Jem Aswad-Senior: Last News

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorOn the heels of Elton John’s 75th birthday, the singer and AEG Presents have unveiled the final North American dates of his “Farewell Yellow Brick Road The Final Tour.” The announcement promises that the 11 new dates “mark the final shows added to his North American tour.”The new dates include additional performances in East Rutherford, NJ; Foxborough, MA; Toronto,; Vancouver, BC; and Phoenix,  along with a third show added at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Concerts in San Diego, Santa Clara, CA, and Tacoma, WA, have also been added.Elton John’s final North American show – a return to the site of what is arguably his most iconic performance, Los Angeles’ Dodger Stadium – on November 20 will be his 2,000th  U.S.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorFlorence + the Machine are set to play an extended run of headline dates later this year, kicking off September 2 in Montreal with further stops including New York’s Madison Square Garden, Los Angeles’ Hollywood Bowl and many more. One dollar from every ticket sold will benefit Choose Love to aid refugees worldwide.The group has assembled a formidable array of up-and-coming support acts at select dates on the tour: Arlo Parks, Sam Fender, King Princess, Yves Tumor, Japanese Breakfast and Wet Leg will join as support on select dates throughout the tour.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorRoxy Music, the legendary and influential British group who launched during the glam-rock era of the early 1970s but evolved into a suave and romantic brand of pop that influenced everyone from Chic to Duran Duran and Maxwell, will tour for the first time in 11 years to mark the 50th year since their groundbreaking self-titled debut album.Singer-songwriter Bryan Ferry, saxophonist Andy Mackay, guitarist Phil Manzanera and drummer Paul Thompson will perform 13 arena shows across North America and the UK, beginning September 7 in Toronto at the Scotiabank Arena.The tour will take the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame members across the U.S., including New York’s Madison Square Garden and The Forum in Los Angeles, before culminating with a performance at the O2 Arena in London. Tickets for the Live Nation produced North American shows will go on sale Monday, April 4 (10 a.m.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorSpotify, which suspended its paid subscription service in Russia earlier this month due to that country’s unprovoked and bloody invasion of Ukraine, has announced it will “fully suspend our service in Russia,” apparently indefinitely. It joins dozens of other music companies that have ceased operations in the country.“Spotify has continued to believe that it’s critically important to try to keep our service operational in Russia to provide trusted, independent news and information in the region.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorWhen Sting first released the song “Russians” in 1985, the Cold War had been raging for nearly 40 years, and the song aimed to strike a humanizing tone on the people actually behind that Iron Curtain. Just weeks earlier, the Soviet Union had gotten a young new leader named Mikhail Gorbachev who ultimately would end that war and change the world in the process, for the better, it seemed at the time.Sadly, four decades later, Russia has launched the most devastating ground war in Europe since World War II with its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, and it’s necessary to strike a humanizing tone again, and Sting has released a re-recorded version of the song to benefit www.helpukraine.center — a volunteer storage center established by Ukrainian business owners where humanitarian and medical aid can be sent from all over the world – with funds being processed through the German charity foundation, Ernst Prost, People for Peace – Peace for People.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorVeteran dance music executive Patrick Moxey has announced details of his new label group and has signed a new, worldwide deal for two key record labels with Warner Recorded Music.The agreement, which encompasses the legendary Payday Records and the newly created Helix Records, will see Warner Recorded Music handling global digital distribution via its independent services arm ADA Worldwide, and includes the option for the parties to co-sign new repertoire.The move comes just weeks after Moxey left Ultra, the label he founded during the 1990s, and Sony Music.Helix Records, the group’s new flagship electronic dance music label, which was officially launched this week at Miami Music Week, has already signed several artists, including electronic duo Snakehips, British-Australian band AR/CO, legendary house dj/producer Marshall Jefferson, and tech house maven DJ Susan. Helix and Payday Records have offices in Los Angeles, New York, and London with 36-member team covering marketing and promotions in Canada, Sweden, Germany, France, and Australia.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorSpotify paid $7 billion in royalties to rights holders — primarily labels and publishers, but also distributors, performing rights organizations and others — in 2021, the company announced on Thursday in its annual “Loud and Clear” report.That total is more than any other service — with more than 180 million paying subscribers, Spotify is the top paid-subscription music service in the world by far — and sets the record for the highest annual payment from any single retailer in history, including during the height of the CD era, according to the announcement. (Because Spotify’s data is proprietary, it is not possible to cross-check all of these numbers with accuracy — see the full report here.) The report also states that in 2021, for the first time, more than 1,000 artists generated over $1 million on Spotify for rights-holders.