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25 May 2023

Juanes Renews Universal Music Latino Recording Contract

Juanes has renewed his recording contract with Universal Music Latino, Billboard Español can announce on Thursday (May 25). With this deal, the Colombian rocker extends a 23-year-old partnership with the label.

The news comes just days after the release of Vida Cotidiana, his first album with original music in four years.

“Throughout the years Universal Music Latino has become a second home and I am excited to continue working with such a respected label,” Juanes said in a press release. “I believe that my musical career will continue to thrive and grow within this new creative cycle. I am eager to see and share what the future holds.”

Jesús López, chairman and CEO of Universal Music Latin America & Iberian Peninsula, added that the label “will continue to support and grow with Juanes,” whose “talent and professionalism have made him one of the most sought out acts for so many decades.”

No additional details of the deal renewal were announced. As for publishing, Juanes remains with Warner Chappell Music.

Juanes made his solo debut in 2000 with the Gustavo Santaolalla-produced Fíjate Bien, and rose to fame soon after with hits like “A Dios Le Pido” from his sophomore album Un Día Normal (2002,) which reached No. 2 on the Billboard Hot Latin Songs chart, and “La Camisa Negra” from Mi Sangre (2004), which spent eight weeks at No. 1. “Me Enamora”, “Nada Valgo Sin Tu Amor” and “La Fotografía,” with Nelly Furtado, are some of his other chart-topping hits.

Among other achievements, Juanes has won three Grammy Awards and 24 Latin Grammys, and was named the Latin Recording Academy Person of the Year of 2019 not only for his work as a musician, but also as an activist with his Fundación Mi Sangre.

In a recent interview with Billboard Español, the superstar spoke in depth about his most recent production, Vida Cotidiana, in which he reflects on his relationship with his wife and children and the problems that afflict his country. Juanes is currently preparing to announce his Vida Cotidiana Tour, with expected dates in Latin America, the U.S. and Europe.

25 May 2023

Taylor Swift Announces New Collab With Ice Spice

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The 2023 Met Gala Celebrating

Source: Cindy Ord/MG23 / Getty

After getting recruited to become the latest model for Kim Kardashian’s SKIMS attire, and dropping a collaboration with Nicki Minaj, Ice Spice is taking the next step in her ascension to superstardom and is actually collaborating with the Queen of country-pop music, Taylor Swift.

According to Glamour, Taylor Swift took to social media to reveal that she and the Bronx representative would be releasing some new music together as Swift got Ice to hop on a new version of her fan favorite cut, “Karma.” In the post to her millions of followers, the Grammy award winning artist gave Ice Spice all kinds of flowers before announcing the collaboration was on the way.

“Um. SO much to tell you. I’m a massive fan of this brilliant artist and after getting to know her I can confirm: she is THE ONE to watch. So delighted to say that Karma Featuring the incredible @icespicee_ will be out TOMORROW night at MIDNIGHT ET as a part of the new Midnights (Til Dawn Edition) deluxe album that you can pre-order now at taylor.lnk.to/thetildawnedit!”

Interestingly enough the announcement comes after Taylor Swift’s rumored boyfriend, Matty Healy slandered Ice Spice back in April calling her a “chubby Chinese lady” and an “Inuit spice girl.” While we’re sure that Taylor Swift and Ice Spice get along swimmingly, we wouldn’t be surprised if this was Taylor Swift’s way to help her hubby save some face and show the world that she isn’t with that nonsense that apparently he’s on.

Glamour reports:

Taylor Swift has said repeatedly that she loves to teach men how to apologize, so maybe she’s demonstrating to Healy how to make things right with a fellow artist. But maybe she just wants to work with other talented musicians and it has nothing to do with dudes! Not everything is about them! Freal! For her part, Spice wrote on Insta, “Karma ft me??tmm night????thxx @taylorswift for being the coolest person on earth ilu? 5/26.”

