Universal Music Posts Strong Q1 Earnings, Powered by ‘Encanto’ and the Weeknd

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorOne of Kendrick Lamar’s great strengths as a rapper is his ability to acknowledge and criticize his own biases and prejudices and not place himself above the people he’s singling out. It’s a characteristic that appears frequently in his work, particularly on his deep and dense new album, “Mr.

Britney Spears’ orange ensemble and feathered hat in 2000 and Céline Dion’s 2017 mega-sleeved white dress), legendary performances (Remember Rihanna and Britney’s 2011 S&M show?) and a mountain of music and celebrity gossip – before, during and after. (Diddy has already declared that he is going to be one of the most controversial hosts in music history). Here’s our quick roundup bringing you up to speed with everything you need to know about the upcoming MGM Grand Garden Arena show.

Taylor Swift fans are very upset with themselves.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorBob Dylan’s share of the Traveling Wilburys has been acquired by Primary Wave Music — an asset that most people probably did not realize was not included in the Nobel Prize-winning artist’s nine-figure deals with Universal Music Publishing and Sony Music.Dylan’s master royalties and neighboring rights royalties for both of the group’s albums, as well as a 2007 box set, are included in the deal. Terms were not disclosed.The Wilburys were a supergroup comprised of Dylan, George Harrison, Tom Petty, Jeff Lynne and Roy Orbison, and released two albums filled with lighthearted, not-too-serious songs in contrast to their usually weighty work.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorRepublic Records has announced the promotion of Chris Blackwell to EVP of A&R and Content Strategy, as announced today by label president Wendy Goldstein.According to the announcement, in this new role, Blackwell will continue to shepherd the creation and development of content for the entire Republic Records roster. Additionally, he will work with new artists to identify and maximize content opportunities at the onset of their careers. Blackwell played a major role in Coi Leray’s rise by producing her viral “Cooking With Coi Leray,” and also collaborated with Ka$hdami, Lil Wayne, Benee and Kash Doll on upcoming programming.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorUniversal Music’s share of Todd Moscowitz’s Alamo Records was acquired by Sony Music Entertainment for around $125 million, with a total purchase of between $188 million and $225 million, according to Universal’s recent earnings report and an educated estimate by Music Business Worldwide published Thursday.The company, which was founded as a joint venture with Universal Music Group by the former 300, Warner Music and Def Jam exec in 2016, has been on a hot streak in recent years with Blackbear, Lil Durk and Rod Wave. Sources told Variety at the time that there was a buy/sell negotiation in the months leading up and UMG opted to walk away.While some sources at the time of the June 2021 deal put the sale price at $250 million, MBW spied an item in Universal Music Group‘s recently-issued annual fiscal report stating that Sony Music paid €102 million (around $123 million, which MBW rounded up to $125 million) to buy UMG’s interest in Alamo, which was presumably 50%, with Moscowitz owning the other half.

