completemusicupdate.com - 3 510 Showbiz News and Updates

A man has been arrested after Bebe Rexha was hit in the face by a mobile phone while performing on stage at The Rooftop in New York on Saturday night.The incident resulted in Rexha requiring stitches above her left eye. Police have now confirmed that they have charged a man named Nicolas Malvagna from New Jersey on five counts relating to assault and harassment.There has been a recent trend of audience members throwing their phones on stage at shows, often in the hope that the artist they are watching will take their daily BeReal photo for them.

Hoian – aka producer and songwriter Zena Zerai – has just released her third single ‘Waves’, which builds further on the intriguing sonic pallets of predecessors ‘In The Ring’ and ‘Dancing Bears’.“I wrote this track when coming out of a difficult time”, she says. “The track reflects my experience that our emotions aren’t necessarily linear and that you can be great at one moment and suddenly struggle at another.

Rammstein drummer Christoph Schneider has spoken out about allegations that have been against the band’s frontman Till Lindemann in relation to his conduct at after-show parties on their current tour. Schneider said that he did not believe that Lindemann had done anything illegal, but added that the singer has “distanced himself from us in recent years and created his own bubble”.Allegations against Lindemann began to surface at the end of last month when a woman claimed online that she had been drugged after being invited to join pre- and after-show parties at a concert in Vilnius, Lithuania.

Who was the most played artist on UK radio and telly, and in British pubs and clubs and such places, last year? Why, it was that Ed Sheeran, that’s who. Yes, again.Because, I mean, we basically ran this exact same story a year ago, except in relation to 2021. A whole year’s gone by and the great people of this United Kingdom are still listening to all of Ed Sheeran’s fucking pop songs.

BBC Radio 4 has announced a new six part podcast series, titled ‘Burning Sun’, about a series of sex scandals that led to criminal convictions for a number of K-pop stars.The series is named after the Seoul nightclub upon which the scandal centred. Popular with celebrities, an allegation of assault sparked an investigation into the venue, which uncovered claims about women being drugged by staff.Later, it was discovered that a group of celebrities who had frequented the club had shared secretly filmed sex videos online.“This is an astounding story we have been working on for years”, says presenter Chloe Hadjimatheou.

Sigur Rós have surprise released a new album, almost ten years to the day since their last long player ‘Kveikur’ came out. The new record is called ‘Átta’ and is being released in partnership with BMG, just ahead of their performance with the London Contemporary Orchestra tonight as part of the Southbank Centre’s Meltdown festival.The album features both frontman Jónsi and bassist Georg Holm along with multi-instrumentalist Kjartan Sveinsson, who returned to the band last year.Once back in the studio, Jónsi says, they found themselves “just wanting to have minimal drums and for the music to be really sparse, floaty and beautiful.

RELEASESDoja Cat is back with new single ‘Attention’.Pharrell Williams has teamed up with gospel choir Voices Of Fire for new single ‘Joy (Unspeakable)’. “Working with Pharrell is always an amazing experience that not only inspires you, but drives you to dig deep within yourself for the best you have to offer”, says choir leader (and Pharrell’s uncle) Bishop Ezekiel Williams.

Nearly four months after being invited to join Weezer on stage, guitarist Evan Marsalli has finally performed ‘Buddy Holly’ with the band. Which might seem like a long wait.

Anita Baker has announced that she is dropping Babyface as the support act on her current US tour because of grief she has been getting from his fans.The two musicians announced plans to tour together late last year. Things seemed to be going fine with that tour until a show in Newark, New Jersey last month where technical problems resulted in a later than anticipated start time.

Becky Hill has become the latest artist to receive one of those BRIT Billion awards from the BPI, marking one billion UK streams of her music. The record label trade body announced this morning that it handed her one of its BRIT Billion trophies backstage before her performance at Manchester’s Parklife Festival on Sunday.“One billion streams of my music in the UK – wild”, she says.

A new website has launched to help UK songwriters understand the different bits of data that they need to generate and provide every time they write a new song.The Get Paid Guide has been launched following the recent signing of a metadata agreement by the British music industry. That was one of the outputs of the economics of music streaming work instigated by the UK government’s Intellectual Property Office in response to Parliament’s big old inquiry into the workings of the digital music business.When new recordings are delivered to streaming services, generally only the recording is uniquely identified by an industry standard code – that being the ISRC.

50 Cent’s legal battle over the design of a bottle is over, after cognac maker Remi Martin and the rapper’s drinks company Sire Spirits agreed to dismiss a lawsuit first filed in 2021.Remy Martin went legal nearly two years ago, accusing Sire Spirits of ripping off its distinctive bottle design for its own cognac for its own Branson cognac. This, said the more established drink maker, was an effort to “unfairly capitalise” off its reputation and “unabashedly profit” from that “bad faith infringement”.Sire Spirits managed to get the case dismissed in January last year, arguing that Remy Martin hadn’t clearly laid out what the defining elements of its bottle design were.

