Jem Aswad-Senior: Last News

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorLast month, rumors had it that Adele postponed her hotly anticipated Las Vegas residency because the staging was too over-the-top — and at the otherwise over-the-top BRIT Awards in London on Tuesday, she kept things relatively straightforward, performing “I Drink Wine” while seated in front of a giant gold curtain, accompanied by an understated four-piece band and three singers.The performance was pitch-perfect, intense where it needed to be, with finger-pointing emphasis and a defiant grimace on the line, “Why am I seeking approval from people I don’t even know?”It was her second appearance of the night on the BRITS stage, the first coming when she accepted the Song of the Year award for “Easy on Me,” one of four for which she is nominated. Rising from her seat, where she was accompanied by boyfriend Rich Paul, she walked to the stage clad in a long black gown.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorMelissa Goodwin, a former top executive at the T.J. Martell Foundation, pleaded guilty Tuesday to federal charges related to accusations that she embezzled $3.7 million from the charity by using company credit cards to buy Super Bowl tickets and other purchases.Goodwin entered a guilty plea to a single count of wire fraud, in which prosecutors say she abused her position of control over the charity, one of the music industry’s largest.Goodwin, who faces a maximum sentence of 20 years, will be sentenced on May 20.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorWarner Music set a record for quarterly revenue in the fiscal first quarter that ended on Dec. 31, 2021, with $1.614 in revenue powered by a 31% increase in publishing revenue, 19% in recorded music and 21% in digital revenue.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorVeteran executive LaTrice Burnette, who was named president of the relaunched 4th & Broadway Records in 2020 — has been appointed executive VP of Def Jam Recordings while retaining her post at 4th & Broadway, new Def Jam chairman & CEO Tunji Balogun announced Tuesday.The 4th & Broadway roster — which, along with Burnette, was formerly with sister Universal label Island Records — includes Young Devyn, Lil Migo, Pap Chanel, Chiiild, and Kidd Kenn; the label’s core staff will move over to Def Jam as well. Burnette will remain based in New York and will report directly to Balogun.“LaTrice is a proven leader, a consummate professional, and someone who’s work and reputation I’ve admired for a long time,” said Balogun.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorAfter seeing her song “Fingers Crossed” become a TikTok smash, Vancouver Island singer/songwriter Lauren Spencer-Smith has partnered with Universal Music Group’s Island Records and Republic Records. According to the announcement, “The innovative partnership, structured with manager and business partner David Ehrlich (pictured above, right, with UMG chief Lucian Grainge, left, and Spencer-Smith), allows Lauren Spencer-Smith to keep her independent spirit via her own imprint while tapping into premium services from both labels.”After breaking through on TikTok, “Fingers Crossed” garnered over 100 million streams hitting the Top 50 on Spotify in 23 countries and peaked at No.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorAs Spotify awkwardly attempts to defend its stance on Joe Rogan — first over the Covid-19 misinformation on his show, and then over his frequent use of the N-word on that same show — the controversies have revived musicians’ longest-standing problem with the platform: The royalty rates it and other streaming platforms pay, which most musicians and many rights-holders feel are far too low.This is particularly true in publishing: In January of 2018 the Copyright Royalty Board ruled to increase songwriter rates for interactive streaming by nearly 50% over the following five years, to 15.1%. However, in March of 2019, Spotify, Google, Amazon and Pandora then appealed to keep the previous rate of 10.5% — and are gearing up to argue for that rate for the next five-year period (2023-2027) as well.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorIt’s cool enough that U.S. Olympic skaters Madison Chock and Evan Bates chose Daft Punk for their performance on Sunday — but even cooler was the music they chose: One would expect maybe one of their dancefloor hits, like “One More Time,” “Around the World” or their actual 2013 radio hit, “Get Lucky.”But instead, the pair performed to beautifully curated a medley of three songs from the duo’s 2013 (apparent) swan song album, “Random Access Melodies,” beginning with the album’s wild closing track “Contact” and its driving arpeggiated rhythms, then moving into “Within,” and concluding with the gorgeous orchestral finale of “Touch.” It paid off, too: Their winning score was 129.07, an international personal best for the duo, which added to the U.S.