How Questlove and Oscars Producer Jesse Collins Are Changing Music at the 2021 Academy Awards

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorJust under a year ago, as protests gripped the U.S.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorThe Weeknd will perform at the Billboard Music Awards on May 23 — which is only fitting since he’s the top finalist this year with nominations in 16 categories, riding the success of his blockbuster “After Hours” album and its smash single “Blinding Lights,” which has crushed multiple streaming and chart records.Over the course of his decade-long career, the Weeknd has racked up a dazzling number of Billboard chart records: He’s had 34 top 40-charting hits on the

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorLongtime Live Nation CFO Kathy Willard is retiring effective June 30, CEO Michael Rapino announced during the company’s earnings call on Thursday. The company is planning for Joe Berchtold, who currently serves as Live Nation’s president, to assume the role of president and CFO.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorHipgnosis Songs has acquired yet another catalog, this one from Andrew Watt, who recently was named 2021 Grammy Producer of the Year for his work with Miley Cyrus, Dua Lipa, Post Malone and Ozzy Osbourne.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorAvant-pop singer MNDR has returned with her first new material since 2019, a single co-produced by Grammy-winning producer Mark Ronson (Lady Gaga, Amy Winehouse) called “Hell to Be You Baby.” The song is the title track from her second full-length album, slated for release on June 18th on WonderSound Records.The official video, directed by MNDR and video producers Glow in the Dirt, features a cameo from singer-songwriter Lawrence Rothman and, according to the

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorA picture paints a thousand words, the old cliché goes, but it’s truly amazing how much publicity photos of musicians can say about a certain year: The clothes, the shoes, the hats, the belt buckles, the scarves — and most of all, the hairstyles (and lack of styles). G.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorSolomon Sounds, ne Solomon Sobande, the former manager of the late rapper and songwriter XXXTentacion, has joined Capitol Records as senior vice president of A&R, reporting to Capitol Music Group (CMG) chairman and CEO Jeff Vaughn. Sounds is tasked with signing and develop artists for the company’s flagship label.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorWhen Variety interviewed the Weeknd over the weekend about the Grammys’ decision to eliminate nomination-review committees (more on that here), we naturally slipped in a question about the new music he recently hinted at in social media posts, which presumably will be the follow-up to his blockbuster 2020 album, “After Hours.” To our surprise, he answered the question — and in characteristic, slightly enigmatic fashion, no less.“If the last record is the after hours

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorThe Weeknd has responded to the rule changes for the Grammy Awards announced by the Recording Academy on Friday — primarily a change that eliminates the “secret” nomination-review committees that played a key role in his being shut out of all nominations for the 2021 awards, despite having one of the biggest albums and the most-streamed single of the year with “After Hours” and “Blinding Lights,” respectively.“The trust has been broken for so long between the Grammy

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorThe Recording Academyannounced today that ithas made significant changes to the Grammy Awards process — including the elimination of nearly all of the controversial “secret” nominating committees that made final decisions about which artists or recordings were nominated in certain categories, including the “Big Four” General field of Album, Song, Record of the Year and Best New Artist.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorGoldman Sachs’ annual “Music in the Air” study is widely recognized in the music industry as an optimistic but authoritative survey of the business — and yet again, it will make Universal Music Group very happy, as it has valued the company at a whopping $53 billion ahead of its IPO, expected this fall.That’s up from the $36 billion posited in last year’s report, and shows the strength of the recorded-music and publishing businesses, which are primary among UMG’s

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorAs more and more concerts go on the books for the fall, Genesis becomes one of the first to announce a major arena tour, announcing rescheduled North American tour dates for their “The Last Domino?” tour, the first time in 14 years the group has played the continent. The tour will see core members Tony Banks, Phil Collins and Mike Rutherford joined by Nic Collins on drums and the band’s long-time lead guitar and bass player Daryl Stuermer.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorRed Bull Records has bulked up its staff with a number of hires and promotions. Nikki Cox will serve as the label’s Chief Marketing Officer, leading the organization’s efforts across marketing, digital, publicity, and streaming.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorThirty six hours or so after he finished his stint as the Academy Awards’ first DJ-as-orchestra, Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson, the show’s musical director, has posted a 144-track playlist including every single song he played during the three-plus-hour-long Oscars ceremony this year.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorSpotify, the world’s top paid music-streaming service; Hybe, the company formerly known as Big Hit that spawned BTS; and Clubhouse, the actual-human-conversation-based social-media platform launched just last spring, have made Time magazine’s annual “100 Most Influential Companies” list.According to the announcement, “To assemble it, Time solicited nominations across sectors including health care, entertainment, transportation, technology and more, from our global

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorWEA, the Label and Artist Services division of Warner Music Group, today announced that Benjamin Blank has been named president of media, a newly created position. In this role, Blank will lead WMG’s new digital advertising and creative content division, unifying WMG’s digital advertising under one unit.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorHasbro announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to sell Entertainment One Music (widely known as eOne Music) for an aggregate price of $385 million in cash.The transaction has been approved by Hasbro and Entertainment One Canada’s board of directors, and is subject to customary closing conditions and receipt of regulatory approvals.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorFrom Public Enemy’s “Fight the Power” drowning out an announcer to Rita Moreno walking on to the theme of “The Electric Company,” the ‘70s childrens’ TV show in which she starred, there was never any question who was behind the ones and twos at the Oscars on Sunday night: Questlove, Roots co-founder and drummer, musical director of both the Oscars and “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon,” director of the forthcoming “Summer of Soul” documentary and a walking

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorIn the latest blockbuster music-catalog deal, Downtown has sold its 145,000 owned and co-published copyrights to an affiliate of the Concord music company.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorAll 2021 Academy Awards nominees for Best Original Song will be performed during the preshow, which begins at 6:30 p.m. ET — not during the main show, which begins 90 minutes later.The pre-show and main ceremony will be broadcast on ABC, as well as available to stream on Hulu Live TV, YouTubeTV, AT&T TV, FuboTV and on ABC.com (with provider authentication).