdown of a $20 million multi-year deal Meghan and husband Prince Harry signed with Spotify in 2020. The pact produced a single series, “Archetypes,” which was not renewed. The termination of the deal was announced June 15. “Turns out Meghan Markle was not a great audio talent, or necessarily any kind of talent,” Zimmer told Semafor at the marketing festival in the South of France. “And, you know, just because you’re famous doesn’t make you great at something.”

A stage musical adaptation of the Fannie Hurst novel Imitation of Life and its film versions is under development at Universal Theatrical Group, with Lynn Nottage writing the book and John Legend handling the music and lyrics. Liesl Tommy is attached to direct.

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music Three hours and 52 minutes is a long time to be doing anything except sleeping — driving, cooking, painting a room — and it’s an excruciatingly long time to spend watching an awards show. But unlike those other activities, spending 3:52 watching a televised awards show (and that total doesn’t even include the hour-long red-carpet pre-show) leaves a person with little sense of accomplishment or rejuvenation. The BET Awards are always unusually long for an awards show that isn’t an Oscars or a Grammys — the network traditionally blocks out three-and-a-half hours on the last Sunday night in June — and most years it delivers with either a stacked talent lineup and/or a series of water-cooler moments. But whether due to the ongoing writers’ strike — which got at least two statements of support from people on the BET stage — or the fact that many artists, including Sunday’s big winners, SZA and Beyonce, are on the road, making up for touring time lost to the pandemic, there was little of either in evidence on Sunday night, in a show that, without naming names, was dominated by mediocre talent, over-long speeches or paid programming of some kind. It’s a safe bet that even the biggest fans of hip-hop and R&B had no idea who was on stage for a large percentage of the time. (The full winners list appears below.)

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music Those who wondered if or when Migos might perform together again after the tragic death of cofounder Takeoff got their answer on Sunday night, in a total surprise performance by surviving group members Quavo and Offset. The show returned from a commercial break with a curtain raised on a darkened stage with two shoadwed figures emerging — who turned out to be Quavo and Offset, standing before an image of the Space Shuttle. As a recording of Takeoff’s verse on the song “Hotel Lobby” began (as recorded by his duo with Quavo, Unc & Phew), it became clear who they were and the crowd erupted. “BET!” the announcer shouted. “Doin’ this for Take!” The image of the Space Shuttle took off and was replaced by an image of Takeoff with his hand reaching skyward, and the pair launched into the group’s biggest hit, “Bad & Boujee.”

Ice Spice arrived at the 2023 BET Awards dressed to impress. The 23-year-old rapper, who has four first-time nominations at this year's awards ceremony, stepped onto the red carpet outside the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles on Sunday sporting a sheer floor-length number that hugged her curves with her signature red mane.It's a special time for the breakout star, who released her debut EP  in January. On Friday, «Barbie World,» her second collaboration with one of her major influences, Nicki Minaj, was released as a single off of the upcoming soundtrack for Margot Robbie's highly anticipated summer comedy, .

Ice Spice arrived at the 2023 BET Awards dressed to impress. The 23-year-old rapper, who has four first-time nominations at this year's awards ceremony, stepped onto the red carpet outside the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles on Sunday sporting a sheer floor-length number that hugged her curves with her signature red mane.It's a special time for the breakout star, who released her debut EP  in January. On Friday, «Barbie World,» her second collaboration with one of her major influences, Nicki Minaj, was released as a single off of the upcoming soundtrack for Margot Robbie's highly anticipated summer comedy, .

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Sara Bareilles has announced a special initiative to help save Rockwood Music Hall, the long-running independent New York City music venue, which is in danger of closing. The #PreserveRockwood benefit concert series will launch on June 30 with Bareilles and will be an opportunity to see artists perform in the venue’s intimate setting while helping to keep it alive. 100% of the proceeds from the shows will be donated to Rockwood to help continue a space for independent and emerging artists to perform. Other artists initially joining the series include Chris Thile and Michael Daves (July 1), Amy Helm (July 6), Isabel Hagen (July 10), Ingrid Michaelson (July 20), Elle King (July 31) and The Lone Bellow (August 10), and more.

A Labour peer has taken a novel approach to draw attention to the growing presence of artificial intelligence (AI) in our daily lives. Lord Knight of Weymouth delivered a speech in the House of Lords entirely composed by AI, demonstrating how this technology is "infiltrating everyday life."

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music Unless you’ve got a “Succession”-sized story of ludicrous wealth combined with horrible behavior, it can be very challenging for a documentarian to make the life of an executive seem exciting — even one as colorful as that of Ron Delsener, one of the greatest concert promoters of all time… which is what makes “Ron Delsener Presents,” a documentary on that colorful life, all the more impressive. While the 90-odd-minute doc is a bit overlong and based largely on wealthy old music-biz veterans telling war stories from their rough-and-tumble years, director Jake Sumner uses deep research, fascinating concert and other archival footage, animation and snappy editing to create a very entertaining, if slightly smoothed-over, film that doubles as a sort of mini-history of the American concert business.

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music Highly touted British rapper Central Cee has signed a joint venture agreement with Columbia Records in partnership with Sony Music U.K., Variety has confirmed. Known to fans as “Cench,” the rapper became the first-ever British male rapper to be included in XXL magazine’s influential annual “Freshman Class” list, which was unveiled on Wednesday. Central Cee will also perform at this week’s 2023 Glastonbury festival, the largest festival in the U.K. The deal was led by Columbia executive vice president Bu Thiam with Central Cee’s manager, Bello. The fiercely independent rapper was the object of a heated bidding war in recent weeks; while terms of the Columbia deal were not announced, the joint venture suggests that he is likely to retain ownership of his recordings, as he has to date.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter Zenia Mucha, who spent two decades as Disney’s top spokesperson before leaving the company in 2021, has been hired at TikTok. She’ll serve in the newly formed role of chief brand and communications officer and will be responsible for TikTok’s global marketing and communications strategies. Mucha’s hiring is part of a larger shakeup at TikTok. Vanessa Pappas is stepping down as the company’s chief operating officer and Adam Presser, the current chief of staff, has been promoted to head of operations. “Given all the successes reached at TikTok, I finally feel the time is right to move on and refocus on my entrepreneurial passions,” Pappas said in a note to staff.  “I know the company has a very bright and stable future under the strong leadership of Shou Chew and our executive team, I will be here to support him, the leadership team and all of you during this transition by taking on an advisory role for the company.”

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music Paul McCartney has somewhat belatedly responded to the hysterical speculation that followed his announcement earlier this month that a “new” Beatles song has been created from a late ‘70s John Lennon demo recording with the assistance of AI. “Been great to see such an exciting response to our forthcoming Beatles project,” he wrote on social media. “No one is more excited than us to be sharing something with you later in the year. “We’ve seen some confusion and speculation about it,” he continued. “Seems to be a lot of guess work out there. Can’t say too much at this stage but to be clear, nothing has been artificially or synthetically created. It’s all real and we all play on it. We cleaned up some existing recordings – a process which has gone on for years.

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music BMG has acquired a “substantial stake” in the work of legendary songwriter and two-time Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee Paul Simon, the company announced Thursday. The acquisition includes his royalty income in Simon & Garfunkel recordings as well as his neighboring rights income; Simon sold his publishing catalog to Sony Music Publishing in 2021. According the the announcement, the deal includes such songs as ‘The Sound Of Silence’, ‘The Boxer’, ‘Mrs Robinson’ and ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water.” Paul Simon was represented in the transaction by Gene Salomon and Don Passman at Gang, Tyre, Ramer, Brown & Passman.