Music Industry Moves: Jason Flom’s Lava for Good Partners With Stitcher, Brooklyn Made to Promote at United Palace Theatre

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorTwo of Latin music’s biggest young stars, Bad Bunny and Rosalia, teamed up for a steamy duet on their song “La Noche de Anoche,” on “Saturday Night Live” on Feb 20.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorThe gaming platform Twitch, which has had no shortage of music-copyright issues in recent months, cut off the audio for Metallica’s BlizzCon performance Friday due to legal concerns, replacing it with comically inappropriate instrumental folk music.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorIndependent label, distributor and publisher EMPIRE has opened a division in the US to help grow the local scene in West Asia and North Africa and its diaspora. To head up the territory, EMPIRE has hired Suhel Nafar (pictured above) as Vice President of Strategy & Market Development.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorAs part of its mission to invest $100 million in organizations focused on achieving social justice, the Warner Music Group / Blavatnik Family Foundation Social Justice Fund has announced its initial six grant recipients: Black Cultural Archives, Black Futures Lab, Florida Rights Restoration Coalition (FRRC), Howard University, REFORM Alliance and Rhythm & Blues Foundation.The WMG/BFF SJF was established in June 2020 in the wake of the killings of George Floyd,

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorQuavo, one-third of the Atlanta hip-hop trio Migos, will make his feature-film debut alongside Robert DeNiro, John Malkovich and Jack Huston in the forthcoming film “Wash Me in the River,” which is directed by Randall Emmett (“Midnight in the Switchgrass”) and is currently filming in Puerto Rico.According to the announcement, Quavo (real name: Quavious Keyate Marshall) will play the role of Coyote, “a ruthless and heartless drug lord.” The second directorial outing

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorBig Hit Entertainment, the South Korean company that brought BTS to the world, and Universal Music Group today announced an expanded strategic partnership that will see the two companies working together to “increase opportunities for artists through innovation and technology, whilst expanding the global reach of K-pop music and culture around the world,” according the announcement.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorSpotify announced Tuesday that Mona Sutphen will join its board of directors in April, subject to shareholder approval.Sutphen is a private equity advisor and a co-founder/advisor for several technology start-ups, and was a senior White House official during the Obama Administration. She is currently a Senior Advisor at The Vistria Group, a Chicago-based private equity firm, and is a venture advisor and co-founder of several technology start-ups.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorIn celebration of the 20th anniversary of the Stax Music Academy, Concord — which owns the legendary soul label Stax Records — has announced the Concord Stax Scholarships, which will provide full tuition to at least 20 students in each year over the next five school years. According to the announcement, Concord has pledged “a minimum of $1 million through donations from its owners, team members, friends and partners.” With this new funding, the

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorVivendi plans to list 60% of its share of Universal Music Group on the Euronext market in Amsterdam by the end of the year, according to announcements from the companies in the early hours of Saturday.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorIn the wake of accusations of sexism and misogyny against Justin Timberlake regarding his treatment of former girlfriend Britney Spears, and the “wardrobe malfunction” with Janet Jackson at the Super Bowl in 2004, he has apologized to both in an Instagram post.“I’ve seen the messages, tags, comments, and concerns and I want to respond,” he wrote.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorMarisa Lauro-Norris, a 15-year veteran of Def Jam Recordings and its parent company, Universal Music, has been promoted to senior vice president of international marketing, it was announced today by interim chairman/CEO Jeff Harleston.  In her new role, Lauro-Norris will lead all inter­national marketing activities at the Def Jam label.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorLike most art forms, recent music history is filled with artists whose music lots of people just don’t get — whether it’s the Grateful Dead or Tyler, the Creator, whether it’s Insane Clown Posse or Dave Matthews.Well, today Spotify is launching a podcast on that very subject: the awesomely titled “Bandsplain.” The Spotify Original show is hosted by Yasi Salek, who talks to music experts and journalists about cult bands and iconic artists and attempts to get to the

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorSony Music Publishing has rebranded, introducing what it describes as “a new brand identity with a redesigned logo and revitalized mission.”Under the leadership of Jon Platt, chairman & CEO since 2019, the renewal of the Sony Music Publishing name signifies an important step in the company’s evolution and further aligns the business with Sony’s entertainment brands, according to the announcement.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorUniversal and Sony Music, the two largest music companies in the world, have inked licensing agreements with the music streaming and discovery service Audiomack.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorJust days after Triller and Universal Music Group essentially declared war on each other, UMG has unveiled a global agreement with TikTok “that delivers equitable compensation for recording artists and songwriters and significantly expands and enhances the companies’ existing relationship, promoting the development of new innovative experiences,” the announcement reads.Via the agreement, which covers recorded music from artists at UMG’s labels and songwriters with

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorFor a new artist, a debut appearance on “Saturday Night Live” is a career milestone: an iconic show hedging the bet that you’re ready to go to the next level.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorDarcus Beese, president and CEO of Island Records since David Massey’s departure in 2018, will exit the company, a rep for parent company Universal Music Group has confirmed to Variety.“Darcus informed us of his decision to return to the U.K. for personal reasons and to pursue new career opportunities there,” the statement reads.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorThe Los Angeles-based music and technology company Create Music Group has launched a beta version of Create Carbon, a credit card that it says will give music creators the ability to access their royalties as soon as they’re earned, rather waiting to receive them via regular monthly payouts.The company prides itself on showing artists how much money they’re making on a daily basis by pulling millions of different data points from sources like Spotify, Apple Music

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorSony Music Entertainment announced it has entered into a definitive agreement with Kobalt Music Group to acquire Kobalt’s recorded-music operations, including AWAL, and Kobalt Neighboring Rights.AWAL and Neighbouring Rights will become a new division within SME’s suite of independent artist and label services offerings and will be enhanced by the technology and network of SME’s independent music distribution company, The Orchard, according to the announcement.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorThe Coda Collection, a new multi-media company, is launching a channel on Amazon Prime featuring rare concerts and music documentaries, exclusive premieres for films and more. The channel is combined with an editorial destination across Coda’s desktop and mobile sites, providing another perspective on the artists and music featured in the content.