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First, induction into the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame. Now, Dolly Parton has been feted with a $100 million award from Amazon executive chairman Jeff Bezos for her philanthropic work.
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The iconic singer and songwriter is the latest recipient of the Bezos Courage & Civility Award, which recognizes “leaders who aim high, find solutions and who always do it with civility,” comments journalist and Bezos’ partner Lauren Sanchez.
Each awardee is expected to direct the sum to “the charities that they see fit,” adds Sanchez during a presentation, posted to social channels Sunday (Nov. 13).
Parton, notes Bezos, “embodies these ideas so thoroughly. She gives with her heart, what she’s done for kids, and literacy and so many other things, is just incredible.” She will “put this $100 million award to great use helping so many people,” he continues.
Parton was typically modest of her fine work. “When people are in a position to help, you should help. And I know that I’ve always said, I try to put my money where my heart is,” she said as she took the podium to receive the award. “I will do my best to do good things with this money.”
In a record-smashing music career spanning six decades, Parton has written roughly 3,000 songs and recorded more than 50 studio albums — with the promise of more to come.
Parton’s “living legend” status extends well beyond the world of music. The 76-year-old Tennessee native has founded a string of charities including the Dollywood Foundation, which focuses on education and poverty relief. Last year, it emerged that she donated $1 million to Vanderbilt University’s Medical Center to help develop a vaccine during the COVID-19 pandemic, she was included in the Time 100 and People of the Year honors, raised $700,000 for Tennessee flood relief and found the time to release a new fragrance.
During her speech at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony Nov. 5, 2022 at Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles, she teased an upcoming rock album. She also treated the audience to a new rock song that had her declaring: “I still got rock and roll down in my country soul.”
Amazon’s Courage and Civility award was started in 2021, with prizes bestowed to activist Van Jones, who served as founding CEO of the REFORM Alliance and Dream Corps, and chef and humanitarian Jose Andres, who established World Central Kitchen, which provides food in disaster-hit areas around the globe.
If Rihanna‘s Super Bowl halftime show is going to be anything like her Savage x Fenty Show Vol. 4, then viewers are bound to break a sweat.
Rihanna, who’s also the fashion show’s executive producer and creative director, assembled an all-star team of models, actors and musicians on the 87-acre South Coast Botanic Garden in Palos Verdes Estates, California, for the event. But this isn’t some typical runway walk in the park. The latest installment of Savage x Fenty plays out like a wildly entertaining fever dream that’ll keep us wanting to relive it night after night.
Savage x Fenty Show Vol. 4 will premiere Wednesday on Prime Video, where Navy stationed in more than 240 countries and territories can tune in from around the world. And the latest Savage x Fenty collection — with all-inclusive sizing that ranges from 30A to 42H/46DDD for bras and XS-4X/XS-XXXXL for underwear, sleepwear and loungewear — will be available for purchase at the Amazon Fashion store and at Savage X Fenty on Wednesday, the same date the show airs.
Here are the eight can’t-miss moments from the Savage x Fenty Show Vol. 4.
Amazon Music will expand its ad-free offering for Prime members from 2 million songs to more than 100 million songs, the company announced on Tuesday (November 1). There is one caveat, however: Prime members can only listen on shuffle, unless they upgrade to Amazon Music Unlimited.
Along with the increased access to music, Amazon announced that Prime members will also have access to a wide-selection of ad-free podcasts, plus a newly launched Podcast Previews feature that lets listeners easily test snippets of episodes to see if they like them.
“When Amazon Music first launched for Prime members, we offered an ad-free catalog of 2 million songs, which was completely unique for music streaming at the time,” Steve Boom, vp of Amazon Music, said in a statement. “We continue… to bring even more entertainment to Prime members, on top of the convenience and value they already enjoy. We can’t wait for members to experience not only a massively expanded catalog of songs, but also the largest selection of ad-free top podcasts anywhere, at no additional cost to their membership.”
This expansion follows the news from April that Amazon Music Unlimited raised its price for Prime subscribers from $7.99 per month to $8.99 (or from $79 per year to $89) and similarly upped the cost of its single-device plan (for Amazon’s Echo and Fire TV devices) from $3.99 to $4.99 per month. Other prominent streaming services recently took similar steps, with YouTube’s Premium Family plan — which includes its music subscription service — jumping from $17.99 to $22.99 per month, and Apple Music individual plans climbing from $9.99 to $10.99.
Amazon launched Prime Music with over one million songs, primarily catalog material, in 2014. Two years later, the company rolled out a multi-tiered offering, Amazon Music Unlimited, with many more titles.