Maija Sofia returns with her first single of 2023, ‘Four Winters’, a song of transformation and realisation, reflecting on darker times as she moves away from them. Sonically, she spans folk and baroque pop, with the musical backing of the track underpinning the emotional wave of the lyrics.“This song came to me on a winter walk along the canal in Dublin”, she says.

RELEASESKiller Mike has released new single ‘Scientists & Engineers’, featuring André 3000, Future and Eryn Allen Kane. His new solo album ‘Michael’ is out this Friday.Anohni And The Johnsons have released new single ‘Sliver Of Ice’. “A friend of mine expressed to me in the final months of his life that the simplest sensations had begun to feel almost rapturous”, says Anon.

BMG has acquired the recordings catalogue of The Hollies, covering releases from 1967 to the present day.In a statement, the group say: “BMG’s history as a trusted custodian of some of music’s greatest works assures we know our music and legacy will continue to live on for generations to come”.Thomas Scherer, BMG’s President of Repertoire & Marketing for New York and Los Angeles, adds: “The Hollies spearheaded the ‘British Invasion’ of the 60s, and we are delighted to have secured rights to their golden period in the US, including ‘Long Cool Woman (In A Black Dress)’. We are honoured to represent their continuing creative legacy”.The deal covers releases from The Hollies’ sixth album ‘Evolution’ – the first of two released in 1967 – up to their 23rd LP, 2009’s ‘Then, Now, Always’.

The man who unsuccessfully sued Cardi B over her use of his distinctive back tattoo on the cover of a mixtape has reached a deal with the rapper over her legal costs in fighting the case. He has also withdrawn a motion that was seeking a new trial.Kevin Brophy sued Cardi B – real name Belcalis Almánzar – in 2017.

The final album by Sparklehorse will be released later this year, more than a decade after the death of frontman Mark Linkous. ‘Bird Machine’ has been completed by his brother and bandmate Matt.The brothers had begun work on the album in 2009, but when Linkous took his own life in 2010, plans for the album seemingly died with him.However, several years later, Matt and his wife Melissa – who had also played in the band – began working with Bryan Hoffa – an audio preservation specialist at the US Library Of Congress’s National Audio-Visual Conservation Center – listening through Mark’s archived recordings.When they reached his final tapes, they discovered the songs more complete than they had imagined. “It was as though the songs let you know”, says Melissa.

The New York Court Of Appeals ruled yesterday that producer Dr Luke is sufficiently famous to be deemed a “limited public figure”. This is a classification which impacts on his ongoing defamation legal battle with Kesha, increasing the producer’s burden in court.

DEALSHalsey has signed a new record deal with Sony’s Columbia Records, two months after departing Universal’s Capitol. In April, Halsey’s managers Jason Aron and Anthony Li told Billboard: “After eight great years the decision to leave Capitol is bittersweet, but we are excited about exploring a new partnership and sharing new music with fans”.

Earlier this year Ed Sheeran launched his own hot sauce brand Tingly Ted’s. Now he’s ready to take it to the next level with an advertising campaign created with Warner Music’s brand partnerships division WMX and the actual maker of the sauces, The Kraft Heinz Company.The campaign answers that age-old question: What would happen if Ed Sheeran was friends with a giant grumpy teddy bear who really liked hot sauce? It also gives us the tagline “makes anything a tingly thing”, which I think we’d all be quite happy for them to have back.Three adverts have been made as part of the campaign, with the first out now.

With their debut album ‘Unum’ out later this year, today Ġenn release their latest single ‘Days And Nights’, which continues the high drama of last month’s ‘A Reprise (That Girl)’.The new single, with its slow tempo, initially keeps its energy wound tight like a spring, with guitarist Janelle Borg fighting to hold back her dense riffs, before – along with the rest of the band – losing control and letting them run free.“This rumination is close to heart, almost comic at times”, says vocalist Leona Farrugia of the track. “The parachute of experiences can leave you numb and unsettled, I often feel that one can never be fully equipped to what life has in store”.The band have UK tour dates scheduled over the course of this week.

Lawyers for former Beach Boys guitarist David Marks yesterday tried to convince the Ninth Circuit Appeals Court in the US to revive a class action lawsuit over how Universal Music processes and pays streaming royalties to heritage artists.Marks was originally a member of the Beach Boys in 1962 and 1963, and rejoined the band for a couple of other short stints in the 1990s and 2010s. Universal Music, meanwhile, acquired the band’s 1960s catalogue when it bought EMI and its Capitol Records label back in 2012.The lawsuit filed by Marks centred on a common gripe among many heritage artists over the deductions that are made by local subsidiaries of the major labels when music is streamed in countries other than the one in which those artists were signed.

The big Content ID legal battle being led by musician Maria Schneider is over. Plaintiffs in the long-running litigation dismissed their action on Sunday – the day before a trial was due to begin – after the Ninth Circuit Appeals Court declined to intervene on an earlier decision by the judge overseeing the case to deny it class action status.Schneider and others argued that YouTube does not do enough to help independent creators to stop the unlicensed distribution of their content on the video site.

