Music Biz News

Following buyouts from multiple heirs, the independent music publisher and talent management company Primary Wave has acquired a significant stake in Prince‘s estate. As the Minneapolis Star Tribune first reported, Primary Wave last month bought out 100 percent of interest in the estate from Omarr Baker, Prince’s brother. Primary Wave …

Hip-hop artist TheHxliday is 19 years old and determined to have true creative control of his visuals as he makes his way up the music business. He’s looking to a cell-phone company to achieve that. The Baltimore native, real name Noah Malik Lee, signed a deal with Motown Records last …

Classic soul acts Earth, Wind and Fire and the Isley Brothers are the latest beneficiaries of Verzuz‘s prolific post-show bump, with both groups climbing the Rolling Stone Charts following their Easter Sunday special last week. The Isley Brothers made their debut on the Artists 500 Chart at Number 323, seeing …

There’s still no telling when music venues will be able to reopen their doors to large crowds of concertgoers, and Live Nation — the largest live events company in North America — is making changes seemingly in reaction to the uncertainty. In a recent memo obtained by Rolling Stone, the …

There was no question that Travis Scott’s groundbreaking Fortnite performance would kick the music industry’s interest in video games into high gear — and a spate of new job listings in the last week seems to already support that claim. In the last week, major label and publishing group Sony …

When the COVID-19 pandemic first struck the live events industry and put all concerts, sports games, and other mass gatherings out of action, three production companies got together to figure out ways they could spend the downtime helping healthcare workers. Their efforts have quickly evolved into a nationwide coalition of …

Bandcamp has announced that fans spent $4.3 million on music and merch on its platform this past Friday. Earlier that week, the platform stated that it would be waving its revenue share for one day to help raise awareness and funds for independent musicians who have been affected by the …

Ousted Grammys president and CEO Deborah Dugan sent an open letter to the Recording Academy’s Executive Committee, asking them to release her from her arbitration clause and ensure the investigation “call[s] for transparency and accountability.” The letter follows an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission complaint Dugan filed after she was put …

Sales of vinyl records have enjoyed constant growth in recent years. At the same time, CD sales are in a nosedive. Last year, the Recording Industry Association of America’s (RIAA) mid-year report suggested that CD sales were declining three times as fast as vinyl sales were growing. In February, the …

Ask someone in the music industry how to sell a new single, and you’ll get rambling answers that go on for days — but ask them how to sell a single that was released 25 years ago, from an artist who’s only ever put out one five-track LP and since …