“From our perspective, with Prime we helped push the music industry away from the one-size-fits all approach to music streaming, and to go after different customer segments,” Boom told Billboard at the time. “We’re going to grow the market [and add] new customers to streaming with a great way to get into streaming with really low friction.”
In 2020, Amazon said it had “more than 55 million” subscribers across its various listening tiers.
Amazon has laid off around 150 employees at its recently launched live-radio app Amp, according to a report at Business Insider. Though Amazon would not comment on the numbers in the report, the company confirms to Billboard that it has chosen “to consolidate a few teams” at the division.
“At Amazon we think big, experiment, and invest in new ideas to delight customers,” said the company in a statement. “We also continually evaluate the progress and potential of our products and services to deliver customer value, and we regularly make adjustments based on those assessments. We’ve made the decision to consolidate a few teams so we can focus on the growth and scaling of Amp.”
Amazon is working to identify other opportunities within the company for affected employees.
Launched in March, Amp allows users to host their own shows by streaming music from a catalog of tens of millions of licensed songs from the three major labels, as well as Indies including Beggars Group, PIAS, Believe and CD Baby. Though it’s designed primarily for non-celebrity creators, Amp also hosts or has announced shows from high-profile artists including Pusha T, Tinashe, Travis Barker, Lil Yachty, Lindsey Stirling, Big Boi and Nicki Minaj, who brought her Apple Music show Queen Radio to the platform at launch. In September, Amp announced it would launch a monthly fund to reward emerging U.S.-based creators for building loyal audiences on the app.
The cuts at Amp come on the heels of Amazon’s Q3 earnings report on Thursday (Oct. 27), when the company revealed it had grown its headcount by just 21,000 employees — a sharp year-over-year drop after it added 133,000 employees over the same period in 2021.
On a call with reporters, Amazon CFO Brian Olsavsky said the company was “preparing for what could be a slower growth period” in an anticipation of an economic slowdown, citing inflation and rising energy costs, among other factors. “We are going to be very careful on our hiring,” Olsavsky added. “We certainly are looking at our cost structure and looking for areas where we can save money.”
All products and services featured are independently chosen by editors. However, Billboard may receive a commission on orders placed through its retail links, and the retailer may receive certain auditable data for accounting purposes.
It’s time to stock up on fall essentials! Right now, shoppers can save up to 39% on men’s hoodies, crewneck sweaters and other loungewear items on sale at Amazon.
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The top-rated Hanes EcoSmart Fleece Crewneck Sweatshirt is marked down to just $11, while the EcoSmart hoodie is discounted to $14.50. The sweatshirt and hoodie are perfect for layering up in chilly weather and available in over a dozen colors (sizes ranging from small to 5X-Large).
Looking for more fall wear? Hanes three-button, long-sleeve shirts are 50% off in select colors and start at just $9.59. You can also find Gildan fleece hoodies starting at $11.85 (regular $17.99).
Sweatshirts, hoodies, leggings, T-shirts, jeans, socks and Crocs top the list of best-sellers on Amazon, so you might want to act fast to ensure that you don’t miss the sale.
Amazon’s Prime Day Early Access sale, which featured mega discounts, including up to 70% off Amazon devices, Smart Fire TVs starting at $99, up to 21% off HP printers and up to 50% off select movies, ended last week, but there are still ways to save on must-have items. The two-day sale was held exclusively for Prime members. If you’re not a member yet, click here to launch your 30-day free trial, so you can save big on hoodies, sweatshirts, coats, sweaters, cozy loungewear, gloves and other seasonal necessities, plus gifts for the holidays.
Not familiar with Amazon Prime? The membership is $14.99/month after the free trial, and only $6.99-$7.49/month for students and eligible EBT and other government assistance recipients. Prime memberships include free two-day shipping on millions of items, access to Prime Video, Amazon Music Unlimited, Prime Gaming, Prime Reading, grocery deliveries, a year free subscription to GrubHub+ and tons of other money-saving benefits.
Shop sale items below.
Hanes Men’s EcoSmart Sweatshirt, Black, Large
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$18.00
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Hanes Men’s Pullover EcoSmart Hooded Sweatshirt, Black, Large
$14.50
$22.00
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Hanes Men’s Long-Sleeve Beefy Henley T-Shirt – Large – Pebblestone Heather
$9.59
$20.00
52% OFF
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Levi’s Men’s 505 Regular Fit Jeans
$48.65
$69.50
30% OFF