Music Biz News

Timbaland‘s been busy. Over the last year, while the producer was introducing the world to Verzuz and brokering deals with Apple Music and Peloton, he was also quietly putting finishing touches on a new platform called Beatclub — an early version of which went live a few months ago. The …

The copyright bonanza in the music business continues. On Monday morning, Concord Music Publishing announced the purchase of Downtown Music Holdings’ entire portfolio of 145,000 owned and co-published music copyrights. Here are just some of the stars with songs included in the deal: Adele, Aretha Franklin, Beyoncé, Blake Shelton, Bruno …

UPDATE (4/9):The Small Business Administration said Friday evening that the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant portal was still “temporarily suspended” and would remain so through the weekend as technical issues were resolved. A re-launch date was not announced, with the SBA adding, “When a reopening date is determined, we’ll provide updates …

The news that Bob Dylan has sold his full publishing catalog to Universal Music Publishing Group, in a deal estimated to be worth more than $300 million, is a big surprise in the career of one of music’s greatest songwriters. It’s likely one of the biggest deals of this kind …

Last Thursday, at a West Hollywood mansion-turned-content house owned by social-media app Triller, Swae Lee contemplated his business strategy while eating buffalo chicken bites. Lee spent the evening alternating between snacking on the microwavable bites (catered by Frank’s Red Hot), livestreaming on Twitch (with several influencers and esports competitors surrounding …

As Twitch continues its push into the music industry from gaming, it’s secured another partnership. The company has entered a deal with electronic duo Bob Moses and will be airing their livestream shows from now on exclusively through the company. Twitch has been bullish in recent months on the music …

Mississippi indie label Fat Possum Records was deep into shipping copies of veteran punk band X’s first album in 27 years, Alphabetland, when they were faced with an unprecedented problem: How do you fit 1,000 vinyl records into a postal worker’s Jeep Cherokee? Shipping records in the past hasn’t really …

See you next year, literally. In the last few days, the world’s three biggest label groups have all sent out internal memos alerting their U.S. employees that remote work will continue through to January 2021. In the memos, obtained by Rolling Stone, Universal Music Group, Sony Music Group, and Warner …

Engaging with one’s audience is a golden rule of marketing — and R&B star 6lack is doing that in droves with his new EP 6pc Hot, which drops on Friday and aims to promote open dialogue around race and community. The set is coming with an eclectic all-out marketing campaign …

The spat between Taylor Swift, her former label boss Scott Borchetta, and music mogul Scooter Braun has devolved into a sturm-und-drang public saga. Months after Swift panned Braun’s $300-million takeover of Borchetta’s Big Machine Label Group, the singer is saying that the two executives are preventing her from performing her …