Regardless of why Taylor did this collaboration, this is definitely a good look for Ice Spice as she continues to rise in the music game and is now being introduced to an entire new genre of fans who might like what they hear when Taylor Swift drops the remix to “Karma” at midnight.

What do y’all think of Taylor Swift calling on Ice Spice to hop on her “Karma” cut? Let us know in the comment section below.

25 May 2023

The GAP Sues Kanye West For $2M In Damages

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Yeezy Gap Round Jacket

Source: Yeezy Gap / Gap

The GAP has now jumped aboard the sue Kanye West train. Apparently his team made changes to a retail store without approval.

As spotted on TMZ the Chicago, Illinois native just got hit with another lawsuit. This time it is his short lived apparel partner that he severed ties with back last year. Apparently his team at Yeezy leased a property at 1360 E. 6th Street in Los Angeles, California but made several changes to the brick and mortar location that were not permissible as per the lease. Some of the unapproved alterations include constructing an exterior ramp located near the parking lot, making a tunnel in the lot, erecting a wall, uninstalling several ceiling lights and removing three bathrooms. “By making and not repairing or restoring the foregoing alterations of the premises that [West] made without Gap’s participation or approval, [West] breached the strategic agreement and directly and proximately caused Gap to incur expenses to repair and restore the premises” the lawsuit reads.

The property management agency Art City Center has since filed against The GAP and in turn The GAP is seeking Kanye to fit the bill for the damages. The two brands announced a partnership back in June 2020 but things came crashing down when Ye went full antisemite. “Antisemitism, racism and hate in any form are inexcusable and not tolerated in accordance with our values,” Gap said in a statement at the time of the scandal. But to hear Kanye tell it he left the deal on his own accord. “Everyone knows that I’m the leader, I’m the king,” West said during a CNBC interview. A king can’t live in someone else’s castle. A king has to make his own castle.”

Kanye nor a representative from his team has yet to respond to the matter.

25 May 2023

Ledisi’s ‘I Need to Know’ Hits No. 1 on Adult R&B Airplay Chart

Ledisi scores her second No. 1 on Billboard’s Adult R&B Airplay chart as “I Need to Know” leaps from No. 3 to lead the list dated May 27. The single ascends after an 8% gain in weekly plays that made it the most-played song on U.S. monitored adult R&B radio stations in the week ending May 18, according to Luminate.

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The new champ continues a recent rotation atop Adult R&B Airplay. “I Need to Know” is the fourth leader in the last four weeks, following, in order, Ambré’s “I’m Baby,” featuring Jvck James, Ravyn Lenae’s “Skin Tight,” featuring Steve Lacy and Tank’s “See Through Love,” featuring Chris Brown. The last month’s No. 1s marks the first time four different songs have led the Adult R&B Airplay chart in four consecutive weeks since June – July 2012, when Estelle’s “Thank You,” in its second nonconsecutive week at No. 1, Jill Scott’s “Blessed,” Usher’s “Climax” and John Legend’s “Tonight (Best You Ever Had),” featuring Ludacris, each passed the baton.

“I Need to Know” is Ledisi’s second Adult R&B Airplay chart-topper and follows the two-week reign of “Anything for You” in 2020. The maiden champ was a milestone achievement for the veteran performer on multiple fronts: In addition to securing her first Adult R&B Airplay champ with her 17th entry, the song also won Ledisi her first Grammy Award, for best traditional R&B performance, after 13 previous nominations.

Elsewhere, “I Need to Know” rises 22-20 on the R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart, which ranks songs by combined audience totals from adult R&B and mainstream R&B/hip-hop radio stations. There, the single added 12% in weekly audience to reach 6.8 million impressions. The move secures Ledisi’s fourth top 20 on R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay, following “Pieces of Me” (No. 19 in 2011), “I Blame You” (No. 20, 2014) and “Anything for You” (No. 13, 2020).

25 May 2023

Nepo Rapper Alabama Barker Defends Hip-Hop Interests Due To “Upbringing”

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Celebrity Sightings In Los Angeles - March 6, 2023

Source: jfizzy/Star Max / Getty

After a wave of disparaging remarks, influencer Alabama Barker took to social media to defend herself against the critics.

