business
AC/DC Hold Off Shawn Mendes For Australia’s Chart Crown
Also this week, Swift folklore vaults 5-3, thanks to the debut of her Disney Plus special and the rollout of its vinyl version, which sees the isolation recording rule the ARIA Vinyl Albums Chart. British indie heroes Arctic Monkeys bow at No. 4 with Live At The Royal Albert Hall, the followup to their chart-topping 2018 studio album Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino. The live compilation becomes the Sheffield band’s seventh top five ARIA album, including all six of their studio albums. Rounding out the Top 5 is Miley Cyrus’ Plastic Hearts, down 3-5, while Yungblud’s U.K. No. 1 Weird! starts at No. 6 in the land Down Under. Michael Buble spreads festive cheer on the ARIA Albums Chart with Christmas, up 14-7. It leads a list of holiday-themed albums climbing the chart, including...
Air passengers decry upsurge in fares, seek urgent attention to roads, railway
Nigerians, who travel by air, have decried the “sudden” upsurge in air fares and urged the Federal Government to intervene to avoid poor patronage that could dwindle the fortunes of the aviation industry. Newsmen report that the air fares shot up by about 100 per cent in the last one week, with some airline operators even raising their fares by as much as 120 per cent or more. At Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, the fare from Abuja to Lagos, which was N35,300 (Economy Class), rose to between N70,000 and N75,000. Newsmen found that Business Class travellers were charged between N100,000 and N120,000, depending on the airline. Our correspondents, who visited other airports across the country, found that the rise in airfares was the same, a situation that forced some passengers to...
Defying Pandemic Woes, Live Entertainment Giant OVG Showed New Growth in 2020
One company, however, has not only avoided layoffs completely but actually hired more than 50 executives in the last two months to assist with a growing portfolio of venues and development initiatives. The Oak View Group, founded by former AEG chief executive Tim Leiweke, has been a quiet but persistent force for prosperity and economic development during the pandemic. Launched in 2015 along with Leiweke’s partner Irving Azoff, OVG is overseeing $4.5 billion in arena development projects across the world, including in Austin, Texas. There, the company made its most recent high profile hire, announcing that Casey Sparks, who previously managed the BOK Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma for ASM Global for six years, was joining the company. Sparks will serve as vp of OVG Austin and assista...
Diego Toro Celebrates Two Years of Toro Music Group With Yotuel Romero Signing
Below, Toro elaborates on the company’s anniversary, growing success and plans for 2021. What was the biggest life lesson working at Sony that you walked away with? It is very difficult to mention a single teaching in a lifetime of experiences with music, songs, artists and colleagues. But the “opportunity” that Sony gave me to demonstrate with passion, to think “outside the box,” to believe that you can break schemes, trusting music production from the heart, and being loyal to your principles and values are an inspiring route that will always pay off. What inspired you to launch your own marketing and management company two years ago? In a company, you live the musical stages of the artists, the releases, campaigns, and strategies according to the season. But in managem...
How the Academy’s New Black Music Collective Is Dismantling the ‘Disconnect’ With Its Community
Butterfield Jones: We are also shifting our thoughts around to equity and inclusion — making sure that once you are part of the Recording Academy, you have the opportunity to break that ceiling and get into leadership roles within the academy. We want to get more folks into the room. But we also want to make sure there’s a pathway to leadership once they get in the door. Which goals can the BMC accomplish immediately, and which will be more long term? Butterfield Jones: The North Star is to earn the trust of the Black music community. Being able to move that needle in one year and have more Black representation in the room will be progress. I’m here because many different powerful Black women paved the way. We’re focused on making sure that people that look like us have a seat at the table...
The Rolling Stones Tap BMG for Global Neighboring Rights, Extend Publishing Deal
BMG has signed up The Rolling Stones to represent the band globally in pursuing collections of master recording performance rights royalties when their songs are played on radio and television, also known as neighboring rights. While in the U.S., master recording performance royalties are only paid when music is played on digital and satellite radio — and not when tracks play on terrestrial radio or TV — in most other countries those rights receive royalty payments for that kind of play in addition to digital. This signing gives a big boost to BMG’s neighboring rights service, launched only six months ago. “If you are in the business of selling services to artists and songwriters, these are the kinds of client you dream of attracting,” BMG CEO Hartwig Masuch said in ...
