Royalty rates for musicians and publishers to be raised by Copyright Royalty Board

NMEJade Bird has revealed she is about halfway through her “vulnerable” new album. Watch our video interview with Bird above.Speaking to NME at Truck Festival in Oxfordshire this weekend (July 24), the Northumberland-born, US-based singer-songwriter told us about new song ‘Save Your Tears’ – which she performed in her set – as well as what fans can expect from her third studio record.“[It’s] probably 50/50 on the new album,” she said of the new song.

@NC5 are sad to report that our longtime sports anchor and friend Mark Howard passed away at home early today,” Steve Laymen announced in a tweet Sunday. “Mark knew as much about sports in this market as anyone you’ll find and had a great sense of humor.

Gary Barlow delighted fans with an adorable snap of his wife Dawn as she celebrated her 52nd birthday on Thursday.MORE: Gary Barlow shares intimate glimpse inside 22nd anniversary celebrationsTaking to his Instagram, the Back for Good singer shared a loved-up picture of the couple lounging on a giant pink flamingo pool float during their summer getaway.WATCH: Gary Barlow reveals surprising secret to healthy shakes following weight lossBeaming for the cameras, the duo appeared in high spirits as they spent some quality time relaxing in each other's company.READ: Gary Barlow and wife Dawn's big family change involving daughter Emily revealedMORE: Gary Barlow and wife Dawn look picture perfect in rare holiday photosGary captioned the post: "Happy Birthday Mrs. B! Still having fun after all these years – here’s to a wonderful day", followed by two red heart emojis.

From sentimental odes to his family to your average inspirational script, Brad Pitt has a lot of tattoos, with new additions coming every so often. And we are here for it.

Legendary Hollywood actor Brad Pitt delighted fans as he rocked a skirt on the red carpet for the premiere of his new film Bullet Train in Berlin on Tuesday. The 58 year old father of six looked in high spirits as he posed on the red carpet in a brown linen skirt that showed off the various tattoos on his legs. Brad, who shares six children with ex Angelina Jolie - Maddox, 20; Pax, 18; Zahara, 17; Shiloh, 16, and twins Vivienne and Knox, 17, teamed the skirt with a matching brown shacket worn over a pink shirt, and on his feet he wore combat boots to edge up the look.

Brad Pitt is going big or going home.  The actor, 55, is currently promoting his latest film, "Bullet Train," and has sported several looks on his press tour leading up to the Aug. 5 release.  Before a screening of the film in Berlin, Pitt was spotted on the red carpet in a brown skirt with a matching jacket and a linen button-up shirt. He tied the look together with combat boots and brown sunglasses.

Adam B. Vary Senior Entertainment WriterSPOILER ALERT: This story discusses major plot developments in Marvel Studios’ “Thor: Love and Thunder,” currently playing in theaters.When Jennifer Kaytin Robinson first got a call from Marvel Studios, it wasn’t about writing the script for “Thor: Love and Thunder” with director Taika Waititi.“I actually pitched to write ‘Captain Marvel 2,'” Robinson tells Variety.

Brad Pitt and Joey King are back on the Bullet Train press tour.

The cast of Bullet Train are clearly having a blast on their press tour!

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music CriticWhen Leslie Fram, formerly a top programmer and morning cohost in radio’s alternative format, made the jump from FM to television by coming aboard the CMT network as the VP in charge of music in 2011, she liked almost everything she had to learn as a quick study in country music. That ranged from the greater collegiality of country’s artist community to how much earlier the music showcases started in Nashville than they had in New York.

Bret Michaels is back giving it “100 percent” following a stint in hospital amid Poison’s current tour.

#Florida @TIAABankField @Jaguars @LiveNation #TheStadiumTour pic.twitter.com/4eBOUQumt6Hours before Saturday’s show, Michaels shared a post to Facebook explaining that, on the advice of his doctors, he would skip the traditional meet and greet with fans at the Jacksonville show. According to local news channel JAX, the show went on as planned, but was hit with an unexpected downpour.

Bret Michaels is speaking out.

It’s officially summertime, and while the livin’ may be easy, as George Gershwin once wrote, television is easing into the season with a slate filled with reruns.

Poison were forced to cancel their performance in Nashville on Thursday night (June 30), after frontman Bret Michaels was hospitalised due to “an unforeseen medical complication”. The glam-metal outfit is currently on ‘The Stadium Tour’ with Def Leppard and Mötley Crüe, all of whom are co-headlining the North American run with Joan Jett & The Blackhearts as their support act. Initially slated to go down in 2020 (before being pushed back due to the ongoing pandemic), the tour kicked off in Atlanta on June 16. Thursday’s show in Nashville – which took place at the 69,000-capacity Nissan Stadium – was the eighth show on the itinerary.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorIn a big win for the publishing and songwriting community, the Copyright Royalty Board reaffirmed the 15.1% headline rate increase in royalties paid by streaming services to publishers for the 2018-22 period.The rate was decided in 2018, but streaming services Spotify, Amazon Music, YouTube/Google and Pandora appealed the following year, arguing that the increase will make their business models untenable in light of the billions of dollars that they already pay in royalties.While the decision was not immediately released publicly, sources and National Music Publishers Assn. president/CEO David Israelite shared that the headline rate will increase to 15.1% from 11.4%, as decided.However, in a minor win for the streaming services, the TCC rate, or percentage of label revenue, has been capped, and the definition of bundling — the “family plans” and other discount packages — has reverted to an earlier definition more favorable to the services.