Live Nation Posts Robust 2021 and Fourth Quarter Earnings, Despite Omicron and Astroworld

Sasha Urban editor“Life is Beautiful” has announced the lineup for its 2022 music festival. Headliners include Jack Harlow, Lorde, Arctic Monkeys, Gorillaz and Calvin Harris, and additional performers announced include Charli XCX, Rico Nasty, Wet Leg and Alessia Cara.

until Omicron spoiled the party — has finally announced its first round of performers for the rescheduled event airing at 8 p.m. April 3 on CBS.Billie Eilish, BTS and Olivia Rodrigo are among the music superstars that will take the stage at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorRay Alba and Nathan Sheppard have been named senior vice presidents of marketing for Capitol Records, the flagship label of Capitol Music Group, it was announced today by CMG President Arjun Pulijal, to whom the pair reports.  In their new roles, Alba and Sheppard will co-lead the label’s marketing department, overseeing the design and execution of marketing campaigns for the full roster of artists on the label.  Both executives are based at the company’s headquarters within the Capitol Tower in Hollywood.Alba (pictured above, left) comes to Capitol from Epic Records, where he was senior VP of publicity and worked extensively with Future and 21 Savage, among many others. Prior to joining Epic in 2018, he was VP of publicity and head of urban publicity at Interscope Geffen A&M Records from 2015 through 2018.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorMegan Thee Stallion and Dua Lipa are a formidable team, and award-winning video director Dave Meyers plays to their strengths in the clip for the pair’s new tag-team single, “Sweetest Pie.” Working a similar theme to the one from his video for Saweetie and Doja Cat’s “Best Friend” — hapless explorers of a science-fiction world stumble upon female characters with superpowers — this one turns dark quickly, as the explorers decide Megan and Dua are witches, try to burn them at the stake, and then suffer the consequences of their arrogance. Sure, it’s a not-terribly-serious, special-effect-filled music video, but it’s still a satisfying perspective during Women’s History Month.

Jeremy Gilbertson Picture this: you walk beneath a lighted marquee into a vibe-heavy room and blend into a building crowd. Drink in hand, you and your friends exchange stories of the performer’s previous shows and who was first to discover them. The house music seeds the subtle rise in energy as the stage techs ensure the musical mise-en-scene is set.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorThe U.S. recorded-music business continues its upward swing, posting a near-record $15 billion in revenue for 2021, driven by a surge in streaming, solid vinyl and even CD sales, and the inclusion of TikTok music revenue for the first time.In fact, all major formats of music posted growth over the prior year, except digital downloads.

baby’s name — in vain. Stealing a trendy baby name that a friend or family member had previously earmarked for their own kid — a practice known as “name-sniping” — is riling up parents, particularly those who choose unique names for their tots. And while it may seem trivial to outsiders, experts say it’s a serious offense.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorIt’s almost become a model in recent years: If a song’s a hit, the copyright-infringement lawsuits follow, and Dua Lipa was clobbered with two of them in four days last week. Her global hit “Levitating,” which has spent 68 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100, has drawn two lawsuits from songwriters claiming the song infringes on their compositions, according to multiple media reports.The first was filed March 1 by a Florida reggae group called Artikal Sound System, claiming that Lipa’s song lifts from their relatively obscure 2017 track, “Live Your Life.” That complaint includes little specific detail beyond claiming that the two tracks are so similar that it was “highly unlikely that ‘Levitating’ was created independently.” In the second, more-detailed legal complaint, filed on March 4 in New York, songwriters L.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorThe world’s largest music company, Universal Music Group, posted a record $9.4 billion in revenue for 2021, the company announced in its earnings report on Thursday. That marks a 14.4% increase over 2020, although comparisons with the pandemic year are obviously skewed.Recorded music revenues were up 14.3% to around $7.52 billion, while streaming soared nearly 17% to just under $5 billion.

Life Is Beautiful returned last year with headliners Tame Impala, Green Day and Billie Eilish.During the festival, Eilish used her time on stage to debut three tracks from her album ‘Happier Than Ever’ for the first time, and told the crowd it felt like “a dream I’ve had many, many times in the last year… I can’t tell you how excited I am to be with you guys and to see all of your beautiful faces.”You can see NME’s photos from the 2021 festival here.

Billie Eilish’s living situation. In the latest issue of, the 20-year-old “Happier Than Ever” singer opens up about how she still resides in the home she grew up in.“My relationship with my home has not changed, just like with my parents and my brother,” she said. “I think it’s a bit jarring for some people who grew up with me or haven’t seen me in a long time...[they] come over to see us and see that it’s exactly the same.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorAfter what we’ve all been through in the past two years, every concert feels like a miracle, but a Dua Lipa show more than most. On the surface it might be easy to underestimate the heavy emotions associated with her “Future Nostalgia” album, which was famously released on March 27, 2020, just as the horrors of the pandemic were becoming clear: It’s a dance-party album that arrived at seemingly one of the worst possible times in human history for a dance party album, when there were no parties and the only dancing was done on our own.Yet instead of striking a sour note or seeming like a cruel taunt, it was many people’s escape, their comfort food, their crying blanket — a reminder not only of what we couldn’t have, but what we hoped to get back as everyone wondered, without exaggeration, when or if we’d ever be at a concert or on a crowded dancefloor again.

