completemusicupdate.com - 3 510 Showbiz News and Updates

RELEASESJames Blunt will release new album ‘Who We Used To Be’ on 27 Oct. Out now is new single ‘Beside You’. “It’s a bit of a celebration”, he says of the song.

it was announced that the S Club tour would still go ahead, but that – following the change in circumstances – Spearritt had opted not to take part. Those shows are now due to take place this autumn and the five remaining members of the group released a new track last week.However, with that new track released, The Sun then reported that Spearritt never formally opted out of the reunion tour and was “blindsided” when her former bandmates made the announcement that they would be doing the shows without her.Talks then reportedly followed to try to get Spearritt on board for the shows after all but – says one of those pesky sources – by that point “bad blood” between her and the rest of the group made the chances of that happening rather slim.Says the source to The Sun: “Hannah is devastated.

Believe and its TuneCore subsidiary have surveyed nearly 1600 self-releasing artists about generative AI. Half of those surveyed said that they had a positive perception of artificial intelligence and would be willing to offer their music for the training of AI models.Around a third said they were interested in using AI as part of their music-making process, with a similar amount reckoning AI technologies could help them with their marketing and promotion.Commenting on the study, TuneCore CEO Andreea Gleeson says: “As AI continues to be a conversation topic across creative industries, we sought to engage directly with independent artists to determine their awareness of AI and how they’re most interested in engaging with it”.“TuneCore’s main priorities lie in the interests of our artists”, she adds, “so the responses to this survey will help us enable them to utilise AI on our platform with consent, control, transparency, and fair monetary compensation”.Of those surveyed, 35% said that they are interested in using AI in their creative process, while 31% said it could help with marketing and promotion around releases.Meanwhile, 18% said they might use AI technologies to create promotional content – including videos to post to TikTok and Instagram – while 16% said they were interested in how AI could help them more generally engage and develop their fanbases.In terms of allowing tech companies to use their creative output in order to train generative AI models, 50% showed a willingness to allow that to happen.

The US district court for the Central District Of California last week published a judgement that provided a pretty extensive overview of what was a big legal debate in the US music industry for a time: whether online radio services like Pandora and Sirius were obliged to pay royalties when they played pre-1972 recordings.A lot of that debate centred on lawsuits pursued by the artists Flo & Eddie, who were members of the 1960s band The Turtles.In theory, the 2018 Music Modernization Act removed the ambiguities that those lawsuits sought to address. However, some technicalities remained in relation to Flo & Eddie’s litigation, meaning the lawsuit against Sirius rumbled on until 2021, and the Pandora dispute until last week.

A police report has been filed by an audience member after an altercation occurred during a Cardi B show in Las Vegas this weekend.During a performance at Drai’s Beachclub on Saturday, an audience member threw a drink at the rapper. She then quickly retaliated by throwing her microphone at said audience member.Video footage of the event seems to show the person who threw the drink subsequently apologising before being escorted out of the venue by security.

APPOINTMENTSDeezer has appointed Florence Lao as its General Counsel. “Deezer is leading the way for the future of the music industry and I’m looking forward to contributing to continued success, together with the talented teams in France and across the globe”, she says. “The music landscape is changing quickly, with Deezer playing a key role for its partners, the industry, and fans alike.

Fast-rising punk band Teen Jesus And The Jean Teasers have released the latest single from their upcoming debut album ‘I Love You’ – its opening track ‘I Used To Be Fun’. Despite its title, the track finds the band at their most fun, its jaunty pace belying the lyrical claims of the song.“‘I Used To Be Fun’ is about getting older and redefining the way you have fun”, say the band.

Travis Scott and his legal team have been dubbed “stunningly tone deaf” for criticising the timing of the publication of a police report about the Astroworld tragedy. The Houston Police Department made that lengthy document available on Friday, just as Scott released his new album ‘Utopia’, his first since the fatal crowd surge that occurred during his headline set at the 2021 edition of the festival he founded.On Friday, a representative for Scott told TMZ: “The timing of the Houston Police Department report’s release, coinciding with the launch of Travis Scott’s highly anticipated album, is anything but coincidental … it is outrageous that HPD has chosen to resort to tactics that attempt to discredit Travis and his team, casting doubt on how the unfortunate events at Astroworld actually transpired while deflecting blame from their own critical failures”.Responding to those remarks, a lawyer working for the family of one of those who died during the crowd surge, ten year old Ezra Blount, said in his own statement to TMZ: “For an artist making his living with music, these are stunningly tone deaf comments about this preventable tragedy that took so many lives and injured so many”.Ten people died and hundreds more were injured during the crowd surge at Astroworld 2021, which took place in Houston’s NRG Park.

