Sony, Universal, Warner Music Ask Employees to Work From Home Until 2021

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorFive years after Apple Music launched its global radio station Beats 1, the company has renamed it Apple Music 1 and launched new Country and Hit stations, under the overall name of Apple Music Radio.“For the past five years, if ever there was a meaningful moment in music culture,” said Oliver Schusser, vice president of Apple Music, Beats, and International Content.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorRotimi, the actor and singer-songwriter known for his roles on the Starz series “Empire” and “Boss,” has re-upped with Empire music group, the company announced. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, although it is described as “multimillion”-dollar agreement.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorToday, Amazon Music announces the hire of Raymond Leon Roker as its global head of editorial. He will “lead all aspects of Amazon Music’s editorial content strategy across music, video, and voice,” according to the announcement, be based in Los Angeles and will report to Ryan Redington, director of Amazon Music.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorEven in an election year without a pandemic, combining politics and music is a tricky proposition — but the Democratic National Convention, which begins tonight and runs through Thursday night, has assembled a lineup of (virtual) musical performances that is not only remarkably diverse, it also advances the party’s and presumptive candidates Joe Biden and Kamala Harris’ messaging in ways that are both subtle and overt.More than half of the announced performers are

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorAs the coronavirus pandemic’s devastating impact on the live-entertainment industry became clear, independent music venues across the country — the most vulnerable businesses in the live-music industry — came together as NIVA, the now 2,600-member National Independent Venue Association, hired the powerful lobbying firm Akin Gump, and got to work.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorIt’s no surprise that the announcement of Kamala Harris as presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden’s running mate was met with wild enthusiasm by large swaths of the music industry — after all, she’s a Bay Area-bred California senator who lives in Los Angeles with her entertainment-attorney husband, Douglas Emhoff. But less known is how longstanding and strong her connections with the music business are — and not necessarily with artists.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorThree men who prosecutors claim are connected to R. Kelly were charged in federal court for using threats, intimidation and bribes in an attempt to influence the testimony of the singer’s alleged victims, according to the New York Times and CNN.

Bruce Haring pmc-editorial-managerFacebook has extended its work-from-home policy for employees through July 2021, and has said they will give workers $1,000 for home office supplies.A Facebook spokeperson dropped the news to Business Insider on Thursday.“Based on guidance from health and government experts, as well as decisions drawn from our internal discussions about these matters, we are allowing employees to continue voluntarily working from home until July 2021,” spokesperson Nneka

Todd Spangler NY Digital EditorAmid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Facebook will give most of its workers the option to work from home until July 2021.Facebook’s move to extend WFH through mid-2021 follows a similar announcement by Google last month. Previously, Facebook had told employees to expect to work from home, if their job functions permit, through the end of 2020.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorPhoebe Bridgers was already a rising star when her sophomore full-length “Punisher” was released in June, but the rapturous response the album has received from fans and critics has vaulted her career into the fast lane. Needless to say, Bridgers’ view of her incipient stardom is almost entirely from her Los Angeles apartment.

Variety Staff Follow Us on TwitterWarner Music Group’s third-quarter earnings were revealed today (Aug. 4).

Eric Levin called the quarter’s results "slightly better than our expectations."Due mainly to non-cash stock-based compensation related to its IPO on June 3, Warner posted a $519 million net loss last quarter compared to net income of $14 million a year earlier.

Variety Staff Follow Us on TwitterWarner Music Group (WMG) has named Dr. Maurice Stinnett head of global equity, diversity and inclusion.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorAhead of Spotify’s earnings call for its second-quarter results, the company’s cofounder and CEO Daniel Ek and CFO Paul Vogel got on the phone for a short call with Variety’s Jem Aswad and Todd Spangler.

Todd Spangler NY Digital EditorMost of Google’s workforce will not be returning to the office anytime before the summer of 2021 because of concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new report.Google and parent company Alphabet will require their roughly 200,000 employees to work from home until July 2021, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing anonymous sources.

Greg Evans Associate Editor/Broadway CriticGoogle employees will work from home at least until next July due to the coronavirus pandemic, a decision that makes the search engine company the first major U.S. corporation to commit to the year-long stay-at-home plan.According to a report in today’s Wall Street Journal, Google’s plan affects nearly all of the company’s 200,000 full-time and contract employees across Google parent Alphabet Inc.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorNot surprisingly, Taylor Swift’s excellent surprise album has huffed up most of the oxygen on this mid-summer day — and Kanye West’s album will probably do the same, whenever he actually finishes it — but that’s all we’re going to say about them because this week saw an absolute avalanche of great new songs — and even two new songs by the Avalanches.It was a very difficult week to narrow the list down to five, so with a shout-out to the runners up — songs by Reese

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorHuey Lewis and the News have dropped an eye-popping video for their single “While We’re Young” that is sure to win the hearts of any fans of old-school videogames and the ‘80s.The clip, styled like an early videogame, sees the Huey character walking through his life, reaching new levels and winning rewards with each milestone, with loads of references to high points in his and the band’s career (from “Level up: Puberty!” and “Record deal!” to “Platinum: You found a

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorTikTok and the National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA), today announced the signing of a multi-year agreement, which accounts for TikTok’s past use of musical works and “sets up a forward-looking partnership,” according to the announcement.The popular mobile video site — which features music in many of its posts — and NMPA, the trade association representing American music publishers and songwriters, had previously sparred over terms, and according to sources,

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorPrimary Wave Music Publishing has acquired a stake in the music publishing catalog and master recordings of Devo, one of the most influential and longest-running acts to emerge from the new wave era.