DIY distributor TuneCore has announced a partnership with Grimes to distribute music created using the AI version of her voice. The distributor will then sort out splitting any monies generated by those tracks between Grimes and the other music-makers.During the recent flurry of AI-generated tracks that imitate the voices of existing artists, Grimes announced that she would be happy for people to release music with an AI-generated version of her voice, providing they agreed to share any recording royalties 50/50.

RELEASESPaul McCartney has revealed that a “final Beatles record” has been created using AI. You know, just like you wanted.

Given that the Latitude festival is all about bringing together music with comedy and literature and other artforms, no surprises really that comedy writer Richard Curtis and his broadcaster wife Emma Freud are on the line-up this year, especially as they live near the festival’s site in Suffolk.Though don’t be expecting them to be on stage talking about their comedy and media careers, because – according to the BBC – they’ve been booked to cook some food. Because, you know, at music festivals these days, it’s only really the food that matters.“Suffolk is the warmest and most magical county in Britain, with massive skies, stunning beaches, and a community that glows with kindness”, says Freud, “and its culinary wonders are stunning”.“In the early 1930s”, she goes on, “many members of my German Jewish family arrived in Suffolk and were made to feel welcome.

Robbie Williams has become the largest investor in Tickets For Good, a platform which provides free and discounted tickets to NHS and charity sector workers. Williams has joined a funding round that raised £500,000 of investment for the business.“Supporting access to the arts is a cause close to my heart”, says Williams.

A US judge last week cut back a lawsuit filed by members of the rock band Orleans against Warner Music over the way the major has been processing and paying streaming royalties. Some of the claims made by the band in the lawsuit were dismissed, although some remain.At the core of the litigation filed by Orleans members John Hall and Lance Hoppen is a common gripe in the artist community: record companies allowing their foreign subsidiaries to make deductions on digital income and then calculating the artist royalty based on what is received by the label in the artist’s home country after those deductions.

Bring Me The Horizon followed their headline set at Download Festival on Friday night with an announcement of a new album and tour dates in 2024.The band will release their seventh album ‘Human: Next Gen’ on 12 Jan, by which time they will already have kicked off a run of UK and Ireland tour dates.

Patti Smith joined Greta Thunberg at her weekly school strike on Friday. Now, you might have noted that Smith is not a Swedish school student, but then again, neither is Thunberg anymore – Friday’s protest was her 251st and took place on the day she graduated from secondary school.“This is Greta Thunberg, faithfully taking her Friday school strike for climate action”, wrote Smith in a post on Instagram.

The mother of Migos member Takeoff has filed a negligence lawsuit against the Houston bowling alley where the rapper was killed last year.Takeoff – real name Kirsnick Khari Ball – was shot dead during an altercation that occurred outside Houston’s 810 Billiards & Bowling in the early hours of 1 Nov. The rapper himself was not involved in the altercation.Houston police explained last year that the rapper, and his bandmate and uncle Quavo, had been at a private party at the venue.

CMU’s Andy Malt and Chris Cooke review key events in music and the music business from the last week, including Coldplay’s update on their work to reduce the environmental impact of their live shows during the first year of their Music Of The Spheres Tour, and the unveiling of Apple’s Vision Pro headset and what it might mean for the music industry.SECTION TIMES01: Coldplay (00:04:48)02: Apple Vision Pro (00:13:51)(Timings may be slightly different due to adverts)SUBSCRIBE TO SETLISTListen to Setlist and sign up to receive new episodes for free automatically each week through any of these services…Acast | Amazon Music | Apple Podcasts | audioBoom | CastBox | Deezer | Google Podcasts | iHeart | Mixcloud | RSS | Spotify | Stitcher | TuneInSTORIES DISCUSSED THIS WEEK• Coldplay provide update on their environmentally sustainable touring efforts• Apple unveils its Vision Pro headsetALSO MENTIONED• Culture Secretary insists new music-maker remuneration working group will not become a mere talking shop• Coldplay emissions update (coldplay.com)• Craig Charles’ 1993 VR gameshow CyberZone (YouTube)MORE FROM CMU• Upcoming CMU webinars• Buy MMF and CMU Insights’ Dissecting The Digital Dollar book on Amazon• Sign up to receive the CMU Daily news bulletin• Listen to the full Setlist theme tune

Warner Music’s label services division ADA Worldwide is now handling global distribution for Rostrum Records. “Rostrum Records was founded on a commitment to bring innovative, artist-first approaches to the music industry”, says the label’s President Erika Montes.

Slipknot are two members down on their European tour, which started this week. Percussionist Shawn ‘Clown’ Crahan announced earlier this week that he would be sitting out the tour in order to care for his sick wife. Meanwhile, yesterday, the band announced that they had “parted ways” with sampler and keyboardist Craig Jones.Jones originally joined the band in 1996 during the making of their demo album ‘Mate.

The members of One Direction are all still great mates and talk all the time, according to Niall Horan. But you know what they don’t ever talk about? Reforming the band. Not once.

‘Eraser’ with new single ‘You Shatter’.Like its predecessor, the new track is a punchy art-punk number given extra urgency with scratchy, lo-fi production.