If you’re yet to try Ed Sheeran’s Tingly Ted’s hot sauce, then this could be your month. The pop star has announced a partnership with the Honest Burgers restaurant chain to flavour up its hot beef.Yes, having launched his own sauce brand in February – and a TV ad campaign in June – Sheeran now has a restaurant partner to help push his condiments.Throughout August, anyone who walks in the doors of one of Honest Burgers’ 42 UK restaurants (or orders takeaway via Uber Eats) will be able to grab a special burger which, says a press release, will be “drenched” in Ed’s special sauce.

So this ‘Barbie’ film then, that’s a thing isn’t it? I ran some checks over the weekend and can definitely confirm, a thing it is. There’s a soundtrack too, of course, and that had quite an impact on the UK singles chart on Friday.In the week following the release of the film and ‘Barbie: The Album’, six tracks from the record were sufficiently streamed to appear in the UK Top 40, three of them in the top five.Billie Eilish’s ‘What Was I Made For’ is at number three, Dua Lipa’s ‘Dance The Night’ is at four, and Nicki Minaj and Ice Spice’s ‘Barbie World’, complete with a little bit of Aqua, is at number five.That’s Aqua’s first appearance in the top five in 25 years, the Official Charts Company told us on Friday.

first launched by the rapper in 2018.

announced he was buying Parler, a rival social media platform known for being more tolerant of controversial right-wing opinions.That deal ultimately fell through, meanwhile Elon Musk bought himself Twitter and quickly relaxed its rules around offensive content. West was then allowed to tweet again.

CMU’s Andy Malt and Chris Cooke review key events in music and the music business from the last week, including the debate surrounding comments made by The 1975’s frontman Matty Healy on stage in Malaysia regarding the country’s anti-LGBTQ+ laws, and the latest developments in the battle over who will run the Leadmill music venue in Sheffield.

Kylie Minogue has announced a Las Vegas residency, becoming the first artist to play the new Voltaire venue at the Venetian Resort in the city. The run of shows will follow the release of upcoming sixteenth studio album ‘Tension’.“The spirit of Voltaire is one of pure, authentic fun”, reckons Minogue.

RELEASESCalvin Harris and Sam Smith have teamed up for new track ‘Desire’.Jessie Ware has released a new version of her song ‘Freak Me Now’, featuring Roisin Murphy. “It is a huge honour to have the queen of disco, Róisín Murphy, on ‘Freak Me Now’”, says Ware. “I messaged her hoping she may be interested in featuring on the song and before I knew it she was in the studio.

Continuing their run of revamped versions of old hits, Busted have released a new recording of ‘Year 3000’ featuring none other than the Jonas Brothers. As you will no doubt remember, the Jonas Brothers released their own version of the song back in 2007, with which they scored their first US top 40 hit.“’Year 3000’ has been such a big part of [our] journey for the last 20 years”, say Busted.

Two lawsuits filed against companies formally owned by Michael Jackson, which allege that the late pop star sexually abused two children in the 1990s, may be revived. A Californian appeals court issued a tentative decision to that effect earlier this week.James Safechuck and Wade Robson both accuse Jackson of abusing them as children.

This year’s Mercury Prize shortlist has been announced, with artists including Arctic Monkeys, Jessie Ware and Raye vying for the £25,000 prize for the best British and Irish album of the last year.As ever, twelve albums make up the shortlist, with one overall winner set to be announced during a ceremony at the Hammersmith Apollo in London on 7 Sep.The 2023 judging panel was revealed yesterday.

DEALSCTM Outlander has acquired a stack of music rights from producer/songwriter Fraser T Smith, including his interest in songs he worked on with the likes Tiësto, Rita Ora, Stormzy, Dave, Craig David and Raye. Says CTM Outlander CEO André de Raaff: “Fraser is a once in a generation songwriter and we look forward to shining a light on these compositions for years to come”.

