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AMP Music Summit Draws Inspiration From History & Community in Second Virtual Event
The AMP Music Summit presented by KCRW held its second online conference earlier this week, celebrating the power of collaboration between artists, business leaders and local communities through music, storytelling, technology, law and culture. While the main arc of the AMP Music Summit focused on culture-shifting changes resulting from COVID-19, a common theme at AMP’s second event was the power of music to inspire smaller cities while building a sense of community and collective pride. “It’s great to hear the stories of hope and that’s really a lot of what we’re trying to do with this conference,” said Simon Lamb, who along with Rebel Industries founder Josh Levine and Seth Combs co-founded AMP Music Summit earlier this year. “We want to provide a counter narrative to s...
Executive Turntable: TalentX Founder Named Triller Chief Strategy Officer, Radio Promo Vets Launch New Company
Social media star, entrepreneur and TalentX Entertainment co-founder Josh Richards has been named chief strategy officer at AI-driven music video and entertainment platform Triller, which he also invested in. In his new role, Richards will lead strategy at Triller while also overseeing the company’s implementation of live streaming and monetization tools. Triller, a rival to the wildly popular video-sharing platform TikTok, last year raised $28 million in a funding round led by Proxima Media last year, also drawing investors including Snoop Dogg and Lil Wayne. In June, the platform — which currently has music licensing partnerships with Warner, Sony Music and UMG — hit 50 million monthly active users. “After seeing the US and other countries’ governments’ concerns over Tik...
A New Rihanna Album Is Still On The Way, Navy Breathes Sigh Of Relief
Source: The 69th Parsons Benefit in NYC Featuring: Rihanna Where: NYC, New York, United States When: 23 May 2017 Credit: Patricia Schlein/WENN.com In 2020 Rihanna continues to add big wins to her mogul resume her fans have been left wondering where is the new music. She has confirmed that her new project is still coming. As spotted on Billboard Magazine the Barbadian songstress is still passionate about her gift and first creative love. During a recent press run promoting her upcoming Fenty Skin line launch she discussed her music with Access Hollywood. “I love making music, so I never neglect it. I always get to it and get back to it” she revealed. “But there’s other things on the carousel now, so I have to pay attention to everything and stay on top of everything. I’m just that...
HHW Gaming: Twitch Partnering With Cxmmunity To Create An Esports League For HBCUs
Source: Nicolas Menijes / EyeEm / Getty Believe it or not, Black teens want to play video games professionally too, and are pretty damn good at it. Twitch is looking to give these gamers the opportunity they deserve. The streaming giant announced its partnership with the organization Cxmunnity, which pushes gamers of color to participate in Esports and within the gaming community to form the first-ever Esports League for Historically Black Colleges and Universities. The new league will provide HBCU students with educational and scholarship support through Twitch Student while helping expand HBCU’s Esports programs. Colleges having Esports teams is nothing new. In fact, there are more than 200 universities that have teams or clubs associated with TESPA, Collegiate Star League, and the Natio...
Google’s Newest Feature Will Make It Easier To Find Black-Owned Businesses
Source: Google / Google Maps The search for Black-owned businesses to happily spend our Black dollars has gotten even easier. Google announced a new feature that will help single out Black-owned businesses when people search for them using their search engine and Google Maps. The new tool is part of the pledge the company made to help support the Black community with “initiatives and product ideas that support long-term solutions.” So how will it work? When specifically searching for a Black-owned business, Google or Google Maps will designate the companies as such by placing a black heart with an orange three-striped background badge next to it. In order to participate, Black owners need to claim their business on Google and then verify they own it via email, mail, or phone to apply for a...
Melody Thorton “Phoenix Rise,” Lil Wayne ft. Jay Jones & Gudda Gudda “Thug Life” & More | Daily Visuals 7.31.20
With the Black Lives Matters protests having experienced a resurgence in 2020 thanks to the tragic death of George Floyd and other innocent Black men and women, artists have been inspired to create music around the movement and Melody Thorton continues that trend with her latest music video. For her black-and-white visuals to “Phoenix Rise,” Melody uses throwback footage of how intense the protests and fight for equality was during the Civil Rights era that paved the way for today’s righteous protests. Keep stirring up good trouble, y’all. Rest in Power, Sir. Lil Wayne meanwhile borrows Young Thug’s steez and kicks it with his peoples in his Jay Jones and Gudda Gudda assisted visuals to “Thug Life.” Check out the rest of today’s drops including work from Action Bronson, Rod Wave, and more....
