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26 Nov 2022

Hovain Hylton, Hip-Hop Manager & Cinematic Music Group Exec, Dies

Jonathan “Hovain” Hylton, who was recently honored as one of Billboard’s 2022 R&B/Hip-Hop Power Players, has died.

“It is with deep regret that we message to all family, friends and colleagues that Jonathan ‘Hovain’ Hylton passed away while at his home on Friday, November 25. He was a beloved and devoted father, husband, son, brother and a proud Brooklyn representative,” read a statement posted Saturday (Nov. 26) on Hylton’s verified social media accounts.

The statement continued, “We’d like to thank all of his close friends for all of the love and support that you have shown during this difficult time. We ask that you all continue to keep his family in your prayers and respect their privacy at this time.”

A cause of death has not been disclosed.

On Friday morning, Hylton had last tweeted, “Good morning and thank GOD for another day,” a message he had been putting out into the world daily.

Hylton, a Brooklyn native who was a vp at Cinematic Music Group, was named alongside founder Jonnyshipes on this year’s R&B/Hip-Hop Power Players list.

“I’ve always prided myself on just being a good person and a hard worker. Never was big on awards. The way I came in this game was the independent route so I always knew caring too much about the politics wasn’t going to help me. But it feels good to be honored as one of Billboard’s Power Players alongside my brother and partner @jonnyshipes,” Hylton wrote on Instagram on Nov. 17. He added, “I think the biggest lesson is this is you don’t have to be a sucka or do corny s— to be recognized. Just be a good person and do your job and God will make the rest happen on his time.”

Throughout his career Hylton helmed projects for prominent New York rappers including Cam’ron, Styles P and Lloyd Banks, and alongside Jonnyshipes at Cinematic Music Group worked with artists including T-Pain and Flipp Dinero.

Hylton was also a professor at Kingsborough Community College in Brooklyn, where he taught “The Business of Music,” an eight-week course offering students in-depth knowledge on publishing deals, business positions needed for an artist’s success and more.

“It’s an amazing opportunity to come from where I come from and to be asked to teach at such a fine institute,” Hylton told Billboard in 2021, when the course launched. “To share my love for music with the young minds who are looking to learn [will be a great experience].”

The music community mourned the death of Hylton on Saturday.

“Maaannnn we lost my brother in drip @hovain love you brother you always showed nothing but love and positivity. My condolences to your family,” Fat Joe wrote on Instagram. “Till we meet again RIP.”

“Damn Hov… Rest Up… Appreciate your knowledge & your positive energy… May God Bless your family with peace. Love & Light from my family to yours. Long Live Hovain,’ T.I. wrote on Twitter.

“Hovain had just hit me up about doing some music with lloyd banks,” Hit-Boy tweeted. “God bless his family.”

26 Nov 2022

Donald Trump Faulted for Dinner With White Nationalist & Kanye West

Former President Donald Trump is renewing attention to his long history of turning a blind eye to bigotry after dining with a Holocaust-denying white nationalist and the rapper formerly known as Kanye West just days into his third campaign for the White House.

Trump had dinner Tuesday (Nov. 22) at his Mar-a-Lago club with West, who is now known as Ye, as well as Nick Fuentes, a far-right activist who has used his online platform to spew antisemitic and white nationalist rhetoric.

Ye, who says he, too, is running for president in 2024, has made his own series of antisemitic comments in recent weeks, leading to his suspension from social media platforms, his talent agency dropping him and companies like Adidas cutting ties with him. The sportswear manufacturer has also launched an investigation into his conduct.

In a statement from the White House, spokesman Andrew Bates said: “Bigotry, hate, and antisemitism have absolutely no place in America — including at Mar-a-Lago. Holocaust denial is repugnant and dangerous, and it must be forcefully condemned.”

Trump, in a series of statements Friday, said he had “never met and knew nothing about” Fuentes before he arrived with Ye at his club. But Trump also did not acknowledge Fuentes’ long history of racist and antisemitic remarks, nor did he denounce either man’s defamatory statements.