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorPrimary Wave Music announced that it has acquired the music rights from the estates of Layne Staley and Mike Starr of the Grammy-nominated Seattle band Alice In Chains.The deal will see the publisher acquire a stake in the Layne Staley’s and Mike Starr’s music publishing catalog, as well as master royalty income stream; terms of the deal were not disclosed.The work of the band’s main songwriter, Jerry Cantrell, was not included, nor drummer Sean Kinney or later members Mike Inez and William DuVall. However, the deal does encompass shares in some of the band’s biggest hits, such as “Man in the Box,” “Rooster” and “No Excuses,” as well as their biggest hit, “Would?” The latter song, released in 1992, and not only appeared in the era-defining Cameron Crowe film “Singles” but was also included on the hit soundtrack.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorDr. Dre has made the historic move of bringing two deaf rappers into this year’s Super Bowl Halftime Show.Sean Forbes and Warren “WaWa” Snipe, will appear alongside Dre, Eminem, Mary J.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorThe Band’s Robbie Robertson has joined the growing catalog-sale party and sold his music publishing, recorded interests and name, image & likeness rights to Iconoclast, a new firm founded by Olivier Chastan, the former CEO of Irving Azoff’s Iconic Artists Group. The news was first reported by Music Business Worldwide.The acquisition covers Robertson’s entire six-decade career, from his early 1960s compositions with early outfits like the Hawks to his classic songs with the Band to his solo and film soundtrack material.Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but sources tell Variety the deal was for around $25 million, for a catalog including such iconic songs as “Up on Cripple Creek,” “The Shape I’m In,” “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down” and more.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorSpotify’s staff was up in arms about the company and co-founder/CEO Daniel Ek’s defense of Joe Rogan in a town hall meeting Wednesday that followed its middling quarterly report and subsequent stock drop, according to a report in the Verge that cites a leaked audio recording of the meeting.In Ek’s 15-minute speech, he positioned the company as both a platform and publisher, saying that “There are many things that Joe Rogan says that I strongly disagree with and find very offensive,” he said, but defended the company’s relationship with the controversial podcaster by stating, “If we want even a shot at achieving our bold ambitions, it will mean having content on Spotify that many of us may not be proud to be associated with. Not anything goes, but there will be opinions, ideas, and beliefs that we disagree with strongly and even makes us angry or sad.” Reps for Spotify did not immediately respond to Variety‘s requests for comment.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorSpotify posted middling results for the fourth quarter of 2021 — a period that does not include the recent controversy over Neil Young and other musicians removing their music from the streaming giant, which is the world’s largest paid music-subscription service.Premium subscribers grew to 180 million — up 8 million from the 172 million reported last year — and monthly average users grew 18% to 406 million, from 381 million.However, ARPU (average revenue per user) grew just 3% year over year in the quarter, and just 1% on a constant currency basis. Ad-Supported revenue reached a record 15% of total revenue, according to the announcement, with gross margin at 26.5%.Spotify’s market capitalization fell about $2.1 billion over a three-day span last week after Young pulled his songs from the audio-streaming giant.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorOn Wednesday (Feb. 2), nearly a week after Joni Mitchell requested for her music to be removed from Spotify, several of her albums remain available on the streaming service.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorDavid Crosby and Stephen Stills have joined Neil Young and Graham Nash in asking their labels to remove their collective recordings from Spotify.According to the announcement, in support of stopping harmful misinformation about Covid-19 on Joe Rogan’s Spotify-hosted podcast, the musicians have decided to remove their records from the streaming platform including the recordings of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young; Crosby, Stills & Nash and Crosby-Nash, as well as Crosby’s and Stills’ solo projects. Nash has already begun the process to take down his solo recordings.In a unified statement, the band members commented, “We support Neil and we agree with him that there is dangerous disinformation being aired on Spotify’s Joe Rogan podcast. While we always value alternate points of view, knowingly spreading disinformation during this global pandemic has deadly consequences. Until real action is taken to show that a concern for humanity must be balanced with commerce, we don’t want our music – or the music we made together – to be on the same platform.” Reps for Spotify did not immediately respond to Variety‘s request for comment.Following a similar request by Joni Mitchell, the move reunites the five artists, who have been friends and collaborators since the 1960s, in a stance that they certainly could not have imagined 50 years ago.

