business
Kennedy Center Honors, Mark Twain Prize Events Postponed
Add the Kennedy Center Honors and the Mark Twain Prize to the long list of prestigious awards and honors that are being postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The 43rd annual Kennedy Center Honors have been moved to March 7, 2021 (the event is usually held in early December). The 23rd annual Mark Twain Prize has been moved to June 20, 2021 (it’s usually held in October). Many award shows have been delayed due to the pandemic. The Oscars were postponed from Feb. 28 to April 25, 2021. In the wake of that move, the Golden Globes moved from their usual early January date to the Oscars’ vacated date, Feb. 28. A Recording Academy spokesperson said this week that, despite the Oscars’ move, the Grammys’ plan for now is to keep their Jan. 31, 2021 date. Other signature events at the Kennedy Center...
Here’s How Darren Criss Convinced Mark Hamill to Sing a Song About Giant Genitalia on Quibi
It “was just total serendipity” getting Hamill to appear on the new Quibi series “Royalties,” show creator Criss tells the Billboard Pop Shop Podcast. Never in Darren Criss’ wildest dreams did he think he’d be able to cast Luke Skywalker himself, Mark Hamill, in his new musical comedy series Royalties. And not only that – be able to get the Star Wars icon to sing about King Kong’s… wait for it… penis. “I could not believe he said yes,” Criss says. “I could not believe he showed up. I could not believe I was vocal producing, with my buddies, Mark Hamill in the (recording) booth, getting him to say the word penis several times to get the right tone.” Hamill’s performance of “Mighty As Kong” (watch the music video, below) is one of the many zany musica...
Bob Dylan’s ‘Rough and Rowdy Ways’ Races to Lead on Midweek U.K. Chart
Bob Dylan should complete his comeback with a U.K. No. 1. The master songwriter’s new album Rough and Rowdy Ways (Columbia) leads the midweek U.K. chart by a handy margin. According to the Official Charts Company, Dylan’s 39th studio album is outselling the rest of the top 5 combined by a margin of three-to-one, and is the best-seller across CDs and downloads. Should Rough and Rowdy Ways hold its spot when the Official U.K. Albums Chart is published this Friday (June 26), it’ll give Dylan his ninth U.K. No. 1, and his first since 2015’s Shadows In The Night. Also, Rough and Rowdy Ways will become his landmark 40th top 10 in a chart career spanning 56 years, the OCC reports. The best-seller on vinyl belongs to another Hall of Famer, Neil Young, whose “holy grail” ’70s...
Ed Sheeran Named Most-Played Artist In The U.K. In 2019
Ed Sheeran had a laid-back year in 2019, by his standards. But his music continued to pump solidly across the U.K. The English singer and songwriter was the most played artist of 2019, according to new data published this week by Phonographic Performance Ltd. (PPL), with fellow Brits Calvin Harris and Sam Smith close behind. It’s the fourth time in five years Sheeran has taken the top honor. PPL’s Most Played Charts are based on music usage and airplay data supplied by the organization’s licensees, including music both on radio and TV and at all live locations including clubs, shops, pubs and other premises. Homegrown artists dominate the top 10, snagging eight spots. Just two internationals crack the top tier, with Pink at No. 5 and Maroon 5 at No. 10. It’s a similar story on PPL’s ...
DaBaby’s ‘Rockstar’ Blasts to Early Lead In U.K. Chart Race
DaBaby’s “Rockstar” featuring Roddy Ricch is on track for a sixth week atop the U.K. singles chart, while Jawsh 685 and Jason Derulo’s “Savage Love (Laxed – Siren Beat)” (RCA) could be the week’s big chart surprise. Based on weekend sales and streams activity, “Rockstar” (Interscope) has a lead of 1,000 chart sales as it rules the Official Chart: First Look, ahead of Lady Gaga and Ariana Grande’s “Rain on Me” (Interscope) and Topic’s “Breaking Me” featuring A7S, respectively. Teenage Polynesian artist Jawsh 685 (real name Joshua Nanai) is converting TikTok buzz into a chart burst as “Savage Love” flies 22-4. The fastest debut on the sales blast belongs to M Huncho and Dutchavelli, whose “Burning” opens at No. 15. If the track holds its p...
DaBaby Rocks Australia’s Singles Chart For Fifth Week
DaBaby’s “Rockstar” (Interscope/Universal) is still rocking Australia’s singles chart, while there’s an all-new, all-Australian top three on the national albums survey. “Rockstar” enters a fifth week at No. 1 on the ARIA Singles Chart. The viral hit, featuring Roddy Ricch, holds onto the chart crown following the release of the “BLM” (Black Lives Matter) remix, which references his experiences with the police and the ongoing protests after George Floyd’s death. Meanwhile, Topic’s “Breaking Me” featuring A7S rises 5-4, a new peak, while Harry Styles scores a fourth solo top 10 as “Watermelon Sugar” (Columbia/Sony) climbs 12-6, a new high. It’s the former One Direction star’s third top 10 from the chart-topping album Fine Line, following “Lights Up” and “Adore You”, both of which...