The 17-year-old gained some notoriety in the past couple of weeks for sharing snippets of rap songs she’s put together with her TikTok followers. While some expressed approval, many took her to task for coming off as an appropriator of Hip-Hop culture and rap music. It prompted her to make a since-deleted video to share on TikTok. “I’m tired of people saying I don’t know anything about rap music, I wasn’t raised around rap music, I wasn’t anything,” she begins. “So, let’s take a little field day into my life because you guys know it so well.”

The daughter of Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker and model Shanna Moakler shared photos of herself standing next to some of rap’s biggest artists beginning with Nicki Minaj during her father’s tour with the Pinkprint rapper on Lil Wayne’s I Am Music II Tour in 2011. “So, the first thing that I’m going to point out is this tour. This tour was when I was about 5 years old,” she recalled.  “[I was] 5 years old watching her set every day. I knew every lyric.”

She followed up with more pictures of her posing with Lil Wayne, followed by a photo of the “Gimme Brain” single cover featuring Travis, Lil Wayne, and Rick Ross. “Another song I knew by heart when I was like 5 years old,” she said. (People Magazine did point out that the single dropped in 2019 when Alabama was 13.)

The stepdaughter of Kourtney Kardashian also addressed criticism of her hairstyle and her nail design, showcasing an older photo of her with similar choices. “For everybody telling me, ‘Oh, she wants to wear nails now,’ ‘She thinks she’s this, this and that,’ this was in 2012,” she said before continuing: “I know I am privileged, and I’m beyond grateful for that and blessed. It’s not OK for people to make fun of or disrespect any culture at all. So, if me being a rapper bugs you, then you can just keep moving and stop commenting.”

The young Barker had issued rebuttal videos to critics earlier this month, addressing those who were jabbing her over her use of heavy makeup. “When Kathryn with 3 kids only waterline liner, 4 different colored blonde & Tom shows, talk about my makeup or my age.”, the caption read. A fan tried to explain the concern in the comments by writing, “I think people are just concerned about the over-sexualization of youth in Hollywood/LA culture.”

25 May 2023

Muse Crosses $200 Million Milestone in Career Box Office Grosses

Post-pandemic anticipation helped accelerate a new class of arena headliners, but also cemented long-time road warriors on their ways to new peaks. More than 20 years into the band’s touring career, Muse is reaching new heights on the Will of the People World Tour. With reported data through April 12, the glam hard rockers break the $200 million barrier in career grosses, having earned $206.6 million, according to figures reported to Billboard Boxscore.

The Will of the People World Tour launched in October with theater-sized underplays in major markets, before playing a quartet of shows in Mexico in January. Muse then traveled north for a proper run of arena shows in the U.S. and Canada, playing 24 dates across two months. In all, the tour has reported grosses of $36.1 million and sold 402,000 tickets over 30 shows.

Broken out by region, it’s the biggest tour of the band’s career. In Mexico City, two shows at Foro Sol grossed $6.8 million and sold 107,000 tickets, eclipsing plays in the same city in 2019, 2013 and 2007, in terms of revenue and attendance. In Guadalajara, the Jan. 20 show grossed $1.2 million and sold 13,000 tickets, up 34% from an area play in 2013.

In arenas in the U.S. and Canada, Muse’s business averaged out to $1.1 million per show, marking the band’s first North American tour to crack the seven-figure line. Previously, The 2nd Law World Tour (2012-14), the Drones World Tour (2015-16) and the Simulation Theory World Tour (2019) each paced between $700,000-800,000, while the current run represents a 50% increase from what had seemed to become their standard business.

Muse’s star rose throughout the 2000s and 2010s, reaching increasingly higher until they amassed some of the biggest rock hits of all time (2009’s “Uprising” and 2012’s “Madness” are Nos. 1 and 4, respectively, on Billboard’s Greatest of All Time Alternative Songs chart) and then scored a No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 with 2015’s Drones. But years beyond those chart peaks, Muse hits a new high on tour, backed by last year’s Will of the People.

