Juanes’ new album took two years to complete for many reasons. Countless No. 1s (his 2004 song “La Camisa Negra” continues to be a Spanish pop radio hit) and some 20 Latin Grammys later, the Colombian singer-songwriter has been a part of the upper echelons of Latin music for several years. The…
Universal Music
Net profits at Tencent Music Entertainment, China’s largest digital music operation, grew by 89% in the first quarter of the new year, hitting RMB1.15 billion ($167 million), even as revenue progressed by only 5% to RMB7.0 billion ($1.02 billion). The group, which is backed by Chinese tech and entertainment giant…
Today, the Black Music Action Coalition (BMAC) unveiled the second edition of its Music Industry Action Report Card (MIARC) which observes dozens of organizations in multiple categories — labels, publishers, streaming services, live entertainment and touring, the Recording Academy and more — and how market leaders (and/or those most closely affiliated with Black/urban music,…
Mary Rahmani, founder of Moon Projects and former director of music content/artist partnerships at TikTok, has joined Songfluencer and Genni & Co. as a strategic advisor. Songfluencer, a social media marketing agency, has led digital marketing campaigns for Grammy-award winners Samara Joy and Wet Leg. Its parent company Genni &…
Sadler’s Wells associate artist Kate Prince’s acclaimed dance theatre production, “Message In A Bottle,” set to the music of 17-time Grammy winner Sting, has been filmed for cinema release in 2024. The stage show is set to embark on a U.K. and international tour from May 2023. The original dance…
Universal Music Group Nashville (UMGN) has tapped Lori Christian and Rob Femia to join its executive board. Christian has been upped to executive VP of marketing, while Femia has been named executive VP of business and legal affairs for the label group consisting of Capitol Records Nashville, EMI Records Nashville,…
Are you ready for deep-fake-Drake? Many fans are, at least as an amusing lark, as an apparently artificial-intelligence-generated “collaboration” between “Drake” and “the Weeknd” began to go viral over the weekend, for how closely the styles of the two superstars are mimicked in a track titled “Heart on My Sleeve.”…
The world’s largest music company, Universal Music Group, is asking major streaming services like Spotify and Apple Music to block artificial intelligence companies from using its music to “train” their technology, according to a recent report in Financial Times. Confirming the report, a UMG spokesperson told the FT: “We have…
On the heels of the Band Perry’s hiatus announcement, co-founder Kimberly Perry has signed to Records Nashville/Columbia Records in pursuit of a solo career. “From the moment I met the team at Records, their appreciation for my journey and my vision for the future as a solo artist has been…
The New York music scene is a bustling playground for the industry’s most eager power players. Ready to face the evolving landscape head-on, the executives featured in Variety’s larger New York Women’s Impact Report (see the full report here) are navigating everything from accelerating advances in technology to global takeovers.…
Universal Music Group announced on Wednesday that its Board of Directors has extended the contract of Lucian Grainge, the company’s chairman and CEO, until May 1, 2028. According to the announcement, the “extended and amended” agreement transitions Grainge from an all-cash compensation package to one that is a combination of equity…
Ana Bárbara, otherwise known as “Grupera Queen,” received her flowers as a BMI Icon at the 30th annual BMI Latin Awards held at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel on March 21. The singer — whose blended style of rancheras, norteño and Latin pop helped to define the grupero genre — became…