One Liners: Au/Ra, Ingrooves, Stabbing Westward, more

DEALSUniversal’s Republic Records has expanded its partnership with K-pop company JYP Entertainment, they having worked together to launch girl group Twice in the US. “We are beyond delighted to move forward with Republic Records”, says JYP CEO Jimmy Jeong, so to develop a “major artist roster” together after “the successful kick-off Twice has brought”.————————————————–APPOINTMENTSUlf Zick has joined Utopia Music as Chief Marketing Officer.

internal diversity report, which represents a small uptick in representation for both groups compared to 2020’s report. Womennow make up 51.7% of Netflix’s global workforce, up from 48.7% in 2020, and women who are in leadership roles of director level and above now totals 51.1% women, a growth of 6.9%.

APPOINTMENTSSony Music Publishing has appointed Roberto Razzini as Managing Director, Italy. He will take up the role on 1 Mar. “I am honoured by the opportunity”, he says.

New Release Wall“House of Gucci” (Universal Pictures Home Entertainment) The legendary and legendarily vicious Gucci fashion empire gets the old-fashioned Big Movie treatment with Adam Driver, Jared Leto, Jeremy Irons, and Lady Gaga. Is it kind of ridiculous? Yes, but it’s also the reboot of Dynasty you never knew you wanted, one that’s best watched with a living room full of your rowdiest and most opinionated friends.

Fueling up for the Beijing Olympics! Many Olympic athletes adhere to strict diets to stay in shape — but some Team USA stars still sneak in a little cheat day meal every now and then.

In the birthplace of Western philosophy, Bill Murray dropped some wisdom on a receptive audience.

Attorneys for the family of slain rapper Drakeo the Ruler said Thursday they intend to file a wrongful death lawsuit against the promoters of the concert where he was stabbed to death.

DEALSReservoir has signed songwriter-producer Oak Felder to a worldwide publishing deal, expanding on its 2017 agreement with his production trio The Orphanage. “I am so glad to continue this journey in a new way with an amazing team of dedicated, hardworking, creative, and impressive people”, says Felder. “Reservoir has already been a fantastic partner for helping to grow my publishing company and I’m looking forward to putting even more awards on the walls with them”.———————————————–APPOINTMENTSHelp Musicians has appointed Bill Freeman to the newly created position of Director Of Musicians’ Services.

EXCLUSIVE: Gravitas Ventures has acquired North American rights to the public health documentary The End of Medicine, executive produced by two-time Oscar nominee Rooney Mara and Oscar winner Joaquin Phoenix, with plans to release it in theaters and on digital and VOD platforms this summer.

Lia Maiuri, who handled publicity for NBC’s daytime drama Days Of Our Lives in her previous position at NBCU, has been named Director of Communications for the show’s producer, Corday.

EXCLUSIVE: Tim McInnerny (Notting Hill, Blackadder) has signed on to star alongside Murray McArthur (Wonka, The Northman), Cameron Ashplant (Gentleman Jack), Tilly Keeper (EastEnders), Jenet Le Lacheur (Cinderella) and Brian Webster in the thriller Marooned Awakening, which is in production on the island of Guernsey.

Attorneys for the family of slain rapper Drakeo the Ruler said Thursday they intend to file a wrongful death lawsuit against the promoters of the concert where he was stabbed to death.

DIGITAL & DIRECT TO FANSpotify has launched a new website offering advice to artists on how to get people to listen to their music, called Made To Be Found. It has also launched a new beta feature on Spotify For Artists showing the source of streams.————————————————–MANAGEMENT & FUNDINGVeteran artist manager Simon Fuller has launched new band The Future X.

Josh Duhamel is opening up about how he proposed to now fiancée, Audra Mari.

Whoopi Goldberg fired back at Bill Maher over comments he made in his Real Time monologue Friday evening, including, “I don’t want to live in your paranoid world anymore — your masked, paranoid world.”

Bari Weiss revved up a fierce debate about our return to normalcy in a COVID-19 world.On Friday’s episode of “Real Time With Bill Maher,” Weiss articulated what many Americans are feeling: a searing fatigue with the seemingly endless COVID restrictions that have led to an alarming mental health crisis among our youth, saying that pandemic-related rules will be “remembered by the younger generation as a catastrophic moral crime.”“I’m done. I’m done with COVID,” she said, noting that early in the pandemic she complied with every recommendation. “I sprayed the Pringles cans that I bought at the grocery store, stripped my clothes off because I thought COVID would be on my clothes.