Music Industry Moves: Lauren Spencer-Smith Partners With Island-Republic Records

Miley Cyrus, 29, has never been shy about putting her body on display — and she certainly did so with a tiny black bikini in Mexico. The Disney alum rocked a black thong two piece with a triangle top and low rise bottom as she sunbathed in Cabo Mexico, with her musician boyfriend Maxx Morando, 23, in these photos. In other images, Maxx could be seen wearing just his boxer underwear as he tanned and strolled around.

Lauren Spencer-Smith has become a breakout star with her new single “Fingers Crossed,” but what fans might not realize is that she’s a former American Idol contestant!

Lucky in love? Elisabeth Moss, Alexis Bledel and more The Handmaid’s Tale actors play fictional characters in a dystopian world in Hulu’s series inspired by Margaret Atwood‘s writing. In real life, their offscreen counterparts have managed to find love through the years.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorUniversal Music Group has announced the launch of Def Jam India, a new label division within India and South Asia dedicated to representing the best hip-hop and rap talent from the region. According to the announcement, Def Jam India “will follow the blueprint of the Def Jam Recordings label.” The first flagship artist signings to join Def Jam India are rappers Dino James and Fotty Seven, who will release singles this month titled “Lost” and “Banjo,” respectively.

Tributes are being paid this morning to SBTV founder and entrepreneur Jamal Edwards, who died yesterday aged just 31. 

J. Kim Murphy Jamal Edwards, a major figure in the British music industry known for founding the music platform SBTV, which helped popularize grime and launch several major musicians, died Sunday. He was 31 years old.Edwards’ death was reported by the BBC on Sunday evening after the publication confirmed with Edwards’ company.

COVID.Downing Street has said that Prime Minister Boris Johnson will reveal details of his “living with COVID” plan on Monday (February 21) – outlining that factors such as vaccination, testing, and anti-viral drugs will be enough to keep people safe, rather than expecting infected people to stay at home.Self-isolation regulations for those who test positive and their close contacts are expected to cease by the end of this week.“COVID will not suddenly disappear, and we need to learn to live with this virus and continue to protect ourselves without restricting our freedoms,” said Johnson. “We’ve built up strong protections against this virus over the past two years through the vaccine rollouts, tests, new treatments and the best scientific understanding of what this virus can do.”He added: “Thanks to our successful vaccination programme and the sheer magnitude of people who have come forward to be jabbed, we are now in a position to set out our plan for living with COVID this week.”Labour’s Shadow Health Secretary told BBC‘s Sunday Morning today (February 20) this was “declaring victory before the war is over”, that ending mandatory self-isolation was “not the right thing to do” and that this was a distraction from the ongoing ‘partygate’ scandal.“At this stage the PM risks muddying the waters,” he said. “We want to see the government publish the scientific advice because at the moment this seems very premature.”“He continued: It seems like Boris Johnson is keen to declare victory before the war is over in the hope he gets some headlines about ‘victory day on COVID’ instead police officers asking questions about actions in Number 10.”Labour Shadow Health Secretary Wes Streeting tells #Raworth that dropping remaining

Heather Rae and Tarek El Moussa are being open about their fertility journey.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorBritish singer-songwriter Emeli Sandé has announced her forthcoming album, “Let’s Say for Instance,” will be released on May 6 via Chrysalis Records.Sandé has enjoyed enormous chart success in her native England, with her debut album, “Our Version of Events,” selling nearly five and a half million copies to date and becoming the biggest-selling album in the U.K. for 2012 (and the second-biggest for 2013).

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorWarner Music Group has announced the launch of its Global Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Institute, following the unveiling of their DEI commitments as part of the company’s first Environmental Social Governance (ESG) report earlier this month. WMG’s first global head of DEI, Dr. Maurice A.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorMotown founder Berry Gordy had a galaxy of star executives helping him build the company into the powerhouse it became, but not many of them shone as brightly as Suzanne de Passe.Joining the company relatively late in its heyday, de Passe moved from her native Harlem to Detroit in 1968 and soon convinced a skeptical Berry to sign a group of kids calling themselves the Jackson 5. She quickly took charge of developing the group into the pop-culture juggernaut they immediately became — their first four singles went to No.