Trump wrote of Ye on his social media platform that “we got along great, he expressed no anti-Semitism, & I appreciated all of the nice things he said about me on ‘Tucker Carlson.’” He added, “Why wouldn’t I agree to meet?”

The former president has a long history of failing to unequivocally condemn hate speech. During his 2016 campaign, Trump waffled when asked to denounce the KKK after he was endorsed by the group’s former leader, saying in a televised interview that he didn’t “know anything about David Duke.” In 2017, in the aftermath of the deadly white supremacist protests in Charlottesville, Virginia, Trump was widely criticized for saying there was “blame on both sides” for the violence. And his rallies frequently feature inflammatory rhetoric from figures like U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., who spoke earlier this year at a far-right conference organized by Fuentes.

The latest episode, coming just one week after Trump launched his third run for the Republican nomination, also underscored how loosely controlled access to the former president remained, particularly without a traditional campaign operation in place.

Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club came under intense scrutiny amid revelations that Trump was storing hundreds of documents with classified markings there — sparking a federal investigation. But the club — and the people it gave access to Trump — had long been a source of consternation among former White House aides.

Mar-a-Lago is not only Trump’s home, but also a private club and event space. Paid members and their guests dine alongside him and often mingle with him; members of the public can book weddings, fundraisers and other events, and Trump often drops by.

Ye first shared details of the dinner in a video he posted to his Twitter account Thursday. Ye said he had traveled to Florida to ask Trump to be his 2024 running mate, and that the meeting had grown heated, with Trump “perturbed” by his request and Ye angered by Trump’s criticism of his estranged wife, Kim Kardashian.

“When Trump started basically screaming at me at the table telling me I was gonna lose. I mean, has that ever worked for anyone in history, telling Ye that I’m going to lose?” Ye asked in the video. “You’re talking to Ye!”

Ye also said Trump was “really impressed with Nick Fuentes,” whom he described as “actually a loyalist” and said he’d asked Trump, “Why when you had the chance did you not free the January 6th-ers?” referring to the defendants who were alleged to have participated in the deadly insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

Trump released a series of statements Friday trying to explain the circumstances of the meeting.

“Kanye West very much wanted to visit Mar-a-Lago. Our dinner meeting was intended to be Kanye and me only, but he arrived with a guest whom I had never met and knew nothing about,” Trump said in his first statement released by his campaign.

Not long after, Trump took to his social media network to say that Ye and “three of his friends, whom I knew nothing about” had “unexpectedly showed up” at his club.

“We had dinner on Tuesday evening with many members present on the back patio. The dinner was quick and uneventful. They then left for the airport,” he wrote.

Hours later he again posted, saying he had told Ye that he “should definitely not run for President,” and that “any voters you may have should vote for TRUMP.”

“Anyway, we got along great, he expressed no anti-Semitism, & I appreciated all of the nice things he said about me on ‘Tucker Carlson.’” he added. “Why wouldn’t I agree to meet? Also, I didn’t know Nick Fuentes.”

Fuentes, meanwhile, said after the trip that, while he couldn’t rule out that Trump had heard of him, “I don’t think he knew that I was me at the dinner.”

“I didn’t mean for my statements and my whole background to sort of become a public relations problem for the president,” he added on his show.

The meeting drew immediate criticism from Trump critics as well as some supporters, including David Friedman, who served as Trump’s ambassador to Israel.

“To my friend Donald Trump, you are better than this. Even a social visit from an antisemite like Kanye West and human scum like Nick Fuentes is unacceptable,” Friedman wrote in a tweet. “I urge you to throw those bums out, disavow them and relegate them to the dustbin of history where they belong.”

On Saturday, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, a potential 2024 rival, also denounced antisemitism, without directly referencing the dinner or the president under whom he served.

“Anti-Semitism is a cancer,” Pompeo wrote, adding: “We stand with the Jewish people in the fight against the world’s oldest bigotry.”

Biden, asked about the Trump dinner meeting while vacationing in Nantucket, Massachusetts, replied, “You don’t want to hear what I think.”