Billie Eilish reflects on how far she’s come in the music industry for V Magazine‘s spring/summer issue.

Billie Eilish, 20, and Seth Meyers, 48, bonded over their love for Daniel Craig, 53, during the singer’s appearance on Late Night Wednesday, February 23. “He’s a DILF,” Billie said about the British actor, which Seth agreed with. The young superstar explained that she was nervous when she met Daniel to sing the Oscar-nominated theme song for the latest James Bond movie, No Time To Die.

Dave Grohl has made his debut appearance on the hugely popular YouTube interview series Hot Ones.The Foo Fighters frontman made the appearance on the First We Feast show, which sees celebrity guests answering questions while eating increasingly hot chicken wings, to promote the band’s new movie Studio 666, which is set to be released tomorrow (February 25).During the interview, which you can watch in full below, Grohl was told that he was one of the “most-requested Hot Ones guests of all-time” and responded by regularly taking shots with host Sean Evans throughout the wide-ranging interview.The former Nirvana drummer spoke highly of Lorde, Thundercat and Billie Eilish‘s respective appearances on Hot Ones, while he also recalled how he was once electrocuted on stage after jumping into a pool mid-performance.Grohl reserved particular praise for Alabama Shakes during his Hot Ones interview, despite recalling how they beat Foo Fighters to the Grammy for Best Rock Performance in 2016.Grohl also spoke about his ambition to one day play live with AC/DC (“the only thing I have left to do in my life is jam with AC/DC”) and was asked about his long-standing fascination with UFOs.“From an early age, I was super-into UFOs,” he explained. “I read this book, Above Top Secret, and in that I saw the term ‘Foo Fighters’.

Toro y Moi has released the third single from his upcoming seventh studio album ‘Mahal’, the playful and funky track ‘The Loop’.The track arrived on streaming platforms on February 22 alongside a video of the chillwave artist and his posse cruising through the streets of San Francisco in GoCars and a customised ‘Mahal’ Jeepney. It also features a cameo appearance by Filipino rapper Eyedress.On the laid-back song, Toro y Moi – real name Chaz Bear – sings about how hard it is to keep up to date in the digital age, musing, “East Coast friends fill me in, I know you get the early scoop / Online trends that border cringe start to feel overused”.Watch the music video for ‘The Loop’ below.Toro y Moi’s upcoming album ‘Mahal’ is set to be released April 29 via Dead Oceans, and the singer has already released two singles and music videos to promote the album in ‘Postman’ and ‘Magazine’, the latter featuring vocals from Salami Rose Joe Louis.“I wanted to make a record that featured more musicians on it than any other record of mine,” Toro y Moi explained in a statement about the follow-up to his 2019 album ‘Outer Peace’.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorDua Lipa, My Chemical Romance, Green Day and Halsey will headline the 2022 Firefly festival, which returns to Delaware’s Woodlands Sept. 22-25.Presale for the festival, which is presented in conjunction with AEG Presents, begins Friday, February 25 at 10 am ET.“After last year’s rapturous return, Firefly 2022 is packed full of everything that makes the festival so special – incredible sets from iconic artists, the best food and beverage offerings within the Delaware Valley, treehouse DJ sets, spirited drag brunches and a joyful pride parade; unique, moments that give Firefly its characteristic sense of fun, flare and community” the announcement reads, and also notes that the festival will be presented in accordance with all applicable Covid-19 mandates, with more information available on its website.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorDua Lipa has parted ways with her longtime management firm, Ben Mawson and Ed Millet’s TaP Management, a source close to the situation has confirmed to Variety. However, the source says that contrary to other reports, the singer is not currently taking meetings with other management companies, although presumably she will at some point in the future.

Karol G is preaching self-love through her new collaboration with Crocs. In honor of her 31st birthday on Monday, which also happened to be Valentine’s Day, the Columbian singer joined forces with the shoe brand for a new collaboration that features two signature silhouettes: the Karol G X Crocs Classic Clog ($70) and the Karol G X Crocs Mega Crush Clog ($110).According to a official press release, the Classic Clog features “a bold rose red color base, decorative barbed wire, heart-shaped Jibbitz, metal heart clips on the heel strap and a safety pin charm.” The Mega Crush Clog is highlighted by “an enhanced rubber tread, updated detailing around the outsole and a platform.”“Today is a reminder to all my fans to celebrate self-love,” Karol G said about the holiday and her collaboration in a statement.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorKeith Richards & the X-Pensive Winos, Mavis Staples, Hozier, Warren Haynes, Melissa Etheridge, Allison Russell and more will headline the sixth annual Love Rocks NYC benefit concert at New York’s Beacon Theatre on March 10.Larkin Poe, Tyler Bryant, David Shaw, Anders Osborne, Celisse, Ivan Neville, Jimmy Vivino, Maggie Rose and Connor Kennedy will also appear on the bill, with Will Lee serving as musical director.The concert is presented by the Steven & Alexandra Cohen Foundation and will benefit God’s Love We Deliver. It is executive produced by fashion designer John Varvatos, NYC real estate broker and prominent concert producer Greg Williamson and concert/events producer Nicole Rechter.