business
Recording Academy Paid $4.5M in Legal Fees in 2019, Filings Show
Dugan’s short-lived tenure as Portnow’s successor began Aug.1, 2019, and her salary — as well as any changes in expenditures that occurred under her short-lived tenure — are not indicated in this filing. Five days after being put on administrative leave on Jan. 16, 2020 — just 10 days before the 62nd Grammy Awards — and eventually terminated, Dugan filed a discrimination complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). According to Dugan’s EEOC complaint, she learned in May 2019 that “[Joel] Katz and his law firm [Greenberg Traurig] are paid an exorbitant amount of money by the Academy.” She accused the academy of being “boys’ club network” — a place “where men work together to the disadvantage of women and disen...
Joie Manda Exiting Interscope Geffen A&M: Exclusive
Formerly Interscope’s head of urban music, Manda assumed the executive vp role in 2017. With Janick, he helped bring the label to record-level market share, signing or working with top hip-hop and R&B acts including DaBaby, Summer Walker, Mike Will Made-It, Rae Sremmurd, Machine Gun Kelly, 6lack, Tory Lanez, Dreezy and Playboi Carti, and was instrumental in the 2014 partnership with J. Cole’s Dreamville Records. But he also supported the labels’ pop efforts like Billie Eilish, Selena Gomez and Blackpink. Manda previously served as president of Def Jam Records, also a subsidiary of Universal Music Group. Prior to joining the UMG family, Manda served as head of urban music for Warner Bros. Records, where he worked closely with Jill Scott, Common and Rick Ross’ May...
‘Kelly Clarkson Show’ Renewed Through 2023
Clarkson’s show debuted in fall 2019 and became the most watched new daytime talk show in seven years. The current season — which returned to studio production after filming remotely in the spring and summer — is putting up solid ratings as well, averaging 1.31 million daily viewers and ranking in the top five syndicated talkers. “The Kelly Clarkson Show is one of the most optimistic success stories in first-run syndication,” said Valari Staab, president NBCUniversal Owned Television Stations. “Kelly is a beloved performer and host with deep roots at NBC, and we are delighted to have her continue to be a very important and treasured part of our stations’ programming.” The show won three Daytime Emmys in 2020, including one for Clarkson as bes...
Roc Nation to Launch Publishing Imprint With Books From Lil Uzi Vert, Meek Mill
Under a new partnership with Random House, Roc Lit 101 will also put out titles by Yo Gotti, Fat Joe and music journalist Danyel Smith. Roc Nation is getting into the book publishing business via a new partnership with Random House, the companies announced today. The new imprint, which is rolling out under the name Roc Lit 101, will be dedicated to publishing books “at the dynamic intersection of entertainment and genre-defying literature, including exhilarating, innovative work from some of the biggest artists and most imaginative and incisive writers of our time on a wide range of subjects such as music, sports, pop culture, activism, and art,” according to a release. The imprint will be overseen by Chris Jackson, publisher and editor-in-chief of Random House imprint One World Books, and...
Seasons Greetings! Half of the Billboard 200’s Top 10 Are Christmas Albums
Bublé’s Christmas album climbs 6-4 with 55,000 equivalent album units earned in the week ending Dec. 10 (up 14%), according to Nielsen Music/MRC Data. Also joining in the merriment: Carrie Underwood’s My Gift (9-5, a new peak with 53,000 units; up 19%), Nat King Cole’s The Christmas Song (12-7 with 42,000 units; up 20%), Pentatonix’s The Best of Pentatonix Christmas (16-8 with just over 39,000; up 22%) and Mariah Carey’s Merry Christmas (15-10 with 38,000; up 17%). The last time five holiday albums were among the top 10 occurred on the Dec. 21, 2013-dated chart. That week, the top 10 housed Kelly Clarkson’s Wrapped in Red (No. 3), The Robertsons’ Duck the Halls: A Robertson Family Christmas (No. 5), Pentatonix’s PTXmas (EP) (No. 7), Bublé’s Christmas (No. 8) and Mary J. Blige’s A Mary Chri...
Taylor Swift’s ‘Evermore’ Is In Pole Position on Midweek U.K. Chart
Swift’s ninth studio album leads the way on downloads and album streams, according to the Official Charts Company, and three tracks from it are poised to enter the singles chart Top 20, led by “Willow,” new at No. 3 on the midweek survey. With Christmas just around the corner, a pair of orchestral albums are climbing the chart. The biggest physical seller in the week so far is Neil Diamond’s Classic Diamonds (Capitol) with the London Symphony Orchestra, new at No. 2 on the midweek tally, while Johnny Cash and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra’s Johnny Cash and the RPO (Legacy Recordings) lifts 15-4. Manchester indie rock band James are on track for a 10th U.K. Top 10 album as live recording Live In Extraordinary Times (Nothing But Love Music) starts at No. 10. Also making an impact on ...