26 Nov 2022

2022 Soul Train Awards: How to Watch Without Cable

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A celebration of soul and R&B. The 2022 Soul Train Awards, helmed by actor-comedian Deon Cole, will premiere Saturday, Nov. 26, at 8 p.m. ET.

The star-studded ceremony, which was pre-taped at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas earlier this month, will feature performances from Ari Lennox, Tank, SiR, Muni Long, Chante Moore and Tosha Cobbs Leonard.

Beyoncé and Mary J. Blige lead this year’s nominations with seven nods each. Coming in a close second is Lennox with six nominations. Lizzo and Chris Brown nabbed five each.

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Queen Bey and the Queen of Hip-Hop Soul face off for major awards such as the coveted album of the year category alongside Lizzo, Lenox, Brown, Silk Sonic, Jazmine Sullivan and Tank.

Read on for ways to watch and stream the show without cable.

2022 Soul Train Awards: How to Watch

The 2022 Soul Train Awards will premiere at 8 p.m. ET on BET. The ceremony will simulcast on BET Her, Logo, MTV2 and VH1. If you have cable, satellite or live TV, check your local listings for channel information.

If you don’t have cable, you’re in luck! You can stream the 2022 Soul Train Awards for free on Philo. The streaming service is celebrating Black Friday and Cyber Monday with a mega-deal that drops the price down to just $5 for the first month (regular price is $25/month). Use code: THANKS to redeem this limited promo offer which ends Nov. 30 (click here for more streaming deals).

Philo carries 70+ live channels, including BET, Lifetime, AMC, A&E, ID, OWN, TV One, Paramount Network, VH1 and Food Network.  

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Want more streaming options? Watch the 2022 Soul Train Awards live and on-demand through platforms like DirectTV Stream, Sling and FuboTV. Although they’re more expensive than Philo, they’re cheaper than your average cable package and most come with a free trial.

The 2022 Soul Train Awards will include tributes to iconic music groups such as Morris Day and The Time, who will receive the Legend Award, while Xscape will be honored with this year’s Lady of Soul Award.

26 Nov 2022

Lizzo Gets Candid About the Stigma of Pop Music: ‘Genre’s Racist Inherently’

Lizzo recently opened up about the stigma of pop music, explaining the difference between pop music and race music and how the latter was used to segregate Black artists.

“Genre’s racist inherently,” the Grammy- and Emmy-winning artist told Entertainment Weekly. “I think if people did any research they would see that there was race music and then there was pop music. And race music was their way of segregating Black artists from being mainstream because they didn’t want their kids listening to music created by Black and brown people because they said it was demonic and yada, yada, yada.”

She went on to explain that genres were created almost like code words, for example with R&B, which eventually led to the birth of hip-hop and rap.

“I think when you think about pop, you think about MTV in the ’80s talking about ‘We can’t play rap music,’ or ‘We can’t put this person on our platform because we’re thinking about what people in the middle of America think’ — and we all know what that’s code for,” Lizzo continued.

Now that pop is a “well-oiled” machine, she pointed out that it’s important to remember that it has a “racist origin.” As music has evolved, Lizzo said she finds it “so cool” that hip-hop and rap artists have made their way into the pop music sphere. “Rap is running the game,” she added.

In that same conversation, the artist touched on the backlash that she’s faced about people thinking she and her music aren’t Black enough, explaining that she thinks people just have to get used to her.

“I think anything that’s new, people are going to criticize and feel like it’s not for them,” Lizzo said. “But once you get used to something, it might be for you. So for people who don’t like pop music or don’t like Black artists that make pop music, they may eventually like me.” She added, “You just gotta get used to me because I’m making good s—. You missing out.” 

This article originally appeared on The Hollywood Reporter.

