Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Reassigns Music-Publishing Rights to Bad Boy Artists, Including Notorious B.I.G., Mase and Faith Evans

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music The torrent of criticism around Rolling Stone founder Jann Wenner’s controversial remarks regarding Black and female musicians continued on Tuesday as both the pioneering rock group Living Colour and the Black Music Action Coalition weighed in with statements. Wenner posted an apology for his remarks on Saturday, shortly after the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation announced that he had been ejected from its board of directors. The members of Living Colour — Will Calhoun, Corey Glover, Vernon Reid and Doug Wimbish — wrote: “We, the members of Living Colour, would like to address Jann Wenner’s recent apology for controversial statements made in support of his new book.

Billboard reported the deal was valued at $225 million, citing sources.

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music After months of rumors, Katy Perry has sold her music rights to Litmus Music, the Carlyle-backed company co-founded by former Capitol Records president Dan McCarroll, for $225 million, the company announced Monday. The deal includes Perry’s stakes in master recordings and publishing rights for the five albums she released between 2008 and 2020: “One of the Boys,” “Teenage Dream”, “Prism,” “Witness” and “Smile.” Universal Music Group continues to own the masters to those albums.

Just hours after he was removed from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation board of directors, Rolling Stone co-founder Jann Wenner issued an apology for saying he chose interviews with a pantheon of white male musicians who he dubs the “philosophers of rock” because Black and female musicians were not “articulate at that level.”

NEW YORK — Jann Wenner, who founded Rolling Stone magazine and was a co-founder of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, has been removed from the hall’s board of directors after making comments that were seen as denigrating Black and female musicians.“Jann Wenner has been removed from the Board of Directors of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Foundation,” the hall said Saturday, a day after Wenner’s comments were published in a New York Times interview.A representative for Wenner, 77, did not immediately respond for a comment.Wenner created a firestorm doing publicity for his new book “The Masters,” which features interviews with musicians Bob Dylan, Jerry Garcia, Mick Jagger, John Lennon, Bruce Springsteen, Pete Townshend and U2’s Bono — all white and male.Asked why he didn’t interview women or Black musicians, Wenner responded: “It’s not that they’re inarticulate, although, go have a deep conversation with Grace Slick or Janis Joplin. Please, be my guest.

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music A day after the publication of a New York Times interview in which Rolling Stone magazine founder Jann Wenner said that Black and female musicians “didn’t articulate at the level” of the white musicians featured in his new book of interviews, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame announced that he has been removed from its board of directors. “Jann Wenner has been removed from the Board of Directors of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Foundation,” a terse statement from a rep reads in full; contacted by Variety, a rep for the Hall had no further comment. Wenner is a co-founder of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, which was launched in 1987, and had served as its chairman until 2020.

Controversial interview remarks by Rolling Stone founder Jann Wenner have led to his removal from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation board of directors.

Rolling Stone and co-founder of the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame, has said female and black artists aren’t “intellectual enough” to be interviewed for his new book, The Masters.Within the book, Wenner asks questions of seven “philosophers of rock”, notably all white men – Bono, Bob Dylan, the late Jerry Garcia, Mick Jagger, the late John Lennon, Bruce Springsteen, and Pete Townshend.In the introduction of the book, Wenner writes that women and artists of colour were not in his zeitgeist. He faced questions about this in an interview with David Marchese of The New York Times, and argued it wasn’t a “deliberate selection”.“It was kind of intuitive over the years; it just fell together that way. The people had to meet a couple criteria, but it was just kind of my personal interest and love of them.

Pussy Riot have teamed up with Nova Twins for a new single, ‘Bad Trip’, which also features Argentinian producer Mykka.The track is the Russian feminist punk group’s first new single since May’s ‘Chastity’, which featured guest spots from Alice Glass and Boys Noize.Pussy Riot leader Nadya Riot (formerly Nadya Tolokonnikova) said of the song: “Mykka played this beat for me and I got obsessed and begged her to give it to me. It sounds menacing and dominant.“I’m a big fan of Bosch, so I wanted to imagine what would be my version of hell / bad trip in this track — being mansplained and totally dominated would be a version of hell for me, that’s why my verse goes: ‘Mansplain me! I don’t really know what am I doing with my life, how to be a woman, tell me how to be a wife, tell me how to kiss and tell me how to die. wanna be obedient, I wanna be your wife wife.’”Meanwhile, Nova Twins added in their own statement: “We love Pussy Riot and all that they stand for, so when Nadya messaged us during lockdown, asking us to feature on ‘Bad Trip,’ we were super excited! The tune bangs and they are a force of nature!”Check out ‘Bad Trip’ below:Earlier this year, Pussy Riot were awarded the 2023 Woody Guthrie Prize.

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music It’s been 17 years since Sean “Puff Daddy/ Diddy/ Love” Combs made a solo album, and he’s more than made up for lost time with “The Love Album: Off the Grid.” In the conversation below, he describes the album as a “Super Bowl of R&B,” and the list of guests bears out that title: everyone from the Weeknd and Justin Bieber to Summer Walker and H.E.R. to Babyface and Mary J. Blige make featured appearances, but it sounds like a Puff album every step of the way.

