Recording Academy Launches ‘Summer of Advocacy’ for Pandemic Relief and Social Change

Ossie Davis & Ruby DeeAs one of the most popular couples of Black Hollywood, the late Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee understood the intersection of acting and activism. The duo became fixtures during the civil rights and Black Power movements, befriending the likes of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr., and helped organize the 1963 March on Washington.

TK Maxx is bursting with online bargains in a massive summer clearance event. There are savings of up to 88 per cent on some items including a pair of UNAROSE Dark Blue Denim Jeans, down from £12.99 to just £4.

Lil Nas X,GunnaandVictoria Monetare among 2,321 people who have been invited to join the Recording Academy. That is nearly 1,000 more invitations than the academy issued last year, when it invited 1,340 new members.

Eric Wong is leaving Universal Music to join rival Warner Music in the newly created role of president and chief marketing officer of Warner Recorded Music. Wong begins the NYC-based job Aug.

Harvey Mason, Jr., the academy’s chair and interim president/CEO, tells Billboard. “So we have three options for people this year for the first time ever -- they can pay no dues or they can pay their regular dues or they can pay their regular dues plus extra to cover somebody who might be having some financial hardship.“If that [dues payment] was something that was uncomfortable for them at this time, we want to be sensitive to that.

Lil Nas X, Gunna and Victoria Monet are among 2,321 people who have been invited to join the Recording Academy. That is nearly 1,000 more invitations than the academy issued last year, when it invited 1,340 new members.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorThe Recording Academy announced that it has extended membership invitations to more than 2,300 established music professionals. As part of the organization’s stated drive toward greater diversity, it notes that the 2020 class of invitees is 48% female, 21% African-American or African descent, 8% Hispanic and 3% Asian-American and Pacific Islander.

Billie Faiers has wowed fans with her glam look and incredibly toned and tanned physique while sharing pictures to launch her new In The Style collaboration. Billie models in newly released snaps for the brand and it's safe to say that the former TOWIE star is looking incredible in the body baring snaps.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorThe Recording Academy and Color of Change, the largest online racial justice organization in the U.S., have announced a partnership to “promote positive social change within the music industry.” The Academy announced to members last month that it has made a $1 million donation to Color of Change.According to the announcement, the organizations will “work together to identify key opportunities to drive and influence change in the music industry, and will be dedicated

The Recording Academy has partnered with Color of Change, the nation's largest online racial justice organization, to promote social change within the music industry. To kick off the partnership, the Recording Academy has made a $1 million donation to the non-profit. The organizations will work together to identify key opportunities to drive change in the music i

Shonda Grant has been promoted to chief people & culture officer at the Recording Academy. She fills the position after Gaetano Frizzi left the company nine months ago. Grant, a nine-year academy veteran, was most recently managing director, people and culture. Grant will report directly to Harvey Mason, Jr., chair and interim pres

Marc Malkin Senior Film Awards, Events & Lifestyle EditorThe Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has invited 819 artists and executives to join the organization in 2020.In doing so, the Academy continues its work on diversifying its ranks. If all 819 invitees accept their invitations (which would bring its total membership to 9,300), 45% of the new members will be women and 36% are from underrepresented ethnic/racial communities.

Marc Malkin Senior Film Awards, Events & Lifestyle EditorThe Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is giving Oscar voting privileges to talent agents.The organization announced on Monday that the Board of Governors voted to reclassify the membership status of Artists’ Representatives (agents) from Associates to Members-at-Large.

The Recording Academy has announced a summer 2020 call-to-action initiative to help provide pandemic and tax relief for music creators and music businesses, and to promote social change through legislation. The seven-week effort will culminate with the academy's seventh annual District Advocate event on Aug. 12.

Will Thorne Staff WriterKerry Washington and Pilar Savone, the exec VP of production and development at Washington’s Simpson Street banner, first met on the set of Quentin Tarantino’s “Django Unchained.”Savone had been working for some time with Tarantino, and Washington had been learning from “amazing numbers ones” on the call sheet like Jamie Foxx, but together, they decided to form Simpson Street to start producing their own work, telling the kinds of stories they had always wanted to

Michael Gudinski has a new label.

James Patrick Herman Warner Records has signed in-demand songwriter Amy Allen to a recording contract. The deal was inked last July when Allen began cutting back on session work with other artists (her past collabs include Harry Styles, Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello) and focusing on her forthcoming solo debut.

Anytime there is a royalty for the use of a sound recording in the U.S., the music creator is entitled to receive it, regardless of the creator's nationality and their copyright laws back home. The same is not true around the world -- but rights management agency SoundExchange is trying to change that. SoundExchange today (June 24) launches Fair Trade of Music, an education and