Imagine Dragons have signed a new global publishing admin deal with Warner Chappell.“Songwriting has always been at the heart of everything we do as a band”, says frontman Dan Reynolds. “We’re excited to have great partners with our friends at Warner Chappell as we move into this next chapter”.In a joint statement, Warner Chappell Co-Chairs Guy Moot and Carianne Marshall add: “For more than ten years, Imagine Dragons have not only reached but maintained global stardom and connected with fans on a universal level”.“The band is the perfect example of what happens when you successfully work across genres and mediums to create a wide range of crossover hits”, they go on.

Travis Scott’s planned performance at the pyramids of Giza, Egypt this weekend has been cancelled, with promoter Live Nation citing “complex production issues” as the reason for pulling the show. However, the rapper himself subsequently said that the performance will still go ahead at a later date.In a statement, Live Nation said: “We regret to inform you that [Travis Scott’s] ‘Utopia’ show, originally scheduled for 28 Jul at the pyramids of Giza in Egypt, is cancelled.

The latest signing to Flying Lotus’s Brainfeeder label, Hakushi Hasegawa has released new single ‘Mouth Flash (Kuchinohanabi)’.In the hands of another artist, the song could be very different. Gentle, perhaps.

Sinead O’Connor has died, aged 56. No cause of death has yet been made public.In a statement to Irish broadcaster RTE, her family said: “It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of our beloved Sinead.

Former Anti-Flag frontman Justin Sane has denied allegations of sexual assault, following the recent sudden and unexpected break up of the band.Anti-Flag announced their split via the band’s Patreon page earlier this month. Although no reason was given, fans online linked the move to a podcast episode published earlier the same week that made serious allegations about the singer of an unnamed political punk band.Acknowledging that he was the subject of these allegations (while also denying them), Sane – real name Justin Geever – said in a statement: “Recently, there have been claims of sexual assault made against me and I can tell you that these stories are categorically false”.“I have never engaged in a sexual relationship that was not consensual”, he added.

Distiller Publishing and Stellar Songs have signed songwriter/producer Gil Lewis to a co-publishing deal. Warner Chappell is doing the admin.The new deal is part of a wider partnership between the Distiller Music Group and Stellar Songs, the publishing company founded by Tim Blacksmith and Danny D.

APPOINTMENTSCamden’s Roundhouse venue has announced Rowan Kitching as its new Venue Director. “I am THRILLED to be joining the team at the Roundhouse, at an exciting time for such an iconic music and arts venue”, he says. ”The uniqueness and heritage of the space excites me, but most importantly the support to our vital creative youth programme.

Music distributor IDOL has announced two new artist services deals.The first is with Nigerian afropop artist Yemi Alade and the label she runs, Effyzzie Music. IDOL will work with Alade on the release of her upcoming seventh studio album.

Squid have teamed up with comedian Tim Key to create an audio version of the Paul Ewen written story ‘Lessons’ – which was included as a pamphlet inside the sleeve of the vinyl edition of their latest album ‘O Monolith’.Key has previously worked with Ewen on a podcast version of his 2007 book ‘London Pub Reviews’. For the audio version of ‘Lessons’, Squid’s Anton Pearson also wrote some music.“We’ve loved working with these two people we really admire”, says Pearson.

The 1975 are facing a class action lawsuit in Malaysia after comments made by frontman Matty Healy against the country’s anti-LGBTQ+ laws caused an entire festival to be cancelled last weekend.Malaysian law firm Thomas Philip announced it was planning legal action on behalf of artists and vendors impacted by the cancellation the day after The 1975 played the Good Vibes Festival in Kuala Lumpur. And yesterday the lawyers told NME that five artists and five vendors are now involved in that litigation.Addressing Malaysia’s anti-LGBTQ+ laws during his set at the Good Vibes Festival last Friday, Healy told his audience: “I made a mistake.

The publication of Britney Spears’ upcoming autobiography ‘The Woman In Me’ was reportedly delayed due to legal threats from Justin Timberlake and Colin Farrell.Spears and Timberlake were famously a couple from 1999 to 2002, while she and Farrell were romantically linked in 2003 – although she has previously said that it was “nothing serious”. However, seemingly both men were unhappy with their portrayal in the singer’s book, with lawyers for both demanding that stories about them be removed.“Lawyers demanded to see her book in advance and were adamant that some of the revelations were removed”, a source tells The Sun.