Blur, R.E.M., Garbage, Idlewild and more are set to reissue albums from the 1990s for next month’s National Album Day.As announced earlier this year, National Album Day will take place on October 14 and feature a special spotlight on the ’90s.Other artists set to reissue records on the day include Fatboy Slim, Bob Dylan, Wu-Tang Clan, Jeff Buckley and more.This year marks the sixth edition of the event – which originally launched in 2018 – and seeks to shine a light upon the artists and albums that defined the 1990s.

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music Sex Pistols’ Steve Jones, Paul Cook, and the estate of Sid Vicious have signed a new global publishing administration agreement with BMG. The deal includes their portion of the pioneering band’s songwriting catalog; singer John Lydon and original bassist Glen Matlock are not involved in the arrangement.

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music Sean “Puff Daddy/Diddy” Combs’ decision to give artists and songwriters the publishing rights that he owns on songs from his 1990s powerhouse label Bad Boy, confirmed last week, was surprising, to put it mildly, and possibly unprecedented in its scale. At a time when music catalogs are routinely selling for nine figures and awareness of publishing’s value is at an all-time high, the decision to reassign his rights on those songs — many of which were hits — to the artists and songwriters is highly unusual, even for a man whose net worth was estimated by Forbes last year to be nearly a billion dollars.

Bob Dylan is still freewheeling.The folk icon just announced 15 additional tour dates as part of his ongoing ‘Rough and Rowdy Ways Tour’ celebrating his 2020 album of the same name.That includes a few stops in both New York and New Jersey.First, the “Like A Rolling Stone” singer will roll into Rochester, NY’s West Herr Auditorium Theatre on Oct. 24.After that, he’s set to swing into Schenectady, NY’s Proctors Theatre on Oct.

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music It’s never the VMAs without drama, real, manufactured or imagined, and the first hour of Tuesday night’s show was no exception. Either before or after her performance with Cardi B of their new single “Bongos,” fan footage of Megan Thee Stallion apparently getting into an argument with Justin Timberlake, who took the stage with his (reunited?) bandmates in NSYNC early in the show. In a crowded area backstage, Megan is seen getting glam while the members of NSYNC pass.

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music Range Media Partners has announced that Casey Robison will join the company as the head of its new music publishing division. Robison was most recently executive VP of A&R at Hipgnosis Songs, where he led the company’s pop division, working with songwriters and artists including Monsters & Strangerz (Jordan and Stefan Johnson), John Ryan, Julian Bunetta, Normani, Teddy Geiger, Imad Royal, Dan Wilson and others.

A post shared by Charlie Robison (@charlie.robison)His 2001 album “Step Right Up” produced his only Top 40 country song, “I Want You Bad.”Robison served as a judge on the USA Network’s “Nashville Star,” a reality TV show where contestants live together while vying for a recording contract in the country music industry.“High Life,” his final album released in 2013, included a cover version of Bob Dylan’s “When I Paint My Masterpiece.”In January 2018, Robison’s team shared an update on his health following a medical procedure on his throat.“From that surgery he has been dealing with some complications during this routine recovery,” they wrote on Instagram.“Charlie is continuing to heal and is working with is doctors daily to resolve the issues he is having and get back out on the road. WE appreciate all of the fans, venues and promoters for their patience and support during this time.

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music Lil Wayne spoke for a lot of people attending Saturday’s “50 Years of Hip-Hop” celebration at the official residence of the vice president of the United States in Washington, D.C.: At the conclusion of his set, he thanked the audience and said, “I cannot believe I am here.” Vice President Kamala Harris also spoke for many of the approximately 400 assembled artists, executives, politicians, journalists and others when she said as part of her opening remarks, “Hip-hop now shapes nearly every aspect of American popular culture, and it reflects the incredible diversity and ingenuity of the American people. I truly believe hip-hop is one of America’s greatest exports.” Although hip-hop has certainly received at least some of the respect it is due in recent years — nowhere near enough, considering it is indisputably the most important and influential cultural movement of the last half century — it was still surreal to be watching artists like Wayne, Common, Jeezy, Fat Joe, Remy Ma, Doug E.

Bad Boy has made good. Adding yet another accolade to his collection of wins, mega magnate Sean “Diddy” Combs, 53, is poised to receive the distinguished Global Icon Award at MTV’s 2023 Video Music Awards on September 12. “He’s a legend in hip hop, a multi-industry mogul, and now… the GLOBAL ICON at this year’s VMAs,” MTV tweeted Tuesday, announcing the “Bad Boys For Life” lyricist’s forthcoming honors.

Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs has gone on to represent some of the biggest names in hip-hop, and make the label into one of the most influential of all time.Now, three decades after it first launched, the rapper and music mogul has confirmed that he is returning the music publishing rights back to the artists, rather than selling the catalogue.According to a report by Rolling Stone, the record label has already contacted numerous clients it represents – including Faith Evans, The Lox and The Notorious B.I.G.’s estate – to arrange to return the rights of their respective work, and the process is currently underway.At time of writing the terms of the agreement have not yet been made public, however, the move is an unprecedented one for the music industry, and has the capacity to shift the way that big labels manage the rights to an artist’s music.This comes as the move – which was allegedly first put in place back in 2021 – is a stark contrast to the number of famous musicians selling their catalogue in return for various fortunes in recent years.