Minister: Industry, trade, investment key to economic diversification
The Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Otunba Adeniyi Adebayo, says the sector is crucial in the drive toward diversification of the nation’s economy, away from being oil dominated. Adebayo spoke in Abuja at the Physical/Virtual 12th National Council on Industry, Trade and Investment meeting, with the theme “Revitalisation of the Industry, Trade and Investment Sector in Nigeria in the Post-COVID-19 pandemic era”. He explained the pivotal role of the ministry as a key actor in the economy with the mandate to stimulate domestic investment and attract foreign direct investment into all sectors. The minister said it was committed in facilitating trade in goods and services and maximising benefits of international trade through functional bilateral and multilateral trade relations. Acc...
Shakira Crowned Google’s Most-Searched Artist of 2020: See Full List
Google has unveiled its Year in Search List, revealing all of the trends of 2020 including music, movies, sports teams, and more. In the U.S, Shakira tops the most-searched artist and band list, followed by August Alsina, Adele, Doja Cat, Grimes, Van Halen, Lizzo, Tamar Braxton, Quando Rondo, and Tory Lanez. Shak is also the No. 7 most-searched person of the year, just above Tom Brady, Kanye West, and Vanessa Bryant. But the Latina superstar, who’s currently making the rounds with the Black Eyed Peas-assisted “Girl Like Me” single, is not the only Colombiana on the list. You Deserve to Make Money Even When you are looking for Dates Online. So we reimagined what a dating should be. It begins with giving you back power. Get to meet Beautiful people, chat and make money in the process. Earn r...
Label Look: Hopeless Records On 20 Years of Giving Back
The venture grew out of Posen’s desire to, in his words, “do more than make bands rich and famous” — an undertaking that feels prescient in light of today’s developments, when seemingly every major music company (particularly in the wake of this summer’s Black Lives Matter protests) now makes a point of touting its social action initiatives. But Hopeless stands as one of the earliest labels, major or independent, to make giving back not just a side project but a core part of its mission. Running a record label was never a part of the plan for Posen, who as a film student at California State University, Northridge had his mind set on becoming a director. But that dream circuitously led him to establish Hopeless after the punk band Guttermouth — who had hired him to direct a musi...
Midnight Oil Sets Tour of Australia, Promises More Dates Later In 2021
Midnight Oil was slated to debut the Makarrata Live concept at the Splendour In The Grass festival in July 2020, but the event was postponed due to the health crisis. The Oils, as they’re affectionately known Down Under, will tour “in their own right” later in 2021 by which time large indoor shows can hopefully be staged safely and without compromise throughout Australia and New Zealand at least, reads a statement from Michael Gudinski’s Frontier Touring, producer of the tour. “We’re relieved and excited at the thought of finally playing music to live audiences again,” said frontman Peter Garrett. “Lots of the songs which have struck the deepest chords with our audiences over the years, like ‘Beds Are Burning,’ ‘Jimmy Sharman’s Boxers,’ ‘The Dead Heart’ ...
Sony Music Names Jean-Sebastien Permal Director of A&R in Continental Europe & Africa
Permal, who was born in Mauritius, moved to Vienna in 2014 to pursue a career in music management and publishing. He joined Sony Music Germany’s label Four Music in 2017 before expanding his A&R role to encompass all of Sony Music’s labels across Europe and Africa the following year. “With his deep roots in African and European music, Seb is well positioned to connect the dots among our A&Rs across the world to help artists succeed on a global scale,” said Sony Music president of Continental Europe and Africa Daniel Lieberberg, whom Permal will directly report to. “He is one of the most creative and well connected executives in both regions and a most valuable source of expertise for our artists and creatives.” Since 2018, Permal has worked with Sony Music’s labels on a number of a...
APC: PDP pushing Nigeria into one-party state
The All Progressives Congress (APC) has accused the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) of pushing the country into a one-party state. The ruling party said this in a reaction to a statement credited to the opposition party. PDP had asked the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to deregister APC and declare seats of its lawmakers vacant following its decision to dissolve all organs of the party. In a statement on Tuesday, Yekini Nabena, APC deputy spokesman, described PDP’s call as a “beer parlour rant”. “If the PDP assumes this as its standard of opposition politics, then our democracy is in danger. It is now clear that the PDP’s disillusion following their rejection by Nigerians in the 2015 and 2019 general election has degenerated into senility,” Nabena said. “With the PDP as th...