Jessica Mauboy, Superstar Australian Pop Artist, Signs With Warner Music
Her performances on Idol landed Mauboy a contract with Sony Music Australia, her label home until now. “I have had an incredible journey with Sony, for which I will forever be grateful,” she remarks. “It’s now time for the next chapter of my career and I’m very excited to be joining the team at Warner Music. I have been spending my time in studio lately and looking forward to releasing new music in the new year”. Along the way, Mauboy has bagged a string of platinum-selling records, awards and movie roles. Mauboy appeared in the 2009 feature film Bran Nue Dae and turning heads with her starring performance in the 2012 feel-good flick The Sapphires, her soundtrack for which went to No. 1 in Australia. Along the way, she won the ARIA Award for female artist of the year, and she has...
Ticketmaster’s Arbitration Policy Again Enforced in Dispute Over Pandemic Refunds
Ticketmaster filed a motion to compel arbitration. It argued that Hansen, like anyone else who buys concert tickets through its site, agreed to its terms of use which contains an arbitration agreement. In September, both Ticketmaster and StubHub prevailed on similar motions in disputes brought by baseball fans. There, U.S. District Judge Dale Fischer found that the click-through agreements users interact with while signing into the site and buying tickets are sufficient to provide notice of the policy and constitute mutual assent to an arbitration agreement. That’s one of the arguments Hansen made here; he didn’t read the terms of use and was unaware it included an arbitration provision and therefore he couldn’t have assented. U.S. District Judge Edward M. Chen isn’...
Police recruit 503 special constables in Nasarawa
The Nigeria Police Force (NPF) has engaged 503 Special Constables (SCP) for community policing in Nasarawa State, to enhance intelligence gathering in tackling insecurity and crime. Assistant Inspector-General of Police (AIG) in charge of Zone 4, Mr. Jonah John, made the disclosure on Monday in Lafia, at a one-day sensitisation campaign on community policing in Nasarawa. According to him, 49 of the 503 recruited SCP have successfully undergone training and posted to their various communities in the state to serve. The AIG added that 454 of the recruited SCP were currently undergoing training at the police Zone 4 Headquarters in Makurdi, Benue State. Speaking at the event, Peter Yisa-Gana, Inspector-General of Police (IGP’s) Special Rapporteur on Community Policing for Nasarawa, Benue and P...
Reddit Acquires TikTok Competitor Dubsmash
“Both Reddit and Dubsmash share a deep-rooted respect for how communities come together,” said Reddit CEO Steve Huffman. “Dubsmash elevates underrepresented creators, while Reddit fosters a sense of community and belonging across thousands of different topics and passions. It’s clear that our missions closely align and that our community-focused platforms can coexist and grow as we learn from each other.” While Dubsmash launched as a creation tool for lip-synching videos in 2015, its founders retooled the offering two years later to add social media elements. It has since emerged as a strong competitor in the growing social video app market, which is dominated by TikTok (with 100 million monthly active U.S. users and 2 billion global downloads) but also include...
Mariah Carey’s ‘All I Want For Christmas Is You’ Hits U.K. No. 1 For First Time
“All I Want” reaches the summit in its 104th week. According to the Official Charts Company, no other song in history has spent as many weeks in the U.K. Top 40 before eventually reaching No. 1. Another song that makes an annual pilgrimage up the U.K. chart but has never reached the top is Wham’s 1984 hit “Last Christmas” (RCA). This week, it’s at No. 2, agonizingly-close to creating its own piece of history. The Queen of Christmas leads a festive U.K. chart which features 23 holiday-themed songs in the Top 40, including six in the Top 10: The Pogues featuring Kirsty Maccoll’s “Fairytale Of New York” (up 8-4 via Warner Bros), Shakin’ Stevens’ “Merry Christmas Everyone” (14-6 via RCA), Michael Bublé’s “It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas” (13-7 via Reprise), Band Aid’s “Do They Know...
U.S. warns Pacific islands about Chinese bid for undersea cable project
The United States has warned Pacific island nations about security threats posed by a Chinese company’s cut-price bid to build an undersea internet cable, two sources told Reuters, part of an international development project in the region. Huawei Marine, which was recently divested from Huawei Technologies Co Ltd and is now majority-owned by another Chinese firm, submitted bids along with French-headquartered Alcatel Submarine Networks (ASN), part of Finland’s Nokia, and Japan’s NEC, for the $72.6 million project backed by the World Bank and Asian Development Bank (ADB), the sources with direct knowledge of the project details said. The project is designed to improve communications to the island nations of Nauru, Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) and Kiribati. Washington sent a diploma...