The Will of the People World Tour resumes this weekend in the U.K., continuing throughout Europe with a mix of headline tour dates and headline-festival gigs. Muse’s tour history indicates that the shows across the pond will earn about 20% more than the spring’s North American dates, pushing the tour gross toward the $50 million mark.

More than two decades as road warriors, Muse’s latest grosses push their career total to $206.6 million and 3.1 million tickets.

25 May 2023

Grammy Camp 2023 Expands From 5 to 7 Days

Grammy Camp, the Grammy Museum’s program for U.S. high school students interested in learning more about careers in the music industry, is expanding from five to seven days this year. The camp will be held from Sunday, July 16, to Saturday, July 22, at USC’s Ronald Tutor Campus Center.

The Grammy Museum announced Thursday (May 25) that 86 high school students have been selected as participants in the 19th annual Grammy Camp program. Gracie Abrams, Lizzy McAlpine, G Flip, Moore Kismet and Paul Klein from LANY will be this year’s guest artists. They will discuss their career paths and help students prepare for the music industry.

“Grammy Camp embodies the Grammy Museum’s mission and education initiatives,” Michael Sticka, president/CEO of the Grammy Museum, said in a statement. “We’re thrilled that with the support of the Hot Topic Foundation, Camp has extended to seven days this year, allowing high school students interested in a career in music more time and immersion to study with leading industry professionals and artists, resulting in a genuine learning experience about life in the music industry.”

Grammy Camp focuses on all aspects of commercial music and provides instruction by industry professionals in an immersive environment. The program features eight music career tracks – audio engineering, electronic music production, music business, music journalism, songwriting, vocal performance, video production, and instrumental performance. All tracks culminate in virtual media projects, recordings and/or performances.

Tuition for Grammy Camp is $1,800, though need-based financial aid is available. The Grammy Camp site notes “over the past few years over 70% of those who have applied for financial aid have received some form of assistance.” Lunch is included, but transportation and housing are not. All Grammy Campers must reside with a parent/guardian or an adult approved by the Grammy Museum.

Applications for Grammy Camp 2024 will be available online in September at the Grammy Camp site.

25 May 2023

Reservoir Acquires Rights to ‘Conga’ Songwriter Enrique ‘Kiki’ Garcia’s Catalog

Indie music company Reservoir Media has acquired the rights to the full catalog of drummer and songwriter Enrique “Kiki” García. García, who was part of Miami Sound Machine, penned many of the group’s biggest hits in its heyday with Gloria Estefan as its lead singer, including the much synchronized “Conga.”

García also wrote Miami Sound Machine’s 1984 breakout “Dr. Beat” and co-wrote several tracks along Estefan, including “1-2-3,” “Give It Up,” and “Rhythm Is Gonna Get You” for the group’s final album, Let it Loose.

But García is best known for “Conga,” which he famously penned on a flight from Utrecht, in the Netherlands, after playing a successful club show the night before.

“The performance stayed on my mind all night,” García recounted in the book Decoding Despacito: An Oral History of Latin Music. “The next day, as we got on the plane and I sat down, this song comes flying out of my mind. I start tapping on the seat table in front of me and I’m singing, “Come on, shake your body, baby, do the song. The rest was sketchy, but by the time we landed I had it all put together. I got up and sang my idea to Emilio and he loved it from the start.”

“Conga” would go on to became an international hit, peaking at No. 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 on Feb. 8, 1986.

After leaving Miami Sound Machine, García continued working with top Latin musicians like Chayanne and Julio Iglesias, while “Conga” and his other hits remain widely and constantly licensed.

“Kiki has contributed so much to the face of modern music as we know it. His collaborations with the Miami Sound Machine brought Latin music to mainstream audiences,” said Golnar Khosrowshahi, Reservoir’s founder & CEO, in a statement. “Embarking on this deal with Kiki marks a notable expansion of our rights in Latin American music and is an exciting opportunity to further diversify our catalog while maintaining our focus on acquiring the rights to evergreen hits.”

