Sting to Shopping Song Catalog for $250 Million-Plus, Universal Said to Be in Lead

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorLive Nation Entertainment, the world’s largest live-entertainment company, has closed its long-in-the works acquisition of a 51% controlling interest in OCESA Entretenimiento, a leading promoter in Latin America. The aggregate purchase price was MXN $8,835 million (around U.S.

Are Chase Stokes and Madelyn Cline back together?!

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorSince his career as a hitmaker first took off with Kelly Clarkson’s 2004 smash “Since U Been Gone,” Lukasz Gottwald — a.k.a. Dr. Luke, Tyler Trax and others — has reigned as one of the world’s top hitmakers via songs with Miley Cyrus’ “Wrecking Ball,” Katy Perry’s “California Gurls,” Britney Spears’ “Hold It Against Me,” Pink’s “U + Ur Hand” and many more, and his Prescription Songs proves he’s no slouch as a publisher, either.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorBola Sete was an astonishing Brazilian guitarist whose music tread the line between jazz (he played with Dizzy Gillespie and Vince Guaraldi) and bossa nova.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorIn this week’s installment of Strictly Business, Variety’s weekly podcast featuring conversations with industry leaders about the business of media and entertainment, TaP Music’s Ed Millet and Wendy Ong go deep about the rewards and challenges of managing such prominent and pioneering artists as Lana Del Rey, Dua Lipa, Ellie Goulding, Caroline Polacheck, Noah Cyrus and many more.The conversation starts with Millet discussing founding the company in 2010 with his

Trey Songz is under investigation for sexual assault in Las Vegas, it has been reported.According to TMZ, a report was issued to the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department on Sunday (November 28) following an incident at The Cosmopolitan hotel and resort over the weekend.It’s said that the Virginia-born artist – real name Tremaine Aldon Neverson – was in the Nevada city celebrating his 37th birthday at Drai’s Nightclub.

Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea International Film Festival (6-15 December) has scored a coup with the world premiere of cricket movie ’83 as its closing film, and the promised attendance of Bollywood star Deepika Padukone, subject Kapil Dev, and director Kabir Khan.

After earning $7.5 million on opening day, “Encanto” has added $5.8 million on Thanksgiving Day to bring its total to $13.3 million heading into the weekend. While tracking is difficult at this point, the film appears to be on track to beat pre-release projections of $35-40 million.

Melbourne-based gay activists Antony McManus and his husband Ron van Houwelingen are well known for their fight for marriage equality and getting married to each other 19 times over the three decades that they have been together.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorThe day before the 2022 Grammy Awards nominees were announced, representatives from the Recording Academy, which oversees the awards, began informing members of the media that the four top awards — the “Big Four” of Best Album, Song, Record and New Artist — would be expanded to ten from the previous eight. While the timing of the move was unusual, it was positioned by CEO Harvey Mason jr.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorTidal has announced a number of new updates including a new free tier and enhanced paid subscription tiers, direct-to-artist payments, what it describes as “fan-centered royalties.”Most interesting are the latter two categories, which partially address a longstanding complaint about streaming services: In a nutshell, under the current model, streaming services put all streams into one pile and pay artists, songwriters and rights-holders based on their percentage of

Rebecca Davis editorHackman Capital Partners (HCP) and its affiliate the MBS Group have won the request to build a major new $250 million studio complex in Toronto, a project that marks the most significant investment in the production industry in more than two decades, the city said Wednesday.The Basin Media Hub, named for its Basin Street location, will sit on 8.9 acres in the provincial capital’s waterfront Port Lands.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorWarner Music announced early Wednesday morning that its acquisition group has raised $535 million in a secured senior notes deal.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorFive years after the release of the second chapter of his “BlackSummers’Night” trilogy, three-time Grammy-winning R&B singer-songwriter Maxwell has finally revealed plans to release the final installment, “blacksummers’NIGHT,” in the spring — and he’s leading with a new song, “Off,” and the announcement of a long tour, kicking off in TK, that will see fellow R&B vets Anthony Hamilton and Joe opening.The new single is another classic slice of Maxwell-flavored R&B, a

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorJackson Browne and Jefferson Airplane/Hot Tuna cofounder Jorma Kaukonen will headline a star-packed lineup of artists at a benefit for the non-partisan voters’ rights non-profit Headcount, to be held at the historic Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, N.Y.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorIt might have a core of ultra-rich high-calorie cheese, but the throwback song is a very specific and carefully calibrated art form.It must evoke and transcend the era it’s reviving in an affectionate or hilarious fashion (or both); it has to be a great song as well as a nostalgia trip for those who remember, and a vicarious saunter through a previous decade for those who don’t.