Lil Uzi Vert and Future Join Forces, Toast Themselves on Two New Songs
In a year where absolutely nothing is surprising anymore, and nothing is ever on time, Lil Uzi Vert and Future just reinvented what it means to be fashionably late. The hip-hop powerhouses came through on a promise and sort-of-surprise-dropped two new tracks “Over Your Head” and “Patek,” on Friday afternoon. While the pair teased a joint effort this month on Instagram — with a date of July 31 attached — fans were disappointed to see the release was absent from streaming services on Friday at midnight EST. But even with a tardy pass, Hendrix and Baby Pluto just came through with a pair of emo-trap slappers to help us graduate past Summer 2020. “Over Your Head” sees Uzi — who dropped his sophomore album Eternal Atake earlier this year — taking charge with Future giving the uptempo, sing...
Microsoft in Talks to Purchase TikTok
Amid threats that TikTok could soon be banned in the US because of its Chinese ownership, Microsoft has entered into negotiations to purchase the popular video sharing platform, according to the New York Times. Earlier this month, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo indiciated that the Trump Administration was considering banning TikTok, citing security and privacy concerns. On Friday, Trump himself confirmed as much, telling reporters that “We’re looking at TikTok, we may be banning TikTok. We may be doing some other things. There’s a couple of options. But a lot of things are happening, so we’ll see what happens. But we are looking at a lot of alternatives with respect to TikTok.” One possible option under consideration, according to Bloomberg, is to force TikTok to sell off its US opera...
First Official Friday the 13th Board Game Now Available
Friday the 13th is a fickle franchise when it comes to rights. (We’ll let Friday 3 star Larry Zerner explain the legal mumbo jumbo.) That’s why we’re only just now getting an officially licensed board game featuring Camp Crystal Lake and Jason Voorhees. Enter Friday the 13th: Horror at Camp Crystal Lake, a new press-your-luck survival game from The Op that “puts you and your friends in the roles of camp counselors in a face-off with the hockey-masked murderer for an intense five ‘nights’.” The logline continues, “Endure the suspense and win by gathering the most valuable supplies or finding safety as others lose everything, with unexpected hitches the whole way!” Because, let’s be real, it wouldn’t be a true-blue Friday the 13th experience without some “unexpected hitches.” Of course, it a...
After Just One Week, Taylor Swift’s folklore Is Already the Top-Selling Album of 2020
Last week, Taylor Swift ditched her usual lengthy album rollout plan in favor of something quick and easy — and it seems to have paid off tremendously. Just seven days after its release, folklore is already the top selling album of 2020. According to a press release, the Lover follow-up reigns supreme with over two million sales worldwide. These impressive stats also cement Swift as the only female “to have seven albums each sell at least 500,000 copies in a single week.” Across the pond, folklore serves as the biggest UK debut for a female artist this year. Historically, she is the “first and only female artist in the 21st century” to score five No. 1 albums in the country. Swift’s streaming numbers are equally astounding. Globally, her new album has pulled in over half a billio...
Starcrawler’s Arrow de Wilde Accuses The Growlers of Misconduct
Starcrawler’s Arrow de Wilde (photo by Kimberley Ross) and The Growlers’ Brooks Nielsen (photo by David Brendan Hall) The Growlers were at the center of the accusations recently raised against Burger Records, which ultimately led to the label shutting down. At the time, frontman Brooks Nielsen said the band was “committed to conducting ourselves in a way our mothers, wives, sisters, and daughters would be proud of.” However, it seems as recently as January the band was engaging in misconduct, as Starcrawler’s Arrow de Wilde has levied new accusations against the band. Starcrawler joined The Growlers on their 12-date Australian tour at the top of the year. When de Wilde got off stage after finishing a Melbourne show, she was covered in sweat and fake blood, a typical part of Sta...
Charlotte Lawrence’s ‘Slow Motion’ Is An Emotional Quarantine Snapshot
In February 2020, Charlotte Lawrence was on fire — well, almost. The music video for her bouncy, mischievous song “Joke’s on You” found the 20-year-old singer strutting amid blazing inferno as she laid out a tale of emotional revenge. The tune soundtracked Harley Quinn’s misanthropic adventures in the Birds of Prey blockbuster film, sitting alongside killer cuts from artists like Halsey, Megan Thee Stallion, Doja Cat, and more on its soundtrack. A month later, she was among the first wave of highly visible virus cases, as she announced her COVID-19 diagnosis on Instagram on March 18. “I am going to be completely fine,” she wrote in a note that scans as quaint nearly five months later. “But many who get it won’t be if too many people get sick ...
