Hipgnosis Drama Continues: Blackstone Bids $1.5 Billion for Troubled Music Fund, Topping Concord

Selena Kuznikov Variety received 74 nominations for the SoCal Journalism Awards sponsored by the Los Angeles Press Club during the 2023 calendar year, with nods across magazine and entertainment journalism, video, audio, online content, and social media. Among the nominations announced Thursday were Brent Lang and Chris Willman for entertainment journalist of the year. Additionally, Variety.com was nominated for best traditional news organization website in the online category.

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music Meshell Ndegeocello, Fishbone and others lead the 2024 season of the long-running BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn! Festival lineup. Now in its 46 th year, the festival returns to the Lena Horne Bandshell in Prospect Park beginning on June 8 and wrapping on August 24. It is the longest-running free performing arts festival in New York City.

BTS member RM has enlisted an all-star cast and crew for the upcoming music video of his new single, ‘Come Back to Me’.Today (May 6), BTS’ RM dropped new posters for his next single, ‘Come Back to Me’, which will appear on his upcoming second solo album, ‘Right Place, Wrong Person’. The song and music video drops this Friday (May 10), while the record will be out on May 24 at 1pm KST.According to the posters for ‘Come Back to Me’, the song’s music video will be directed by Lee Sung-jin, best known for his work on the Emmy-winning 2023 Netflix series Beef.

Locals have spoken of their shock after dramatic footage showed a large fire burning at a house in Stockport this afternoon (Sunday). The blaze broke out at a terraced house in Brinnington just after 3pm.

Keane have announced theit Co-op Live show on Sunday is CANCELLED following a week chaos for Manchester's newest arena.

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music In the wee hours of Thursday — 2:35 a.m, ET, to be precise — Universal Music Group and TikTok announced the settlement of their three-month standoff over royalties, AI policies and other issues. The battle was significantly disruptive to the industry but most of all to artists, thousands of whom suddenly found their music muted on the world’s most powerful platform for discovering and promoting music.

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music The months-long standoff between Universal Music Group and TikTok over royalty payments and AI policies is finally over, at least for the time being, with the announcement that the two entities have struck a deal to bring the label’s music back on the platform. As part of the agreement, the companies stated that they will “deliver improved remuneration for UMG’s songwriters and artists, new promotional and engagement opportunities for their recordings and songs and industry-leading protections with respect to generative AI.” UMG’s music will return to the platform imminently, and the companies will collaborate on realizing “new monetization opportunities utilizing TikTok’s growing e-commerce capabilities and will work together on campaigns supporting UMG’s artists across genres and territories globally.” “This new chapter in our relationship with TikTok focuses on the value of music, the primacy of human artistry and the welfare of the creative community,” said Lucian Grainge, chairman and CEO of UMG.

Lily Moayeri While the United States continues to debate how and when hip-hop lyrics can be used in court, dissident Iranian rapper Toomaj Salehi was sentenced to death on April 24 for lyrics that criticized the Islamic Republic’s ruling regime. The sentence, handed down by the ruling Republic Court of the Islamic Republic, overturns a decree from the higher Supreme Court which, according to the New York Times, found issues with the original ruling that sentenced Salehi to six years imprisonment and banned him from making music or singing for two years. The reason given for Salehi’s execution, which the Islamic Republic administers by hanging, is his involvement with Iran’s 2022 protests through his music.

Shakira, Ed Sheeran, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Neil Young and more. The offer put forward by Concord was $1.25 per share (£1).Blackstone has already acquired the rights to songs by Justin Bieber and Justin Timberlake, and this current deal will see more than 65,000 more tracks added to its catalogue.As highlighted by Reuters, Blackstone has also invested in U.S.

Michele Amabile Angermiller Moments after being honored at the American Music Honors of the Bruce Springsteen Archives, John Mellencamp took a moment to talk about its namesake at Monmouth University’s Pollak Theater in West Long Branch on Wednesday night (April 24). “I know you all love him,” he said of Springsteen. “He put down a big footprint — him and [Bob] Dylan, for me.

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music Primary Wave Music has announced a new partnership with veteran singer-songwriter Neil Finn, founding member of Crowded House, longtime member of Split Enz and solo artist. The multi-million-dollar deal sees the company acquiring Finn’s music publishing catalog and writer’s share of public performance for his work with Crowded House as well as his solo material. Included in the deal are the many hits Finn wrote for Crowded House — “Don’t Dream It’s Over,” “Better Be Home Soon,” “Weather With You” and more — as well as his solo material and the songs he wrote as a member of Split Enz, including the 1980 hit “I Got You.” Released in 1986, “Don’t Dream It’s Over” appeared on Crowded House’s eponymous debut album and became the band’s biggest hit, reaching No.

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music The troubled Hipgnosis Songs Fund, whose former CEO Merck Mercuriadis drove up the value of music catalogs with more than $3 billion in acquisitions before overspending and problematic management caused the company to lose more than half of its value, has agreed to a $1.4 billion sales to Nashville-based Concord, the companies announced in the early hours of Thursday. The catalogs involved include assets by Neil Young, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Shakira and others.

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music The music world of the 1960s was filled with fashion icons, from the Beatles to the Ronettes, from Jimi Hendrix to the Supremes, from Motown to Haight-Ashbury. But for some of us, the mid-1960s Rolling Stones were as cool as it gets. The Beatles were in the same lane but, truth be told, the Stones wore it better.

Neil Young has revealed that he has uncovered the “lost verses” from the 1975 song ‘Cortez The Killer’, and that he’s considering playing them during his upcoming tour with Crazy Horse.According to a Rolling Stone report, Neil Young recently hosted a Zoom session with a handful of fans who are subscribed to his official website. During this call, Young revealed that he had recently found “the other verses” from ‘Cortez The Killer’ that were either cut from the song, or lost due to technical difficulties while recording the track.He also teased performing them, though nothing is set in stone just yet: “Just a couple of days ago, I found the other verses.

Pierce Brosnan And Amir El-Masry have signed on to star in the sports drama Giant from AGC Studios about the life of British-Yemeni boxer Prince Naseem “Naz” Hamed and his rags-to-riches ascent to a world championship under the tutelage of his Irish-born boxing trainer Brendan Ingle.

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music Will Smith made a surprise appearance onstage with J Balvin on Sunday night, dressed in his full “Men in Black” suit and sunglasses and performing the title track of the 1997 film. The appearance was brief but memorable, capping a UFO-themed set and concluding with Balvin being dragged off by black-suit-clad dancers as Smith pulled out a “Neuralyzer,” the famous memory-eraser device from the film.

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music On Saturday Grimes lived what is probably the nightmare of every Coachella performer: debilitating equipment malfunctions in front of thousands of fans and possibly millions watching online. While things seemed fine for the first half of her set, things began breaking down during the second.

On the heels of its premiere to critical acclaim at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, the documentary Kneecap on the Irish rap trio of the same name has been slated for release by Sony Pictures Classics in theaters nationwide on August 2, when it will open against Columbia Pictures’ family film Harold and the Purple Crayon.

Selena Kuznikov Get ready for some fun, fun, fun! Disney+ has released the trailer for its “The Beach Boys” documentary, which is set to stream on the platform May 24. The trailer features clips from interviews with original band members, rock and roll historian Josh Kun, music star Janelle Monáe and more. The film is a celebration of the band that encapsulated the California dream in their revolutionary pop music.

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music Along with Nick Drake, Judee Sill is probably the greatest lost singer-songwriter of the 1970s — an artist whose gifts were so great but their demons were apparently greater. While Drake’s legend has taken its rightful place — due largely to a car commercial, of all things — Sill is yet to get her due.