Jem Aswad Senior Music Editor“The Sound of Philadelphia,” a documentary on the 1970s “Philly Soul” sound and its masterminds Kenny Gamble, Leon Huff and Thom Bell, is coming from Warner Music Entertainment, Warner Chappell Music, and Imagine Documentaries, in partnership with Jigsaw Productions, the companies announced on Wednesday. The lushly orchestrated but soulful sound — exemplified by songs like “Love Train” by the O’Jays, “If You Don’t Know Me Now” by Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes, “Me and Mrs.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorMegaforce Records co-founder Jon Zazula — who launched the iconic label, which released the first albums from Metallica, Anthrax and many others, with his wife Marsha in 1982 — died Tuesday in Florida, a rep for the label confirms to Variety. He was 69.Marsha passed away of cancer in January of last year.Known as “Jonny Z,” Zazula was the more freewheeling half of the company’s founding duo, known for his raucous laughter and, sometimes, his temper.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorAs part of its first Environment Social Governance report, Warner Music Group announced on Tuesday that it will waive unrecoupled debuts for heritage artists, following Sony Music, which made that move last year.Just hours later, a source confirmed to Variety that Universal plans to make a similar announcement as part of its ESG report later this year; Music Business Worldwide first reported that news.What that means is that eligible artists, songwriters and others who had not recouped their advances and/or other expenses will now receive royalties that previously had gone toward paying down those expenses. That situation has meant that many artists have received low or even no royalty payments as the company applied their earnings to paying down debts they may have incurred through signing advances or other recoupable expenses that standard record-label contracts oblige the artist to cover.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorCountry artist Mickey Guyton will sing the National Anthem, R&B singer Jhene Aiko will perform “America the Beautiful,” and gospel act Mary Mary will perform “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” accompanied by the Youth Orchestra of Los Angeles, as part of the pre-game ceremonies for the Super Bowl on Feb. 13, the NFL announced on Tuesday.Also, actress Sandra Mae Frank will perform the National Anthem and “America the Beautiful in American sign language on behalf of the National Association of the Deaf, and veteran DJ-producer Zedd will act as the official pregame DJ during player warmups.The choices speak to the NFL’s recent moves toward greater diversity, announced when it first teamed up with Roc Nation as an entertainment consultant in 2019.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorSony Music Publishing has announced Songwriter Assistance, a new program that will provide its global roster of songwriters and composers with access to free, confidential counseling services and wellness resources.According to the announcement, starting February 1, Songwriter Assistance will offer 24/7 counseling support via global hotlines, as well as ongoing counseling services for emotional health matters such as stress, anxiety, depression, and family/relationship challenges.SMP songwriters will also have unlimited access to customized resources for tackling daily responsibilities such as researching childcare and eldercare options, navigating life transitions, co-parenting, budgeting for major life events, and more.In a letter to songwriters and composers announcing the program, Jon Platt, Chairman and CEO, Sony Music Publishing said, “We are committed to providing you with services that matter. The importance of wellness cannot be overstated, and with Songwriter Assistance, we look forward to offering a whole new level of care and support.”Amy Cranford, SMP senior VP of publishing administration, said, “We are passionate about taking care of Sony Music Publishing’s songwriters and composers and providing them with the best level of support.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorIsland Records has named Mike Alexander general manager, it was announced by new label co-CEOs Imran Majid and Justin Eshak. Alexander will continue to be based in New York and report jointly to Majid and Eshak.A nearly two-decade veteran of Island’s parent company Universal Music Group, Alexander has for the past year been an executive VP at Island, overseeing the operations for the label including releases by Shawn Mendes, the Killers, Demi Lovato and others. He previously served as executive vice president of international for UMG, a position that jointly encompassed Island Records, Def Jam Recordings and Republic Records.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorPrimary Wave Music has expanded its partnership with long-running British group and Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductees Def Leppard.The deal will see the company acquire an additional stake in the band’s music publishing catalog as well as master royalty income stream.Terms of the deal were not disclosed; many of the band’s biggest hits are included in deal, such as “Pour Some Sugar on Me,” “Rock of Ages” and “Photograph.”The band’s repertoire includes 11 studio albums, which have sold more than 110 million copies globally.The relationship between Primary Wave and Def Leppard began in 2009 with a deal to market and administer the band’s catalog of songs. Over the years the songs have been synced on a number of television shows, including “Cobra Kai,” “Hit the Floor,” “The Simpsons Guy,” “American Horror Story 1984” and more.