With Congress in Recess, Here’s How You Help America’s Independent Music Venues

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorWhen veteran music producer Hal Willner passed away due to complications believed to be associated with Covid-19 on April 7, a day after his 64th birthday, the music community in New York and beyond was devastated.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorVeteran agent and former WME head of music Marc Geiger says the live-music business will rebound in a big way once the coronavirus pandemic recedes.In a conversation with Goldman Sachs’ music specialist Lisa Yang at the International Festival Forum in London on Wednesday, Geiger said the “claustrophobia economy” of the pandemic will be replaced by “a second Roaring ‘20s, a hundred years later,” of economic growth, according to IQ.He was referencing the giddy

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorIn an effort to rally support for the countless music venues impacted by the coronavirus pandemic, hundreds of buildings across the U.S. — from New York’s Empire State Building to Seattle’s Space Needle — were illuminated in red light on Tuesday evening (Sept.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorIn the wake of George Floyd’s murder at the hands of Minneapolis police in May, an organization formed by music industry execs Jamila Thomas and Brianna Agyemang under the name #TheShowMustBePaused began with a call for a single day shutdown soon grew into a movement that called for change across the entire industry.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorMore than 1,500 music venues across the U.S. will be illuminated in red light on Tuesday evening (Sept.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorDespite the pandemic that has devastated global economies, revenues of BMG’s music division were up 4.8% year-over-year for the first half of 2020, reaching $308 million.The company’s operating income for the period was flat at $54 million, while the percentage of digital revenue was up 3%, from 56% to 59%.The company said it was its best first-half since it was founded in 2008, despite its 19 offices across the world being closed and its 926 staffers working

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorFive agents formerly with Paradigm have launched a new agency called TBA that represents The War on Drugs, Courtney Barnett, Chvrches, Jose Gonzales, Guided by Voices, Jay Som, Yaeji, Omar Apollo and many other artists.The company, which has offices in New York and Los Angeles, was founded by agents Marshall Betts, Avery McTaggart, Amy Davidman, Ryan Craven, and Devin Landau.

Reviving the Economy Sustainably Towards A Recovery in Twenty-twenty (or RESTART) Act.If enacted, the RESTART Act would provide additional financial assistance to American small businesses by extending the Paycheck Protection Program, designed to keep workers employed during the coronavirus pandemic. It also offers eligible businesses partially forgivable loans.

the government announced the first 135 venues across England that will receive emergency grants from the £1.57billion Culture Recovery Fund. While this news is welcome among the music community and regarded as a huge “positive step”, around 400 others are not out of the woods yet – with many not eligible for the funding to help them weather the storm of being forced to close due to coronavirus restrictions.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorThese are boom times for hit songwriters, with catalogs being snapped up by Hipgnosis, Shamrock and others — and the latest big acquisition comes from Spirit Music Group, which announced that it has acquired the publishing catalog of Grammy-nominated songwriter and former “American Idol” judge Kara DioGuardi.

A guitar belonging to Arctic Monkeys frontman Alex Turner has raised £128,54 in a charity raffle for grassroots music venues.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorFor years, several high-profile artists — including Prince, Metallica, Bob Seger and others — held back their music from streaming services, due usually to the comparatively low royalty rates compared with physical product.However, in some cases, the holdout was due to disarray within the artist’s rights-holders — which has long been the case with Aaliyah, the R&B star who died in a plane crash in 2001 at the age of just 22.

Manchester music venues and theatres have been thrown a financial lifeline totalling more than £260,000 to save them from closure.Eleven establishments have been awarded funding from the Arts Council England's Emergency Grassroots Music Venue Fund, set up to help businesses survive the impact of the coronavirus lockdown.The recipients include classical concert venue The Stoller Hall, jazz bar Matt and Phred's and community theatre NIAMOS, as well as several of the city's best-loved independent

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorLebanese-British singer-songwriter Mika will stage a livestreamed concert to raise funds and awareness for relief in the wake of the explosion in Beirut last month that killed more than 200 people and devastated a large area in the country’s capital.His “I Love Beirut” benefit concert will take place on Saturday 19 September and will be live-streamed across four time zones via YouTube.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorAn awards show is a tough thing to pull off in a pandemic, and although the VMAs set forth with an admirably ambitious agenda and a power-packed artist lineup, Roddy Ricch and J Balvin have both pulled out, Variety has confirmed.“Unfortunately, J Balvin and Roddy Ricch are no longer performing,” a source close to the show tells Variety. “As with every awards show, there are always last-minute talent changes.

LCD Soundsystem‘s James Murphy has spoken in support of the campaign to save independent music venues in the US during the coronavirus crisis.The National Independent Venue Association are spearheading efforts to get the bipartisan Save Our Stages Act passed, which would create a $10 billion small business association fund to help those small venues that are struggling or being threatened with closure due to the effects of the pandemic.Murphy joined New York Senator Chuck Schumer and a number of

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorIn simpler times, it wasn’t uncommon to see Brooklyn-born New York Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer out and about in the city — but it was a little surreal to see him standing outside the indie mecca Baby’s All Right, located in the city’s hipster-centric Williamsburg neighborhood, on Tuesday afternoon, alongside LCD Soundsystem’s James Murphy and several of the owners or managers of the city’s top independent venues.The senator was stepping up to show his support

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorFive years after Apple Music launched its global radio station Beats 1, the company has renamed it Apple Music 1 and launched new Country and Hit stations, under the overall name of Apple Music Radio.“For the past five years, if ever there was a meaningful moment in music culture,” said Oliver Schusser, vice president of Apple Music, Beats, and International Content.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorRotimi, the actor and singer-songwriter known for his roles on the Starz series “Empire” and “Boss,” has re-upped with Empire music group, the company announced. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, although it is described as “multimillion”-dollar agreement.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorToday, Amazon Music announces the hire of Raymond Leon Roker as its global head of editorial. He will “lead all aspects of Amazon Music’s editorial content strategy across music, video, and voice,” according to the announcement, be based in Los Angeles and will report to Ryan Redington, director of Amazon Music.