business
Virgin Music Forges Label Services Pact in Brazil With WorkShow
Under the new partnership, Universal says WorkShow has signed sertanejo duo Henrique & Juliano, which is bringing their entire catalog spanning their nine-year career. The act, which has 13.2 million subscribers on YouTube had the top streaming track in Brazil in 2020, “Liberdade Provisória,” according to IFPI. The act was already a WorkShow management client and was signed to Som Livre. The deal underscores the interest that sertanejo, Brazil’s pop-country genre, has continued to generate among the majors. With artists like Jorge & Mateus dominating streaming charts in Brazil, in April Sony Music Entertainment spent about $255 million to acquire Som Livre, the country’s third-largest label and leading sertanejo imprint, from Grupo Globo. The deal, which followed an intense bidding...
Olivia Rodrigo’s ‘Sour’ Narrowly Beats Queen’s ‘Greatest Hits’ For U.K. Chart Crown
The rock legends’ career retrospective enjoys a spike thanks to a 40th anniversary reissue campaign. According to the charts compiler, 78% of Queen’s final total during the week was made up of physical sales (vinyl, CD and cassette) with Greatest Hits the best-selling vinyl album of the chart week. Elsewhere on the tally, Jack Savoretti’s Europiana (EMI) is the week’s best-seller on downloads, despite dipping 1-4, while Bo Burnham’s Inside (The Songs) (via Imperial) lifts 6-5, a new peak. Primal Scream frontman Bobby Gillespie and French artist Jehnny Beth score a No. 12 debut with their collaborative effort Utopian Ashes (Sony Music CG). It’s Gillespie’s 13th Top 40 appearance, the first as a solo artist, and it’s Beth’s first appearance in the upper reaches of the chart. Over on the...
Two arrested in Gombe over fertiliser adulteration
The Gombe State Police Command has arrested two suspects for buying and selling adulterated fertiliser in Gombe, the state capital. According to a statement issued by the Command’s Public Relations Officer, SP Mary Malum, in Gombe on Friday, the arrest was made on July 4. Malum said the arrest was made by Police detectives attached to the State Criminal Investigation Department that acted on credible intelligence. She said the suspects were “one Ibrahim Salisu, 26 years from Marke village, Kankara LGA, Katsina State and one Maina Bukar, 46 years from Biu LGA, Borno State, who is the buyer here in Gombe State”. According to the PRO, the suspects had confessed to have been in “this dirty and unlawful business where the said Ibrahim Salisu who is the supplier brings the unbranded and misbrand...
Steven Van Zandt Praises Educators While Being Honored by American Federation of Teachers
“There are no wrong answers in the arts,” Van Zandt said. “The arts provide a comfort zone, and that extends to other disciplines. I can’t overstate my appreciation for all you do and for this award. I salute you. You are helping to create the next generation of engineers, scientists, doctors, nurses, artists, activists, writers and even musicians.” Van Zandt is a founding member of Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band and also leads his own group, the Disciples of Soul. Additionally, he is an award-winning actor and a noted activist. With the E Street Band, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in the musical excellence category in 2014. With the rest of the cast of HBO’s The Sopranos, Van Zandt received two SAG Awards (and seven nominations) for outstanding performance in a dr...
Tencent Music Spared From Forced Sales in China Regulatory Crackdown
The government action is part of a broader attempt by Beijing to regulate its domestic technology sector, which grew rapidly after years of relatively little regulation. Since last December, regulators have fined 11 companies, including Tencent, Baidu, Alibaba and ByteDance, for failing to disclose past acquisitions and investments. News of the regulatory fines sent shares of Tencent Music Entertainment on the New York Stock Exchange down more than 10% on Wednesday and Thursday to $12.69 a share. Shares of other Chinese tech companies listed in the U.S., including JD.com, Alibaba and Pinduoduo, also slid. (TME rebounded slightly on Friday, up 1.5% to $12.88.) Still, despite the sweeping penalties enacted, the lack of forced divestitures seemed to allay investor concerns that Tencent Music ...
JAY-Z Enters Trading Card Market With Investment in Certified Collectibles Group
JAY-Z is once again expanding his business portfolio and this time, he is hopping onto the ever-growing trend of the collectible market. His company, Roc Nation has recently invested in Blackstone’s majority stake acquisition in Certified Collectibles Group. Certified Collectibles Group (CCG) is a company that focuses on authenticating collectibles such as trading cards, comic books, magazines, stamps, banknotes and many more. The $500 million USD transaction saw additional investors such as Fanatics founder Michael Rubin, NBA guard Andre Iguodala and Philadelphia 76ers basketball operations president Dary Morey join in the funding round. Bloomberg, which calls Blackstone the “world’s largest alternative investment firm,” reportedly saw the company’s share rise 0.3 percent last week after ...
