Music Industry Moves: Vinyl Me, Please to Open Audiophile-Grade Pressing Plant; Sky Ferreira Inks With Third Side Publishing

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorLike virtually every major rock act in the mid-1970s, the Rolling Stones had become bloated and overblown. After the generation-defining singles of the ‘60s and the stellar string of albums running from “Beggars Banquet” to “Exile on Main Street,” they’d eked out three comparatively uninspired sets that, due to Keith Richards’ formidable heroin addiction and its multiple accompanying legal problems, found Mick Jagger seeking musical foils in guitarist Mick Taylor and then guest keyboardist Billy Preston.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorKendrick Lamar’s fifth solo album, “Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers,” finally arrived on Thursday night — his first full-length in five years.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorBob Dylan’s share of the Traveling Wilburys has been acquired by Primary Wave Music — an asset that most people probably did not realize was not included in the Nobel Prize-winning artist’s nine-figure deals with Universal Music Publishing and Sony Music.Dylan’s master royalties and neighboring rights royalties for both of the group’s albums, as well as a 2007 box set, are included in the deal. Terms were not disclosed.The Wilburys were a supergroup comprised of Dylan, George Harrison, Tom Petty, Jeff Lynne and Roy Orbison, and released two albums filled with lighthearted, not-too-serious songs in contrast to their usually weighty work.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorRed Hot Chili Peppers, P!nk, the Chicks, Kacey Musgraves, SZA, Flume, Paramore, and Lil Nas X are the headliners for the 2022 Austin City Limits Music Festival, along with performances from Phoenix (weekend two only), PinkPanthress, Wet Leg (weekend two only), Diplo, Zhu, Lil Durk (weekend one only), Billy Strings, James Blake (weekend one only), Jazmine Sullivan, the War on Drugs, Spoon, Sabrina Claudio and many more. The nine-stage, two-weekend event will take place October 7-9 and October 14-16, 2022, at Zilker Park in Austin.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorSean “Diddy” Combs has announced the launch of a new R&B label called Love Records via a deal with Motown Records. According to the announcement, the new label “will be dedicated to R&B music and will release singles and collaborative projects from a collective of world-class artists, producers and songwriters.” Also according to the announcement, today’s news marks Combs’ official return to music.An album by Diddy himself will be Love Records’ first project, set to be released this summer.“Music has always been my first love, Love Records is the next chapter is about getting back to the love and making the best music of my life,” said Combs (pictured above, left). “For the label I’m focused on creating timeless R&B music with the next generation of artists and producers.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorRepublic Records has announced the promotion of Chris Blackwell to EVP of A&R and Content Strategy, as announced today by label president Wendy Goldstein.According to the announcement, in this new role, Blackwell will continue to shepherd the creation and development of content for the entire Republic Records roster. Additionally, he will work with new artists to identify and maximize content opportunities at the onset of their careers. Blackwell played a major role in Coi Leray’s rise by producing her viral “Cooking With Coi Leray,” and also collaborated with Ka$hdami, Lil Wayne, Benee and Kash Doll on upcoming programming.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorUniversal Music’s share of Todd Moscowitz’s Alamo Records was acquired by Sony Music Entertainment for around $125 million, with a total purchase of between $188 million and $225 million, according to Universal’s recent earnings report and an educated estimate by Music Business Worldwide published Thursday.The company, which was founded as a joint venture with Universal Music Group by the former 300, Warner Music and Def Jam exec in 2016, has been on a hot streak in recent years with Blackbear, Lil Durk and Rod Wave. Sources told Variety at the time that there was a buy/sell negotiation in the months leading up and UMG opted to walk away.While some sources at the time of the June 2021 deal put the sale price at $250 million, MBW spied an item in Universal Music Group‘s recently-issued annual fiscal report stating that Sony Music paid €102 million (around $123 million, which MBW rounded up to $125 million) to buy UMG’s interest in Alamo, which was presumably 50%, with Moscowitz owning the other half.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorLos Angeles-based Saudi-Arabian/American singer-rapper-producer $kinny has released his new album, “Have a Nice Trip,” which was executive produced by Swizz Beatz, on Universal Arabic Music.The album features his new single “Salam” with Swizz Beatz and French Montana, the video for which also dropped today (pictured above at the video shoot, L-R, are Swizz, UAM CEO Wassim “Sal” Slaiby, $kinny and Montana).$kinny grew up in Los Angeles as the child of an American mom and Saudi-Arabian dad, and his music is germane to both cultures. Swizz Beatz has been spending a lot of time in the Middle East in recent years, and the match was easy.“It’s crazy, Swizz and I made ‘Salam’ the day we met,” $kinny tells Variety.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorR&B star and former Fifth Harmony member Normani has inked a global publishing deal with Hipgnosis Songs Group — but the most eye-grabbing news in the announcement comes toward the end: “Normani has confirmed new music and a larger body of work is on the way.”Fans have been impatiently awaiting new material from the singer for years, and the announcement of a publishing deal often means (although does not guarantee) that its release is relatively imminent. She was named Collaborator of the Year at Variety‘s Hitmakers event in December.The deal includes all of the future works by Normani, a six-time BMI Award winning songwriter.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorMadonna recently became the first artist to top Billboard’s Dance Club Songs chart for the 50th time, making her the first and only recording artist to have 50 No. 1 hits on any single Billboard chart.She is commemorating the event in characteristically outsized fashion with two new compilations: “Finally Enough Love: 50 Number Ones,” a new 50-track collection that includes her favorite remixes of her dance hits, and an abridged 16-track version, simply titled “Finally Enough Love.” The full tracklists appear below.The collections mark the first album releases to be part of the newly announced partnership between Madonna and Warner Music Group, which will feature an extensive series of catalog releases across her career.