JYP Entertainment has expanded its existing partnership with US-based label Republic Records.According to a report by Billboard, the South Korean company has opted to expand its existing strategic partnership with Republic Records, which is owned by Universal Music Group. The two companies first started the partnership in 2020, where they foucsed on the international expansion of girl group TWICE.JYP Entertainment and Republic Records’ partnership will now extend to include two more of the K-pop giant’s acts – namely Stray Kids and ITZY – in their plan for promotions outside of South Korea.Both groups will also be receiving support from Republic Records’ subsidiary independent label Imperial, which had previously helped to launch and market TWICE’s recent records since the JYP-Republic partnership had launched.“We are beyond delighted to move forward with Republic Records, the most outstanding label in the United States, in developing the major artist roster of the two companies’ hereafter, starting with the successful kickoff TWICE has brought,” JYP Entertainment CEO Jimmy Jeong told Billboard of the expansion.“We have absolute confidence that, together, we will lead the rapidly changing music industry from both in and out, alongside our prominent artists’ creations,” Jeong added.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorMotown Records and Google have announced a partnership in pursuit of elevating women of color within the music industry.The Motown Records Creator Program Supported by Google will find and fund the next outstanding woman content creator, videographer, or creative producer/director and offer an opportunity to collaborate with Motown Records’ executives and its roster of artists, including TianaMajor9. According to the announcement, the initiative is aligned with Motown’s commitment to shattering barriers for talented creatives and is a continuation of Google’s ongoing mission to amplify underrepresented voices in entertainment and ensure diverse, equitable representation in our media landscape.

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.

Audio Up, home to such audio programs as Stephen King’s “Strawberry Spring,” Michael Cohen’s “Mea Culpa” and the just-released Audible exclusive “Maejor Frequency,” is bolstering its executive ranks with the hiring of music supervision trailblazer PJ Bloom and label marketing veteran Christine Kauffman.Bloom (pictured at left) will serve as co-president of music, alongside John Ingrassia. Kauffman has been named executive VP, brand strategy and partnerships.Bloom’s resume includes, most recently, a nearly five-year run at Warner Records, where he served as SVP of film and television music and soundtracks, leading the label’s creative, marketing and licensing efforts in the music for screens space.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorThe CMT Music Awards, which agreed to move their date and venue when the 2022 Grammy Awards announced their relocation to Las Vegas, have unveiled the new date and venue for their inaugural broadcast on CBS: The show will now broadcast live from Nashville’s Municipal Auditorium on Monday, April 11, from 8 p.m – 11 p.m. ET; the West Coast broadcast will be delayed, although the show will also be available to stream live and on demand on Paramount+.“The biggest and best moments in music are coming to CBS this April,” said Jack Sussman, executive vice president, specials, music, live events & alternative programming for CBS.

Manori Ravindran International EditorU.K. Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries opened the virtual Creative Coalition Festival on Tuesday with a rallying speech about the creative industries, but stayed quiet on all matters relating to the future of broadcasters Channel 4 and the BBC.In what appeared to be a pre-recorded segment, Dorries talked up the music sector as examples of the U.K.’s “creative powerhouse,” referencing Coldplay and Adele’s new albums as well as Dua Lipa’s hit song “Levitating.” “It’s our writers and musicians and designers and composers who are the most celebrated around the world today and do the most to sell the U.K.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorPrimary Wave Music has expanded its partnership with long-running British group and Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductees Def Leppard.The deal will see the company acquire an additional stake in the band’s music publishing catalog as well as master royalty income stream.Terms of the deal were not disclosed; many of the band’s biggest hits are included in deal, such as “Pour Some Sugar on Me,” “Rock of Ages” and “Photograph.”The band’s repertoire includes 11 studio albums, which have sold more than 110 million copies globally.The relationship between Primary Wave and Def Leppard began in 2009 with a deal to market and administer the band’s catalog of songs. Over the years the songs have been synced on a number of television shows, including “Cobra Kai,” “Hit the Floor,” “The Simpsons Guy,” “American Horror Story 1984” and more.