26 Nov 2022

Manuel Turizo’s ‘La Bachata’ Rules Billboard Argentina Hot 100 Chart for 11th Week

Manuel Turizo’s “La Bachata” spends an 11th week at No. 1 on the Billboard Argentina Hot 100 chart (dated Nov. 19). It’s the longest reign for any song in 2022, and the fifth-most among all titles.
With Turizo adding another week at the summit, let’s look at the longest leads since the chart launched in 2018:

25 weeks, “Tusa,” Karol G & Nicki Minaj
16 weeks, “Entre Nosotros,” Tiago pzk, LIT Killa, Nicki Nicole & Maria Becerra
13, “Otro Trago,” Sech, Darell, Nicky Jam, Ozuna & Anuel AA
12, “Hawai,” Maluma & The Weeknd
12, “Calma,” Pedro Capo & Farruko
11, “La Bachata,” Manuel Turizo

Meanwhile, Rosalía’s “Despechá” holds strong at No. 2 for an 11th nonconsecutive week. Bizarrap and Quevedo’s “Bzrp Music Sessions, Vol. 52” rebounds to No. 3 for a fifth week after its eight-week atop the ranking, while María Becerra’s “Automático” dips 3-4.

Further, Argentinian Ysy A scores his 15th entry as every song from his latest album, Ysysmo, debuts on the tally. One song from the 12-track set, which released on Nov. 11 through Sponsor Dios, scores the week’s Hot Shot Debut: “Cómo Chilla Ella,” with Sponsor Dios and Evlay, at No. 5.

Here’s Ysy A’s complete takeover:

No. 5, “Cómo Chilla Ella,” with Sponsor Dios & Evlay
No. 13, “A Por Todo,” with Sponsor Dios & Oniria
No. 14, “Cuánto Vale Hacer El Amor?” with Sponsor Dios & Evlay
No. 16, “Cuántos Términos?” with Sponsor Dios & Baxian
No. 24, “Relojes Reventados,” with Sponsor Dios & Oniria
No. 29, “Uoh Oh Oh,” with Sponsor Dios & Baxian
No. 31 “Un Piso Más,” with Sponsor Dios, Club Hats & Koki
No. 33, “Cuál?” with Sponsor Dios & Rucci Vazquez
No. 36, “Pa Esta Soledad,” with Yesan & Sponsor Dios
No. 39, “Ser El Trap,” with Sponsor Dios & Baxian
No. 42, “Heridas Al Fuego,” Sponsor Dios & Oniria
No. 45, “Todo Pago,” Sponsor Dios & Halpe

Elsewhere, Bizarrap adds a 35th entry as his latest collab with Duki, “Bzrp Music Sessions, Vol. 50,” debuts at No. 11. With the new arrival, he ties with Anuel AA, Ozuna and Rauw Alejandro for the third-most, trailing only Bad Bunny’s 53 entries and J Balvin’s 49. Duki, meanwhile, adds a 34th appearance to his account.

La K’onga takes the Greatest Gainer honors of the week thanks to “El Mismo Aire,” which ascends 97-81. Lali collects her 14th entry as “Motiveishon” starts at No. 83. Lastly, David Guetta and Bebe Rexha’s “I’m Good (Blue)” opens at No. 85.

26 Nov 2022

Lenny Kravitz, Questlove, Diane Warren & More Stars Mourn the Death of Irene Cara

The tributes are pouring in following the death of singer and actress Irene Cara, who passed away at her Florida home at age 63.

The Oscar- and Grammy-winner’s death was announced on social media Saturday (Nov. 26) by her publicist, Judith A. Moose. The cause of death was not known at press time.

Cara starred in the 1980 musical film Fame, playing the role of Coco Hernandez and singing the Oscar-winning title song and Oscar-nominated song “Out Here on My Own.” She is also known for her Billboard Hot 100 chart-topper “Flashdance…What a Feeling,” from the 1983 film Flashdance, which earned her two Grammys. Cara’s other credits include the 1976 movie Sparkle and numerous touring musical productions.

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Cara earned three top 10 hits on the Hot 100 with “Fame,” “Flashdance…What a Feeling” and “Breakdance.” “Flashdance…What a Feeling” spent six consecutive weeks at No. 1. The exuberant track also led Dance Club Songs for three weeks and hit No. 2 on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and No. 4 on Adult Contemporary.

