Miley Cyrus, Lil Nas X Star in Amazon Music’s ‘Holiday Plays’

The wait is nearly over for fans of Steven Knight’s epic Birmingham gangster drama Peaky Blinders.  Sunday 27 February sees the return of the legendary Tommy Shelby, played by Cillian Murphy, and his mob for the sixth and final series of the smash hit saga. But what can we expect from Tommy and his friends – and enemies – when we catch up with them? Fans are also keen to know about the new arrivals joining the series for its finale, including acclaimed star of Time and Line of Duty, Stephen Graham. Get exclusive celebrity stories and fabulous photoshoots straight to your inbox withOK!'s daily newsletter .

James Brown documentary produced by Mick Jagger and Questlove in on the way.A&E Network announced the four-part documentary yesterday (February 26) and said it’s expected to arrive in 2023.James Brown: Say It Loud will be directed by Deborah Riley Draper and will be executive produced by Mick Jagger, Questlove and Black Thought, among others.In a statement, Jagger said he was “thrilled” to executive produce the project, saying: “He was a brilliant performer who inspired me from the beginning and was deeply committed to the Civil Rights movement. I have always admired James and learned so much from him.”Questlove and Black Thought added: “The life of James Brown is significant not only to understand his immense musical impact, which inspires us and other artists to this day, but also for the deep and lasting impression he has had on American culture.“Brown’s life is a crucial and timely story of struggle, redemption, and self-identity and we are honoured to have the chance to share it.”In 2014, the late Chadwick Boseman starred as James Brown for the biopic Get On Up, which Jagger also produced.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorThe song-catalog bonanza of 2020 just hit a peak that is not likely to be topped: Universal Music Publishing Group has acquired Bob Dylan’s entire catalog of songs in a blockbuster agreement encompassing more than 600 copyrights spanning 60 years, ranging from 1962’s “Blowin’ in the Wind” to this year’s “Murder Most Foul.” His catalog was previously administered by Sony/ATV Music Publishing.Terms were not disclosed, but a source tells Variety that the deal was easily in nine figures.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorOkay, we’ll admit it: We’re still hung over from celebrating after our stellar “Hitmakers” event last night — a virtual party that basically turned into a virtual mini-awards show with appearances from Harry Styles, Billie Eilish, Lil Baby and many more.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorBillie Eilish announced that she is officially canceling her “When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?” tour to enable fans to receive refunds for their tickets.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorSony Music Entertainment has acquired Human Re Sources, J. Erving’s Los Angeles-based artist distribution and services company, from the music and tech company Q&A.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorWith 3.6 million subscribers, New Music Friday is hardly Spotify’s most popular playlist (that would be Today’s Top Hits, which tops 27 million). And with 100 new songs or remixes each week sprawled across multiple genres, it doesn’t provide the sort of focused punch of powerful genre-specific playlists like Rap Caviar.Yet it’s become one of the most coveted franchises on the world’s largest streaming service — and one that turns over completely every seven days.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorTo celebrate the (slightly more than) one-year anniversary of its release, The Weeknd and superstar Spanish singer Rosalía have teamed up for a remix of “Blinding Lights,” Variety’s Hitmakers Record of the Year and one of the biggest hits in recent memory.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorThe Weeknd’s “Blinding Lights” is indisputably one of the landmark songs of 2020 —and the only reason it isn’t even more dominant is because it was released on Nov. 29, 2019, and racked up significant numbers that year as well.Written by The Weeknd with Max Martin (the most successful songwriter-producer of the past 25 years) and Oscar Holter and produced by the trio with Jason “DaHeala” Quenneville and Ahmad “Belly” Balshe, the song has racked up a jaw-dropping 4.5 billion global streams.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorSince Canadian singer-songwriter Shawn Mendes first rose to fame as a 14-year-old with a series of covers on Twitter’s Vine app — for those who don’t remember, it was the six-second predecessor to TikTok — he and his team have worked doggedly to position him as a career artist, focused on longevity and maturity rather than the perishable celebrity such status might suggest. They’ve long since succeeded in that mission: He’s now in the position of being a world-famous veteran musician who has released a series of increasingly elaborate albums, headlined arenas and scored No.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorThe Weeknd, Doja Cat, Ty Dolla $ign, Brandy, Bebe Rexha, Nav, Bryson Tiller, French Montana — that’s not the top of a 2020 singles or albums chart. Those are just a few of the artists handled by the rapidly growing Salxco, the management-and-more concern founded by Wassim “Sal” Slaiby.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorMusic streaming platform SoundCloud has announced that the company’s president, Michael Weissman, will succeed Kerry Trainor as chief executive officer, effective January 1, 2021. Weissman succeeds longtime colleague and partner, Trainor, who will remain a member of the Board of Directors.“I’m honored to lead SoundCloud’s next chapter,” said Weissman.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorAtlantic Records VP of marketing Ryan Brady was killed Thursday morning in a car accident in Los Angeles. He was 34.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorAs part of Spotify’s annual Wrapped campaign , which launched late last night, the streaming giant has launched a partnership with the National Independent Venue Association (NIVA).As NIVA’s 3,000 members await the passage of the Save Our Stages Act in Congress to preserve independent music venues across the country, Spotify is continuing to shine a light on their plight by taking over space on the marquees of more than 30 COVID-shuttered music venues and donating a total of $500,000 to those stages and the NIVA Emergency Relief Fund, and commemorating memorable concerts that took place at the venues (like the Aladdin in Portland, OR, above) by artists such as The Weeknd, Lady Gaga, Alicia Keys, Childish