China bans US chickens, shuts Pepsi plant
China banned imports from a top US poultry producer and ordered a Beijing Pepsi factory to close Sunday as authorities clamped down on food production and distribution amid a new coronavirus cluster in the capital. Health officials also reported 22 new virus cases in Beijing, where they have tested more than two million residents as they seek to contain a wave of new infections linked to a wholesale market in the capital. Imports of frozen chicken from Tyson Foods have been “temporarily suspended”, the General Administration of Customs said, after a virus outbreak was found at one of the company’s production facilities in the US. Products from the firm that have already arrived in China will be confiscated, the statement said. US food and drinks giant PepsiCo was also ordered to shut down ...
Lyric Opera of Chicago, San Francisco Opera Scrap Fall Seasons Due to Coronavirus
The Lyric Opera of Chicago and San Francisco Opera have canceled the fall portions of their 2020-21 seasons due to the new coronavirus. The Lyric Opera eliminated four of its 10 productions and delayed opening night from Sept. 17 to Jan. 16. San Francisco canceled five of seven stagings and delayed opening night from Sept. 11 to April 25. Twenty-six performances were canceled in Chicago and 37 in San Francisco. Lyric general director Anthony Freud said Tuesday he hopes to reschedule the missed stagings for future seasons: a double bill of Mascagni’s “Cavalleria Rusticana” and Leoncavallo’s “Pagliacci;” what was to have been the North American premiere of George Benjamin’s “Lessons in Love and Violence;” Puccini’s “Tosca;” and Verdi’s “Attila.” The season now is set to start with the Chicag...
Riot Fest 2021 Set With Headliners My Chemical Romance, Smashing Pumpkins & Run the Jewels
Chicago’s Riot Fest 2020 has been scrubbed, due to the health crisis. But the multi-day festival will return next year with a bill headlined by My Chemical Romance, Smashing Pumpkins, Run the Jewels and Pixies. Also confirmed to the 2021 lineup are Coheed and Cambria, Taking Back Sunday, Sublime With Rome, Dirty Heads and Lupe Fiasco, performing The Cool in full. The 2021 edition will take place Sept. 17-19, 2021 at Douglas Park, almost a year to the day from the scheduled 2020 show (originally set for Sept. 11-13). A first of three waves of performers 50 acts is announced with Vic Mensa, Living Colour, Big Freedia, Toots and the Maytals, Best Coast, L7, Gogol Bordello, and many more on board. “If you already have your 2020 ticket, you’re in luck, it’s good for 2021,” reads a stateme...
Minister: Naira Marley will be prosecuted
Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Mohammed Bello, has announced that rapper Azeez Fashola who is popularly known as Naira Marley, and some members of his team, will have their days in court. Marley’s June 13 concert in Nigeria’s capital city of Abuja has been widely criticized and condemned for its blatant flouting of COVID-19 guidelines and protocols. FCT authorities have shut down the Jabi Lake Mall venue of the concert and Aviation Minister Hadi Sirika has temporarily withdrawn the license of Executive Jets–the airline that flew Marley and his crew to Abuja. In a statement issued by his Chief Press Secretary Anthony Ogunleye, Bello said “there is a very real possibility that a single positive individual at that event could by now have gone ahead to infect several others t...
NPR Variety Show ‘Live From Here’ Canceled by American Public Media
The Chris Thile-hosted variety series was a retooled version of Garrison Keillor’s “A Prairie Home Companion.” Live From Here, the Chris Thile-hosted radio show that served as a successor to A Prairie Home Companion when the latter series was retooled in 2017, has been canceled by American Public Media. CEO Jon McTaggart revealed the news in a post on APM’s website announcing drastic cuts at the broadcaster. Thile and Live From Here’s official social accounts also broke the news on Tuesday (June 16). “Not one live broadcast has gone by where I didn’t thank my absurdly lucky stars for your wide open ears and hearts,” Thile wrote on Twitter. “Over the weekend, I was informed that American Public Media will no longer be producing the show. “While this news fills me with sadn...
Warner Music Group Moves to Replace Old Debt With New, Better Debt
The music company is conducting a private offering to purchase senior notes due in 2023 with funds from sales of senior notes at a better interest rate due seven years later. Warner Music Group is trading old debt for new debt with a better interest rate and later due date. The music company is conducting a private offering for $535 million of senior secured notes due in 2030 that it expects to close June 29, it was announced Tuesday (June 16). At the same time, Warner wants to use the proceeds to purchase $300 million of new senior secured notes due in 2023. If Warner sells $535 million notes due in 2030 to redeem $300 million of notes due in 2023, it would replace a 5% interest rate with 3.875%. On $300 million of principal, the difference in rates of 1.125% equals $3.375 million of inte...
