entertainment blog
Songwriters May Get a 32% Increase In Mechanical Royalties for Downloads and Physical Products
The Copyright Royalty Board has reportedly been asked by major rights holders and publishers to increase mechanical royalties for physical products by 32%. This increase would raise the mechanical royalty rate from 9.1 cents to 12 cents per track for physical products (CDs, vinyl), downloads, ringtone, and music bundles, per Variety. The 9.1 cents rate was set back in 2008 at the beginning of the Phono IV process, which involves royalties for both physical and digital formats. Supporters of the motion to the CRB, who requested an increase to 15 cents, included major label members of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), the National Music Publishers Association (NMPA), and the Nashville Songwriters Association International (NSAI). It would mark a major win for songwri...
Hear Jack Harlow Freestyle Over Pharrell’s 2006 Single “Can I Have It Like That”
Fresh off the rollout of his new album Come Home the Kids Miss You, Jack Harlow appeared alongside DJ Drama on Hot 97, where he spoke about the LP and his upcoming appearance in the movie White Men Can’t Jump. The rapper was dropped a few bars for Drama’s Funkmaster Flex’s freestyle series. It wasn’t Harlow’s first time delivering a Funk Flex freestyle, however, having been challenged in 2020 while promoting his Sweet Action EP. This time around, Harlow spit bars over an instrumental version of Pharrell’s “Can I Have It Like That” featuring Gwen Stefani. The single comes off of Pharrell’s first studio album, In My Mind. All these phone calls I’m takin’ wit’ Craig Kallman. All this Balmain on my body, I’m embalming,” Harlow rapped. “I’m the brand that the world wanna get involved with....
May 9th Named Ghostface Killah Day in New York City
May 9th has officially been deemed Ghostface Killah Day in New York City. The Wu-Tang Clan rapper was honored for his contributions to the music industry by Mayor Eric Adams, who presented him with an official Proclamation. The ceremony on Monday coincided with the opening of Ghostface’s coffee shop Killah Koffee in Staten Island with business partners Ross Filler and Shawn Wigs. The rapper had been selling his coffee online for a year prior, but the shop marked the business’ first brick-and-mortar venture. Killah Koffee ain’t nothin’ to mess with! Proud to join Staten Island’s own @GhostfaceKillah to celebrate this new small business in the heart of Shaolin. pic.twitter.com/ZzqPYWStzv — Mayor Eric Adams (@NYCMayor) May 9, 2022 “There’s so many people coming out here seeing a performer, a ...
Nationwide Tour On Deck For Jack Harlow with City Girls
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: Prince Williams / Getty Jack Harlow is riding the momentum garnered by his new album by announcing that he’s going on his first-ever big tour, and will be joined by the City Girls. On Monday (May 9th), the “First Class” rapper announced that he will embark on his first major nationwide tour days after releasing his second album. The Come Home the Kids Miss You Tour takes its name from the title of his sophomore effort, and Harlow broke the news through his Instagram account with the caption, “See you soon.” The City Girls will be joining the rapper for the tour, bringing the energy with their hits “Twerkulator” and “305” on each date save for the show happening in Boston, Massachusetts. The tour is sponsored by Live Nation. Related Stories The tour will k...
Bad Bunny’s ‘Un Verano Sin Ti’ Is Spotify’s Most-Streamed Album of 2022
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: Gilbert Carrasquillo / Getty Latinos continue to prove that culture doesn’t move without their contributions. Bad Bunny’s Un Verano Sin Ti is the most streamed album in 2022 on Spotify. As per Hype Beast the Vega Baja, Puerto Rico native is putting up numbers this year, more than your favorite rapper’s favorite rapper. According to Billboard Magazine the musician has dethroned Drake for the most streamed artist of this calendar. Related Stories His latest effort Un Verano Si Ti (A Summer Without You in English) has broken some very important streaming records including the most streamed artist in one day with 183 million on the day of its release (May 6). On Friday all 23 songs from the new LP charted on Spotify’s Daily Top Songs Global chart, with s...
HHW Gaming: Sorry PS4 & Xbox One Owners, You Need A PS5 or Xbox Series X To Play ‘Gotham Knights’
HipHopWired Featured Video CLOSE Source: WB Games / Gotham Knights It looks like video game studios are slowly transitioning away from the PS4 and Xbox One, and we think that is a good idea. Gotham Knights will be the next big video game that only next-generation console owners will be able to enjoy. Tuesday (May.10), Warner Bros. Interactive unveiled a new gameplay demo of its highly anticipated game Gotham Knights, which also came with some disheartening news. The studio announced the game would no longer be coming to last-generation systems. That is a complete 360 from original news when Gotham Knights was first announced in 2020 when Warner Bros. Interactive said the game would be coming to the PS4 and Xbox One. [embedded content] As for the reasoning for the decision, the studio said ...
