Julian Lennon is selling The Beatles memorabilia as NFTs

John Lennon and Paul McCartney wrote countless songs for both The Beatles and some other artists. But Lennon said he peaked lyrically back in 1969 when he wrote a song for a charity compilation album: No One's Gonna Change Our World. For their contribution to the album - which also included such artists as Lulu, Cilla Black, and Rolf Harris - The Beatles included the song Across the Universe.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorA rare acetate of the Beatles’ 1964 concert at the Hollywood Bowl sold for $23,838 in an auction held by Boston-based firm RR Auction.The disc, one of just three known to exist, features the full 12-song, 29-minute concert, along with stage comments from the group. According to the announcement, the acetate was cut directly from reel-to-reel tape three days after the concert.

Tim Burgess has announced that he’ll be hosting a special 25th anniversary listening party tonight (February 10) for Blur‘s self-titled 1997 album.The Charlatans’ frontman has been hosting listening parties for a multitude of albums on Twitter since the UK went into its first coronavirus lockdown back in early 2020.This afternoon he announced that Blur members Alex James and Dave Rowntree, as well as producer Stephen Street will be joining him and his followers tonight for a listening party to celebrate the band’s fifth album turning 25.‘Blur’ was originally released on February 10, 1997, and featured the singles ‘Beetlebum’, ‘On Your Own’, ‘M.O.R.’, and the iconic anthem ‘Song 2’.

NFT of Paul McCartney‘s handwritten notes for ‘Hey Jude’ has sold for over $76,000 (£56,136).Last month, John Lennon‘s eldest son Julian launched a special range of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) containing digitised pieces of Lennon and Beatles memorabilia from his personal collection.Fans were given the chance to “own a piece of music history” through an online auction that took place on Julien’s Auctions yesterday (February 7).According to Rolling Stone, the six available NFTs sold for a combined $158,720 (£117,236) with McCartney’s personal ‘Hey Jude’ notes coming in as the biggest-seller at $76,800 (£56,727).It was estimated that this individual NFT would fetch between $50,000 to $70,000 (£36,932 and £51,704).The Beatles’ ‘Hey Jude’ arrived as a standalone single in August 1968 ahead of the group releasing their classic ‘White Album’ later that year. The track remains a staple of McCartney’s solo concerts.Elsewhere, an NFT of John Lennon’s Help! cape brought in $12,800 (£9,455) while the NFT of the Afghan coat he wore in the Magical Mystery Tour film sold for $22,400 (£16,545).

Gene Maddaus Senior Media WriterIrving Azoff’s music rights firm has settled its five-year legal battle with the group that represents more 10,000 radio stations, ending a fight that threatened to undermine the 80-year-old arrangement under which artists are paid for commercial airplay.Azoff’s Global Music Rights and the Radio Music License Committee filed a joint stipulation on Monday to dismiss the antitrust lawsuits that they had filed against each other in 2016. The two sides also announced in a press release that a majority of commercial radio stations have agreed to a long-term license with GMR, which allows the settlement to take effect.GMR launched in 2013 as a direct challenge to ASCAP and BMI, the performance rights organizations that control more than 90% of music copyrights.

Caroline Framke Chief TV CriticTwo hours of parading nations later, IOC president Thomas Bach stood on the Beijing Olympics opening ceremony stage and did his best to justify the Olympic ideal in 2022, a year more surreal than most. “Division, conflict, and mistrust are on the rise,” Bach said.

Disney+ in November, but it's back and bigger than ever. Literally.

John Hopewell Chief International CorrespondentHere, Variety talks with Fernando León de Aranoa, director of the Javier Bardem-starring “The Good Boss” (“El Buen Patron”), Spain’s Oscar entry, which is a big box office hit on home turf and has scored more Spanish Academy Goya nominations than any other film in history.What does it mean to you to be shortlisted for the best international feature Oscar?I feel a mix of joy and responsibility. It means following the steps of some of the greatest Spanish filmmakers who have done it before, being among a group of brilliant directors from all over the world and having the opportunity of showing “The Good Boss” to a wider audience.What’s been the most challenging aspect of your campaign thus far?To make our film visible amidst the strong contenders.

Has any Broadway production in recent (or even not so recent) memory arrived with as much emotional baggage – or carried it as lightly – as the visually and sonically ravishing MJ? The Michael Jackson musical, as unlikely as such a prospect might have seemed a year ago, now appears poised to take Manhattan with the same hurricane force that the real Jackson funneled when he moonwalked into television history on Motown 25.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorMegaforce Records co-founder Jon Zazula — who launched the iconic label, which released the first albums from Metallica, Anthrax and many others, with his wife Marsha in 1982 — died Tuesday in Florida, a rep for the label confirms to Variety. He was 69.Marsha passed away of cancer in January of last year.Known as “Jonny Z,” Zazula was the more freewheeling half of the company’s founding duo, known for his raucous laughter and, sometimes, his temper.

NFT scammers.The TV presenter, writer and model seemed to tweet from her official account to her 1.3million followers this afternoon (February 1) with a giveaway on behalf of an NFT community called Azuki.“GIVING AWAY THIS AZUKI NFT ($23,239) To enter – Follow me with [notifications on] – RT & like this – Tag 3 friends,” the post reads.At the time of writing, two additional tweets have been posted from Chung’s account, one reading “Who has my notifications on?” and “Like if active, this is a test”, but it remains unclear whether Chung has regained control of her account.The account later tweeted: “No bs, following everyone who likes and replies.”No bs, following everyone who likes and replies— alexa (@alexa_chung) February 1, 2022Chung’s bio was also changed today, now reading: “simply a degen, marketing expert • DM For Promotions.”Representatives for Chung confirmed she had been hacked after being contacted by Rolling Stone UK – although there has been no word from Chung herself, nor an admission from Azuki.In other NFT news, John Lennon’s eldest son Julian is set to sell a range of non-fungible tokens featuring digitised pieces of Lennon and Beatles memorabilia from his personal collection.

John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr have each inspired generations of music. In turn, Lennon's idol was Elvis Presley, though when they finally met in 1965, he described the encounter as "cr*p," in a classic example of never meeting your heroes. Nirvana's musicians Kurt Cobain, Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic never met any of their Beatles inspirations when the band was still going before 1994, but Grohl has opened up about their impact on the group on several occasions, particularly for himself and Cobain.

Frank Rizzo Passions were never in short supply in Lynn Nottage’s 2003 play “Intimate Apparel,” where loneliness, longing and hope hover in every scene. In the latest, long-in-the-making collaboration between Lincoln Center Theater and the Metropolitan Opera, those passions fly free, revealing the operatic heart of “Intimate Apparel” in a new opera adaptation of this story of a 35-year-old Black seamstress aching for love in 1905 New York.The tight construction of the play, with its spare two-hander scenes and focus on the lives of ordinary and overlooked people, makes it a natural as a stripped-down chamber opera.

Paul McCartney has admitted he gets “very emotional” listening to ‘Dear Friend’ because he wrote it about John Lennon.The song was released in 1971 as part of McCartney’s post-The Beatles project Wings. To celebrate the 50th anniversary reissue of their debut album ‘Wild Life’, a Q&A about the record from 2018 has been shared on PaulMcCartney.com.Speaking about ‘Wild Life and the track ‘Dear Friend’, McCartney revealed that he finds it “very emotional when I listen to it now.

Disney+ in November, but it's back and bigger than ever. Literally.

Macaulay Culkin and Brenda Song are ready to say «I do!»According to multiple reports, the longtime couple is engaged to be married. Song was spotted out on Monday in Beverly Hills rocking a massive diamond ring on her finger.