Roku Touts Its Strength With Young Adult Viewers as Streaming Platform Courts Madison Avenue

Wait, Gwen Stefani was in a band before her solo career?

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic A lineup of about two dozen stars will salute Paul Simon at this year’s annual Americana Music Association pre-Grammys event, happening at the Troubadour the night before the big ceremony, on Feb. 3.

Nicki Minaj and Megan Thee Stallion‘s feud is quickly escalating following the release of two new diss tracks.

EXCLUSIVE: Jason Segel has signed with UTA.

Strictly Come Dancing star Vito Coppola claims he made a photography error with winner Ellie Leach after she and co-star Bobby Brazier were snapped leaving a hotel together.

Crystal Hefner is sticking up for Hugh Hefner‘s other girlfriends all these years later — despite their messy histories.

Snoop Dogg‘s Super Bowl performance has been used as key evidence in Young Thug‘s RICO trial.Young Thug is currently on trial for allegedly conspiring to violate Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organisations (RICO) Act, along with seven further drug- and gang- related felonies.His case has been significantly notable for the use of his rap lyrics to accuse him of his YSL gang affiliation in trial. Using lyrics in criminal trials has been broadly criticised “as a convenient way to inject racial bias and confusion into the criminal justice process.”In the latest developments of Thugger’s trial, witness and YSL co-founder Trontavious “Tick” Stephens has been testifying on behalf of the prosecution and was cross-examined by Young Thug’s attorney, Brian Steel.Steel used Snoop Dogg’s Super Bowl performance to demonstrate that Young Thug is solely an entertainer, not a gang member.

Bitsie Tulloch and her husband David Giuntoli are reuniting workwise!

dawg house.The country singer-songwriter was arrested at a Nashville bar Monday night and charged with disorderly conduct, assaulting an officer and resisting arrest.Young stopped off at the Tin Roof bar in midtown Nashville at the same time agents from the Tennessee Alcoholic Beverage Commission were checking IDs and licenses, according to TMZ.Young, 38, allegedly started peppering the agents with questions after they checked his ID — and things got out of control from there.Officials say he recorded them and then followed them to an adjacent bar called the Dawg House, where TABC officials were conducting a routine compliance check, according to the report.When Young was at the Dawg House, he allegedly started to talk to people at the bar and to the bartender while the TABC agents went into the back of the joint to check ABC (Restricted Brewery License) cards.The agents claim that they were walking toward the door when Young blocked their exit and put his hands on one of the agents to stop them from leaving — and then he allegedly struck the agent on the shoulder.According to the officials, they pushed Young away, which caused some bar patrons to get between Young and the TABC agents — causing a lot of yelling, screaming and commotion.Young then followed the agents out of the Dawg House, according to TMZ, and the situation became “hostile.”Officials said Young’s eyes were “bloodshot and watery” and that his speech was slurred.He was arrested and booked on misdemeanor charges of disorderly conduct, resisting arrest and assault on an officer.Young, who posted $2,500 bond, was released from custody Tuesday morning.He is scheduled to appear in court on Feb.

Avril Lavigne has today (January 22) announced details of a greatest hits tour with support from All Time Low and Simple Plan.Pre-sale tickets for Lavigne’s North American ‘Greatest Hits’ shows will go on sale on January 24 at 10am local time while the general sale begins on January 26 at 10am local time.

Avril Lavigne just announced her massive summer 2024 ‘Greatest Hits Tour’ featuring special guests Simple Plan, All Time Low, Girlfriends and Royal and The Serpents on select dates.Along the way, the Canadian pop-punk princess will make a few stops in the Northeast.First up, she’ll swing into Buffalo’s Darien Lake Amphitheater on Tuesday, Aug. 20.After that, Lavigne hits Holmdel, NJ’s PNC Bank Arts Center on Friday, Aug.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Paramount Global doesn’t feel it needs Carnegie Hall to make its point to Madison Avenue. The New York owner of CBS, the Paramount movie studio and the Nickelodeon kids-cable outlet plans a second year of individual meetings with media buyers and advertisers for its outreach during the industry’s “upfront” sales market, and will not return to the more formal, glitzy presentation that has long been a staple of the period.

Ava DuVernay’s Origin’s theatrical debut grossed a solid $875k on 130 screens with a $7k per-theater average said to be better than Neon anticipated.

November 2023, there are over one million tracks that have been sped-up, slowed-down or otherwise “modified” in places like Spotify, Apple Music and TIDAL. Examples include a sped-up version of Lady Gaga‘s ‘Bloody Mary‘ (25 million streams) and Childish Gambino’s ‘Heartbeat‘ (19 million streams).These “manipulated” tracks usually do not have legal licensing to be used, meaning they are infringing on copyright.

EXCLUSIVE: Jim Rash is set to direct his script Miss You, Love You, a drama that will star Allison Janney and Andrew Rannells. Madison Wells, The Walsh Company and Nat Faxon will produce a film that will begin production next month in New Mexico. Gigi Pritzker, Kevin Walsh are producing with Rash.  

Grant Rindner Rap music has always had a complicated relationship with the American dream. Through rose-colored glasses, the artists, producers and executives who find success in hip-hop often embody a by-the-bootstraps ethos, but it tends to be the result of lifelong efforts to grapple with and overcome a darker subtext of systemic oppression and cultural adversity. For Atlanta rap superstar 21 Savage, the phrase “American Dream”–the title of his long-awaited third solo album–has an additional undercurrent.

Joe Otterson TV Reporter Tan France has partnered with Madison Wells to incubate and grow his newly-founded production company, French Tuck Media, Variety has learned exclusively. Madison Wells, the production company founded by Gigi Pritzker, will work with France and French Tuck to develop a content slate that will be co-produced by both companies.

Damn, Holly Madison! Yow!

BreAnna Bell ID’s “The Curious Case of Natalia Grace” follow-up documentary “Natalia Speaks” has reached 10 million viewers across linear and streaming platforms Max and Discovery+ over the course of seven days, delivering an almost similar ratings performance to that of the original which previously marked ID’s highest-rated telecast in three years, according to a mix of data from Nielsen and Warner Bros. Discovery. For comparison, “The Curious Case,” which premiered on May 29 on ID and aired the three episodes over the course of three consecutive nights during the 9 p.m.

Cynthia Littleton Business Editor LAS VEGAS – The Walt Disney Co. showcased its investments in cutting-edge advertising technology on Wednesday at the Consumer Electronics Show, with top executives talking up the company’s enhanced ablity to serve marketers across linear and streaming platforms around the world. “2023 was Disney’s biggest year in our history for investments in ad technology, including theglobal expansion of Disney+ with ads,” said Rita Ferro, Disney’s president of global advertising, told the crowd at the Cosmpolitan hotel.