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorMulti-platinum-selling rapper Trippie Redd, one of the first signings to 10K Projects, has re-upped with the company in a “long-term deal that will keep him at the label for years to come,” according to the announcement.In just five years, Trippie has released four studio albums, six mixtapes, eight EPs and almost three dozen singles — not to mention countless guest appearances — adding up to 15 Platinum and 8 Gold certifications.“We launched 10K Projects as a label where artists have complete creative freedom and the support to realize their vision,” said the label’s founder and CEO, Elliot Grainge. “Trippie Redd has thrived under these conditions, releasing a lifetime’s worth of music in just five short years and becoming a singular voice in contemporary music.” Trippie Redd commented: “Elliot signed me when I was 16.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorThe global recorded music market grew by 18.5% in 2021, driven by growth in paid subscription streaming, according to IFPI (International Federation of the Phonographic Industry), the organization that represents the recorded music industry worldwide. Figures released Tuesday in IFPI’s Global Music Report show total revenues for 2021 were $25.9 billion.While the free version of the report does not attach numbers to all of the rankings, they’re pretty fascinating anyway:The top 10 global artists, based on “consumption across all formats and all countries, weighted based on the value of each method of consumption,” are:The top 10 global digital singles were: The top 10 all-format albums were:And, for good measure, the top-selling vinyl titles across the world were:Digging into the data, the report notes that paid subscription streaming revenues increased by 21.9% to $12.3 billion, with 523 million users of paid subscription accounts at the end of 2021.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorIn the wake of the not-entirely-unexpected news that Kanye West has been barred from performing at the Grammy Awards due to his “concerning online behavior,” he has not been barred from attending the show, sources tell Variety.That means West  — who is up for five awards around his “Donda” album, including the top prize of Album of the Year — can walk the red carpet, attend and accept awards at both the Premiere ceremony (the livestreamed event before the main show where non-televised awards are given out) and the main show itself.It’s also possible that he could hold a competing event that would draw viewers away from the Grammys — a spiteful if not out-of-character move that arguably would harm the many fellow artists performing on the show more than the show itself.  In fact, unconfirmed rumors state that he is planning just such an event with Drake, another artist with a rocky Grammy history.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorA Nevada federal judge has ordered the owners of Las Vegas’ KAOS nightclub to pay DJ-artist Kaskade nearly $8 million after the venue cancelled his his $300,000 per night residency.The U.S. District Court in Nevada made its decision Friday following a bench trial in November, and ruled in favor of and awarded $7,950,000 to Kaskade (real name: Ryan Raddon) and Big City Dynasty Corp.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorKanye West has been barred from performing at the Grammy Awards due to his “concerning online behavior,” a rep for the artist confirms to Variety. Reps for the Recording Academy, which presents the Grammys, did not immediately respond to Variety‘s requests for comment on the claim early Saturday.West’s rep cited a report in the Blast posted late Friday claiming that the artist’s team received a phone call Friday night informing him he had been “unfortunately” removed from the lineup of performers for the show due to his “concerning online behavior.” While West was not among the first list of performers, which was announced on Tuesday, he may have been a planned performer.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorThe Oscars will feature an unusual all-star band starring Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker, legendary singer-percussionist Sheila E. and iconic jazz pianist Robert Glasper along with musical director Adam Blackstone, show producers Will Packer and Shayla Cowan announced. The Oscars air live on ABC and broadcast outlets worldwide on Sunday, March 27, 2022, at 8 p.m.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorBarcelona-born singer Rosalia seemed to progress ahead of her own albums: While her debut was essentially the straight traditional flamenco she spent years learning, and the second saw her fusing that style with more contemporary sounds, her guest appearances (with artists ranging from J Balvin, Ozuna and Bad Bunny to the Weeknd, Billie Eilish and Travis Scott) and her recent singles have seen her fully embracing innovative, envelope-pushing sounds ranging from reggaetón to hip-hop to pop.It was all prelude for the wildly diverse “Motomami,” which brings her roaring into now — it’s as musically innovative an album as we’ve heard in the past year. It finds her delivering on all the promise and innovation that those releases suggested and plenty more as well, while still keeping the sound rooted in her stunning voice (and singing entirely in Spanish).

