Music Industry Moves: Warner Music Group Hires Goldman Sachs’ Michael Ryan-Southern as Executive VP of Corporate Development

EXCLUSIVE: Sky, Warner Music Entertainment and Screen Scotland are collaborating on a feature doc profiling the unique legacy of Scottish funk sensation Average White Band, with Warner taking North American distribution.

Ty Myers has signed with Records Nashville/ Columbia Records and will release his new song “Let ‘Em Talk” via the label “very soon,” according to the announcement. Myers is managed by Blake Shelton manager Narvel Blackstock of Starstruck Entertainment. He has enjoyed hits with his songs “Tie That Binds” and “Drinkin’ Alone” (which may be written from experience as he is not yet of drinking age).

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large To paraphrase a long-running network slogan, “It’s Not Max. It’s HBO.” HBO and Max content CEO Casey Bloys is changing the delineation between what an “HBO show” and a “Max show” is, moving most of Max’s upcoming big-budget, tentpole Warner Bros. IP projects to under the HBO umbrella.

EXCLUSIVE: Stuff the British Stole, the Australian-Canadian doc series about the impact of British colonialism, is being remade as a six-part scripted heist caper.

several cases brought by authors, news outlets and others over the alleged misuse of their work to train text-based AI models powering chatbots like OpenAI’s ChatGPT.

Warner Bros brought twin tornadoes to CineEurope today, showing off an extended new look at the Daisy Edgar-Jones/Glen Powell starrer Twisters which the studio is releasing internationally. From Lee Isaac Chung, the action thriller starts overseas rollout on July 17 and storms into domestic cinemas via Universal on July 19.

Thania Garcia Latin Grammy winner Lasso has signed an exclusive management deal with WK Entertainment. This includes a comprehensive 360 contract under the leadership of Andres Gomez, who will support Lasso in touring, brand partnership strategies, A&R, marketing and more on a global scale. Lasso has also announced his first 15-date U.S tour, “Quedarse Solo Para Siempre,” promoted by Live Nation.

Barefoot Music Festival returns to Wildwood, NJ’s Wildwood Beach for four days of boot scootin’ country music, fun and sun.Headliners set to appear at the beach this year include big names like Keith Urban, Luke Bryan, Kane Brown, Old Dominion and Oliver Anthony.They’ll be joined by mainstays Jake Owen, Scotty McCreery, Bailey Zimmerman, Hailley Whitters and The War and Treaty.Plus, to sweeten the deal, non-country icons The Beach Boys and Bret Michaels will be there, too.In total, 41 huge acts are scheduled to take the stage at the four-day fest.And if you want to be there with them, it isn’t too late to grab last-minute general admission passes.At the time of publication, the lowest price we could find on four-day passes was $647 before fees on Vivid Seats.Single-day passes start at $210 before fees.For more information, we’ve got everything you need to know and more about the 2024 Barefoot Country Festival below.All ticket prices listed above are subject to fluctuation.A complete breakdown of all the best prices on single and multi-day Barefoot Country Music Festival passes can be found here:(Note: The New York Post confirmed all above prices at the publication time. All prices are in US dollars, subject to fluctuation and include additional fees at checkout.)Vivid Seats is a verified secondary market ticketing platform, and prices may be higher or lower than face value, depending on demand.

Marc Malkin Senior Editor, Culture and Events Jon Bon Jovi is a snowbird — the nickname given to people of a certain age who flee their northern homes during the winter months to areas with warmer climates. It’s late April and the famous New Jersey native is in Palm Beach, Fla. “My license still says the great state of New Jersey,” the Bon Jovi frontman tells me on this week’s “Just for Variety” podcast.

Downtown Music has appointed Molly Neuman as president of its “direct-to-creator” division, CD Baby. Neuman will work to expand CD Baby’s services, succeeding CD Baby’s previous president, Scott Williams, who will remain a consultant to Downtown and CD Baby. In a post shared to LinkedIn, Neuman said, “My ambitions for CD Baby are consistent with things I’ve spoken with many of you about before.

After 20 years, a graphic novel series, a feature film and a video game, it’s no wonder that Bryan Lee O’Malley was hesitant to dive into another adaptation of his Scott Pilgrim series. After what he describes as a “jokey” conversation with BenDavid Grabinski, the two decided to flip the script and take the Netflix series in an entirely new direction for Scott Pilgrim Takes Off.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large It’s probably not the right time for a new version of “The West Wing,” but never say never, Warner Bros. TV Group chairman Channing Dungey told an audience on Monday at the Banff World Media Festival.

Bryan Cranston nearly missed out on playing his iconic "Breaking Bad" character, Walter White. During an appearance on James Corden's SiriusXM show "This Life Of Mine," the 68-year-old actor revealed "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" actor Matthew Broderick was "considered" for the role before Cranston was officially offered the part. "We shot the pilot of ‘Breaking Bad’ in February and March of 2007," he said.

Rachel Lindsay opened up about her divorce from Bryan Abasolo during a recent interview, saying that it’s been “unnecessarily messy.”

Where in the world is Beyoncé?! No, really! Where is she?!

Bryan Cranston is responding to the rumors that he wasn’t the first choice for Walter White in Breaking Bad.

More than 100 Jewish industry figures have signed an open letter to the BBC Director General and content chief expressing “disbelief” in the decision to engage a cricket world cup commentator who has been accused of fanning antisemitism on social media.

CMA Music Festival returns to Nissan Stadium and the Ascend Amphitheater for four days of boot-scootin’, honky-tonkin’ good times.Household name headliners at this year’s extravaganza include Jelly Roll, Thomas Rhett, Lainey Wilson, Cody Johnson and Luke Bryan.They’ll be joined by fellow country superstars Hardy, Kelsea Ballerini, Jon Pardi, Keith Urban and Parker McCollum.Plus, country-fried classic rock icons Lynyrd Skynyrd will be there, too.Best of all though, last-minute general admission passes are crazy cheap.At the time of publication, we found single-day general admission passes going for as low as $5 before fees on Vivid Seats.Yes, you read that right. You can see Brett Young, NEEDTOBREATHE, Restless Road and more for less than a beer (!) at the fest.Four-day general admission passes start at $111 before fees.Curious how much tickets will run you for the fest date of your choosing?We’ve got everything you need to know and more about the 2024 CMA Music Festival below.All prices listed above are subject to fluctuation.A complete breakdown of all the best prices on single and multi-day passes at Nissan Stadium and the Ascend Amphitheatre can be found here:(Note: The New York Post confirmed all above prices at the publication time. All prices are in US dollars, subject to fluctuation and include additional fees at checkout.)Vivid Seats is a verified secondary market ticketing platform, and prices may be higher or lower than face value, depending on demand.

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music Veteran Canadian music executive Chris Taylor has resigned from his position as president and CEO of the independent music company MNRK Music Group to build an as-yet unnamed new management company. His last day is June 28. Taylor, now based in Los Angeles, will take the artist management division and roster with him.

EXCLUSIVE: MindRiot Entertainment, the transatlantic indie behind Danielle Deadwyler’s Parallel, and the upcoming OceanGate pic Salvaged has acquired the rights to adapt the life stories of former US marines Bryan Seely and Robert Hudock for a feature project.