In the wake of her passing, musicians including Lenny Kravitz, Questlove, Diane Warren and Red Hot Chili Peppers‘ Flea took to social media to remember the late singer-actress.

“Irene Cara, you inspired me more than you could ever know,” Kravitz tweeted. “Your songwriting and vocals created pure energy that will never cease. You also defined an era that is so close to my heart.”

Questlove wrote on Twitter, “Why are the legends just….. evaporating? Like when I turn 65 will anyone I idolize ever know what it means to turn 80? S— will I?”

Songwriter Warren, who recently received an honorary Oscar, paid tribute to Cara, tweeting, “Oh no. Sing in power forever Irene Cara. Light Up The Sky Like A Flame.”

Flashdance star Jennifer Beals also took to Instagram to share a photo of herself with Cara during the 1984 Academy Awards ceremony. “Thank you brilliant Irene for your open heart and your fearless triple threat talent,” the actress captioned the photo. “It took a beautiful dreamer to write and perform the soundtracks for those who dare to dream.”

See more celebrity reactions to Cara’s passing below.

26 Nov 2022

Elon Musk Plans to Relaunch Twitter Premium Service With Different Colored Checks

Elon Musk said Friday (Nov. 25) that Twitter plans to relaunch its premium service that will offer different colored check marks to accounts next week, in a fresh move to revamp the service after a previous attempt backfired.

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It’s the latest change to the social media platform that the billionaire Tesla CEO bought last month for $44 billion, coming a day after Musk said he would grant “amnesty” for suspended accounts and causing yet more uncertainty for users.

Twitter previously suspended the premium service, which under Musk granted blue-check labels to anyone paying $8 a month, because of a wave of imposter accounts. Originally, the blue check was given to government entities, corporations, celebrities and journalists verified by the platform to prevent impersonation.

In the latest version, companies will get a gold check, governments will get a gray check, and individuals who pay for the service, whether or not they’re celebrities, will get a blue check, Musk said Friday.

“All verified accounts will be manually authenticated before check activates,” he said, adding it was “Painful, but necessary” and promising a “longer explanation” next week. He said the service was “tentatively launching” Dec. 2.

Twitter had put the revamped premium service on hold days after its launch earlier this month after accounts impersonated companies including pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly & Co., Nintendo, Lockheed Martin, and even Musk’s own businesses Tesla and SpaceX, along with various professional sports and political figures.

It was just one change in the past two days. On Thursday, Musk said he would grant “amnesty” for suspended accounts, following the results of an online poll he conducted on whether accounts that have not “broken the law or engaged in egregious spam” should be reinstated.

The yes vote was 72%. Such online polls are anything but scientific and can easily be influenced by bots. Musk also used one before restoring former U.S. President Donald Trump’s account.

“The people have spoken. Amnesty begins next week. Vox Populi, Vox Dei,” Musk tweeted Thursday using a Latin phrase meaning “the voice of the people, the voice of God.”

The move is likely to put the company on a crash course with European regulators seeking to clamp down on harmful online content with tough new rules, which helped cement Europe’s reputation as the global leader in efforts to rein in the power of social media companies and other digital platforms.

Zach Meyers, senior research fellow at the Centre for European Reform think tank, said giving blanket amnesty based on an online poll is an “arbitrary approach” that’s “hard to reconcile with the Digital Services Act,” a new EU law that will start applying to the biggest online platforms by mid-2023.

The law is aimed at protecting internet users from illegal content and reducing the spread of harmful but legal content. It requires big social media platforms to be “diligent and objective” in enforcing restrictions, which must be spelled out clearly in the fine print for users when signing up, Meyers said.

Britain also is working on its own online safety law.

“Unless Musk quickly moves from a ‘move fast and break things’ approach to a more sober management style, he will be on a collision course with Brussels and London regulators,” Meyers said.

European Union officials took to social media to highlight their worries. The 27-nation bloc’s executive Commission published a report Thursday that found Twitter took longer to review hateful content and removed less of it this year compared with 2021.

