Sony Music Hires Geoff Taylor as Executive VP of AI

Dennis Rodman is showing off his new tattoo.

law, which was approved by the Republican-dominated legislature and signed by Gov. Bill Lee earlier this year.A federal judge subsequently issued an injunction blocking the state from taking any adverse action against doctors who recommend non-surgical gender-affirming treatments, on the grounds that the plaintiffs in the case were likely to succeed in proving their claim that the law is unconstitutional and should be overturned.The plaintiffs have argued that the Tennessee law runs counter to federal laws prohibiting discrimination in health care and violates both the rights of trans minors and the rights of their parents to make whatever medical decisions they believe to be in their children’s best interests.But in a July 8 decision, the 6th U.S.

Dennis Rodman? Well, this latest one is on his face!The NBA great took to Instagram on Friday to share that he got the face of his girlfriend, Yella Yella, tattooed on his right cheek. It's prime real estate on his face, for sure.

Charttopper Maisie Peters has revealed the secret to her success - and it is quite literally magic - because she’s a witch.

A comedian and podcaster has blasted the Tories over their mismanagement of the economy as he shared fears of losing his house amid a doubling of his mortgage payments.

Rangers linked Benie Traore looks set to leave BK Hacken this summer - but a move may not be imminent despite speculation ramping up over a quickfire exit.

An ex-girlfriend of Jonah Hill has come forward about the emotional abuse she suffered throughout their relationship. Sarah Brady took to

Michael Cera‘s super bad old phone prevented him, albeit slightly, from forming an even stronger bond with the cast of Barbie. All good though. Cera says his character in the film would have probably kept a distance anyway.

When we tell you the JOY that was exploding inside of us last night! Such a special time with the kiddos at @Area15Official’s @illuminariumlv for their Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) party! Perez is an OG Swiftie. Since debut album! We’ve been to every single one of her tours! And getting to share Taylor Swift with the kids was so meaningful! And seeing everyone else there who wasn’t even alive when this album first came out!!! AWESOME! Taylor Swift spans genres and generations! Getting to relive this era in such a beautiful way was profound and magical!!!

It’s Taylor time!

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music Hairspray. Spandex. Leather pants. Makeup. The ‘80s metal scene left a long and lasting legacy, and the stories of five of its top artists are told in “I Wanna Rock: The ‘80s Metal Dream.” Paramount+ has announced that the new three-part docuseries will premiere exclusively on the service on Tuesday, July 18 in the U.S. and Canada and internationally on Wednesday, July 19 in the U.K. and Australia, with further international markets to follow later this summer. The series follows members of the bands Skid Row, Winger, Twisted Sister, Vixen and the Scream as they chased fame and found it. While artists like Motley Crue, Def Leppard, Guns N’ Roses and others found even bigger and more lasting success, these artists’ stories are more suited to tell the story of struggle, success, and struggle again.

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music The estate of legendary British singer Joe Cocker has entered into an agreement with Irving Azoff’s Iconic Artists Group to acquire and develop the singer’s five-decade catalog. The acquisition includes the singer’s music intellectual property assets, including his interest in his sound recordings, compositions, and his name, image and likeness; further terms were not disclosed. After working as a singer through the early 1960s, Cocker burst into the mainstream in 1969 with his electrifying cover of the Beatles’ “With a Little Help from My Friends,” which topped the British charts and sparked a major U.S. following, thanks in large part to his show-stopping performance at the Woodstock festival (and subsequent film). With his powerful and unmistakable soul-blues voice and explosive stage presence, Cocker’s popularity grew with the “Mad Dogs & Englishmen” tour, live album and film, which featured an all-star band helmed by Leon Russell.

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music Three hours and 52 minutes is a long time to be doing anything except sleeping — driving, cooking, painting a room — and it’s an excruciatingly long time to spend watching an awards show. But unlike those other activities, spending 3:52 watching a televised awards show (and that total doesn’t even include the hour-long red-carpet pre-show) leaves a person with little sense of accomplishment or rejuvenation. The BET Awards are always unusually long for an awards show that isn’t an Oscars or a Grammys — the network traditionally blocks out three-and-a-half hours on the last Sunday night in June — and most years it delivers with either a stacked talent lineup and/or a series of water-cooler moments. But whether due to the ongoing writers’ strike — which got at least two statements of support from people on the BET stage — or the fact that many artists, including Sunday’s big winners, SZA and Beyonce, are on the road, making up for touring time lost to the pandemic, there was little of either in evidence on Sunday night, in a show that, without naming names, was dominated by mediocre talent, over-long speeches or paid programming of some kind. It’s a safe bet that even the biggest fans of hip-hop and R&B had no idea who was on stage for a large percentage of the time. (The full winners list appears below.)

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music Those who wondered if or when Migos might perform together again after the tragic death of cofounder Takeoff got their answer on Sunday night, in a total surprise performance by surviving group members Quavo and Offset. The show returned from a commercial break with a curtain raised on a darkened stage with two shoadwed figures emerging — who turned out to be Quavo and Offset, standing before an image of the Space Shuttle. As a recording of Takeoff’s verse on the song “Hotel Lobby” began (as recorded by his duo with Quavo, Unc & Phew), it became clear who they were and the crowd erupted. “BET!” the announcer shouted. “Doin’ this for Take!” The image of the Space Shuttle took off and was replaced by an image of Takeoff with his hand reaching skyward, and the pair launched into the group’s biggest hit, “Bad & Boujee.”