Cross River: Igbo leaders to partner with police on community policing
President of Igbo Congress Cross River chapter, Prince Raymond Atulomah, has stated that Ndi Igbo would partner with police command in the area of community policing. Speaking during a courtesy call on the Cross River Commissioner for Police, Mr Sikiru Akande, in his office in Calabar on Friday, Atulomah said Igbo leaders crave for a crime-free society and therefore would contribute to ensuring that the police Command succeed in the area of crime fighting. He said Igbo are committed to promoting a peaceful co-existence between them and host communities especially in local security. He said: “We are here to pay solidarity visit to the Commissioner and congratulate him on his appointment. We pledge to collaborate with your office in the area of community policing. We promise to be law abidin...
Inside Track: How the Music Business Is Preparing to Return to the Office
Katovsky explains that BMG tested its return-to-work plan at its offices in Sydney, Australia, where COVID infection rates were low until recently. After surveying its global staff, Katovsky says that moving forward, the majority of BMG’s employees will be permitted to work from home two days per week. “We’re eager and excited to get back into the office, but we’re also pragmatic about that, and accept that we’ll have to make changes along the way,” he says. Meanwhile, a source says Sony Music has told its employees that, moving forward, the company plans to support more flexibility regarding working from home, and Triple 8 Management founder George Couri says the company’s employees, who are based in Nashville and Austin, Texas will have the option to work at home for part of the week. “A...
Anambra election: Nnewi PDP members defect to Labour Party
Some members of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in Nnewi South Local Government Area of Anambra State, Tuesday, decamped to the Labour Party. The former PDP members were received at Ezinifite, Nnewi by the Labour Party’s governorship candidate, Mr. Obiora Agbasimalo, ahead of this year’s election on November 6. The Chairman of the decampees from the LGAs and wards, Chief Alphonsus Ofoke, said their decision to identify with Labour Party was as a result of the outstanding attributes of the governorship candidate. According to Ofoke, Agbasimalo is a man who has exhibited a great sense of humility and a clear vision of how to move the state forward. In his reaction, Agbasimalo congratulated them for such bold steps while assuring them that the party is home to all. He said: “There is no d...
Atlantic Records UK & ADA Strike Partnership With U.K. Latin-Based Label Candela Records
Warner Music UK has unveiled details of a partnership between Atlantic Records UK, Alternative Distribution Alliance (ADA) – Warner Music Group’s label services division – and UK Latin-based record label Candela Records. Candela Records, co-founded by Luciano Santana Pinto and Jose Luis Seijas, will focus on “developing the Latino sounds of London, which fuse the city’s unique urban beats with the sound of the Latin Caribbean and beyond, and on bringing this unique hybrid to the global stage,” according to a press release. Under the terms of the partnership, Atlantic Records UK and ADA will help guide Candela Records in signing and developing new artists, as well as distributing their current roster, which includes Angelo Flow and Esko, globally. “The Latin mus...
Universal Music Publishing Group Opens Office In Israel
Move follows opening of UMG outpost for recorded music in June 2020. Universal Music Publishing Group (UMPG) is opening an office in Israel, establishing UMPG as the only major label publishing company currently operating in the Middle Eastern country. The office, in Tel Aviv, opens today (July 8). To helm the newly minted UMPG Israel operation, the company has tapped 20-year music business veteran Itamar Shafrir as the General Manager of Publishing and Production Music. Prior to his new role, Shafrir held jobs in the music industry in New York, Tel Aviv, and London, and he worked for 12 years in film and television at UMG sister company Havas London. You Deserve to Make Money Even When you are looking for Dates Online. So we reimagined what a dating should be. It begins with giving you ba...
As Football Fever Sweeps England, Atomic Kitten Returns With ‘Southgate You’re The One’
The song is a new version of Atomic Kitten’s No. 1 from 2001 “Whole Again,” featuring new vocals from bandmate Jenny Frost, who last performed with the group 13 years ago. “It’s been a whirlwind couple of days, but we are super excited and grateful to be able to contribute to the awesome energy and patriotism that is filling the England streets with this version of ‘Whole Again,’ comments band members Frost, Natasha Hamilton and Liz McClarnon. “Southgate You’re The One” is “totally inspired by the England football fans in support of Gareth Southgate and the super talented England football team, we will be singing loud and proud ‘Football’s Coming Home.’” The song dropped ahead of England’s 2-1 semi-final win Wednesday (July 7) against Denmark, which propels the 3 Lions in...