The report was based on data collected over the spring — before Musk acquired Twitter — as part of an annual evaluation of online platforms’ compliance with the bloc’s voluntary code of conduct on disinformation. It found that Twitter assessed just over half of the notifications it received about illegal hate speech within 24 hours, down from 82% in 2021.

The numbers may yet worsen. Since taking over, Musk has l aid off half the company’s 7,500-person workforce along with an untold number of contractors responsible for content moderation. Many others have resigned, including the company’s head of trust and safety.

Recent layoffs at Twitter and results of the EU’s review “are a source of concern,” the bloc’s commissioner for justice, Didier Reynders tweeted Thursday evening after meeting with Twitter executives at the company’s European headquarters in Dublin.

In the meeting, Reynders said he “underlined that we expect Twitter to deliver on their voluntary commitments and comply with EU rules,” including the Digital Services Act and the bloc’s strict privacy regulations known as General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR.

Vera Jourova, the European Commission’s vice president for values and transparency, tweeted Thursday evening that she was concerned about news reports that a “vast amount” of Twitter’s European staff were fired.

“If you want to effectively detect and take action against #disinformation & propaganda, this requires resources,” Jourova said. “Especially in the context of Russian disinformation warfare.”

26 Nov 2022

Zayn Covers Jimi Hendrix’s ‘Angel’ in Celebration of Late Guitar Icon’s 80th Birthday: Listen

Zayn is celebrating the musical legacy of Jimi Hendrix.

On Friday (Nov. 25), the former One Direction member shared a gorgeous cover of the late guitar legend’s 1971 song “Angel,” from his posthumous album, The Cry of Love. The 29-year-old singer’s unique rendition of the track arrived ahead of what would’ve been Hendrix’s 80th birthday on Sunday (Nov. 27).

“Being asked to collaborate to celebrate @jimihendrix 80th birthday was such an unexpected and huge honour,” Zayn tweeted alongside a link to the cover. “I have so much respect and admiration for Jimi, his music and fans. ‘Angel’ is out now – hope you love the track as much as I do. Happy 80th Jimi.”

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Earlier in the week, Zayn teased a 15-second snippet of the collaboration, which features original music by Hendrix.

“We are pleased that Zayn has been inspired to use original music from Jimi Hendrix’s ‘Angel’ in his recording of the song,” the late guitarist’s estate Experience Hendrix, L.L.C. previously told Billboard. “We’re hopeful that this version of a Hendrix classic will enlighten a new generation of listeners about Jimi’s genius and further propel his continuing legacy.”

Hendrix, who is considered by many to be the greatest rock guitarist of all time, died on Sept. 18, 1970 at age 27.

After leaving 1D, Zayn bounced from his debut R&B-leaning Hot 100 No. 1 “Pillowtalk” to a sultry Fifty Shades Darker soundtrack collab with Taylor Swift (“I Don’t Wanna to Live Forever”), as well as songs with Sia, Nicki Minaj and Zhavia Ward — the latter a cover version of “A Whole New World” from the 2019 Aladdin reboot. He recently signed on to be a part of the voice cast for the animated kid flick 10 Lives.

Hear Zayn’s cover of Hendrix’ “Angel” in the video below.

26 Nov 2022

Charles Koppelman, Former Music Exec and Martha Stewart Living Chairman, Dies at 82

Charles Koppelman, former music executive and Martha Stewart chairman, died on Friday (Nov. 25). He was 82. A cause of death was not given at the time.

His son, showrunner Brian Koppelman, announced the loss on his social media, saying, “I’ll write more about my dad, Charles Koppelman, when I can. But the only thing that matters is how much I loved him. And how much he taught me about every single thing that matters.”

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The Billions co-creator continued, “He lived exactly the life he wanted to live. And he spent his last days surrounded by those he loved the most. Pop, thank you.”