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorSwedish pop innovator Tove Lo returns with a new song and video called “No One Dies From Love,” released on her own, newly launched Pretty Swede label through mtheory. The song was co-written with longtime collaborator Ludvig Söderberg.“When you’re with someone for a long time and it ends all of all sudden, it’s like a part of you has died,” Lo says of the song.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorWhile year-over-year growth in the wake of a global pandemic is an unprecedented metric for the music industry, Universal Music Group posted a robust first quarter for 2022, with revenue up 21.6% (16.5% in constant currency) to €2.199 billion ($2.31 billion). Many of these boosts are at least partially a result of the gradual reopening of the world’s economy after the lockdown of the pandemic.Music publishing revenue was up 32.5%, recorded-music revenue up 11.3% and merchandising and other revenue up a whopping 69.8% year-over-year in constant currency.The company’s adjusted EBITDA increased 14.0% year-over-year in constant currency.Recorded Music revenues for the first quarter of 2022 were €1,721 million, up 16.0% compared to the fourth quarter of 2021, or 11.3% in constant currency.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorGrammy-nominated Colombian music luminaries stars Bomba Estéreo have announced the most extensive headline tour of their career, with 33 dates across North America, Europe and Mexico. Tickets are on sale Friday.The duo recently released the official music video for their single “Tierra.” The video stars Bomba singer Liliana Saumet and Lukas Avendaño, a nonbinary Zapotec indigenous performance artist, and was directed by Fana Adjani.The song is from Bomba’s recent Grammy-nominated album, “Deja.”  “This album has a very special aura,” Bomba’s founder Simon Mejia Simon says.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorEarly 21 st century New York rockers the Yeah Yeah Yeahs — singer Karen O, guitarist Nick Zinner and drummer Jay Chase — have announced new music and tour dates in the summer and fall. The group, which recently signed with indie powerhouse Secretly Canadian, say they will have new music in the fall.The group will play a brace of dates in Europe and Australia in the summer before hitting North America, with dates at New York’s Forest Hills Stadium and the Hollywood Bowl in October, where they will be joined by high school punk rockers the Linda Lindas on both dates and (in Los Angeles) by Japanese Breakfast.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorRic Parnell, who played the fictional band Spinal Tap’s drummer Mick Shrimpton in the classic 1984 heavy metal “mockumentary” “This Is Spinal Tap,” has died at the age of 70, according to a post from the group’s Harry Shearer and Yahoo News. No cause of death was initially reported.Ric Parnell, our drummer in This is Spinal Tap, passed away today.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorLong-running Canadian twin-sister duo Tegan and Sara have signed with Mom + Pop Music and launched the partnership with a new single, “Fucking Up What Matters.” The move represents a return to their roots, in a sense: Mom + Pop was co-founded by Michael Goldstone, the veteran A&R who signed the sisters to Sire Records early in their career (and also signed Pearl Jam and Rage Against the Machine to Epic Records). The label’s roster also includes Courtney Barnett, Lucius, Sleater-Kinney, Porter Robinson, Ashe, Madeon and more.“Michael Goldstone signed us to Sire/Warner in 2006, we had just made ‘The Con’ and felt like the vision Goldie and the team at Sire had for us and the album were a good fit,” the pair said in a statement. “But soon after he signed us, he left to start Mom+Pop. We never held it against him, but joked that one day we’d work together for real.

Raising hopes that Sky Ferreira might actually release some more music one day, the musician has signed a new publishing deal with Third Side Music.“Sky is an unparalleled career artist who has proven to be a true visionary with her craft time and time again”, says Third Side Music’s VP Creative Brontë Jane. “I’m honoured to welcome someone so incredibly singular to the TSM family”.Following numerous false starts, Ferreira released her acclaimed debut album, ‘Night Time, My Time’, in 2013.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorMTV announced that the 2022 VMAs will air live and around the world in more than 170 countries on Sunday, August 28th from the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.“We are thrilled to be back in New Jersey for this year’s VMAs live from Prudential Center,” said Bruce Gillmer, president of music, music talent, programming & events, Paramount and chief content officer, music, Paramount+. “Our 2019 show in Newark was undoubtedly one of our biggest and most successful shows yet and we’re excited to bring back the incredible fan energy for one of music’s most anticipated and iconic nights.”“New Jersey is honored to once again host the MTV Video Music Awards at one of our many world-class entertainment and sports venues,” said Governor Phil Murphy.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorFrom the T.S.A. to the Coachella festival, from your local supermarket to your local music club, mask and vaccination mandates continue to fall across the country, in the face of all credible scientific evidence that yet another coronavirus surge is not only taking place, but raging.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorFormat, a new festival merging the worlds of music, art and technology, will hold its premiere event on September 23-25, 2022, on the private Sugar Creek Airstrip in Bentonville, Arkansas.The three-day event will feature more than 50 music artists, including Rüfüs Du Sol, Phoenix, Khruangbin, Beach House, The War On Drugs, Nile Rodgers & Chic, the Flaming Lips, Jungle, and Herbie Hancock — along with integrated performances, installations, and art experiences from world-renowned artists including Doug Aitken, Nick Cave (NOTE: not the singer Nick Cave), Jacolby Satterwhite, Pia Camil, Marinella Senatore, Maurizio Cattelan’s Toiletpaper Magazine, John Gerrard in collaboration with Richie Hawtin, Justin Lowe & Jonah Freeman, Sissel Tolaas, Charlap Hyman & Herrero, and many more. Tickets will go on sale Friday, April 22 at www.format-festival.com.