business
Event Safety Alliance Releases Reopening Safety Guide for Venues
A month into the pandemic, Steven Adelman and Jacob Worek of the Event Safety Alliance were on the phone, talking about how to reopen the concert business — eventually. “As I looked around the empty streets outside my condo, it became apparent that the small event spaces that were going to get to open first would not have the foggiest idea how to do that safely,” says Adelman, a Scottsdale, Ariz., lawyer who is the ESA’s vice president. So Adelman and Worek, the operations director, spent the past month crowd-sourcing more than 400 tour promoters, managers, Ticketmaster employees, caterers and Irish-fair organizers and released a 29-page guide on Monday. Given contradictory, confusing and evolving state stay-at-home restrictions — bars in Kansas are allowed to...
Endeavor Lines Up $260 Million Loan Amid Cost-Cutting Efforts
Endeavor has lined up a $260 million term loan to boost its financial flexibility amid the novel coronavirus pandemic, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed. The financing deal adds to an existing $2.8 billion term loan at a time when Endeavor’s live events operations, which include Ultimate Fighting Championship, in which the firm owns a majority stake, and entertainment business have been hit by the pandemic. The Wall Street Journal first reported the additional $260 million loan Monday. Endeavor — the parent company of talent agency WME, modeling agency IMG and Professional Bull Riders — has launched cost-cutting efforts amid the pandemic, including layoffs, pay cuts and furloughs. UFC held its first of several fight cards without fans Saturday. &...
Drake Snags No. 1 In Australia With ‘Dark Lane Demo Tapes’
Drake bags his third No. 1 album in Australia, with Dark Lane Demo Tapes (Republic/Universal). The Canadian hip-hop star’s new mixtape bows at No. 1 on the ARIA Albums Chart, equaling the chart peaks of his 2016 release Views and 2018’s Scorpion. Dark Lane becomes Drake’s eighth title to impact the top 10 on the ARIA chart, and it opens at No. 2 in the U.K. and No. 1 in the U.K., where Drizzy does the chart double. The Australian top five is completed by former chart-leaders in Harry Styles’ Fine Line (Columbia/Sony), Dua Lipa’s Future Nostalgia (Warner), Birds Of Tokyo’s Human Design (EMI) and Billie Eilish’s When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? (Interscope/Universal), respectively. Also new to the chart this week is Elevation Worship’s Graves Into Gardens (Live) (Sony), at ...
Ariana Grande And Justin Bieber Eye U.K. Singles Chart Crown, Dame Vera Lynn Set For Record
Ariana Grande and Justin Bieber’s blockbuster collaboration “Stuck With U” is set to explode atop the U.K. chart. The new single blasts to No. 1 on the Official Singles Chart: First Look, with a lead of 2,500 chart sales over its nearest rival, Drake’s “Toosie Slide”. “Stuck With U” is raising money for First Responders Children’s Foundation, a charity that will underwrite scholarships for children of frontline workers fighting the COVID-19 pandemic. Should it hold on when the Official U.K. Singles Chart is published late Friday, the collab would be Grande’s sixth and Bieber’s eight U.K. No. 1. While the pop duo should claim the title, it won’t be the only feel-good chart story. Dame Vera Lynn is on track to become the oldest living person to score a U.K. top ...
Dangote: Report illegal haulage
Makamba Online The management of Dangote Industries Limited wishes to solicit the assistance of the general public in the fight to rid the organisation of illegal haulage activities being perpetrated by some unscrupulous persons. If you have seen any Dangote truck hauling non-Dangote products anywhere across the country, please make a report to Dangote Industries Management hotline, call Obajana 08131768000; Ibese 08131771111, 08131770999 and 08131771000 or email us at [email protected] Please include the following details in your report, Truck Type, Truck Plate Number, Truck Cab No., Location of the Truck, Contents of the Truck, Colour of the Truck and Photographs of the truck and goods if possible. Get more stories like this on Twitter
Ghetto Fabulous: Andre Harrell Created a Culture of Black Excellence
“My goal is to bring real black America — just as it is, not watered down — to people everywhere through music, through films, through everything we do.” This was the manifesto of 32 year-old, newly-minted entertainment mogul Andre O’Neal Harrell, in conversation with the L.A. Times in 1992 about his $50M multi-media deal with MCA Records. Harrell, who founded Uptown Records, died on Friday, May 8th of an apparent cardiac episode at the age of 59. As the music industry mourns this unexpected loss, a refrain keeps echoing through posts and tributes: Andre’s impact on music and culture was never properly celebrated. In conversations about culture shifters and modern music moguls, Andre Harrell is often relegated to a supporting character role in the Sean Combs story. He’s t...