Koppelman began his career in entertainment as a member of musical trio The Ivy Three, which had a Top 10 hit in 1960 called “Yogi.” Shortly after, the singer and his bandmate, Don Rubin, joined Aldon Music’s songwriting staff alongside Carole King, Neil Sedaka, Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil.

From there, they went on to form Koppelman and Rubin Associates, an entertainment company that signed The Lovin’ Spoonful the same year it opened. When Commonwealth United purchased the company in 1968, the two business partners stayed on to run it, before Koppelman moved on to CBS Records where he held multiple positions. While there, Koppelman signed acts like Billy Joel, Dave Mason, Janis Ian, Journey and Phoebe Snow.

In 1975, he was ready for another change, creating The Entertainment Company with Martin Bandier and Bandier’s father-in-law, New York real estate developer Samuel LeFrak. Together, they administered and promoted song catalogs, as well as produced iconic artists like Barbra Streisand, Dolly Parton, Diana Ross and Cher. A few years later, his son, Brian, discovered Tracy Chapman in college and introduced her to his father, who then gave her a record deal.

Koppelman, Bandier and Stephen C. Swid took things to the next level in 1986 when they formed SBK Entertainment World, Inc., and bought 250,000 songs owned by CBS for $125 million. The company eventually became one of the biggest independent music publishers, playing a major role in the careers of Michael Bolton, Robbie Robertson, New Kids on the Block, Grayson Hugh, Icehouse and more.

In 1989, Koppelman and Bandier create a partnership with EMI Music Worldwide and begin their own label, SBK Records. One year later, they landed their first platinum album with Technotronic’s Pump Up the Jam. They went on to sign talent like Jesus Jones, Wilson Phillips, Waterfront and Vanilla Ice, to name a few.

Koppelman remained in the music business for quite a few years before becoming the chairman of Steve Madden in 2000, leading the company while its founder served jail time for securities fraud. In 2005, Koppelman moved on to Marth Stewart Living Omnimedia, where he also served as chairman.

He’s survived by his son Brian, daughter Jenny Koppelman Hutt and his wife, Gerri Kyhill Koppelman.

This article was originally published by The Hollywood Reporter.

26 Nov 2022

Adidas Investigates After Ex-Workers Allege Kanye West Misconduct

Adidas says it is investigating allegations of inappropriate workplace conduct by the rapper formerly known as Kanye West that ex-employees made in an anonymous letter also accusing the German sportswear brand of looking the other way.

Adidas, which made his Yeezy line, cut ties with Ye last month over his offensive and antisemitic remarks after facing pressure to follow other brands and companies in ending partnerships with the rapper. It said it expected to take a hit of 250 million euros ($246 million) to its net income this year from the move.

Ye was suspended from Twitter and Instagram over his remarks but has been back tweeting this month.

Rolling Stone has reported that it spoke to more than two dozen former Yeezy and Adidas workers and obtained a letter from several former Yeezy employees to the sportswear company alleging that Ye created a toxic work environment by showing sexual photos and videos in meetings, making vulgar comments and bullying the people who worked for him. All the former employees spoke to the magazine on condition of anonymity.

The letter accused the company of knowing about the problematic behavior and failing to protect employees.

“It is currently not clear whether the accusations made in an anonymous letter are true. However, we take these allegations very seriously and have taken the decision to launch an independent investigation of the matter immediately to address the allegations,” Claudia Lange, head of media relations for Adidas, said in a statement Friday (Nov. 25).

She said the company was not sharing more details about the investigation for now.

Ye’s last known music and personal representatives didn’t immediately respond to emails seeking comment.

Adidas also addressed Ye’s previous remarks that led the company to sever its relationship with him, saying Friday that it “does not tolerate hate speech and offensive behavior and therefore has terminated the adidas Yeezy partnership.”

“We have been and continue to be actively engaged in conversations with our employees about the events that lead (sic) to our decision to end the partnership,” Lange said in the statement. “They have our full support and as we’re working through the details of the termination.”

The company, which named a new CEO this month in a sped-up timeline for a power transfer, said it owns the rights to product designs except for the Yeezy name and is developing plans for what to do with existing inventory.