It’s Friday, Friday, gotta get down on Friday — especially when it’s New Music Friday! We’re breaking down this week’s best new tracks to keep on your radar.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorLos Angeles-based Saudi-Arabian/American singer-rapper-producer $kinny has released his new album, “Have a Nice Trip,” which was executive produced by Swizz Beatz, on Universal Arabic Music.The album features his new single “Salam” with Swizz Beatz and French Montana, the video for which also dropped today (pictured above at the video shoot, L-R, are Swizz, UAM CEO Wassim “Sal” Slaiby, $kinny and Montana).$kinny grew up in Los Angeles as the child of an American mom and Saudi-Arabian dad, and his music is germane to both cultures. Swizz Beatz has been spending a lot of time in the Middle East in recent years, and the match was easy.“It’s crazy, Swizz and I made ‘Salam’ the day we met,” $kinny tells Variety.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorLive Nation Entertainment posted the best first quarter in its history this year, according to financial results released Thursday for the quarter ended March 31, 2022.“Momentum has picked up for all of our businesses over the course of the first quarter, and as a result, we delivered financial performance that greatly surpassed our previous expectations, with operating income of $27 million and [adjusted operating income] of $209 million,” CEO Michael Rapino said in a statement accompanying the results. “Artists are back on the road and fan demand has never been stronger, a reflection that live events remain a clear priority for consumers as our social lives restart.”The company’s AOI of $209 million topped the previous record, Q1 of 2019, by $94 million, and was $361 million better than 2021 — when the industry had not yet begun to emerge from the pandemic — with a boost of $269 million in ticketing, $66 million in sponsorship and $26 million in concerts.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorR&B star and former Fifth Harmony member Normani has inked a global publishing deal with Hipgnosis Songs Group — but the most eye-grabbing news in the announcement comes toward the end: “Normani has confirmed new music and a larger body of work is on the way.”Fans have been impatiently awaiting new material from the singer for years, and the announcement of a publishing deal often means (although does not guarantee) that its release is relatively imminent. She was named Collaborator of the Year at Variety‘s Hitmakers event in December.The deal includes all of the future works by Normani, a six-time BMI Award winning songwriter.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorSwedish pop innovator Tove Lo returns with a new song and video called “No One Dies From Love,” released on her own, newly launched Pretty Swede label through mtheory. The song was co-written with longtime collaborator Ludvig Söderberg.“When you’re with someone for a long time and it ends all of all sudden, it’s like a part of you has died,” Lo says of the song.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorGrammy-nominated Colombian music luminaries stars Bomba Estéreo have announced the most extensive headline tour of their career, with 33 dates across North America, Europe and Mexico. Tickets are on sale Friday.The duo recently released the official music video for their single “Tierra.” The video stars Bomba singer Liliana Saumet and Lukas Avendaño, a nonbinary Zapotec indigenous performance artist, and was directed by Fana Adjani.The song is from Bomba’s recent Grammy-nominated album, “Deja.”  “This album has a very special aura,” Bomba’s founder Simon Mejia Simon says.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorEarly 21 st century New York rockers the Yeah Yeah Yeahs — singer Karen O, guitarist Nick Zinner and drummer Jay Chase — have announced new music and tour dates in the summer and fall. The group, which recently signed with indie powerhouse Secretly Canadian, say they will have new music in the fall.The group will play a brace of dates in Europe and Australia in the summer before hitting North America, with dates at New York’s Forest Hills Stadium and the Hollywood Bowl in October, where they will be joined by high school punk rockers the Linda Lindas on both dates and (in Los Angeles) by Japanese Breakfast.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorRic Parnell, who played the fictional band Spinal Tap’s drummer Mick Shrimpton in the classic 1984 heavy metal “mockumentary” “This Is Spinal Tap,” has died at the age of 70, according to a post from the group’s Harry Shearer and Yahoo News. No cause of death was initially reported.Ric Parnell, our drummer in This is Spinal Tap, passed away today.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorLong-running Canadian twin-sister duo Tegan and Sara have signed with Mom + Pop Music and launched the partnership with a new single, “Fucking Up What Matters.” The move represents a return to their roots, in a sense: Mom + Pop was co-founded by Michael Goldstone, the veteran A&R who signed the sisters to Sire Records early in their career (and also signed Pearl Jam and Rage Against the Machine to Epic Records). The label’s roster also includes Courtney Barnett, Lucius, Sleater-Kinney, Porter Robinson, Ashe, Madeon and more.“Michael Goldstone signed us to Sire/Warner in 2006, we had just made ‘The Con’ and felt like the vision Goldie and the team at Sire had for us and the album were a good fit,” the pair said in a statement. “But soon after he signed us, he left to start Mom+Pop. We never held it against him, but joked that one day we’d work together for real.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorJust two days after Record Store Day, the company Vinyl Me, Please has announced that it is building an audiophile-grade vinyl pressing plant in Denver that is scheduled to open by the end of 2022 for production, tours and special events. The news also comes after years of a vinyl-manufacturing backlog that has caused the delay of vinyl copies of many releases.“Quality control and availability are critical to maintaining and expanding our leadership position in the vinyl industry,” said VMP CEO Cameron Schaefer.

Instagram, which includes snaps of him, as well as another musical superstar, one fans aren’t used to seeing with the rapper.The final image is a throwback photo of the Canadian hip-hop talent with Swift, and he captioned it, “They too soft to understand the meaning of hard work.” While it is easy to make out that it’s not a newly-taken picture, it still has fans of both acts in a frenzy.Swifties parse out every lyric, photo, tweet, like of anything on social media, and even any prop in a music video, to see if they can come up with theories regarding what their favorite singer will do next.This practice is encouraged by the “All Too Well” songwriter, and she’s made it clear that this is how she communicates with them. Many believe that Drake posting not just a photo of the two, but a throwback picture, means quite a bit.They are collectively predicting that the two chart-toppers have a song together, but that it’s not exactly “new,” even though nobody has heard it.Swift is in the middle of re-recording her first six albums in an effort to regain control over the masters of the music that made her a star.

Muse, Paramore, Taylor Swift and Waterparks have created band-specific versions of Heardle – find out where to play below:The original version of Heardle provides players a daily challenge where they must guess a song and the artist in the least amount of time possible. Recent answers have included hits by Arctic Monkeys, Spice Girls and Red Hot Chilli Peppers but fans have created a few band-specific versions of the game for a more in-depth challenge.First up there’s Muse Heardle which features album tracks and b-sides.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorMTV announced that the 2022 VMAs will air live and around the world in more than 170 countries on Sunday, August 28th from the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.“We are thrilled to be back in New Jersey for this year’s VMAs live from Prudential Center,” said Bruce Gillmer, president of music, music talent, programming & events, Paramount and chief content officer, music, Paramount+. “Our 2019 show in Newark was undoubtedly one of our biggest and most successful shows yet and we’re excited to bring back the incredible fan energy for one of music’s most anticipated and iconic nights.”“New Jersey is honored to once again host the MTV Video Music Awards at one of our many world-class entertainment and sports venues,” said Governor Phil Murphy.