Blackpink is an undeniable force right now. And anyone who doesn’t yet understand the hype will have the chance to check it out for themselves when the group hosts its top-of-the-line livestream concert on YouTube this weekend. Since signing with Universal Music Group’s Interscope Records in the United States in …
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2020’s spate of copyright cases just keeps getting weirder. In the latest legal tussle over music rights, the record label and publishing companies that worked on J Dilla‘s Donuts — an album that dropped three days before the hip-hop artist’s death in 2006 — have until next Wednesday to respond …
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“Every single week of quarantine, I’ve executed a contract by signing it on my phone,” says Sony/ATV Nashville CEO Rusty Gaston. His sentiment is echoed by many other music publishers — which, even as their label counterparts slow down on new signings, are ramping up deals. Labels are feeling the …
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“If the ad revenue currently spent on radio instead flowed to online platforms, it would double the current size of the music business.” Spotify founder and CEO Daniel Ekis making that argument in the wake of his company’s Q1 earnings announcement. According to Ek, the record industry should stop obsessing …
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Richie Sambora is selling the rights to his nearly 200-song catalog to song-acquisition investment company Hipgnosis Songs Fund, Hipgnosis announced on Monday. Financial details between the company and the former Bon Jovi guitarist weren’t specified, but given Merck Mercuriadis‘ reputation to overpay for his acquisitions and the number of hits …
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As the spread of COVID-19 isolates more and more Americans in their homes, many thought that they would be coping by streaming more music — and, in turn, helping to soften the inevitably catastrophic blow that the pandemic will have on the music industry. But that doesn’t seem to be …
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The Executive Committee of The Recording Academy — the organization that controls the Grammy Awards — issued a letter to members on Monday informing them of the termination of President/CEO Deborah Dugan‘s employment. Dugan was placed on administrative leave 10 days before the January 26th Grammys for allegations of misconduct. …
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The future of major label A&R may be rooted in intense parental instincts. “I’m obsessed with my artists,” Caroline “Baroline” Diaz, Interscope’s senior director of A&R says. “They’re like my kids.” While most A&Rs tend to take a cool-headed, hands-off approach to their artists, Diaz, a 24-year-old New York native, …
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Sony Music Entertainment and Sony/ATV — Sony’s recorded music and publishing divisions, respectively — will come together under one umbrella company next month, creating a structure in line with that of the other two major music companies. In an internal memo sent on Wednesday and reviewed by Rolling Stone, Sony …
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Spotify is no longer a music-streaming company. On Wednesday morning, the company announced a new playlist that combines music, news and podcast content for the first time and in one single personalized feed. The change effectively offers a leveled-up alternative to terrestrial radio and positions the Swedish streaming service as …
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