Rapper Gunna In Fulton County Jail On RICO Charge
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: Fulton County PD / Fulton County Sheriff’s Department Gunna is in custody in Fulton County Jail and facing RICO charges. The Atlanta rapper was named in the indictment, along with Young Thug, that came down on Monday (May 9) accusing his YSL label of participating in a myriad gang racketeering crimes. According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Gunna, born Sergio Giavonni Kitchens, 28, was booked into the Fulton jail on early Wednesday morning (May 11). Related Stories Gunna is facing one count of conspiracy to violate the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act. Per the 88-page indictment, the Young Stoner Life label and its affiliates are a gang (Young Slime Life) involved in crimes like drug dealing and murder, amongst others. Besi...
Anitta’s Global Vision: A Trilingual Takeover
Indio, Calif., and Rio de Janeiro are nearly 7,000 miles apart. Indio is a desert, and Rio a tropical beach paradise; Rio a bustling metropolis of nearly 7 million people, and Indio, for most of the year, a sleepy small town. But in mid-April, the disparate locales somehow became one when Anitta turned Coachella into a Brazilian Carnival. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news Sérgio Mendes’ classic samba “Mas Que Nada” played over the speakers; then, as it transitioned into her own “Onda Diferente,” the 29-year-old rode a motorcycle onto the main stage, wearing a spangled and feathered Roberto Cavalli ensemble in yellow, green and blue, the colors of the Brazilian flag. Over the course of the next 45 minutes, her eye-popping show — a mas...
Pepsi® Partners With Billboard to Drop First-Ever Live Minting Experience During the 2022 BBMAs
There’s no other scoreboard like the Billboard charts and we’re raising the bar on what it means to celebrate the pinnacle achievements of the music industry. Today, Pepsi announced the groundbreaking Pepsi Mic Drop x Billboard Music Awards “Winners’ Club” NFT Collection, a limited-edition collection created exclusively for Sunday’s 2022 Billboard Music Award, in conjunction with MRC Live & Alternative, the global entertainment company producing this year’s show. The collection will only be available on Billboard ChartStars, a digital collectible platform created in partnership with UNBLOCKED. During the ceremony, fans will have the opportunity to claim NFTs in real-time as televised awards are announced — for free! As each award is announced during the show, a custom digital col...
Prosecutors Defend Delay in Jam Master Jay Murder Charges, Citing Witness Intimidation
Federal prosecutors are firing back at claims that they waited too long to bring charges over the murder of Run-D.M.C.’s Jam Master Jay, saying at least part of delay was because the defendants themselves tried to “intimidate and silence potential witnesses.” Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news The new filing came a month after Karl Jordan, Jr. and Ronald Washington. argued that the long wait – they were charged in 2020 for Jay’s long-unsolved 2002 murder – means that they wouldn’t be able to properly defend himself against the accusations. In a response Monday, prosecutors said those claims “ring particularly hollow” because bringing charges in the famous cold-case was made even more difficult thanks to interference by the two accused killers. “Th...
Here Are the Answers to the Latest Billboard x VersusGame Matchups: Future, Harry Styles & More
Last week’s Billboard and VersusGame matchups challenging your chart-predicting prowess featured Future‘s new album I Never Liked You and Harry Styles‘ sophomore set Fine Line. Billboard and VersusGame have joined forces to bring music fans a one-of-a-kind, user-generated experience with games that test knowledge of pop culture for a chance to win prizes. Billboard is hosting bi-weekly head-to-head challenges on entertainment and pop culture gaming app VersusGame, where fans can vote on their favorite artists and songs and wager on who will top the charts and more. VersusGame data shows that fans have predicted correct chart outcomes nearly three out of four times so far. Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news Last w...
Post Malone Teases New Roddy Ricch Collab
Post Malone is prepping to release his upcoming album, Twelve Carat Toothache, next month with a new collab with Roddy Ricch. The artist took to social media to tease the upcoming joint, possibly entitled “Cooped Up.” Posty’s announcement arrives several weeks after he confirmed some of the featured artists fans can expect on Twelve Carat Toothache, which also includes Doja Cat, Robin Pecknold and The Kid LAROI. “I would love to play this entire record and I just want to say hey to everybody that’s hanging out. Honestly, I’ve been working so f***ing hard and I would love to play y’all a couple more records if y’all got time. We’ve got a lot of cool stuff going on,” he said during his Instagram Live. Twelve Carat Toothache will mark Malone’s first full-length studio effort since 2019’s...
