Universal Music Group, McDonald’s, Coca-Cola & More Suspend Business In Russia

2022 CMT Awards have been announced. The line-up is stacked with a roster of some of this year’s nominees.The CMT Awards is known for bringing some of the best world premiere performances and biggest collaborations and this year is no exception.  The first round of performers announced include Kelsea Ballerini, Kane Brown, Luke Combs, Cody Johnson, Miranda Lambert, Little Big Town, Maren Morris, Carley Pearce and Keith Urban.

It was contact from one mother to another that TV and radio presenter Amanda Holden has claimed truly brought the harrowing situation in the Ukraine home to her.The actress and telly star, who has just returned home from a Medyka refugee camp in Poland where she spoke with fleeing families for a brand new podcast 'Listening to Hidden Voices of Ukraine', joined Good Morning Britain to share her experience. A snippet from Amanda's podcast was played on the show, and heard the former Britain's Got Talent judge telling listeners: "As a wife and a mum of two daughters, seeing those families fighting to survive, pleading to TV news crews to help them, has been absolutely heartbreaking." The distressed voice of a refugee is then heard announcing: "Nobody is going to break us, we are strong.

Prior to its deal with Irving Azoff’s Iconic Artists Group which was announced last week, the Nat King Cole estate sold a stack of the late musician’s recordings to Universal Music, it has now emerged.Cole had a career-long relationship with Capitol Records, which was acquired by Universal when it bought the EMI record company back in 2012. However, in the latter part of his career a by then famous Cole negotiated a deal with Capitol that allowed him to retain the rights in his later recordings, which he then licensed back to the label.According to Forbes, the estate sold those rights to Universal in a deal worth somewhere between $10 million and $20 million.

DEALSSony Music Entertainment Latin-Iberia has announced a new partnership with WK Records, founded by WK Entertainment CEO Walter Kolm. “This partnership is personally meaningful to me because of the trust and admiration that I have for Sony Music”, says Kolm. “It confirms our shared vision to continue to lead and impact the Latin music industry with an unparalleled worldwide magnitude, as we combine our strengths and build an unprecedented alliance”.————————————————–APPOINTMENTSDowntown Music Services has promoted Dan Miller to Director Of Client Services and David Labovitch to Content Operations Manager.

Irving Azoff’s Iconic Artists Group last week announced a deal with the family of the late Nat King Cole which sees the company take an interest in the musician’s recording and publishing rights, as well as his name and likeness, plus an archive of TV shows.Co-founded by veteran artist manager Azoff, Iconic Artists Group has been competing with the various investment funds that are seeking to buy up the music rights of heritage artists and songwriters, but also has a focus on managing and monetising the brands and trademarks of such acts as well, as is the case with this deal with the Cole estate.Confirming said deal, Cole’s children Timolin and Casey Cole said: “We’re delighted to entrust our father’s legacy to Irving Azoff and the team at Iconic. Through the years, it’s been amazing to see how dad’s music continues to inspire and bring people together, and with Iconic at the helm, we know his musical legacy will endure and continue to grow”.Meanwhile, Azoff added: “We are THRILLED that Nat King Cole’s family is trusting us with his musical legacy.

Iron Gate has begun teasing the next Valheim update that will improve the Mistlands, starting with a new weapon.A new video from Iron Gate shows the bow being modelled and added into the game. The bow will be added in the Mistlands update, which will take the small uneventful area of Valheim’s world and expand it.

Ukraine. Alan Carr, Michael McIntyre and Romesh Ranganathan are teaming up as part of a star-studded line-up for a comedy event raising money for the war-torn country. The charity benefit will be held across two nights at London's Eventim Apollo on March 28 and 30 in aid of the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) Humanitarian Appeal providing aid to those fleeing Ukraine.

Several major supermarkets are removing a number of items from their shelves this week in protest of the invasion of Ukraine.

Famous comedians across the UK are joining forces to put on a special show to raise money for Ukraine.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorWarner Music Group has suspended all of its operations in Russia, the company has confirmed to Variety. “Warner Music Group is suspending operations in Russia, including investments in and development of projects, promotional and marketing activities, and manufacturing of all physical products,” according to a statement from the company. “We will continue to fulfill our agreed upon obligations to our people, artists, and songwriters as best we can as the situation unfolds.

Good Morning Britain (GMB) spoke to the deputy mayor of Mariupol, Sergei Orlov, on Thursday morning (March 10) following Russia's air strike on the Ukrainian city.

Variety reports.“We are adhering to international sanctions and, along with our employees and artists, have been working with groups from a range of countries… to support humanitarian relief efforts to bring urgent aid to refugees in the region.”According to Variety, a source has revealed that while the company’s staffers will continue to receive their salaries for an indeterminate amount of time, artists will likely see their recording activity frozen.Universal are the latest business to announce their withdrawal from Russia following its invasion of Ukraine on February 24, with the attack drawing widespread condemnation around the globe.Earlier this month, Live Nation announced they would not be promoting shows in Russia or doing business with the country, saying in a statement they were joining “the world in condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine”.Spotify, meanwhile, shuttered its Moscow office in response to the invasion, and said it would restrict the discoverability of content owned and operated by Russian state-affiliated media. They stopped short of shutting off service to Russian users, saying they believe it’s “critically important to try to keep our service operational in Russia to allow for the global flow of information”.One company who has suspended their service in Russia is Netflix, who shut down streaming in the country last week.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorUniversal Music Group has suspended all of its operations in Russia, the company has confirmed to Variety. “Effective immediately, we are suspending all operations in Russia and closing our offices there. We urge an end to the violence in Ukraine as soon as possible. We are adhering to international sanctions and, along with our employees and artists, have been working with groups from a range of countries (including the U.S., U.K., Poland, Slovakia, Germany, Czech Republic and Hungary) to support humanitarian relief efforts to bring urgent aid to refugees in the region.”A source tells Variety that the company’s staffers will continue to receive their salaries for an undetermined time, although artists will presumably see most if not all of their recording activity paused.  All three major labels — Universal, Sony and Warner — have local labels and operations in Russia; while reps for Sony and Warner did not immediately respond to requests for comment, sources both companies are likely to announce decisions about their status in the country within 24-48 hours.

Coffee Stain Studios, the publisher behind hits like Valheim and Satisfactory, is donating £207,000 ($250,000) to charities that are aiming to provide aid to those affected by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.In a statement posted on both Twitter and Instagram, the studio said that “Right now, millions of innocent people are suffering as a report of the needless, senseless war in Ukraine. Our hearts go out to all who have been affected.”Coffee Stain explained it would be donating the money to support the important work of Save the Children and the Red Cross, which is providing aid to people affected in Ukraine.

McDonald's and a number of other large western firms have been slammed as they continue to operate in Russia.

Before Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy entered politics and found himself in charge of his country's fight against Russia's Vladimir Putin, he led a life as an on-screen performer. A former comedian, Zelenskyy, 44, starred as a head of state in the 2017 political satire "Servant of the People," which is also the name of the real-life political party he founded.