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorNearly five years after the release of their last album, “Everything Now,” the sixth studio album by Arcade Fire, has been confirmed for a May 6, 2022 release via Columbia Records.Titled ‘We,’ the album’s arrival is preceded by first single “The Lightning I, II,” and as a video directed by Emily Kai Bock, which can be seen below.Produced by longtime Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich with the group’s Win Butler and & Régine Chassagne, and recorded in multiple locales including New Orleans, El Paso and Mount Desert Island, the album “paradoxically distills ‘the longest we’ve ever spent writing, uninterrupted, probably ever’ (per the band’s Win Butler) into a concise 40 minute epic – one as much about the forces that threaten to pull us away from the people we love, as it is inspired by the urgent need to overcome them,” the announcement reads.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorOn Thursday morning, Dolly Parton ventured into the belly of Fox News’ hotbed of propaganda and misinformation, “Fox & Friends,” in an attempt to set the record straight about her decision to decline her likely nomination into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.“Well, I didn’t feel exactly right about that,” she said, while being interviewed on the show along with James Patterson, who co-authored her new book “Run, Rose Run.” “Because my perception, and I think the perception of most of America — I just feel like that’s more for the people in rock music. I’ve been educated since then, saying that it’s more than that, but I still didn’t feel right about it.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorMushroom, Australia’s largest independent label group, and Virgin Music Label & Artist Services, a division of Universal Music Group, have announced a multi-layered global partnership to support and distribute Mushroom artists’ releases worldwide, outside of Australia and New Zealand.Under the terms of the agreement, VLMAS will provide promotion, marketing and audience label services to Mushroom’s existing US and UK infrastructure. In addition, selected Mushroom artists’ releases will be issued through UMG’s major label network, when agreed by both parties.Mushroom’s Chief Executive, Matt Gudinski said “Mushroom has been a market leader for decades in Australia and today we take another huge step in building Mushroom into a truly global brand.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorGrammy-nominated rapper and Variety Hitmakers cover star Jack Harlow has announced that his second major-label album, “Come Home the Kids Miss You,” will be released May 6 via Generation Now/Atlantic Records. The album will feature the single “Nail Tech,” which was released last month.Harlow talked with Variety about the album last November.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorOne might think that, just weeks after his company scraped through the biggest crisis of its existence — its stubborn defense of giving a gigantic international platform, not to mention more than $200 million, to Joe Rogan and his destructive, malignant opinions — Spotify’s Daniel Ek might exercise a little caution and humility.One might think that, after paying millions to Capitol Hill lobbyists in an ongoing battle to pay less to songwriters — the very foundation of his company’s existence — than the Copyright Royalty Board decreed it should pay, he wouldn’t spend even more millions on something as flashy and business-uncritical as sponsorship of a soccer team, especially with Russian bombs killing hundreds of Ukrainian civilians every day. But one would be wrong.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorRay Alba and Nathan Sheppard have been named senior vice presidents of marketing for Capitol Records, the flagship label of Capitol Music Group, it was announced today by CMG President Arjun Pulijal, to whom the pair reports.  In their new roles, Alba and Sheppard will co-lead the label’s marketing department, overseeing the design and execution of marketing campaigns for the full roster of artists on the label.  Both executives are based at the company’s headquarters within the Capitol Tower in Hollywood.Alba (pictured above, left) comes to Capitol from Epic Records, where he was senior VP of publicity and worked extensively with Future and 21 Savage, among many others. Prior to joining Epic in 2018, he was VP of publicity and head of urban publicity at Interscope Geffen A&M Records from 2015 through 2018.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorChristina Aguilera will headline the L.A. Pride 2022’s music event — L.A. Pride in the Park — with more artists to be announced, Christopher Street West, the 501(c)3 nonprofit that produces the event, has announced.The multi-stage event will return Saturday, June 11, after a two-year hiatus due to the Covid-19 pandemic and move to Los Angeles State Historic Park.