25 May 2023

Foo Fighters Launch First Tour With New Drummer Josh Freese, Play Four New Songs

The Foo Fighters launched their first tour with new drummer Josh Freese on Wednesday night (May 24) at the Bank of New Hampshire Pavilion at Meadowbrook in Gilford, N.H. The bittersweet evening marked the band’s first tour in a quarter century without beloved late drummer Taylor Hawkins, who died last March while on tour with the group in South America at age 50.

In his stead was recently revealed new timekeeper studio and touring veteran Freese (NIN, Guns N’ Roses, A Perfect Circle), who made his official debut behind the kit on Sunday during the “Foo Fighters: Preparing Music for Concerts” livestream event.

According to Blabbermouth, the 21-song set included the live debuts of four songs that appear on the band’s upcoming 11th studio album, But Here We Are, including set-opener and first single “Rescued,” as well as new songs “Under You,” “Nothing at All” and the title track. Before the show, the band posted a two-minute video of their stage walk-on at the Gilford show with the message “Thank you so much for coming. We’ve missed you.”

During the gig, Grohl introduced Freese to the Foo family, telling the crowd, “And that’s why we hired him… everybody, would you please welcome the man behind the drums, Josh Freese,” as the drummer stood up and saluted while wearing a black t-shirt with the words “Employee of the Month” across the front in red letters. “We would not be here to night if it weren’t for Josh, so everybody give Josh a big f–king round of applause please.”

The Foos’ next show is Friday night (May 26) at the Boston Calling Festival. On Thursday morning (May 25), the band released the nature-themed video for the third single from But Here We Are, the meditative “Show Me How.”

Check out fan video of the show below, the group’s stage walk-on clip and the “Show Me How” video below.

25 May 2023

Publishing Briefs: Primary Wave Buys Skillet Catalog; Reservoir Signs Armani White

Primary Wave Music has acquired Skillet‘s music publishing interests as well as their recorded music royalties across five of their critically acclaimed albums, released from 2003-2016, in a multi-million dollar deal. Some of their biggest hits include “Whispers in the Dark,” “Awake and Alive,” “Feel Invincible,” “Monster,” “Hero,” and “The Resistance.”

Big Yellow Dog Music has signed BSAMZ (Brandon Sammons) to its publishing roster. With more than a decade of experience as a co-writer with artists like Lady Gaga, Kygo, Bryce Vine, Adam Lambert, Culture Club, Sam Feldt and many more, BSAMZ is still continuing to write hits, most recently with K-Pop group Girls’ Generation’s “You Think” off of their No. 1 album Lion Heart.

Reservoir has signed singer, rapper, and songwriter Armani White to his first-ever global publishing deal. The agreement entails both the artists’ back catalog and future works, including his viral hit “BILLIE EILISH” which reached No. 58 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Peermusic has signed singer-songwriter Alejo to an exclusive worldwide publishing deal. The deal encompasses all of the Puerto Rican artist’s catalog, including his new album El Favorito de las Nenas, released on May 4. The deal also includes his hit songs “Pantysito” with Feid and Robi; “Un Viaje” alongside Karol G, Jotaerre and Moffa; “Volar” by Wisin, Chris Andrew ft. Los Legendarios; and “Estrella” with boy band CNCO.

Warner Chappell Music has signed a global publishing deal with Canada-based country act Josh Ross. Named a Spotify Hot Country Artist to Watch for 2023, Ross has been building his profile with key opening slots, supporting talent like Bailey Zimmerman Nickelback, Lee Brice, Chase Rice, Brantley Gilbert.

Wise Music Group has signed a deal with DJ and producer Ron Trent. With almost 30 years of experience in the dance/electronic space, Trent first became acclaimed as a DJ with the release of Altered States at age 15. Under his new project WARM, Trent is still continuing to release enduring electronic works.