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorLarry Mattera has been appointed general manager of Capitol Records, the flagship label of Capitol Music Group (CMG), and executive VP of CMG. The announcement was made by CMG Chairman & CEO Jeff Vaughn, to whom Mattera will report.In his newly-created GM position, Mattera will helm the day-to-day operations of the label, and in his broader EVP role, will help strategize and navigate CMG’s future course as a key member of Vaughn’s executive management team.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorThis World AIDS Day, Africa’s influential record label, Mavin Records, and (RED) are joining forces to fight two pandemics: AIDS and COVID-19, and are starting with a remix competition.The remix of the hit single “Jaiye” by Mavin artist Ladiphoe, featuring Aluna and Sigag Lauren, will be available to stream and download worldwide, with  proceeds going to support (RED)’s efforts to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on life-saving HIV/AIDS programs in sub-Saharan Africa.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorAs they do at this time every year, Spotify has unveiled the top artists, albums, tracks, playlists and podcasts that its 320 million users streamed the most in its survey 2020.MUSIC (GLOBAL)PODCASTS (GLOBAL) Spotify 2020 Wrapped Global Top Lists:Most Streamed Artists GloballyMost Streamed Female ArtistsMost Streamed Albums GloballyMost Streamed Songs GloballyMost Popular Podcasts GloballyMost Popular Podcast Genres GloballySpotify 2020 Wrapped U.S. Top Lists U.S.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorVeteran PR exec Allison Elbl has joined top music PR and marketing agency Shore Fire Media, the company announced Monday. Elbl, who starts her new role on Tuesday (Dec.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorDua Lipa’s “Studio 2054” livestream concert event drew a whopping 5 million-plus global views, according to an announcement from her reps — this tally is said to be a record for a paid livestream.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorHaim, Dave Matthews, Jack Johnson and Feist are among the more than 40 artists who will perform songs by Yusuf/ Cat Stevens for the CatSong Festival, a special live YouTube broadcast in celebration of the 50th anniversary of his classic 1970 albums “Tea for the Tillerman” and “Mona Bone Jakon.” According to the announcement, fans can expect new interpretations of “Wild World,” “Peace Train,” “Father And Son” and more of Yusuf’s hits and classic songs. This collection of covers will be broadcast on the official Yusuf / Cat Stevens YouTube channel on December 5th at 12 p.m.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorThe Thanksgiving break has done little to calm the anger over the Grammy Awards’ baffling shutout of The Weeknd and several other artists from the 2021 nominations, and on Saturday Halsey — who was herself shut out from nominations — took to Instagram to air her feelings on the issue, as have Drake, Elton John, Kid Cudi, Charlie Puth and others.In a social media post last week, The Weeknd accused the Recording Academy of being “still corrupt,” which prompted a response from interim Grammy chief Harvey Mason jr., who insists the process is legitimate, and, in an interview with Variety earlier in the week, defended the voters who made the widely criticized decision.“All the records get the fairest of fair