Kobalt Music Responds to Sale Rumors With a Long ‘Maybe’

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorDuring her musical performance on “Saturday Night Live” last weekend, Megan Thee Stallion voiced strong opposition to Kentucky attorney general Daniel Cameron’s handling of the Breonna Taylor case.

Dave Grohl with his very own superhero theme.The ingenious little number, aptly titled ‘Rock and Grohl – The EPIC Battle’, comes after the Foo Fighters frontman honoured the 10-year-old by composing her own superhero theme.Sharing her original song to YouTube, Bushell wrote, “Mr Grohl.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorBack in February, Billie Eilish dropped “No Time to Die,” the theme song from the James Bond film of the same name.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorTwitch, the livestreaming and gaming platform owned by Amazon, now offers users a way to avoid avoid copyright takedowns when using music, although it has not yet licensed by major labels.The platform on Wednesday announced the beta launch of Soundtrack by Twitch, a music-streaming service within the platform that includes more than a million songs by independent artists that users can employ in their livestreams, legally and free of charge, with all rights cleared.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorPrimary Wave Music Publishing and Lava Media have announced a new business relationship that sees Primary Wave making an investment in the Lava Media businesses, including the “Lava Music” and “Lava for Good” podcasts, and providing marketing and branding support for the podcasts as well as access to Primary Wave’s roster of artists and writers.In addition, Lava will work closely with Primary Wave on new publishing signings and catalog acquisitions and will

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorLast week, Universal Music Group and its Task Force for Meaningful Change (in partnership with UMG’s °1824 and Diversity & Inclusion teams, Def Jam Forward, Interscope/Geffen/A&M and Republic Record’s Action Committee), launched a series of special programs and discussions in celebration of this year’s Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s Annual Legislative Conference.The events are free and open to the public.

The Teenage Cancer Trust has announced that next month it will make never-before-seen footage from its regular series of fundraising shows at the Royal Albert Hall available to watch via YouTube.Each day from 8-18 Oct highlights from a different show will appear, including along the way performances from Ed Sheeran, Muse, Paul McCartney, Pulp and The Cure.

Ed Sheeran, Teenage Cancer Trust Unseen will be broadcast nightly at www.youtube.com/TCTUnseen until The Cure on October 19. Other performances include Muse, Paul McCartney, Pulp and Them Crooked Vultures.Organised by The Who frontman Roger Daltrey, the week of concerts each March are an annual highlight in London’s gig calendar.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorDetails of the still-unexplained incident on July 12 in which rapper Tory Lanez allegedly shot Megan Thee Stallion in the foot have unspooled gradually over the past few weeks.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorBarely half a day after Tory Lanez refuted Megan Thee Stallion’s allegations that he shot her via the lyrics in his surprise album “Daystar,” Megan’s team fired back with a claim that representatives for Lanez have attempted to stage a “smear campaign” against her in an effort to discredit her claims against him.The incident in question took place in Los Angeles on July 12, when Lanez was arrested for possession of a concealed firearm after being pulled over in a

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorRapper Tory Lanez, who Megan Thee Stallion has accused of shooting her in the foot in an unexplained incident in July, dropped a 17-track album Thursday night in which nearly every song addresses the incident and its fallout, and what Lanez apparently perceives as betrayal from nearly all quarters.The new album, “Daystar,” may forever remain most famous for asking the musical question: “How the f— you get shot in your foot, don’t hit no bones or tendons?”The album

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorWhen you love something — a person, a dessert, a hat, or in this case, an album — you tend to want more of it. Usually, in the case of albums, there are some leftover songs that are not-quite-as-good as the ones that made the cut, and occasionally there are great ones.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorUTA announced that Samantha Kirby Yoh has been named co-head of UTA Music, joining David Zedeck in overseeing the company’s worldwide music operations.“Sam and David see eye-to-eye on how to build a great music business and will be strong partners in leading UTA Music,” said UTA CEO Jeremy Zimmer. “We have long admired Sam’s success working with unique and powerful artists, and we’re thrilled she has chosen to join us.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorC.J. Strock, formerly of William Morris Endeavor, joins Patrick McAuliff and Phil Egenthal, formerly of Paradigm Talent Agency to form Mint Talent Group, the new company announced early Tuesday.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorTomorrow — Tuesday, Sept. 22 — is National Voter Registration Day and the HeadCount non-profit organization is leading a coordinated music industry effort involving hundreds of artists, concert venues, and digital platforms.For starters, more than 300 notable musicians will post messages and photos on their social media wearing “VOTE” masks and a call for followers to register to vote or check their voter registration status.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorLike everyone else, BTS and NPR have been forced to pivot during the pandemic — and for their first performance on NPR’s “Tiny Desk” concert series, the K-pop superstars performed from the record store VINYL & PLASTIC in BTS’s hometown of Seoul.The group drew more than half a million viewers for the premiere of the concert, which saw them tearing through three songs accompanied by a live band, including their current hit single “Dynamite.” The group also performed

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorToots Hibbert, who passed away Friday night at the age of 77, was one of the last surviving founders of reggae music. The influence of his six-decade career is evidenced by the wide variety of artists paying tribute to him in the hours after his death.Ziggy Marley, recording artist and son of reggae titan Bob — who was a friend and contemporary of Hibbert’s — wrote, “The Legendary Toots Hibbert has passed.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorDespite the COVID-19 pandemic, revenues for recorded music actually increased in the U.S. in the first half of 2020, according to the Recording Industry Association of America’s mid-year report.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorHipgnosis Songs has acquired Big Deal Music Group and brought board its senior staff, with Kenny MacPherson becoming CEO of Hipgnosis Songs Group and reporting directly to founder and CEO Merck Mercuriadis. He is joined by Co-Presidents Casey Robison and Jamie Cerreta and Executive Vice President Dave Ayers (New York) as well as Senior Vice President Pete Robinson (Nashville) all of whom have signed new five-year contracts, according to the announcement.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorTriller, the music-video creation app, has named a dozen top female music industry executives to a new advisory board.