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music Young Thug — who has been awaiting trial in an Atlanta jail for over a year — may not belong in an orange jumpsuit, but he’ll probably reinvent the attire at some fashion show when he gets out. Thugger is one of the top rappers in the game, and yet he’s been sidelined by allegations from Georgia’s Fulton County that his Young Stoner Life label is actually a criminal gang. Thug’s response: a surprise album, as he awaits jury selection, that doubles as a kind of opening statement, not for the “peers” to be selected by the court, but for his friends, fans and family rooting for him from the sidelines.  Arriving just a week after “Gift & a Curse,” the new album from labelmate and former associate Gunna — who was also indicted but pleaded guilty to one count of racketeering and has been freed — “Business Is Business” is Thug’s first solo release since 2021’s “Punk,” and since his was incarcerated. Despite its “Godfather”-ish title, the album reflects the divides in the YSK camp: BSlime, Lil Gotit and Yak Gotti are the only featured crew members, Gunna is nowhere to be seen, and Wheezy has three production credits on the album but none on a “Gift & a Curse.” Consequently, it’s missing the camaraderie that has been a hallmark of Thug’s career, from “Best Friend” to the YSL collaborative album, “Slime Language 2” — although it does feature guest verses from Travis Scott, Future, 21 Savage, Lil Uzi Vert and more.

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Sara Bareilles has announced a special initiative to help save Rockwood Music Hall, the long-running independent New York City music venue, which is in danger of closing. The #PreserveRockwood benefit concert series will launch on June 30 with Bareilles and will be an opportunity to see artists perform in the venue’s intimate setting while helping to keep it alive. 100% of the proceeds from the shows will be donated to Rockwood to help continue a space for independent and emerging artists to perform. Other artists initially joining the series include Chris Thile and Michael Daves (July 1), Amy Helm (July 6), Isabel Hagen (July 10), Ingrid Michaelson (July 20), Elle King (July 31) and The Lone Bellow (August 10), and more.

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music Warner Bros. Discovery is negotiating to sell around half of the storied Warner studio’s film and TV music-publishing assets for approximately $500 million, three sources confirm to Variety. The news was first reported by Hits. While it is unclear exactly which assets are on the table, one source says that the rights to “slightly less than half” of the catalog, with a price of around $500 million, are likely to go to a major label, with Sony said to be in the lead. The catalog is believed to include music from such films as “Purple Rain,” “Evita,” “Sweeney Todd,” “Rent” several “Batman” films and many more titles, as well as songs included in iconic films such as “As Time Goes By” from “Casablanca” — iconic titles to be sure, but again, it is unclear exactly which rights are in play. Top attorney Allen Grubman is said to be overseeing the deal for Warner Discovery CEO David Zaslav.

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music Highly touted British rapper Central Cee has signed a joint venture agreement with Columbia Records in partnership with Sony Music U.K., Variety has confirmed. Known to fans as “Cench,” the rapper became the first-ever British male rapper to be included in XXL magazine’s influential annual “Freshman Class” list, which was unveiled on Wednesday. Central Cee will also perform at this week’s 2023 Glastonbury festival, the largest festival in the U.K. The deal was led by Columbia executive vice president Bu Thiam with Central Cee’s manager, Bello. The fiercely independent rapper was the object of a heated bidding war in recent weeks; while terms of the Columbia deal were not announced, the joint venture suggests that he is likely to retain ownership of his recordings, as he has to date.

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music Paul McCartney has somewhat belatedly responded to the hysterical speculation that followed his announcement earlier this month that a “new” Beatles song has been created from a late ‘70s John Lennon demo recording with the assistance of AI. “Been great to see such an exciting response to our forthcoming Beatles project,” he wrote on social media. “No one is more excited than us to be sharing something with you later in the year. “We’ve seen some confusion and speculation about it,” he continued. “Seems to be a lot of guess work out there. Can’t say too much at this stage but to be clear, nothing has been artificially or synthetically created. It’s all real and we all play on it. We cleaned up some existing recordings – a process which has gone on for years.

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music BMG has acquired a “substantial stake” in the work of legendary songwriter and two-time Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee Paul Simon, the company announced Thursday. The acquisition includes his royalty income in Simon & Garfunkel recordings as well as his neighboring rights income; Simon sold his publishing catalog to Sony Music Publishing in 2021. According the the announcement, the deal includes such songs as ‘The Sound Of Silence’, ‘The Boxer’, ‘Mrs Robinson’ and ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water.” Paul Simon was represented in the transaction by Gene Salomon and Don Passman at Gang, Tyre, Ramer, Brown & Passman. 

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music Nearly 100 people were injured by “golf-ball sized” hail before a Louis Tomlinson concert scheduled for Wednesday night at the Red Rocks Amphitheatre outside Denver, the West Metro Fire Department told CNN. At least seven people were transported to area hospitals with “non-life-threatening” injuries, the fire department tweeted, with as many as 90 people treated at the venue for abrasions and broken bones. “I managed to hide where they were selling drinks and I used my backpack to protect myself and another girl,” one fan told CNN, saying she experienced minor injuries. The National Weather Service office in nearby Boulder issued a severe thunderstorm warning for the areas at around 9 p.m., noting the venue would be affected.