business
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos Grilled at Big Tech Hearing About Being Unfair to Streamers
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos might be the richest person in the world, but he’s also a rookie. Until Wednesday, he had never before been grilled by lawmakers on Capitol Hill. That changed today when top executives at the nation’s leading technology companies gathered — at least virtually — for testimony before a House of Representatives antitrust subcommittee. There, Bezos faced blistering questions about whether the e-commerce giant has abused its market power. “A lot of people want to know when the HBO Max app will be available on your Fire devices,” Congressman Jamie Raskin (D-MD) told Bezos. “I understand negotiations are ongoing but your company is not only asking for financial terms but also for content from Warner Media…. Is it fair to use your gatekeepe...
Alice Ivy Signs Global Publishing Deal With Concord, Native Tongue
Alice Ivy has struck a new worldwide publishing deal through a joint venture with Concord Music Publishing and Australian independent publisher Native Tongue. “Publishing is something I’ve taken my time with,” said Ivy of the new arrangement, which is effective immediately. “I wanted to hold off until I’d matured as a songwriter and a producer and wait for the right partners to come along. Between the team at Native Tongue, who’ve always looked out for me, and my new family at Concord, it feels like the best possible set-up for me at this exciting stage in my career. When it came down to it, they asked what I was looking for and I said, ‘I want to be jumping on planes and writing music every day’ and they said, ‘we can do that.'” The Melbourn...
G-Herbo Tabs Saweetie, City Girls, Wale and NLE Choppa For Mental Health Notes Panel
In hopes of aiding struggling Black teens, G-Herbo is collaborating with Audiomack to help restore their mental health with his forthcoming Mental Health Notes Panel, airing today (July 29) at 6:00 p.m. ET on Twitch. Hosted by Dr. Jessica Clemons MD, the star-studded lineup will include Saweetie, City Girls, Wale, NLE Choppa and NAMI CEO Dan Gillison as speakers for today’s festivities. Designed to provide tools to help Black youth maneuver through the ups-and-downs of mental health, this forum will offer a bevy of techniques to help lessen their everyday battles, while de-stigmatizing the importance therapy in the African American community. “I wanted to gather everyone to encourage open dialogue, so that we not only become a support system for one another, but our fans as well, Herbo tel...
4 Big Tech CEOs Getting Heat From Congress on Competition
Four Big Tech CEOs — Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, Sundar Pichai of Google and Tim Cook of Apple — are set to answer for their companies’ practices before Congress as a House panel caps its yearlong investigation of market dominance in the industry. The four command corporations with gold-plated brands, millions or even billions of customers, and a combined value greater than the entire German economy. One of them is the world’s richest individual (Bezos); another is the fourth-ranked billionaire (Zuckerberg). Their industry has transformed society, linked people around the globe, mined and commercialized users’ personal data, and infuriated critics on both the left and right over speech. Critics question whether the companies, grown increasingly powerful after...
Demi Lovato, Ben Platt and More to Appear During Virtual GLAAD Media Awards Ceremony
Though they’re not able to celebrate in person this year, GLAAD is making sure that LGBTQ representation in media is still recognized with the GLAAD Media Awards — and they’re teaming up with some big stars to do it. On Wednesday (July 29), GLAAD announced that even more stars, including Demi Lovato and Ben Platt, will be joining the previously-announced lineup for the 31st annual GLAAD Media Awards’ virtual ceremony. The organization announced that along with a special musical performance from Chloe x Halle, the show will also now feature two new performers; actor and singer Ben Platt, and singer-songwriter Shea Diamond. GLAAD also announced that stars like Lovato, Jennifer Garner, Lilly Singh, Charli XCX, Kandi Burruss, Theo Germaine, August Getty, Gigi Gorgeous Ge...
DOJ Workshop on ASCAP & BMI Consent Decrees Lays Out Key Issues With Heavy-Hitter Speakers
Pharrell Williams, LeAnn Rimes, top executives from the performing rights organizations and other leading trade groups all spoke at Tuesday’s session. At the top of Tuesday’s (July 28) Department of Justice public workshop regarding the federal consent decrees that govern ASCAP and BMI, assistant attorney general for the antitrust division Makan Delrahim laid out the main focus for the two-day hearings and panel discussions: competition. Or more specifically, as he put it, “Competition for the benefit of the American consumer, competition for the benefit of innovation and competition for the benefit of songwriters, composers and artists.” That set the tone for four hours’ worth of discussion on the potential review, which was undertaken by the DOJ as part of i...