Andre Harrell, Founder of Uptown Records, Dies at 59
Andre Harrell, music mogul and founder of influential R&B and hip-hop label Uptown Records, has died. Details are if his death are not yet known, but Harrell’s passing was first announced by DJ D-Nice on his Instagram Live early Saturday morning (May 9), and sources have separately confirmed it to Billboard. He was 59. Raised in the Bronx, New York, Harrell started a career in music as half of the early-’80s hip-hop duo Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (with Alonzo Brown). The pair had a handful of minor hits on Billboard‘s Hot R&B Songs chart — the biggest being the No. 31-peaking, Tom Tom Club-sampling “Genius Rap” in 1982 — but Harrell soon found other career aspirations, particularly after meeting Def Jam records founder Russell Simmon...
Zimbabwe street vendors sell cloth masks to make ends meet
Zimbabwe market stall owner Aaron Makaya saw a new business opportunity when President Emmerson Mnangagwa made face masks mandatory in public places to prevent the spread of coronavirus. The 21-year old had been stuck at home in the capital Harare and living off meagre savings since the start of a nationwide lockdown at the end of March. Confinement measures were extended by two weeks on May 1 – another month without income for informal workers like Makaya. Meanwhile, factory-made face masks turned out to be unaffordable for most in a country crippled by poverty and hyperinflation. Makaya and other informal workers jumped on the opportunity to make money by sewing and selling cheaper cloth masks at intersections. “We started selling these masks on Monday when we noticed that people intendi...
Doing Business in a Post-Lockdown World
Sourced from Business News Daily At the beginning of March, few anticipated the significant impact the COVID-19 pandemic would have on the lives of all South Africans. As the gradual easing of the strict lockdown conditions continues, thoughts turn to how companies will begin their recovery. Ian McAlister, GM of CRS Technologies, looks at what to expect. From Friday 1 May, South Africa transitioned to Level 4 lockdown conditions which will result in several more industries resuming operations, albeit in a limited capacity. And while all the details around operational issues are still to be confirmed, expectations are that at least 1.5 million South Africans will be returning to work. In part, this is designed to get the economy back up and running following several weeks of virtual non-act...
California Governor Allows Some Retail Reopening With Limits
Some Los Angeles County retailers can reopen with curbside pickup only — including stores that sell music, toys, books, clothing and sporting goods. California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday issued the broadest loosening of his stay-at-home order so far, allowing some retailers to reopen but not have customers in stores. The guidelines were made “with an eye on turning the page and moving into a new phase in terms of our economic recovery,” Newsom said. The announcement was the result of improvement in battling the coronavirus. It moves California into the second phase of a methodical four-step process to full reopening. It covers only a sliver of retail businesses as well as manufacturers’ warehouses considered low risk for the virus. Stores that will be allowed to open with curbside...
Country Music Is Enjoying a Streaming Boom During the Pandemic: New Data
“It’s the soundtrack of our lives whether our lives are going great or going terribly,” explains Pandora head of country Beville Dunkerley. As Americans continue to shelter in place, they are turning to country music to keep them company in record numbers. Over the last two weeks, country music has enjoyed a streaming bonanza, with on-demand audio streams growing 10.7% to a record high 1.26 billion for the week ending April 23. The next week ending April 30, a new record was set as streams grew 14.3% to 1.3 billion. This is versus the baseline weekly audio average of 1.138 billion for the eight-week period Jan. 17 through March 12, according to MRC Data/Nielsen Music. A number of factors contribute to the rise. Among them are the release of new albums from Kelsea Ballerin...
Anambra commissioner warns tricycle operators against peddling falsehood
The Anambra State Commissioner for Transport, Dr. Christian Madubuko, has warned Commercial Tricycle Owners and Riders Welfare Association of Anambra State, CTORWAAS, and their alleged paid agents to desist from peddling false allegations against his Ministry or face the wrath of the law. Dr. Madubuko also warned CTORWAAS, its Chairman, Comrade Sylvester Obiorah, Mr. Stanley Onunkwor, and others against peddling falsehood, mutinous and subversive comments against his person or face legal actions. Reacting to the allegation that he (Dr. Madubuko) was priming Tricycles operators, ‘Keke riders’ under the aegis of CTORWAAS, in the State, in other to remove their State Chairman, Mr. Sylvester Obiorah, the Commissioner said his Ministry is aware of some alleged inordinate conducts in the managem...