Johnny Depp’s Reps Says Amber Heard Lied as Libel Case Concludes
Johnny Depp’s high-stakes libel case against a British tabloid that accused him of assaulting ex-wife Amber Heard wrapped up Tuesday (July 28) in a London court, with the star’s lawyer calling Heard “a compulsive liar” and claiming that Depp was the real victim of abuse in the relationship. The Pirates of the Caribbean star is suing News Group Newspapers, publisher of The Sun, and the newspaper’s executive editor, Dan Wootton, at the High Court in London over an April 2018 article that called him a “wife-beater.” In closing arguments at the three-week trial, Depp’s lawyer, David Sherborne, said the actor strongly denied “this reputation-destroying, career-ending allegation.” “He has never hit a woman in his entire life — period, full stop, nada,” Sherborne said. What Is The Judge Deci...
Nashville Restrictions on Home Recording Studio Overturned
The controversial ordinance was first enacted in 1998. Home recording studios in Nashville can open for business once again. A longstanding law restricting client visits to home-based businesses in Nashville has been eliminated by the city’s Metro Council in a new bill, allowing home recording studios to legally operate in the city for the first time since 1998. Enacted on July 8, the amended ordinance now permits up to six customer visits per day between the hours of 8 a.m. and 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday. To qualify under the new regulations, recording studios and other businesses that host customers on site and/or employ those who live outside the dwelling must first apply for a “home occupation” permit that requires proof of written notifications to owners of adjacent properties, as...
Taylor Swift’s ‘Folklore’ Set For Big Opening Sales Week In U.K.
TayTay is blowing away her rivals in the U.K. chart race. Taylor Swift’s surprise album release Folklore (EMI) has raced to the lead of the midweek chart, and is outperforming the rest of the Top 5 combined, the Official Charts Company reports. Swift’s eighth and latest album was the most downloaded and streamed LP over the weekend, according to the OCC, and is on track to become the pop star’s fifth U.K. No. 1 following Red (2012), 1989 (2014), Reputation (2017) and Lover (2019). As previously reported, three songs from the new set are tracking for Top 10 debuts on the Official U.K. Singles Chart, led by “Cardigan” at No. 4 (“Exile” with Bon Iver is at No. 7 on the Official Chart Update and “The 1” starts at No. 9). Folklore should enjoy another chart punch in months to come when it’...
Juice WRLD’s ‘Legends Never Die’ Rises to No. 1 In Australia
Juice WRLD’s posthumous album Legends Never Die (Interscope/Universal) climbs to the chart summit in Australia, as Jawsh 685 and Jason Derulo “Savage Love (Laxed – Siren Beat)” (Columbia/Sony) enters a fourth consecutive week atop the national singles survey. Legends Never Die, which has ruled the albums chart on both sides of the Atlantic, now completes the job in Australia where it rises 3-1 in its second week. It’s the second posthumous hip-hop LP to top the survey in three weeks, following the No. 1 entry of Pop Smoke’s Universal set Shoot For The Stars, Aim For The Moon (it improves 4-3 on the current frame). Lighting up the Australian tally is Gaslighter (Columbia/Sony), The Chicks’ first album release in 14 years. The American country trio (formerly The Dix...
Taylor Swift Set to Land Three ‘Folklore’ Tracks In U.K. Top 10
Taylor Swift’s isolation album Folklore is ready for a chart party in the U.K. No less than three songs from it are on track for Top 10 debuts on the Official U.K. Singles Chart, based on early sales and streaming activity. The single “Cardigan” (EMI), which was accompanied with an official music video, is on target to snare the week’s highest new entry. It’s at No. 4 on the Official Chart First Look, based on 48 hours of data. Also, Swift’s “The 1” is at No. 5 and “Exile,” her duet with Bon Iver, is at No. 7. If all three hold inside the Top 10, it would lift the pop star’s tally of U.K. Top 10s to 16. Taylor’s eighth studio album arrived with just 24 hours’ notice, and judging by the reaction from fans and critics, it couldn’t have come soon enough. Folklore has sold over 1.3...
Ellie Goulding’s ‘Brightest Blue’ Bows at No. 1 In U.K.
Ellie Goulding bags her third U.K. No. 1 album with Brightest Blue (Polydor), while “Head & Heart” skips past “Savage Love (Laxed – Siren Beat)” to give Joel Corry and MNEK their first leader on the national singles chart. Goulding’s collab-stacked new album bows at the summit of the Official U.K. Albums Chart, eclipsing the No. 3 peak of its processor, Delirium from 2015, and equaling the feats of her debut Lights from 2010 and its followup Halcyon from 2014. Brightest Blue features a collaboration with the late rapper Juice WRLD, whose posthumous album Legends Never Die (Interscope), slips 1-2 on the current tally, while Bob Dylan’s former leader Rough And Rowdy Ways (Columbia) bounces 16-4 following its release on vinyl. The Chicks complete their comeback with a top...
